Hello From Across The Pond!!

[Modern_Pioneer]

Hello folks....

My name is Jason and I live in a small town in PA. The current number of people that live here is 218, so yes it is a small town.

My homestead sits on 4 acres on the side of a mountain, and once was used as a small chicken farm. When I purchased property it was run down, all out buildings were gone and the house was derelict and dieing.

I am on the forth year of what was to be a 5 year plan to be SS, lol, you and I know we can't set a time frame to be SS as everything is always changing.

If you like to see my journey and pictures of here and my farm visit my blog. I also will be around here to get some help and offer advice.

As my life of being SS changes almost everyday be sure to follow my blog.

Currently, I'm in zone 5a, I am buried under 19 inches of snow, but planning my garden!!

I wish you all well!!! Jay

[Green Aura]

Hi Jay and welcome to Ish
I find lots of snow encourages plans for warmer times too (gardening etc).

[Modern_Pioneer]

Thanks Maggie,

I have the spring gardening itch like it's nobodys business... LOL... Stacked on my table are seed catalogs, which I keep opening as I plan.

Planing my garden this year has been much more serous than ever before. Understanding my body and the right balance of food it needs is my goal. Even if I don't like the veggies (brussel sprouts ) I will grow and eat them because my body needs them. I am planting plots rather than a traditional row style garden.

We had the 1847 blight here last year and it killed all my maters and taters.

So the ground needs to keep frozen for a few weeks to kill it. So its a blessing and a curse, the snow.

[kiwirach]

Hi Jay, welcome.
its always fun reading about others who are actually doing 'it', rather than me who is still dreaming!. altho, i have a garden and have begun my preps for this year!. my goal with my garden is more about how much i have to grow in order to not have to buy vegetables at all. and yes, i'm trying new things to vary my diet, but i wont keep growing it if i hate it. theres no chance of catching brussels in my garden !!.

[Milims]

Hi there and welcome

[Modern_Pioneer]

Hi Jay, welcome.
its always fun reading about others who are actually doing 'it', rather than me who is still dreaming!. altho, i have a garden and have begun my preps for this year!. my goal with my garden is more about how much i have to grow in order to not have to buy vegetables at all. and yes, i'm trying new things to vary my diet, but i wont keep growing it if i hate it. theres no chance of catching brussels in my garden !!.

Well you are doing it, just in a smaller way. With a world wide food shortage, the more you grow, the more others can eat. Worldwide, 825,000 people will go without a meal today, which was reported by Mother Earth News last month. The amount of money/pounds/euros you will save is huge. I added 1/3 of the money I saved to my SS fund which I use to live and move my homestead forward.

Also you know how your food was raised and harvested. I don't wanna scare you, but did you see the movie Food Inc. ? Oh my, industrial farming exposed!!

It took 12 gallons of sap to make one quart of maple syrup, this is my first batch, a dark amber, and it is soooooo good!!!

[liskeardjane]

Hi Jay - we all need to grow stuff, food, plants, trees, flowers for the bees - just grow stuff! not buy stuff, or make material things but plants - you have some snow there!!!! and I saw Food inc and most of the practises that are common in the US are outlawed in Europe, even some of the fertilisers you have in the US are illegal here - we still some smaller farms like Trevalon, (see hyper link and it's not my farm)who supply our shops and I make a point of shopping 'locally' in what Americans might call 'ma and pa' type family stores - keep that blog up to date as it's good to see other food producers making the most of life

http://www.i-pay.tv/home.asp?id=64

[KathyLauren]

Hi, Jay, and welcome. There are a few of us from this hemisphere on the forum.

[red]

welcome

[Modern_Pioneer]

There sure is a lot of info to read and sort through here!!! I never felt like I was alone, as in nobody else was working towards some level of SS. I know when I started my journey I didn't want people to see me as the crazy mountain man. I started a journal last year and looking over that really showed how much hard work I had put into being SS as possible.

I put all the stories and pictures on my blog yesterday and decided to keep up on it.

The challenges I have faced haven't been as difficult to adapt to as I thought, some have been labor intensive with rewards now, and some that will reward me in my future.

I enjoy cooking, so cooking meals with veggies that I don't like has been a hoot!! Exploring food and what our bodies need to stay healthy is pretty tough. Hunting and gathering has always been part of my life, it wasn't until I started my SS lifestyle would I put them back to use.

A few weeks ago as I was getting dinner out of the freezer, I realized that everything in my freezer was stuff I grew/hunted/fished/gathered/bartered. However, in my other freezer was some store bought stuff.. LOL so I am still not 100% free from shopping at the store.

[growingthings]

Hello there!

My BIL hails from PA (Gallitzin - don't ask me where in the state that is, I've never really looked ) and he still has lots of family there....thought I might share that tenuous link that I have with your part of the world!

Lorna x

[Millymollymandy]

Hi and welcome! I think you are being very brave by growing and eating brussel sprouts!

[Minnesota]

Hi Jay
I've got an 8 foot tall pile of snow on my garden right now.
I can't imagine when that'll be melted

[Modern_Pioneer]

wow eight feet!! you win...

I can't wait for spring!!

[spider8]

Hello Jay and welcome. Sounds like you're doing just great (will have a read of your blog when I can, looking forward to it). I don't mind sprouts...........just mini cabbages to me Regards from Orkney