Hi everyone. My name is Mandy and I've always been interested in survival, and how to live in the wilderness, and how people lived long ago on family farms and what their daily lives were like, wondering what it was like to go months without leaving home or seeing anyone outside your own family. It has always interested me, and now more than ever.
My husband, Jeff, and I will be moving our four kids (Shirley, Jeffy, Tommy, and Benji) to the country, on the land where I grew up. My dad has about 40 acres where my sister and her family have lived for the past decade in the house we were raised in. We'll be moving our trailer to a field in the back of the property. We're wanting to live off the land and be as self-sufficient as possible. Our immediate goal is to get off food stamps. My sister managed to do that just by planting a garden and canning the harvest, so I'm sure we'll be able to too, especially after we get some animals. Long term goals are to generate enough of an income that my husband can quit his job and be a full-time homesteader, or keep his job so we can save our money and buy our land.
We'll be drilling our own well and making our own solar panels. Wish us luck with that!
I have some questions that I'll be posting in the appropriate threads if I can't find the answers on here, but I hope nobody minds if I ask a couple questions now. First off, does anyone know how to build your own wood cook stove for indoor use, oven and all? I don't know if it's worth trying to use our electric stove since we're going off grid. Second, is it feasible for an individual to turn bamboo into fabric and yarn? Third, is it at all possible to leglly grow hemp? If not, what are your favorite hemp alternatives? I'm wanting to make our own clothes eventually.
Okay, I'm off to lurk now!
My husband, Jeff, and I will be moving our four kids (Shirley, Jeffy, Tommy, and Benji) to the country, on the land where I grew up. My dad has about 40 acres where my sister and her family have lived for the past decade in the house we were raised in. We'll be moving our trailer to a field in the back of the property. We're wanting to live off the land and be as self-sufficient as possible. Our immediate goal is to get off food stamps. My sister managed to do that just by planting a garden and canning the harvest, so I'm sure we'll be able to too, especially after we get some animals. Long term goals are to generate enough of an income that my husband can quit his job and be a full-time homesteader, or keep his job so we can save our money and buy our land.
We'll be drilling our own well and making our own solar panels. Wish us luck with that!
I have some questions that I'll be posting in the appropriate threads if I can't find the answers on here, but I hope nobody minds if I ask a couple questions now. First off, does anyone know how to build your own wood cook stove for indoor use, oven and all? I don't know if it's worth trying to use our electric stove since we're going off grid. Second, is it feasible for an individual to turn bamboo into fabric and yarn? Third, is it at all possible to leglly grow hemp? If not, what are your favorite hemp alternatives? I'm wanting to make our own clothes eventually.
Okay, I'm off to lurk now!