2012 Goals

Really getting interested in becoming frugally sustainable as possible this year. I have been gathering info for years on frugal living and studied herbal remedies and have used homemade cleaning products for at least 10 years now, cloth diapers my kids, nursed, and made my own baby food. But really just stayed on the outskirts of being more frugal and more of a urban homesteading or self-sustainable lifestyle, of course back when I started this quest I don't think the phrase urban homesteading was coined.

I grew up in a semi-rural area and our neighbors had raised practically free range chickens and one mean-A#$ rooster, had pigs they raised and fed as well as themselves, had horses, the other neighbor had raised one cow a year for meat free range and mostly grass fed. Our family had a huge sustaining garden of nearly 3 acres that supported our family of 5 girls. When asked to help weed I remember making a huge ordeal of it my making sure I had my head band on, wrist bands, water thermos (We didn't have those plastic water bottles back then it was called the garden hose) See I knew I needed to be hydrated even back in 1983!), had a snack lunch with sunblock, LOL, see I was concerned about my skin even at 10 years old! By the time I had all my prep work done it was at least 90 min later, I would have to use the bath 3 times, then after my mother would sigh in exasperation I would depart to weed perhaps a row of veggies b4 the bugs would chase me back in doors or I was too hot to continue...Ughhhhh!! I hate trying to pull weed off those dry caked beds with the corn stalks touching me and weird looking bugs buzzing my head...LOL-don't I sound like poster child for urban homesteading!!!!

I remember helping to gather eggs and being semi scared of being pecked by the chickens and terrified of the mean a$% rooster, and helping feed the cute little piglets until they weighed more than I did, then I was not so happy to help our friends feed them, they kinda freaked me out.

Yet here I am reading about ppl accomplishing urban homesteading raising their own pigs, free range chickens, grass fed cattle, garndens and find the idea comforting & nostalgic like I am coming home right where I belong!! Coming from me with my prissy actions and lazy work ethics it will interesting-I will be blogging my experiences for sure and hopefully my attitude has changed now that I know more about how the foods sustain us and have children I want to raise who will grow up seeing and knowing how to be self-sustainable. With this economy the way it is, I think we have no choice but to start doing more....

I have been studying herbal and homeopathic remedies for some time and getting ready to put my ideas into practice:

Goals for 2012
Using more Herbal Remedies and Make my own Medicine Chest remedies including:
essential oil herbal boo-boo remedy
Make my own hand sanitizer
Diaper Rash Ointment
Make my own Herbal Chest Rub
Use natural poultice and compress devise a plan or regimen (Using Onion Compresses & garlic poultices)
Make my own Toothpaste
Keep making our bread products from scratch (sandwich bread, pitas, tortillas, flat bread, Calazone, Stromboli & pizzas)
Keep up with making homemade laundry detergent
Keep making our own cleaning products and refine the ones I am ok with.
Get the cleaning products all labeled and recipes wrote down so I can have a regimine all set up and in place.
Research and choose a farmer to purchase grass fed beef
Research and choose a farmer to purchase our free range poultry, pork, & lamb
Plant a vegetable garden just for fresh eating in season this year with hopes of expanding next year to canning after I find what I can realistically upkeep and maintain.
Come up with a more green approach to food storage and lunches away from home
Buy more organic wholefoods groceries with  wholefoods meal planning in mind for all 3 meals and 2 snacks/day for ALL family members
Organize pre-schooling homeschooling lessons monthly
Set aside time to review and introduce lessons 2X's/Day
Make Kissi Training Pants & GET KISSI POTTY TRAINED!!!!!!
Be more consistent with using cloth diapers and cloth wipes!
Wean Izak off of Binky
Do OT & PT with Izak 15min/day (2 sessions day each)

Pweeeehh! This is quite a list, I really wish to accomplish this, plus I need to keep groceries at $130 or under a week, I am going to put my energy toward this...