1/4 acre of land and no mule

"Sustainable living." This phrase, notion, idea, concept...it has been going around in my head for a few months now. It could be a response to a call from nature or it could be that my paranoid husband has finally rubbed off on me and I'm preparing us for "off grid" living. Either way, the notion is awesome! I am excited about it and wish that I really could do as much as I'd like. I have these "steps" in my mind of what I can be doing now and I have officially started. One of the first steps is education. I do not know a thing about living off the land, but I do know how to order books from Amazon and ask anyone who is doing this for advice. Two books that I am currently waiting for are, The Backyard Homestead and Made From Scratch:Discovering the Pleasures of a Homemade Life. The notion of the "homestead" book is that you can sustain a family (of 4?) on just 1/4 acre of land. Sounds cool, huh? Once I get the book, I'm gonna be learning about raising animals, planting crops, harvesting and preparing food for storage. Well, being that we don't own 1/4 acre of land to plant and add animals to, I'm gonna start where I can...canning, preserving, learning how to make soap and cheese from goat's milk. And, I'm gonna try planting a few berry bushes in the planting bed and see what happens!
SO! I've decided to start with canning. I've been doing some research, reading some blogs and reviews on products and today I had decided to go get a starter kit. I found the one that I liked at Agway and it included a cook book, tongs, funnel, jars and the all-important pot with the base inside. I was headed to the Agway when I remembered our Sunday lesson at church. We talked about buying less, recycling more...lessening our footprint in the world. So when I am in the mood to go shopping my first place ALWAYS to check out are the local "junk-tique" stores. I thought, "They are never gonna have canning supplies." But what the heck, I had an hour to kill so I went into my favorite store. Not a dozen steps inside the door, in the second "booth" I peeped into, there it was! A beautiful, black, enamel canning pot. I lifted the lid and saw the stand inside. Sure, it didn't have all the other bells and whistles as the "kit" at Agway had, but it also wasn't $65! This was only $10 and I didn't buy new, so...go me! I stopped off at the Mansfield Mall (AKA-WalMart) on the way home and picked up a funnel, the Blue Bell cookbook and of course, some jars!
Tomorrow I am headed to the blueberry farm just outside of town to do some U-pick blueberries and head home to start making blueberry butter & blueberry preserves. Isn't this exciting?!!
So...if you live near me and find that you have some excess of any fruits or veggies, just give me a holler and let me see what I can turn them into! Wish me luck and I'll let y'all know how it turns out.