Taking Stock

First read this blog entry from the blog "How Many Miles From Babylon". Good huh? I really enjoyed it.

I started this journey of self sufficiency accidentally. Five years ago, all I knew is that something wasn't working with the credit thing and I wanted out of debt....Right Now! There was something in me that cried against being beholden to pieces of paper that came in my mail box every month and demanded payment for things that I had used up months and sometimes years ago. Ceaseless, endless, day in day out. What was I working for? To be miserable?

Daily I would strive to obey the Bible, yet tried to turn a blind eye to the whole borrower being a slave to the lender thing. Thankfully the word of God is a mirror. It reflected right back at me the image of who I had become, and I was far from thrilled. James 1:22-24 KJV "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass (mirror): For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straight-way forgetteth what manner of man he was."

Attending church regularly, the mirror was held up to me constantly. I couldn't forget the mess I had created. I was forced to look at my spiritual self three times a week during the preaching of the word. Thankfully I wasn't left to figure this out on my own. Matthew 7:7-8 "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." I began to ask, seek, and beat any door I could find. Only then did things begin to change.

It started when I stopped hiding and threw everything out into the open... Honesty with my husband, with my family and with my friends... No longer could I continue in the way I was going, no matter the opinions of others. I didn't need prestige or stuff. I needed peace and contentment. Doors started opening. From fear of the desperate hysterical person I had become, my husband actually stopped and listened to me. At first he listened to the whole "Debt Free Dave Ramsey Thing" to appease me .....then.....it made sense. Now our marriage has become two individuals working toward one goal, instead of two immature children keeping score. When that happens, watch out. A man and a woman can accomplish almost anything when in agreement.

Today I'm so happy we started five years ago on this journey. With the current hysteria going on in our world, I still have contentment. I'm not afraid. I John 4:18 "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us."

Sometimes it is good to stop and take stock (not the Wall Street kind). Remember where you were, where you are, and where you are going. It is important to remember the past, and then make goals and plan your path for the future. I cut a pot shot out of the newspaper before I was even married, and I still have it to this day. It said, "You can't make deals with the past, but with the future, everything is negotiable." Maybe you can't control it, but you can surely negotiate! Certainly you can't change the past, but remembering it prevents repeat mistakes.

Today:

Our marriage is stronger than ever.
I am content. (One should seek contentment, not happiness.)
We are debt free.
I got a solar oven for Christmas.
I am eliminating electric appliances as they die (so far the coffee pot and toaster oven).
I am reducing electricity usage to minimum. (We'd like to get an off grid system eventually.)
I have reduced unneccesary driving.


We have finished one third of our raised potager garden.
This year I planted, 2 fig trees, a guava, 6 mulberries, 12 citrus trees, 4 pecan trees, 3 pear trees, 4 banana trees, 2 persimmon trees, 2 plum trees, and 1 olive tree.

We have built our coop and aquired chickens. They give us 2 dozen eggs a day currently. We sell the excess and make enough to purchase all the supplies for them and give the girls a little spending money.
And....Our chickens are now giving us babies.

It's never too late to start, and there is never a perfect time to start living as self-sufficiently as possible. Have you started, or are you making plans to move in that direction?

Issues With The Henderson Bush Lima Beans

What is this horrid little critter? I know it's some type of strange interesting caterpillar that when squished has lots of blackish green insides that squirt out with force. That's what I have been doing for a couple of hours today, squishing them. Poisons or chemicals are not an option, so I have had to make squishing an option. After closer inspection I discovered some things...
When small, they curl up under a section of leaf they have chewed. It seems they only attack the foliage. I haven't found any damage on the beans themselves. Leaves with a lot of cuts were just picked and discarded. The caterpillars are so small at first that it is difficult to find them.
Turning the leaves over I found this, eggs! When working, a couple of white moths flew away maybe this is their eggs and the caterpillars are from the eggs.

Other issues....Why are some of my leaves looking like this when all the others are bright and healthy???? Anyone???

Now I have to see if I can finish removing the green stain from my fingertips.

Gardening Books

I love books. Especially Gardening books. Many garden day dreams have began with a bright glossy garden book. Every now and then I get book lust. A book I crave, and I must, must, have. When finally I get my eager little paws on it, I turn each glorious glossy page with starry eyes and imagining my yard transformed into a magical fairy land dripping with vegetables and flowers. Then the projects for Byron start piling up.....I want a raised bed garden, with arbors and paths and vines and naturism's spilling onto the path under the Monet inspired tunnel...and...and...and..... Byron? Byron? Are you listening to me?!
This was the first garden book I ever got book lust for. It's a Martha Stewart book before she was made over by professionals. I like to think it was the real her. So fifteen years ago Byron bought me this book, and I lugged it around forever along with my journal and a tin of colored pencils sketching out my dream garden that certainly I would soon have on my husbands below poverty salary. Fortunately, we didn't know we were poverty stricken! Isn't that just beautiful- bowers of roses and bountiful vegetables. Drool....Drool
Then practicality kicks in. Asparagus doesn't grow here...neither does peonies...and tea roses just wilt and die...Arggghhh why does everything I plant die? That's when my hero Dan Gill stepped in and saved me. He's the state agricultural whatever horticulturalist and local expert on anything Louisiana that grows. He was tapped to write this book. It tells you what does and doesn't grow in Louisiana and when to plant that which does. When visiting other states I have seen local versions of this book. It must be a state series. It's an indispensable book and every serious garden should have one regarding their own local climate and geology.
Then the just plain fun reading books. I love Steve Bender and Felder Rushing. Two local serious garden people from our southeast area, talking about those quirky plants and garden traditions in our area. I especially loved the "yard art section". Oh how I crave me a crowned tire planter!

Now we need something to help direct and fine tune all this indiscriminate planting. That's where John Seymour comes in. There should be some direction and use for all this labor. "The Self Sufficient Life", is a wonderful inspirational book that I turn to often for a good dose of "common sense".
Buying seeds every year can get expensive and isn't exactly self sufficient...so what do you do? Learn to save your own! Begin by buying heirloom seeds, and then use Suzanne Ashworth's expert book to teach you how to save your own quality seed.
My day dreaming girl must be satisfied as well. I just love Maryjane Butters. Beds in cornfields, old trucks and Mercedes, and campfire cornbread...not practical, but oh so dreamy.
Things will go wrong, and when they do you need to know how to deal with the problem or bug invasion without turning to poison. That's when a know it all book on organic gardening comes in handy.
When every bright and glitzy plant in the garden center that has ever seduced you to buy it promptly dies upon planting, you buy this type of book. A book written by a local about the tried and true plants that grow in your area. Internet is nice....but there's nothing like curling up on a comfy sofa with a cup of coffee and leisurely thumbing through a fantastic garden book. I do have a new book coming in the mail........

Today's Harvest

Although we are still far from being self sufficient, our garden and chickens are providing us with plenty of supplement! The purple hull peas are just starting to turn a deep purple. The only problems I have had with them is some grey aphids and a few caterpillars with red heads that curl up in a cut portion of the leaf. I just find them and smush them.

The okra is really producing. Sometimes they grow so rapidly they are too hard to actually eat. Those I save and dry. Dried okra pods are beautiful in arrangements, or just filling a fall basket or bowl. As a bonus you can harvest the seeds to plant when they have finished their aesthetic duties.

I picked a lone green pepper and eggplant. The Cheyenne peppers are still producing profusely. The jalapenos have slowed a little.

The herbs are doing so well now. It must be the mild weather we are having. Whatever it is, the basil and oregano love it. I like to dry both and store to use when fresh isn't available.

We have plenty of eggs! Between my family and Byron's co-worker we have more demand than we can supply. Our six little chicks are doing just fine.

How Long?

How long can the everyday American support the heavy burden of personal debt? How long can we continue to support businesses with money borrowed from wobbly banks transferred to our wobbly bent backs.

Heap it on, and we'll work harder longer hours. Becoming more depressed and stressed with little time for the things that bring real honest joy in life. As I have heard said, We purchase things we don't need, with money we don't have, to impress people we don't like. One elderly lady said that our society is, "Keeping up with the Jones on Smiths easy terms." How much pleasure do these carefully justified purchases really bring us? Except maybe satiate our pride and greed?

So what do we do? Not only are our backs bent with the burden we put upon our own selves due to our own desires and greed, but our back is bent further with debt from the very side that told us we "needed to buy now and pay later" as dictated by our "by the people - for the people" government.

This must be done, or credit will "dry up". How much more debt can we absorb. How long will we believe the lie of debt? I know I sound a little bleak and I don't intend too. There are many resources to help those who would like to become debt free. My personal fav is Dave Ramsey. Through his seven step plan my husband and I have become debt free. Byron and I have experienced no panic over the down turn because we are debt free and have an emergency fund, and believe me, I have experienced panic when I was in loads of personal debt. If any time is right for someone to make a plan to be debt free....now is.

Around the House and Garden

Peeper pics! Look how cute they are now. We have six babies total.
Here's a nursery group pic. They are bobbling around and eating fine. Aren't the striped ones adorable? They remind me of chipmunks!

Wow. This is the best I've ever done with any type of beans. The bushes are just loaded with Henderson bush Lima beans. I'm really not a good gardener. I just don't give up. Persistence is the key to success right?
My garden companion, Josie, perched here for the longest grooming herself and watching the birds flying overhead and twittering across the yard. The herb garden is doing well. This is the prettiest my lavender has ever been. It does poorly in our humidity, but I keep on trying! I think the raised bed is a big help. It might not like it's roots to remain too moist.
This is a portion of a huge pecan tree that fell during Katrina. When visiting Yosimite we saw benches made from large logs, so Byron wanted to make one out of a portion of our tree. We didn't have the ability to cut the main part of the tree into firewood because it was just too large. This was a wonderful way to use something that "wood" have otherwise been wasted. He still needs to sand it down and smooth it. It's right in front of our "bon fire area".
This is Datura. It makes a nice large semi-tropical shrub. Dies down during hard frost. I love it because of its many clusters of grape like flowers, then the orange berries that appear afterward. It also has a wild growth habit, which appeals to me. Just a few prunes here and there keeps it in nice shape.
Here is a pic of "bullet proof" flowers that do well in our heat and humidity. Purple gomphrena, strawberry fields gomphrena (a little lanky now), Pentas, vinca, and whirling butterfly (guara). I have interspersed some winter annuals for our area that are small still, rocket snapdragons and begonias.

See how shredded the giant bird of paradise leaves are from the recent wind storms. They are still beautiful in their own way. Another bud is about to bloom one of it's prehistoric looking blooms.
Here is my Mexican sage blooming next to my agave. This agave is in a concrete urn. They get huge if left to their own devices. They are also called century plants due to the mistaken belief that they only bloomed every 100 years. Europeans who brought them home from the Americas to grow in their green houses believed this. If growing in optimal conditions or in their native southwestern habitat, they will bloom every 10 years. The agave's woody blooming stalk, which grows from the center, can be 10 to 40 feet tall depending on the variety. Occasionally a large one blooms in our area, and it calls for a local newspaper story!
Again finally, success with peas! This is my purple hull peas.
Some type of skipper I believe.

Surprise Baby Chicks

Last night Byron ran into the house with his hands clasped around something. While the girls shouted, "Mama, Brownie's eggs are hatching!!!". After the storm we returned to a mountain of eggs. Brownie wanted to set, so I took out ten of the best eggs and let her set. After setting for so long, I thought maybe the eggs would never hatch and meant to take them away from her and get rid of them. Brownie was looking rather rough, and I was worried about her. I left them one more day....and then....they started hatching.
The other day I had found an empty shell in Brownie's nest, but no chick. I thought the chickens had broken and eaten the egg. Now I think they probably ate a chick. It just so happened Byron was checking for eggs last night just as this little guy hatched. Brownie was not to delighted about her baby. She's a good setter, but obviously not a good mother. She rushed at the chick with her feathers spread and pecked at it.
Some of the other eggs were beginning to hatch, so we brought them all inside and put them under a brooder light. A shoe box served as nursery until Byron could haul the brooder box in.
Look how exhausted this little booger is. It's hard being born.

This is just as the second chick emerged from its shell.
Whooops....help!!!
I'm very excited about this. I've always wanted the chickens to be something sustainable. I would like my flock to replenish itself and not have to always buy new chicks. I've got so much to learn.
It was so much fun to watch the little chicks being born, and the looks of delight on my girls faces ...well, this picture wasn't staged.
Flossie even enjoyed watching the chicks. We have a total of 3 hatched so far and one breaking out now.

White Crookneck Cushaw

Today was the day. The day I tackled the giant white crook neck cushaw. It weighed in at 21.6 lbs. It is a type of pumpkin that has been traditionally grown in the southern Louisiana area. Notably by Cajuns.
I began by chopping big chunks off, slicing off the peelings and chopping into chunks.
I used this book to get some cushaw recipes. If you want to know the culinary history and recipes of New Orleans, this is the book you must have. It is large, but every little bit in it is interesting and delightful. It contains lots of history and the storeys of real people and the food they eat and have carried over through generations.
It's called the "The Encyclopedia of Cajun and Creole Cuisine" by Chef John Folse. He also has a great web site where you can get recipes. You might even be able to listen to his radio show.

Every little bit of this cushaw is going to be used. I'm saving the seeds to plant, the scraps for the chickens, and the meat to cook. After grabbing all I can of the "guts" with my bare hands, I use a melon baller to scrape out all the remaining strings (that goes to the chickens too). Then just continue to cut it up.
Here is everything when the chopping is done. I know those chicks are going to be happy.
On the stove I have not one, but two big pots of cushaw chunks! Notice my coffee percolator in the back. My Bunn that makes coffee in one minute died. I replaced it with our camp coffee pot, and I am perfectly happy. Once you get the hang of it, it makes better coffee. So I'm saving over $100 on a new pot and this one doesn't have to be plugged in 24/7 to keep the water hot.
About half way there.
Here is the finished pure cushaw puree. I am going to freeze it in 2 cup portions and use for making bread, pie and soup. I have canned pumpkin (cushaw is a type of pumpkin) in the past, but new guidelines don't recommend canning pumpkin due to its density. It's impossible to be sure the interior temperature gets hot enough to kill dangerous stuff....you know botulism...whatever. Anyway...this is going to be yum. You can cook it down longer with sugar and pumpkin pie spice to make a yummy pumpkin puree to eat right away.

What to do on Saturday Night

What do you do when the weather's just perfect outside? When it's been sunny all day and cool at night? Have a camp out in the backyard!

While I helped the church with a garage sale, Byron and the girls worked around the house all day. Byron split the wood and made us a nice stack for our short winter. All of the rotten stuff and grass clippings were piled high for a Bonn fire.
Hmmmm...? Is this marshmallow burnt enough? Or do I need to burn it some more?
It was a perfect night for drawing by lantern, talking to Mama, looking at the stars, trying to spot bats (no luck), guessing why the crew boat visited the ship out back (to bring a river pilot?...Someone to the hospital?), trying to do cart wheels, playing motorboat....and....
having the bench all to yourself to contemplate......
Dirty feet and all. Then sleeping in the tent when you have a perfectly good bed a few yards away.

Cost $0

Memories Priceless

I'm convinced...The best things in life are credit free.