Bear here...
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Ever go out in the rain, in October, and replace the sugar water in the hummingbird feeder because the wife thought it needed changing?  I have... This year we had Some hummingbirds that were a frequent addition to our feeder area and we hope to have some back next year...

Heh, with great bird feeders comes great responsibility...

Just to let you know we are going to try to blog more and get some new pages up for our website. for those who still follow us and for the new likes (on face book)  thank you.

Type at ya later...

Bear here...

We realized we are behind in adding pages to our Buy Nothing Challenge (BNC) section, so we wanted to belatedly announce that thanks in large part to the BNC, our house was paid off in November of 2018! Yep, it's all ours, more than 5 years earlier than we were scheduled to pay off the mortgage.

What are we doing with the extra money now that we don't need to make that huge monthly payment? For us, the most basic choice is- do we want more money (which means more stuff) or more of a life? Theresa and I choose more life. So this year, we have been seeing if we can survive working part-time.

It's been tight, so we are are revamping the Buy Nothing Challenge for 2020. (Here is the link to our BNC we started in 2014 if you would like some background.) We hope to be adding more details in the near future, but here is a preview of the things we have been talking about doing:

• My allowance for food at work is up to $10 a week. It used to be $5 because I brought my own lunch, but I have a new job where I can eat a good meal really cheap. Sadly, I can no longer get morning coffee cheap. I have been buying the Starbucks bottled frapachinos, two for five bucks and have been spending over $20 a week on those alone (which does not fit in our budget).
• Beer fund: I get one six-pack a week. If I want more I have to save up from the work food allowance. (Oh yeah, what I drink is about $10 a 6-pack.)
• The big one is groceries. We spend at least $200 when we go to the grocery store and around $40 at our local gas station for junk / comfort food (Theresa protests that she seldom goes to the local gas station, whereas I go nearly every day, so she denies that it's her fault we spend so much money there. She totally admits to being part of the large grocery bills). We are thinking of a $100 limit and only going twice a month. 
  
• That means an EAT FROM THE PANTRY Challenge. It's time to use what we have on hand, time to see what we can do with 25 lbs bags of grains and beans (Theresa points out she's been cooking with them for years- see her page on Cooking from the Pantry), and cook more staples from scratch. We might make a cooking page to share recipes from this challenge too.
  

Why do we continue to challenge ourselves?  We both want to stay working part time and we want to  to go to California to see the giant redwoods and swim in the ocean. Good reasons don't ya think?  Gotta plan what we think will help us accomplish this.

​Type at ya later...

Bear here... 

Ever want to visit us, in Wisconsin, and see the yarden? Now you can!!!

Yup... 

We are doing a tour on Sat., August 10th, from 11:00 am to 1 pm. (If you need directions contact us through our website contact form.)  We're planning to have a potluck afterwards. (We will have hot dogs and hamburgers. The grill will be open to anyone who wants to grill with Bear. Do you want to grill some plants? We can do that! ) Bring chairs and a dish if you want to hang out by the bonfire and eat after the tour....

For the outside... We will be discussing permaculture, gardening for wildlife, catios, etc...

Inside... cooking methods, being debt free (and our buy nothing challenge), wood stove cooking and more...

If it rains, we will probably cancel or postpone. 

Hope to see you!
Bear & Theresa...
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Bear celebrated in a more traditional guy way- sleeping with the cats in our catio:

Soon we will go inside for a while to make our amazing World's Best Honey Vanilla Ice Cream:

If you feel like a few laughs, you can watch the video of Bear making ice cream
we did a couple years ago.

Here's our Solstice flame (a little bit of the Sun), our abundance charm (with a citrine geode on the left), and our hope for how we can live the rest of our Summer (and our lives):

For more ideas about how to spend the day, see our Celebrate Summer Solstice page.

Bear here...

We like to garden for wildlife and one of our favorite forms of wildlife is birds- all kinds of birds. It is cool to sit at the window and see all the different types that come to our yard: ground feeder birds, small feeder birds, pretty much any birds, we like all of them. We have noticed there is a lot more bird song in our yard than most places in our town, even more than in the nearby state natural area.

 You get the Idea. Lots of life and diversity in a small yarden area. To see more about what Theresa has done to create wildlife habit in our tiny yard, see her Gardening for Wildlife page.

​Type at ya later...

Bear here...

Ever get tired of the websites where everything is perfect the first time? I call bull crap!

Want to hear some secrets? Not everything works out the way people planned it. Some ideas that sound good really are bad ideas, and sometimes the good ideas need tweaking (repair work) a few years later. People learn from mistakes (usually). Here at Our Tiny Homestead we are not afraid to talk about our mistakes. It's one way we learn and sometimes laugh. Here is an example...

In our Youtube video about catio 2, I boasted about how I thought a straw couch would be a good idea, and save us a lot of money. At the time Frost looked comfortable (left below) so it should work for humans, Right? As you can see in the other photo he is checking to see how I was doing. Not too bad. Sure it was lumpy but a thick blanket under me could fix that. Right? I figured the bales wouldn't sink in the mud like chair legs do. We usually get more straw bales every spring so it wouldn't be a big deal to replace the straw couch... 

... Some things I found out after dealing with the couch was:

1. Thick blankets didn't work, I'm too heavy and still felt the separate bales under me.
   
2. Straw stays wet a long time after it rains. A lot of the time I would need plastic under the blanket if I wanted to be dry when I got up.
3. Mushrooms tend to grow in straw bales, and not the good, edible ones. The shrooms left black marks on the blankets and if the cats ate the shrooms they could get sick or die. 
4. The bales became mushy over the summer. They didn't sink, they were crushed. The couch was lower and harder to get up from.
5. The word ICKY comes to mind when I had to move the large glops of straw with mold and critter droppings inside. The middle of the bales never really dried that summer.

We have learned and we have improved. As you can see (below) we have built a patio in the catio. There is now a space that has no chance of mud. We also found an inexpensive double lounger by Outsunny  ($200 instead of the usual $1000). I can nap on it while the cats nap on me.

Live and learn.

​Type at ya later...

Bear here... 

Just another reminder why "weeds" are your friends. We wanted salad without going to the store, so we went to our yarden instead. We found Turkish rocket, chickweed, and lambs quarter...  and...
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Wha-la... Weeds Salad...

Fun facts: 

• People spray weed killer to get rid of chickweed and lambs quarters. We let them grow. Theresa has a stock tank in our garden just for growing lambs quarters because she loves it in soups and salads.
• Chickweed has lots of vitamins. 
• 2/3 of this salad was provided for us by Mother Nature .
• With homemade vinaigrette dressing this Yarden salad brightens up any breakfast (see below)...

Time to get outside and see what else we can harvest.

Except I almost forgot- our shameless plug- there are more chickweed (and other "weed") recipes in our book:
Eat Your Wild Yard.

​Type at ya later...

Bear here...

Ever been surprised by a power outage and thought " Oh CRAP... now what do we do?" We had that experience today. We were also ready for it. We couldn't go on line to see our prepare for power outage  page but we did have a list of what to do when the power goes out. Luckily the power was out for only 2 hours. Being prepared made those 2 hours a lot less stressful. Today is a windy day and the power could get knocked out again. It can look ugly out there (see below), and panic may set in. You don't have to panic if you are prepared. Here are a few basics.

What you need is heat, water and food.  We have a wood burning stove so we are set. If you have a backup generator make sure sure it works before you need it. Run it for an hour a month during the cold season so you KNOW it will run when you need it. If you have neither, find a heater that runs on batteries and have plenty of batteries. If you have no heat source put everyone in one room dress in layers and put blankets around doors and windows so cold air cant get in. Below is a picture of our winter Safety net.

We need Water and food to survive. If you don't have a lot of bottled water around fill as many containers as you can with water from the tap. One gallon of water per person for 7 days may seem like overkill but it's not, it's better than running out. Remember you will also needing water to wash things and water for your pets.  You want food that you can and will want to eat without opening a refrigerator. Having a full pantry of canned food, peanut butter and the like. I also suggest powdered milk is good to have on hand.

Those are the basics, here are a few "tricks"

• A full freezer will stay frozen for about 48 hours if unopened. A refrigerator will stay cold for 4 to 6 hours. Old school iceboxes were kept cold with large blocks of ice. Get 2 to 4 gallon milk jugs or 2 medium buckets and fill them with water and set outside to freeze. When frozen put 1/2 in refrigerator and swap every 8 to 10 hours. 
• If something needs chilled but not frozen after opening put some snow in a large pan or cooler and cover to keep chilled.
• keep nonelectric entertainment around. (books, puzzles, games, ect. ) Makes time go faster.
• Plan a menu for a week that doesn't need electricity and always keep those items in pantry. Remember to keep supplies for your pets.
• Learn to cook with your wood burning stove.
  
• Have some no electricity weekends for fun and practice for emergencies, take notes on what would make them better.

Hope is helps,

​Type at ya later...

Bear here...

Tis the season to use the wood burning stove and try something new with it.  Chili is also a good winter treat. Here is how I make my chili taste like it was done over a camp fire.

If you're cooking from scratch, soak 1 cup red beans & 1 cup black beans overnight. We like grains in our chili so I also soaked 1 cup of barley overnight with 2 Tblsp of cider vinegar in the water. Get a 3-5 lb chuck roast. Use whatever spices you want to season the chili. (It could be as simple as chili powder and onions.) I added salsa instead of tomatoes.

When you're ready to start the chili, cover the beans with 1 - 2 inches of water and bring them to a boil for 15 min. (This kills bacteria that could be on the beans. I recently read that in a book that teaches how to serve safe food.) Then cook covered for 1 hour to soften the beans.

Now the fun part. Cut your chuck roast into thick strips. Try to get as many strips as possible that will fit on your bed of coals. The more strips you have, the more area you'll have to absorb the grill flavor and smoke. Cut the meat, season with salt, then put in the refrigerator. The salt will pull moisture from the meat and give it a better chance to char. (The longer it's refrigerated the better. I put mine in the refrigerator before I put the beans on to boil.) Below left is what fit in my stove, below right shows it cooking on the coals.

Prior to cooking the meat, burn smaller wood to get more flames that will heat the fire box as much as possible. You want a bed of medium sized, orange coals. Sear the meat directly on the coals with the door mostly closed for 2 to 3 minutes on each side. The mostly closed door will keep the smoke in while drawing in extra air to keep heating the coals.

When done put the meat back in the pan and get all the coals & ash off of it. Trust me, you want ALL  the coals gone (below left). Then cut the meat into bite sized chunks (below right). It will smell like you are cutting a grilled steak. You'll want to sample like me, just don't eat too much. (I stopped at about 1/3 of a slab- no willpower here.)

Put the meat, onions, and seasoning of choice into your pot of beans and stir to combine. Make sure everything is covered with liquid, add water if you need to. Maintain the fire and cook the chili covered for at least 3 hours (stir every 1/2 hour until you are done, to keep things from burning on the bottom.) After 3 hours remove the lid, add a jar of salsa, stir, and cook until chili thickens. The fat from the roast will float to the top- you can scoop it out or stir it in- your choice. Mine wasn't thick yet and I forgot to take the done picture. Ooops...

The meat will be tender like pot roast and taste like steak. The best of both worlds.

​Type at ya later...

I had foot surgery a couple weeks ago, and will not be able to return to work for another 4 weeks. Tomorrow is my birthday, so I asked Bear if he would be willing to trying waking with the sunrise and going to sleep at sunset as my birthday present, at least between now and the Solstice (Dec. 21st), and hopefully longer. I have a long commute to work, so in the Winter I get up before the sun rises and I don't get home until after it sets. I bet that is familiar to a lot of you. Bear isn't working right now, so this may be the only time we're able to try this experiment together.

I find even more interesting information she shares that when we sleep for fourteen hours a night, nine of those hours are normal sleep, but in the middle of the night, during the other five hours, our bodies secrete a hormone that causes a wakefulness that is similar to meditative states.  Prentice says:

...by depriving ourselves of long nights of winter sleep, we are depriving ourselves of a state of meditative healing and spiritual communion, a time when we have access to messages from a higher consciousness.

This was not the first I've heard of this. I've read other accounts of spiritual pursuits in some cultures that occur in the middle of the night, but it did remind me that I've always wanted to test the theory in my own life. I often wake up around 2 or 3 am, which I've read is common, and perhaps genetically encoded. It wouldn't be a problem if I had time to go back to sleep, but since I usually have to get up at 4 am to get to work, this middle of the night wakefulness has thus far only resulted in sleep deprivation for me.