Simplicity Story: Dori’s Kentucky Homestead

Re-posted from April 2012

When I called my friend, Dori, to set up a visit, while we were in Louisville, I told her that I couldn’t wait to see her house.

“Oh, it’s not much,” she said. “It’s small…You know, it’s totally you. You’ll love it!”

Sure enough, she’s living one of my two dream lives. When I grow up, I want to either homestead or live aboard full time. Dori has got quite the almost-off-the -grid homestead going.

As we entered the house, she explained, “We’re redoing the drywall in the laundry room…and the baby chickens are in there.”

Makes sense to me.

The house itself is Amish-built, and heated by a woodstove. The furnishings are modest–minimalistic, to be sure. The bedroom is a loft located upstairs, with plenty of room for three full-sized beds. Next to the kitchen is a “birth and death room,” where the sick and new mothers would be cared for. Dori and her husband are converting this to a sewing room. There is a well-stocked pantry, filled with dry goods that Dori is able to purchase from the nearby Amish store when they are on sale.

Dori and her husband have four children, ranging in age from 2 to 10. What do they do, with such limited space in the house? They can be found outside, jumping on the trampoline, chasing the chickens, feeding the pigs, exploring the forest, or getting into mischief in the pond. Beanie was immediately assimilated into their collective, and followed them wherever they went. She was engaged the whole time, and was even talking to them by the time we left.

Here are some pictures from my visit:

Beanie and her new little buddy. They held hands the entire time!

Inside the chicken pen. The birds were free to come and go as they pleased, and the result was VERY positive–the BEST eggs I’ve ever eaten!

Chasing the chickens

Dori and me. (Yes, I am wearing my foul-weather jacket…Long story…)

The eldest–and ringleader! She kept a great eye on the Bean.

Their house–not glamorous, but elegant in its simplicity.

Chickens milling about the yard–why not?

I love pork, but I refuse to buy factory-farm meat. These pigs are treated wonderfully–meet Pork Chop, Ham, and Bacon!

Feeding time! No slop–just hormone-and-antibiotic-free feed and table scraps.

These are true free-range kids!

You need serious boots in this yard!

Look at this beautiful, antique “Porky” woodstove. MUCH better than DTE or Consumer’s!

Their house is wonderful, and simple. Their kids are healthy and happy. The scenery is beautiful, and the neighbors are friendly. If you can’t move onto the water and join us, you just might want to look for a house in Kentucky…

Are you working toward a simpler lifestyle?  Then I would love to share your story!  Please submit your original (not published anywhere else) story about how you are simplifying your life.  You don’t have to be an extreme minimalist–I would love to share stories of people who are just starting out of their journey.  If your story is selected to be featured, you will receive 50% off the the Simple Living Basics E-Course, after any other discounts.  Send your story to brosselit@gmail.com . 

New to Simple Living?  Then check out our Simple Living Basics e-course.  There are plenty of discounts available, and it will be an investment in a lower-stress more focused lifestyle!

Off the Grid MONDAY: Check Out This House!

When I called my friend, Dori, to set up a visit, while we were in Louisville, I told her that I couldn’t wait to see her house.

“Oh, it’s not much,” she said. “It’s small…You know, it’s totally you. You’ll love it!”

Sure enough, she’s living one of my two dream lives. When I grow up, I want to either homestead or live aboard full time. Dori has got quite the almost-off-the -grid homestead going.

As we entered the house, she explained, “We’re redoing the drywall in the laundry room…and the baby chickens are in there.”

Makes sense to me.

The house itself is Amish-built, and heated by a woodstove. The furnishings are modest–minimalistic, to be sure. The bedroom is a loft located upstairs, with plenty of room for three full-sized beds. Next to the kitchen is a “birth and death room,” where the sick and new mothers would be cared for. Dori and her husband are converting this to a sewing room. There is a well-stocked pantry, filled with dry goods that Dori is able to purchase from the nearby Amish store when they are on sale.

Dori and her husband have four children, ranging in age from 2 to 10. What do they do, with such limited space in the house? They can be found outside, jumping on the trampoline, chasing the chickens, feeding the pigs, exploring the forest, or getting into mischief in the pond. Beanie was immediately assimilated into their collective, and followed them wherever they went. She was engaged the whole time, and was even talking to them by the time we left.

Here are some pictures from my visit:

Beanie and her new little buddy. They held hands the entire time!

Inside the chicken pen. The birds were free to come and go as they pleased, and the result was VERY positive–the BEST eggs I’ve ever eaten!

Chasing the chickens

Dori and me. (Yes, I am wearing my foul-weather jacket…Long story…)

The eldest–and ringleader! She kept a great eye on the Bean.

Their house–not glamorous, but elegant in its simplicity.

Chickens milling about the yard–why not?

I love pork, but I refuse to buy factory-farm meat. These pigs are treated wonderfully–meet Pork Chop, Ham, and Bacon!

Feeding time! No slop–just hormone-and-antibiotic-free feed and table scraps.

These are true free-range kids!

You need serious boots in this yard!

Look at this beautiful, antique “Porky” woodstove. MUCH better than DTE or Consumer’s!

Their house is wonderful, and simple. Their kids are healthy and happy. The scenery is beautiful, and the neighbors are friendly. If I can’t move onto the water, I just might look for a house in Kentucky…

Create Your Own Suburbanalist Lifestyle

You may have noticed that our lifestyle is a hybrid. We’re almost completely between urban minimalism and homesteading, with some just-plain crunchiness thrown in. We noticed this when we began researching off-the-grid living and saw that the other people doing it–and there are quite a few–are almost exclusively homesteaders. We have not found a single OTG house in a subdivision. That led us to coin the term “suburbanalism,” to describe our lifestyle–minimalism and green living in the suburbs!

So, let’s break it down, so you can see what ideas we have borrowed from where, and why we borrowed them. Then, you can decide which ideas work for you and your family!

The crunchiness definitely came first. “Crunchy” (for those who don’t know) refers to “crunchy granola,” and it basically means natural/green living. We got started with this kind of lifestyle when we decided to breastfeed and use cloth diapers. My Internet research of these topics led me to attachment parenting, then natural parenting. Living green is really our first priority. Here are some great resources on “crunchy” living:

Mothering
Michigan Natural Parenting
Natural Parenting Tips
Kelly Mom

Next, we merged this with minimalism. We wanted to own as few possessions as possible, after meeting this couple. After a low-stress half of a summer on the boat, we pared down even more. It is crunchiness that leads us to use cast iron pans instead of Teflon; it is minimalism that leads us to own only two of them. Here are some great resources on minimalism:

Becoming Minimalist
Minimalist 4 Life
Everyday Minimalist
Minimalist Living in a Modern World

Many extreme minimalists rely on eating out, or at least eating more processed foods, in order to not require as much in their kitchen. This is where we deviate. Homesteaders value self-sufficiency; there is much wrong with our nation’s food supply, and the best way to avoid the problems it causes is to eat from a different food supply. Homesteading has led us to bake our own bread, cook as much as possible from scratch, home brew, and work towards getting off the grid. We only deviate from this philosophy in the most obvious way; we don’t have a homestead! While we would love to raise animals and grow our own food, we love being able to leave our home even more. (Face it, having chickens on Moonraker just wouldn’t work!). So, we rely on local farmers to provide us with our food. Here are some resources on homesteading:

Homesteading Today
Homestead.org
Frugal Homesteading
Modern Homesteading

So, do some reading on your own, but don’t feel like you have to subscribe to a philosophy in its entirety. Pick and choose and find what works best for your family!

Snow Day!

Usually I’m done sleeping with the phone next to my bed this time of the year, but this morning I got that recorded call from the superintendent, saying that I had an unexpected day off!

Of course, I don’t really need to mention that launch day is 10 days away, and we’ve just had a blizzard…

So, today, I decided to make the most of it and spend some time in my kitchen. Rob and I have decided that we need to do more producing and less consuming in our home. We’ve already started a new batch of home brewed beer. We use a mix, right now, but we use malt extract instead of dextrose, which makes for a much richer flavor. After a week, we’ll bottle it, and then it will be ready to drink a week after that. One batch yields so many bottles, that we’re always looking for friends to share it with!

At Save a Lot, they have delicious whole grain pitas, and we go through a lot of them! I decided to start soaking the flour for these pitas. We used to always soak our grains, but we’ve fallen off the wagon in the past year.

Finally, when I was going through the cupboard, I found an empty plastic ketchup bottle. When I asked Rob why we had that, he said, “Oh yeah, that’s for home made ketchup!” So guess what I made? It’s much too thick for the bottle though, so we’ll be storing it in a jar.

How do you spend snowy days?