simplifying life

So. After spending a week this summer at camp in a beautiful hand-built cabin, researching Mennonites after discovering the farm market , and finding out we're having another girl in November (hooray!), I've been doing a lot of thinking about the farm and ways to save money and live cheaply (and maybe even make a little money, too).

When we first moved to the farm, we were fresh out of a rental that had been brand new when we moved in, and for a while I really wanted that newness back. I wanted to drop a fortune on a custom kitchen, new bathrooms, wood floors, etc. But the reality is that we don't have that fortune, and aren't going to any time soon. Somewhere along the way, living in the house with it's ramshackle kitchen cabinets, crappy paint and dirty carpet, all of which are still functional, if not asthetically ideal, I've experienced a shift in the way I look at things. Sure, the cabinets suck, and I don't think they're attractive, but they get the job done. Paint is an easy fix, it just takes a little time. The carpet, well, there's no saving the carpet, but rather than going with laminate flooring that looks like wood, we've decided to use real wood boards. Not the kind you buy at Lowes with it's pre-fabbed Brazilian cherry or whatever, but pine that we can get from a sawmill locally, for dirt cheap. It's not really meant for floors, but we saw it used in the cabins at camp, and it looks and feels earthy and natural and homey. I love it.

As far as the kitchen goes, I do want to redo it, but not with manufactured cabinets, with cabinets we build ourselves out of real wood. And maybe the kitchen won't look perfect, but it will be ours.

When it comes to food - we're going to try to grow as much of it as we can, and what we can't grow ourselves, we're trying to buy locally. We've got the land. It's time to use it.

When we need a new bookshelf, why not build it? I read in Countryside magazine about a guy who was doing amazing stuff with wood pallets he got for free- taking them apart and making outbuildings and shelves. Why can't we do that? So much better than buying a piece of particle-board crap at the store. Why have I never done this before?!

I've gotten to the point where I don't even want to go shopping anymore. Because everything in stores like Wal-Mart or Target is cheap plastic junk, and why should I waste my money on it? I want to buy things that are made to last, and made of real materials. And I only want to buy them if I can't figure out how to make them myself. This isn't really new thinking for me, but I think I've finally reached a place where I'm capable of making this a reality. If I can't grow it, bake it or make it myself, do I really need it at all?

So, now I've started this whole "waste not, want not" campaign at home, saving fabric from old clothes, pickle and baby food jars, tin cans, and trying to figure out nifty things I can do with them. Just yesterday I discovered the log cabin quilt block pattern, and I'm addicted. And I'm also wanting to learn how to make rag rugs and other things instead of throwing scrap fabric away. With the jars I think I'm going to try making little hanging lanterns with beads and wire. And with the cans, I'm thinking pierced tin lanterns, pencil holders, or whatever. I'm also scheming a way to turn all of Davey's empty beer cans into tin tiles to redo the backsplash in my kitchen. Sounds crazy, I know. But just crazy enough that it might be totally awesome. AND, who knows, maybe I'll come up with some stuff that's cool enough to sell and make some extra income. Hey, it could happen.

Also on my list now are angora rabbits and cashmere goats, so I can spin my own yarn and dye it with vegetables from my garden. Not to mention the extra meat, milk, and animals to sell. (Hello, goat cheese!)

Some of this sounds crazy, I know. Maybe to some people this doesn't sound like simplifying.
But I don't care. I'm ready to live a different kind of life, and we have this amazing place and all these resources. It just seems wrong not to use them. So, all we can do is try, and we'll see how this turns out!