I just finished reading The Prairie Homestead Cookbook and totally loved it! Yes, I said reading it. It's so much more than a cookbook. It contains tips, anecdotes, notes on how to raise chickens and cows, gardening how-to's, pantry must haves, canning instructions, and how to preserve crispy pickles. It's like a manual on how to do basic homesteading. :-)
As Jill talks about in her book (and I agree with) there's a misunderstanding out there that "homesteading" is all or nothing. That you either cook all your own food from scratch or you don't. But she suggests that there are many different versions of 'homesteading' and I'll add that there are different levels of homesteading. In today's society, it's not realistic to have a full garden or raise your own animals when many people live in apartments, townhouses, full shade yards so things don't grow well (like ours), or work hours that make it difficult to complete tasks at home.
Just like in my post The Way to Big Things is Small Steps , the important thing is to start somewhere. I can't garden at my house, but I can have a plot at the local community garden. During this last pregnancy, I stopped making kombucha and milk kefir because I couldn't handle anything extra during a season of tough morning sickness. (Note: I still haven't started doing those things, because.....toddlers). But I can make my own yogurt in the Instant Pot and our bread in the bread machine. (I'm so thankful for kitchen machines!)
There are some people who do more 'homesteading' while living in the city than some who live in the country. 'Homesteading' isn't so much about location as a personal decision to make more things from scratch, to know where your food comes from, and learning new skills to become self-sufficient.
Honestly...around here....new cooking skills are slow to come. Time seems to go so fast with three littles running around that I usually resort to things we've done before. As with anything, it takes practice. These hot pockets in the picture above....were amazing but I only made them once as the dough needs to be started during the day (which means I have to think about supper way in advance). But the biscuits and gravy below have been made so many times, the recipe is almost memorized! I love that I can make a double batch of the biscuits and freeze them in smaller portions to toss in the oven for quick biscuits and gravy. There's not time to cook full meals everyday, but I can double something and freeze part of it to pull out next time.
One of the big points in the introduction to the book was just to do .....something. Too often we get overwhelmed by looking at what others are doing, or the big goal seems so far away that we never even take the first step. Our youngest has been learning to crawl and pull herself up on furniture over the last month. Imagine if she were to see her siblings running around and go cry in the corner because she couldn't run like a preschooler yet. We would think it's silly because as adults we know that it takes practice and time (and lots of frustrated grunts) for her, as a baby, to learn to stand, walk and eventually run. Yet, we don't give ourselves the same grace for our adult goals.
How about you? What one step can you take towards your goal? Is there a recipe or skill you want to learn? Is there a book to read or a person to contact? Let's give ourselves the grace of practice, time and yes.... 'frustrated grunts'. Believe me, I've had plenty of bread loaves not turn out, food get burned, and my family politely eat food that hadn't turned out as I planned. I'm sure I've uttered many frustrated grunts along the way. :-) But let's keep taking steps together!
Sojourning with you,
Felicia
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