On the Homestead 

We have a loose goal around here of moving slowly toward self-sufficiency. We aren't too militant about it since we are newbies to this rural farm-life. But, we do want to progress toward growing a substantial amount of our own food. So, we picked out a site for our fledgling orchard and brought home a whopping four new baby trees. We picked out persimmon, plum and two varieties of apples. I think we need to get another plum for pollination and I'm not sure if the persimmon needs a buddy to pollinate with.

Next, we added a berry patch. We put in two kinds of blueberry bushes, four varieties of raspberries and one blackberry. I am so excited for berries! They are so expensive at the store, even more so for organic, and the thought of being able to pick tons of them from our own garden is so cool! I can hardly wait to make pies and cobblers and crisps!

And, since I really want to build and maintain a well-stocked pantry, I put in an Azure Standard order for pantry staples such as apples, oats, baking soda, shampoo, pasta and other necessities. I love Azure. My goal is to shop only once a month. So far, we have transitioned from weekly shopping to every other week. Now, I would like to mostly order from Azure and then just fill in for fresh things  like produce and raw milk from our tiny but wonderful little health food store up here in the mountains. I really want to find out if we save money shopping this way. I am guessing that just the fact that we are staying out of the stores by shopping only every four weeks will save a lot.

My next goals are to transplant the seedlings we started several weeks ago into larger pots, add another couple of trees, add four more planter boxes and start lettuces, spinach and kale in tubs. That's what's going on on the homestead!