Work

"We can best discover the principle of the simple life by a contrast with the spirit of commercialism.  The commercial spirit is selfish.  Its motto is "Expand to get."... Over and against it, at its antipodes, is the spirit of the simple life.  It can be lived at any level of poverty or wealth; and at any age of ignorance or culture.  It is sessentially the spirit of living for life's sake, or consecration to personal and social goodness.  This spirit does not keep us out of commerical business, nor does it command us to confine our business to narrow limits and to small returns.  But if we are to belong to the goodly fellowship of those who live the simple life, our business must be made an avenue of ministering to human life."
Rufus M. Jones, 1927

I really like this quote for a number of reasons.  One, is that there are many avenues to a simple life and they can look quite different.  However, caring for one another is what is truly important, not how withdrawn you are from society, or how many jars of produce you put up this suummer, but simply caring and ultimately, loving one another.

Any thoughts?

Warm wishes,
Tonya

Answering Your Questions :: Building a Full Time Handwork Business

I knit my first gnome back in 2001 and started selling them on Ebay shortly after to contribute a small bit to our family's income.  At this point in our life, Mike had lost his job a year or so prior and he was still on the path of working himself back up to a similar position that he had previously had. (which never did happen)

The gnomes sold well and I started knitting some other toys of wool in the waldorf tradition of simple form with natural materials.

Over time, I worked up to a small store front and added some other items that I resold.  This means I purchased wholesale and then sold retail.  Still though, for several years this income was small but helpful.
I learned about the internet and selling and kept my eyes open, watching other store fronts that made and/or sold toys and how to market without paying for advertising.  I started to see the potential, but knew that I could never make enough to support our family - you can only knit so many gnomes in a day.

In 2005, I am not sure how I learned, probably through a natural parenting forum online, that a new site was opening where artisans and hand crafters could have their own shop within the site - called Etsy.  I signed up right away as knittingmomma.  At the time I didn't realize that my username was going to have to be my store name.  But we still have this shop today.  The fees are affordable.   Twenty cents for each listing and etsy takes 3% of each sale.  They also process credit cards for you. 

In 2006, my husband, Mike, came up with the idea to use branch slices to make a matching/memory game.  At the time we lived in a duplex that had a bit of forest in the back.  He had a chop saw to cut the slices.  I stamped them with rubber stamps and crochetd a bag to put them in.  I also asked him if he would make branch fences to go with the animals I was knitting.  At this time he still worked full time for a property maintenance company near Boston and spent at least an hour commuting each way and worked long hours, so building the business was a slow process.  This was still a very part-time business.  We did start selling wholesale to A Toy Garden at this point.  This means offering our goods at a 40 - 50% reduced price but in larger quantities.

In the fall of 2007 we moved to Vermont, secure that we would at least have some money coming in from our toy sales while Mike looked for a job. 

Upon arriving in Vermont, we brainstormed and came up with many more products that we could make from branches - including walking blocks (clompers), building block sets, lacing sets, hooks, and more.  Making these kind of products as opposed to the time intensive process of knitting and crocheting, made the possibility of actually earning a living from the work of our hands seem real.  Our etsy shop grew and we also had more sales from our online store. 

We also sold our handcrafts at a farmers market where we also sold our produce and baked goods.  Generally, we sold just a small amount as we live in a very low population area.   Our nearest city has just 6,000 people (25 minutes away) and our own little town just 600 or so.

We knew that selling online was going to be our best option, although we do still sell local from time to time at an occasional fair.

Through continued stocking of our etsy shop and then adding another shop, the Vermont Branch Company, over a year ago to capatilize on the Vermont name brand, our sales continued to grow.  We also started making wedding decorations which resulted in higher volume sales.  For example, someone might order 150 birch branch place card holders.  Last year, before expenses, we had $20,000 in sales and Mike had about $10,000 in property maintenance accounts. 

This year we are on track to have $38,000 - $40,000 in sales before taking out for expenses and shipping costs.  (We now have 6 wholesale accounts.)  Mike will take on less property maintenance jobs as a result and we will spend more time on the business and homestead. 

A key for us is to have very few expenses.  We are still using an eight year old desk top computer with dial up.  For tools, Mike has a chop saw, small table saw, and sander.  The rest of the tools are hand tools.  We still don't have a workshop.  Mike works in the basement on the dirt floor with a desk lamp hanging from the ceiling.  He has to go outside first to get downstairs.  We have piles of products here and there in various stages of completion.  Our stainless steel kitchen island also serves as a sanding, drilling and hand work station.

A workshop and studio is in our plans but it may still be several years away.   This year a small barn is a must in order to get our dairy goats and move our chickens into a better coop.  We make do and think through every expense and whether or not it will really make a difference and result in more income or not and if we can afford it.  Our new purchase this year for the business will be a drill press.  We are very excited about that, but again, it will be an inexpensive one, probably about $150.00.

We also have bought very little advertising and only yesterday did I purchase my first advertising spot on a blog I enjoy, Farmama. 

I don't think our business  fits any business model.  Instead we do things very simply, one piece at a time, one day at a time, work consistently, and keep the faith.

If you have any questions, check back here in the comments, as I will do my best to answer them.

Warm wishes,
Tonya

Warm Friday Walk and Thanks

Thank you for contributing and encouraging.  I received many questions and plan to answer them over a series of posts.  After spending much of Thursday evening and Friday praying and thinking as I went about my daily work, I received an email from a woman that lives in very rural Canada.    She and her husband have 11 children and live very simply, off grid, 20 minutes from the nearest neighbor.  They hunt and grow most of their own food and the rest is made from scratch.  She shared how their life is full of joy and how each child has been a blessing.

After her encouraging words I went for a walk last Friday afternoon to enjoy the unseasonable warmth (which is long gone now as the very cold weather has returned) with a feeling of renewal and optimism.

Looking down our driveway, Nolan helping to clear some of the slush.

I walk over a bridge just down our road and took a picture of the stream below.

The mud is a welcome sight!  I enjoyed feeling my feet seep down with each step.

I have always loved how beautiful the bare tree branches look against the sky as the sun is just beginning to set.

Wishing you a joyful week,
Tonya

The "M" Word Again

I decided to delete yesterday's post, perhaps in haste, due to some thoughtless comments from an "anonymous" person.  I nearly deleted the whole blog wondering what the worth would be if I couldn't be real.

Instead, I decided to spend a day praying about it and listening for an answer.

Many of you probably didn't read the post, so I will summarize most of what I can remember with some new details added.

Nearly eight years ago, as our family started heading toward the direction of simplifying our lives and opting out of the consumer society to some degree, I would spend lots of time searching through Countryside Magazine, online, and at bookstores and libraries looking for writings from families that had chosen similar paths. I found and read article after article of "how-tos" (how to grow all your own food on 1 acre, raising chickens, living off grid, etc, etc.) but could find very little specifics about finances. I really wanted to know if a large family could live simply, work toward a more self-sufficient lifestyle and support themselves through meaningful self-employment, preferably a combination of farming and handwork.

I also wanted to know if people that made a move to a homestead way of life had a savings before they did so, or a family inheritance or disability, or......

When I started this blog, I felt God leading me to not only keep it as a journal and a place to organize our family photos, but also to share the ins and outs and ups and downs of our life. Not to make a statement that our way of life is the "right" way. Not to say that this is the way to do it. Not to make anyone feel any less if they have more stuff, or make more money. Simply to share one alternative, our life, and our experiences along the way.

Therefore, I decided it was time to share about our finances. Our handwork business grew 100% last year and we had earnings (after deducting business expenses) of about $19,000. I added the $6,000 we get from the tax "welfare" or tax refund. Truly it is not a refund because we didn't pay $6,000 into the system. Therefore, I don't like the term refund in our case - which made our income about $25,000.

This is the most we have made in our five years upon moving to Vermont and we are grateful that it has helped to make it possible to support our home, and six, soon to be seven children. When we moved here from Massachusetts we had nothing, no savings except enough to get us through a couple of weeks.

Our expenses now include - $600.00/month  for our small homestead on 3.5 acres that we paid $55,000 for one and a half years ago, $100/month for electricity, $75/month for phone (this includes our unlimited dial-up for business), $1,000/year for property taxes, $400/year for car insurance, $600/year for home owner's insurance.

The rest is variable - food, gasoline, car repairs, home repairs, vet bills, etc... I would love to share more of this in future posts.

We also give because giving makes us ever more grateful for what God has provided us.

The only government assistance we accept is health insurance. For a family our size we would still get state covered insurance even if we made up to $75,000. Mike and I will be paying a monthly premium, probably about $75.00 for our coverage soon. We qualify for all kinds of other assistance, but do not need it. We also believe that the more you take from the government, the more likely you are to lose your freedoms because you have to follow the standards the government sets. We take this insurance for our children's benefit. Vermont, for better or worse, (and I don't want to get into a debate about health insurance here) looks like it will be the first state in the nation to have a single payer system. This means that everyone will be under state care when this happens. Currently 2/3 of all children in Vermont have state funded health insurance including many farm families that work very hard.

So I wrote more about the health care issue than the original post because I received some comments from a person who wished to remain anonymous.  The comment was that he or she could not understand how we could be living a family centered life when he or she has to go to work every day to support us. Not kind and not productive.

A brief response is that we did not say one day - "Let's be poor and get free health insurance." Mike lost his  good paying job eight years ago and after trying to get another job in his field for nearly three years he went from earning $75,000 per year to $18,000 because he could only secure employment in the landscape field. This was a blessing from God, however. Our life would never have been so full and so enriched. We just know that this was the first step, the first shove along our journey, to get out off the world's track and follow our hearts.

I will deleting all anonymous comments from now on.  Please let me know who you are if you would like to contribute.

I truly look forward to discussion about this and sharing.

Warm wishes,
Tonya

Yarn Along

Joining in with Ginny of Small Things ~

~ I just have to add the buttons to the vest

~ Started on a pair of woolen booties, adapting a pattern from Vintage Knits for Modern Babies, using some soft beige wool yarn my son, Isaac, bought me for Christmas

~  Reading parts of a book that I refer to every couple of months, A Handmade Life, In Search of Simplicity by Wm. S. Coperthwaite

Here is one excerpt ~

"When we produce an article of clothing for others with concern for their welfare, we knit this concern into the garment.  Those who recognize that extra quality will feel a greater sense of care and affection - as well as warmth - when they wear the gift.  For those who know this, the hand-knit mittens are more beautiful.  Our sense of the beautiful is greatly influenced by knowledge."

Warm wishes, Tonya

We Don't Need a Toaster

What do you do when family and friends may simply not understand your choices in living?  and quite possibly not respect them either....

We did not need a toaster - we did not want a toaster.  If it had been a priority for us, we would have bought one years ago. 

When we think about whether or not we need something, we take several factors into consideration - are we doing ok without it?  is it something that will improve our life?  where was it made?  what will happen to the item when it breaks (will it end up filling the earth?) will using this item use natural resources such as electricity, gas or oil?  Will it take up space that could be used for something better?

Heating up our bread or bagels on the cast iron pan or on a grate on the woodstove has served us just fine for many years.

Am I being ungrateful?

Tonya

Simplifying with Children

I received an email a few days ago from a blog reader asking me what our children thought of our lifestyle and how they reacted and continue to react to the choices we make each day to not be caught up in the consumer driven society.  She was particularly concerned about how her teenagers might react.

We moved from Massachusetts to Vermont when our oldest was eleven, almost twelve, 5 years ago.  The two years leading up to the move, I had starting talking a lot with my husband about the possibility for a different kind of life, a more deliberate life where our whole existence didn't depend on a 9 - 5 job.  The possibility of connecting with our food and with nature; of using our bodies to build structures and to harvest wood and to work toward our family's economy based on the fruit's of our labors without the constraints of an employer and with the idea of being home-centered.

The children heard this discussion for two years or more.  They travelled with us as we drove to Maine and Vermont looking at land and possible cabins.  We discussed living in a mobile home on land and living primitively until we built up our own homestead.  And even then, we discussed the possibility outhouses and no electricity.  We were ready to make a change.

At the same time, I started making our food from scratch and gardening in our suburban plot and we also removed the television (no cable at least).  We also talked about how nice it would be for Dad to home with the family more.

In the end, we decided to make a slower transition for our children's sake and we rented a home in Vermont for the first year. 

As we had always stressed the importance of family and never were too caught up in lots of outside activities, I think they always had a sense of our priorities - that family was first.

In addition, I started buying less "stuff" for them and started shopping at thrift stores and yard sales and talking to them about the environment and where their "stuff" comes from.

We also talked to them that we felt led by God to move towards this life and that it was ok to be set apart, to be different than most.

When we moved from the village rental in Vermont to leased land in an old mobile home we purchased where electricity wasn't available unless we spent $2,000 (which we didn't want to do since this still wasn't "our" land), we talked about the differences.  At this point, the oldest boys were 13, 11, and 9.  We downsized dramatically.  The children rarely questioned anything.  I think that because Michael (my husband) and I felt in our hearts that we were working towards what was best for our family, the children sense that.  Even without electricity, I can honestly say that there were very few complaints.  I kept a positive spirit and I truly think that is they key, children sense their parent's feelings.

After being in our rustic cottage (with electricity), the children talk postively about our two years without it and of sitting together by lantern light.  In response, we only have one lamp in each room and we use lantern light on our supper table to keep the evenings more naturally lit without too many artificial lights.

Even now when Thomas (now 16, almost 17) walked past me as I was typing this post, he asked me how the business was going and I shared what I was writing about, his response was, "What do you mean?  We have lots of things."   Then he thought about it a bit, and said, "Well, I guess if you go to some of our friends homes and compare what they have to what we have, but... I still think we have plenty."

So, I think the answer is to talk honestly to your older children.  Set goals.  Make sure you feel clear in your heart.  And, make the changes gently and slowly.  Children, no matter what age, look to their parents for guidance.

Warm wishes,
Tonya

Apologies and Clarifications

I just wanted to say that I am sorry if I offended you with my previous writing.  That was never my intention and I now realize that I wasn't clear.

I work very hard not to judge others in any way, this is one part of my Quaker practice.  I listen to God speaking to me where I am at this moment in my life.  How others choose to live is up to them,  but I need to listen to what is right for me.

During my time in the urban area, I was delighted to discover that I, for the first time, was not overcome with feelings of worry and neglect over what my husband and I were "not" providing for our children.  It was the first time I was not slightly embarrassed by our very old and a bit beat up Suburban and our not stylish clothing.

I grew up in this busy  lifestyle of achieving with the purpose of earning money to buy a home, cars, and shop.  And I also grew up with a loving family.  The two can certainly co-exist.  But I was not brought up with the idea that there are other ways to live.  Many family members do judge our family and wonder what in the world we are doing and do not understand.

I was simply struck with the pleasant realization that I had grown enough in my own life choices where that last bit of longing had ceased.  It was a nice feeling.

Warm wishes, Tonya

The Rustic Reality

When our family made the decision to move to Vermont from Massachusetts five years ago almost to the date, we knew what our goals were, however, we did not know exactly what steps would make up the process.

First we rented a home in a little village in northern Vermont, then we bought an old mobile home and put it on leased land and lived there, off grid, for over two years.  During this time, I prayed often, that God would know our needs and that we would be able to find a way to provide for our family.  After Abraham was born while we lived there, we were truly bursting at the seams space-wise.  However, one of our goals has been to have home based business and to work toward self-sufficiency and farming.  Earning a large income was not likely with this plan nor was it a goal of ours (it is not today either).

Just one mile down the road from the mobile home we found our home just a little over a year ago.  A place large enough for our growing family, private, enough land to grow food and have chickens and goats, and perhaps a couple of sheep.  The rustic cottage, however, had been neglected and on it was one very run down barn.  We were blessed to have all of this while staying within our budget for housing.

Well, this house is not fit for the pages of Country Living to say the least.  However, we are working hard each day to make improvements.

Because the basement was excavated last summer, we have mounds of soil here and there.  We are using shovels (yes shovels) to spread the soil in certain areas to help with drainage, make visible areas more attractive, and to make pasture for the goats (coming soon, I hope).

I just wanted to share a little of the reality that is our homestead.

front of the barn

The side of the barn.

The chickens are in the back part here now but we will be moving them to a free standing coop to make room for two goats.

I have been shoveling soil down from this nearby mound into this area, filling it in and then we will grade it away from the barn.  The shoveling has been so wonderful for my body and soul.

The boys working together.

Sarah tending her flower store on top of a mound.

Warm wishes for a beautiful weekend,

Tonya