Today, I am thrilled to introduce Carol Alexander of “Everything Home with Carol” and
For roughly ten years, Carol and her family have endeavored to ‘live off the land.’ On their modest acreage, they grow extensive gardens and raise various animals for milk and meat. Here, with the help of her junior staff, Carol hones her gardening skills, practices wildcrafting of food and herbs, and, essentially, tries her hand at any country living skill that strikes her fancy. Carol’s homesteading articles have appeared in BackHome Magazine and Urban Farm.
I am one of Carol’s biggest fans and I’m quite sure that once you get to know her, you will be a fan as well. Thank you, Carol, for this guest post!
Often, when I share with other homeschooling moms about the various aspects of homesteading, I’m met with the same question, “How do you do it all?” I guess grinding your own flour for bread, processing deer the entire week of Thanksgiving, hog butchering, canning, milking, etc, just sounds like too much for them.
But I am okay. I am okay because from my perspective, in accordance with what our family deems important, I do do it all. How do I do it all? Well, I don’t. For if you were to peek over our fence, you’d see outbuildings of odd construction, firewood stacked in the shape of castles, and piles of valuable scrap metal disguised as junk. And if you peeked into the windows of our house, you’d surely notice the floors begging a vacuum, the laundry spilling over the baskets, and dust settling comfortably on everything in sight.
Ten years ago, when we embarked on this homesteading journey, I decided that we were not going to crash and burn. We were not going to get overwhelmed and quit because growing our own food and keeping our kids out of the school system were equally important convictions. So I developed survival tactics.
Start Slow
The first thing to remember when first starting out is to start slow. Don’t go out and buy 100 acres and a herd of dairy cows that you intend to milk by hand, and sign up to sell cheese at the farmers’ market your first season. Unless of course you grew up on a dairy farm and know what you’re doing.
Spend the first year on your land preparing fencing and shelter for animals, watching the sun and wind patterns to determine the best garden spot, and learning all that you can. Then, add one endeavor at a time.
Assess Your Expectations
The next thing I did, and currently do every year, is assess our expectations. I ask myself what my homeschooling and homesteading priorities are. Then, I plan activities accordingly. For instance, a dairy animal must be milked on schedule twice a day every single day of the year. It cannot wait for you to get out of bed at 10 a.m. It cannot wait for you to get home from ball games a few nights a week. It cannot wait. Animals that are not milked on schedule develop mastitis and lose their production. So if selling cheese at the farmers’ market is important to you, like it’s what you are counting on to pay the electric bill, you better not sign Sonny up for baseball.
Integrate the Two Lifestyles
Individually, homeschooling and homesteading are two distinct lifestyles that require a great amount of work and stick-to-it-iveness. That means many homeschoolers live in the city and many homesteaders send their children to the school building down the road. To combine the two requires some creativity. It requires combining the two lifestyles into one single lifestyle that works symbiotically. I have done this by using our homesteading life as a curriculum for our homeschooling.
Rather than have my children sit in the house working their way through a stack of text books while I’m outside doing all the work, my children work alongside me and learn in the process. We look for the lessons in everyday life. We study anatomy and physiology during butchering. We study botany in the garden. We study physics while splitting firewood.
If we have questions, we look them up. They write papers on homesteading topics. They read books on homesteading topics. Their business adventures center around the homestead. That doesn’t mean they don’t pursue their own passions. It means that the homestead and everything we do as a family becomes one of their passions.
I feel so strongly about this integration process, that I’m writing a series of e-booklets to share it with others. The first one, Lessons from the Seed Catalog, offers over 50 lessons that a parent can pull out of the seed catalogs that arrive in the mail in January. You would not believe how much learning there is to be had in a seed catalog. In a few weeks, I plan to release Lessons from the Hen House. Then there are a slew of others in my head.
Remember, start slow, assess your expectations, and integrate the two lifestyles, and you will find success on your homesteading/homeschooling journey.
Blessings,
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About kmorris
Oh, thanks Kelly for this awesome guestpost from Carol. I checked out both of her sites…and really like them a lot
Love and hugs from the ocean shores of California, Heather 
Thank you, Heather! Love and hugs back at ya’.
Yes! I love how you write about combining homeschooling and homesteading. We’re not really homesteaders, but we do have some animals and a huge garden, fruit trees, and bees. The children are involved in it all, and learn from it. It’s a great lifestyle.
Blessings,
Annie Kate
People ask me how I do it all also. We homeschool and help out a lot with church. I just answer- there’s a need I try to help. We want to learn so we go visit a museum, library or a grove of trees to sit in.
I love seeing what each trip involves- reading, directions and mapping, parking and entrance fees, music hummed or sung along the way, weather and science, math- as long as you walk out your door- oh! That’s phys. Ed! you have a complete curriculum for the day!
I loved Carol’s website!
I like to keep older catalogs to make a list of those plants we have tried, crashed and burned, and succeeded with. The extra catalogs I make into stars and other paper origami lanterns and decorations to share with people. All I have to buy is a bit of school glue.
As we homeschool, we figure out what seeds we have- computer list and typing skills, sorting physically and computer. We figure out our needs and new seeds to try then make a wish list.
Most of our “extra” want to try items are paid for by recycling bottles. And now I have an extra reason to walk- to make more hydroponic containers!
Thanks, Laurie! One of my favorite seed catalog exercise is having the kids write their own ad copy. How would they describe the taste, texture, color, etc. of Brussels sprouts, kale, or those other things kids have to learn to love.
That is like an entry into a garden journal page! I think I would have them add a few favorite recipes to it so they will know how to use it… Thanks!!! for another idea!
Carol, you are testimony to how things can be done, and done well, with a little planning and determination. Many things in life can be managed much more easily with a can-do attitude. Thanks for sharing this! Thanks, Kelly, for hosting Carol!
What planning? Usually we have found ourselves adding things to a field trip or drive- and then our whole day is planned! Like recycling bottles- stopping at two friends homes, helping plan a scout Roundtable meeting, and getting a seminary class done online. In the car will be scriptures done on tape and another book to read. Or that’s what’s planned- off to an adventure day!
Laurie,
LOL! You’re effective, that’s for sure!
Wow, this is impressive. I do not homeschool and I am not a homesteader, but I am intrigued and inspired.
Hi Courtney,
Great to hear from you, thanks for commenting and reading!
Start slow. The best advice I’ve heard yet! We are soon going to start our journey into the world of homesteading. Almost three years ago we bought 5.6 acres of a fallow corn field. Later this spring we will start building our farmhouse. We will definitely spend the rest of the time, till next spring, watching the sun and wind patterns. We want to have multiple raised beds for our garden but also incorporate fruit and vegetable crops into landscaping, and raise chickens for eggs and meat. We’ve even considered putting in a windmill to cut down on electric costs, as there seems to be a perpetual breeze. I am excited! Thanks for a great post!
I wish you all the best on your land. It is an exciting adventure to just be starting. It is also an adventure to keep it going
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Congrats AStates!! SO happy for you as you begin your homesteading journey!
haha!! I didn’t know that some consider us homesteaders . . tho most would say we’re only working our way there!
SO Very Glad to see/hear the advice to start slowly & be resonable! THAt part is already done. the next steps . . well, they will be incorporated step-by-step!
Hey PamelaSue,
Thanks for your comment and kuddos on all that you’re doing!