Preparing for Spring

What a beautiful day! I am so ready for spring, planting and fires in the fire pit  I am definitely not a cold weather person.  +Richard Glenn Marsh  and I finished up  a cold frame today. I will plant lettuce in it tomorrow, nothing like a fresh garden salad out of your own garden! We have plans to paint the new bee hive and set it up in the back so it will be ready for the bees in a couple weeks. I have to admit I am a little apprehensive, but also excited at the prospect of the bees. The productivity of the garden and my fruit trees should be a lot better and next year we hopefully will have fresh honey and maybe candles (if all goes well).

 I think sometimes, how far do I want to take this homesteading thing? On what level do I want to continue this? My goal is to be completely debt free by the end of the year, except for my jeep payment, and to have it done by the end of next year! Then the milk goats by next spring. So with the garden, fruit trees and bushes, chickens, bees, goats, heating by wood and we are well on our way. I have a friend who installed a solar panel on his camper. I am wondering if sometime in the foreseeable future it would be an option for us at home. Totally off the grid and owing no one is something that really excites me and the fact it seems totally doable is really awesome!  The Bible tells us not to borrow. I think we all depend on the credit cards too often. It seems like it is nothing, we don't even think about it anymore; but as long as we owe someone, we are at their whims. If they call in the debt early, or if money gets tight it could be a problem; but if we save what we normally pay to our cards and don't owe anyone, think what you could save and buy with your own cash!

Turbo

   On another note, baking and cooking seems to be a lost art. Cooking from scratch is so much tastier and cheaper in the long run. As I said  in an earlier blog we have not bought bread in almost a year. We don't use a bread maker, we do it the old fashion way and its so much better!!My daughter +Catherine Elizabeth Marsh is an awesome cook and baker! She does must of our baking including the bread . One recipe we use makes 3 loaves. We usually bake one, freeze one before final rising and make cinnamon rolls or pizza dough out of the third. If anyone wants the recipe, just leave me a note and I will post it! Another easy way to eat better and cheaper is to prepare meals and freeze them in baggies to dump in the crock pot in the morning, very quick, easy, cheap and delicious! Well, I think I have rambled on enough. Time to feed the dogs. We have 3 German Shepard's. A white one named Snowball, a black one named Turbo and the leader of the pack, a tan and black one named Radar!  Enjoy your weekend and talk to you soon!!!

Radar and Snowball