Crooked Still Concert at the Ark

Me and the boys headed up to Ann Arbor to the world famous ARK to watch a cool accoustic Americana band called Crooked Still.  Sweeeeet! This band is from the east coast and we managed to get some nice tickets at the last moment so we rounded up the band and headed out.

It was a great experience, but then, when is it not fun to go to the Ark.   Way cool place… in Ann Arbor, MI.   You can visit their site here…  www.theark.org It’s a very intimate little theater/listening room place, and though it can probably seat about 300 or so, it doesn’t feel huge, it’s just wonderful.  It’s like being in someone’s living room and listening up close and friendly like!

Crooked Still is just one of those great bands that you have to see to really enjoy.  Superb musicians, all of them and the lead singer’s voice is simply angelic.  Just a really neat mix of mountainy music, folks sounds, bluegrass, and yet with a hip and urban mix to the sound.  Truely unique and very well recieved.  I must admit though… I simply adore when they play Little Sadie…. great song.

crookedstill

Check these guys out at their website…

www.crookedstill.com

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Bread Store Visit

mhw-bread

We love bread from the fancy bread store.

It’s called  Country Grains Bread Co.,  and they make some of the best bread around…  just the best stuff and without all the time and effort.   I love supporting another small business owner.   Sure, I can make bread, I can.   But you know, once I found this place I thought…  why should I?  I can visit here once or twice a week, get AWFULLY great good bread and it’s about the same cost if I did it all myself, AND I don’t have to messy up my kitchen and all!

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Now you might say… oh my gosh!   I can make bread cheaper than $7.25 a loaf!   But you see….   they have day old bread, every day.  And it’s half price.  And many times, it’s buy 2 get one free.   And they have a punch card program as well.   So I usually get my breads for about $3 a loaf.   Which is a wonderful thing.

No preservatives, nothing weird, just flour and yeast and good stuff…. it’s awesome bread.   And makes you feel good.  And it freezes great.

Now you might be wondering…   well, that’s not a good thing for homesteading, you need to make everything yourself and all that stuff.   Well, that’s more self-sustainable living, and I’m not quite into that.   As an urban homesteader, and in fact any homesteader, I believe that it’s almost impossible to become totally self-sustaining.   Sure you can try, and you can greatly reduce your dependance on many resources, but in the end, you need tools, iron, metals, medicines, and so much more.

My thoughts are to live as simply as possible, yet to also barter and trade for the things you can not do yourself.   Most homesteaders of the west did not worry about being “green” and their carbon footprints.  No way.  They were trying as hard as possible to eek out a living and make a place for thier children’s children.  They sought inventions and labor saving devices, they wanted technology.   It’s just that they had to make do with their own resourcefulness many times because there just wasn’t a Walmart or Home Depot around the corner.

And you can bet they supported each other’s small businesses…  such as a baker or a candler, or spinner, or something with a knack for raising pigs or whatever.  The doctor was not out tending his flocks and fields… no, he was using his skills in a trade and bater process for those other things he needed to survive.   The blacksmith was not planting fields of corn… he was smithing.   And neighbors helped neighbors with the tough chores and things that needed many hands.

That’s homesteading.

Taking a piece of land or a old abandoned moby and making it new and vibrant again.   Bringing you cost of living down and being comfortable with it, and saving and investing in your future.   Making use of what you are given and using trade and barter to help your fellow man.   All good stuff in my book.

And that’s why our bread comes from the bread seller.

I wonder if they need some new printing and graphics, or maybe a nice website?  :-)

Oh my gosh… they don’t.  Hmmmmmmm….  Stay Tuned!

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Copus Hill T-Shirt Trip

Well last Friday…  I got to make my first road trip with the new Lumina van!   Well, it’s a used van, but still, it was the first four hour road trip.   Two hours out and two hours back… on a trip to Bucyrus Ohio to drop off some t-shirts we designed and printed for my good pal Mike Ball from the Copus Hill Bluegrass band!

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I work with a great screenprinter, John from the Say Something Shirt Company, here in Toledo.   I love working with other home based businesses and John does such an awesome job of taking my designs and making them perfect for my clients!

And I was so excited to actually make it out and about in the Lumi!  I so want to start going out to jams and festivals and to go camping and such with the girls this spring and summer.  It’s something that we love to do and it’s been FOREVER since we did it.   I want to take them out and about to gather rocks and minerals from various cool local places.

So when I got to this point of the trip and was headed back…. I was a happy gal!  It was a very pleasant ride and a nice crisp day outside.

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Yeah…. that’s my lucky squirrel.   I like squirrels….  (g)

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