Very sad to read about

This saddens me to no other...to see a farm that is over 300 years old (the nations oldest farm) being sold because they can't keep up with the industrialized food chain is heartbreaking. I wish people would educate themselves and learn that the food you buy at wal-mart, target etc. is not healthy for you! I sometimes wonder if anyone even knows what a fresh of the vine veggie taste like...I'm sure most would think it tasted like it was bad or something...heartbreaking....maybe Food Inc. should be on every single tv station so that people can get a glimpse into what they are eating!

http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2010/07/27/nations_oldest_running_family_farm_put_on_market_in_nh/?page=full

The garden is growing very nicely!!!!

Keeping the dream alive...continued

So the other day I wrote how Chad and I want to some day have land and live off the land rather then off the big corporations we all live off of now. To many people rely on the big corp. for food, but as the economy has fallen some have turned to growing their own food. Chad and I love that more and more people are doing this! To grow your own food is so empowering, you become one with nature and there is nothing more rewarding then being tuned into nature and with animals. Your stress levels seem to simply dwindle away and for a moment time seems to stop cold. To Chad and I it feels so good to get our hands dirty and do manual labor!


Now more about our dream, that I love sharing with people. We are vigorously working to find a way to buy some land. Our goal is to live off the land and to live off the grid with a few modern twist of coarse. Now I know to some people this is just so bizarre why would someone want to go back and live like the pioneers did. Well for some it’s the simple life that they love, but it’s not for everyone. Chad & I have always loved how our pioneers lived and how hard they worked! Chad and I have so many ideas on how we will accomplish our goals and so many dreams that I don’t think they will all happen in this lifetime….lol but here are a few things Chad and I plan to use or do to lesson our carbon footprint on this earth!

-We plan to use solar energy for power, kerosene lanterns and a gas stove so I can preserve our bounty.

-Heating will be with a wood stove

-We will have as many hand-powered appliances as possible.

-Conserving gray water for watering the garden etc.

-Raise our own animals for dairy, eggs and meat.

-We will be making our own bath soap etc.

-We plan to buy second hand furniture.

-We also plan to have a metal roof coated with sand put on our house.

-We are going to be building a Cob Earth Oven to cook in.





Well this list could go on and on, on what we want to accomplish by living green and being self sufficient. I think most of you get the idea though.



For now Chad and I will keep praying our dream comes true.

Trying to keep the dream alive

As most of you know Chad and I's dream is to one day have a farm and be self sufficient. Well as we have been vigorously looking for property all over Utah we sometimes think "man this will never happen" land right now is hit and miss you have to look everyday for new listings and act quick if you want a fighting chance for them too. Some days are tough to were we feel we should just give up and maybe look again in a few years, but we keep telling ourselves no that is not the option if we want this dream to happen then we must push for it until we have it! To some we may sound so silly but we really want to take a step back in time and live like our pioneer families did in the past....with a few modern twist such as solar power for electricity we will still be using oil lanterns most of the time....we also want to build a cob earth oven to cook in...heating will be with a wood burning stove and well many other pioneer ways that are just so long to list. I know some people especially some of our family think that we are so silly for wanting to do this "why live like that when you can run down to the store and get it, or there is a reason we don't live like that anymore" well to Chad and I we are trying to lighten our carbon footprint we leave on this earth. If you visit www.pathtofreedom.com you will get a real sense of how Chad and I want to live, but with more land the Dervaes family is so inspiring to us! They live pretty much exactly like Chad and I want to live!! OFF THE GRID!!!! I would also like to be more feminine don't get me wrong I will always be a tom boy, but I think its time for me to soften up a bit and I love the dress and apron that our pioneer ancestors wore...the women were strong and could do anything they wanted, but they were also feminine!

To some this is just something to laugh at, but what are we hurting by wanting to live our life like this?

I have to run so I will get into more details tomorrow:)

Father's Day

Yesterday was Father's Day and while we all wanted to have the daddy's have an amazing day we were all sadly reminded that it was the 1 year anni. of when we lost our dear Logan. We know Logan was called home early because he had far to many bigger jobs to do with God then he could do down here. I think sometimes we never understand God's way which I think we aren't suppose to fully understand anyway, its just hard sometimes. Logan we all love and miss you so much!!!

Its been awhile

Wow I haven't posted anything new for over 3 weeks now, so I thought I better get to updating. There really isn't anything new for us. We have been really really busy with yard work and getting the garden all planted and trying to keep it alive (we have had some strange weather this year so its been a task) so far this year we have already harvested radishes, arugula and spinach. This year we have also had to move to the front yard because even after we extended our garden we still just couldn't quite fit everything we wanted. So we now have 12 tomato plants in the front yard (we will see if our house gets tomato'ed or if they just get stolen) in the front we also have a row of radishes, carrots and two rows of green beans..Chad also was sneaky and snuck in a few things of corn here and there...lol Non of this counts the full garden we have! In it we have planted peas, spinach, green onions, carrots, radishes, arugula, Romain lettuce, garlic, onions, 3 rows of corn, tomatoes galor 32 plants to be exact, potatoes, zucchini, eggplant, 25 bell pepper plants, jalapenos, cucumbers, artichoke, asparagus, blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries (red & golden) and herbs all over the place! Did you get lost in that list? I better get my canning gear ready come August and September!

You are all probably wondering why we are planting so much food, well Chad and I would like to one day be self-sufficient and on a farm! We are also learning to eat in season and if we can't grow it ourselves, then we are trying to buy local. If you haven't seen Food Inc. then I highly recommend you watch it! Be AWARE however that you may go out back and in front and dig up your grass to have more space for planting and growing your own vegetables and fruit! Chad and I enjoy growing and working hard for our food that it is so rewarding to us rather then a chore for some...there is nothing better then walking out to the garden, picking fresh produce and then walking 30 feet back inside and eating it! Or on a sat. morning working in the quiet garden with a cup of coffee before the sun rises completely...that in itself is rewarding enough for me!

Lastly to update you on is our animal's:) We have extended the outside chicken coop to make room for the ducks and their pool. They will be going outside at the end of this month.
I have also been trying to talk Chad into letting me get two pygmy goats..he isn't completely convinced about having them yet (he would like to wait for more property) but I am sure I can convince him soon enough:) Our path to self-sustainability is slowly coming in swing! Now if there just a charity to help us raise money for land! LMAO

3 Years Ago!!!

3 Years ago today we were married!!! I can't believe its been 3 years already!! Time flies by so fast, we are each others best friends and are more in love now then I ever thought possible! In 3 wonderful years of marriage we have added many things to our family...we have Sieger (our first born) Diesel (our second) Sadie (our newest rescued addition this year) 15 chickens, and 4 ducks! Our lives have changed so much that I often look back and can't remember what our old lives use to be like. Chad has went from a total punk with a mo hawk to a total cowboy...I know I know one extreme to the next right? However I think he has always been a cowboy at heart...hahaha

Anyway I can't wait to spend a nice weekend alone with my hubby!!! We have some really sweet plans:) We are staying a night at the Homestead in Midway and also going Horseback riding!!! We haven't been able to do anything like this for any other anniversaries (lack of funds lol) so we are more then ecstatic to have fun this weekend:)  Here is to the next 50 Hubby!!! LOVES!!!!