Ready, set, wait

In an earlier post I described homesteading as 50% washing dishes. I'd say the other half is about 10% doing stuff and 40% waiting around for things to grow. To "start homesteading" is more of a mental activity than a physical one. Before picking up a shovel there is a lot to mull over. Most importantly, you have to figure out your vision for your homestead. What do you want to produce? What skills do you need to develop? What tools/materials do you need to acquire? It also helps to identify your "why(s)" to get you through the drama. There will be drama.

You can't possibly DO homesteading in a day, a weekend, or even a month, and one can very easily get stuck in this "thinking" stage without actually taking any action, but eventually you just have to pick one thing to start on. Or you can be like me and try to do a few things at once - probably not the smartest decision, but it's an adrenaline rush. You do you.

My own homestead vision:

• Grow all or most of our fruits, vegetables, herbs, and eggs

• Try producing some grain crops like rice and dent corn (I don't have high hopes)... alternatively, buy in bulk from organic/local-ish growers, purchasing grains whole and doing my own milling

• Do all of my own food "processing" - condiments, cheeses, pasta, breads, etc.

• Supply some of our own meat/seafood from hunting and fishing

• Cook at home rather than relying on restaurants or other pre-packaged convenience

  
  

It's actually overwhelming just to write all that down, but they say it's an important step to write out your goals. I like to daydream about some day in the future when the homestead is built up, systems are in place, multiple crops are steadily producing, skills are developed, and I have found some sort of rhythm to maintain it all. Starting anything, especially a giant project like this, is the hardest part.

Currently, I'm staring at a few thousand square feet of weeds with a few baby crops struggling to impress me. My chicks will be freeloading without providing eggs for another 4 months or more. I have several immature fruit trees in containers that I need to plant somewhere and more I want to acquire. And I still have to learn how to mill flour, make pasta, make all the cheeses, and remember how to use my canner. I have to remind myself that I'm in this for the long-haul, and I will eventually get around to all of my plans (or I'll decide to toss them out), and that is totally enough.

The things I'm focused on right now are getting perennials (fruit trees, but also sugarcane, cassava, and others) established, planting out my annual beds, and cooking more regularly. Every day I try to spend at least an hour in the gardens, which is both exhausting and fun, but it's also seasonal. Winter in Florida is the very best time to garden - for the plants as well as the humans!

Cooking is probably the one thing I have going for me as a homesteader. I've always been adventurous when it comes to kitchen endeavors. There have been many mishaps, as my family can attest, but it's also meant that I've developed a lot of useful skills and confidence in the culinary realm. I've made lots of usually-store-bought things from scratch - breads of all sorts, corn and flour tortillas, salad dressings, pesto, mayonnaise, tamales, broths, cakes, ice cream, and even marshmallows!

If cooking is my "strength", I'd say one of my weaknesses is being realistic with my time. There have been countless nights when we ate a very gourmet creation for dinner on a weeknight...after 10pm. Many more nights we would just get takeout because I didn't plan ahead or didn't set aside the time and energy to cook.

Rather than trying to expand my kitchen repertoire too much right now, I'm just trying to get into the habit of actually cooking every night and keeping the kitchen clean and tidy so that it's always ready for the next meal.

I've done pretty good this past week! Monday we went out for dinner, but Tuesday I made chicken salad with homemade salad dressing (copycat Olive Garden Italian dressing). Wednesday I made a beef stew with potatoes and [locally-grown] Seminole pumpkin with homemade drop biscuits (first time making these, and they were SO good and EASY!). Thursday I made fish tacos with homemade corn tortillas. And tonight I made pasta with pesto and scallops that we caught ourselves a few months ago.

I'm choosing not to badger myself over the fact that it was store-bought pesto, and I didn't make the pasta. My basil plants are about the size of my pinky nail right now. I'll get there. Baby steps. Looking forward to knocking my own socks off with homemade pesto someday soon. Homemade pesto made from just-harvested basil is life-altering. It's that good. I like to use pistachios in leu of pine nuts!

Last night I was working by headlamp getting seeds started in my propagation area. I don't even remember what all I planted. I was just throwing in a bunch of random things and labeling as I went. I remember there were some peppers, ground cherries, kale, broccoli, and native wildflowers.

Today I trimmed back the unruly lemongrass (confined to a bed surrounded by concrete...it will take over!) and pulled tons of weeds. Not too glamorous, but it's gotta be done.

Tomorrow we are planning a big yard/garden clean-up day. I'm hoping to get my fruit trees and other things in the ground. I'll take some photos around the homestead for my next post. One plant project that is going pretty well so far is my strawberry tower. About 2 weeks ago I planted 45 strawberry plants (all of the little cells in the tower) and then planted marigolds and green onions in the top. One of the 45 strawberries died, so I replanted it today to not have a "dead cell". Perfectionism runs deep.