Introduction

Hello world! 🙂

The following is my first House by the Woods blog entry. I feel that I should introduce myself and clarify why I’ve decided (as so many have before me) to start writing my very own blog.

I hope that through the next few line you’ll be able to get to know me a little bit better and see I you might be interested in what I have to say in the future.

Who am I?

Hi, my name is Petra. When I finished my masters program, I got a job and moved away from my parents’ house I was faced with my first big trip to the grocery store. If my mum would usually do this kind of shopping it was now on me. Slowly grocery shopping went from something exciting to a chore. And it was an expensive chore. Pretty soon I realized that a lot of food on the shelves contained ingredients that I couldn’t pronounce let alone understand their meaning. So I decided to try to grow (and process) as much food as I can on my own. I’m a big believer in self-sufficiency because I believe that homegrown “real food” is the healthiest and tastes the best (it’s also the cheapest). Next to my full time job I spent my free time in the garden and on a small homestead that is owned by my parents.

Next to growing my own food I’m also trying to change my lifestyle. My goal is to live a more natural and sustainable life. I would like to learn more on how to make my own cosmetics and getting to know and pick herbs for my own tea mixtures.

In the future I would also love to be able to renovate the house that I currently live in and that I affectionately call House by the Woods. The house was built in 1950s and is in need of a total renovation so (if it ever comes to that) there might be some posts about that venture as well. Any way I love doing small DIY home improvements so you will be able to read about that as well.

People who know me would describe me as precise, conscientious and sometimes dreamy because I tend to think about and plan things which are (according to people around me) undoable. I sincerely hope that this blog will not be one of those things. I fully realize that it will take up a lot of my time, because next to an English version I’ve also decided to write a Slovenian one which you can find on: www.hisaobgozdu.si.

homegrown produce garden gardening organic self sufficiency sustainable — Basket of homegrown produce with the garden in the background.

Why a blog?

I’m hoping to use this site as an online diary of my endeavors and little adventures but mostly I wish that someday when I’m older I’ll be able to read my posts and take a trip down memory lane with the things that I tried/cooked/make/grown and experienced. And after all – in this time when we snap a photo basically every day because we want to remember something it would be a real shame if we wouldn’t share our stories with someone else as well, right?

So I’m inviting you to follow my bigger and smaller gardening, homesteading, cooking and other adventures. I want this to be an ongoing story so I’ll try my best to keep this page. Every day I’ll try to post at least one thing. Either that is a photo, some gardening advice, a recipe or a story.

organic garden gardening homegrown permaculture biodynamic — Part of my garden.

Why House by the Woods?

Because it’s where I live – in a house by the woods. There is my garden in the front yard and only a few feet away there is a creek running by. And because most of the ideas for the writing here are born in (or next to) this house. And at the end of things because I think that this house has a story worth writing about.

What will I be writing about?

Next to garden and gardening I will also write about how to process homegrown produce, my efforts to live a healthy and sustainable life and DIY projects and home improvements. I might also throw in a weekend trip or two and my conscious buys with which I try to support local and handmade products and services.

House by the Woods in six months…

I hope that all the categories of the blog will be nicely filled and that I’ll be hard-working and consistent and to maybe inspire someone who will read this to start their own garden (she wrote, optimistically staring in the future…).

chicory palla rossa seed saving bee beekeeping honey bearing plants — Palla rossa chicory blossoms on my seed saving bed and a bee at work. 🙂

Who is this blog meant for?

This blog is for everyone who find themselves in one of the subjects presented above but most f all is meant for everyone who appreciate and wish to grow your own food and live a fulfilled, natural and sustainable life.

I strongly encourage all of you who are (or will) read my writing to comment my posts and ask questions if you have any.