News Flash!!

The Kansas Milkmaid goes off … er …

Some of you will say I went off-the-deep-end.

Here’s the scoop:  The Kansas Milkmaid goes off-the-grid.

No!  Not all at once.  Remember where I come from.  I am a former city girl, career woman deluxe.  It takes time and steps to go back in time as I described in my last post.

Yesterday, I met with my plain friends and completed my research on wood cookstoves. After examining two different models in use in their homes, I decided to purchase the Pioneer Princess. The local purchase enables me to pick up my stove Monday. My local purchase bonus meant no shipping charges either.  My friends needed to clear out their building for produce storage. So, I managed to get a large discount on this brandnew stove. I will not be able to use it until I return to the land.  For the time being, the Princess will remain in storage.

The purchase of this stove has several ramifications. Specifically, I anticipate spending time on the farm immediately cutting firewood and splitting it before fall. Now is a good time as the bloodsuckers are just starting to make their appearance.  (No, I don’t mean the politicians.  I promise, I won’t rant about yesterday’s election results.  But, I will say: if Obama can get elected, we should not think more highly than we ought of those who achieve public office.  Okay, enough of the soapbox.  Ticks.   I meant Missouri ticks are starting to appear.  They make Kansas ticks look like mammoths.  These are microscopic bloodsuckers.)  I will also need to practice cooking on the stove to get some ideas of how to use it. My hope is to cook with some of my friends to get such experience.

This stove heats one family’s roomy two story house for most of the winter. When temperature drops into the teens and below, they use an additional backup woodstove. The stove is not fancy, but plain.  My aim is to use primarily wood cookstoves when I move to the farm. My stove’s dual purpose proves to be a marvelous way to heat and cook for the winter months. However, during 100 degree weather it is not optimal. As a result, I may move the stove to a “summer kitchen.”  In the summer, I can then cook food and return to the home without the intense heat of the cookstove.

After much prayer and petitioning the Lord, my children and I are determined to go off-the-grid. We plan to use non-electric options for high-power-consumption appliances. And for items that use minimal electric (e.g. computer), we will generate electric using solar panels. To further reduce costs, we plan to utilize self-composting toilets, and collect rainwater into a cistern.  The added benefit will be that when the grid goes down, we will continue as usual.  (Nearly two weeks without power during December 2007 made me keenly aware of how overdependent I had become on a fragile modern power infrastructure.)

This is a drastic lifestyle change. We are blessed to have plain friends who live this lifestyle every day. They are eager and willing to train us. We also cannot change instantly, so we are practicing aspects of our lifestyle change now.

I look forward to sharing our new journey with readers as we seek to move back in time and put the “life” back in the simple in simple living. Stay tuned for more articles about my new manual washing machine, reducing water usage, life with a self-composting toilet, and converting to natural light and lanterns.

Udderly His,

The Kansas Milkmaid