Persimmon Glen

I have been a subscriber off and on of Mother Earth News since the early 80's, and every opportunity I got I would snatch up back issues at thrift stores or yard sales. I lovingly saved every issue thinking that someday I would get to use all of the wonderful tips found in the pages of this back- to- earth- diy encyclopedia of knowledge.

About fifteen years ago, I decided that I had lugged these magazines around with me for too long, so I spent days going through every single magazine and cutting out and saving my favorite articles and tips, putting them in file folders so I had a little organization. I would get them out every now and then and dream of the homestead I would someday have.

Then probably ten years ago I  had a few moments of insanity and threw them all out, disgusted and unhappy with my lot, sure that I would never have that dream, so why keep reminding myself of it?

I managed to come close a couple of times to having the handmade home and farm that I wanted, but never quite managed to get there for various reasons. Seems like life gets in the way sometimes. Three children, a husband that wasn't the least bit interested in that lifestyle, making a living etc, etc. We all know of our own various excuses that keep us from our dreams. Seems like they get set on a backburner somewhere in our minds waiting for something to click that will bring it to the front and start boiling.

Mine was the thought of being two years away from fifty years old, single, kids grown and not being able to think of any more excuses. I knew if I was ever going to do it, I better get started. If you've been keeping up with this blog, you know the rest of the story. What you don't know is how many times over the years I have kicked myself for throwing out all of the wonderful articles I had saved for so many years. 

Every now and then I'll think of something that I wanted to do that had been stored in those folders. One was to build a smoker out of an old refrigerator. I thought that was the coolest idea, just take the motor out, cut a large hole in the bottom where you place your fire, and use the racks to place the meat and smoke away. One of these days I'll get that done. I'm keeping a watch out for an old fridge.

Another tip I remembered was sent in by a reader. It was from a couple that lived in a mobile home in North Dakota. They had complained about the high cost of heating their home and got the bright idea of of stacking hay bales and bags of leaves under the house for insulation. They were elated that they had cut their heating cost down by half. I thought that was a great idea at the time and for some reason it stuck in my mind.

So this fall when the leaves started getting knee deep around here, (did I mention I have a lot of trees?) I started bagging them up and stuffing them under my house. The front part of my house is about 3 feet off the ground so there is a lot of space to fill. I still haven't finished, as it has rained a lot this fall and winter and I didn't want to put wet leaves under there, I wanted them to be dry. But I can tell that those bags of leaves have helped because the floor is a lot warmer where they are.

We have had 15 inches of rain since the first of December, and the forecast keeps calling for more, so I may not get to finish the job till spring, but finish I will and I'll let you know how it comes out.

I still subscribe to Mother Earth, and there are still some great ideas, like making a woodstove out of an old hot water heater, but I really miss the original magazine. It has changed a lot over the years and I'm sure they are appealing to the younger generation of readers with 'homestead-itis'.

I just hope the younger people make their dreams come true while they are young and not make excuses and let life get in the way. It's a lot harder to recover from a day of hard work on your land when you're fifty. Do it when you are 30, it's a lot easier on your back!