Backwoods Home Magazine

Ever want to know how to medicate cattle, build LED lights or buy the right emergency radio? Found yourself trying to decide whether that pig is the right one for you? Maybe you would like some tips on how to live without electricity? If these are things that interest you, you've got to check out this mag!

A good friend of mine gave me several issues of Backwoods Home magazine a few weeks ago and I've never been the same since. Detailed and extremely well written articles regarding information on animals, self-reliance, homeschooling, recipes, firearms, energy, country living and American history fill the pages of this great homesteading resource.

This publication is the mecca of self-reliance information.

Also, check out their web site for access to some very cool blogs.

The Good Life

If this tantalizing bit of information about us ever got out, news channels would converge on Casita from all over the world. Interviews would be set up with our family and friends who would say "We had no idea! We're utterly flabbergasted!" We would have to walk to the minivan, or as the Black Magic Woman calls it, 'The Uterus on Wheels' with paper bags over our heads. We would inevitably be cornered and forced to confess....we love British sitcoms. 

Yes...it's true. "The Vicar of Dibley" "My Family" "Black Books" to name a few. One of our favorites of all time is "The Good Life" which was broadcast from 1975-1978. There were 30 episodes starring Richard Briers, Felicity Kendal, Penelope Keith and Paul Eddington. 

Basically "The Good Life" or "Good Neighbors" as it was called in the U.S. was about two couples who live next door to each other. Tom Good quits his day job and he and his wife Barbara make an attempt to live completely off the grid in suburbia. Jerry and Margo Ledbetter, the neighbors, are not on board with this adventure. In fact, they are down right horrified. This direction makes for some classic comedy. 

There is a surprising amount of really good homesteading information brilliantly written into the dialog. Some of the story lines include the pig switching scandal, the effluence digester in the cellar and the leek thief. If you are a fan of fine classic comedy and city homesteading, this is your ticket.

For more info on us, click Arizona homestead and homeschool.

Urban Homesteading and Meat

One of the dilemmas facing a city dwelling farmer is how to produce meat. Basically, the question is whether to raise, buy or eliminate meat altogether.

Raising meat is the most attractive option to any homesteading family, however, for obvious reasons, also the most difficult. If your farm is anything like ours, you have your pick from chickens or rabbits. There are a few other candidates that may work such as ducks, goats, pigeons or pigs depending on how much room you have. For rabbits, you would need a set of parents whom you will not slaughter. They should produce about 6-10 babies every 12 weeks. Doing the math, this puts rabbit on the table about once every other week. Not bad. Chickens are not even close to as productive. Using the same formula, you could expect chicken dinners about once every 10 weeks. Of course, the numbers can change dramatically based on the number of animals you keep. Double the parent rabbits or chickens and you will get twice as many dinners.

Buying meat is also a complicated venture for extreme homesteaders. While high quality meat is available at most grocery stores, you really have very little way of knowing anything about where it came from or how it was processed or raised. Usually, you can be sure that it is relatively safe to eat and this may be all that matters to you. If asked, we would say our chickens and rabbit are high quality, but we're a little biased. They eat our leftovers and vegetable scraps, so perhaps they share our nutritional content.

Going vegetarian is great, but anyone who has tried it who was not fully committed to it knows how long meat abstinence lasts. We've tried it a few times with moderate success, however, for reasons unknown to beast and man, we always jump off that wagon at some time or another. For those who have the will power and won't miss the taste of a mouth watering, juicy, salty, meaty, oozing with goodness steak, (you can see where our problems lie), this is likely the best route for the dedicated homesteader.

In the long run, we have resolved to implement all three strategies. Taking the seasons of plenty with the seasons of not-as-much and deciding which best fits our current situation. Adaptation, if you will. It is the way of the urban homesteader.

For more info on us, click Arizona homestead and homeschool.