Hello Garden Gals & Guys! I just love this picture. It’s how I see myself as I embark on this journey with my family. Homesteading. In my case, urban homesteading (I’ll get that farm very soon!).

I know that my homesteading journey is going to take a lot more of my time, but I’m all for it. I’m no stranger to hard work around the home and I consider myself blessed to be a homemaker and get our family on the road to being self-sufficient. When I stare at that picture, I get more and more excited about cutting the ties to the grocery store! In case you missed my post about this milestone, you can read it here.

Well this weekend, hubby and I spent some time listing things that we use every day that we have to go to the grocery store for….you know…staples that we really can’t do without that we take for granted. It’s a pretty long list (and I’m sure I’m forgetting a few things).

Nonetheless, with our list written out, our family will begin this journey getting only the things on the list from the grocery store. Gradually, we will move some items off this list until only the barest essentials are acquired at the grocery store. I have italicized the things I eventually plan to make/grow on my own or find an alternate local source for.

Here’s the list:

• Avocados (I use these to make hubby’s healthy shakes)
• Oatmeal 
• Citrus fruits (we don’t live in a zone that makes having citrus trees possible)
• Flour (I suppose I could grind my own, but I have to be realistic about my time constraints. However I do plan to find a farm that makes their own flour…if they exist)
• Sugar (self-explanatory…though I am hoping to wean us completely from sugar and just use honey….speaking of which…)
• Honey (I will find a local farm that sells honey…having my own bee hive is out right now because we don’t have enough land…I’m also allergic to bees)
• Vinegar (yes, you can make your own…but I don’t wanna!)
• Condiments (ketchup, mustard, hot sauce and sriracha…gotta have those)
• Spices (I can eventually begin drying herbs to make my spices…and I’m leaving that on the table as an option)
• Cooking Oil
• Peanut butter 
• Hamburger and hot dog buns (I will make my own bread…I’ve done it before…but buns are another story all together!)
• Beans (again I could grow and dry them, but I just don’t have enough space in my lil backyard farm!)
• Rice
• Tea (we are big tea drinkers)
• Hot chocolate (ditto…especially in the winter months)
• Sour cream 
• Taco sauce (we like to make tacos)
• Taco seasoning (I already have a recipe to make my own)
• Taco shells
• Water (why buy bottled when I can get it from the tap…and my county’s water has won many awards in taste tests for years)
• Toilet paper
• Paper towels
• Dental Floss
• Toothpaste (I may venture into making our own….haven’t decided yet)
• Soap
• Ziploc bags
• Trash bags
• Food saver bags
• Canning supplies
• Shampoo & Conditioner
• Cold Medicine
• Feminine products (don’t even go there…those will remain a store bought item!)

Oh…one more thing. If you want to know what sparked this idea….well it came to me a few years ago…but this year I decided to act on it. But two great books really planted the seed for this journey. The first is Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. This book highlight’s her family’s journey to do the same thing I am doing…though she went a step further and only ate vegetables while they were in season (I’m not quite there yet).