Ranee Mueller wrote:

> In article .com>,
> "aem" > wrote:
>
>
>>Exactly right, and you'd think that would be the end of the matter, but
>>there are a lot of people who for one reason or another resist that
>>concept. We raised chickens and rabbits when I was a child and they
>>weren't pets, they were food (and pelts from the rabbits). Later, I
>>learned to fish and to hunt (deer) and I was thrilled to contribute
>>food to the table. Now, I have a vegetable garden and I love eating
>>what I grow.
>>
>>I tell people sometimes that getting food from the supermarket is a
>>compromise foisted on us by our choice to live a life that doesn't
>>allow hunting and gathering and growing all our own food. Most of them
>>think I'm crazy.
>
>
> Oh, we're starting to look positively like farmers to most people we
> know. We have a long way to go.
>
> We are trying to become more able to be self sufficient. Not
> completely, there's no way we'd be able to grow sugar cane here, and not
> enough sugar maple trees or birch to make syrup and sugar, no citrus, or
> coffee, or most spices, and we don't have all the land needed to grow
> our grain for the year, among other restrictions. However, as much as
> we can grow, raise, make, we want to do it. Or at least know how. We
> also want to know how to do things in a non-electronic or gas-powered
> way. Not necessarily because we'd eschew those activities, but it sure
> helps if you know what to do when the power is gone.

We try to grow as much as possible for eating fresh, filling the
freezers, and stocking the canning shelf. Your right though, there are
limitations to what you can grow based on location. We are just inside
the town line so zoning says no livestock even though we have a farmer's
field behind us. I could get away with raising rabbits as they aren't
considered livestock. I might be able to get away with a couple of
chickens unless anyone complained to the town. We can set humane traps
for anything that comes into the yard. That would end up being mainly
squirrels and cats. There's an ermine hanging around but I doubt he
would be good eats. There is also musk rats but we haven't trapped any
of those. We live on the water and we have a boat so I can fish. We
don't hunt ourselves other than DH going on a hunt trip as an observer.
He brought home about 60 lb of venison. One of our neighbours trades
wild duck for some of my garden produce. For meats and eggs we are
really dependent on farmers who we buy directly from for less than the
store prices. While I have ground my own flour it isn't something I do
on a regular basis.
>
> Our house was built around 1950 and has electric heat, but it also
> has two fireplaces (one up and one down) and a secondary wood burning
> furnace. That, and the amount of land we are allowed to play with is
> part of what spurred us on to learning to do without electricity or gas
> or whatever and trying to use what we could grow/make.

Our house is heated with natural gas and no fireplaces. I want a corn
burning stove but because of the design of the house finding an
appropriate spot for one is next to impossible. We can get the corn
cheap from an inlaw. DH is concerned it will attract rodents that are
already a problem - field mice and voles.

I'm playing around with solar and have made a couple of solar heaters.
I have a solar/windup radio and solar battery chargers for the smaller
batteries. Our power goes out a lot so I'd really like to do more using
solar especially for the funace fan. I've seen instructions for making
a solar cooker but haven't tried that. Our stove is electric so if the
power is out I use either the bbq or a Coleman stove but only if I
really *have* to cook.
>
> Anyway, you are hereby invited to become a neighbor. Also, if
> you haven't read it yet, a book you might find interesting is Better
> Off. We found it fascinating.
>
> Regards,
> Ranee
>
> Remove do not & spam to e-mail me.
>
> "She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands." Prov 31:13
>
> http://arabianknits.blogspot.com/
> http://talesfromthekitchen.blogspot.com/