My daughter is a dreamer ... she has a terrific imagination.  She likes to pretend and gets everyone involved.  Lately this is her play "Pretend we live in a farm and ......" she is everything from a sheep that needs shearing to a barn cat.  Whenever she asks me to pretend that I say, "OKAY!" and I dream away with her (little does she know that she's dreaming away with me ).

Since I have a blog at homeschoolblogger and one here, I think I will devote this one to my journey toward self-sufficient living.  Oh, I am itching to get out of suburbia and into the country, but it's just not time ... yet ... so I will continue dreaming 

I am currently trying to read read read as much as I can. 

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From my husband, for Mother's Day, I got a bouquet of flowers and .... a trip to

Now, before you  you must remember that I have a farm dream!  I had fun ... dreaming and dreaming and dreaming ...

And he bought me a sprayer for my garden and the following books:

Country Wisdom and Know How: Everything You Need to Know to Live Off the Land.  From Lehman's Catalog:

This oversized book is a complete guide to simple living. Almost 2000 illustrations and photographs describe over 8,000 useful skills including raising animals, cooking, crafts, gardening, health and home. Learn to cook with edible flowers, raise a healthy rabbit, give a good foot massage, or piece a quilt. All the answers to your country-living questions are in this book. The sheer bulk of information it contains is amazing. Includes detailed table of contents, index and appendices.

and

Hobby Farm: Living Your Rural Dream for Pleasure and for Profit.  From the author's website:

This is the first book in a new line of books about small farm options for those who are new to the country from the publishers of Hobby Farms Magazine. It will cover moving to the country, gardening and crops, livestock, preserving the harvest, money-making options, and more.

You can read the first chapter here.

Oh, and I also picked up a copy of Mother Earth News. 

I think I am going to order a catalog from Lehman's ... it looks like a farmgirl's best friend.

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I started a square foot garden this year, but I don't like it ... the plants don't seem to be as healthy as I would like.  I think I am just as old-fashioned kind of gal and I want a traditional row garden.  So, I have asked for some advice from the lovely ladies at Mary Jane Butter's Farmgirl Connection and they recommended:

Four-Season Harvest & The New Organic Grower by Eliot Coleman. 

So I ordered it off of eBay.  I also ordered "Garden Primer" by Eliot's wife, Barbara Damrosch. 

I also checked out "The Gardener's A-Z Guide to Growing Organic Food"  from the library and it looks to be a wealth of good information.

I have ordered every seed catalog I can get my hands on, as well as garden and farm supply catalogs.  My husband and I are enjoying learning and dreaming ...

We're going to do as much as we can to be self-sufficient until that day (of moving to our own land in the country) arrives ...

This entry is a jumble of thoughts as I feel I have begun at the beginning ... I will write more later, but the baby is waking now and I am going to go start me day

Blessings!!

~Heather

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