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As part our Earth Centered Series (see intro post), we are answering some questions that were posed to us by a college class. This video is us answering the first question about logistics. This is a great opportunity to share some of the details of our life and larger vision.

We go into more detail in the video, but have summarized our answers below.

Question #1

Logistics of our life: Do you have electricity? What percent of your food do you grow/gather yourself? What do you still buy at the store?

Do we have electricity?

Yes

Our solar shed with panels

Yes

We live off-grid and obtain 100% of our electricity from solar energy (check out a post we made about it yesterday for #earthdeeds). We installed a photovoltaic system on a building we erected and power a freezer, lights, well pump, power tools, washing machine and other electronics. This required us to learn quite a bit about electricity and are happy that we are not dependent on grid-tied fossil fuel dependent electricity. While we are extreme in some ways, we do really enjoy having "power". We spent the first two years without it and got a feel for what that's like!

What percent of your food do you grow/gather yourself?

During the summer months 80%, winter closer to 60% with less veggies and eggs.

Potatoes and Zinnias

Here's an idea of what we are growing:

• Planted but not yielding:
  paw paws, mulberries, chestnuts, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, goumi, aronia, pears (Asian and euro), peaches, almonds, apples, hazelnut

• Cultivate:
  Garlic, potatoes, sweet potatoes, kale, lettuce, nettles, burdock, peppers, squash, leeks, beets, asparagus, carrots, kohlrabi, tomatoes, okra, arugula, onions, beans, shiitake and oyster mushrooms, eggs

Medicine harvest: Valerian Root

• Medicine we grow/gather:
  Tulsi, licorice, valerian, ashwagana, milky oats, lemon balm, yarrow, bee balm, resishi

• Barter:
  Grass fed beef, eggs

Paw Paw harvest: this is north america’s Largest native fruit

• Hunt and Gather:
  Paw paw, Persimmon, Seasonal Mushroom, deer, ground hog, armadillo, carp, chickweed, purslane, lambs quarter, dandelion

A note on hunter/gathering:
Oftentimes this very abundant strategy is left out of modern human's diets, but we find it is one of the most satisfying and fun ways to obtain a meal. Whether it's actively hunting for wild game (deer), fishing or taking a hike in a local area and finding a choice mushroom (that we 100% correctly ID!), getting food from the wild is awesome! We highly recommend it.

Cultivated shiitake mushrooms from our mushroom logs.

What do you still buy at the store?

We buy oil, salt chocolate, spices, spaghetti, rice, quinoa lentils... prepared foods like tortilla chips, sometimes bread. Often chocolate.

Today's meal of potatoes, baby squash, tomatoes, garlic, jalapenos and greens. All from the homestead except oil and salt.

Join us next time as we answer the next question:

Transition from “mainstream” society to homesteading: How did you make the decision to live like this and why? What, if anything, do you miss? Do you think you’ll ever transition back to “normal” society?

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