themartianchick Posted August 23, 2010 Share Posted August 23, 2010 Hello, everyone! A post by LunaMother on another forum led me to Mrs. S about a year ago. I've been lurking ever since. I tend to do that for a while before joining a forum. My husband and I live in an urban setting in Central NY State. We have two children that are currently in college, so we are both working diligently to get them through school without creating any debt. We consider ourselves to be urban homesteaders.We heat our home primarily with wood, raise chickens, quail and lots of vegetables. I can, freeze and dehydrate to preserve as much food as possible and I am a self-proclaimed coupon queen. Professionally, I work as a small business consultant for a non-profit agency. If I can be of service to anyone here, please let me know. (This isn't an attempt to solicit services. My advice is given freely to anyone who asks.) I am also a freelance business and agricultural writer and have just recently finished writing my first novel. I'm really looking forward to participating in the forums here and especially hope to learn a lot from all of you! Link to comment
Cat Posted August 23, 2010 Share Posted August 23, 2010 LOVE the name!!!! May I ask why you chose that one? Because you feel out of sync with your neighbors, perhaps? Welcome, and jump right in. I always wonder why people lurk when there is just so much more fun in joining us. If there's anything we can help you find, just ask. There's lots of stuff here and we can search out whatever you're looking for! Link to comment
MomM Posted August 23, 2010 Share Posted August 23, 2010 Welcome! Glad you are here and posting. This is a great place! Link to comment
vigilant20 Posted August 23, 2010 Share Posted August 23, 2010 Welcome aboard! Always good to see another urban homesteader Link to comment
themartianchick Posted August 23, 2010 Author Share Posted August 23, 2010 LOVE the name!!!! May I ask why you chose that one? Because you feel out of sync with your neighbors, perhaps? That is exactly correct! I was raised in the country and though I lost touch with my roots for awhile, I've never quite been into the things that city folks seem to think are important. I have no desire to own a Gucci handbag nor do I need 3 inch dragon lady nails!Give me some new gardening tools and I'm pretty happy. Thank you all for the warm welcome! Link to comment
Dee Posted August 23, 2010 Share Posted August 23, 2010 Welcome to Mrs. S. It's a great place. I am amazed at my city relatives. Their clothes, their hair, their nails, just like you said. DH and I work outside most of the day and when we come in in the evening we shower, wash our hair and are good to go. Nails...hey, we clean them. Hair, hey, we wash and brush it. Handbag, I don't even carry one anymore. I'm also amazed that almost every lunch and supper is eaten out when we visit someone in the city. While we're eating lunch we discuss where we'll eat supper. Hey, this place or that place is great, we love it. I so badly want to say, hey, let's fix something here and just sit back, relax and have a nice visit. Yep, martian chick, you'll fit right in here. Link to comment
Amishway Homesteaders Posted August 23, 2010 Share Posted August 23, 2010 W E L C O M E Glad to see another urban homesteader here. and also from New York - our neck of the woods. looking forward to all your great posts (and get hubby in here too). Michael of the: Amishway Homesteadders Link to comment
Trudy Posted August 23, 2010 Share Posted August 23, 2010 Welcome martianchick! You have found a great forum.I was recently a lurker here also, but one day I decided to jump right in, and I've never been sorry! Everyone here is kind and helpful (and a lot of good fun also.) It's a good place to relax, unwind, and learn a lot too. I know you will make many new friends. Link to comment
themartianchick Posted August 23, 2010 Author Share Posted August 23, 2010 Hi, Michael! I visited the Amish area near Penn Yan last weekend. We usually visit the Montezuma Wildlife refuge from time to time to bird watch. Such beautiful countryside. I will see if I can convince hubby to post here occasionally, he doesn't usually participate in forums, though he often reads over my shoulders when I am on one! Link to comment
Ambergris Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 Welcome, MC. Who are you querying with your novel? Link to comment
TractorDiva Posted August 25, 2010 Share Posted August 25, 2010 Welcome out into the open...I'm looking forward to reading your posts. I, too, work for a non-profit here in CA. Our focus is public health. But in my REAL life we live on a homestead in the foothills. Link to comment
themartianchick Posted August 25, 2010 Author Share Posted August 25, 2010 Welcome, MC. Who are you querying with your novel? Thanks for the welcome, Ambergris! I am planning to self-publish through Amazon.Eventually, I'd like to lure a more traditional publisher. One of my other sidelines is doing voice-over work for commercials and PSA's, so I'd like to record it for the folks who tend to enjoy audio books. I also plan to include the first chapter of the book that I am currently working on as a sort of teaser to encourage folks to read the second one. I have quite a bit of marketing experience with other products, but marketing a books will be new to me. Edited to add: I just noticed that you are from North Florida. We own a piece of property near Ocala. What a beautiful area! I fell in love with Silver Springs many years ago. At one point we thought about relocating to Florida but the houses were so expensive at the time. North Florida was about the only affordable place in the state. After so many years of living in the cold, I still dream of gettting to a warmer climate. (Sigh) Someday... Link to comment
themartianchick Posted August 25, 2010 Author Share Posted August 25, 2010 Welcome out into the open...I'm looking forward to reading your posts. I, too, work for a non-profit here in CA. Our focus is public health. But in my REAL life we live on a homestead in the foothills. Thank you, TractorDiva! Public health is probably the one area that my non-profit doesn't focus on! We are a housing agency that decided to add economic development to create strong communities. Then, we included youth entrepreneurship training programs. About 9 years ago, we opened a center to assist folks with starting their own businesses and created a program to help young adults get their GED's while learning a trade. I am so glad that my executive director doesn't read here at Mrs. S. He might get the idea to start a public health program and I think that I would cry if I were asked to do one more program with dwindling funds, staffing and resources! Of course, like most people who work for non-profits, I love what I do and can't think of a more rewarding way to earn money. I can't wait to get my homestead, though! Link to comment
Mt_Rider Posted August 26, 2010 Share Posted August 26, 2010 Welcome, MartianChick. I'm a "Vulcan", btw. If you've lurked for that long [i did for 8 months...lol] you know we have a whole forum for Urban Homesteading. But if any other lurkers don't know....scroll down and find it. Everyone has to learn this stuff. Sounds like you have already engaged in many self-sufficiency activities already. Hope to see you around. MtRider Link to comment
Ambergris Posted August 26, 2010 Share Posted August 26, 2010 Welcome, MC. Who are you querying with your novel? Thanks for the welcome, Ambergris! I am planning to self-publish through Amazon.Eventually, I'd like to lure a more traditional publisher. One of my other sidelines is doing voice-over work for commercials and PSA's, so I'd like to record it for the folks who tend to enjoy audio books. I also plan to include the first chapter of the book that I am currently working on as a sort of teaser to encourage folks to read the second one. I have quite a bit of marketing experience with other products, but marketing a books will be new to me. Edited to add: I just noticed that you are from North Florida. We own a piece of property near Ocala. What a beautiful area! I fell in love with Silver Springs many years ago. At one point we thought about relocating to Florida but the houses were so expensive at the time. North Florida was about the only affordable place in the state. After so many years of living in the cold, I still dream of gettting to a warmer climate. (Sigh) Someday... I'm told the Kindle self-pub system is a better bet than SMASHWORDS because Kindle has the organization down pat and readers can find you without (a) already knowing you're there or (b.) stumbling over you by luck--or pure stubbornness. SMASHWORDS has everything thrown randomly in together. I'm assuming you're familiar with the Konrath posts on this topic? I'd be interested to hear your impressions as you go through this. Link to comment
themartianchick Posted August 27, 2010 Author Share Posted August 27, 2010 I'd heard that Kindle was the easiest to work with. I plan to share the process with anyone that I can. I've never liked to "sit" on information that could benefit others. I'm still editing this weekend and plan to force myself to commit to publishing it sooner rather than later. It is very easy for someone like me to get hooked on improving things indefinitely! I am quite fond of J.A. Konrath's books, but didn't realize until recently that the website had such helpful information. It is always nice when someone is willing to show others the ropes! Link to comment
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