Micro Farminng - The basics

Micro farming is the basically the process of growing a large amount of produce or livestock on a small area. It can be any size from growing greens on your balcony to raising 50 pigs on 10 acres. The point of micro farming is the ability to be able to grow your own food.

The first thing that you need to consider before you get started on your micro farm, is planning! Planning how you plan to lay the your block out, to achieve the best results from the space you have. The next thing to plan is your planting roster and a marketing plan. This is often the first mistake people make they fail to plan and end up wasting money and time.

When considering animals please don't forget to consider time! Animals take a lot of time and work also its hard to nip off for a mini break with pigs and chickens that need feeding. However animals make an amazing addition to any micro farm by not only providing meat but also manure for the compost.

If animals aren't your thing then maybe consider cropping, before planting anything do as much research as you can this will help you to achieve the best possible results. Also you may want to consider organics with a smaller crop organic farming is much easier and organic produce can sell for as much as 20% higher then standard grown produce.

 Options for selling your produce, Its easy to sell your produce and cut out the middle man. There are a few options for selling your produce particularly in a technology driven world. A couple of options are Facebook more and more people are turning to Facebook to purchase everything. There has also been a couple of websites that have been cropping up my personal favorite is www.ripenear.me Its designed particularly for selling and buying fresh produce. A market stall is another great option for selling fresh produce and products that you have made such as jams and spreads.

 

Green Cleaning Hacks - Every mum should know

Being a mother of 2 growing boys and running a homestead. Someone is always coming in with muddy boots or putting muddy hands on my cupboards. When my eldest came along I wanted to eliminate all the chemicals that I used within the home.
It took me a long time to work out the best way to make and use my own green cleaners that worked.

I want to share with you some of my best green cleaners for around the home, many of them work just as well as the chemical cleaners.

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Smelly Car/Couch/Carpet or Curtains
20 Drops of Eucalyptus oil in a spray bottle and fill with water
It will kill all the bacteria that cause smells

Pongy Drain
Sprinkle a cup of Bi Carb soda in and around the drain, leave for 20 minutes then rinse off with vinegar.
The Bi Carb absorbs the smell and the vinegar dissolves the vinegar.

Water Stains in the shower
Cut a lemon in half and rub directly on the glass and fixtures to remove the water stains, it make take slightly extra rubbing, but leaves a beautiful finish.

Dirty Mirrors
Straight in vinegar a spray bottle spray directly on the mirror and rub off with old newspaper. Using newspaper stops the little bits of fiber left behind.

Toilet Bombs
Mix Citric acid, Bi Carb Soda in a bowl add a few drops of your favorite essential oil press into molds
Simply drop into toilet and leave for 20 minutes then flush.

Disinfectant spray
Either place eucalyptus oil or tea tree oil in a spray bottle add a small amount of water and spray where it is needed.

To clean benches and counter tops
I use dish soap and water
I also use dish soap and water to clean my cupboards and stove top.

How planning ahead could save your week

I have an absolute crazy life, I wear more hats then I care to admit to. Every Sunday night I sit down and plan my week ahead.

This may seem outdated to actually sit down and plan out the week ahead, when most of us keep our planners and reminders on our phones, I found that by sitting down and getting it all out once I could relax even more.

Here are my steps to planning out the week:

I usually start by gathering all my papers e.g. Bills and School notes.

I sit down with my papers and my planners/ Calendars

The first one I mark is the Wall month to month calendar, I go through each paper and mark down all the important dates that the whole family needs to be aware of such as excursions or special sport days.

I use my daily planner to mark when all my bills are due and when my next reading dates are (this keeps me aware of when I should receive a bill). I also mark down important school information and if I will need leave.

Next I like to plan 7 Dinners and 7 lunch meals. I don't put them in any particular order because I like the chance to change my mind and frankly I never know what I am hungry for one day to the next.

When I plan out my week ahead I feel life I can let it all go and that I will remember things when they need to be remembered.

Creative Places to give away your clothes

I have seen a lot of requests on Facebook about places to give things away that aren't op shops. I started to think about where to give things away that aren't just op shops. Although op shops are great places and do a lot of great work there are options other then op shops.

Winter Clothes
I was given a large supply of winter clothes from my mother, they no longer fit her so she passed them on to me, I had a fair bit that I was never going to wear particularly about 5 woollen coats, I went to the city one day were there are a lot of homeless, I simply left them all on a bench and walked away. I brought a coffee and walked back through where I had left them and they were all gone, the further I walked I started to see people wearing them it warmed my heart.

Corporate wear
I have given away a few items to a local battered woman's home because these women have often left with only the clothes on there backs and will need to get back into the work force and already having an interview outfit makes a world of difference to there confidence.

Kids Clothes and Toys
Like with the corporate wear you can donate kids clothes and toys to a local woman's shelter. It will help them to rebuild there lives after leaving everything behind. Many of these kids have seen things that no child should ever see. Get in touch with your local foster care organisation often there is a lot of need for books and clothes for boys and girls from new born to 16.

Soft Toys
Many places wont take soft toys because they are unable to be thoroughly cleaned. The RSPCA or other animal organisations are always looking for stuffed animals and old blankets. The animals enjoy cuddling up to them. Its very cute.

Excess food
I have a massive vegetable garden and often have left over, I often donate to feed the homeless, There is usually a few different organisations that feed the homeless. A church or a google search is usually a great way to find out home to get in touch with them.

I think before just giving something to the op shop you should consider is there someone who could use it more, and would they have the money to purchase it from the op shop?

How to Make any house a home, even if you are renting

Making your space a place where you want to be is a matter of making it comfortable. This does need to be an expensive exercise. A few simple touches can make your house feel like a home.

Art
Art makes us feel something every time we really look at it. The best part about art is it can be anything that you find beautiful. I once read a article about a woman who framed the dress she was wearing on her first date with her husband, because he remembered how beautiful she looked in it. You can make some amazing art for less then $20, grab a canvas, some tubes of paint and start splattering it around.

Upcycling Old Clothes
This might seem like a strange thing to upcycle old clothes to make your house more of a home but I have made some great projects from old clothes I was planning to throw out. Turn old woollen jumpers into comfy cushion covers. Another favourite project of mine is I turned all of our old holey farm t-shirts into a floor rug.

Paint old furniture
With Facebook and gumtree its super easy to buy second hand furniture, or you may have some ugly hand me down furniture hanging around that you could paint or distress. This can instantly give you a feel of being home.

Display your favourite things
I have a misfit collection of things displayed around my house but I love each piece and each piece has a story, I love to tell them every time some one admires it. It might be my favourite set of wine glasses from Mexico or my old travel journal sitting on top of my coffee table.

Display photos
Nothing makes it feel like your space more then photos. I love photos if I start to feel lost or tired I look at my photos on the wall and I remember why I need to keep going and working. There is some great renters hooks out there that don't damage the paint.

Smells
This is something that really makes a house a home I personally love the smell of clean linen! It smells clean and fresh to me. I keep this smell around by using clean linen scented wax melts and using a fabric smell with a clean linen scented oil in it.

Pets
Nothing makes a house more of a home then a pet. Even if its a fish, there will always be something to put a smile on your face even on the worst days.

I hope I have helped you turn your house into a home.

Organic pest control in the vegetable patch

Organic gardening can be a tricky thing to get right. If you don't you can lose all your harvest to pesky pests or end up with a crop that doesn't ripen properly. Here is some basics that every organic gardener needs to have in there arsenal.

White Oil - Is a handy pest exterminator. Its simple to use and easy to make with ingredients from home. It works by sticking to the bugs and suffocates them.
To make White Oil:
- 1 cup of vegetable or white mineral oil
- 1.5 cups of water
- 2 teaspoons of dishwashing liquid

Neem Oil - This works in much the same way as white oil does, you can however buy Neem Oil already mixed. Its great for all sorts of minor aliments including nit treatment for your kids hair.
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COMMON PESTS

Aphids - nasty little green bugs that typically are found on roses, however they can be partial to the odd vegie or 2.

Snails - Make a beer trap. Put a small amount of beer in the bottom of a container and dig into the soil. The snail will go in, get drunk, drown and die a happy death. Another option is to make a salt ring as snails can't cross salt. This is also a great way for kids to help out in the garden, get them out in the morning picking them off.

Caterpillars -  The little buggers eating the life out of all your plants. There is a couple of simple ways to get rid of them with out Caterpillars first of all is just like with snails go along and pick them off. Neem oil also works a treat to sort these buggers out. Another easy way is to get rid of them is let the chickens in!! they will get a great feed.

Paying off debt to live a calmer life

Debt has become so accepted by our society, that its not a big deal. Everybody has debt, well not everybody but there is a large percent of the population that is walking around with debt. The worst part about it is there is always that threat hanging over your head that you wont make a repayment.

I have spent a large part of my adult life in some form of debt or another it seems to be that I will never escape this pattern. Well that was until I stopped. I just stopped going into new debt and worked out a plan to get it all paid off.

The first step is I looked at all my debt, I wrote a list and wrote down the exact amount of each one and my fortnightly repayment. I worked out if I could afford to pay extra off one in particular, I used the snowball method to pay each one off.

I also looked at ways to save money around the house. such as only eating in season fruits and vegetables and buying meat on sale at the butchers. every dollar saved is a dollar closer to reaching the dream.

I also write a shopping list. Not a food shopping list its to actually remind me what we need instead of just trying to remember and buy a lot of things we don't need.

The most important thing is to take it step by step and remember that the things that really matter can't be bought from a store.

Ways to make money from the homestead

Making money from the homestead is a great way to help pay for the upkeep or pay for those few extra things that the kids need.

1) Selling excess crops.
This year I have 40 pumpkins from this years harvest, I preserved some and sold the rest on Facebook. I got $3.50 each for them.

2) Riding lessons/ Shearing lessons.
Use the skills that you have to teach the next generation. Its a great way for kids to get a chance to learn real skills to help them get a job on the land.

3) Selling excess preserves.
CWA markets is a great place to sell some excess preserves and crafts.

4) Clean up old furniture.
I have done this a few times picked up something cheap from the tip, cleaned it up and painted in a shabby sheek fashion and sold for a profit. In the world of today when everyone has access to the internet its easy to buy and sell online.

5) Farm stay/ bed and breakfast
If you have the space this can be a way to make quick cash, particularly around tourist seasons.

6) Use the skills you have.
I worked in a IT position and have a bit of knack for fixing computers. This comes in handy in a small town. It could be anything such as cutting or colouring hair from home, or school holiday care. Any skills that you have will be valuable to someone you would be surprised.