Winter just does not feel like winter without an ample supply of baked goods. My husband is a cobbler and pie lover, and I a muffin, cake, and cookie gal. Together, we have spent many a winter eve enjoying a fresh blackberry cobbler with whipped cream, or woke to a delicious blueberry muffin. But this winter, baking has been a bit more challenging because we do not have an oven. Thankfully, we have learned how to bake without an oven. Baking when you don't have a readily available oven sitting in your kitchen takes a bit more time, planning, and creativity, but we have grown our skills to include several methods of baking without an oven. Among our favorites are Dutch ovens, … [Read more...]
Living Without Lights (or water, or electricity…)
Because we are creating our off-grid homestead from scratch and camping/living very rustically as we build, I frequently get asked the question, "How do you live without _____?" Blank, of course being lights or electricity or running water or a flush toilet. The funny thing is, that this way of living is so much my reality right now that I hardly even remember that it is unique. Of course, I also live on a road with two Amish farms, an electricity-free intentional community, and several other off the grid homesteads, so in my neck of the woods, this way of life is somewhat normal. So, today, I am going to try to explain exactly how manage living without electricity or running water or … [Read more...]
Winter Water on our Off-Grid Homestead
A month or so ago, I shared with you our brand new system for winter water catchment. It involved burying 50 gallon food grade barrels underground, with a hand pump to get the water above ground. In this post, I'll share how that system worked (and didn't work), and how we are managing to catch water (in winter!) on our off-grid homestead. This system worked really well for us, until it got very cold. Then we realized quickly that our system, while great as a season-extender, was not going to get us through a Missouri winter. The barrels were most likely not buried deep enough, and the pipe that extended above the ground was not sufficiently insulated. As we build systems for our … [Read more...]
Composting Toilets on the Homestead
When you are building a homestead from scratch, there are some basic needs that need to be figured out: Where do we sleep while we build? (For us it was camping during the summer and now living in our cozy home while finishing the interior) Where do we get our drinking, bathing, and washing water? (Rainwater catchment + Berkey filter for drinking, pond for everything else, and in times of necessity, filling up barrels at friends' houses) How do we stay warm? (Wood stove and a well-insulated house!) How do we cook? (We use a combination of a Rocket Stove, our wood stove, a propane camping stove, and our Sun Oven) And finally, where do we poop? So that's the topic I will … [Read more...]
Making Beeswax Candles
While I never expected to be living electricity-free for quite so long, there are certain benefits that come with unplugging. For one, we get to experience the warm glow of lighting with beeswax candles each and every night! After purchasing way too many cheap (or not so cheap) candles, we finally took the plunge into candle making. Here are some step by step photos of the process of making beeswax candles, in hopes that it inspires you to make your own! What Equipment do I Need to Make Beeswax Candles? The first step in making beeswax candles is gathering the supplies you need. The basics are: Wick (suitable for tapers, like this one) Dipping Racks (that look like this one) … [Read more...]
Building a Tiny Home :: Winter Water
Early on in the process of building our tiny home, we needed to create systems for catching and using water. We purchased these 50 gallon, food grade barrels for $10 apiece from the local Pepsi distributor, hooked them up to the gutter of our metal-roofed home, and proceeded to catch rainwater for drinking, cooking, and dishwashing. We use a Berkey filter to make the rainwater potable, and relied on water from our pond for irrigating the garden and for bathing. With flexible pvc pipes moving the water into the outdoor kitchen, we even had running water in our sink! This system worked really well, at least until we had an almost two month drought in July and August. Then we had to rely … [Read more...]
Living Outdoors: A Day in the Life
I bet you're wondering how a family of four lives on their homestead while they're building a house, right? I'd be curious too. Where do we sleep? Where do we eat? Where do we poop? Come with me today, on a little adventure - A Day in the Life... We sleep in a borrowed pop-up tent trailer. Circa 1980, it is literally falling apart at the seams, but has kept us warm and dry (mostly). We each have a Rubbermaid bin of clothes, and our personal belongings that are not stored at the red shop are tucked into various cracks and crevices. The chickens greet the day with some pecking and scratching around our picnic table. One morning, a few weeks ago, I went off to teach … [Read more...]
Setting Up: An Outdoor Kitchen
Week One of living on the land. It has been so wonderful. Truly, just so lovely to fall asleep here each night, listening to the sounds of owls, crickets, frogs, and birds. So nice to stay late after dinner without worrying about rushing back to town to get the kids fed and put to bed. So easy to wake up in the morning and jump right into the tasks at hand. The biggest task this week has been setting up our outdoor kitchen. Imagine trying to fit the contents of your home kitchen into an outdoor space, in a neat, organized, weather-proof, and critter-proof way. Imagine cooking all your meals almost entirely from scratch without hot running water, refrigeration, or the type of cook stove … [Read more...]