Babe's Bucket List Challenge #8 - My Own House & Garden

 

Welcome to Babe's Bucket List Challenge, where I'm tackling twelve of the thirty things on my bucket list and writing about the experiences...won't you join me?

Remember my dad (from the Word of the Year post)?  Dad's joie de vivre was unmatched -- he loved life!  Music, surfing, engineering, strong coffee, and family were part of his core.  He loved tinkering with ideas and often worked with his grandsons on projects such as building a siege tower, designing and building a chicken coop, and designing and shooting off rockets...plus going fishing.  He lived life with an engineer's precision, a surfer's spirit, and a drummer's soul.  Even as his health declined, his spirit, sense of humor, and love for ice cream never wavered.

In his honor, this year I have created a bucket list - a compliation of dreams and aspirations - to work from.  My husband (who grew up in our town and interned with him as a teen) has also written down a bucket list, and we're going for it!  You can download your own Bucket List template at the Word of the Year post.

Challenge number eigh on the list?  There's no place like home.

Having uprooted life in a major way over the past couple of years, getting settled and rebuilding a small homestead area has been top of mind for a bit. If you've been paying attention to economics, you're probably aware of the fact that the housing market has been very volatile, alongside the prices of everything else rising. However, we found this cute little gem in the best little town...

While it was too late in the year to really get a good garden going, and honestly the soil here is going to need a ton of amending, we were able to get an herb garden started and make progress toward building some raised beds out of food-grade agricultural totes.

And in the meantime, we got some vegetables going along the back wall. Is it what I'd have typically done in the past? Nope. But one lesson here is to acknowledge when circumstances have changed and adapt to them. As you've probably noticed from a few of the other bucket list posts, I've had a bad habit in the past of comparing now-me to past-me, and my body doesn't work like it used to, which makes that an unfair comparison. In this case, comparing a brand new garden on a small parcel to an acre-plus established garden on a large parcel is apples to oranges...

There are plenty of things to like about the property, including the beautiful wildflowers popping up everywhere and the huge blackberry thicket I undercovered while clearing brush!

Before the end of summer, we'll have the rain barrels set up to help water gardens, the clothesline up, and beehives established in this little nook.

Naturally, there are still PLENTY of projects to be done around the house and property, and we look forward to tackling each and every one of them together. 

One of my favorite books, which is a must-have for anyone building up their homestead, is Back to Basics. I highly recommend this as a housewarming gift for anyone as it also focuses on home ownership and repair.

How are your bucket list challenges coming along?

Babe's Bucket List Challenge #6: Write a Book

 Welcome to Babe's Bucket List Challenge, where I'm tackling twelve of the thirty things on my bucket list and writing about the experiences...won't you join me?

Remember my dad (from the Word of the Year post)?  Dad's joie de vivre was unmatched -- he loved life!  Music, surfing, engineering, strong coffee, and family were part of his core.  He loved tinkering with ideas and often worked with his grandsons on projects such as building a siege tower, designing and building a chicken coop, and designing and shooting off rockets...plus going fishing.  He lived life with an engineer's precision, a surfer's spirit, and a drummer's soul.  Even as his health declined, his spirit, sense of humor, and love for ice cream never wavered.

In his honor, this year I have created a bucket list - a compliation of dreams and aspirations - to work from.  My husband (who grew up in our town and interned with him as a teen) has also written down a bucket list, and we're going for it!  You can download your own Bucket List template at the Word of the Year post.

Challenge number six on the list?  Writing a book.

I'd like to take a moment here to shout out all of the authors out there...especially those who have been quite prolific.  It's one thing to have a creative idea, and to even have a rough plot in your head.  It's quite another to bring it to fruition on the page!

While I began writing a longer novel, and still have all of those planning pages and rough drafts, ultimately I knew I would have to shift gears to be able to accomplish this goal this year.  I had been kicking around an idea for a children's book and found that one much easier to pull together in a shortened period of time.  I'm thinking the fact that it was non-fiction also helped here, as I didn't have to keep my head wrapped around an alternate universe to keep all of the plotlines together, as one does for a novel.

Hippie Mama's ABC is a non-fiction, educational book (did you expect any less from a long-term homeschooler?) written for preschool and elementary aged children.  It covers natural and simple living, homesteading, and self-sufficiency, all at an introductory level.  Again, as a homeschooler, I've also included hands-on activities for concept reinforcement.  It is available on both kindle format and in paperback, and while I'm biased, I really think you're going to love it!

  

Hippie Mama's ABC

Imagine if you knew how to grow your own juicy strawberries, make your own bread, and fix a broken toy all by yourself. Learning about self-sufficiency and homesteading is a little bit like becoming a real-life explorer and helper at the same time. It means learning how to take care of yourself, your family, and the world around you. When kids learn these things, they discover that they are strong, smart, and able to do amazing things!  Told through the ABCs for elementary-aged children, there are also hands-on activities and parent-led adventures included.

While I am still currently working on my full-length novel, it's going to be a while before that one sees the light of day.  With dozens of pages of notes, multiple timelines plotted out, and a character map, it's something that requires chunks of time to devote to thinking and writing that I simply do have not have at the moment.  In this in-between stage -- taking care of both childrens and aging parents -- we do the best we can with the time we have.  Until then....Buonanotte, Tesoro!

Hippie Mama's ABC is available in kindle version or paperback 

Homestead Education - High School Projects

 

Our son, Xander, loves the farm life!  I'm sure you'll see him many times over the course of our journey here at Homeschool On the Range.  If you love his work, click on the Xander tag at the bottom of this post to find more!

This year for science, I have been using Homestead Education.  (Mom says you can see all about it on her review thing.) 

Middle / High School Learners

Created for upper grades learners, Introduction to Homestead Science contains 18 interactive units that teach agriculture science, life skills, applied mathematics, and character lessons.  Each of those units includes eight lessons, spanning two weeks, for a total of thirty-six weeks.  Each lesson has accompanying workbook activities and projects.  The curriculum also includes tests, quizzes, and six homestead projects (no acreage required).

Anyway.  I like it.  There is a lot of hands on stuff and while I have to still read and write and watch some videos, I also get to build things and make better stuff for the farm.

We had to build a new waterer and make a better fence so that we can get more cows.  This is what we are working on here to add on to the barn.

Part of having a chicken coop is having to keep it clean.  The chickens have made a mess!

This is the winter house I made for our goats out of an old motorcycle trailer.  It keeps them safe from the wind at night and has lots of hay.  I let them out during the day time.

Whether it's stuff we grew ourselves or got at the store, it is important to know how to cook.  It saves you a lot of money more than going out to eat all the time.

Grilling is very important because it's an easy way to cook the meat we raise.

Moving hay is a regular chore on the farm, but usually it's something my dad does.  Here I am learning how to use the hay spike.

Here I am learning how to fix the dryer.  It turned out that it just needed a good cleaning!

Farming Books for Elementary, Middle & High School (Interest-Led Learning)

One of our sons is more the hands-on, outdoors type of kid.  He works hard and has great work ethic, but doesn't really plan to continue schooling beyond graduation.  He's not a fan of reading, but enjoys reading about working with animals and the land.  If you've got a kid like this....this list is for you!

Farm & Homestead Books for Elementary School

Lower Elementary

Along Came a Dog

The Biggest Bear

Blueberries for Sal

Brambly Hedge

Grandpa's Farm

Grandpa's Tractor

James Herriot's Treasury for Children

Little Blue Truck's Springtime

Little House on the Prairie (easy readers)

A Little House Picture Treasury

The Little Lamb

A New Coat for Anna

Ox-Cart Man

A Year on Our Farm

Upper Elementary

The Bears of the Blue River

Caddie Woodlawn

Charlotte's Web

Diary of an Early American Boy

Down Down the Mountain

Eric Sloan's Weather Book

Five Little Peppers and How They Grew

Heidi

Little Britches

Little House on the Prairie

Sign of the Beaver

The Year at Maple Hill Farm

Understood Betsy

--> Download & Print the Farm Book List <--

Farm & Homestead Books for Middle & High School

• Farm Hands - Rivers, Tom
• Carrots Love Tomatoes - Riotte, Louise
• Potatoes, Corn, and Beans - Johnson, Sylvia A.
• A Family Apart - Nixon, Joan
• Ancient Agricultural Technology - Woods, Michael
• Droughts - Allaby, Michael
• Food Watch -Bramwell, Martyn
• An American Safari - Brandenburg, Jim
• Geosphere: The Land and Its Uses - Desonie, Dana
• Invisible Allies - Farrell, Jeanette
• Urban Sprawl - Miller, Debra
• The Barn - Avi
• How I Found the Strong - McMullan, Margaret
• Four Seasons With Five Kids on One Family's Farm - Rosen, Michael
• The Man Who Fed the World - Hesser, Leon
• Honey Bees: Letters from the Hive - Buchmann, Stephen
• Symbiosis - Silverstein, Alvin
• Once Upon a Farm - Artley, Bob
• The Haymeadow - Paulsen, Gary
• Thunder on the Plains - Robbins, Ken
• The Worm Cafe - Payne, Binet
• Edible Gardening - Israelsson, Lena
• Dust Bowl Diary - Low, Ann Marie
• Superfood or Superthreat - Gay, Kathlyn
• Little Men - Louisa May Alcott
• Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
• Folks This Ain't Normal - Joel Salatin

Check out for our 2023 Word of the Year -- it has something to do with homesteading!

You may also like...

Arts & Crafts: Seed Art

Using pumpkin seeds, corn, peas, wheat berries, or any other hard seed, create your own nature art!  You'll need seeds, glue, construction paper, paint, and a little creativity.  (Parents should supervise younger children as small seeds can be a choking hazard.)

Build Your Own Homestead Little Learner’s Homestead Science

This elementary curriculum is an interactive homeschool curriculum that will introduce your child to small scale farming. This one of a kind homestead curriculum is designed for pre-school through to 3rd or 4th grade depending on your child and whether this will be used as a full curriculum or supplemental to another curriculum.  

Build Your Own Homestead is designed to give your child a better understanding of where their food comes from. This allows them to take ownership in providing food for the family whether that’s understanding what they are choosing at the grocery store, helping you tend to the garden, or gathering eggs from your chickens.  Homesteading is a science on multiple different levels. Agriculture, animal science, food science, experimentation, and social science are used everyday on the homestead.

*Homestead NOT required*

For more on homesteading, check out the Homesteading Course at SchoolhouseTeachers!

This homeschool homesteading course is designed for anyone who has a desire to live more independently and prepare much of what is needed each day using their own hands. In this elective course, the student can learn how to work for what they want by making it themselves, instead of participating in an “on demand” society. Homeschool students of all ages learn patience, along with the skills needed to make their own cleaners for the home, sunscreen, homemade ketchup and dry mixes, as well as how to choose animals and prepare for emergencies, and much more. Learning the patience and usefulness of “doing it yourself” can be immensely helpful not only in the sense of living a healthier life, but also for the budget!

Butchering the Hog

Our son, Xander, loves the farm life!  I'm sure you'll see him many times over the course of our journey here at Homeschool On the Range.  If you love his work, click on the Xander tag at the bottom of this post to find more!

Wintertime is when you want to butcher your hog.  This is because it gets hot and stinky.  First you have to kill the hog quickly.  My dad did that.  Then we used the tractor to hang it so we could start the process.  We skinned it because that makes it easier.  He was really happy when we were able to start working in the garage where it wasn't as windy.

We had to use a hacksaw and it was a lot of hard work.  It took a lot longer than we thought it was going to, but then we put the pieces in the fridge to rest for a little while.  Then we put some in the freezer and kept out a little bit for the weekend.  It was really tasty!  If you can get a hog, you should definitely because it is better than the stuff at the store.