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Thursday, January 07, 2010

Feels like -15F

Feels like a tingly numb to me.

Skin exposure outside is dangerous right now. Everybody is bundled tight because we have to go outside. Wichita has a balmy 7F, here at the Neophyte Homestead we are at 2F. The floor is cold, and yes I am wearing socks.

I had an interesting question yesterday, I was asked if I was seeing an increase in people coming over (blogs) that were worried about the 2012 predictions. I answered it truthfully as I perceived it, but it did get me wondering, why have so many people sought me out.

Many people find me through google, my butcher posts are the most clicked on links. Some of you have come over from other's blogs, while some have found me through newspapers (ezines)


So I was wondering if you could enlighten me, as I said this question got me pondering. I know some of you have been here since the beginning, and some just for a very long time and you stay because of my looks and money, but what of the rest of you? If you don't mind me asking.

What got you looking for Homesteading or Prepper blogs? (If you feel like you will be teased for your answer, I will punish the bullies swiftly and efficiently, or go ahead and leave an anonymous comment)

37 comments:

Donna said...

I basically started reading homesteading blogs to see how people did it,and to get ideas. We just want to do more things for ourselves! I don't lose sleep over 2012,just as I didn't lose sleep over 1986,2000......and all the other years that were suppose to be the end of the world,or when things were suppose to go awry. 2012 will come and go,just like any other year.

Donna. W said...

I'm not sure how I got here... probably from clicking a link on somebody else's blog.

Unknown said...

I have always been interested in homesteading for quite a few years now so am always looking for homesteading blogs, not sure how I came across yours. As far as 2012 goes, I do not worry about it, I live for today not worry about tomorrow.

Yart said...

When the school told me they thought one of my monsters was ADD and wanted me to put her on meds. I said no and went looking for an alternative. I found that a lot of kids that have been diagnosed with ADD really just had a food allergy. Well, that got me thinking. So we started taking away things from her diet (which was hard because she is very picky). We found that when she ate foods that didn't have HF corn syrup she seemed calmer. So I started cooking from scratch and stopped going to McD's and the like. She is much improved and we are continuing our healthy lifestyle, because we fell better.

Homesteading was just the next step in the evolution that is our family. Since the food had such a major impact then what else in the house was also causing issues. I have been learning all kinds of nasty facts and in turn have been slowing weaning us off of a lot of products that we use to use. Now don't get me wrong.... We are only about 50% but it better then the zero % we were at 3 years ago.

As far as 2012, I see it as a time of change. What type is beyond me. But I do know that my family will be taken care in any event because of the things that I have learned from blogs like yours.

Sorry didn't mean to write a novella.... LOL!

Phelan said...

Thank you Donna. I was merely interested in knowing why people look for homesteading blogs, rather then where they came from. Everybody is different, and has different reasons why they seek out such blogs, and I am just curious.

I seek them out because I want to get to know more people like me, and see how they do the things I am doing.

SkippyMom said...

This is a good question - I seem to remember googling "homesteading" one day because I heard the term on TV and thought "Oh, that's what they are calling it these days" - when, in fact my family on my paternal side had lived this way for centuries, up until my generation.

I was curious. Then I stayed [and put you on my blog roll] because I like your writing style [honest, nothing held back] and your life is darn interesting.

I think the butchering posts are awesome, but I skip 'em because they aren't a necessity in my life and I am a wee bit squeamish [although I grew up helping with the chickens and pigs on Grandma's farm]

What is this 2012 prediction? Can you link it? I love theories.

Phelan said...

Sure thing, The Mayan Calander ends in Dec. of 2012

you can read the theories on the official website ~giggle~ here.

http://www.december212012.com/articles/mayan/2012-The_Mayans_and_Other_Strange_Predictions_of_Our_Time.htm

Happy Hermit (happilyhiddenhermit@gmail.com) said...

I think i goggled survivalist mommy milk - odd , but I am a hard core worrier , and was pregnant with my second child , then I hung around because we are a lot alike.

I took to homesteading because I want to always be able to provide for my children.

Meadowlark said...

I'm really just here for the goat and butt picture in the header. :)

It's been forever, but I think it was less "survival" and more "sustainable" that led me here.

Glad I am. Even though I don't comment much, I do enjoy reading your words.

Peace to you, my friend.

Carol Anne said...

I think I started reading you during a blog-a-thon and just kept reading.

I always liked reading biographies and autobiographies because I'm fascinated by other people's life stories. Blogs are a natural and always updating continuation of bios.

Anna Marie said...

I read you because I like hearing about what other people are doing, and how things work or don't work for them. I came more for the farming than survivalism, and I stay because I like the way you write. What you write is meaningful, and gets the point across with out writing a book. You are honest, and you share good and bad, which I think is important.

Stephanie in AR said...

I found you the side bar at Coffee with the Hermit - him through a comment somewhere, prolly Mayberry. I've always been interested in pioneering/homesteading and being a sahm with a large family always budget conscience. I like reading people who are doing in similiar situations because there's always something new to learn. And it helps to know that silly, gross, painful, happy stuff happens to other people too. Maybe it wasn't me...it really was those darn chickens...

Stephanie in AR said...

Oh and for the rest of the question - I'd have never considered searching prepping *ever* I just considered having a full pantry & taking care of yourself & family part of being responsible & homesteading. How are you going to raise enough of anything if you don't know amounts ect? But the worlds of homesteading, prepping, simplicity, diy and frugality have a nice overlap in the middle. So I found the preppers. They are an interesting group coming from different areas too & a good read & learning.

chili369 said...

Looking to SLOW down in life. Everyone wants things done yesterday. Kids have graduated. Have cash to buy land, (If I can ever find any in KY.) Want to take a step back and ENJOY life, not go through it so fast you miss many things.

Anne M. said...

What originally got me started looking online for homesteading stuff was working through all the books in the adult section of a VERY small local library. I checked out and read one of the Backwoods Home anthologies - WOW! It opened my eyes to the terms I needed to do proper searches online.

It wasn't until the past couple of months that I seen on a site about food storage the term "prepper" and that opened my eyes to a whole new set of great resources, including APN. Initially I just read there and my state prepper blog. More than a couple of your post there made me really like what you had to say and how you said it, so I came over here too =)

Anonymous said...

For me it started as a mere curiousity about homesteading. But the reaosn I keep coming back to your blog has nothing to do with homesteading.

It's the honestly of your writing. It's identifying with the thousand mile hill that needs to be climbed no matter what the obstacle. It's the heartbreak of simple mistakes. It's the joy of the under dog winning.

Simply put: It's about you, not the cows.

Irma said...

I am a looooong time reaer, so not the type of person to whom your question was addressed, but I came here (I forget HOW I got here) because I wanted to learn a simpler way, a PURER way, of taking care of my family and my surroundings.

Wendy said...

You weren't a "prepper" when I started reading your blog. Of course, neither was I, back then :). In fact, I think the term "prepper" is still relatively new.

I'm pretty sure I started reading your blog in the beginning, because I was looking for guidance in my own homesteading endeavors.

And I have continued to read homesteading and prepper blogs because it's nice to know that my goals aren't so crazy. You know? It's the whole wanting external validation for my lifestyle choices ;).

Matriarchy said...

I started gardening, then cooking from scratch more. Then I wanted to can. Somehow found Sharon Astyk's blog and learned about Peak Oil. I started considering us preppers and looked for more prepper blogs to read.

FitWellRD said...

I've always liked making things at home. My grandfather taught himself to make furniture, my grandmother was a self-taught cook. I learned to knit when I was very young...we didn't have a lot of money so we made Christmas presents. As I got older I "followed the money" as they say...into a career I hated because it just didn't hold meaning for me. So, after I got married I returned to school, and discovered we both preferred a simpler type of life. In the last few years we've gone from eating out most days of the week, to less than once a week, minimized purchases to only things we need, and managed to save enough to buy a house with an acre and a half in the country. This year we will be starting our first garden and small orchard. I'm grateful for the information I've found on homesteading blogs like this, which gave me the information/courage to get where we're at.

Jederah said...

I was on the "It's Not Easy Being Green" forum and I was looking for people stateside and there was a post about trailers and one of those lovelies had sent me your way. Why do I stick around? Because though we are not close at all I consider you a sister in arms. We want the same things. You are doing things that I only dream about (your homestead, animal husbandry, being a mother)and you are brutally honest above all.

Katie Z. said...

I went looking for ideas of how other people are preppers/homesteaders. In our neck of the woods, we don't know many, so I often felt like I was crazy, and it was nice to be reminded that there are others out there!

Phelan said...

shucks guys, you're making me blush. I didn't mean me. . . I meant the topic of homesteading or prepping.

But I do thank you all for making my head just a tad fatter.

Monica said...

Now...how is it that you live in Kansas and I have temps as cold as yours. Today 12 (in the warmer part of the city---colder here we know) and 3 with wind chill. I didn't move to kansas and my dogs name IS NOT toto.

Tell your kiddo happy birthday from the south.
Monica

April Bourgois said...

We bought a big chunk of farmland and I don't know jack about farming but it's in my blood. I get weird urges to can or dry food and squirrel away more than I need for "just this week." That's why I seek out blogs...

I love the butchering posts and your sense of humor but I stay because you're not just honest but you don't push a political or religious viewpoint.

kath said...

I've been reading you for a while now. I don't remember how I got here, but I stayed because I'm interested in becoming more self-sufficient. We're in upstate NY on a few acres and I want to make the most of it. Hubby is self-employed and with the economy being what it is, I want to make sure we can take care of our family. I'm not a survivalist, I don't homeschool my kids (my kids are mostly grown anyway), and don't raise my own food, although I do admire anyone who does that. I would love to get some chickens and plant a garden (which I tried to do, but first the deer got to it and then after we fenced it all in, a woodchuck dug a few pretty deep holes and had a feast on it this year). Anyway, I'm always on the lookout for hints and tips, and I'm curious to read about your adventures. Maybe it will give me the confidence to do more.
As for 2012, like everyone else, I survived every other time the world was supposed to end, I'll survive this one too.

Conny said...

I'm certain that I found you by clicking from someone elses blog. It all started earlier last year with coldantlerfarm on blogger and went on from there. I'm still here reading your blog because I think its great.

Looking forward to more reading in 2010 and whatever you choose to write about - be it homesteading or something else. Thanks for such a great blog.

Dan from Arizona said...

I've been interested in homesteading / "preparedness" since I was a grade schooler. Disney movies and Scholastic Books (no idea which ones any more, more's the pity) got me interested in the idea of self-sufficient living, and LDS friends (plus living through a big earthquake) motivated my parents to store food, make emergency plans, and so forth.

By the time the economy went "sproing" in '08, though, about all I had to show for it was my job (I'm a paramedic; took my first EMT class many, many years ago as a "prep", never suspecting I'd end up making a career in EMS) and a bunch of preparedness-related books.

As soon as I realized that, I started prepping again in earnest, including daily visits to various homesteading / survivalist / sustainability blogs. No idea any more which link led me to you ... But your butt and the look on the goat's face DID draw me in, and your writing's made a faithful lurker out of me ever since! :)

A lot of things about our future worry me (peak oil, our pals in Washington, terrorists, the fact that everything's made in China these days ...), but the end of the Mayan calendar cycle in 2012 isn't one of 'em.

'Should have said this a long time ago, but ... Thanks bunches for letting us share your good times and bad, and giving us the benefit of your experiences. Much appreciated! You do good work, Phelan.

Russ said...

I started following your blog a couple months ago while I was still in Iraq. My wife had gotten some goats and I was looking for info on butchering them. I'm basically just going to treat them like a small deer... lol
I grew up in Alaska and homesteading is something I've always been interested in. I bought a small 9 acre farm right before I retired from the Army, outside of Enterprise, Kansas. My goal is to be self sufficient (or have good trading material) and cut the lines and go off the grid by the end of 2011. That's it in a nutshell.

Phelan said...

hahaha! My butt brings them all in.

I tried replacing it once, and oh man! Did I get yelled at by my readers.

Ryan said...

I sort of stumbled onto a couple blogs in the preparedness/ survivalist niche a couple years ago. I had some thought and wanted to say them. The rest is history.

Doing on on the preparedness thing. Hopefully some day not too long from now I will get going on the homestead thing.

Paula said...

Living in an old (1879) stone house on 20 acres near Winfield, with chickens, guineas, horses, and a large garden, we were searching for other "homesteaders" and realized that you are fairly close to us. Also love the "does this goat make my butt look big?" photo!

Phelan said...

We have friends in Winfield. It's a drive for us, we are on the north west side of Wichita, almost out of county.

We use to live in Mulvane, a lot closer.

It's great to see a fellow Kansan around here.

Susan said...

Homesteading! I like to learn how to do things. We live on 25 acres and enjoy doing what we can with it. Keep up the good work!

Kella B said...

i love blogs about simple living, with good advice, and yours seems to be one of the "real" ones. not too cutesy, no pink patchwork backgrounds, (that i've seen). and you really are living what you are writing. you grumble about bills and the weather, your life isnt perfect. you are honest.

Kella B said...

oh and you like bikes lol

Dark Spice said...

When I was 15, I became seriously interested in the kind of life I was reading about in our old issues of Mother Earth News. In Summer of '08 I had read enough how-tos and wanted to hear about real people living the life that I originally only knew as the "Back to the Land" movement. There's only so much you can read about half naked hippies in the 70s before you want to find out about regular people doing it now.

A lucky google search introduced me to the term "homesteading" so I used that word in the blogs section of Google. Your blog was the first result, so naturally I checked it out. It was exactly what I was looking for. I went clear back to your very first post and read them all the way through to the most current one. I've been a faithful reader (lurker?) ever since, with the exception of this year (2010) when we stopped having internet for awhile.

Now I'm catching up on what I missed :)

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