Who's Gonna Be First?

Polly? Due date February 21.

Or

Daphne? Due date Feb. 23.

To find out, click here.

Who's Gonna Be First? © Feb. 2016 by Leigh 

at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

Trailersteading: Book Review & Giveaway!

I'm a huge Anna Hess fan. Not only of her blog (The Walden Effect) but her books too. They are good additions to my homesteading library shelves. I like her writing style, information, and voice of experience. Her books are invaluable to both beginning and experienced homesteaders, and with every one I read, I learn a lot. Her newest book is a winner on all counts.

Trailersteading: How to Find, Buy, Retrofit, and Live Large in a Mobile Home. This book is exciting to me because it falls into the much needed category that I call "homesteading for the rest of us." I say that because I've read a number of how-to books on homesteading that left me more discouraged than encouraged. I would put the book down and think, "There's no way we can ever afford to do all that." This book is for those who yearn to homestead but don't think they have the savings or income to make it happen.

The book is divided into sections and chapters:

• Introduction: Why live in a trailer?, What is a mobile home?
• Mobile homes as tiny houses: The tiny house movement, How small is too small?, Realities of life in a tiny house, etc.
• Disadvantages of trailer homesteading: Why we don't all live in trailers, No basement, Depreciation and permanence, Aesthetics, Zoning, etc. 
• Finding and moving to the land: The ugly-duckling property, Moving and installing a trailer, etc.
• Remodeling a trailer: Trailer overhauls, DIY insulated skirting, Adding a pitched roof to a mobile home, etc.
• Heating and cooling a mobile home: Is energy use a trailer's Achilles heel?, Low- and no-cost heating and cooling options, Scarlet runner beans and permaculture tacos, etc.
• Around the trailerstead: Rain barrels, Greywater wetland, Experiments with humanure, etc.
• Lessons learned on the trailerstead

Case studies throughout the book share real-life experiences of those who are fulfilling their dreams to homestead comfortably and affordably by living in trailers and mobile homes.

At 216 pages, Trailersteading is book 2 in Anna's Modern Simplicity series. It is available in both paperback (list price $14.99) or Kindle edition ($5.99), BUT! I have a paperback copy that I'm going to give away for free! All you have to do is leave a comment and you're entered! Simple as that.

Honestly? This is an option that Dan and I seriously considered. If we hadn't gotten such a great deal on our current home and property, we would likely be one of the testimonials to trailersteading. And sometimes we wish we'd gone that route, because we often think that the time, energy, and money it takes to DIY an old fixer-upper like ours could be better spent on other areas of the homestead and fulfilling our dream of self-sufficiency.

I'll announce the giveaway winner on Sunday, February 28th.

Trailersteading: Book Review & Giveaway! © Feb.

2016 by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

Winter Salad

Spinach, broccoli, grated goat cheese, and dried
cranberries. Olive oil & balsamic vinegar dressing.

Served with scalloped potatoes and ham. A wonderful winter meal.

Winter Salad © February 2016 by Leigh

at http://www.5acresandadream.com/