No excuses in homesteading....right?

    **EDIT**  Someone just pointed this out to me in another group that I belong to that many homesteaders - or those attempting to homestead (or just simplify life like I'm trying to do) have must more to worry about than ceiling fans and paint.   They have drought, predators and wildfires to worry about.   It is a fair criticism.

    I am not belittling those facts.   This blog is only about my adventures and worries.   I may have to deal with those things one day.   If I upset someone because of this piece I am sorry, that was not my intent.   However we are all on our own journey.  This is mine and I decided to share it with you.  

     In the past couple of days Susan and I realized something.   We had goals set for the winter, things that we wanted to accomplish...and for what ever reason, we failed to meet those goals. Even though winter is technically not over yet, the day are getting longer, the weather a little warmer.  We are using our pellet stove a little less, and should have roughly half a ton of pellets left over going into the spring if not more.

    We know that remodeling both the kitchen and the bath are major goals and although we have the money to accomplish one or the other right now, we are holding off for several reasons.  We do have a plan and a mental image of how we want the final product to look.  We also have a pretty good idea on how we want to paint each room of our home.  These are long term goals and are somewhere "down the road".

    It's the little things that we simply have not accomplished.    Here it is, quickly approaching March and the spring and we still have not started as something as simple as whitewashing the fireplace to lighten up our den.  Nor have we manged to put up the ceiling fans we bought months ago  These were goals for the winter.

    We also wanted to do a little painting which did not get accomplished.  

    A lot of things were simply either not thought out or were done incorrectly dating back to our original move, for example, my home office is upstairs in the spare bedroom and we had a huge wooden desk that was for the home computer and its various paperwork into the den because no one wanted to lug it upstairs.  We sold that desk recently and now have all the home PC stuff still in the den, it can be moved upstairs creating one work space.

    A simple sectional couch downstairs would greatly improve our den.  Allowing several people to sit in one spot once Covid ends and we get back to entertaining others.

    Moving things around isn't particularly hard and could be done in less than a day...yet things still sit in the same spots they did when we first moved in.

    Of course we have only been in this home for less than six months, and are finally getting to a place where we are feeling settled in.  Making excuses however does not get anything done, especially now that Susan starts work at a local restaurant later today.   The owner also owns a dairy farm, so I'm hoping for free milk eventually for my cheese's.  I'm not going to lie.

    However part of accepting this lifestyle is realizing that you do have to get off your ass and do things that take you outside of your comfort zone.  That means changing habits.  That means cooking for myself and her after work on some nights.  That means recipes and going it on my own to some extent.  For example even though nearly everything came out of a bag or can tonight, I made a meat sauce and added some crushed fresh garlic, hot sauce and just a tad of sugar to sweeten to taste. I added a pinch of asafoetida to heighten some of the savory favors of the mushroom ravioli.   Surprisingly, everything worked well together  I was rather proud of myself. 

 

    The only thing that I could think of that would have made the dish a little better was some of my homemade ricotta or feta cheese added to the dish at the very end.    

    As for tomorrow supper, I've no idea yet, however it will probably be some sort of burger, and I found a recipe for seasoned fries with beet garlic mayo that sounds interesting.  I've no idea where to get beet powder however.  

   

    Even something as simple as our garden, which I had big plans for, has been slowly scaled back.  Now it appears to be nothing more than a container garden like we had back in Florida, but on a slightly bigger scale.   A couple of tomato plants, a zucchini or two, onions, peppers, carrots and garlic in the fall.  We are planning on doing strawberries at least as well.  

    Where I was hoping to can some of the excess yield, I have a feeling this will be with friends of ours that have been doing the homesteading thing a lot longer than us.

    "Baby steps" I remind myself.  It's best to learn the basics before jumping off the deep end, if you want to be successful in the long run...you master the basics first.

    I know I call myself a "city mouse in the country" but that's not exactly true.   I do like it out here in the country.  I like the quiet and listening to the birds flutter about in the woods.   I like that deer have eaten from my bird feeders outside my back door.   So much so that I recently bout them a bag of deer corn and placed it in my bird bath.   

    I like that my whole back yard was lit up just by the moon last night and looking out over my neighbor's field from my front porch.

    This "city mouse" has a lot to learn still, and he's getting there, but he's glad he's here. 

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