High 45 degrees    Low 32   Bright and clear day but chilly. The sun is tempting us in to spring.

http://songcroft.com/the-songcroft-self-sufficiency-newsletter/

I just finished the Spring Self-Sufficiency Skills Newsletter. It went out to subscribers today. It is always fun to write about different  Self-Sufficiency topics as I tend to write about things that are seasonal and often are what we are working on on our land. Some of the topics this quarter are Medicinal Bee Gardens, Starting a Nursery and Local vs Organic Foods. I enjoy writing on topics that might inspire folks to try their hand at new things.

This Spring I plan to redesign part of our land for the bees. We already have lots of medicinal plants here but I would like to add some aesthetics near the hives.  Our bees will be making more medicinal honey for our family and I would like to make the area more pleasing to visit.

If you ar interested in the subject listed in the table of contents, you can subscribe to the newsletter for just $10 a year. The funds currently goes towards volunteer work we do. Thanks much! http://songcroft.com/the-songcroft-self-sufficiency-newsletter/

18 Inches of Snow      29 degrees     Bright but overcast sky

You can support our family business by ordering all natural, handcrafted personal care products from www.songcroftnaturals.com. Thank you!

It has been interesting reading about all the events around the Puget Sound region. People have posted pictures of the weather and told tales of their lives as things slowed or for some, stopped.

There were trees down all over my area. We had well over a foot of snow with two-foot drifts in areas. Our power was out for the better part of six days and we were snowed in.

What did that mean for us? It meant that the first day that we thought the storm was headed our way, we got the headlamps, batteries, lanterns and emergency candles all ready. We filled 5-gallon buckets of water, filled the bathtub, cooking pots and jugs too. We moved patio furniture away from the eaves where snow might later fall and crush them and we made extra provisions for our livestock. We made sure our pantry was full and there were extra snack foods for the kids as comfort and last resorts if all heck broke loose as well as a large stack of library books. We cooked in the woodstove, buried the contents of the freezer in bins in the snow, brought in fire wood and pulled out all of the poly-pro and polar fleece. After that was done, we played in the snow, enjoyed the sleds, had snowball fights, made maple syrup candy and I taught my youngest how to use a knitting nancy. We played games, told stories and when we got tired looked out the windows which framed beautiful pictures of the weather.

On SongCroft, things were a bit more of a challenge but they were not a struggle. After having the power off for as much as 16 days, we have a system and can live life pretty easily but as a friend, pointed out, even without electricity life can be sufficiently sufficient or wonderful. I love our days of being snowed in and will cherish them forever as slow days with my family.

Here are some pictures of the weather for you to enjoy.

Please post some pictures of the weather in your area too!

http://rawtelevision.co.uk/

I’ve been meaning to get this on the blog for the past couple of weeks but things just got busy so finally I am getting time to sit and write about an interesting phone call I recently received from the U.K.

Cheyanne Dillenberger called to inform me that  Raw Television, out of the U.K., is casting for a new television series on off-grid sustainable living. She said that those who are interested could contact her through the information below. I asked her to send it to me in an email so I could post it here in case anyone would like a change in 2012. So here it is:

CASTING NOTICE:

Raw TV, the makers of the hit shows Gold Rush and Locked Up Abroad,

are searching for individuals to feature as part of a new series for a major cable television network. Do you have the spirit of an American pioneer? Are you fed up with the world you live in today and imagine another – better – way to live? Do you and your

family and friends ever talk about leaving society we know it, leaving it all behind and building a new world off the grid, with the frontier grit of your forefathers? If you are passionate about your beliefs and would be willing to share them with a national

TV audience we would love to talk to you.

If this sounds like you, whether you have a plan in action, have a more long term dream or are already living out on the frontier, please email your

contact details and a brief description of your situation to: Raw Television

casting@rawtelevision.co.uk

 You should have seen my kids faces when I read it to them! They were ready to stuff their packs and head out the door! Our kids grew up in this lifestyle of growing food, raising animals, diy sort of living and using our creativity to figure things out. Even our teen daughter didn’t bat an eyelash when I reminded her that we would likely have to go back to composting toilets and solar showers. Our son used to watch a vhs tape from the UK that showed a family named the Strawbridges. He knew learned about water wheels for energy production, trapping heat in greenhouses and all sorts of things from this video. Both kids were game.

When I mentioned this to a few folks who know us and they immediately wanted to know if we are going to apply. It is an interesting and tempting idea but I am not sure how we would pull it off. We would need to still be able to cover all of our costs while we are away (both for the farm and for travel) as well as have farm sitters. There is also the matter of Bri taking time away from his electrician’s job. Unfortunately, for most folks who are already trying to move in the direction that the they are casting for, we are too busy living the life to participate.

We are planning to keep up on the developments on this program as we would love to watch it if nothing else. Anyone out there planning on responding to the Raw Television casting call? Let us know.

High 34            Low 26    Bright and sunny in the afternoon, thick fog in the morning and night.

Whew, I made it. It’s been a busy holiday season. Even though I have worked a lot, I can truly say it’s been a Happy Holiday season. I have worked most every weekend selling our farms “value-added” items. SongCroft Naturals is expanding it’s all-natural skin, body and hair care from Farmers Markets, to Holiday Fairs and now in to retail establishments. This is exciting news. We now have products and gift baskets in the Yogalife Studio at Greenlake as well as the Natural Clothing Company on First Street in historic Snohomish. We are happy to partner with both owners who are wonderful people that support other small local businesses.

Now that the business events are over, I am taking the next two weeks off to just hang out with my family. We will go ice skating, make a gingerbread house, bake cookies, make name tags, watch classic holiday movies, wrap presents, play board games and create memories that can only be created through true connection and love. This is what Happy Holidays are made of.

My side of the family will join us on Christmas eve for a dinner of smoked chickens, roasted vegetables, baked quinoa, salad and pumpkin pies. A great deal of the ingredients will be from our land. We are still harvesting cabbages, collards, kale, carrots, turnips, beets, onions, spinach and parsnips. We have squash set aside from local farms (those who had extra sent some our way after our ducks made chop suey out of the vines).

We will exchange gifts, play some games and I think the younger generation will be playing with nerf guns and magic cards. (neither of which are something that I can relate to). The rest of us will likely be making jewelry, talking and laughing at life through stories and memories.

I especially value this Christmas as one where I can enjoy both my own family (as my children are still young and at least one still enjoys toys) and my mother who is starting to show her age. I find myself cherishing every moment that I get with her. How fortunate I am to be able to experience this before she leaves this world. A Happy Holiday for her is to have her girls together with their families.

To update you on what is happening on the farm, as mentioned, we are still harvesting the aforementioned vegetables and we also have a lot of herbs. We put up a few hundred pounds or apples and potatoes for the winter so we are enjoying them. Our “Liberty” apple and “Spartan” produced well for their first time. Next year I will likely have to thin them a bit to get bigger fruit. Our medlar gave plenty of fruit. They are palatable but not especially juicy. While they would be helpful in a time of scarcity, they are not proving to be a family favorite.

The hens and rooster , Iris, are doing well. They have a very nice dry space thanks to Brian’s work this past Spring as well as the recent coop improvements made this past week. There are now added roosts inside the coop and tomorrow morning I plan to staple a layer of greenhouse plastic across the top of the walls to lower the ceiling in hope of it holding more heat in. The plastic is clear so light will still come through the rigid clear poly-carb roof and the air trapped between the two should create insulations. We have not added a light.

The turkeys are doing well. I added a nesting box today so we will see if we get some eggs. There is a hen that is squatting every time I walk past her. This is a good sign that she wants to hatch some eggs. I will get a leg band for her and over the next couple of weeks, I will band three hens to save for breeding. Midget Whites are good breeders so no artificial inseminations is needed.

The goats are still not bred and just like last year, they are not showing strong signs of wanting to be. There has been no one calling out, flagging her tail or anything else. I thought for sure they would go in to ester on the full moon but instead they got totally silent and pretended to be statues because coyotes came to visit. Maybe the coyotes scared the hormones right out of them (kidding)

I sold six rabbits this past month.  Lots of people have been interested in our rabbits. They are a good bunch and easy for people in the city to raise. They produce great manure that is highly valuable. I have been able to use it to barter with. I love raising rabbits!

Our ducks are still quacking about. They are not interesting in going in to their pen at night and are hard to catch. I am hoping ot catch them soon before a coyote or bobcat gets them first.

Well, that is the skinny on what is happening down-on-the-farm. How are things up your way?

Happy Holidays!

  Things are really getting cold. It is down to the mid-twenties and the fog is so thick that it is hard to see across the land in the mornings. It reminds me of living on the coast but the taste of salt in the air is missing.

It is the perfect weather for staying indoors to play chess.

Btw, I was lucky to get a call from Ashley this afternoon. She was one of our WWOOF’ers that stayed here this summer. She is doing well with a new job at REI and her studies. It was nice to catch up, hear her voice and stay connected.

We have had several inquiries about WWOOF’ing here this winter but are not accepting new folks at this time. We are going dormant and curling up in front of the fire with board games and hot cocoa. Our son love is when we play chess with him. This is a great time to focus on our just being with our family.

This is not to say that there aren’t chores to be done but for now, we will be doing on our own. I’ll write about them later. For now, I am off for my daily practice in humility, I am about to play chess by my son who will undoubtably beat me again.

High 34  Low 26   Clear, cold and crisp!

It’s the end of November 2011 and baby it’s cold outside! I spent the morning breaking ice on the animal’s water feeders and making sure everyone has adequate bedding to keep them warm. I hung white tarps up on the outside of the chicken run to prevent side-rains from soaking the ground but to allow light to still reflect in on our girls. I added some herbal tonic to everyone’s water so that they will have the benefit of extra vitamins, minerals and immune system support before the temperatures drop even lower this evening. We are hitting the mid-twenties so far.

This is the time to be nesting and resting  after a busy spring and summer but I am busy with holiday markets for our value-added product line, SongCroft Naturals. This means there is not rest for this girl until after December 25^th.

At that time, I will curl up in front of the fire with a hot cup of tea and work on the batik quilt crazy quilt because baby it’s cold outside.

I’d like to share this resource for all of you out there that are freelance writers or niche bloggers.

http://30queries30days.com

Okay, Let me get totally non-sexy here. I want to diverge from the normal topics. I know this is a homesteading site but I want to spend a bit of time writing about finances, homestead businesses, and how to manage them.

Trust me, it’s all related in an “around-the-bend and back again” sort of way.

Ok, you all know I have a lot of plates spinning! I get emails from folks all the time asking me how I can manage to do so many things at once. I guess part of my ability to balance a lot of things at one time is a gift from both of my parents.  My folks worked several jobs at once most of my life. (That is an entirely different story and not one that we are going to get in to right now.)  I watched them juggle on a daily basis. The other part of my ability to juggle so many things at once is that I am pretty organized. (Hold that thought.)

So, about those spinning plates. Life on a farm is not as it used to be. I’ve had to adapt to changes in the environment, economy and in my own life. This is not the only generation to deal with these things but things are different now. We are dealing with gmo’s, Frankenstein seed, radiation, peal oil and a whole lot more. All of these things create a need for many folks who farm or homestead to find a variety of ways to stay on the farm. Joel Salatin’s Family is a good example of this. Joel raises grass-fed beef and a variety of other types of livestock but that is not all he does. Joel also has a farm store where he sells everything from books to t-shirts, he sells his meat to a variety of different markets, restaurants and buying clubs. Joel is a paid speaker, a blogger, and an author and has produced his own DVD’s. There are other things that Joel does but you get the idea.

So how could someone who does a ton of different things like Joel figure out what is most profitable and what isn’t worth doing? They could use a tool like the Freelance Writers and Blogger Spreadsheet that Lisa Russell has made.  It allows you to compare a variety of different writing jobs to see which are most profitable. Profit and loss statements, income per source, pie charts of income sources and average earning are all included. These are the type of tools that allow people who are “spinning a lot of plates” and operating at high levels to find success. http://30queries30days.com/wordpresssite/1631

If you are interested in a more in-depth version of this article, it will be included in the Spring Issue. Take yourself seriously and turn over a new leaf this spring! Subscribe to our newsletter at http://songcroft.com/the-songcroft-self-sufficiency-newsletter/

Support our family farm by purchasing items that you would normally use anyway. Completely synthetic ingredient-free, handmade skin, body and hair care products. SongCroft Naturals www.songcroftnaturals.com We have lots of special holiday offers and ship all over the country.

Community cooperatives can take many forms. There are food co-ops, educational co-ops, tool shares, lending libraries and all sorts of other types of cooperative efforts. Our family have been a part of all of these including intentional communities. Each of these are important but none of these are exactly what I am speaking of today.

You see, I am fortunate enough to belong to a great community. This is a community of people that don’t all live close to each other but have created the intention and set forth the effort to commit to each other in a variety of ways. Let me give you an example.

This evening Brian and I met with five other folks who all came with purpose to figure out what each others goals, experiences, gifts and community offers are with the intent of assisting each other and working together to meet our goals. We were all expecting to form a cooperative community.

Included in the group were Gil Schieber of Skipley Farm, Nancy Chase and her intern Michael from Shambala Farm on Camano Island, Zsolt and Zsofia Pasztor of  Innovative Landscape Technologies and us.

We shared food and popped the cork on a bottle of wine as we got out two large white boards and under each of our farm or business names, we listed the aforementioned items. It became clear that many of us had similar goals and talents to support each other. It also became clear that some of us needed more immediate help than others so we made some decisions based on faith, community cooperation and optimism.

It is not unlike the concept of crowd-funding except it is a small number of people than might normally be involved and we are talking about other resources than money. (This is a good thing because all of us in the room are short on it.)

First we identified a farm that needs immediate assistance with their nursery and greenhouse construction so we set a date and are going to join forces to get the job done. We next identified the need for another farm to get it’s website up and have a marketing plan and finally we recognized the need to assist someone with the building of a display for the NW Flower and Garden show. http://www.gardenshow.com

Our family did not identify an immediate need for us (we can wait until the rest are cared for) but we will be there to assist the others. This is how we create a cooperative community. This is what enriches our lives. We are all in this together and that makes life rich!

“Learning to delegate is part of being self-sufficient and sustainable.”

34 Degrees F  Mostly clear with some clouds. Light showers.

It’s a good day here on SongCroft. First of all, it’s 11/11/11. This hasn’t happened since 1911. Interesting! Also, you may have noticed that our website is back up and even better than before.  Well, it’s better than before because we moved the hosting. This is a good thing and it was made possible by Keven Elliff!

We could not have moved our website without the help and persistence of Keven Elliff marketing, web designer, product launch extraordinaire.  I met Keven at Focus on Farming about three years ago. He was teaching a class on social networking for farms. His knowledgeable yet approachable demeanor drew me to him. He has since been assisting me in a variety of projects but most currently undoing what my former website host botched up.

You might be asking yourself why I would be taking the time to share about tech stuff on a self-sufficiency blog. Well, you see, people often write in to me saying, “I don’t know how you do it all” and similar comments. While it’s true I do a heck of a lot of stuff on my own (not to say that my cute husband Brian isn’t also busy with farm chores and tasks) I have found the importance in delegating what I don’t do best.

That’s right, delegating is part of self-sufficiency and sustainbalility! By hiring Keven to do the things I don’t understand, care to learn or have time to learn (yet), I am free to milk goats, plant garlic, make applesauce, bake bread, homeschool children, clip hooves, etc…

And by having Keven Elliff as a resource, I am also able to make sure that I can share information with all of you in hope that someone is inspired, learns something and feels more empowered. These are all positive things.

Maybe 11/11/11 is a power number and magical day?

I encourage you to look at your life, see what you could use help with. Consider whom you can ask for help, hire, delegate to and do just that. In the end, you may find that you get ten times more done or enjoy what you get done ten times more. Either way, you wont be alone.

Until next time, enjoy this magical fall day!

Oh, and if you want to contact Keven Elliff, you can find him at http://kevenelliff.com. Please tell him I sent you.

If you would like to support our farm by purchasing some amazing personal care products that you probably need anyway, www.songcroftnaturals.com is our retail website. We will have all 35 products there shortly! Check our Facebook page for sales and special offers. Thanks.

Now back to the regularly scheduled program…

It’s been a busy harvest season here on SongCroft. I have been canning tomatoes, peaches, pickles, sauces, plums, and salmon. Crocks of cucumbers and sauerkraut have been fermenting and sausages were made. Whether you are homesteading or not, this the time to put up the harvest!

There is lots to do as we transition from the summer into autumn. Alfalfa must be stacked for winter feeding of goats, stalls must be cleaned, hooves trimmed and herbal worming must become a ritual. I must also watch for signs of the does going into ester as we have one two-year old doe on our homestead who will be bred for the first time this year.

Chickens have their needs too. I do an extra deep cleaning of their yard and house, scrub out the nest boxes and give them a little extra diatomaceous earth to ward off mites. Pests become more active in the wet months so these are preventative steps.

The duck flock had to be reduced as we had to many drakes. Drakes can be relentless in their desire to breed and if the ratio of drakes to hens is out of balance, the hens lose. My youngest child and I worked together in harvesting our ducks and making them in to the best sausage we have ever had!

I’ll have to begin harvesting turkeys soon too. Our flock of 11 are huge and beautiful. I will keep my favorite tom and two-three hens with the hope of breeding them next year. The rest will come Thanksgiving dinner and many other meals throughout fall and winter.

Now is also the time to amend the soil. I plan to get several pick-up truck loads of horse manure from a neighbor who feeds only organic hay. We are making compost on our homestead but want to get a jump start by bringing a bunch on to our homestead instead of waiting until we make enough o our own. In time, we plan to only use what we make ourselves. This as well as all of the Big Leaf Maple leaves I rake from the neighbors 4 acres will be piles on our garden beds before they are seeded with fava beans and winter rye. (That means  I better get a move on things because I’m running out of weather!)

There is also garlic to be planted so we can enjoy it’s harvest all next year. Deciding where I want it to go this fall is a challenge since I want to add the manure and leaf mulch too. I will have to work that one out soon.

This is also a great time to plant or relocate plants. I moved a plum so it can grow on the edge of the campground and placed a medlar in it’s former place. I hope that I will be able to  pitch a tent under the plum tree in future years. It will bring back fond memories of my summer with my kids on the Bullock Brothers Permaculture Farm on Orcas Island.

In between the chores, I hope to get in some reading, board games and knitting. What are you doing prepare for fall? are you on a homestead or ? We would love to hear more about our readers.

If you are interested in reading more about  moving towards self-sufficiency as a family, check out our quarterly newsletter. The Winter 2012 issue is going to have our duck sausage recipe!