Homestead

Alrighty folks, there is reformation in the Baker household.  We are going to attempt homesteading, by this we mean less and less dependent upon the supermarket, aka WALMART and more and more on items we can make for a healthier lifestyle.  We have wanted to do this for quite sometime, but I mean who has the time right?  When the women went into the workplace, men invented microwave ovens, Just add milk recipes, and Drive thru resturants.  So- we live a very crazy schedule, but we are determined to make this happen, we have begun to make baby steps in this direction. 

Baby step #1- I am making my own deoderant.  I was listening to the radio in the dentist office the other day- the room was full of women.  A fact screamed its words to me "1 out of every 8 women in the US will develop breast cancer at some point in their lifetime"  I looked around there room there were a ton of women, I started to count...1...2...3..then I thought it could end up being me.  What is it about our lifestyles that have us so prone to Cancer in America, my former co-worker from China said that Breast cancer is pretty much unheard of.  The products they use are primarily soy instead of dairy.  One thought that crossed my mind was deoderant- I had heard rumors that the aluminum and other ingredients in them may cause breast cancer and alzheimers.  While I doubt it is really conclusive- what if, what if I could make my own deoderant, which I know is safe, and save my money.  So I tried it and LOVE IT.  It was really easy to make, I even had a lot left over to share with my mom.  Here are the steps if you want to tell Secret, Dove, Degree, and whoever else to keep their aluminum, and you will keep your $4 a stick. 

5-6 tablespoon coconut oil
1/4 cup baking soda
1/4 cup cornstarch
* you can add a few drops of essential oils, however I didn't add any to mine and honestly I haven't needed anything extra to mask an odor, I also work a really manual sweaty job, so if it works for me it should work for you.  The Aluminum was the antiperspirant, which I don't do much of so if you sweat a lot- not sure what you should do. 

mix those ingredients up....and fill them into your old deoderant container, or in a container to get it out with your fingers. 

Cost Total:  with the common use of the ingredients it calls for, you can make this deoderant for practically nothing. 

Baby Step #2:  Washing Powders
We go through a lot of washing powders.  its rather expensive, I don't coupon so its about $25/month we spend to just wash our clothes.  This is another shot in the dark that has proved to be better than Tide.  Our clothes have smelled clean and not perfumed, and it has done a really great job of washing them too! 

here's how you can join in:
1/2 cup Borax
1/2 cup washing soda
1 cup of grated soap.  The first time I used what I had on hand which was a bar of Dial (it was really "moisturizing" and grated into curly q's which worked fine, but IVORY grated nicely into a fine powder)
mix and add 2 tablespoons to each load (before you put the clothes in) 
Done.
Cost:  There is enough borax and Washing soda in the boxes to last us MONTHS...so really its the bar of soap a week, we have a TON of dirty clothes each week (you wouldn't think right?)

Baby Steps #3
Garden and honey bees and worms.  I will let B elaborate later about the B's he is really excited about, but we are taking a beekeeping class the end of the month, with the bees coming in April.  We are getting a few garden spots ready at our house for quick meals and are planning on growing a huge one with my parents. I also want to do composting with worms, we will share my homemade worm mansion (which will eliminate scrap from going to the garbage and in my dogs  belly which causes a horrible time cleaning her lot for Brandon) and it will also produce some really good stuff that our plants will love, making more flowers, for the bees to pollinate, so we can have more fruit to can and eat.  I want to eat the fruit of my labor this summer, fall, winter, and maybe even into next spring :)  If I grow my own food- I know it has not been treated with pesticides, it has not had to travel 1000 miles across the country or even more across the world picked too early or treated with an anti ripening agent.  it will be fresh.  it will be 100% good for us.

Our interest in change has just came from a disgust in the way we are living.  I want to reduce the amount of trash we produce, but how can I when my veggies come wrapped in plastic, my bread in plastic, some are wrapped in plastic and in a box.  this is not how food was intended to be.  I am tired of cooking in the "just add milk" era, I want to make my pies and cakes and bread, mix the flour, sugar, and yeast myself and enjoy it, or try again tweaking the art of baking....not just relying on Betty Crocker. 

I wanted to share with you a few of our changes and possibly inspire others to do the same.  We are excited to create our own little homestead.