21 Comments

I am VERY happy you started this series!! I think about you every time I tell someone, "Precalculus is harder than calculus," and also every time I rotate out what's in the front of my emergency food stash or take a quick inventory of what's in my emergency pantry otherwise. Being prepared for SHTF despite being an apartment dweller feels amazing. Thank you!

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You, Holly, are the only thing that got me through my college math classes! I'm glad I was able to teach you something as well, and I am very glad you are prepared!

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That commitment part is the hardest. Raising animals is not a fad hobby you can move away from when you decide you want to be more active in your pickleball group.

My wife wanted chickens and ducks and a garden and now she’s doing a masters program and I’m stuck tending the birds and the garden lays fallow.

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Truth! Around here, the schedule is written to cater to the needs of the animals. Maybe I should have said it takes commitment and determination to see it through? Because that's what keeps us moving on this small farm. Good luck to the wife and her masters program!

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Thanks for the heads up Holly!

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Beautifully written and very timely! Please continue. I grew up in the country, surrounded by ranches and farms. I love the salt of the earth temperament and still follow it in my life, even though I am not a homesteader.

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It's how I grew up as well. I only wish I had been more attentive to what my grandparents were trying to teach me. Now, I'm having to rely on partial memories and my own research.

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Magena, what you are doing is HUGE, please keep going. I am so blessed by the rough-hewn place I grew up in southern Oregon. People worked with their hands, their intelligence, tending their animals, providing food and supplies. I am not against the intellect, I am quite intellectual, but I see the Provider behind it all, God and His creation. You are bringing such needed information, Magena. I will subscribe and follow your journey. I know you will find the learning as you go along. Godspeed to you!

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You have a new subscriber, Magena. Growing your own food can be as easy as growing sprouts and microgreens, which can be done inside, with a small investment in the seeds. Both of these methods are easy to do and there's no shortage of YouTube videos that can show you how, many of them implementing common items you already have. The time investment is minimal, and the results are fast.

Thanks, Holly, for introducing us to Magena🙏

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YES!! I'm thankful to meet more like-minded people.

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but can you grow enough microgreens to have a salad every day?

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Following with great interest

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I like your common sense approach to self-sufficiency. So much so that I'm subscribing. Your family is definitely on the right path. Congrats on your foresight and fortitude.

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Subscribed. Hoping to get started soon. I’m 56 now 😐

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Got here via Holly (thanks, Holly!).

Have been on this path partially as a suburb dweller, but now that hubby has retired, we're looking to really buckle down. Looking forward to what we can learn. 👍

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I hope to follow your journey as well :)

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While this topic interests me very much, I have enough experience gardening on my tiny suburban plot to be skeptical of every achieving any amount of independence from the grocery store...

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The only reason I knew it was possible to begin with, is because it is how my grandparents lived. Vegetables grown and canned in mason jars to last the year. I was determined to accomplish the same goal and this past year has been the first year that we haven't had to buy vegetables from the grocery store. We've been working on this small farm for 9 years now. It took some time and research to get the ground prepped and fertile enough to grow what was needed. I believe you can do it :)

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Oh I believe it's possible in general, if you live on a farm. I don't live on a farm. I've got 250 square feet of leafy greens right now, and they will provide us with lettuce for three weeks in the spring and that's about it. All my winter carrots were gone in a week.

There's also a huge mental switch required when living off a family farm. My husband does the cooking and couldn't imagine living without fresh tomatoes (and other veggies) for all but 3 months of the year.

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Following

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Feb 16, 2024
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Agreed. We have similar goals.

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