Off the grid…

It all started with an innocent email:  “What do you think about….moving off grid?”  From there it has burgeoned into a full fledged dream and preparations for how to get there.  We are planning to move off grid in Alaska!!  Maybe we’ll end up somewhere with a stream like this?

Or maybe a view like this?

Why would we take such a step, you wonder?  In a word…freedom.  Freedom from work?  Nope!   But freedom to use our time as we see fit.  Freedom from debt and bills.  Freedom to do what we enjoy and with the people we love.

Freedom to use our hands and our creativity and make our own log home.

What steps are we planning to take to make our dream a reality?

• Pay off all of our debt (except our mortgage because we will sell our home when we move)
• Purchase a plot of land
• Learn as much as we can about alternative energy, wells and “gray” water, septic, outhouses and composting toilets (yes, they have such a thing now!), cabin design, foundations and permafrost, etc.
• Build our own cabin using the trees off of the land

When are we going to do this?

Whenever we finish the 4 items above!

Where are we going to live?

Well, ultimately wherever God wants us to.  But, we are looking at Delta Junction and Glennallen because they are rural areas (which will enable us to get a federal subsistence hunting permit which will mean that we can hunt year round regardless of season) but are still towns with churches and grocery stores, and because land is inexpensive in those places.

Enjoy the journey with us as we go….off the grid!

We have a winner…

Congratulations to Shonda for winning the book!  If you were not the winner, and still would like this book, it can be picked up on Amazon for about $10 and free super saver shipping!  A truly fabulous deal for the treasure that it is.  Have a great day everyone!

Fall Carnival Giveaway!!!

Hooray!!!!  This will be my first time participating in this event.  Thank you Laura at Heavenly Homemakers for setting up such a fun event!!!

My blog is giving away a copy of Created To Be His Helpmeet, a book that changed me into the wife that God created me to be for my husband and thus enriched my marriage beyond what I can put into words!!!

If you have an open heart and mind and are ready for the LORD to speak to you, then comment below and you’ll be put into the random drawing at the end of the week!!  May the LORD richly bless each one of you, and I’ll see you on your blogs!

P.S.  You are welcome to join in even if you don’t have a website, but please leave a way for me to contact you in the comments!

*Added note…even if you are not the winner, this book can be purchased at nogreaterjoy.org or from Amazon*

Following the ancient paths…

‘This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ Jeremiah 6:16

If I turn left off of Palmer Wasilla Highway I will get to the Tesoro gas station, Fairview Loop, Settler’s Bay, and ultimately, my house at mile 9.  If I turn right, I reach the library, the post office and if I continue, Hatcher’s Pass.  This is simple.  Nothing magical in that my choice of direction determines my destination.  But…life is the same, fearfully the same, and yet we don’t want to see it.  We want to believe that we can go in any direction, turn any way, take any path, and our life will end up where we want it…peaceful, happy, prosperous.

“Blessed is the man that does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers, but his delight is in the law of the LORD and on His law he meditates day and night.” Psalm 1:1-2

The choice of my direction determines my destination.  Blessings come when I follow God’s ways.

“See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse- the blessing if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today;  the curse if you disobey the commands of the LORD your God and turn from the way that I command you.” Deuteronomy 11:26-28

This truth has been played out time and time again in my own life, when I have followed…and when I haven’t, but I am only just realizing how uncomplicated it is and how important.  Thus begins a new series of blog posts on following the ancient paths…specific truths in God’s word that lead us in a direction of a blessed life.

The blessed life is not an easy one…it is not one free from trials or pain…but it is one going in the right direction. It is one that is peaceful and happy.  And, unlike a road traveled by car and by foot, where if I want to get somewhere else I have to first go back the way I came, following God’s ways simply requires a decision to be going in the right direction.

Pray without ceasing…

Nestled against the wall in a stack of wind blown pages of verses for our kiddos to memorize lies a verse.  A verse that the LORD has had swirling inside my brain, sinking in, talking to me, while I wash, while I clean, while I walk among our garden.  Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

I think, I ponder, I wonder.  Praying without ceasing?  No.  Thinking without ceasing is more like it.  Even talking without ceasing. Planning without ceasing.  LORD help me has become my heart’s cry.  Because this is His will for me.

So, can I ignore it?  Continue on the same?  No.  His Spirit presses, changes.

Then I’m reading a novel.  Coincidence?  No.  It’s been said that coincidence is just God choosing to remain anonymous. The main character challenged to pray, to talk to God before stewing, bring to God instead of planning.  To pray scripture, to pray boldly, to pray out loud, to pray without ceasing.

So, I’m trying it out.  Starting to think less and pray more.  Taking every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ.  Homeschool planning…pray without ceasing.  Family struggles…pray without ceasing.  Financial questioning…pray without ceasing.  Child training…pray without ceasing.  Time constraints, friends, laundry…pray without ceasing.  Meal planning, chicken raising, winter coming…pray without ceasing.  Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be open to you.

Such peace, such communion, such contentment, such answers have come.  Thank you Lord for teaching me a better way.  Casting all my cares on You is simply praying all day every thought, every worry, every dream, every conversation.  To talk to you about it…Lord, help me to teach my children how to love you, Lord, please keep sunshine for my husband’s hunting trip, Lord, help my daughter to ask instead of whine, Lord, should I run the dishwasher now?  no probably in an hour or two since I just washed diapers.  Lord, is there a way to work exercise into my day…

Where I previously would have thought and planned, now I am asking and bringing.

Lord, help me to pray and talk to you even more!!!! To pray without ceasing!!!

Do you have an area of prayer that the Lord has been working on and can encourage others?  For an extremely inspiring post on prayer that prompted my own post, check out Ann Voskamp’s Prayer:  why we struggle and how not to.  The Lord bless all of you!

All Natural Homemade Laundry Soap for 12 cents per load!

I know, I know, there are a lot of natural products out there.  But, not as many homemade recipes, and even less number that actually work.  This post is a record of my experience and price figurings about laundry soap.

I began making my own soap in May 2009.  Before that, I was using Cheer Free, which is listed in the Safe Shopper’s Bible as being very safe.  I was getting it for a very reasonable price (at least for Alaska) of $5.22 per 32 load container.  Of course, that load amount was for medium loads, and in a family of 6, I never do anything but large loads so I was probably only getting about 22 loads from each box, which makes each load about 24 cents.  Then, I got a recipe for homemade soap from my sis-in-law.  We have made this recipe using a few different types of bar soaps, and experimented with adding Biokleen Oxygen Bleach Plus.  ( I have tried Biokleen’s laundry soap and was not impressed with it, especially for my baby’s diapers or stains, but the oxygen bleach plus works well as a laundry boost)  Here’s the recipe that I’ve found that works:

1 cup baking soda (the original recipe calls for washing soda.  That can be gotten online, I think.  Since baking soda works, I’ve just been going with what is more readily accessible)

1 cup borax

1 bar of soap, grated finely

1 cup of Biokleen Oxygen Bleach Plus

Mix all ingredients together.  Use 2 Tablespoons per load.

(The original recipe also calls for using citric acid, I don’t know how much, or putting vinegar in with the rinse.  Mountain Rose Herbs has a fantastic price on citric acid…the cheapest I have found.  I thought that I would start putting maybe like a fourth of a cup in the mix?  It is supposed to aid in rinsing the soap from the clothes…I haven’t been using it and the soap is working fine,  but  maybe I would notice problems over time if I don’t start using it?  Does anyone know more about this?)

I have used Dr. Bronner’s bar soaps with great success.  I tried Kiss-My-Face soap and it did not work at all!  I wanted to try Kirk’s Castile bar soap that other bloggers have mentioned works well, but am having trouble finding a decent price from a company that will ship to AK.  I’ve read that Fels Naptha works great, but after reading the label realized that it does not fall into the natural category.  I tried the laundry soap without the Biokleen and did not feel that it got my light colored clothes clean enough (With three young daughters, half my wash is light pink, white or yellow! )

I get my baking soda from Costco, my borax from the grocery store, the Biokleen from Azure Standard and the bar soap from Vitacost.  But, I am going to try making the laundry soap using a natural bar soap made from goat’s milk from a local supplier. (Who has lovely, sweet daughters that I met at a Farmer’s Market, but that will be another post )  Their soapmaking business is called Gladheart Acres, and they do ship outside Alaska.  I will update the post after I try their soap!

Here’s my mathematical calculations:

baking soda:  12 lbs for 5.89, 24 cups at 25 cents per cup

borax:  4.5 lbs for 2.00, 9 cups at 22 cents per cup

Biokleen:  1600 loads for 50.10, 3 cents per load

bar soap:  3.00

Total cost:  $3.83 for 32 loads…or about 12 cents per load!  And, something that I really like is that I’m reusing my soap containers and not contributing to more waste.

I hope that this recipe blesses you and your family!

Do you have a frugal idea that has worked for your family?  I’d love to hear it!

A Holy Experience…

This past week I was introduced to a blog that is simply amazing.  Each time that I have read anything from her site I have gotten tears in my eyes.  The author has this amazing ability to express spiritual truths in a way that I can understand and learn from.  So far I have read A Place For Everything and How We Homeschool, and have watched a youtube video posted on her site entitled Creation Calls-Are You Listening. My next read will be What A Mother Must Sacrifice.  I would encourage anyone who has a few moments on their hands-a Sunday afternoon, a half hour late at night after the children are in bed and the wet clothes started in the dryer, a surprising early morning snatch when you are up with the robins-to check out Ann Voskamp’s blog.  I think you will be blessed!! *Note:  while looking through her blog to find the links to the above posts, I read a few more!   Amazing, amazing!  I just learned that mothering is not about perfection, but about being committed and humble, and that parenting is not our highest calling-serving the Lord is!  Whenever I am delving into her site I find myself exclaiming “Wow” quietly to myself.*  That’s all for now, I have more reading to do….Wow.

Natural sparkling clean dishes for 2.5 cents per load!

I got a recipe from Passionate Homemaking for homemade dishwasher soap,  and I tweaked it to work for what I already had on hand, and I am so excited because it really works! Here’s the recipe:

1/2 cup Dr. Bronner’s Sal Suds (for which I substituted Biokleen All-Purpose Cleaner)

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup white vinegar

1 teaspoon lemon juice

3 drops tea tree oil

Mix ingredients together.  Store in a jar with a lid.  Use 1 Tablespoon per dishwasher load.

Here’s a pic of the finished product and the ingredients that went into making it:  (I made a half batch to start with in case it didn’t work , the full recipe will need a larger jar.)

We bought a gallon of Biokleen from Azure for $15.50.  Dr. Bronner’s Sal Suds is supposed to work too, you can read the original post from passionate homemaking here.  But, apparently Dr. Bronner’s supports some things and has ideas about things that make it desirable to find alternative products, and it happens to be that the alternative product that we found, Biokleen All Purpose, is half the cost of Sal Suds!  Woo-Hoo!!  So, if we estimate that a gallon of white vinegar and the small amounts of tea tree oil and lemon juice cost $4.50 together, then each recipe of this soap costs only 62 cents, and that’s for 24 loads!!  Wow!!!  I was purchasing special natural dishwasher soap for $7.69 for 25 loads.  What a difference in price!  I have used this twice now with perfectly pleasing results each time.  (I do have an older dishwasher that I need to rinse the dishes pretty well, even if I’m using regular store bought soap, but  if a person had to use 2 tablespoons per load, that’s still only $1.24 for 24 loads!) 

Do you have anything that you have tried that really works and makes a difference financially?  I’d love to hear about it!

The most delicious fudge…

I like fudge anyway, but this fudge…easy to make, smooth and creamy, and with healthy ingredients is my new favorite food.  So delicious, in fact, that I’m even writing a blog about it!  I was going to take a picture for the blog, but forgot and ate it already.  Ooops! (It’s that good!)  You know, just like the Lay’s Potato Chip advertisement…you can’t eat just one…  It’s guilt free (mostly ) because of  the nourishing ingredients. You’ll find the recipe here at the nourishing gourmet.com.  A truly fabulous resource for nourishing recipes.  Many of them are also lactose free, a great plus if you have an allergy.  (I have also tried her healthy cake frosting recipe which turned out very well and will be my standard frosting recipe now, and her chocolate coconut milk ice cream, a very delicious dairy-free treat! )  Her site also lists the reasons why coconut oil is so nutritious.  You can find that info here.

The fudge recipe calls for cocoa powder, virgin coconut oil and coconut/palm sugar, but at my house we just use honey or agave syrup in place of the sugar-it’s cheaper and extra smooth.  We also use a bit less cocoa powder…the full 1/2 cup makes the fudge taste like dark chocolate (which, of course, if you like dark chocolate you wouldn’t want to change). We also make a similiar, delicious peanut butter fudge:  equal parts of peanut butter, coconut oil, and honey or agave syrup mixed together and put into the fridge. Yum!

Are you new to natural/and or organic eating and don’t know where to get these items?  All of the items can usually be purchased at a major grocery store in the natural aisles, but, I have found (thanks to my great sister-in-law!)  that buying in bulk from Azure Standard and/or Vitacost.com (and Costco!) is the way to go.  But that will be a future blog post. The coconut oil I buy is unrefined, organic, and smells and tastes heavenly.  Here’s a pic of it. 

The oil is cheapest at Vitacost unless Azure is having a sale.

Looks like I need to get some more!   (I’ve been eating too much fudge…and popcorn!  1/4 cup coconut oil, 2/3 cups unpopped popcorn kernels, put it in a large pan with a lid and shake over medium heat until popping slows to 2-3 seconds inbetween pops, add some melted butter and salt to taste…the best popcorn I’ve ever had…add 1/4 sugar when the first kernel pops and you’ve got kettle corn! mmmm…mmmm…good…)

I think I’ll stop blogging now and fix a snack.

So, we got chickens…

After my sister-in-law and I decided to menu plan together and we realized that we would need 5 dozen eggs per week to sustain our two families, we took the plunge and got chickens!  It has been fun and rewarding already and not as much work as I would have thought.  (Of course, my brother-in-law, who built the nesting boxes, and roosts, and insulated the coop from the cold Alaskan winters and enclosed their yard in wire to keep out birds of prey might have a different opinion!  Thank you Kip! ) Now we are eagerly awaiting the first treasure to be plucked from it’s cozy bed of straw.  We should be getting eggs in about a month or so from either our Australorps

or our Black Sexed Links,which are a few weeks older than our Barred Rocksand our Rhode Island Reds.

I’ll let you know when our first egg arrives!