Kathy Greenwood

I am laughing to myself after reading how we youngsters from the 60s and 70s are now older and adjusting. It never fails to amaze me how life repeats itself tho. Here again we are into living basically with our gardens and canning, etc. and many relearning the old ways.

I am not a real homesteader, but I am in the aging group. I had spent many years in the business world sitting, computers, etc. and had planned to buy something small and off grid, have a few animals, a garden, etc. when I retired. Unfortunately, a serious accident left me somewhat disabled and rethinking what now needed to be done. I retired early, moved across country to the country, and found a one level apt with some great porches and a very small yard. I got some free pallets from the farm store and had a neighbor make an enclosure for a garden that would be only containers for bigger veggies like carrots and potatoes, etc. Eventually, I want to make a medicinal/tea garden around the perimeter of the pallets with both pots and inground plants. The place I live is very rural, and many people have to work for themselves. A couple of my neighbors do yardwork for people, and dump shavings and branches, etc. in the woods across the street. It is my intent to make use of those branches and put them thru the pallet slats to try and deter critters, and the shavings will hopefully cut down on the ticks. I've rigged up tables using old saw horses and boards with buckets to relieve back strain, and will be using a lot of hanging planter both within the garden and on an old clothesline. I am hoping to plant some peas and beans in a long planter on the porch and have them climb up some lattice that will also provide shade. Other pots will have lettuces and other things that will be within easy reach to water from a rain barrel I created nearby. The back porch will have some over-the-railing planters for herbs and edible flowers, again easy to water and get to. I may not have the off grid place I wanted, and I don't have the animals I wanted (I do have stray cats who have 'blessed' me with kits and keep the mice population down), but I think I can make this work and call it an indirect homestead. Thanks for listening to me ramble, and good luck to all the agers out there.

Gerardo....just moved from your area back to western MA. Spent last 10 years in C/S. Too many changes. Had plans to move to upper Maine off grid, but didn't happen. Maybe later.

My next door neighbor lives in a house even older than mine, and has had an invasion of mice over the last couple of years (she has no cats). She read putting cloves down and around places where she was seeing mice prior helped. She went the peppermint, the steel wool, the tin foil  and other things route, and the mice just ignored it. So far, she said this winter she hasn't seen evidence of any. I've even been putting cloves under the seat in my car b/c they eat the wires. So far so good.

Last night after one last check outside to make sure food and water was on the porch, I saw one of the kits playing with a skunk! Oh h___ no, I screamed, told them they were on their own, and ran back inside. They've already befriended an opossum and a racoon and don't mind them coming up on the porch to finish the kibble bowl. I do draw the line with skunk tho. No more food left out!

I recently relocated to an older home, still in the country, and befriended a stray cat last winter. Poor thing was half starved and looking for food and warmth, but I couldn't bring it in b/c I have 2 housecats. Over the winter I made a bed for it in a dog crate I had on the back porch and left food and water out. Fast forward to the spring and suddenly I see 5 kits plus mama. She had brought them from the woods to the crate. As the kits grew, I watched them have a feast on the mice they caught under the house and in an old shed, and still providing food for them, they're all now huge but feral and wander the neighborhood. Interestingly (not) a couple of my neighbors have commented about how they're not seeing as many mice as they usually do this time of year. A bag of kibble is a lot cheaper than having to replace a lot of food in the pantry if they get in the house or having to repair damage to walls etc.

I think I accidently sent a 'thumb down' to someone (are we allowed to mention names? I still get confused by some of the buttons). My apologies. I meant it as a thumbs up! Someone posted the Outlander series. Enjoyed up to a certain point until I got tired of people having to chase after Claire b/c she wouldn't stay put. The history was very interesting, tho. Pillars of the Earth and Fall of Giants also excellent. Right now reading thru books by Anya Seton, and currently reading one mentioning an ancestor in Virginia. I've found an old herbal book by Jethro Kloss called Back to Eden from 1930s that was considered back in the day (his description of a good nurse is wishful thinking these days, but makes me smile to read how they must be cheerful, hold their patient's hands, uinselfish, kind and faithful). I've picked up a few books by Juliette de Bairacli Levy. Descriptions and herbal info very easy to understand. Her travels around with world and raising her children very unconventionally must have been something. So many books, so little time to read! My most favorite book from the last year is called Left Neglected. I cried thru much of it b/c it felt like someone was looking at my life.

I remember when all the Cave Bear books came out years ago! Those were the days when you went to the library to check them out, and the wait list was long. I actually just passed my set on only a couple of years ago when cleaning out my bookcases prior to a move. This winter I had high hopes of curling up in my chair with feet of snow and spending days reading, creating a herbal medica, and so many other things. Unfortunately, none of it materialized, and now it's finally getting warmer to clear out the old gardens and start replanting. All that being said, I have become very interested in old gardening books, and have picked up all but one of the books written by Helen and Scott Nearing (those radicals and socialists!). What a life they managed to create for themselves and to think they're farms are still standing, and I think are still productive. I've also picked up a couple of Storey's books; Basic Country Skills has been tagged, marked, and pages much loved.

Cold spaghetti, no sauce, no cheese. I can't stand the texture of cooked oatmeal, maybe b/c I had so much of it growing up as it was cheap. Now I eat it raw like cold cereal. Add some brown sugar, cinnamon, fruit (dried or fresh), almond milk, and we're off.

This is my first year ever to have a real garden, and even tho I've gotten carried away with all kinds of bean seeds and other things, I realize it is going to be called a trial-and-error garden this year so I will know what to expect next year. Question #1: I live in western MA and was wondering if anyone has been able to successfully grow things like red or pinto beans. I know they need long growing seasons and like hot weather. Where I live we only really get two good hot months. Because I am somewhat disabled, many things will be grown in pots on sawhorses and other things that are being 'repurposed' from a neighbor's shed. I thought of making some trellises from some fallen limbs nearby I've seen, and beans and cukes etc can grow on them. I think I am also going to try making a wattle fence, again repurposing small branches. Question #2: Besides the usual garden items, i.e. tomatoes, cuke, squash, beans, and some herbs mixed in as companions, what are other ideas to plant that would be good in containers and not require a whole lot of room? Right now I have several pots I got from the dollar store, and some things like carrots and potatoes will be planted in large totes. Thanks for any advice.