December 31, 2011

Happy New Year!!!  Tomorrow is the BIG kick off!!!

So here is the plan......each entry will be titled for the day it is written, it is our goal at the end of the year to turn this blog into a book with each day being a different page. We have started a Facebook page as well (Living off the Land) so that we can keep a picture diary as well.

We took an inventory of the canned food in our pantry......there were 45 different types of food totaling 849 jars ......this is what we canned in 2010 and 2011 so we have a really good start.

Just a quick overview of some of the things that we plan to do...

Baby chicks will hatch in March

Garden seeds get planted in Mid March

Garden gets planted on Memorial Day weekend in May

Meat Chickens get butchered in June/July

Laying Chickens will start laying in August

We start canning what the garden produces from August - November

We look forward to posting recipes and articles from 100 years ago , keeping our family and friends updated about life on the farm, and learning new things from your feedback/comments.

When the ball drops....the ADVENTURE begins.....

In the beginning....

Aerial shot on the day we bought it in 1995 Aerial shot again in 2010 My husband Ross and I bought this farmhouse and land in Hanover Michigan in 1995. We basically gutted everything and put all the walls/floors/electrical/plumbing back brand new....trying to keep everything as close to the original as possible. We plant a garden every summer and have canned several hundred jars each year. After a conversation about how we were making more things from scratch than buying them from the store, we decided that we should try to go one year eating only the things that were grown or made here on the farm. Over the past few months we have been collecting reference material...we found a cookbook from 1912 that will make you smile when I post meals and mindsets from 100 years ago...we also found my great- grandfathers financial journal from 1912, so we will compare prices and let you know the difference 100 years later. Here is the goal.....to make as many things from scratch that we will consume / use everyday. We can purchase anything that was available at the General Store in 1912....so flour, sugar, tea, coffee etc... are on the OK list....but basically anything else will need to be made at home. Our attempt will be to keep our grocery bill for the entire year of 2012 under $1,912. I will try to post daily a list of the items that we made and the receipes so you can make them yourself, along with whatever reference material I used. We are very excited.....MERRY CHRISTMAS and we will post again soon!