Suburban Intro to Homesteading

Chickens!! Our family is very excited that getting a half dozen chickens is becoming less of a fantasy and more of a possibility in the near-er future! Most of my spare time has been spent watching YouTube videos on how to raise backyard chickens so that we can be as prepared as possible. This will be one of the first major steps towards my Blogs original goal of introducing our family to Suburban Homesteading. So far we have done a couple minor things like getting a handle on Brewing Kombucha, I'm able to brew 2 gallons of yummy goodness every 8-10 days. Like so many Americans, I grew up in a normal suburb with fences, cats and dogs, and a lot of lawnmowers. No one had anything more exotic or farm-like than an occasional pet snake or a gerbil. It wasn't until adulthood that I developed an interest in having pet chickens. "What? Pet chickens!? You cant have food for a pet." That's my voice up until I was about 27. Lots of things have walked me down the p...

Getting back to my homesteading interests, I want to talk about my new favorite hobby, Kombucha Brewing and my motivations for it's consumption. First off, what is Kombucha? It's fermented tea that you can flavor almost any way you can imagine. It's also carbonated, which is a huge plus for those trying to kick soda habits, or just generally get tired of only drinking water all the time. I am about to finish up my third batch of Kombucha and I'm super excited about it. So far I've had Mango Ginger, Blueberry, and Cherry Cream Soda flavors, Those might sound pretty involved but for some perspective, in all of my batches the only ingredients I've used are Water, Sugar, Tea, SCOBY, Mango, Ginger, Blueberries, Cherries, Vanilla Bean, and Honey. About as natural as it can get. Wait, what was the weird word in the middle there? SCOBY. That sounds weird. It is weird! HaHa. It stands for Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast, which is a really long acronym ...

Last week I shared an article on Facebook that talked about how the FDA has approved butchering chickens here in the US, shipping them to China to be processed, and sending them back to be sold here. I also mentioned that a grocery store was selling eggs for 88 cents per 18 eggs and how I think that equates too getting a really terrible product. You get what you pay for essentially, and if a factory can produce eggs for literally less than a dime a piece, maybe you might as well just pass. Some friends brought it to my attention that it can be difficult to eat quality food on a budget, which I have experienced. Trust me, I'm a baller on a budget. I truly love good food with every ounce of my being, and yet, I work a high school diploma level job and my wife and I are raising a baby. We don't have Jay Z money. For real. So I thought I would do the math, including an embarrassing phone call asking for some conversion help, to see what a quality and deliscious breakfast act...

Lets have a Friday night discussion about life.   There is a common conversation that I have on a daily basis with pretty much anyone I bump into, and it goes something like this....   Stranger: Hi, how are you? Me: Hi, I'm living the dream thanks, how are you? Stranger: Huh, more like a nightmare, right? Me: Naw not really. If I wasn't living the dream, I'd wake up and do something about it, right? Stranger: *Confused* Umm, yeah I guess. Me: I hope you have a great day. Stranger: *Crickets*   This conversation breaks my heart. Every time. I hate it. It tells me there are to many zombies walking around. To many people who have already died, and are just keeping their bodies in motion for as long as they generate heat.   Here's the first point. A large amount of the general population has been convinced to live a life where they work a 40-50 hour a week job that they don't like, take a one week vacation every year, retire and...

Everyone in our modern world knows that obesity is a problem. It's an epidemic. It's actually worse than that. Epidemics have cures, lockdowns, procedures. There are no cures for the current situation. There isn't a pill, a shot, or a magical solution. It's an issue of education. Everyone knows we are being brainwashed by the fast food industry, and advertising, Our subconscious is tapped into every day by years of research all poured into the colors and shapes of logos, jingles, and catch phrases that aim to grab and hold our attention. And all of these things offer us what? Food that is so processed it is barely food anymore. You've seen the documentaries. If you haven't, get on Netflix or Youtube. Animals and bugs don't want the stuff these companies offer us. Mold and fungus don't even want a lot of the things we shovel in to our bodies. Well, what do we do? We get back to the roots. Literally. Get growing. For $20 you can order yourself one of...

Hello and welcome back to Suburban Intro to Homesteading! I have a few new homesteading projects in the works right now in my small apartment, but they are in the beginning stages. So I wanted to take some time to talk about another aspect of my life that I think relates to this blog, and can have a positive lasting impact on the world we live in. #30halfsbefore30 is a personal goal I've been working towards for a little over a year and a half. I am trying to complete 30 Half Marathons before I turn 30. At this point the finish line is metaphorically and realistically in sight. Over the weekend I finished my 24th, and have all of the rest of my Half's on the calendar with me finishing at the Air Force Half Marathon in September. If you knew me 5 years ago, this is a big deal. And it has taken a village. Between training partners, a family member's race entry sponsorship, my OCR family the Crazy Mudder Muckers, becoming an Ambassador for the Brokeman's Running Co, ...