Jolene Csakany

I try to keep cooking simple and in one pot or pan since it's usually just for me and I hate cleaning up after cooking.  I usually buy chicken quarters for my dogs, but occasionally cook one up for myself in this one pot style.  You could use any part of the chicken, or boneless chunks.  Quarters are often cheapest.  I'm not including the cooking fat and spices as ingredients, so I guess it's a little bit of a cheat on the five ingredients.  
Chicken, Onions, Garlic, Rice, Carrots

Brown chicken quarter in fat of your choice (oil/butter/chicken fat/lard/bacon grease/tallow) in 10" cast iron pan with lid, or any wide pot if you don't prefer cast iron.   You may want to take chicken out and set aside, or leave it and let it continue browning depending on space in your pan/pot and how much onion you want to use, a lot or a little can work just fine.   Sauté onion in pan (add more fat if needed), when it's almost brown (or sweated translucent- however you want your onion), add the garlic and sauté onion and garlic one or two more minutes on low.   Put the chicken back if you removed it, and add enough water for the rice (I have made it with one or two cups rice), add the rice and chopped carrot.  Cover, and cook till the rice is done.  I've done it with both white and brown rice (if instant rice than panfry the chicken on low till it's cooked through).  When rice is done, the chicken and carrots should be as well.  If you eat it right out of the pot, it really keeps the cleanup to a minimum.


There are endless variations depending on what ingredients you have handy.  You can use different vegetables instead of carrot, I just almost always have carrots on hand since they last forever and are inexpensive.  
You can use more than one vegetable, and I often add frozen peas to it as well.  
You can substitute some or all of the water for coconut milk and add Thai curry paste.  I like to add sliced red bell pepper if I do it as a curry.  I like to grow peppers and sometimes I get jarred roasted red peppers from the discount grocery store that work well.
You can replace half the water with milk/half&half/cream if you want a creamier dish.  You can replace it with broth if you happen to have that, but it's not necessary.
You can replace some of the water with a can of tomatoes.  

You can spice it with just salt and pepper or get more creative.  Tarragon or Thyme is good.  Lemon zest to get every bit of use out of your lemons.  Oregano is good if you add tomatoes.  If you do coconut milk then you can add fresh ginger and turmeric, and then a squeeze of lime at the end or lime zest added to the cooking- and you don't need coconut milk to enjoy those additions either.    You can use just onions or garlic, sometimes I like to let just one these ingredients shine or I only have one on hand.  You can also chop the carrot up small and sauté it with the onion instead of adding it with the rice to just boil, and you can add celery to this creating a mirepoix for it if you're feeling French.  
I'd suggest leaving out the garlic and doing the mirepoix for tarragon and lemon zest; or mirepoix and thyme and use butter and it will taste reminiscent of stuffing.  

In my defense, I'm feeling super nervous about getting a housemate.  I have lived in roommate situations most of my life and it's gone well most of the time.  And my dogs lived with housemates, the last ones weren't even dog people and they eventually grew to love the dogs and it worked out better than I imagined.  

Although I hope to share what I have, my last experience was negative and left me hesitant about sharing space again.  This is the first time I've owned my own home, and been on this side of the equation.  Initially a friend with similar homesteading dreams moved in with me.  We had been friends for 20 years and talked about doing this together but it did not go well.  I felt taken advantage of and she hated the dogs and had a lot of complaints, and it made us all very anxious.  
But I've rented rooms from strangers most of my life to save money, and it's almost always been good- so here it goes.  

Thank you both for all the help so fast!  
I feel silly for missing all of this.  I some how didn't see land shares.  I saw the real estate forum but didn't think about a rental/work trade falling into that, although of course it does- and I feel extra silly as I've found most of my past homes on the Craigs List real estate rentals.  

thanks again!
could you tell me how to delete my original post?  I can edit things, but I'm not seeing anyway to delete it entirely.

Thanks so much, this seems like the right place.  Since I wasn't buying or selling, I didn't think to go there; but I guess renting/work-trade belongs in real estate too.  
And thank you for getting my post there already.  

I am searching for a housemate or landmates and posted in the singles forum; but I am not looking for romance, so it seems inappropriate.  I am not sure what forum would be best.  Can someone please direct me?  
I think it would be a good for this to have it's own forum, but maybe I'm missing something.  
Thanks in advance for any help,
Jolene

Looking for a housemate in Nineveh, NY.  

Hoping for someone willing to do 12 hours in work trade per week + $200 per month, but this is negotiable depending on your skills or situation.  If someone wants to camp and use the bathroom/kitchen, then it could be 10 hours of work per week + $100 per month.  
If someone has a committed yoga or meditation practice and is looking for solitude so they can focus on this, then the fee can be less as I'd like to facilitate others in their practice.  
I am not looking for a romantic relationship, just friends to help me with my permaculture dream homestead; possibly business partners and long term house/land mates if we click.  Maybe this turns into a community, who knows, it's all just beginning.  

Shorter stays are also welcome.  For people staying less than one month, I'd be asking 12 hours of work per week to camp.  It would be 12 hours+ $100 per week to stay in the spare room or loft.  Those are just suggestions, it can be more hours and less money, or vice/versa and if you have a lot to offer, let me know and it can be less.


We can put an agreement in writing before you arrive so we are both clear on expectations.

It's just a normal house on the grid.  
Unfortunately, I cannot accept other dogs or cats. I have two dogs that both love humans- but one can be dog aggressive and the other is predatory and would not be able to live with a cat.  I would normally want to help other animal lovers, but these two dogs came into my life and I don't see them working out well with other dogs or cats.  So, I'm hoping for a dog lover who has no dog of their own.
Smaller caged pets or farm animals could be welcome.  

 
Part of the work trade would be caring for the dogs while I'm away, which probably won't be too often, but it would be great to have someone willing to watch Bruno as my family is about 2 hours away, and they all have dogs so he can't visit them with me.  I have an electric net fence set up around the front yard, so watching the dogs does not have to involve walking with them- just some affection, two feedings and potty breaks in the yard.  I can bring Mookie with me, or leave her here as she does help Bruno from feeling anxious.  I also have six chickens that need to be fed and watered daily, and have their door opened each morning and closed each evening- but this could change with the addition of a fence and solar door.  I hope to hatch more chickens in the spring.  I also just joined the local beekeeping club and hope to start up a hive or two this spring.  A potential mentor lives nearby.

It's a small house on 20 acres with two creeks, nice walking trails and lots of flat spots for camping.  The smaller creek is seasonal, but it has cascading waterfalls and the land is beautiful and easy to walk.  It's mostly forested, but there are a few small clearings.  You would be getting the loft space, and can keep the dogs out of your space or let them up as you wish.  It has a bed (with linens and towels provided), dresser and lamp, but we can move this stuff out if you have your own furnishings.    

I plan to create a permaculture style food forest and would love help with planning this from someone with more experience or education.  I also hope to build tent platforms, build a strawbale or dirtbag or other natural structure for a composting toilet, put up fencing, clear trees and other stuff.  

I do not have a permaculture certificate or much experience.  I am a retired wildlife biologist who is just learning.  I am also planning to create a gourmet mushroom business.  And the house needs work if you have carpentry or home fixing experience.  Any skills to help with these things would be greatly appreciated, but someone with no experience or education is also welcome as there is a lot of basic stuff we can do; and research and learn as we go.  I have lots of native seeds to be planted, want to build hügelkultur garden beds, and can provide all the direction if needed.  

I'm a very quiet person and don't play much music in the house, and I can sometimes seem antisocial but I just need a lot of alone time and don't mean to be rude.  I am mildly chemically sensitive, and try to use unscented products but don't mind essential oils or emf waves.  The house currently has wifi.  However, I have lived with people more sensitive than myself, and can go without the essential oils and switch the internet to ethernet cable if you need that.

I eat meat, and have been living on food from foodbanks and the seasonal neighbors (mostly hunters, who clean out their fridge and give me what doesn't travel) to keep my costs low.  However, I want to be more vegetarian (or 'Freegan', I eat what's served when others cook and scavenge what I can) and would be happy to have a vegetarian or vegan roommate.  If preferred, I would keep meat cooking to when I had visitors, but I can't promise an exclusively vegetarian or vegan kitchen.  I hope to have dairy goats someday, and have worked as a cheesemaker and milker at micro-dairies before.  

I have taught yoga in the past, and try to have a regular vipassana meditation practice (I'm not as good about this as I used to be, but I'm working on it). I would love to have someone here who also has or wants regular yoga and meditation in their life, and I can lead this; and I would be excited to learn from another teacher or to learn Tai Chi, martial arts and other body-mind physical or meditative practices.  However, this is not a requirement and you can just walk around me when I'm doing yoga in the living room.  

Marianna Marinda wrote:Hey Jolene!  It looks like we're 40 minutes away from you!  Welcome to NY!!!

Thanks.  Let me know if you ever want to meet up.  I'd be happy to come and help with any projects you have going on.  I'm really new to everything and just looking to learn.  In the spring, I may be reaching out for help, or just some advice as it's all so overwhelming.    

I am now officially a New Yorker.  Still need to change my license and register my car (if I can ever get it started again and if it would pass inspection here), but I now have my own property in Nineveh, NY.  It's 20 acres with a small house and two creeks.  One is small and seasonal but has wonderful rocky waterfalls, the other is still smaller than I hoped, but it flows year round.
It's not the property I previously posted about and not the Finger Lakes where I hoped to be, but it felt right and I plunged.  There is no significant slope on this property, although the terrain has some small hills creating a variety of microhabitats, with great flat spots for camping, building or growing stuff.  The house is safely out of the flood zone, but it needs a new roof and other work.  Most of the land is wooded with red maple and pin cherry trees.   It was once a dairy farm, but that stopped in the 60s and so it's mostly smaller trees.   There are some clearings, and the front lawn gets southern exposure and is ready to be turned into gardens.  

I haven't gotten started on much because I've injured my knee!  It's always perplexing when the universe fills one dream, but then gives you a snag so you can't proceed in the ways you dreamed- but, I'm here and it's home and it's the first time I've ever had anything of value, so it's pretty damn exciting.