Heather Strouhal

Thanks for all of the good information.

I like practicing purity because it does seem to be somewhat inspiring to want to make our lives pure in all aspects.

I just watched a video on harvesting wheat and how to use a scythe to cut and then how to separate the chaff using a fan.  I think it would be really educational to do this; however, it does look very time consuming.  Has anyone ever grown wheat and hand harvested with a scythe and separated to make their own breads?  

Welcome to Ian Miller.  Would be great to learn about scythes.

Some great resources here!  Thanks!

My husband is building a greenhouse for some banana trees and for starting garden plants in the spring.  Looking for a quick solution to heating the greenhouse so the banana trees don't die.  My husband had considered a water pool heated somehow to put off heat, plus with windows on the south and east walls.  West and north walls will be insulated.

Joseph Lofthouse wrote:

In my life, there is the family that I was born into, and the family that I have chosen. I didn't have any choice about my birth family, so they have to take me exactly how I am today. If they get hurt feelings about something, then that seems like a defect in their personalities, and they really aught to work on it, because it is their problem not mine. If I feel guilty about interacting with them, then that is my problem, and I really aught to work on it, because that is my problem, and not theirs. If they can't be gracious to me, then I really don't have any space in my life for them. My chosen family would never ever criticize me regarding gift giving, or the lack thereof. My chosen family applauds my lifestyle, my vow of poverty, and my choice to grow my own food rather than to buy it from The Corporation.

I really feel this way about my family right now.  My family is refusing to come see my husband, children, and father-in-law because we live in his home on acreage.  They feel "uncomfortable".  My father-in-law had a stroke and a heart attack and we moved to care for him.  In my eyes we are doing what is honorable, right, and just.  In their eyes I am sacrificing too much.  Don't get me wrong, it is a lot between the acreage, animals, caring for him and caring for my children but I feel that I am looking to the future.  I would truly like to see us turn his property into a self-sustaining place (unbeknownst to my family...they would flip  I have friends who are much more supportive and they accept me as I am today.  So I agree that sometimes it is a defect in our families personalities that they cannot accept our decisions because it is not what they want us to do...