Thanks for the inspiration Candice!

I started several years ago with a couple potted tomato plants. Every couple months my wife and I try something new – like planting a fruit tree, or learning to make butter. Eventually it adds up to a large skill set.

I bake every loaf of bread (basic sandwich, baguettes, pita, tortillas, focaccia, pizza, and many others). We make nearly all our food from scratch, including ice cream. Right now, we have five fruit trees and a grape vine. I lined part of our fence with raspberry, blueberry, and blackberry bushes. We grow herbs and vegetables inside and outside. We compost all our kitchen scraps and then feed it to our garden.

It doesn’t seem like a lot, until I look back and realize how much we have learned.

Our first child is due in less than a month – which bring all sorts of new considerations. Cloth diapers? Making our own baby food? Handmade toys? My wife has been knitting baby clothes. I am building furniture for the baby’s room – two years ago I didn’t even own a saw.

And yes, we still travel when we feel like it.

In short, pick one new skill and try it out. Repeat.

Nice work, Candice. I hadn’t heard of this (at least the Urban Homesteading manifestation).