Preparing to Become Self Sufficient - Free Seeds!!!

 

 

I currently live with my in-laws, so being self-sufficient is totally out of the question, for today.  Every day I would watch YouTube videos on other people living my dream… You know: where they have the land, have the animals, have the solar, have the garden, etc.  I was making myself so very sad.  I kept feeling like “I’m never going to get there.”  I was really becoming unbearable to live with really – I was moody and snappy and just plain unpleasant.  Then one day I really jumped all over my husband for no reason at all.  Afterwards I sat for quite a while trying to figure out what was wrong with me – this was so unlike me.  I figured out it was because I was so unhappy about not having my dream. 

 

I also realized that the more I dwelt on what I didn’t have and what I wasn’t doing the meaner I was.  So I got mad at myself and said, “Self!  Knock it off!  This is a “have to”.  You have to be here so just suck it up and get over it.”  So… I sulked for another day – just because I’m stubborn like that, and was in a sour mood when I started my nightly routine of watching homesteading YouTube videos. 

 

As I was watching, I kept asking myself what can I do now and here to get where I want to be – what can I do?  I was watching a video about starting trees from cuttings from one of my favorite subscriptions:  Survival HT (How To Root Tree Cuttings https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCo0jPSn4Dw). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, I thought, when I get my property I will want trees and a garden first thing, I have no money now to buy them to start preparing that way and it will help us out financially to not have to purchase trees or seeds when we get there. 

 

So I searched on YouTube, “free tree cuttings seeds”…  I found this video:  Where & How to Get FREE fruit tree cuttings (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rXRbmacmIQ).  She had just got a box of tree cuttings in the mail – well I thought I will do the same thing! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This triggered something in me to go berserk… when I started I could not stop!  I had to have sent off 50 or more emails to the place she said she got her tree cuttings from.  (It was really hard to understand what she said – but down in the comments it is mentioned, and there are lots of extension offices to contact – LOTS!).  That was the first night and the next day.

 

Then I thought – maybe seed companies might have outdated seeds or damaged seed packets – so I googled “seed companies” and went to about 50 to 75 seed company sites and got their general mailbox email and shot them all an email asking them for free seeds. This I did over two days.  But emails were coming back from other places – some directing me to the correct dept., or telling me they didn’t do that, etc., but some asking for my address so they could send me seeds!!!  This only fueled the fire!

 

I then started googling my local area for garden clubs, seed libraries and gardening forums and posting to their sites that I was looking for free seeds if anyone had any extra or outdated seeds or tree cuttings.  Out of the about 15 posts I did – three people emailed me back – I sent two of the people self-addressed stamped envelopes for them to mail me seeds and the other person is local and doing some trimming of his nut trees and will call me when I can come and pick them up!

 

I feel like I am finally working towards my goal – like I’m doing something – and not just sitting here.  I feel I have accomplished something to get me closer to my goal.  (And I must add – I’m quite a bit nicer to my husband now – lol.)  You can start preparing today too - no matter in what stage you are at.  Think hard about what you need when you get to where you want to be and start gathering now.  I've started searching craigslist.org for canning jars.  I have found 64 canning jars plus 3 water bath pans all for $40!!!  So be smart, and safe (especially when dealing with craigslist) and get started!

 

Tomorrow I am going to grab some pruning shears and start getting cuttings from trees and bushes here in the creek in front of my in-law’s property.  There are many different varieties of trees, but also mulberry bushes, black berry bushes and wild grape vines.  I will either start these all in pots to move when we go – but most likely not.  I am thinking I can store them in plastic zipper bags with a damp paper towel around them and put them in the bottom darkest part of the refrigerator.   Supposedly they will store dormant this way for up to six months.  There is also an apple tree orchard nearby that I will take a drive to and see if they will let me have some cuttings from their trees.

 

If I’m wrong about the storage of the cuttings or if you have a better method of long-term storage for cuttings – drop me a note.  I definitely need and welcome the advice!

 

When I get my seeds I will post a video to my channel - so keep checking to see if it's posted.

 

My First Free Seeds Arrived Today!!!

(8/26/15)

 

Today in the mail - guess what I got... Yep!  My first free seeds!!!  It was from a post I made on a seed exchange website.  All I had to do was mail him a self-addressed stamped envelope and he mailed me all these seeds:

 

Sparkler White Radish seeds

 

Rhubarb seeds

 

Red Russian Kale seeds

 

Hot Pepper seeds

 

Hybrid Cherry Tomato seeds

 

Cantaloupe seeds

 

Acorn Squash seeds

 

Unknown  Squash seeds

 

Unknown seeds

 

Sunflower seeds

 

Detroit Dock Red Beet seeds

 

Carrot seeds (short type)

 

Parsnip seeds

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More FREE Seeds!!!!

(8/29/2015)

 

These seeds are from Grimes Horticulture.  I believe their distributor is Sakata.  I SO hope I emailed the right person to thank them for this wonderful box packed full of seeds!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                            There are 41 packages of seeds!  

 

 

 

Tomato seeds - 18 varieties

 

Pumpkin seeds

 

Squash seeds - 3 varieties

 

Garlic chive seeds - 2 varieties

 

Mustard seeds

 

Oregano seeds

 

Watermelon seeds - 3 varieties

 

Sweet corn seeds

 

Pepper seeds - 7 varieities

 

Cantaloupe seeds

 

Cabbage seeds - 2 varieties

 

Okra seeds

 

 

My only concern is not thanking the correct person.  There was no letter or information inside the box - only the shipping lable, and I didn't have any emails from Grimes Horticulture.  So I googled it and found that Sakata was a distributor for Grimes and I did have an email from a man at Sakata.  I sent a thank you to him, crossing my fingers that it was him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh this is so fun!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Seeds Keep Coming!

(9/17/2015)

 

 

I am absolutely floored by the positive response that I have received from all the seed companies I emailed!  I keep getting free seeds in the mail! And it has been about a month since my first seeds were received.  When I was sending emails out to all those seed companies I had no idea I would get the response that I did - especially from big seed companies - that’s why I sent out so many (thinking I might get two or three positive replies)... I am so absolutely overwhelmed with gratitude by their generosity and positive responses.  Honestly, I’m flabbergasted.

 

Sorting and organizing my seeds has become my new favorite past time - lol... My husband is getting quit perturbed with my new seed fetish because I always have to have my boxes (yes I said boxes!!) of seeds next to me on the bed... lol.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At first I was keeping them all in a box I received from one of the companies - but that became too small - very fast.  I found a larger box that I had saved that had dividers in it - just the perfect height.  I have alphabetized them (yes - I’m OCD like that - lol) and when I go through them I envision the incredibly HUGE garden I am going to have!  I had to expand to two boxes now... one is my alphabetized packets and the other is the larger packages and bags of the larger seeds:  corn, pumpkin and bean seeds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am feeling, finally, that I am doing something towards preparing for my self-sufficient lifestyle...

 

One other thing I wanted to add - I have started collecting canning jars.  I got this idea from Starry Hilder - she is one of my favorite YouTube channels - and one of her videos called:  Debt Free Slave Free: Getting Off the Grid with Your Purchases (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peFM5ZMIl-E)  talks about making smart purchases.  And one example she used was either purchasing a 12 pack of sodas or a case of canning jars.  How smart is that!?  My husband is a soda-holic, he has to have sodas.  Me - I can't drink sodas - they make me ill - so I just sit there and watch him drink his sodas.  And I've always felt somewhat left out because he got to spend money on a treat and I didn’t... (I know childish - but that's just me).

 

Then after watching that video it sparked a brilliant idea!  I told my husband that it wasn’t fair that we blew money on his sodas and I didn’t get anything too - so every time he bought him sodas I got to buy me a case of canning jars!  And I didn't just stop there - because he always has to stop as we are driving around and get him a fountain soda from the gas station I told him that for every dollar he spent he had to give me a dollar.  I call these my hobo dollars. 

 

My husband absolutely has a fit any time I give money to those people that stand on the side of the road with the cardboard sign asking for money.  He says they are richer than us etc., but I can't think that way - we are told in the scriptures to not hold back what we have from those that ask.  And who am I to judge - only our Lord in Heaven can do that.  Sooooo! I now have my own hobo dollars! (please forgive me for being so politically incorrect - but I just love the sound of that.)

 

Please go check out Starry Hilder's videos - they are just packed full of all kinds of good advice - and the best thing about her videos is - she sometimes starts them off - but always ends them with a bible verse - I just love that!

 

Thanks for reading and have a blessed day!  (Don’t forget to thank your Father in Heaven for this gift of a day.)