Life Changing Yule Smudge Stick Tutorial

By

Lily Da Vine

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5

My Very First Yule Smudge Stick

Actually to be clear, this is the only herbal yule smudge stick I’ve ever even used. I bought some from an agorist friend but they composted in the package before my friend managed to smuggle them over the border.

The Birth of the Yule Smudge Stick Tutorial

This smudge stick was born from Pinterest, I just saw a beautiful pine, cinnamon and orange smudge stick for yule. The ones I saw were for sale, like 15 dollars each so of course I decided to make my own.

The majority of the ingredients with this were locally harvested or grown by myself. Not sure on the orange and cinnamon itself but those are for sure harvested within the country. Mexico doesn’t import stuff they can grow here, too high of tarriffs on them.

Gathering Materials for the Yule Smudge Stick Adventure

The rosemary and lavender I grew in my garden. I used some juniper twigs with berries attached and some ponderosa pine needles. I got these when I harvested the materials for that wreathe I shared recently.

This is simple for anyone to do. I did it on the 21st to let it dry until the new year which was the perfect amount of time. Then I used it to “cleanse” the property I was living on. I loved the whole process from harvesting the materials, bringing them together and binding them. The smell of all these pungent fresh herbs and spices is INTOXICATING.

I found myself smelling the stick basically every time I walked by it. It smelled like Christmas, only fresher with the lavender and rosemary. The perfect end to the dumpster fire that was 2020.

Don’t want to make your own? Check out this smudge kit from Amazon!

Materials for the Yule Smudge Stick

Fresh Lavender, a couple of sprigs
Fresh rosemary, a few sprigs.
1 stick Mexican cinnamon
Ponderosa Pine Needles
Juniper twigs with juniper berries
Dried orange slices (can be done in the oven or sun depending on your climate. I used sun)
Cotton thread, I used green.

Instructions for the Yule Smudge Stick Tutorial

First gather the materials. You want to forage or pull from an organic garden only. You’re going to burn this and fill your house with the smoke so you want to make sure everything is right. Don’t use nylon based threads, cotton or bamboo is best.

I looked up a tutorial and against my better judgement I wrapped all these up together while they were freshly cut. Just bundled them in a nice way with the orange slices laid on top and started from one end with the string.

I tied a knot around the smudge stick then wrapped it around and around until I reached the other side. I followed the tutorial advice of making it snug but not tight. Then I just tied off, trimmed off the fuzzy bits that were sticking out of the side.

Finishing the Yule Smudge Stick

Let it dry for about a week at least before you light just one end of this. Carry it with the other end to smudge. Most suggest you open windows and doors before doing so. We did so reading an ancient Celtic tradition where before midnight people used to open the door to let out the old year and let in the new year. It just worked out together, realistically.

I’ll be doing this tradition every year and it’s also got me wanting to experiment with things like natural Eucalyptus which grows nearby.

Here’s the inspiration I used for this tutorial!

Self Publishing an Ebook in 3 Months: 10 Things I Wish I Learned BEFORE I Started

By

Lily Da Vine

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0

Writing and Self Publishing My First Ebook in 3 Months? What?

I’ve been meaning to write this post since the day I published but I was burnt out after the 3 month process of writing and self publishing Stitching My Life Back Together, now for sale in the Guru Store as an ebook.

Things happen.

I set the goal originally to do this in one month and actually was on schedule to do so. I made myself a schedule that was easy enough to stick to. Some days I did nothing, other days I’d write 5 chapters so it evened out.

Then the worst thing happened and I managed to delete my chapters, permanently, leaving me to start over on a project I was already burnt out on.

It’s those struggles that birthed this post, one where I share the things I learned during the process of writing and self publishing my first ebook in 3 months.

1) Backup, Backup, Backup

As I mentioned I learned this one the hard way as I managed to delete my book permanently. It’s a long story that ended in me needed to reformat my computer to switch operating systems for a separate reason. I did it and when finishing a chapter the next day I realized my mistake, I’d deleted nearly 30 finished drafts for the book. I looked where I thought I’d backed it up on my harddrive and it was gone.

The ONLY thing that saved me was I had written down the patterns themselves, not the stories before by hand in my notebook when drafting the outline. My solution as I rewrote was to upload every chapter on Google drive as I finished. I never needed to reference them, but I HIGHLY recommend doing it. It takes a minute per chapter at most.

2) Canva is your friend.

I’ve long since talked about the wonders of Canva.com but that’s what I used primarily to make the graphic masterpiece that is my book. Everyone who has purchased my book has remarked on the beautiful, playful but professional format.

3) Start with an outline.

One of the first things I did when writing this was start with an outline. Even if it’s just a random list of ideas to talk about or patterns that’s a start. Before that a book just seems like a confusing abstract concept to write and produce.

4) Be open to deleting or replacing originally intended chapters. Go with the creative flow.

I realized part way through that some of my original designs were better left out of the book to be replaced with more recent, better patterns. After all my crafty journey has been a learning adventure. I didn’t come out of the gate a crochet expert and while I feel I could get there, I don’t consider myself a crochet expert now.

5) Photos, photos, photos.

If what you’re writing about is practical stuff like tutorials take photos of everything you do as you do it. Make it a habit. Now I take photos of the process of everything just so I can have them to share later in patterns and future books. You will thank yourself, I did. There’s more than 300 photos in my book I took myself, or had my life partner take for me with my camera.

6) Self Publishing Win

When the murder (talked about in my book) happened I had a talk with Thaddeus Russell about the best way to sell a book. Getting a deal v self publishing. He told me the difference in how much you get per copy sold between the two.

That convinced me to give this first ebook a self published go and so far it’s been encouraging. I have total control and even making deals with websites to sell it for me I still bring about 85% home of what I make, and that’s common for self published works.

7) How to Build A Store

One thing I had to do while writing this ebook is build The Guru Store it’s sold in. I did so with a few WordPress plugins including Woocommerce and Coinpayments.net for crypto payments. It takes some research and technical knowhow but it can be done. I can also be hired to build online bookstores for other websites, just contact me!

8) Actually, start with a topic.

I know above I said to start with an outline but that’s once you start actually writing. The most important thing is to have a topic, a purpose a reason for writing the book. What problem are you trying to solve? My book was a first attempt at self taught crafting trauma therapy. This should be different than writing an ebook unless you intend to write an ebook about writing an ebook.

9) Marketing is more work than producing the book and it never ends.

This has been the struggle. I even went silent about the book for about a week focused on other projects to give myself a break. It was hard to share my excitement over something that I was at the time feeling oversaturated with.

Sometimes a few day break is needed but in truth, yes, marketing never ends for the self published ebook author. Also don’t be afraid to contact independent publishers after self publishing. You can offer them a cut to list your book to help increase your reach and decentralize your sales!

10) Personal Deadlines are HUGE!

Usually people tell you not to set deadlines on yourself but for writing a book it can be necessary. I broke it down into manageable components and set a very realistic deadline from there.

The original intended month for publishing would have worked and it was. I basically said “one chapter for every day” and I stuck to it till I accidentally deleted it. Before that I was convinced the book would take me months to write, not including the time for production itself. It took me weeks to put it all together after writing!

These are the biggest lessons I learned writing my ebook in 3 months.

What ebook have I been talking about? Stitching My Life Back Together is available in the Guru Store, now!

Wanna hear more from me? Follow me on Peakd!

Check out this crochet kit from Amazon!

Best Damn Instant Pot Beef Tamales Recipe

By

Lily Da Vine

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0

The BEST Instant Pot Beef Tamales You’ve Ever Had

When many think of Mexico, they think of the food. Tacos, quesadillas, enchiladas and tamales. Tamales are one of those mystical foods that can be either a brick or light, fluffy and moist. It all depends on who makes it.

Tamales are one of the few recipes where it’s not actually made what it is by the best ingredients. You can either use cheap or expensive organic materials with this, if your method is the same they will more or less turn out the same. Cause it’s the method that counts.

The Easiest Instant Pot Beef Tamales Recipe

I’m a little embarrassed that after living in Mexico for 5 years I’ve only just now made tamales. Seems like something I should have made the first year here but I didn’t. If I remember, that life partner I had at the time wasn’t into tamales so yeah, I’m not sure he’d have ever encouraged me to make them.

Instant Pot Beef Tamales to Replace All Tamales

But I got disappointed. I got spoiled by one amazing tamale vendor in Acapulco who served the fluffiest most moist tortillas. But in rural Mexico as I joined in with the posadas I quickly learned that not all tamales are the same. I’ve also had the weird experience where every tamale I’ve bought from people other than that perfect vendor in Acapulco have been AWFUL.

Shared and Adapted Instant Pot Beef Tamales Recipe

Awhile ago I saw a friend share a photo of what looked to me to be perfect tamales. I asked for the recipe and she gave it willingly, citing it as one she learned as a child.

It was my kind of recipe too. The amounts were ratios for the most part not actual measurements. It was all about the feel, the texture.

Learning as I go

These are hands down the best tamales I’ve ever had. I’ve made them twice and both times they were incredible. The first time I didn’t make enough broth with the meat and as a result had to add water. It led to a more plain tasting tamale. The second time I made sure to make enough broth and it made all the difference. This is also only an instant pot recipe. If you need to

Ingredients:

1 kilo beef leg
1 large onion
4 cloves garlic
one fresh poblano chile
1.2 kilo corn masa flour
Salt to taste
Beef tallow
Corn husks for wrapping

Need an instant pot? Here’s a deal on Amazon.

Instructions:

Chop the beef leg into pieces, coat with coarse salt and set aside. Turn on the Instant Pot to high on the saute setting and allow it to heat up with beef fat in it. Then sear all the meat on all sides. While that happens, chop the onion and garlic. After the beef is done, pour these into the Instant Pot so they can saute to soft and golden. When they are about halfway sauteed, add the poblano chile deseeded and chopped up into bit sized pieces. Allow to cook together for about 5 minutes until it’s all soft.

Put the pieces of beef on top then fill with water. I used about a liter of water for this. Put on the pressure cooking lid, switch to the pressure cooking setting and set it for 50 minutes at high pressure.

When its done, fish out all the meat leaving the broth with a lot of onions and peppers in it. This will be added to the dough.

The Best Damn Instant Pot Beef Tamales Ever

Soak the corn husks in a bowl with water to moisten them as well as clean them off.

To make the dough, put half to ¾ a kilo of corn flour. To this, add about 1 cup of melted tallow. Mix with fingers until it makes a sandy consistency. Then add broth a bit at a time until you get a smooth, light and fluffy mixture that can easily be spread in your palm with a spoon.

Assemble Instant Pot Beef Tamales

To assemble the tamales, make a good later of masa in the corn husk for the bottom half or so of it. You want it to be about a cm thick with a valley in the center to hold the filling. Add about 3 T or 4 T of filling depending on the size of the husk in that valley. Then you basically roll it like a big soggy joint, fold over the extra husk to make a burrito shape.

Prepare the Instant Pot again by putting the trivet in it with about a cup of water. Put the tamales in with the folded side down to keep the contents inside. Fill the instant pot till its full then put on the pressure lid and set it to 25 minutes at high pressure. Allow to natural release for ten minutes when they are done before releasing the rest of the pressure to eat.

Learn more about the history behind Tamales as a food here.

Look at one of my recent articles here.

Millionaire Experiment, Are you in?

By

Elizabeth Klebart

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0

Millionaire Experiment? What?

I’ve always been jealous of the ease that my best friend is able to detach from things that are no longer good for her. As someone with very little willpower, I usually stick with bad relationships and habits for far longer than their expiration date.

So what is her trick?

It’s simple, she makes the decision and it’s done.

I used to try and try to quit things and then eventually, something would be the straw that broke the camel’s back and I would finally be done.

Now whenever I want to let something go, I try to internalize my inner Vicki… that’s my bff…and I let it go.

A Need for the Millionaire Experiment

Recently I hit a breaking point with the cycle of feast or famine that I’ve been in. Poverty has been a generational course that would ebb and flow with my ancestors and I am ready to break those cycles for my own child and his children.

The other day I set the intention that I was breaking up with poverty. I can no longer live in that cycle.
But in order to let it go completely, I knew that I had to believe that it was possible For me to make the amount of money that I could change the world with. That I could change the world for my own child.

Enter the Millionaire Experiment

When I saw The Millionaire Experiment with Joanna Hunter I knew that I had a choice. I could believe that I had the ability to not only leave behind poverty, but that I could someday be a millionaire. Even if I didn’t make a million after the experiment, I would at least develop mindset tools that would benefit my life greatly.

I just finished day 1 of the experimen and oh my God. This is going to be good!

Only 3 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲s to get into 💰MY MILLION DOLLAR EXPERIMENT 💰for only $25!

Then the price goes up to $250.

My Million Dollar Experiment is the worlds largest mindset and intuition experiment: Can mindset and intuition help you create a Million Dollars in 1 year?

We shall see!

What to Expect with Millionaire Experiment!

As a participant, you will be given a simple step-by-step million dollar plan for you to make a million dollars in a year with no special skills.

You will be provided with the mindset tools and intuition training, plus group support to help you make your millions.

You will have the opportunity to learn from top mindset experts and hear them share their top mindset tips, stories of creating a million dollar mindset and how they overcame mindset obstacles.

This is NOT a get rich quick scheme nor is it wealth by osmosis.

What You Get with the Millionaire Experiment

This Experiment requires your active participation.

What you get:

🖤 Million Dollar Step by Step Plan on the 1st January 2021
🖤 Online access to mindset and intuition training
🖤 12 Months of Facebook group support
🖤 Weekly inspirational speakers
🖤 PDF copy of the ‘My Million Dollar Experiment’ Book

Cost of Millionaire Experiment

You also can make your $25 back by sharing this opportunity as an affiliate.

So you literally have nothing to lose!

Joanna Hunter is running the experiment. She is a Student of Metaphysical Science, currently completing her doctorate. Joanna is a spiritual life and business coach living in the Magical Highlands of Scotland.

If you would like to join the experiment and get a year of coaching for $25, you can sign up at the link below: https://mymilliondollarexperiment.com/?affiliate=elizabethklebart

What better way to start the New Year!

Check out these recent post from Elizabeth.

Follow this link to get involved NOW.

Monarch Sanctuaries History: The Unexpected Truth from a Local

By

Cabra Cuerno

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1

What do we know about the Monarch Sanctuaries History?

There is only a very limited amount of Sanctuaries devoted to the arrival of the Monarch Butterflies into Mexico. The highlands offer a chill, fresh environment for the monarchs to hibernate. Their journey from Canada takes hundreds of miles and many, many months across the vast deserts of North America. Many die in the journey and yet millions make it to the cool mountains of Central Mexico.

It has been a beautiful spectacle for those who have ventured to these sanctuaries. Who knows who were the first humans to ever notice their yearly path across the skies, and observed them taking the woods as their shelter and home.

The Beginning of the Monarch Sanctuaries History

Just think about it, thousands of years ago America was populated with hunter gatherers from Asia and their descendants scattered across the fertile regions of the continent. Some of them became farmers, others remained the same. Cities were built and the land was cultivated and some of them were erected very close by to these sanctuaries. But they perished long ago, taken down by the Spaniard Armies, who instead dug mines across the mountains and exploited the forests for wood.

Mostly Modern Monarch Sanctuaries History

It wasn’t until recent times that the Monarchs became object of preservation. The sites were rediscovered in the 70’s and served both research and tourism. The locals surrounding these sanctuaries were quite aware of their migration for centuries, but the government was devising a social plan to profit from the butterflies and to “protect” their habitat.

Wanna help bolster next years population??

No Need for Monarch Sanctuaries?

Before modern times there was no need to protect the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuaries from people. There was no wood, nor serious mining industry. However, nowadays all the forests of Mexico are subject not only to legal exploitation but to cartel control. Illegal logging clashes with local government and people die because of wood. Mexican Armies are hired to secure this illegal logging, cartels and federal army work together, despite formal policies sworn to UNESCO and Mexican law. And local governments stand weak, incapable of protecting anything.

Ancient Monarch Butterfly Sanctuaries History

The most ancient peoples surrounding the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuaries are the Mazahua, or “deer people”. A people that once dominated the borders of modern Michoacan and the State of Mexico, they secluded into the mountains to live an almost totally isolated life from the bustling cities. Their language is one among the hundreds of non European languages spoken in Mexico, and they have little to no genetic admixture with Spanish, European or any foreign ethnicity.

Pre-Hispanic Monarch Sanctuaries History

They’re catholic, and yet many of their Pre-Hispanic customs and beliefs have blended with the catholic religion. Like day of the dead, a Roman catholic festivity, they honor the arrival of the dead by honoring the arrival of the Monarch Butterflies, “xepje” in mazahua, deeming them as the spirits of their ancestors, coming from the dark north, which was thought to be the direction of the underworld, and bringing the venue of the gods to harvest the crops of autumn.

However, industry and technology have favored the hispanization of these areas, and as time goes on, urban areas surrounding these sites continue to grow.

It can all be resumed to politics, as Aristotle said, “we’re political animals”. the Sanctuaries have become object of research, tourism, monopolies and war. In other words, politicization. And, even though their habitat has become somewhat compromised due to industry, they’re pretty much oblivious to human action. Most likely humanity will extinguish before the Monarchs face any substantial crisis as a species.

Check out Lily Da Vine’s recent take on their trip to the sanctuary featuring a video tour!

And check out Lily Forester’s post from last year about it!

And to learn more about the sanctuary, go here

Stunning Foraged Yule Wreath Tutorial to End 2020 Right

By

Lily Da Vine

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1

Stunning Foraged Yule Wreath Tutorial to End 2020 Right

Is it really Yule without a Yule Wreath Tutorial?

Well it’s officially Yule and I am festive. Yesterday was the solstice and the great conjoining of Jupiter and Saturn which evidently marks the beginning of a renaissance. And I am here for it.

A Yule Wreath Tutorial For All

So I’ve been festive this year, making many of my decorations from locally sourced materials. The first of them was this wreath. I foraged the juniper and pine from a local forest where we hiked up to last week. The next morning I looked at my materials determining what to do with them and the idea for this wreath was born.

Check out this incredible yule tree skirt on Amazon!

Mexican Yule Hack

I started by shaping the circle and let it sit while I sliced and sun dried oranges. Sure, we have an oven but those cost money to operate and I live in Mexico its still sunny. So I dried them in the sun over a few days. Sure they had bees and ants on them but it doesn’t matter because they aren’t for eating.

I like the idea of a wreath because whenever you enter the house you are reminded of the fact that it is yule. The new year is coming and this is the perfect way to help usher that in.

Beyond that for those curious I guess one Celtic pagan tradition is to open the front door before midnight and close it after. This is to let out the old year and let in the new. I saw this on a meme that jokingly mentioned opening all doors and windows for the best effect to get rid of 2020. Hey, whatever works.

The added bonus is this smells AMAZING and being fresh it is like hanging a giant loop of potpourri outside your house.

Foraged Yule Wreath Tutorial

Materials Used for the Yule Wreath Tutorial:

Juniper branches with berries
Ponderisa pine needles
Pine Cones
Sun Dried Orange Slices
Cinnamon
Candy Cane
Star Anise
Glue
String

Instructions for the Yule Wreath Tutorial

The nice thing about juniper is the branches go in curls anyway. I collected basically a whole resuable shopping bag worth along with about 10 pine cones and many more juniper berries. A lot of recipes both witchy and otherwise include juniper so part of the goal was to have some on hand.

I just tried to evenly arrange the sticks in a circle. I saved a bit of each kind of pine for the smudge stick I made that I’ll share in a few days. I said I was going all out and I believe it.

Then I just used some nylon thread I have that someone gave me to tie a knot around it then wrap around the whole thing to tie in the sticks to a uniform shape.

For the oranges I literally sliced them about a half a centimetre thick and laid them on the concrete edge of the pool outside my house that gets several hours of direct sun. It took about a day and a half. I tied some of them to the wreath and other pieces I glued with silicone glue. You can do whatever floats your boat. I added the cinnamon, pine cones and other things using string too.
I let it sit in the sun for a few hours to be sure about the oranges before hanging on the door. It’ll hopefully remain there until the new year.

Looking for more ideas for Yule? Stay tuned as I have a few posts I’ll share over the next week of the other things I’ve been doing.

Also check out this Prosperity Candle tutorial I recently shared!

Check out my witchy Pinterest board!

Monarch Butterflies 2020: Revealing Coronavirus Times in Michoacan

By

Lily Da Vine

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7

Monarch Butterflies 2020: Revealing Coronavirus Times in Michoacan

Monarch Butterflies 2020: El Rosario Sanctuary in Michoacan

You may remember last year I posted about my first journey to El Rosario Butterfly Sanctuary in Michoacan, Mexico. This year was clearly very different in Covid times and I kept a watch on the news in the weeks before we went, mostly to find out when they would open.

Some theorized these would be closed but most of those people are people who have never been here. For those who live in that area, the monarch butterfly tourism is their ONLY source of income so the show must go on, even with coronavirus restrictions.

Monarch Butterflies 2020 Coronavirus Restrictions in Place!

I read online that strict mask regulations, social distancing would be in place. What we found in reality is a theatrical shell of what they threatened which actually made it a nice experience.

For one masks were only required to get in the place. They took temperatures and sprayed literally whole body on both sides before letting us in.

How to see the Butterflies

Last year we went with family in the family car and it took all day. We arrived in the afternoon and left early evening. This time we decided to use the public transport system to get there. From Zitacuaro bus station, it’s less than 100 pesos in transportation to get out directly to the sanctuary. Mexico is amazing for super cheap public transportation.

Monarch Butterflies 2020 Differences from Last Year

Last year the admission was 50 pesos, this year it was 80 mainly because they sent a guide with every group to enforce restrictions. In reality they just hiked with you. I took my mask off during the uphill hike repeatedly and he said nothing. What he did say is that the butterflies arrived at the end of October and were mostly sleeping now, which explained the fact that I hadn’t seen even one.

Want to help the butterfly population? Buy some milkweed seeds!

Monarch Butterflies 2020 Impact of Coronavirus

As far as I am concerned the only thing about the butterflies that the coronavirus messed up was the timing, had they been allowed to open a month earlier when the butterflies arrived, it would have been better for everyone both customer and those who make their living on this tourist venture. Part of what was so life changing about visiting the butterflies last year I realized was how excited they were. You saw them as soon as you got to the sanctuary.

But this time we saw none until we reached the top where they rested. We went early so part of the reason they were sleeping was because it was early and cold. One other difference this year totally unrelated to coronavirus was the hike was longer as the sanctuary workers said that the migration settled deeper into the forest this year.

In reality I had some anxiety about the guide but halfway up I realized it was nice. At the top I had the issue of needed to pee but no restrooms and the guy took me off and basically directed me off trail so I could use the woods. I was eternally grateful for this.

Monarch Butterflies 2020: Sleeping Before It Even Opened

I can’t say I can tell if there were more or less in population than last year because they were so dormant. Much of what is shown in the video in this post is just darkened heavy trees, which were coated in totally dormant butterflies. Sometime in February they’re expected to wake up and make their journey north to feed and reproduce. My plan is to return then to hopefully see them in flight.

The sanctuaries will remain open for the rest of the season with these imposed restrictions. Truthfully, for those concerned with doing physical activity with a mask on, they’re very lenient about it.

Check out my post from last year’s visit, here.

Check out Monarch Watch for more information about the butterflies!

The Frugal Reality of Living the Dream: One Woman’s First Hand Struggles at a Life Unchained

By

Elizabeth Klebart

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2

The Frugal Reality of Living the Dream: One Woman’s First Hand Struggles at a Life Unchained

The Reality of Living the Dream

At what point does it get to be easy?

For the first 6 years of my son’s life, I was able to find work that allowed me to stay home, while supporting our family of two.

I achieved the seemingly unachievable single mother’s dream.

Heck, I achieved the dream of a lot of mothers that had partners and couldn’t find ways to make it work. But I did. Until I didn’t.

3 years ago, shit got hard.

When Living the Dream Falls Apart

Things fell apart, when I tried to detach from things that were no longer working for me so that I could move towards my passion and purpose.

I wanted to continue to be a stay at home mom, home school my child, and pursue my dreams. I decided that I no longer had to just survive. I wanted to thrive and do things that made my soul sing. It didn’t take long to realize that my new business was not as easy to market and the online sphere wasn’t as easy to navigate as I had imagined.

Between huge life transitions, devastating relationship endings, and rebuilding following trauma, I just didn’t work the same way anymore. And I couldn’t support my family…well, not in the typical sense. I found ways to lower my expenses, so that I would have the space to pursue my dreams.

Are you trying to live the dream?

Here’s what I’ve learned.

Do you want to stay home with your kids, but don’t know how you are going to afford it all?

Besides having a support system, I was able to find ways to lower my expenses, to give me a little more breathing room.

Tips and Tricks for Living the Dream

Rent would be first. Find a roommate or find an alternative living situation like renovating a camper into an RV. That was the choice I made and I have no regrets. It’s not easy to find one that you can purchase without having credit to finance or without the full amount in cash, but if you want it badly enough, eventually it will happen. I have been gifted 2 campers.

There are also ways to finance and keep your monthly cost under $200.

For a lot fee, you can find a campground or find a friend who would let you park on their land. It’s much cheaper and like a small version of an intentional community. What else can you lower from your expenses?

Lower gas by being intentional about your driving and planning it out more. I currently live in the country and only drive into the city 3 out of the 7 days. That works for me.

Want a cool journal to help your path to living the dream? Check this one on Amazon out!

For food, limit eating out. Meal plan with a free or inexpensive meal plan and grocery list like The Fresh 20 or something similar. I also use Dinnerly, it’s one of the cheaper meal plans that sends you ingredients for 5 meals a week. I only spend $60 a week on groceries. If you have food stamps, you can shop at farmer’s markets and get double the amount.

Limit your entertainment expenses by utilizing free resources, such as parks or family rituals at home. We have Friday Field Trips or Family Fun, depending on my income. I can either take my child on an adventure or when money is tight, we do something fun, like an outdoor movie or game night. There are so many ways to lower your expenses so that you can achieve the life that you want to be living.

Check out one of Elizabeth’s recent posts on carschooling.

Check out this urban dictionary definition of “living the dream.” I don’t know about you but I love scrolling through these things.

Stay tuned for more!

Editors Note: In my now 5 years experience blogging I found some of the most compelling relatable material was when being brutally honest about my situation. I asked our writer Elizabeth to share her true feelings about her life in journal format. What she shares to me is raw, I just edit for the sake of SEO. For those unfamiliar, Elizabeth is a single Mom who lives in an RV as a freelancer, and this is her real life. Stay tuned for the next chapter

Agricultural Middle School in Italy? UNBELIEVABLE Here’s a TOUR

By

Cabra Cuerno

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1

Agricultural Middle School in Italy? UNBELIEVABLE Here’s a TOUR

Welcome to this amazing tour of an apple orchard from an Agricultural middle school in Italy from Chief Storyteller Cat Bonadin!

Editors Note: This is another transcript of the YouTube shared above. We will be doing these for all of the Italy videos and any videos in the future. Also stay tuned from personal guest posts from our guru Elizabeth. The author of this post is Cabra Cuerno because he did the transcriotion. Thanks!

Hey, guys! It’s Catherine with the Homestead Guru.

We are here at an Agricultural Middle School and High School in Northern Italy.

Right now we are in their orchard, as you can see we are standing in front of a row of apple trees.

Now, if you walk this way with me and take a look, you’ll notice that this are a variety of different species. This right here are Granny Smith, those of us in the United States we know this is more kind of a bitter, sour green apple, right?

Apple Pollination Facts Learned at the Agricultural Middle School

Well, this is here, they don’t grow these for the fruit, they actually use this as a pollinator tree. So, these other apple trees without a pollinator tree would actually produce much smaller fruit, so they use this to cross pollinate with the other trees, so they have a larger apple, a larger fruit.

What to Expect at an Agricultural Middle School

So, as we walk through you can see they have all of these different species here. Keep in mind this is a learning school, right? So, every single tree has the name of the plant written next to it, so that way students can come. They are learning how to care for the plants, they’re learning about the plants, how they grow and how to keep them healthy and alive.

Wanna learn more about apple farming, consider buying this book!

What’s an agricultural middle school without kids?

As you can see there’s some children here helping right now, as we speak. This is a really awesome project.

Something that I noticed as we were driving through Italy is that the apple trees are prone to be very narrow, because they plant them very close together.

Unique Agricultural Practices for a Unique Location

Space is an issue here in Italy, there’s mountains all over, there’s a lot of people, and so their apple orchards are not like the ones I’m used to see in the United States with the giant trees that are spaced out pretty far.

They actually keep these very close together and, I don’t know if you can see here, where they have this support wires here, that the plants are growing in between. You know? It’s very different, and in doing this it allows them to have a higher capacity of fruit production per square foot, so, as you can see, there are a lot of apples growing right here in a very small space, so this is something that I found to be super, super interesting.

And as we were driving around Italy it was like, “we gotta get out of the car and look at these apple orchards because they’re so different”.

Cat’s Husband went to the Agricultural High school!

And Paolo informed me that, you know, “Hey we were going to my agricultural high school, they have these here.”

So, here we are (at the agricultural high school), we are checking them out.

Now, we have done some in depth interviews in Italian, I don’t speak Italian, so I’m giving you the summary, here in English. Most of our followers don’t either.

But for those of you who speak Italian these interviews are gonna be posted in full on our Facebook page, on our YouTube channel, the Homestead Guru for both, and our website thehomestead.guru.

We would love you to subscribe to our email list so you can continue to get more great videos like this.

Hopefully at some point we will get those translated, either dubbed over or subtitled in English, but, for now you got my summary, which I now you’re enjoying, and you will Paolo’s in depth interview with one of the teachers at the school, who is overseeing this entire operation.

Thank you for tuning in.

Check out this recent transcript shared by us! Has 2020 Whooped You?

Learn more about secondary education in Italy!

Make 2021 Amazing with a Yule Prosperity Candle

By

Lily Da Vine

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Make 2021 Amazing with a Yule Prosperity Candle

What is a yule prosperity candle and why do you need to make some this holiday season?

This is a yule pagan tradition that involves making candles for the celebration of the end of the year in pagan disciplines, that is yule. This is a great thing to make even for those who don’t celebrate these things. I’ve heard about Yule my whole life but this is the first time I thought to actually give it a go, and this year I’m going all out. This is the first of what should be MANY yule posts this month, stay tuned.

A Note on Christmas, Yule and Celebrating the Holidays

It’s been easily 10 years since I really celebrated really any holidays other than maybe 4/20. This last year has likely been my most spiritual to date as I started to have an awakening of sorts within me. I started dabbling in paganistic rituals and I’ve found that there’s actually a lot of therapeutic value on those.

Enter the Yule Prosperity Candle

So it’s only natural that I extend this to fully immerse myself in yule traditions this year. Truth is while I don’t necessarily adhere to the Christian values behind Christmas, I have somewhat missed the tradition of celebrating every year. Last year I celebrated Christmas in rural Mexico which is honestly a blend of pagan and Catholic traditions.

This is a variation as far as I’m concerned of witch candles, something I’ve dabbled with but not yet posted. You basically alter a candle by adding spices, herbs, oil, rocks and more with intention. Burn those candles for everything from protection to money. I keep one on my desk while I work to help keep me focused on the hustle.

Bringing Luck with the Yule Prosperity Candle

This is the yule Christmas tradition, apparently burning these will bring you good luck and prosperity in the years to come. At the very least, its a beautiful way to use up orange peels and end the dumpster fire that has been 2020.

For more information on yule traditions check out this book!

Ingredients:

Oranges
Candle Wax
Wicks
Spices (Cloves, Cinnamon, Whole Peppercorn, Salt)
Gold Glitter
Change, I used Mexican pesos
Double boiler to melt the wax

Instructions for the Yule Prosperity Candle:

The method is simple. Start by melting the wax in a double boiler. I bought these candles without containers they sell literally everywhere in Mexico. They’re so cheap they’re nearly free and they have a removable wick so you can do whatever with the wax.

If you’re interested in using only high quality waxes and ingredients, get you some beeswax. It’ll be expensive but it’s the more natural choice.

While the wax melts, cut open oranges in half. Go for as large of oranges as you can manage. I cut them in half, scooped out the inside leaving only the rind. Make sure you get it as clean as possible. Try to avoid getting holes in the bottom of the halves. It’s not the end of the world if you do just know eventually all that wax is gonna run right out the bottom of it. I thought I was clever by feeding the wick through the bottom of the orange, the mess on my desk said otherwise.

If you do end up with a hole, just make sure you put a plate or bowl under to catch the runoff.

Set the wick in the center, you can get creative for the wick just make sure it burns easily and stands up straight for long enough for the wax to solidify.

At this point add whole cloves, cinnamon stick, peppercorns and nutmeg. These have pagan value for prosperity, clarity and focus. Also add gold glitter here if you’d like, to symbolize the obvious.

When the wax is melted, add any oil that you have for scent to it to your preferences. Cinnamon is a good one for this, so is orange or pine.

Pour the wax into the orange halves and allow to mostly solidify. If you use glitter add a bit extra here for extra shine. When the wax is sturdy but still pliable, imbed some coins and cloves into the surface to decorate.

Enjoy immediately!!

Here’s the Pin that inspired this post!

Check out this post from Lily last year about the Monarch Butterfly Migration!

Asian Style Archery: 10 Fascinating Facts You Probably Don’t Know

By

Cabra Cuerno

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0

Asian Style Archery: 10 Fascinating Facts You Probably Don’t Know

Here comes a list of ten things you didn’t know about Ancient Asian style Archery. Ancient? Asian? What do I mean?

1) Asian style archery is a broad spectrum.

Ancient Asian Archery is a broad spectrum of traditional archery techniques that have been practiced across the Asian continent. The catchiest of them all are the Central Asian and Japanese styles, which, oddly enough, are completely different from each other.

2) Ancient central Asian archery is old as milk.

Yes, you heard that right. Central Asia has been home to a great number of steppe peoples that live off cattle. Semi nomadic by nature, these peoples were the first to domesticate horses, sheep, goats and cows.

This happened almost ten thousand years ago. With it came the horse riding culture, dairy consumption and horseback archery, which became a crucial skill to survive in the steppe.

3) The Samurai were mounted archers.

The Japanese archery developed from the early Jomon Period and found its summit during the Sengoku Period in Feudal Japan, which was an era of great turmoil. Samurais were mounted archers above all, and their skills with the bow and arrow were favored above the rest of their martial arts.

4) The Japanese bow is the largest in the world.

The Yumi, literally “bow”, consists of laminated bamboo, wood and leather. It is made asymmetrical to avoid hand shock after shooting the arrow. The Yumi is exceptionally tall, standing over two meters, and typically surpasses the height of the archer, this is done to compensate the high draw length with the bending capacity of the materials involved.

5) Central Asian bows were made of horn and sinew.

If you have been looking for a sport, discipline or martial art carnivore friendly this is the one. The ancient Scythians were among the first to develop the composite recurve bow, which was made of horn, sinew and tamarix wood. It was incredibly powerful; most bows of that time had a draw weight of a hundred pounds in average.

The horn and the sinew together become incredibly efficient, the working limbs store a huge amount of power and they are super elastic, having the capacity to launch an arrow above 500 meters in parable, surpassing the heavier 160 pound draw weight English bow, which reaches 300 meters tops.

6) They shot from the right side of the bow.

Unlike Western Archery Traditions most Asian Traditional Archery styles place the arrow in the right side of the bow instead of the left. The reason? Performance. Thumb release and mounted archery prefer to load the arrow directly to the right side of the bow and favor fast shooting. Although, this style requires a lot more skill to aim than “regular” left side archery shooting.

7) They used Thumb Rings.

Thumb release required the development of thumb protection because of the heavy draw weights of these bows. This type of release is advantageous due to the fact that it produces less vibration of the string during release and allows a greater draw length. This differs from the three finger release used by western traditions.

The first to develop thumb rings made of bronze were the Scythians, followed by the Turco Mongolian peoples that mixed with them. Horn, ivory and bone made thumb rings also were made and favored by the majority of the steppe herders for material accessibility and crafting difficulty.

8) The infamous Mongol armies had incredible archers.

If you think Genghis Khan, you are right, he led the major turco mongol army the world had ever seen, and one of his main military elements were mounted archers. Their very lifestyle was training enough for this pastoral nomads to ravage entire cities in China, Central Asia and Eastern Europe.

Of course the mongol armies relied also in heavy artillery and siege machines, but mounted archers were essential for what could have been “the Mongol Blitzkrieg”.

9) The Turkish Ottoman Flight Bow is the Smallest in the World.

So, as the Yumi represents the world’s largest bow, the Ottoman Flight bow represents the smallest one. The Ottoman Sultans loved archery, and deemed it as part of their religion, and one of their favorite sports was Flight Archery, which consisted in launching the arrow in parable for range competitions.

For this purpose they designed a bow specifically for flight shooting. It was a composite bow with radical curving small limbs, capable of shooting feather weight arrows. This type of bow was capable of launching an arrow over 800 meters in parable, and steles were erected where the arrow marked an historical record among the ruling elite. Some say that the sultan Mahmud II was capable of shooting an arrow across the Bosporus Strait.

10) The discipline almost disappeared with the introduction of Repeating Firearms.

It is curious to note that it wasn’t the gunpowder per se that drove archery to its decline worldwide but the creation of repeating firearms, and this happened until the midst of the 19^th century. Only this type of technology became capable to surpass the dexterity and power of archery both for hunting and warfare.

Check out Cabra’s recent post on Beltane!

Check out the Alibow website here for cheap entry level asian archery options!

Henry Ford’s Hemp Car: The Truth Behind the Car “Made of Hemp that Runs on Hemp”

By

Lily Da Vine

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Henry Ford’s Hemp Car: The Truth Behind the Car “Made of Hemp that Runs on Hemp”

Did you know Henry Ford invented a hemp car that ran on hemp?

There’s been rumor of a car made entirely out of hemp that ran on hemp oil made by Henry Ford in 1941. This car was revealed the car as “the car of the future” sporting a plastic body made from natural fibers and resin binder. This made the car 300 pounds lighter and the plastic itself was rated to be 100 times stronger than steel. Not only that but it ran on vegetable oils, including but not exclusively hemp.

How does a hemp car work?

Rudolf Diesel invented the engine that made that possible, designing it to be able to run off all vegetable based oils in the form of alcohol fuel. Gasoline industry lobbied for high alcohol taxes while artificially keeping the cost of gasoline low so it was eventually the regular combustion engine that won out as far as mass adoption was concerned.

Try these hemp hearts and try running on hemp, yourself!

Not A Hemp Only Car

Many hemp activists have touted this as a hemp only car which is a bit misleading as the diesel engine runs on a lot more than hemp and the car itself doesn’t even contain 10 percent of total hemp fibers. In fact there’s actually more slash pine fiber than anything but there’s also straw and something called ramie in the cellulose part of the plastic blend. It’s still essentially a car made of bioplastic, but there’s a lot more in the mix than simply hemp.

Why does the Henry Ford Hemp Car No Longer Exist?

Regardless of the fact that it isn’t even a car made of entirely hemp like activists claim, it is a clear example of one industry with more political might essentially squashing what was a better option for the people. An early form of planned obsolescence if you will, because a material touted as stronger than steel is likely going to need a lot less maintenance. For example rust wouldn’t be a thing with plastic cars, now would it?

Check out this Homestead Guru Original: Grow Hemp Save the Bees!

Henry Ford’s Hemp Car Making a Comeback??

This could be an actual model for the future. For years Canada has experimented with this stuff since it’s been legal to grow hemp there. They’ve found cars made of plastics containing hemp increase fuel efficiency by 25% and that’s likely just by the weight difference alone. That makes a huge difference in any persons fuel budget without taking into considerations other upgrades such as electric hybrid capability or fully electric vehicles.

Is hemp legal?

Now in the United States as we shared recently hemp is legal to grow for industrial purposes. Perhaps people should take this viral bio plastic car design from the past and project it into the future. With our modern day techniques of building things the game would be changed. It’d not only be better for the environment but possibly safer in the event of crashes. This is if the 100 times stronger than steel statement holds up. This could be a technique perhaps for Tesla to use. With it they could make their cars more efficient which would lead to things like longer battery range. Think a hemp electric hybrid!

Henry Fords Hemp Car is MORE than Possible Today!

Here’s to the future! What I’m seeing with Henry Ford’s plastic car is that it’s totally possible today! It would likely really enhance how things are done in the auto industry. Much of the heavy metal on cars now has been replaced by fiberglass or plastic composites. The stuff that literally crumples when crashes happen. Perhaps a hybrid with this plastic would prove to be stronger, making for that lighter but also safer car.

Hemp Car Myth Busted

Henry Ford Invented Hemp Cars that Ran on Hemp Fuel