For the last week, our motorhome has been parked at the 1 Full House Homestead. We spent the new year with the family. Ananda, Xander, and their three boys Elijah, Jordan, and Michael. They have a some big plans for their homestead in 2016, including raising meat chickens, growing more food, and quite possible getting some goats. I came across Xanders secret skill of building awesome chicken box feeders from wood, called Cluck’N Feeders, while I was there. I am looking forward to helping them grow their little community.
I met the 1 Full House Homestead family at the first year of the Jackalope Freedom Festival back in 2012. It was only once a year our families hung out, but now that our lifestyle has changed, so have our opprotunites.
We welcomed in the new year by tending the garden, and planting some winter cabbages. Ananda also taught me about Luffa’s, and how they are grown, dried, and used to clean anything. I use them for my dishes, and my body. She is also thinking about adding soap to them, to create a soapy sponge for your body. She already makes many balms and ointments and you can get some from her if you ask nicely. Ananda’s Apothecary is a work in progress, but she already has product.
Xander builds these awesome little chicken houses and chicken box feeders, made out of wood. They are the ones the chicken stands on to open, and it closes after they leave. Pretty neat little inventions. I love seeing DIY items in the backyards of homesteads. If you are interested in one, you’ll have to contact them on Facebook. The chicken box feeder is exactly what your chickens want. There aren’t any plans for his personalized design, but if you can’t wait, I am sure you can find something online. I think in my future, I will collaborate with Xander on these, just so I can have one or two of my own.
The 1 Full House Homestead is working to free themselves from the “American Dream”. Sad that’s how it is now a days. Living in the Valley, it isn’t easy to do that. Not with an overhead, mortgage payment or rent. On top of that, utilities, gas and the never ending life you waste at red lights. For now they are choosing to bug in.
Our plan is to help them progress their homestead, by beefing up the crops, and by building them a fence for the meat chickens they will be getting in a week or two. Come March, we will be back to help butcher.
Ananda also hosts the Desert Gardeners Marketplace group on Facebook, and she occasionally hosts a Market Garden from her yard, that she invites others to join.I setup my market with them a few weeks ago, and was able to make some trades for food. It was pretty cool, and the homegrown food was priceless.
My goal of a decentralized life is now closer. A life where I can work with multiple homesteads, harvesting, trading, and networking. All while living free in our home, that is already paid for, through work trade.
