Homesteading Tips for City Dwellers | Frugal Urban Sustainability

Published Apr 12, 2019, 6:00 AM

Homesteading is becoming more and more appealing , especially in the world of frugality, but what can be done for those of us who don’t sit on property or don’t plan to invest in land? Have no fear! Homesteading is not just about having a vegetable garden, it’s also a way of life with many practices that can be incorporated even into tiny or urban living situations!

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Episode fifty one, Homesteading Tips for City dwellers. Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity, rights, and liver with your life. Here your host Jen and Jill. Hello, y'all, welcome to another episode of the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen. Hey, this is Jill. We have an episode that I'm super interested in, and I didn't realize how much it would correlate to all of the other things that we have talked about over the past year of doing Frugal Friends. Crazy is that, Jill? Yeah? I mean we always talk about what we're interested in, right right, den When are we talking about things we don't want to talk about? We get to choose. Sometimes I think I'm more diverse than I really am in my interests, and then I come around to something like this and I say, nope, I am very one sided. So we're excited to talk about homesteading tips. If you cannot afford to pick up and move to the country, I think you're really gonna like it, and I think there's some really good takeaways. Whether you have a green thumb, no green thumb like me, wherever you fall in the spectrum. So well, yeah, we'll get started with our sponsors first, though, our other sponsor today is living on less than one income. Do you have a spouse whose income you benefit from? Forget about it, forget about that extra money and live on less than one income. Are you single and living on just what you make? Live on less than your income? Wondering wondering what to do with all that extra Fatten up your emergency fund or contribute more to your four oh one K. That way, when your job lays off forty five people in one day, you won't be stressed to lose your income when you're thirty weeks pregnant. Oh, that one's close to home. That was a job you're taking. You're taking a page out of my book to use a sponsor that is just hitting close to home. I did. I used the freedom that you gave in your past sponsors, and I took it. So but in all seriousness, I lost my job in a major layoff, and I was not stressed about it because we have spent the duration of our marriage living on less than one income. So I know all of our bills are paid for. I know that we can still, you know, do some fun stuff because we've just set ourselves up for that and so living on less than one income, Chris sponsor, it is a great sponsor. And I gotta say, Jen, even watching you share this news on social media and that kind of a thing, it's so fantastic, Like I was even comforted to know I wasn't stressed out for you because you know, you're you are thirty one weeks you're thirty, you're thirty one now, right, thirty one weeks pregnant and yeah, right, okay, yes, so thirty thirty weeks pregnant when you were laid off in this massive layoff. But then to see you just be like, no, this is fine. I've got other things in the works. I have planned for and budgeted for such a time as this, when there's emergencies that happen or unexpected things that occur. Just to be completely at peace with it, it's amazing to watch. Uh. It inspires me so like that doesn't mean that you can't have like your your rough times with it, of course, you know when we're not regording. I'm sure that there's like some difficult parts to this, but it's all of what we're talking about here in this like frugal community and planning for these things that are unexpected. It can literally lead to it's okay. Yeah, it sucks. It's not my preference for how life is going, but I'm gonna be okay. And holy smokes, is that a game changer. It's completely You never think it's going to happen to you until it does, especially when like you're doing well in your job and and then just something happens that is not your fault. So yeah, and all of these tips in all of these episodes, they're just good ideas until you realize like how valuable they are in the times you need them. So I am thankful for the past year of Frugal Friends because it's helped me immensely in this time, so like I had something to go move on to. So I'm not like just twiddling my thumbs right now and making that three dollars an hour doing this podcast. You've got a side hustle making three dollars a month off of Frugal Friends. Yeah, it's great. Well, if anybody wants to support a pregnant woman who just got laid off, and through also supporting yourself in managing your money so that when something like this happens to you. Go get yourself that manage your money super bundle. Oh yes, we are not about that. We are all about the sympathy buys. I'm not I'm not doing good for that, but no, I'm not above it. All right, Well, so thank you for helping me. Let's help you. Let's talk about homesteading, Jill. How how do you feel about it? What's your experience with it? I love it so much. If you could see me right now, I'm like clenching my fist and doing like a cute aggression with my jaw. I I I probably talked about this in some previous podcast. Last summer I start I did a garden for one of the first times on my own. I had previously done it with my work, but this time it was mine, and holy smokes, I parts of it I can't. I did not one homestead, but I started a garden. I was doing compost, and so I'm very excited about this. The correlation between frugality and the different ways that you can incorporate the concepts of homesteading into life. I know we'll get into that. I think I had a perception of homesteading that was just oh, it just means that you grow your own food. But even in looking at some of these articles today, it broadened my horizons on what this concept even is. Yeah, So we picked two articles. The first is kind of like an urban homesteading mindset shifts, so it will help you get into the right mindset. And then the second has a few practical tips, and then and will do our lightning round at the end, and we'll go through a few things you can start today even if you have a black thumb and no money, that can get you from studying. So that's that's what we got. So let's just jump into our first one. It's from Lovely Greens dot Com. It's called how to Start an Urban homestead And I loved this one. I I resonated with literally everything. Yeah, it was a good one. I think this one was one of the ones that broadened my horizons and what it means. She gave some interesting clarifications on what homesteading actually is. So we'll go through that, um And the first one is to remove yourself from consumerism, which I thought is a thoughtful starting point to say that part of this lifestyle includes taking you back to the earth, getting what you need out of what is already available to you and around you, with out needing to have somebody else do it for you. I mean, we'll get into that, but basically this is almost back to the basics that as a first step in this, no matter where you live, you can start working towards homesteading by just removing yourself from consumerism. So what they're talking about here is buying less, certainly decluttering, decluttering your home so all of our simplicity minimalism you can reference previous podcasts that we've done. That's part of this process. But she also encourages to stay out of stores as much as possible, because you're walking through stores and impulse buying or seeing things that you think you need or look at that gadget this would help me do X y Z better. But staying out of the stores, you don't even then know what it is that you're missing out on, and content with what you have. But then also limiting even TV and the amount of ads that you're interacting with on a daily basis that can also lead to some of these purchases that you don't need. She even challenges us to look around our homes and think what would I not have if it hadn't have been for seeing an advertisement for that thing. You know, a strainer that fits over your sink and can collapse and do this and do that. Okay, that's that's great if that's the only strainer that you have, but like you know, a lot of people will do will buy that in addition to the other strainer that they have, or you can apply that across the board. Yeah, And I think of it even as like, even if you are into this lifestyle and you're watching like some of the you know, History Channel and HDTV and some of the other things that might have some of this content on it, you'll still see the ads for like gardening supplies and like other stuff, and so it can still even if you're trying to head in the right direction, still doing some of these like habitual things can cost you money. Throughout these five tips, I love how she's defining homesteading so having the desire to remove yourself from consumerism and to buy less and have more in love with that and like, uh, yeah, it's great. Yeah, I wonder along those lines. This is a bit of a rabbit trail, but it's an interesting thought. I wonder if then for entertainment, if it would be worth one of those subscriptions to Netflix or Spotify where it's ad free. I wonder this, I'm just thinking out loud if in the long run you would save more money because you're not then interacting with as many ads, but you're still, you know, getting some level of entertainment if that's important to you for some veg time in the evening. Well, I've always thought that it's like one of those things you have, like know thyself. So if somebody goes into a grocery store and like literally can't help themselves for making impulse buys like going, spending the extra money to do online grocery shopping will save money. Or especially if you have kids and they have no impulse control and they want all the things, you would save money by spending the extra to do online grocery shopping. So it's just you have to know yourself. I definitely think somebody could save doing something like that. Number two is learning the ways of old, So I also love this. There's a popular saying in homesteading that is often referred to, quote unquote like grandma used to or our ancestors used to. So it's just kind of like not saying that those are the best ways to do things, because clearly sometimes they're not. But we can always learn from history and like what our ancestors and grandma did, like making bread from scratch. U looks delicious because I've been like perusing bread picks on Instagram, and it's a lot cheaper than buying nice bread unless you're buying like the cheap white bread loaves at all the Yeah, it's an expensive but if you want good, nice, hardy bread, right, and it's so it's it's so easy. I mean you have to wait a little bit, but there's no real like hands on time for for most breads. And like learning how to sew and crochet and knit. We don't have to do that in Florida, but I'm sure up north it can be really easiful those long winter months. We're still in the midst of it, yes, And learning to can food and preserve your harvest. I bought canning equipment last year because our in laws have a farm and sometimes we can take home like a lot of stuff that will never use. So I'm going to get into canning this year. Exciting, very excited. I'm very excited. Jen do you find yourself doing things that you used to see like your mom or your grandmother do. It's actually it's funny. I am a lot older in my heart than I think my mother and grandmother were. So my parents both crocheted, and I did do that for a while until obviously I realized I lived in Florida. But other than that, like there was no real old timey stuff. They were very modern women. But what about you. Yeah, I'm starting to realize that there are certain things that they used to do or still do. I am now incorporating. There's probably more examples than this, but taking some things out of the wash and hanging them to dry versus growing just everything in the dryer. Part of that is to preserve my clothes. Part of it. Part of that is energy efficiency, but it's something that I didn't used to do that. I feel as though I'm entering into this stage of kind of getting back to the ways that I saw things done, but realizing for my own reasons why I want to do that. Or keeping some containers because I see them having a purpose for something else, again not hoarding. But I also am finding myself not being as concerned with the looks of things and more concerned about practicality. This goes with shoes. I'm I'm just I'm getting old in the shoe realm, and I'm just like, I want a good pair of shoes a little bit more, but I only need a few of them. They need to be comfortable. I was looking at like chocos and tivas and yeah, I was like, I need just some sandals to help me not to look good. Yeah, I just don't care as much anymore. And I remember older people telling me that, like, eventually it's not gonna You're gonna just want the comfort. And I was like, yeah, right, I'm still gonna want to look good. It's going out the window, I know. But somebody told me it would start in your forties and I was like, I have not even turned thirty yet. That's what I'm saying. That's why I feel as though i'm forty two when everyone else is like I still feel eighteen. I'm like no, especially now that like my body is getting heavier, I'm getting more pregnant, like my hips are starting to do weird things. I'm like, this is I'm gonner for the granny panties. Gosh, I want to I want to mention this last part of this, and it says seek mentors. And so we are all about frugality being like a communal it's a source of community. You can't do anything alone. It's not the most frugal way. If you're trying to be totally autonomous, you're it's going to cost you more money. And that's the same in homesteading is that it's a very group mentality. The group can do more together than they could separately. And so seeking mentors people that can guide you along the way to teach you these things that are from old times. I guess anytime I see something that says build community, I'm like, yes, take it, listen to it. There's there there's a lot to be said about traditions sometimes just being done because that's the way it was done or that's the way it worked for them. But there's also something to be said about tried and true ways. This not reinventing the wheel. Let somebody else show you how to do something well that you're not going to be able to find on the internet, or it's not worth taking the time energy, well it would be worth it. But if you can gain what took somebody thirty years to learn. Holy smokes, what an amazing resource that could be. I love that. So the third one on this list as far as defining homesteading is being a good steward of the land. And this one goes along with a lot of what we've talked about with frugality, but it really is having a respect for the environment that you live in and recognizing the resource that it can provide to you if you steward it well. She gives a good outline of what this can mean in alliteration. You know us, we love it so that she gives us the five rs to practice in good environment stewardships. So here are the five rs. Refuse to buy one time use plastics and non recyclable products, so seek to find ways to to have reusable things. This goes into our reusable napkin conversations, finding ways to not need paper towels. I will probably still buy toilet paper that I throw away, but in other ways seek to not just get one time use things. Second are reduce the amount you use by becoming a minimalist. So this includes not using as much water as like not leaving the water on while you're still brushing your teeth um and and as you start to become aware of these things, you do realize that you don't need as much as you thought that you did, so just reducing the amount that you use. The third are reuse an item over and over and over again before recycling it, so kind of similar theme you get it. Fourth our repurpose by giving a new purpose to an old item. Like they say, turn that milk jug into a lantern. Maybe not, but if you really needed a lantern, but you probably don't need. I'll often use glass jars from a spaghetti sauce for a vase of flowers that I go take to a friend, or for a container for you know, reuse glass jars for taking salad, dressing with your work, lunch, whatever. Just as you look at products that could be used again, think through how might this serve a purpose for me for something else in my life. And finally, the fifth R is recycle all items that have been through the first four urs. If you don't need it anymore, recycle it, whether that means actually taking it to the recycling or giving it away, selling it, whatever. Find ways to keep something that can be used again in use. Yes, so we are upgrade your three RS to five. Refuse, reduce, reuse, repurpose, recycle. There you get there. That is all you take away from today's episode. Upgrade your RS and it will save you money and it's fun. I am so surprised at how much I enjoy this process. Eric and I just moved into our camper, so we are now living in it. By the time this episode comes out, we will be living in it even longer. But it is so fun to figure out how little we can live off of and just being more mindful about our usage of everything because it has a real consequence for us. If I use too much water, I have to empty the tank sooner, or if I use a ton of propane, I'm very connected with the amount that we are going to then be using. I don't want to fill up my trash can, so how do I create less trash? And I'm realizing that so much of my trash is compostable, so you better believe what I'm about to do next m composting. Well, that that gets into our Our number four is to live a sustainable lifestyle and support the local economy. So this is something else that I mean. When you are frugal and you spend less in frivolous things you can afford to spend more to support your local economy and to buy sustainable products. Like that just goes hand in hand at something that we're so passionate about, and it just flows perfectly into homesteading. So shopping local at farmers markets, even if you don't buy everything from the farmer's market, to try and buy your unique things, the things you can't get it all day essentially, and like supporting your local farmer and your local economy, buying what's in season, shopping yard sales, drift shops, second hand stores. That's sustainable. That's buying you can get better quality stuff that's slightly used and pay about the same if not less. Um. Yeah, and I love this one. It says remove the bar codes from your life. If you're buying something with a barcode, chances are some of it, if not all of it, has been imported, make it from scratch, or buy it from someone who does. Like that. It's an easy way to break it down to what you want more of and what you want less of if you are trying to get at this lifestyle. Yeah, unless you shop at aldi and there's a barcode on every single side of every book. We still like all the So the fifth and final thing on this list of things that homesteading is about is sharing your knowledge, so basically passing it on. And I love this one because it speaks to community, which we're all about in the frugal community. The homesteading community is about this, and it comes with the territory of living a lifestyle that's worth replicating, to pass it on, to gain from those who have gone before and what they have to offer and the resources and knowledge that they've gained. But then as we gain that, it then becomes our responsibility to also then pass that down again because it's worth replicating because we are discovering things that are worth sharing with other people. And this is what has been fantastic about our Frugal Friends community. There's people just sharing, Hey, here's some medical stuff that I found at a discounted price, or here's what I did to solve this problem in my life. And oh my goodness, it has been so helpful because none of us would have been able to find all of that information on our own, or we wouldn't have known that we needed it until a time arises when it's like, oh, yeah, now I've got this problem. Somebody's already done the research for me. I've got people that I can pull on to say, yes, that happened to me too. Here is how I managed that. And so recognize that in the midst of frugality and homesteading that it's also very important to pass it on, learn from other people, be a learner, but also be a teacher. Yes, well said, thanks to that. And if you want to be a part of our group on Facebook, Frugal Friends, podcast, dot com, slash group and it's just a fantastic resource full of people being supportive. We have over six hundred Frugal Friends now and it's just full of support and tips and all kinds of It's very active group. It's not one of those groups that you're going to join and be like, oh why did I do this? And then and then forget about that. Yeah, And it's not just Jill and I. It's like everybody else. We have to do very little in the group because everybody else is just so involved and it's fantasy. Actually, I know, shocking how little it's it's Jen and I. Yeah, it was like I I go and I see something and I want to comment on it, and like three other people have already answered the question, I'm like, cool, I'll just like it. So I love that. I absolutely love it. So our next article has some strategies for us, and it's five budget friendly strategies to creating an urban homestead. And uh so these are budget friendly because it can be very expensive to do a full on urban homestead, Like you can go real in depth with some of your own solar energy and raised beds and all these animals and all this stuff, but you don't have to, and that is what I love. Um. This is from my Humble Kitchen dot com and she makes it really clear that you can practice this lifestyle on a budget. Both of these articles cited how they are doing practices of homesteading on less than a quarter acre of land, so and then even encouraging people who don't even have any acreage to find ways to incorporate some of these things. So that is worth stating that parts of this are for anybody. Yeah, I mean, the less land you have, the better it is to start right now, because then you can practice and then even know what it is that you need or what the lifestyle would require. So I also like in this article. These tips, these five tips actually kind of go in order of ways that you can start approaching homesteading. So it's not just here's five tips, it's almost here are steps you can be taking. Each one almost builds on the other or is an increasing skill or increasing knowledge requirement. So the first one as far as how to do homesteading, even if you're in an urban setting, is to begin working as a team. So this could mean as small as your close family unit or as big as whatever community you want to be a part of. But teamwork is really important for this homesteading process to be done well because it will include sharing of resources and finances. So sharing labor means that if you yourself are going to do all of this homesteading, chances are it's going to cost you more time and energy, but also potentially cost you money because you might be hiring out certain things that it's just not practical for you to do by yourself if you've got nobody else to help you. So working as a team. So she this author is talking about her family and how it was important to have buy in from her husband, and as her children are growing up, she's giving them tasks to do around the house as well, and so this links back to our conversations about the why right, the why behind frugality, the why behind paying off debt, the why behind home steading. To begin to identify that, communicate with those in your family, and work towards this together as a team. Figure out what different roles and responsibilities might look like in this endeavor. Yeah, and I love even if you don't have a significant other or your family is not on board, this is a great way to like link up with like minded people, like on Facebook or inforums that are local to you. A lot of the people in our buy Nothing group and on our time bank are also ironically into, you know, not coincidentally into homesteading, So it's very easy too if you're already connected in a group like that, or if you have a Facebook to find people to share the tasks with. Yeah, fantastic. And strategy number two is to start small. So that's why I think even if you have an apartment and the only outdoor space you have is a window to the outside, starting something in a window box. I know Catherine in our Facebook group she started with some containers on her porch in her rental, and I know a lot of people, a lot of our listeners are renters living in small spaces to keep housing costs low. And I think it's just the perfect opportunity to kind of get your feet wet with what you can grow, what you can bake, what you can can all this stuff. There's so many parts of homesteading that don't require land. It's a mindset thing. So and the author gives pictures of her outdoor garden like years two, three, and five, and so it starts as this like tiny little maybe like two by six patch with some tomatoes and cucumbers, and then the next year she like planted a few more rows, and then by your five she's got like raised garden beds and and a lot of stuff. So, even if you have land, starting small smart. Yes, I can't emphasize this one enough. I think it's so important for a lot of reasons, and just what you said, Jen, even if you have a lot of land, start small, because I think we can get in over our heads or think that we were going to do more than what we actually have time for, and then get so overwhelmed that we give up on the whole thing. And so building upon each step is important. That that entire process is important. So even if you think you can start really big, don't do it. Allow yourself to go through the process of the excitement of I can manage this, I'm enjoying this, and then see what did well, what didn't do well, get excited about the possibility of being able to harvest seeds again next year. Like, let yourself go through the process, don't try and tackle it all at once. That journey is important to build upon the excitement and to have even the desire to learn more doom more next year. So I really really can't emphasize that one enough. But also it's worth noting here too if you do live in a small area. I will probably do this this year, depending on where we end up parking our trailer. But there are some fantastic tiered planter boxes. I don't know, they're not even boxes, they're they're these tiered things. I can find one in link it in the show notes. But and depending on which one you get, you can actually put composting in the middle. It has its own irrigation system. They range in price, certainly, but there are some fantastic options for people that have small spaces to actually grow a significant amount of things if you only have a five by five porch. So I'll link some of those things in the show notes as well. And number three is up cycling. So we talked about this with the first article, but this one again highlights it giving things a new purpose basically that's what up cycling is and saving cash along the way. So this author gives examples of using palette wood to build their chicken coop and using big those big, massive blue recycled barrels for collecting rainwater to water their gardens. So whatever you see that you have that you could rather than throwing it away, giving it a new purpose is fantastic because that saves money and it keeps you from purchasing unnecessary things adding to your junk pile throwing things out. Yes and um, one of our friends in the group posted a link to how you can see whatever the paltte was treated with so you can make sure that it's safe to use for growing things on. So if you just search palette on the group you can find that. And then our next one, make your own compost. It is something that Travis actually did last year and it produced some really great compost and it actually got so heavy that it broke off of its stand. But it's this huge I got I don't know, a lot of gallon container with just this great compost. And it started out like very iffy. It smelled like vomit, it had bugs in it, and I was like, I don't think this is working, and he's like, it's fine. And then one day it just transformed and all all we had to do was put scraps in, like from our just like non meat scraps and some you know, whenever we had dried leaves on the ground, we'd break up the dried leaves, throw them in there, and that was it, and we spun it around every once in a while. Easy. Yeah, easy. It is really great. I have gone in and out of composting depending on where I'm living, but it really is important, particularly if you have gardens, veggie gardens, flower gardens, even to put those nutrients back into the soil. So rather than buying new bags of soil every year or needing to purchase manure and all that stuff, you can make your own and you can give your gardens some really great nutrients just by using the scraps that you have around the house. Yes, so then last, but certainly not least. Another tip in homesteading is saving your seeds and using growing your own from from scratch, basically from start starter seeds. So once you started to homestead, learning how to utilize then the seeds that your fruit produces. So there is a bit to learn in this process, Like some plants won't produce seeds until their second year of growth. Uh, there's certain things that you need, temperatures, you need to keep the seeds at, certain things that you need to do with them. But this is definitely worthwhile because seeds do cost a significant amount of money and so this could not only be a money saver, but potentially a money maker depending on how into this you become. But yeah, if you start having gardens, I mean you think one piece of fruit can produce the potential for twenty plus plants, I mean, it's exponential growth is what we're talking here. So eventually you could get to the point where you're selling some of your seeds, which is fantastic. So again, this is another one that links back to the starting small. Don't go into year one of home setting thinking you're gonna be collecting all of your seeds. Don't put that pressure on yourself. In my Latin, this past year, I got excited to do my seeds this upcoming year. Having started small, I was not overwhelmed, and I started to see and identify for myself the things that I wanted to do, the things that seemed fun and exciting to me. So I am now excited to try that this year of harvesting my seeds for my third year of you know, doing veggies. So it's a ways out, but it has. I've allowed myself this excitement growing process and and now I can see I think I could do more. I want to learn more. I want to do this next year. So again starting small, But that can be your number five. It's the last one on the list. It requires probably the most like know how, an investment into what we're talking about here, but something to work up to. You know what doesn't require a lot of investment To the best time of the week. It's the bill of the week, that's right, It's time for the best minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name is William. Maybe you paid off your mortgage, Maybe your car died and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore. That's bill bills, Bill Clinton. This is the bill of the week, Ay, Jen and Jill, this is Chris again, and I'm calling it with my bill of the week, and my bill is the West actually two bills. I guess it's a ten and a twenty dollar bill that I saved after I listened to episode twenty of your podcast that you did all about libraries, because I had no idea that I could get free passes to my local museum through the library. I had no idea. So once I listened to that, I was like, Okay, I'm just gonna go to the library. I hadn't blund on it, but I was like, if I can get in for free, I'm going. So I went and I got two passes to the libraa tar Pits, which I had never been to, which is out here in Los Angeles, and it was amazing. I got in completely free. Well, I had to pay for parking, but I was gonna have to pay for that anyways, so I'm not gonna count that. I'm still gonna count the thirty dollars that I saved thanks to listening to the two of you on the Frugal Friends podcast. So that is my bill of the week. Nah, it's awesome. I love that it's two bills and twenty and a ten because we don't make thirty bills in America. That's why do bill. Yes, I love that, and I still have not tried that trick because I haven't been to any museums. But um, that's probably my favorite thing that libraries do is free museum tickets. You guys, you guys should definitely try it out. And when you do, give us a call on our speak pipe or Google voicemail. You can find it Frugal Friends podcast dot com, slash bill and we want to know how many bills it's safe deos. Thanks Chris, that's fantastic. Glad you enjoyed that one. Well. Time for our lightning round, cue the lightning sounds, because that's definitely theirs. Add My lightning sounds have turned into what I imagine old video games to sound like when you're you know, like an outer outer space video game, like pew pew, that's what they're saying. Yeah, alright, So for today's Lightning Round, we got three things you can do today to start homesteading, and then you can call yourself an amateur homesteaders, and you will be cool amongst all of your friends, yourself the title self proclaimed amateur homesteader because you could make a name. Listen to the Frugal Friends podcast and here you go. You can today connect with like minded people in your community. So get to know neighbors. Even look up local laws regarding homesteading, whether or not you can put those chicken and ducks in your backyard, whether you was to those laws. We're not going to check up on you, but these are some things you can start today. Yeah, I did read in one of the articles. She's like the old adage asked forgiveness, not permission does not pertain to homesteading, because it can. It can cause you a lot of frustration and wasted time. It is true if you don't obey your local wasted money too, because you you may have to wait to pay a fine and then maybe even get rid of those chickens that you bought, So that would not be good. But chickens. Chickens are like the most like they're the most lenient on chickens i've heard, so those are usually okay. But still check number two. Start a compost because you literally just need to put food, scraps and stuff you can find outside into a sealable container and roll it around every few days. Like you do make it sound so attainable. It's so easy. It's it's stuff you were going to throw away anyway, plus stuff you're going to need to throw away outside or want to throw outside. You could leave your leaves, I guess, and then just put it together. It's two parts green to one part brown, and then you literally can just if it's around container, you kick it around, roll it around every few days, just or like shake it up. It could be part of your exercise routine. You know, you don't need to shake weight. You have a compost. We love feeding two birds with one piece of bread, right, that is that the new way that we're according to the way we have to say it now. And if you do have animals, well like the chickens and the ducks and the goats, the brown could be there manure, which is the new way to say poop. I mean we just use leaves because we don't have animals, but yeah, but you can you can use that. And number three here you have it, bake your own bread. Start today. Madeline in our Facebook group does that, and she said it saves loads of money, and then Joel pointed out that it saves loaves of money, so you can all l O l on that one, thanks Joel. But yeah, baking your own bread is also a great way to feel like you are so domesticated on this homesteading thing it's not even funny. And it'll smell so good. Yes, And if you want to do sour dough, go back to number one where it says connect with like minded people and you can get a sour dough starter, probably from somebody in your community. So yeah, and then one piece of bread, yes, yes, And then you can compost the eggs that you used when you made your bread. You can can do all three of these things in one activity. You're welcome. Yeah, you're an amateur homesteader. Congratulations. Um. As a bonus our listener, Ariana wrote a great blog post about how to start an affordable herb garden too, So if you wanted to branch out, get a little crazy plant some herbs, we will link to her blog post in the show notes because actually, my father in law gave me some herbs to start out with, and he's like, you can't kill these and I was like, watch me how and I killed them? So yeah, I am. He thought you were incapable, but look at you. You're capable of the impossible. Right goodness, Well, you guys, it's it's coming to the end here. We've we've given you a lot, right doesn't it feel like we've done our job. So here's one more thing to give you. It's April, so that's fantastic, and we're still in this book club thing and this month we are reading Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, So get in on that. Like growing your garden, only growing yourself. That's also important. Yes, and your mind is the compost. I don't know if that works. Just you know, to it's rich in nutrients and other shake it around a little bit. All right. If you want a free copy of Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, please know that it's going to be a used copy or a digital and leave us a review. Because Travis didn't know that. And one of our listeners who won them meet the Frugal Wood's book. Apparently the copy copy had maybe like a rip in it, and he's like, are you giving them used books? And I was like, what kind of podcast? Do you think this is yes, I'm keeping we are well. We will send you the least expensive used book we can find on Amazon or book Depository if you will UM enter our sweepstakes sweepstakes giveaway UM by leaving us a review on iTunes or stitcher UM and screenshot the review and send it to Frugal Friends Podcast at gmail dot com UM and we will select one winner for every five reviews. At the end of the month, we promise you the possibility to win a book. Did never promise that would be new Nope. Here's an example of a helpful review, one that would be worthy of potentially winning inexpensive years. It looks like five stars always in forever. Thank you, thanks so much. Uh. This one came from Beth. She says, great podcast. As a fellow frugal person. I love your ideas and conversation. I especially love the interviews and tips that you have. Keep it up, ladies. We are keeping it up. We're keeping it up for you, Beth. We're keeping it up for our other frugal friends. We're doing book clubs. We're giving you tips on how to homestead being an amateur homestead are Uh. Here's your award yes, and congratulations. We look forward to seeing all of your homemade badges and name tags now that you were all amateur homesteaders. And we'll see you next week for another awesome Frugal Friday Friends episode. Whatever whatever your bread and your butter you know me? Yes, all right, see you next week. Frugal Friends is produced, edited and mixed by Eric Sirian Boom boom boom. Can you make bread in an insta pot? I think you can. I think you can make anything in an instant pot, I asked Alexa. Now she's going to talk to me. Dang it, um, sure I don't have one of those? Is so creepy um. And she seemed to say that you could make banana bread, which like, yeah, obviously, I want to know. Can I make, like, you know, a loaf of some hardy bread. I'll look into it. It wouldn't have that good crust on it, you don't think so, no, because it keeps all the moisture in like in the oven you get that real good crust, So you couldn't make crusty bread. I do think it is pretty easy to make bread, Like you don't have to have a bread maker, you just you just stir it up, set it aside, and then throw it in the oven. Yeah. People who do it make it seem real attainable. So yeah, there's so do people that grow herbs. Oh do you really kill everything? I do? That's why I'm super nervous to have a child. But you're doing good. Yeah, this is the first thing I've been able to keep alive for longer than six months. But I mean, this thing will yell at me if I am if I am neglecting it that. Plants don't yell. They don't cry and scream when they need to be fed exactly, or when they're being overfed. Are you concerned about overfeeding your baby? No, my plants, Um no, just feed that kid veggies. Yeah, straight to tomatoes from breast milk. That sounds like an awful combination. That does

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