There are so many options out there these days. Whether you are looking for rewilding, Wilderness survival, Homesteading, How to survive the apocalypse, experimental archaeology, or whatever. You can choose a 4 hour class, a 1 day workshop, a long weekend, a week, or you can do a year, or a season. I have taken lots of several hour to 1 day classes. I have gotten quite a bit out of each of them. However, Every single class that I have taken that was hours long, I had to go back and relearn the skill later. The classes that I have gotten the most out of are the ones that were months long. Think college. If you take 1 class you can say you went to college, but to get the benefit of the education you have to go for 4 or 6 or 8 years. This is so, because…

Raise your hand if you’ve ever been there. I know I have. That moment when you think, “wow, I know I trained for a completely different career but wouldn’t it be great to just be out in the shop building furniture all day, every day.”

The truth is, as much as we hate to admit it, that’s never going to be economically viable for most of us. Vic Tesolin offers some great thoughts on the subject in the End Grain column of the current issue of Popular Woodworking, and what he wrote hasbeen on my mind all week. The short version is that he supposes there is a lot of fulfillment to be had in woodworking as a hobby that becomes elusive when it’s a job.

For me, even though the line between woodworking as hobby and source of income has been increasingly blurred over the last few months…

Victory Garden

“The first supermarket appeared on the American landscape in 1946.  Until then, where was all the food?… It was in homes, gardens, local fields, and forests.  It was in the pantry, the cellar, the backyard.” – Joel Salatin

Like many Americans, you have come to homesteading to be able to provide for your family, friends and community in the way that you see fit.  The last time so many Americans felt the way you feel now was during World War II.  During the Second World War, many of us had a victory garden and raised poultry because foods were either being rationed or were not available.  The systems which are now the backbone of the United States’ economy seem to be growing quite weary and failing in some respects.  So much instability creates a great unease.  Homesteading, on the other hand, creates security for you, your family, friends…

Getting back to our theme of traveler’s, caravans, and other wanderers of the world… a few images from Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret a French Naturalist Painter of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

“Dans la forêt-Musée des beaux-arts de Nancy.”

I believe I would enjoy siting around this campfire.

“Chevaux à l’abreuvoir.”

Once a common scene, now virtually lost in an era of loud, fume-belching machinery.

“Gypsy Scene.”

A peaceful morning cooking breakfast in the morning dew.  The caravan is obscured by the smoke of the campfire.

Ricotta is the easiest cheese to make — hands-down.  You can use all lemon juice or all vinegar.  If you use all lemon juice, it will have a lovely fruity flavor and will yield very soft curds.  If you use all vinegar, you will have a tangy flavor and will yield firmer curds.  I like combining the two.

2 quarts Whole Milk

2 tbsp Lemon Juice

1 tbsp Vinegar

1 tsp Sea Salt

In a 4 quart saucepan, mix all of the ingredients together.  Put over a low heat and watch it, stirring occasionally.  Bring to a boil, stirring frequently to ensure it doesn’t boil over for another minute.  Pull the saucepan off the heat.  The milk will be curdled.  Place a flour sack towel over a fine mesh strainer and place over a bowl.  Pour the milk mixture into the strainer.  Let the cheese drain for an hour or…