My Homestead

I live on a small homestead in Maine.  It's very small but very beautiful.  The ocean is directly in my front yard as my home is built on the rocks of the shore.  In my backyard are my gardens and hoop house and chicken coop.  There is no pavement around here as I live 1.5 miles down a dead end dirt road on a peninsula off an island off the mainland.  And that's the way I like it.

February 2013.  I took this picture off my front porch.  That's the Atlantic Ocean in the background.  Hard to believe I'll be planting tomato seeds indoors in a couple of months and then putting the plants out in the hoop house come mid May.  But I will be.  Life's good.

I love to plant vegetables.  Every year I get so excited to start the process anew.  I have to start many things under lights in the house here in Maine because our growing season is so short.  I use a shop light ($10 up at a home supply store) to do it.  No special "grow lights" are needed at the early stage of a plant's growth, no matter what the seed catalogs tell you.  So a plain old shop light with ordinary fluorescent bulbs works just fine for me.  It's always so much fun to fill the little pots up with soil and press the new seeds in.  I often use old yogurt or sour cream containers to start the veggies in, making sure to poke some holes in the bottom for drainage.  When the plants are ready and the weather is warm, they go out into the gardens or the hoop house.

I've planted many things over the years.  Tomatoes are one of my main crops because I love them so much.  What would our world be like without spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, ketchup, or salsa?  It would be boring, indeed.  I also plant a lot of hot peppers because I love hot sauce!  When I eat my homemade canned hot sauce in the dead of winter here in Maine, I smile.  I smile because I remember the summer, and I know it will come again.  My blueberry and strawberry jams have the same effect on me.  I smile.  My plantings have varied over the years but have included cucumbers, lettuce, spinach, mustard greens, zucchini, eggplant, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, corn, tomatillos, many squashes, cantaloupes, onions, garlic, beets, carrots, beans, peas, brussels sprouts, potatoes, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, apples, apricots, peaches, cherries, and plums.  There are others but I just don't remember them all.

As the year wears on and things begin to ripen, I get very busy.  I can, ferment, dry, or freeze much of my harvest to preserve it for leaner times, like winter.  Nothing tastes better than food you have put by yourself.  It's all grown without any chemicals (just chicken manure).  I only use organic bug or fungus products when I have to, and that doesn't happen every year.  Of course, none of my vegetables or fruits are irradiated like they are in any commercial store, organic or not.  I wonder what that does for the plant makeup and ultimately the human body?  That's one of the many reasons I love to grow my own.  There are many, many jars of preserves, sauces, plain vegetables, etc. in my house.  Sometimes I have to find some pretty creative ways to store them because my house is so small, but I manage to do it.  Preserving my harvest gives me such a feeling of peace and comfort.

Out in the back is a chicken coop.  I am down to only 15 hens now but have kept many more and will probably keep many more in the future.  I lost my last rooster this past May but will have another one someday.  I love to hear a rooster crow.  It reminds me that I'm home.  My hens give me plenty of eggs, and I have not eaten a store-bought egg in a very long time.  Store-bought eggs are so sad looking.  When you crack them open, their yolks are so dull and dreary and they lay flat in the pan.  Not so with fresh pastured eggs!  The yolks are large and almost orange, so loaded they are with vitamins.  They stand up in the pan and do not spread around, and they taste wonderful.  I sell some of my eggs because I end up with more than I can possibly use.  My customers love them.

I have harvested my chickens on occasion but not lately because this batch is over a year old now.  The first time I butchered a chicken, I was shaking from head to toe.  I didn't know how to do it and I couldn't find anyone to help me, so I went online and found some videos.  Believe it or not, that's how I learned.  It's a very humbling experience.  I thought I might not be brave enough to do it, but I found out I was.  Homegrown chicken tastes different from store-bought chicken.  It's "chewier."  The flavor is very good.  I try to eat with reverence and thanks.

I love my little homestead, but I have a dream.  Someday soon I will have a larger homestead.  I know more of what I need now.  I need a larger home for storage of what I grow.  A full cellar would be wonderful.  I need barns too, not just a coop.  I would love to have goats for milk and sheep for wool.  A horse might be nice someday.  I'll need pastures, of course, for the animals.  I want a stream out back so I can go fishing.  And woods, lots of woods.  I will definitely have that for hunting and wood for my fire.  Of course, I will continue to have fields in which I grow what I eat.  Self-sufficiency is such a noble goal, I think, and it's really all I've ever wanted.  I will continue to strive for it.

So I'll bide my time, planting, growing, learning.  There's still so much to be grateful for around here.  Nothing will go to waste, including all the knowledge I've acquired.  I will miss my small homestead, but I so look forward to my new farm/homestead.  In self-sufficiency, there's always something to do, something new to learn, something challenging.  That is what I love about this life.