Quenching the thirst for Reading
My wife Sue and I are hooked-on-reading. Sue is a professional writer/instructor and she pours over newspaper and magazine articles, self-help books and women's fiction novels. In her girlhood-years she read the Little House on the Prairie series and a number of biographies. As a youth I began with comic books, including Classics Illustrated, moved on to Science Fiction, history and biographies. Today I include religion, philosophy, self-improvement and real science, among the subjects of the books I read. Out here in the country our thirst for reading is being partially quenched by visiting two local libraries, where we also check-out a few movies. A couple of weeks ago, while visiting the one in Everson, WA. I wandered over to the magazine rack. Since Sue and I have been developing our gardening skills I was looking for related magazines. I selected three and brought them home.
Identifying a style of living
Once at home I leafed my way through all three, looking mainly at the pictures and titles of the articles. Two of the magazines in particular caught my interest, Farm & Ranch and Countryside. After reading them almost cover-to-cover I decided I had struck gold with one - Countryside & Small Stock Journal. Farm & Ranch is fun and has really nice glossy color photos and interesting articles, but I found it short on helping me add to my outdoor skill-set. In comparison, Countryside has only a few photos, most not in color and only the cover is glossy. However, the content is what is important and Countryside holds a marvelous treasure. This magazine is full of practical information for those of us who are already in the country, planning to move out into the country, or are turning their city-home-lots into kitchen gardens. Countryside magazine is a forum for the sharing of ideas, failures and successes in the writers attempts to live in closer harmony to the natural world. It also contains articles by experienced homesteaders, providing information on a wide range of topics related to living the homestead life. Sue and I liked the magazine so much we picked up another issue just yesterday and plan to continue as new issues come out.
A light comes on!
It was not long after Sue had read a few articles in Countryside that she learned the term for the style of life we are now living. Back when Sue and I first moved into the country we thought of a few names to call our place, we really liked the names of the estates in Jane Austin's novels. Finally we settled on Berryridge Farm. Sue and I did feel a bit funny about calling our place a "farm" because we don't plan to grow anything for commercial purposes, at least not yet anyway. From the Countryside magazine Sue discovered that what we were doing this past three years is called, by those doing more or less the same thing, homesteading. A term we both knew of course but never thought about applying to our situation. The Countryside & Small Stock Journal opened our eyes to just how big the movement back to valuing a land-based lifestyle really is.
On the Internet
The Internet can be either a useful tool or a place of addiction or obsession. I try to use it more as a tool but I can see how seductive it is too! Countryside magazine has its share of Ads, the cost of publishing is not cheap. Fortunately the advertising is related to farming, gardening, stock raising, home & out-building construction etc. Most of the advertisers have websites listed, so you can visit and survey what they have to sell, which might solve a problem you're having. In the magazine I discovered there is a website devoted to homesteading, the Homestead Exchange Network or H.E.N. I now have it marked as a 'favorite' on my browser.
Berryridge Farm - Homestead
The snow arrived this morning and cold northeaster winds are predicted for tomorrow and the next day. Sue and I have been putting more wood up for the 2009-2010 burning season. Our garden is pretty well put to bed for the winter, Sue covered many of the beds in straw. I did plant garlic for this coming summer and we still have some of this season's potato crop in the ground, to be dug up as winter goes along. Sue has been editing her memoir, which we now hope to have published this coming spring.
Well, I'd better go put another log on the fire - stay warm & safe this Holiday Season!
