Where to Buy a Lots of Live Ladybugs for My Garden in Yuba City California
Star Modern Homesteaders of 2013
By Staff
Star 2013 Modern Homesteaders
We asked our resourceful readers to nominate friends and family for our second annual MOTHER EARTH NEWS Homesteaders of the Year contest. We found ourselves getting more inspired with each family's story, whether they were installing their own solar panels and food gardens, raising livestock, homeschooling their families or teaching their communities. You can read about the winning homesteaders who are featured in Community-Building and Self-Reliance: Our 2013 Homesteaders of the Year. In addition, we've collected many of the nominations we received as additional inspiration for those of you looking to get started homesteading or looking for kindred spirits. For our full collection of yearly nominees and winners, see our Star Modern Homesteaders page. We think you'll enjoy reading each family's unique story as much as we did. We hope you'll find yourself contemplating how to build an Earthship or plant an orchard of your own.
Our Homesteaders of the Year contest runs in conjunction with International Homesteading Education Month, which we co-sponsor with Grit magazine each September. Share your skills with others by registering to host a homesteading workshop and posting it to our year-round, searchable event listing, or by listing yourself in our online speaker finder. Plus, you can find and attend the events going on in your area or seek out a speaker on a topic you're interested in. For even more exciting, hands-on learning, attend a MOTHER EARTH NEWS FAIR, where you can meet our Homesteaders of the Year face-to-face.
If you know a family that fits the bill, tell us about them! Send a 500-word description of a friend, family member or neighbor you think deserves to be one of our honored homesteaders to Letters@MotherEarthNews.com with the subject line "Homesteaders of the Year." Don't forget to include several photos.
Angela Baker
Oregon
In eighth grade, I met a tall girl from Texas who had a big fancy bag I'd never heard of. We quickly grew to be best friends. Adulthood reached us and we moved apart — Angela to Grinnell College to study biology, and I to find my own way in life. Angela started married life in St Louis; she and her husband had the first of their four children. They had a small urban apartment whose balcony had little room for growing food. She didn't let that small space stop her. Angela saw potential in an abandoned field behind their building. She put a guerilla vegetable garden there, thus beginning the principles of her permaculture life. When they moved to Portland, Ore., they purchased a bungalow on a weedy quarter-acre. They quickly sheet mulched the yard. Angela's goal was to feed her family affordably and organically while renewing the earth and maintaining sustainability. Her children are learning about science and permaculture while sharing the fruits of their labor. Frugality and the value of hard work are part of the homeschooled education she gives them. During this process Angela realized that she wanted to document and share with her family and friends the ways and whys of what she was doing. She created Salt of the Earth Urban Farm blog and complimenting Facebook page to share her stories and photos. Angela quickly had many followers listening to her gardening tips, news blurbs and recipes from her crafty, homeschooled farm family. Angela's passions for teaching, growing food frugally and sharing with the community led her to start teaching classes at their farm. Through the local food bank Birch Community Services (BCS) she offers free workshops on poultry husbandry, sheet mulching, garlic growing and more. She gives participants free starts and cuttings she propagates. She equips low-income families with skills to increase their food security. She volunteers their farm as a Teaching Garden for BCS. The garden is also used as a "feeding garden." For BCS, Angela grows and donates more that 1,500 pounds per year of organic food on a budget of less than $400. Her goal for 2013 is at least 2,000 pounds for the same budget or less. Angela deserves to be The Homesteader of the Year. She provides education and energy to her community. Her publications in This Old House, Sunset Magazine and the Oregonian are ways that she has been proven time and time again that her knowledge should be shared with the world. She works hard to replenish the Earth and sustain her family on a limited income. She helps care for those around her with home-baked meals, seedlings and education. Angela's gift of teaching and her ability to generate excitement for the permaculture lifestyle is something worthy of recognition. Her life has been dedicated to helping empower and feed hungry families in Portland. Ohio I would like to nominate my nephew, Baron, and his wife, Jamie, for Homesteaders of the Year. They have learned to live off the land at their homestead in Brimfield, Ohio. They have four children: Soren, Ammon, Kiedis and Odessa; and they have taught their older boys responsibility and self-sufficiency through raising animals and completing 4-H projects. The family has a large plot of land that they tend in order to sustain their needs and supplement their income. The family grows organic produce that they sell at a farmers market every Saturday morning along with sprouts and baked goods that Jamie makes. They raise chickens and sell the eggs, as well as raise and sell birds for meat. Sometimes we are the lucky recipients of their free-range chicken or fresh eggs when we are in town visiting. Baron also raises, slaughters, and processes his own pigs. The boys have observed and helped with this grueling process. The pigs each receive names and are pets until the fateful day, but the kids are not traumatized because they have learned about the circle of life and where the food they eat comes from. Jamie is an amazing woman, and I have learned a lot from her about living simply. She's a vegetarian and makes sure that her family eats only wholesome, homegrown foods. She makes her own soap and uses only natural cleaning products. She delivered all four of her children naturally at home using a midwife, except when her daughter was born and there was no time for the midwife to arrive. Instead, Baron had to "catch" the baby as Jamie stood in the living room during delivery, and then their oldest son cut the umbilical cord. The whole family was present to see the birth of their only daughter/sister. Jamie saves money by using cloth diapers, breast feeding even as the children reach an advanced age and making her own baby food. She works hard as a full-time mom and caretaker of their homestead, but I have never heard her complain! Baron also impresses me with the carpentry skills that he learned from his grandfather and some skills that were self-taught. The home where they now live was just a small, dilapidated house until Baron used his carpentry skills to renovate it into a cozy home for his family of six. The only income the family receives comes from the jobs Baron gets to renovate other properties. The whole family has learned how to use their hands and how to work the land in order to have a free and productive life. It is amazing to see how content and happy their family is living with fewer material goods and less technology. They live closer to the land and get more of their enjoyment from being outdoors and interacting with the earth! Oregon In 2003, my husband Christopher and I began looking for a place to live self-reliantly and teach and learn from others on the same path. In 2004, after searching England, New Zealand, Hawaii and the Pacific Northwest coast, we left our beautiful home on the Monterey Bay and settled at the northern-most coastal tip of Oregon. Here we found water, a small cohesive progressive community, and three acres that matched much of the checklist that we early retired newlyweds could afford. We named it Earth Haven. A former student of Peak Oil guru Richard Heinberg, my husband isell aware of the looming shortage of fossil fuels. A trained solar technician and Industrial Design engineer in California, he set about insuring our self-reliance through solar, wind, conservation, all sorts of Appropriate Technology buildings and tools (We have five scythes!), rainwater catchment systems, a garden, greenhouses and orchards. I began creating educational and community outreach programs, raising chickens and organizing our finances. In 2005, we hosted a West Coast Lifeboat Conference and founded a 501c3 educational nonprofit, the Titanic Lifeboat Academy. We attended many workshops, joined a "Petroholics Anonymous" community awareness group, and put in hundreds of "people hours" in speaking engagements in the Pacific Northwest. We produced 40 episodes of The Lifeboat Show, a half-hour radio program where we interviewed Dr. William Rees, Richard Heinberg, Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury, Kevin Danaher and others including local people creating sustainable solutions. We train interns from the U.S., Canada and England, one at a time in an intensive three-week course. We offer work-study retreats as introductions to the off-grid modern homestead lifestyle, and we've developed an incredible library of books, articles, magazines (like MOTHER EARTH NEWS!) and documentaries which help peel back the layers of domesticated conditioning. Each year we challenge our community and friends with our October "Green Fest", a one-month test for unplugging, letting go and trying out an off-the-grid, self-reliant lifestyle. Each year we learn more and fill in more gaps. Community members have tried public transportation, given up plastic, become vegetarian, cut electrical use and other personal experiments for the month. I founded a "Holiday Gifts Fair" based on donations made to local nonprofits in honor of friends and family. With an incredible group of area young people, we started a local time bank. We also volunteer with several emergency preparedness groups throughout our area, which we see as an approach to community resilience and self-reliance that appeals to a wider audience. Meanwhile, we continue putting in approximately 30-hours-per-week of research into current problems and ancient remedies while searching for ways to communicate the urgency of these changes. There's so much to relearn! Our chickens, ducks, goats, horse, dog, cat, trees, plants and wild plants and animals have been some our best teachers. Hands in the soil, close, respectful work with other species, and intensive relearning is our living prescription! Hello MOTHER EARTH NEWS, I wanted to drop you a line and tell you about my family's life. I am a 32-year-old fellow with a wife and two small kids. We live in the same small community that I was raised in. I grew up on 50 acres, and was raised by very old-fashioned parents. My father, being in his 80s now, has shown me how to accomplish just about anything I would have a need for. We grow and sell vegetables to supply the community with fresh produce. We make sugar cane syrup (this was my 17th year making it myself) and we grind our own meal and flour with a grist mill. We raise our own meat cows, pigs, quail, rabbit and chickens as well as our own crops for canning, dehydrating and freezing. We save all of our seed for the next year. We have farm-raised fish, three stocked ponds and honey bees. My wife and I built our 1,500-square-foot home out of logs that I cut down and sawed into lumber. We have a modern home that we have invested a lot of time in; we've done all of the work ourselves. We are starting a high tunnel crop this year with a 30-by-72-foot tunnel. We also have solar panels from Harbor Freight for the house to run the lights. I do everything myself, and over the years this has allowed for some big savings. My wife and I decided to live a simple life by not taking things for granted that God wanted us to have. I am a small country preacher, that pays our bills and we're able to save some too. I have mastered a lot of trades, including electricity, mechanical, carpentry, locksmith, welding, plumbing and farming and I'm learning blacksmithing now. These skills make it easy to pick up a little cash when necessary. We didn't want to have a huge debt that we would have to work our lives to pay off and never enjoy the simple things, like watching our kids grow up to live healthy lives. Americans go so far to support their families with jobs, and to have STUFF, that they actually take their time and support away from the family. We took the TV out of our house and enjoy reading and doing things that mean life to our family. So many people have no clue what life is all about, but when you feel the soil in your hands, eat what you planted and butcher your own meat, you realize what life is really about — being self-sustained. Mississippi I would like to nominate Mike and Alison Buehler of Starkville, Miss., for the 2013 Homesteaders of the Year. I had never heard of the term "homesteader" until I met this amazing couple. Their tireless efforts have made quite an impact on our community. When trying to find the words to describe all that the Buehlers have accomplished over the last few years I decided that the best thing to do would be to submit some of their blog entries … "I always wanted to be Laura Ingalls Wilder. I read every book and watched every episode as a kid, and I guess it stuck. My family decided to start the Mississippi Modern Homestead Center when one too many friends stood in our garden and said, "Y'all should teach this stuff." This "stuff" includes all the things we have learned over the past six years as we transformed our home and 5 acres into a modern homestead, including, chickens, orchards, vegetable gardens, a greenhouse, solar panels and a cistern and grey-water system. Mississippi is rich with practical know-how, but much of that information has been lost in an era of cheap energy and convenience. The purpose of the Homestead Center is to help Mississippians rediscover self-sufficiency skills by combining the best of our past knowledge with our current improvements and technologies. "The Homestead Center is on 6 acres of lakefront property located one-and-a-half miles west of the Wal-Mart in Starkville. There is a big kitchen with a walk-out, screened-in porch for nutrition and cooking classes, a large meeting space with a view of the gardens and lake, an art space dedicated to all things messy, and a children's education classroom with an attached greenhouse. "We want people to be able to travel for activities, workshops, and events as needed. We are turning the five bedrooms into various sleeping arrangements, including two family rooms, two bunk rooms and a single room with additional pull-out beds available. Three primitive campsites are also in the works for the coming year, along with a compost toilet. The Homestead Center is partially powered by a solar array. "We have chickens, bees, an orchard, two teaching gardens, gray water, rain catchment, compost systems and more than a mile of nature trails. There is a dock for catch-and-release fishing, several boats to paddle around the lake and plenty of comfortable outdoor seating. Wildlife is everywhere. Deer, beavers, cranes, turtles, rabbits and the occasional fox all make appearances at the Homestead. We call it Big House in the Little Woods. When we can reuse old materials to make something, we do. When we find technology that allows us to be more self-sufficient, we use it too. Our goal is to provide a place where we can recover fading traditions and share important knowledge right here in Mississippi with the people and place we love." New York In 2009, I moved from my one-bedroom Brooklyn apartment to a sprawling 65-acre property called Better Farm along the New York-Canadian border. Purchased by my uncle in 1970, the "farm" was actually a hippie commune that was largely defunct by the late 90s. When he passed away and left me the property, I seized the opportunity to ditch cubicle culture for the homesteading life. I was 27 years old. By the following year, I'd adopted two puppies, a handful of chickens, and turned the empty farmhouse into a sustainability campus. Better Farm rebranded itself as an education center and artists' colony where people from across the globe could study and create alongside each other. I installed organic vegetable, fruit, and herb gardens and a 70-gallon aquaponics setup. I converted the two-story hay barn into a 1,400-square-foot gallery and studio space and created applications for artist residencies and a sustainability education program. Although Better Farm was nestled into a sleepy community of only 500 people, I didn't want it to stand on its own. So I became an active member — and later president of —the neighborhood association. I joined a young businesspersons' association, the local chamber of commerce and several agricultural groups. I also signed Better Farm up for every local community outreach activity I could. Our students and artists were suddenly helping out with repainting the local post office, installing interactive mural spaces at area events, hosting free music festivals for the public, helping to build a community greenhouse for the town and participating in farmers' markets. Better Farm has been a temporary home to more than 100 people from all over the world, who in being here became more knowledgeable about practical sustainability. Because each person who comes through Better Farm pays their new skills forward after leaving — sharing what they've learned with their family and friends in the suburbs, city, or country — it's hard to tell exactly how many people we've reached. But speaking for myself as a former city girl, I've come a long way from attempting to sprout spinach plants on my windowsill. I can construct rainwater catchment systems, map a garden and compost — then teach how to do the same. I've joined Better Farm's visitors and residents in gardening with mulch, gardening vertically, and gardening aquaponically. To date, we've raised 36 chickens, built three mobile chicken tractors, created a greenhouse from discarded windows that neighbors donated and started an earthship out of tires. Instead of getting Chinese takeout around the corner, I'm canning and preserving. Instead of running down city blocks, I've learned how to track deer and forage for edible wild plants. I'm easing the house off its unsustainable power grid, renovating and building with green materials. I miss the allure of urban life; the subways, the museums, the diversity of New York City. But I can no longer imagine what it would be like to wake up without hearing the sounds of birds; to lie outside at night and not see a blanket of stars in the sky. I can't imagine not growing my own food or being in the woods on a regular basis. To go without living intentionally and more simply seems a sacrilege. I've become more literal in the last few years. For the first time in my life I feel that I am of the earth and in the earth; that the less literal thing is the rat race and the grind. I worship the dirt, I worship the water. I exalt the holy seedlings. I relish the patterns of weather and the changing seasons. North Carolina I am taking the liberty of nominating myself — my urban homestead, that is — for 2013 Homesteader of the Year. Just five years ago, my tiny property in central Asheville, N.C., was a slab of hard pack clay; my husband and I had purchased a long-vacant property of 3,900-square-feet and were in the process of building a house of poplar bark there. Today the landscape contains numerous fruit-bearing trees, grape vines and berry bushes, roses with edible hips, dozens of annual and perennial vegetables, wildflower species and cold-hardy culinary herbs. The "Bark House" homestead shows that even when animal husbandry is not suitable for constricted urban spaces, the intensive four-season cultivation and heavy reliance on flowers to boost pollination pays off in farm-sized yields. This richly landscaped garden produces food year round, and fruit juice from the yard has won a blue ribbon at North Carolina's Mountain State Fair. Most recently, in 2012, the seven gallons of crabapple fruit from my two young trees produced two gallons of pure, cold-pressed crabapple juice; half was pasteurized and canned, half became a fermented hard cider. Delicious! Some of the homestead's crops are for eating, and some are for drinking. The yard has contributed ingredients for juices, wines and meads, syrups and teas. Some crops are frozen, some dehydrated. All of this bounty is produced organically, without any need to spray for pests. Thanks to some interesting properties of the chemical-free poplar bark exterior cladding on the house, the garden is super healthy and quite resistant to pests and diseases. Various bees and wasps have settled around the cozy material; they pollinate heavily and, in the case of wasps, also consume damaging cabbage worms and other insects but pose no threat to humans. There is no birdfeeder at this homestead. Rather, the whole garden is planted to attract birds, and there is also a birdbath kept full to provide water for their drinking and grooming. The birds, too, eat insects and help keep the homestead naturally pest free. By the successful example set here at the Bark House, I hope to inspire other city dwellers to explore ways to grow much more of their own food and beverages as they introduce beauty into the neighborhood street scene. Pennsylvania Ken Clark describes himself as a lazy dairy farmer. That is his rationale for designing an innovative, strikingly simple and unique setup for his 150-acre dairy farm. He worked with two New Zealand consultants when he designed a new way to be a dairy farmer. There is no barn; the cows are milked in an immaculate outside milking parlor that overlooks the woods and rolling green fields. This milking parlor gleams with the materials he used to build it, which include a lot of shiny, non-rusting stainless steel. He has wintering woods for the cows on cold days. He does not have a manure spreader — he doesn't need one. The cows are totally grass feed in his lush rotating pastures. He milks his cows once a day and dries them off for three to four months a year. He also lets his calves nurse 9 to 12 weeks before weaning them. At age 64, he knew he wanted a dairy farm that he could manage in his older age and one that had a more natural strategy (no hormones). His 43 mixed-bred Jersey cows do not have that hallowed-out bony look that you see in lots of dairy herds; covered with manure and mud. Ken's cows look to be brimming with health. He says the cost of farming for him is greatly reduced with less electricity and grain planting machinery — no need for monster tractors. Managing the resources of the earth and the cows are his basic tools and costs — plus his ability to notice and keep an intuitive eye on how his cows are doing, and what they might need to stay healthy and productive. Ken also built a radiant heated (propane) machinery building where he can work on fixing up antique tractors and store his hay-making machinery for feeding in the winter months. This space is also used for a side business for additional income. His equally talented wife, Anita, is in charge of the garden and canning. They grow their own meat and, of course, have some of the best tasting (and healthiest) milk around. With smalldairy farms becoming a dying breed in the U.S., I think it's important to salute Ken and Anita Clark for their unique and thoughtful self-sufficient dairy farm. These days, most people don't want a job that is as demanding as being a dairy farmer. When the utter is full of milk — you have got to milk. You can't decide to take a day off. Ken says he is lazy, but a better way of describing Ken and Anita is hardworking, innovative Pennsylvania Peasants. Tennessee Larry and Misty Cluck have been homesteading most of their lives. They are members of the Mennonite Community in middle Tennessee and know first-hand the trials and tribulations of doing it the right way. Larry and Misty began their lives together in 1996 and it's been a blessing ever since. The family consists of Larry, Misty and their children Indica, Serenity, Whisper and Timber. Misty homeschools the children and gives them the best of practical and book learning. Her day starts early, between 5 and 6 a.m.; milking the cow, starting the wood stove and bringing in wood, eggs and milk from the early morning chores. She isn't alone because the children help in completing the tasks at hand. Indica, the eldest daughter, claimed the milking as her job; the cow seems to agree. Then it's breakfast cooked on a woodstove with filling, organic foods. Misty and Larry live off grid. They have an extensive solar generated system and battery back-ups that would make any off-grid enthusiast envious. The Clucks are avid hunters and can skin and clean a deer in no time flat. Misty, Indica and all the ladies of the family can shoot just as well as the patriarch of the family. They also trap and forage. Misty and Larry treat the children and themselves with homemade remedies. Larry and Misty have recently started their own small greenhouse complete with a woodstove heater. They garden through most of the winter and enjoy winter-hearty produce through the coldest of times. They are a healthy, happy lot. Lessons of the day can combine rabbits skinned, chickens plucked and hides tanned. The Clucks have compassionate hearts and the church is an important part of their lives.They give thanks to the maker for all he has provided and praise God daily. Misty gives credit to the Mennonite community and has often made videos with members of the community on how to make homemade soaps and other household items. The children's favorite mode of 4-wheeling is riding their horses. The girls take them through the hills and it provides them with an outlet. Misty encourages the girls to step up and learn everything that it takes to run a homestead. Misty and Larry are Internet savvy. They have a Facebook account under the name Misty Cluck and a YouTube channel. They make some informative, interesting videos that show the easiest way to cook, bake, chop wood, make butter, teach children, butcher, preserve, can and pickle. Smoking isn't just a hobby to them, but a way to preserve their hams, sausages and bacon. Misty even has her own recipes. She will gladly share them with anyone wanting to message her on Facebook. She will demonstrate how to bake biscuits on top of the woodstove and show how to grill pork from freshly-slaughtered hogs. Always with a smile on her face, she goes to a whole new level of homestead cuisine. Bartering is a way of life for Larry and Misty. For instance, when they needed extra hay for the winter they raised and cared for a motherless calf which they traded to a neighbor for the hay they needed. Larry is a cornucopia of wise and thrifty traditions and, as with Misty, will share his solutions or suggestions to anyone who asks. He is a hard worker and is camera shy. You won't see a picture of him, but he's the man behind the camera and the editor of the videos that they prolifically produce. They learned through the years that to be prepared is to be able to weather the worst case scenario. They have enough food and provisions stored by to last them for months. Whatever the winds throw at them they can handle. The children don't seem to mind this life, and if fact they are thriving. What more can you ask for? Life is good. The sun rises on them with a half day's work behind them and goes down with more than a half days work yet to complete. But they do it with a cheerful heart, knowing that their way is the simple, honest way. California Sarah Cuthill of Frühlingskabine Micro-Farm is the most energetic, enthusiastic and inventive young homesteader to be found in all of Tuolumne County, California. After her daughter arrived, and with no agricultural background, Sarah and her husband whole-heartedly took to organic gardening, egg production, rabbitry and beekeeping. Using a quarter-acre urban lot, Sarah has continued to learn skills and apply methods of self-sufficiency. She built most of the farm enclosures with materials on-hand. They caught a feral honeybee swarm for their hive and even reared a honeybee queen. The honey harvest has been strained and has a most wonderful flavor. Sarah has researched and embraced bio-intensive vegetable gardening and has harvested the produce planted with organic seeds. She also constructed a cob oven for outdoor baking and discovered how to make sourdough yeast from just flour and water. Some of her experiences have been a bit of a surprise, such as when the fruit juice and ginger bug turned into wine. She finally made naturally carbonated soda from ginger root and sugar — it was quite tasty! In the past two years, Sarah has successfully bred and raised six Angora rabbit litters. In some instances she has hand-fed the kits the mother rabbit was ignoring. In hot weather, containers of ice were placed in the rabbit cages to keep them comfortable. Attending a workshop, she learned the science of butchering rabbits for meat and tanning the pelts. She also uses the beautiful Angora rabbit wool for spinning and wool felting. The chickens produced enough eggs to sell to others, and that coveres the cost of feed during the summer and fall. Now with more experience and knowledge, all the animals and fowls have been transitioned from commercial pellets to fresh sprouted fodder. The Cuthills also gather their own firewood for heat and baking in the cob oven. Sarah certainly is an outstanding example of what can be accomplished in urban farming. She is willing to research, learn and try many ways of being more self-sufficient in this modern world. Sarah shares her experiences (good and bad) through her blog and is ever willing to help others get started and learn new ways of self-sufficient living. This example of Sarah's experiences will surely be an encouragement to many other young adults who are interested in this subject. Oklahoma I would like to nominate LaTosha and Brandon Dinsmore for Homesteader of the Year because of how much they've learned, how far they've come, how hard they work and how much energy they put into every one of their endeavors. They truly are aiming for a simple life of self-reliance, while at the same time working to build stronger ties between themselves and others in the surrounding rural communities. From day one this young married couple soaked up everything they possibly could from old-timers, neighbors, and anyone else that would sit for a few minutes to share their knowledge. I've talked with them at great length, and have learned that even though they lived in the big city for a time, they really do love living in the country. Brandon and LaTosha have been raising chickens for about a year and they seem to honestly love those birds, as Brandon is outside with them constantly — improving this or rebuilding that. LaTosha is like the head doctor of the place, as she takes care of any of the injured birds. She even coordinated a rescue effort when someone flipped their truck into the ditch near their home and was badly hurt. She managed to make sure he was alright the entire trip into town, which took them about 45 minutes. Brandon was able to grow a decent garden when he first got out here, but this year what he's doing is just impressive, to say the least. He has really learned a lot about the lay of the land, what to plant where, when to plant it, and how to support it once it starts to grow. He's even talked about getting some 25-year-old crowder peas to grow that were handed down from a few generations in LaTosha's family. It will be something to see when they harvest those! Brandon and LaTosha have built things which, while small, are still great accomplishments. The more they do this sort of thing, the more they'll learn and the more they'll grow. I think they would be more deserving of this award than myself, because they absolutely love this magazine and I'm just an old-timer that likes to watch others from the back fence lines. Brandon is always talking about how MOTHER EARTH NEWS and other publications from the same company are chock-full of great tips. He will frequently offer me some bit of learned wisdom that goes right over my head, but helps me out later in a hurry. I really do appreciate your magazine for that. If I hadn't met Brandon and LaTosha I wouldn't have been able to figure my way out of a few tricky situations on the farm. That's my two cents. They're a wonderful couple and everyone out in this area wishes them the best of the best for the rest of their lives. Montana My husband has been a professional homebuilder for years. He always had plans to build our family a dream home. However, those plans got expedited when our home burned to the ground in December 2005. After several years of planning we decided to build a new home south of our original location. There were many large oak trees on this property. When we contacted the local power company about building at this particular spot, they informed us that we would have to pay $50,000 to get power to the property. That is when we started looking around for alternative energy sources. We learned that no one in Kansas had the expertise to build an off-the-grid home. We finally found an engineer in Montana that has put up more than 200 such properties, both commercial and private homes. In Montana, they understand the need for "off the grid." Pairing our love of nature and trees, we have created a lovely spot in the woods to raise our son. We have more than 20 cedar trees inside our home, which my husband and son harvested from our land, power washed the bark off of, sanded and treated. They truly are works of art! "Hey, we got the new MOTHER EARTH NEWS magazine today and they're only havin' two FAIRS this year; one in Pennsylvania and one in Puyallup, Wash." "Really? Puyallup? Let's go to Puyallup, that's only about a 3 hour drive and I'm sure we can find a reasonable room somewhere." Well, boy did that conversation get us started and keep us going in the right direction. There is so much to see and do at the FAIR that you really can't take it all in with just one, we'll have to attend another. We have a few acres and we're starting to venture into raising chickens (laying hens), planting a garden and keeping some sheep part of the year to keep the pasture cut. This year, we doubled the size of the garden and pastured six sheep during summer. I added 10 new chicks to our three remaining laying hens, and we have lots of eggs. I also ventured into the meat chicken arena. I built a chicken coop, expanded the chicken yard and built a portable chicken coop for the meat chickens to move around the pasture with the sheep (some stories there). I have a couple of neighbors who also raise meat chickens, and we helped each other butcher our chickens (my first go, and quite a learning experience). All of this we try to do organically. We canned nectarines and pickled some asparagus and beets, some a little stronger than others but all good. We credit the book Put 'em Up! by Sherri Brooks Vinton, which we purchased at the FAIR. We also saw a demonstration for a solar dehydrator while we were in Puyullup. I bought The Solar Food Dryer by Eben Fodor and decided to build my own. I already had most of the materials on hand, but I picked up the glass and screen frames from the Habitat store and the metal absorber plate from a sheet metal shop. We live in a dry climate area (semi-arid) and get lots of sun, so I couldn't wait to try it out. WOW is it awesome. I dried cherries, tomatoes, carrots, squash and grapes (raisins). I can't wait to do more this year using the free solar energy! We have been looking at alternative energy sources for some time and decided to invest in solar panels this year. We installed them ourselves (a little outside our realm of expertise) and we now generate solar electricity. We are, however, still tied to the grid for tax credits and incentives. We would still like to install a root cellar and solar hot water heater. It never stops; there is no end to the great ideas and information we get through the MOTHER EARTH NEWS magazine and FAIRS. Thank you so much for the inspiration! Kansas I would love to nominate Fern Estes of Kanardo, Kan. She and her husband, Raymond, have gardened, raised chickens, milked cows, raised pigs and done the gamete of what it takes to survive. She and Raymond had 5 children and they all worked to help provide for the family. Fern raised a big garden and canned everything she raised from vegetables to meat. They fished in the summer to provide fish and for recreation. Fern has been on her own since her husband died several years ago, and she is now in her 90s and still gardening and canning. She is now down to 80 pounds and is frail, but somehow she keeps going. She has quite a story to tell. Missouri Last March I took classes to become certified in permaculture design. I had done some organic gardening in my backyard, and for the last two years volunteered at a large community organic garden, but I wanted to learn more. And I did. I learned so much in the permaculture certification classes that I thought I was quite possibly exposed to every permaculture idea that exists. Shortly after becoming certified, like-minded people started to come my way. My son, who lives in the Mark Twain Forest, introduced me to his neighbors, Jamie and Jeffery. He took me to visit their homestead, Falcon Creek Farm. At the entrance we met Jeffery's mother driving their solar-panel-converted golf cart. She escorted us about a quarter mile down the drive where we found Jamie and Jeffrey, at work of course. Jamie graciously took time out of her busy day to give me a thirty-minute tour of a few of their 30 acres (zones 1, 2, 3, and 4 in permaculture jargon). I was excited to see dozens of the permaculture ideas I had recently learned put into practice, including rows of hugelkultur beds, natural pest control through companion planting, expanding food forests of grapes; fruit trees, and nut trees surrounded by supporting perennial tree guilds, and even a ginkgo biloba tree. They have built no-till raised gardens and an earth contact home with an earthen floor and living roof for Jeffery's mother. Large solar panels supply all their needed power and drinking water from the spring is pumped up the hill with a solar pump. I remember wishing I had brought my notebook as I was given more new information in 30 minutes than I could remember. The family is now completely off the grid and are in the process of building another passive solar earth-sheltered house with a green roof for themselves. Currently the soil is being built up with rye and clover and will eventually be transitioned to sedum, strawberries and chives. Two people who came from the work background of a software tester and a musician have accomplished all of this within less than three years. Both Jeffrey and Jamie are totally self-taught, mostly through books and videos. In addition to these many accomplishments, Jamie shares all she's learned (a lot through trial-and-error) on a beautiful blog. She documents the experiences of their "journey to create an intentionally simple and self-sustaining homestead in Missouri." Jamie hopes to someday be able to share all her knowledge with anyone who is interested in learning a new way of living through hands-on teaching at their homestead. Texas Jerry and Candy Ford from the JCF Mini Farm live just like the pioneers of the old days, but with a modern twist. They grow, can and preserve more than 75 percent of the food they eat. Their gardens are a complex system of raised beds watered from a rainwater harvesting system. The greenhouse is always full of herbs and new seedlings ready to be planted. Right out the backdoor of the kitchen you will find a cooks herb garden that Candy picks from every night to spice up her already tasty homegrown dishes. There is hardly a time when you can't find the kitchen counters full of dehydrators drying herbs, vegetables and meats. Their store room is full of quart mason jars packed full of canned vegetables, homemade pasta sauce, salsa and whatever else they can put by. The leftover produce and fresh eggs raised on the Mini Farm are either given to friends and neighbors or sold at the local farmers market. For meat, they raise and process their own beef, pork and chicken. Two weeks ago they processed thirty chickens using a homemade chicken plucker that Jerry built. He also built a cold smoker and he cures and smokes his own bacon, sausage and hams. One cow a year is selected and pasture-raised along with two pigs and about 75 chickens for their yearly source of meat. If more is needed, then he will raise more. The rainwater harvesting system holds about 3,500 gallons. It has a first flush on it to screen out the big stuff from the roofs. The gardens and animal's watering systems are all tied into the rainwater. It is pumped using a 45psi on-demand, solar powered pump. It is 100 percent free water. The rainwater is also used in the solar-powered bathhouse. The sun heats the water through a solar batch water heater and comes out more than 140 degrees Fahrenheit. The lights are all oil lamps, and the bathhouse even has a composting toilet. Just flip of the switch, and you can bath in 100 percent free hot water. Believe it or not, he also shaves using a straight razor. Before the rainwater can be drunk, it is ran through a Bio Sand Filter or distilled in his solar distiller. His shop is heated by a beer can solar heater, he cooks on a solar cooker and even has a solar dehydrator. This is what I mean about living like a pioneer with a modern twist. Jerry also writes a daily blog called Modern Day Redneck about his projects and homestead living to help others learn how to live more self-sustainably. He has spoken and been invited to speak at Homesteading groups as far as four hours away. During growing seasons, both Jerry and Candy can be found out back in the gardens, usually working or showing a visitor how to garden and practice self-reliant living. North Carolina Perhaps you would consider naming a baby boomer couple as Homesteaders of the Year. We moved to a 40-acre, forested North Carolina homestead from urban Pennsylvania in 2012. We had purchased this land and its small home in 1999 and partially improved it since then in preparation for retirement. Those improvements included building a Quonset-style steel garage, adding a driveway, recycling logs as boards to build a garage loft, designing and building (as first-time contractors) an energy-efficient home addition. We oversaw all construction, and were the subcontractors for much of the work, including painting, installing hardwood floors, tile, landscaping and removing trash and debris from the work site. We built a chicken coop with leftovers from the house's construction and raised a small flock of free-range, laying hens for six months. In 2013, we plan to add a four to six acre lake, have 15 to 20 acres of trees logged according to a state forestry plan (and to pay for the lake), raise and harvest 30 meat chickens (first-try), terrace the backyard with raised-bed planters using pine boards left over from the loft, grow a salad garden on the raised beds, clear a two acre spot for a garden, add some fruit trees, build and install cornices for the windows and build shutters for the window exteriors. In 2014, we plan to raise fish (tilapia) and begin to use the large garden to feed ourselves and our children, kayak on the lake and hunt turkey and deer on the land. Ben Gleason and Christine Faith Colorado Ben Gleason and Christine Faith have built a backyard homestead on a hilltop in a historic neighborhood in Colorado Springs, Colo. Groundbreaking on the homestead began in the spring of 2009, and minor improvements and adjustments continue today. The homestead consists of five main components — poultry, aquaponics, honeybees, vegetable gardening and fruit production. The poultry are integrated into the landscape when appropriate and are used for bug patrol and soil aeration. The ducks are particularly good at bug control, while the chickens excel at turning soil (who knew a creature with such small feet could dig so proficiently?). Both the ducks and the chickens provide eggs to the homestead (for sale and for eating), and on occasion the ducks will hatch a clutch of ducklings. Organic ,soy-free, corn-free feed is provided to the chickens with a supplemental meat-bird feed provided for the ducks. Ben and Christine developed an aquaponic growing system that was placed inside their 8-by-12-foot greenhouse. The aquaponic system uses koi fish to generate nutrients loads in the water. The water is pumped to growing beds where the plants take up the nutrients, clean the water, and oxygenate the water before it's returned to the fish. The aquaponic system uses 90 percent less water than conventional gardening, an asset in an arid state like Colorado. Honeybees are kept on the homestead for pollination, honey, wax, and bee pollen. The honeybees provided the homestead with 35 pounds of honey in the fall of 2012. The honeybees are supplemented with organic evaporated cane juice when the nectar flows are low, and great care is taken to protect the hive from pesticides. Vegetables are grown in raised beds to accommodate for Colorado's notoriously poor soil. Like all things on the homestead, great care is taken to maintain organic standards in food production. The raised beds provide vegetables for Ben and Christine with a little left over to sell. They also donate 10 percent of their yields to a neighborhood non-profit food pantry. More than 40 fruit-bearing plants have been added to the backyard. When fully mature, these trees, shrubs and vines will provide all of the fruit Ben and Christine need with ample left over for selling and donating. Ben and Christine work with their friends and neighbors to make bulk purchases for items they can't produce in their backyard. They also trade goods and services with these same friends and neighbors, and have created a micro-bartering community. Ben and Christine have dedicated their lives to the promotion of backyard homesteading. Since the homesteads "completion" they have hosted an average of 100 visitors per year; visitors are always welcome. Workshops, classes, informal meetings and site-seeing tours have become regular features of the backyard homestead. Christine is the founder and organizer of Colorado Springs Urban Homesteading, she also publishes a blog for backyard homesteaders. Missouri I would like to nominate our family homestead for the 2013 Homesteaders Contest. It was founded on Aug. 17, 2005 when seven of our family members packed up two campers and a horse trailer and headed out to our 200 acres to see what we might make of it. We've always been on the adventurous side, so this was very exciting to us. You see there was nothing on this place but 200 acres of woods, three-quarter-miles of creek, a small pavilion and an outhouse. We where going to get to live like the early settlers, and we were more than ready for it. Past farming experience had prepared us for almost anything, at least we thought. We wanted to see what we could bring about from the ground up. We circled our two campers and horse trailer around the pavilion and set up our communal living room — a large fire pit and a variety of chairs. All the cooking was done on this fire with the help of cast iron everything. At first, there was no electricity or running water. All water was carried from a nearby spring and many baths were taken in the cold creek. It was a great day when an old cast iron tub was set up by the creek, complete with hot water from some pans on the fire. In the evenings, after a hard day's work, we would set around the fire reading by kerosene lamps and enjoying the night sky. Our first departure from the old ways was the purchase of a sawmill and tractor. We had several chainsaws and this was the beginning of clearing the land for buildings, gardens and pastures. Slow and by hand, pieces of land where becoming usable and our lumber, firewood and kindling reserves where growing. The first priority was a field for a couple of horses and a few dairy goats, then a chicken house and some laying hens. A 10,000-square-foot garden was taking shape. Buildings began popping up, including a well house, small cabin and shop. Electricity was brought in. Four more family members joined us. The pass was picking up. Every day was such a challenge, but we were having the time of our lives. This was all from the land; lumber from our trees, rocks for foundations and food from our gardens and pastures. It has been so satisfying; a family working and playing together day in and day out. Although we are far from finished, we feel rather modern now compared to our humble beginnings just eight years ago. We miss the simplicity of the open fire and campers, but we are so pleased to have experienced it all. We are now looking at becoming a teaching homestead to show others that if you can dream it, you can do it. This year we will offer a few classes and start selling goods at a nearby farmers market. When we are fully operational, we will be able to teach all aspects of horticulture, animal husbandry, carpentry, crafting, music, fun and so much more. Looking back over our accomplishments and experiences is rewarding. But the thing that really makes me smile and praise the good Lord for our good fortune goes much deeper. We came here and became better people. Patience, endurance, and a can-do attitude became ours as well as the ability to let the land, animals, and plants teach us. Plus, we got to do what most people only talk about. We learned how to appreciate, admire, and respect each other for our strengths and we got to the place where we could except, overlook or challenge one another in our weaknesses. It's a piece of land, in true stewardship, where the soil and the people become better together. Florida I would like to nominate Jason and Jennifer Helvenston as the Homesteaders of the Year. This couple homesteads right in their suburban yard in Orlando. They live a sustainable life and they promote sustainable living in their community. Jason does energy auditing and teaches energy-efficiency and other sustainable techniques when not tending his garden. Due to environmental conditions, the Helvenstons planted their vegetable garden in the front yard. A very productive garden it became, and the neighbors enjoyed some of the bounty. Then an out-of-town neighbor who rents his property complained that vegetable gardens should not be permitted in front yards. This has certainly raised awareness about local foods and urban gardening. Now, the City will be revamping its ordinance to allow gardening in front yards (not specifically prohibited now) and is struggling with balancing everyone's property rights. The Helvenston's had no idea that they were starting a movement by simply living in a sustainable manner. New Zealand I would like to nominate our own garden, Humble Beginnings, in this competition. My husband and I have the same vision, to feed our children as healthfully as we can. We do our best to save our own seeds, be it heritage potatoes, lettuce, orach, silver beet, dahlias, calendulas, whatever we can, for ourselves and the community. We have more than 100 fruit trees, plum, peaches, fejoa and much more. Living near the mountains is beautiful, but we have a very short growing season and likelihood of frosts. We have a variety of animals, most for our own consumption, which we process ourselves; cows, sheep, goats, pigs, ducks and chooks. As for pets, we have guinea pigs, rabbits, cats, dogs, budgies, fish and a love bird. We sell our extra organic produce and seed potatoes at our local market, and have even sent potatoes as far as Kaeo. You really have to be here to appreciate our little patch of paradise. Vermont Lover of all things Mother Earth. I came across your posting for submissions for Homesteader of the Year. It seems you have an article about Greg Joly from many years ago. It would be nice to him as homesteader of the year for 2013. Here is a video I did of their place while I was on vacation in Vermont.
Baron and Jamie
Christopher and Caren Black
Jason and Tiffany Blackwell
Mike and Alison Buehler
Nicole Caldwell
Nan Chase
Ken and Anita Clark
Larry and Misty Cluck
Sarah Cuthill
LaTosha and Brandon Dinsmore
The Dunafons
Larry and Mary Duren
Fern Estes
Falcon Creek Farm
Jerry and Candy Ford
John and Meredith Friedrick
Haumesser and Spinner Families
Jason and Jennifer Helvenston
Humble Beginnings
Greg Joly
Where to Buy a Lots of Live Ladybugs for My Garden in Yuba City California
Source: https://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/sustainable-farming/modern-homesteaders-2013-zl0z1305zkin
0 Response to "Where to Buy a Lots of Live Ladybugs for My Garden in Yuba City California"
Postar um comentário