A long relaxing week.

It seems I am already falling behind on my goals to post here once a week. Although I think Im just going to make it under my deadline with this post. I intend to post on Sundays, with a new tip or trick for helping you find ways to make yourself more self sufficient. This week, while relaxing(we are on vacation visiting family), was a full week. In addition to having a birthday, I also celebrated my 15th wedding anniversary. Has it really been 15 years?!? Where has the time gone? I guess its true, time does fly when you are having fun.

I did get a couple of books for both my birthday and anniversary. I intend to post reviews on all of them here considering most are along the lines of self sustainment. I have already finished the first book. Confessions of a Bad Beekeeper: What Not to Do When Keeping Bees (with Apologies to My Own) This is an interest of mine, call it a hobby that I am not actually participating in yet. Although I suppose it is good to read up on a subject before jumping into it. "Confessions..." was a good book. Mr. Turnbull really does confess some of the things new beekeepers should try to avoid and does so with a good sense of humor added into the book. It doesn't read like an instruction manual which is a change from quite a few of the books I have been reading lately, so it was a welcome change. He does go off on a few tangents that are not beekeeping related and some of it does drag out a bit, but if you are looking to learn a few things NOT to do if you are thinking of starting up beekeeping this would be a good book to read.

Well there you have it, the latest update. Although it seems my only 2 faithful followers are my wife of 15 years, love ya babe, and my mother of 36 years(Thanks for the support you two) would already know whats in this update. Next week its back to the grindstone for me. Having come home for this vacation has relit my fire to come back here after I leave the military. I am more anxious than ever to bring to an end a very fruitful career and begin my next one, which hopefully includes a homestead and this blog.

Why I started this blog.

So what is the purpose of this blog? Well it is actually two fold. First and foremost it is a place to share my ideas about producing your own food while not actually living on a farm. A place where I can show what has worked for me. A place where a community of people that are sick and tired of unknowingly being subjected to whatever chemicals and genetically altered food "The Fed" deems acceptable to consume, can talk about how to start producing some of their own. If you have stumbled upon this blog and do not know what I am talking about or, if you are unsure if it is worth the effort I reccomend watching this video. Food, Inc.

That one single video open my eyes to alot of shady stuff that is going on out in the commercial farming industry. From overcrowded and not very well maintained chicken farms for companies like Tyson, to genetically altered plants like soybean and corn. There isn't much you can get in the big name grocery stores that is not affected by this. Now, I am not a doomsday sayer. I am pretty sure Monsanto isn't going to take over the world or our food supply. Although I will admit it is possible.

So if you cut out the genetically altered fresh fruits and veggies, and you remove all the steroid and hormone pumped chicken and beef whats left to eat? All of the pre-packaged frozen foods stuffed with preservatives, or your other option of Fast Food, and we all know how good that is for you. Fast food is part of the reason our commercial farmers began some of the bad practices they did in the first place.

Our food supply has been tampered with. Make no mistake about it. The FDA says its safe to eat, but the more we look into it the more, and more I am not so sure.

Together as a community we can start taking back what actually goes into our bodies. Sure we can't all have cows and pigs in our back yards, but we all can grow a tomato plant, we can all have an indoor basil plant. You can do it too. I hope you all will find this blog to be helpful in whatever it is you are looking to produce. If there is anything you have questions about or would like to see a post on feel free to contact me.