“Because it’s just a good idea”!
Good Ideas For Life is a website devoted to helping you become more sustainable no matter where you live.
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Home of Lopez Quarries
Masonry Heater Design
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Cell Phone Amplifiers and Installations
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Well Water Boy Products
Welcome to our site — home of the original WaterBoy Well Bucket, Hand Pump Machine, Pedal-Powered PTO and Windlass Hoist (patents pending)
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4 Net Solutions
Solar Design and Install
Washington and Idaho
Visit us at offgridnut.com
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Bruce and Carol live in the Colorado Rockies
at the 9750′ elevation
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Hello, I found your “Masonry heater article on Mother Earth News site and followed a link to your blog. Very good info. Good luck in your future efforts. Tom
Tom,
I appreciate you taking the time to comment. It’s the best part of this site – meeting and sharing ideas with new people!.
Ed Essex
Hi there, I have been reading your blog. Its fascinating. I have a question – how are you able to afford living this lifestyle, what is your monthly budget? I have always dreamed of living this way and would dearly love to make a change in our lives. Any advice? Thanks Jeanette
Hi Jeannette,
We are in our late fifties and both of us have worked hard all our lives. Being in construction allowed me to build at a discount and to do a lot of the work myself. This is an accumulation of a lifetime of work and all of our experiences.
There are other people living their dream one step at a time as they can afford it and doing all the work themselves. First the property, then a cabin, then a well etc.
I would live to know how you manage your groceries/food budget. I’ve read you just finished your second year for gardening, and congratulations – I’m sure next year will be even more bountiful (especially with your chieckens). My question is on how much food you keep in supply? Do you keep just staples in abundance, or do you keep a year’s food storage and rotate it out? Or somewhere in between? Do you go without cheese and milk products? Or do you make your own? I really am curious how your diet has changed (if any) since changing your lifestyle. I don’t mean to pry, but I am so fascinated and intruded at the idea of being even more self-sufficient and living on a homestead, and your experiences, that I could probably “talk” your Ears off. =0)
Thanks!
Hi Amanda,
No problem – ask away! We are just getting into all of this and are taking it as it comes. I have to admit we don’t really have a “plan”.
Right now we have a years worth between the freezer and pantry. I think we will just keep growing and canning until we really get ahead of ourselves. Probably when we run out of room. lol
Our diet hasn’t changed. We just eat better food than we did. We go to the store once a week for fresh dairy and any produce we don’t have (like tomatoes in the winter, avocados, bananas etc).
We are just now growing spinach and chard in December! that is a first. In the winter we also start up our EasyGreen Sprouter for fresh greens. We just ordered an experimental Hydroponic setup to see if that might work for us.
We also buy a pasture pig cut and wrapped. No additives. The meat is incredibly good.
So over all we still spend a fair amount at the grocery store but less and less as time goes on. this year we stored potatoes, and carrots. We canned fish, green beans, apricots, nectarines, and pears. We froze pie cherries, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, peas, and corn on the cob, stripped kernel corn, and home made applesauce. We got the cherries, apples, and pears from friends. We bought the apricots and nectarines and pig.
Our pork is only $2.00 / pound cut and wrapped. Bacon, ham, roasts, chops and ribs.