Showing posts with label Saltbush Flats. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Saltbush Flats. Show all posts

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Producer or Consumer?

Do we produce more than we consume?

There was a time when most Americans produced most of what they needed and used.  They grew crops, raised chickens, had a milk cow, and developed a skill or handicraft that was useful at home and provided supplemental income.  They were producers.

Today most Americans work for someone else or live on the government dole.  They have no garden, no milk cow, no skill or handicraft for additional income.  They produce nothing for their own needs.  Every thing they have money has bought.  They are consumers. 

But there is a group of people like you and me that are retracing our steps, going back to a lifestyle of producers.  We have a farm, a ranch, or a homestead.  We value work, thrift, and self-respect.  For in these qualities we find our self-reliance, our independence.

The materialism of the consumer lifestyle holds no fascination for us.  We appreciate true simplicity.  Found in this simplicity are the things most valued - life, family, faith, honesty, goodness, and decency. 

We plunge forward through each day giving it our all, for we know what makes us who we are, and we have never been more satisfied.







This post shared at:  
Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways     Simple Lives Thursday #161     The HomeAcre Hop

Thursday, August 8, 2013

These Plants Welcomed Us to Saltbush Flats



Field Bindweed
Field Bindweed
Cactus

Dill

Russian Olive
Elm

Rose
Rose


Fourwing Saltbush
Unknown

Lavender



Thursday, August 1, 2013

Beautiful Double Rainbow


 At 6:15 this morning, the view looked like this.

A beautiful double rainbow.  What a perfect way to begin our day here at Saltbush Flats.


Friday, July 26, 2013

Just What Is a Saltbush Anyway?

We are blessed with fourwing saltbush on our ranchlet.
This plant has many names.  Rancher Roy calls it chamisa.  
It is also called white greasewood, saltsage, fourwing shadscale, and bushy atriplex.

Saltbush is an excellent forage food for cattle, antelope, elk, and other wildlife.  It is a highly nutritious source of food all year long, comparable to alfalfa.

Saltbush is a native drought tolerant plant, just perfect for this high and dry area we call home.  Elevation 6209 feet.


This post is part of the following blog hops
An Oregon Cottage Garden Party Highlights

Friday, July 19, 2013

Welcome to Saltbush Flats!

          We have high hopes and dreams for our little piece of New Mexico paradise!  We would like to chronicle our adventures and misadventures along the way to making something productive out of this wannabe ranchlet.  We hope you enjoy the journey also as we push forward through the dust and wind.

          One day our ranchlet will support a gray water system, orchard, chickens, large canning vegetable garden, small kitchen and herb garden, and a dairy cow!  We would like to share our produce, herbs, and eggs at local farmers markets.

Back yard.  Flat.  Open.  Windy.

          Our goal is to become more self-reliant by growing or producing most of our food and living a simple yet fulfilling life.  We look forward to the blessings and joy along the way.