Country Living/Provident Living

This post is Emily inspired. She got me thinking about provident living and ways that I can be more self-reliant and frugal. It gives me great joy to increase my food storage, grow things, and to be able to live simply. Out here in our little home in the "country" we have many opportunities to do this. I've posted about canning before and that is one thing that although it is a lot of work, is very beneficial to our family. Our garden is very small at this house but we are anxiously awaiting the fresh produce. We've had some chard and radishes already, but can't wait for the beets, zucchini, peppers, snow peas, cucumbers, tomatoes, herbs, watermelon, and RASPBERRIES! Everything is luckily growing profusely and everytime we come home from running or going somewhere we are always drawn over to the garden to see its progress. There's a primary song that always comes to my mind, "The Prophet Said to Plant a Garden" and I think we should all take that to heart even if we don't have room to plant much.

I also love to see all the other things growing around here. The wheat field next to our house is getting so tall! Our flowers are taking off and the rose bushes that surround three of the four sides of our house are blooming like crazy. I couldn't help myself today and had fun clipping a bunch to put in a vase. They smell so delicious. They really do have the potential to lift a troubled soul. I discovered my love of roses at our old house and continue to bask in their beauty.

One thing I have always wanted is a hummingbird feeder. Thanks to "Sunday Baker" I decided to go buy one and Pierce helped me put it up. Now we are anxiously awaiting some cute little hummingbirds to come try it out. Next I want a birdhouse to hang from our apricot tree or stick on a post somewhere around our house.

So Emily inspired me with her homemade laundry soap. I haven't made it yet but am going to try it soon once I get all the ingredients. I can't believe it only takes two tablespoons per batch of laundry! She has also inspired me to use my clothesline. That's one bonus to renting an old "grandma" house is it comes with clothesline and all! I've always been afraid to since I didn't want to look like white trash by the cars that continually drive by our house, but I'm to the point where I really don't care and I really think it's a good idea to use it. You can save on your energy bill by 15% by using one. I have to tell you that I love the act of hanging clothes on a clothesline. It's satisfying to me to see clothes blowing in the breeze. I love folding them and taking them down. I feel like I'm on Pride and Prejudice or something or at least I guess I pretend to be. It's not white trashy, it makes me feel provincial and wise and makes me feel like a country girl. Pierce was helping me hang today and he said, "Now we're pioneers!" It doesn't really take that long, but the act itself seems to slow down the perception of time, at least for me, making life a little calmer. I can actually get my laundry done a lot faster now since I don't have to wait for the dryer and we have two lines on our clothesline and you can fit quite a bit of stuff on it. You also get somewhat of an upper body workout believe it or not. Any way that I can make my life more calm and more simple I'm all for it, and any way that I can become more self-reliant and prudent, I'm all for that too. Oh, and we're starting a new budget thing this month where we take out the cash we need for that month, divide it in envelopes for the different things we budget for ie: food, entertainment, clothes, etc., so once that money is gone we can't spend any more for that month. I'm up for the challenge and can't wait to see how it goes.