Sue Robishaw - Homesteading Adventures: A Guide for Doers and Dreamers

Homesteading Adventures

A Guide for Doers and Dreamers

Second Edition

Smashwords eBook Edition

by Sue Robishaw, with Steve Schmeck

Illustrations by Steve Schmeck

Foreword by Jd Belanger

Copyright 1997 / 2014 by Susan J. Robishaw

ISBN: 9781310364792

Thank you for downloading this eBook. The content ofthis book remains the copyrighted property of the authors, and maynot be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercialpurposes. If you enjoy this book, please encourage your friends todownload their own copy from their favorite authorized retailer.Thank you for your support.

Published digitally using 100% solar power.

This book is dedicated to the many homesteaderswho have found joy in doing, satisfaction in sharing, fun inlearning, and life full of living.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface to eBook Edition, 2014

I wrote Homesteading Adventures in 1997,twenty years after we started our lives on this plot of ground.When I read through the book again almost twenty years later I hadto marvel at what we had done, and how much more had happened sincethat time. Such is the wonder of hindsight and years. I expect tofeel the same way when looking back at today twenty yearshence!

But it didnt take many pages into the bookbefore I knew I wanted to do a great deal of editing. The bookneeded it (though I still have a great fondness for it!). AndeBooks allow one to do that fairly easily. But it also presents adilemma. Should I edit away part of our life that helped make thelife we have today? Do I want to share what we do now, or what wedid then? This book is about where we were then, what we did, whatwe had learned, the decisions we made. If I changed too much Iwould be writing a different book, and a different life.

And the information is still good. Justbecause were doing some things differently now doesnt mean whatwe did then wasnt right for then. Our lives change constantly;well have different ideas tomorrow. Besides, I like this book! AndI truly love JJ and CindyLou. They are good friends whom I hadntvisited with in so many years.

So I came up with an agreeable (to me)compromise. I edited and rewrote as a more experienced writer but Ileft most all real life experiences alone, updating just a fewthings such as the wine recipe, the pickle recipe, the Seed Sourcescontact info.

Some folks loved JJ and CindyLou in theoriginal Homesteading Adventures, others didnt. They were toomuch a part of the book to remove but I did allow them to deletesome of their presence. They were happy with that, and so amI.

Much information has been updated on ourwebsite at www.ManyTracks.com, often with more photos, more color.The internet was just beginning to become popular when the originalbook was published! How the world changes. We plan to do moreHomesteading Adventures eBooks, updating and adding to sometopics, creating new ones, sharing projects, experiences, life onthe homestead. Keep in touch; well let you know how itgoes!

Sue R., midwinter 2014.

Foreword by Jd Belanger

[Former editor and publisher of Countrysidemagazine]

Most of the few people who know a little aboutmodern homesteading have several preconceived notions about thelifestyle. They assume that homesteaders are people who have leftgood jobs in the city to pursue simple subsistence living bycarving a Swiss Family Robinson sort of existence out of thewilderness.

In the majority of cases, those assumptionsare way off the mark. Most modern homesteaders have almost boringlynormal homes, jobs and lives.

On the other hand, with Steve Schmeck and SueRobishaw, those assumptions come awfully close to thetruth.

Perhaps this is one reason so many readershave expressed unabashed envy of this couple after reading Suesarticles in Countryside magazine. Its probably why some havelikened them to Scott and Helen Nearing, those icons of modernhomesteading. And its certainly one of several reasons why SueRobishaws writing is so enthralling.

Her narratives have the same quality thatmakes us enjoy a good novel or movie. We come away with a freshperspective, a renewed and revitalized spirit, and a feeling thatfor a brief time we have been in another place and time whereeverything fits together much more neatly than in our owncluttered, uneventful, and perhaps meaningless lives. We might notwant to imitate these people exactly, but we cant help but admirethem!

In spite of this storybook quality, Sueswriting is not only entertaining, but informative. She not onlydescribes their homesteading projects, but details how anyone canaccomplish them.

In reality, no two homesteads, orhomesteaders, are the same. One of the most fascinating aspects ofthe lifestyle is its infinity of options and variations. Contraryto what many people think, homesteading isnt defined by certainactivities, nor does it follow any specific rules. (Steve and Sueexemplify this, too).

Because of this variety, there are not bookson how to homestead. Books can only show how certain individualshomestead, or explain how they accomplish selectedundertakings.

However, there is a more elusive, and perhapsa more important and universal dimension to homesteading that isoften difficult to describe or convey to others. That is the way ofthinking that motivates and sustains homesteaders. Some say itdefines homesteading itself. Sue expresses this wonderfully.However, if you think homesteading is simply doing things you mightmiss this aspect, so be sure to watch for it and notice how itmelds into the actions.

Actually, that mindset might be what thiswhole book is about. Yes, the book describes one coupleshomesteading adventures, and yes, it explains how to tackle manyhomestead enterprises. But most of all it demonstrates the mode ofthinking that makes it all possible as well as necessary for livingthe good life.

You dont have to live in the woods to acquireand benefit from that. If JJ and CindyLou can do it, so canyou.

Jd Belanger, 1997, editor/publisherCountryside Magazine, Withee, Wisconsin

Preface to Original(1997)

I discovered JJ and CindyLou one autumn afternoonmeandering through my mind. At the start they were two rathernondescript creatures with whom I began having regular ramblingmany-tracked conversations. They helped me pick and thresh the drybean pods with much oohing and aahhing over the varied colors whilewondering why I spent so much time keeping all the varietiesseparate, and wouldnt it be easier to just throw them all intogether, its getting late after all you know, and when are wegoing to make the bean soup? They supervised the pulling of weedswhile speculating on what would happen to the garden if I didnt,and why didnt I just get that big old red tiller going and dig itall in, and wouldnt it have been easier if I had put more mulch onin the first place?

They popped up amongst the apple peels andcores of applesauce making wondering if I really needed to peel theapples, and why didnt I dry the crop instead of canning it, butwould it taste as good and would it take less time and what kind ofapples were those anyway? And did I really mean to drop that coreinto the cooking kettle instead of the compost bucket?

Over time JJ and CindyLou came into focus asthe neophyte homesteaders you will meet through these pages.Fictional neighbors and friends, they have come through my lifebringing fun, amazement, organization and chaos. By sharing our ownhomesteading experiences with them theyve shared with me a newoutlook and a different perspective. Though certainly of afictional nature and not based on any real person or persons theyhave a tendency to reflect back at oneself ones own self. The good,the bad and the funny.