I just can’t take care of this thing one more minute! It’s always hungry and demanding and uses up so much flour! It’s gonna have to go. I know, I know, every homestead is required to make sourdough, right? A gal is worth her apron strings if she can whip up a living monster to make unlimited bread for her husband who probably doesn’t need a loaf of bread every day. No matter what he says.

Sourdough became all the rage during the lockdowns when yeast was non-existent on shelves. It is a beautiful and a wonderful idea. One has to dump or bake half of the mixture every day and keep adding expensive flour to it. I have a big packet of yeast in my fridge and I can make bread whenever I want- like once a week maybe.

I know if you are like me, and you are fixin’ to homestead, you want to do everything! In our twelve years of homesteading, Doug has milked goats, chopped firewood, and I have cooked on a wood stove, hand washed clothes and hung them on the line in subzero temps, and canned well over a thousand jars of produce in that time. We have delivered baby goats, and nursed chickens back to health, and have just done everything you can think of regarding homesteading! The fastest route to a nervous breakdown is trying to do everything. There are no homestead police. We have all chosen this lifestyle so that we can have a more peaceful, meaningful, healthier life and there are lots of ways to do that. For me, sourdough might not fit in these days!

One thing I do is plant by the moon. It makes sense to me, the old ways. I know how the moon changes ocean tides, and folks’ demeanors, and I know it works to grow stuff too. It is simple, really. If it is going to grow underground, plant it during a waning moon (from the day after the full moon to the day before the new moon). If it fruits and grows above ground, plant it during a waxing moon (day after new moon to full moon).

One thing I am going to start doing on my homestead is to mix my own spice blends. When we moved, I threw away years old spice blends that sounded delicious. One of them was a Moroccan blend that I used once, because it turns out, I don’t really like that kind of flavor. We go through a lot of Cajun seasoning, but I’d love it just a tad milder, so I can blend my own to our taste and save some money.

We get wood from our good friends that already chopped it, and we drink oat milk these days, and our farm dog lives on the couch. But I still have big garden plans to provide a lot of our food on this new urban homestead. We planted fruit trees and bushes for near future use. I got out my canner and have been putting up broth every month and we dehydrated a lot of apples (that were so good, they sadly did not last the week!), and instead of eating meat, we are using more legumes and grains to make substitutes or just enjoying as is.

Each homestead is as unique as its creator. Your fingerprint is different than mine, your needs are different, your family is different, your stage of life might be different, so our homesteads will look different, but they are each a homestead. There is no right or wrong. Pick what you love and enjoy and that benefits your family and hopefully saves you some money, and love your old fashioned life- sourdough or no.