May I use this newest blog entry to tell you how much I am loving reading about your adventures in self sufficiency!

I've spent a wonderful hour this morning going through your archives, only up to 2008 so far and have had a ball. I'll certainly continue to come back to the site and catch up to the current posts. I have always wanted to have a small farm, a few animals ( particularly goats, chicken) but that will likely never come to pass. Still, now I can live vicariously, via your little farm:) However, I have turned my city lot into a farm of sorts. A front and backyard garden, wild blackberries and raspberries self propagating here and there ( for some reason the blackberries turned up under the old black walnut tree by the road, thanks to some random squirrel or bird Landscaper ) it seems an unlikely spot to want to grow, the clay soil under the tree, dry and cracked, but there they are. Increased by ten fold since last year, their canes all arched to the ground, new shoots popping up from older tips. My neighbours all around, work on their lawns of finicky grass, while I pick tomatoes or dig up a few potatoes. I am sure they think me one nutty ol broad, but as I sit on my front porch, eating a fresh tomato sandwich, watching them, weed, feed and mow the useless turf, I'm not convinced who the crazy one really is:) I hope you continue recording your journey.

Christine --- It sounds like you're already well on your way through your own journey! Thanks for reading, and good luck.