My Dream Homestead

To me home having a homestead means a simple life on the land, the land supplying all the food. The feeling of been self sufficient and not relying on the big chain stores as I am now for my food I would find so liberating and fulfilling as well. Could you imagine preparing a dinner for your loved ones and knowing that the food on the plate was fresh organic and loving grown by you.

As I have said in an earlier post (just passing through) the location of my dream house has to be in a forest. Some people like to live near the sea some like to live in the mountains but desire to live in a tick dense forest. The house I would build would be a small bungalow eco friendly green off grid house. Designed to a simplistic way completely self sufficient and maintained with solar and wind energy. I would make good use of the land available to grow all our food requirements.

I have drawn a rough sketch of how I would manage the land.

I would grow anything up to 100 types of vegetables but the main ones I would eat more regularly would be
v Artichoke
v Lettuce
v Peppers
v Broccoli
v Cabbage
v Carrots
v Celery
v Corn
v Cucumber
v Garlic
v Fiery Hot Peppers
v Spinach
v Onion
v Pea
v Potato
v Squash
v Tomato
v Spring onion

Fruit
v Strawberries
v Blackberries
v Apples
v Pears
v Plums
Chickens for Eggs and Meat
Goats for Milk and Chesses
Pig
Fish
And of course Mushrooms from the surrounding forest

This is my dream and I hope I can create this life style very soon.

A well travelled dinner platter

Hello friends it has been almost two months since my last post. I have no idea where the time went to I want to find the time to write a daily blog and I find it a useful tool in keeping track of my thoughts writing helps me stay honest and in connection with what is going on in my life. What I am saying is the reason I blog is a selfish one, but I do hope that some readers may be able to relate to what I going through in my life.

So here is what is going on at the moment in my life...........................................................................

A well travelled dinner platter

As today as I do every day I cooked dinner for myself and my husband. I made my famous tuna pasta, with a salad and a jar of pickles and homemade strawberry cake. After we dinner we were so stuffed we sat and talked about how tasty it was. I mentioned to my husband that I when I lived in Italy food always tasted so good due to the fresh local food grown produce in Tuscany. The vegetables and fruit were unbelievable juicy and delouisously tasty. Upon this statement we decided to check where our dinner had come from. So here is the list of where our dinner plate originated from.
Olive oil from Brazil
Garlic from Bulgaria
Onions from Germany
Mushrooms from Belgium
Tin of chopped tomatoes from Italy
Tuna from the Pacific Ocean
Cheese was packaged in the UK for Tesco it did not say where it was imported from
Jar of pickles from India
Pasta from Denmark
Lettuce form keelings north county Dublin
Tomatoes from UK
Strawberries hand picked fresh by myself and husband on a farm in north county Dub
Cream was Premier so I am guessing that came from an Irish farm.
Sponge cake made homemade by husband
I had tap water to drink and my husband had red spring lemonade from Ireland.
We had a bowl of nuts on the table again it said packaged in Poland for Tesco but I am not sure what country they originated from
So needless to say we were amazed to see that our dinner had come from almost every condor of the earth. We were so shocked as we don’t know what the regulations in these countries are when it comes to food growing processing packing and transportation. When was the food picked and packed? Where chemicals used on the food? Are they gm modified? At the moment I feel helpless about this situation as Ireland is in a recession. I have a very limited food budget and make my few Euros stench as far as possible. I can just afford the cheapest food which is usually own brand labels.
I can only tell you that I am dreaming of the day when I can live on the land and be self sufficient grow all our food. So I could know exactly what I am putting on to the dinner plate and in to my mouth and my husband’s mouth. I feel since I am the cook in my house it is my responsibility to ensure I know how my food was grownand exactly how fresh it is. I am counting the days to having my own homestead