Wednesday, September 09, 2009

oh my goodness

thank you! it is way too much. we are so blessed and grateful. both tabitha and i are blown away by so much generosity and love. i find it difficult to be on the receiving end and am in a perpetual blush.

we are going to make it through this. we have our community support. thank you.

to answer a few questions;
wendy, tabitha is compiling a list of the kids needs and will post it soon on her blog.

debB, toly is fine, difficult but wonderful and we cherish him.

Renee, i can't put ads on my site it goes against my current position on the matter. my blog has become a labor of love and i like it that way.

how do we save money? in many ways, but mostly try to provide better quality for slightly less money. for example, our chicken raising operation probably cost us more per pound than we could get it in the store. but the difference between our chicken and tysons is vast. we don't buy processed food--only on the extremely rare occasion. we buy most food in bulk but usually the highest quality available. like whole organic grains that we hand crank mill ourselves. the best quality still costs less than processed foods. we raise our own hogs. there is a real money saver. they consume all of our food waste. also, we get their specially mixed and milled feed at a mill. it is almost half the price of the pelleted stuff available at feed stores. plus, we know what is in it. our hens and cows get similar treatment. additionally, the cows eat hay that i occasionally help put up. it is tabitha's generous fathers hay. we still buy it but we get a killer deal. we hope to be milking our heifer in about a year. that usually is a break even deal but the fresh raw milk is like heaven on earth. we sell a little to try to help offset the cost.
i make, install or fix everything myself. outside of warranty work there are no workers here besides us. our garden really kicks it up a notch. garden food makes it possible to eat like kings but cost next to nothing. well, almost nothing. if you were to add our labor at say a mere $5 dollars per hour this would be a deal breaker. luckily we love it and don't mind the considerable effort necessary. tabitha bakes bread and has canned tons and tons for our pantry. we exclusively use our solar clothes drier. so, mostly instead of working out of the the house, we work here on the farm. sure, i miss fatty tuna sashimi but i would trade no aspect of our life for it.

further plans for making ends meet are, we are going to put up an "eggs for sale" sign. we might sell one of our fat hogs. i'll work a bit more for my state job. i plan to try to get some solar work--i've got a couple of leads. i'll probably cut some extra fire wood this winter to sell next year. additionally little packages of campfire wood for the local camp grounds. our fall garden is doing nicely and should provide many many healthy meals. we might raise extra broiler chickens for sale next year. winter is our least expensive season and spring is always full of such hope. we plan to sell a little hope, rather seedlings this spring. we have tons of seed and a nice roomy greenhouse that we'll already be occupying with our own seedlings. we are going to butcher our own hogs and cow this winter. i'll probably try to kill a deer this year also. this will be a home-made christmas this year. our food costs are already extremely low and cannot reasonably be lowered without compromising our health. most of our clothes are from thrift stores or passed through friends. we buy stuff when we need it and discuss every purchase. frivolity is reserved for very special occasions and almost exclusively for the kids.

i almost forgot. tabitha posted her meat ball recipe at her blog. also

6 comments:

josh said...

I will throw this out there if interested. I have my land that we are clearing. It is in between Osceola and Collins off Highway 13. You can take as much wood as you want to sell. The only caveat is that most of it still needs to be cut up. I am not sure where in Missouri you are or if that is even worth the drive for you. email me if interested @ josh at amyandjoshscabin dot com.

Wendy said...

I've been reading your blog for a while, now, and I have to say that you're some of the most frugal people I know of.

Which is why I also know that this little set-back will be just that - a "set-back".

Thank you for allowing us to help out. Personally, I've paid more for a magazine subscription that I didn't get nearly as much information from as I do your blog. In fact, just the information about your chicken tractor was worth more than the entire year of "Down East" magazine :).

Robbyn said...

Yes, I second Wendy's comment. You're really helping a lot of us out by sharing what solutions are really working for you, and which things aren't. Things like your canner that fits both burners...I'd never seen one. And the chicken tractor and the way you figured out how to make it easy to assemble and move from spot to spot. The sagas with the cows...which are real and give the whole picture to anyone contemplating buying their first milk cows and needing to know the real considerations rather than just the romance.....and so much more. Plus, seeing your children being raised with REAL life and family...wonderful!

Theresa said...

blessings to all of you

Anonymous said...

Karl,

Thank you so much for taking the time to write all of this very useful information.

We just got chickens this year and hope to put eggs for sale in our yard too soon:) I was wondering if there was anything we should know about how the county or goverment thinks about selling eggs? We do live rural and I have seen signs like these before though.

I understand about the ads although I was hoping your goal was to be a full time blogger:) My daughter has her own blog at 15 and she make 50.00 a month which looks good to a 15 year:)

We only own 1 acre and we have been trying to fill it up with useful things...such a greenhouse, chicken coop and soon rabbits. Our neighbors probably wish we own more land:)

Many Blessings,

Renee

Ky

Omelay said...

josh, osceloa is a bit too far. i appreciate your offer. it appears that the lightning strike tree will provide plenty of wood to sell and use for next winter.

wendy, thanks we are frugal but i cannot deny my family anything for long that continues us on our ultimate path.

robbyn, thank you we are happy to share and i hope to be able to always say that. our struggle cannot be the same as anyone else. at least people that read our blogs will have the opportunity to learn from our mistakes.

T, thank you, we feel very blessed.

renee, each state has their own rules. missouri lets us sell from our farm without any interference. tansy has her license in IL and seems to be doing well with it. she can sell at farmers markets and stores.

i'm mulling over the idea of ads. i'm sure i'll have to cycle on it for quite a while.

you can do tons with one acre. we only have five and two thirds of it is undeveloped wood lot.

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