Wow, has it been a month already?

I didn't realize that it has been a month already! Time really does fly by. We have had so much go on around here since I last blogged.

We have moved into our new, old, house and we are settling in quite nicely. It is an old house, built in 1950, and had actually been moved here several years ago from somewhere else. We aren't sure of it's original history. We love this house. We love the city that we are in. It is small, quite, nice neighbors. Great small town living at it's best. The children are loving it too. There is a great park area just around the corner from us that they love going to.

We have started homeschooling and the children are loving that as well. There have only been a few days that they have given me trouble, but all in all, we are enjoying it. There is much to be said about having your kids with you all day everyday. I really felt like, although they are young, that I didn't know my children as well as I wanted to. There were too many outside influences for our children, and we didn't like where they were going. By homeschooling them, we have limited the outside influences and are more in controll of what they see and hear on a daily basis. We are not controll freaks at all, it is a personal choice that everyone is entitled to. We are having much fun with school work and craft projects. We did a Winter unit study this December. It included reindeer, Santa, the origins of the Christmas tree and ornaments. They kids made home made ornaments to hang on the tree and had a blast with it.

I have been busy teaching the kids, organizing the house, and researching for our new adventure... Urban Homesteading. It isn't something new by any means. Urban homesteading... To live in the city, neighborhood, or the like. To have a small area of land, for example- we have less than an acre lot. To have a vegtable garden, animals for meat and eggs. To be as self sufficient as possible. I intend on learning how to can our veggies so that we can have the fruit of our labor last as long as possible. I also want to learn how to can meat, so that we can make use of the meat sales at the grocery stores and buy more in bulk. I am absolutly astounded by how much information is out there on this subject. Try google and you will see what I am talking about. It amazes me every day at the new stuff that I learn. I have been working extra hard over the last week in the yard. Raking piles and piles of leaves. Trying to get the yard ready to make our planing beds. We hope to have our seeds planted by mid February. I was told by my neighbor that a good rule of thumb is to have them planted by Good Friday. I asked my mother in law about the planing that she did on the family farm as a child, and she agreed that the Good Friday thing is true. So, I have a lot of work to do still and I am praying whole heartedly that this doesn't flop for me. For those of you that know me, I don't do well with failure. Especially when it is something so close to my heart. And this deffinatly is close to my heart. I keep thinking of all the money we will be saving on our grocery bill every month.

To add to your garden education..wink.. I read about Victory gardens. Back during the world wars, the government asked for everyone to plant their own garden, due to the "regular" food was being shipped overseas to the military. So many people started gardens during that time. It wasn't uncommon for whole towns to plant one garden, one that all of the towns people would eat from. This help the war effors tremendously. So, this Urban Homestead idea really isn't that far fetched.

So, as you can see... my life is going to be very busy over the next few months. Getting settled, teaching the kids, growing a grand garden, and learning all about home making from the olden days. I am taking us back to the "Good ole days" type philosophy around here. If you want to know more, just ask and I will do my best at answering all of your questions.

God Bless,
Jamie