Hi

[beeorganic]

Ok, they say first impressions are the most important; However, after two previous attempts to post my introduction- I'm in a very curmudgenous mood right now (whist I curse my slow, fat fingers for hitting the wrong keys resulting in deletion of my posts)... so I'm going to be as brief and to the point as possible... before I lose a 3rd post.

I'm a 44 year old male, currently residing in central Illinois and hopefully will be relocating to Arkansas in a few months to start work constructing a house on my homestead property. Single, never married, no kids and 100% heterosexual.

My hobbies and interests include those which revolve around homesteading and being as self-suffiecient as possible. To list a few... beekeeping, blacksmithing, organic vegetable gardening, winemaking (even though I don't drink), woodworking, canning, and inventing. Feel free to persue my yahoo profile photo album if interested in samplings of my work and such. Any questions... feel free to PM as well.

[Marie78]

Hi and

[autumnlynn]

Hi and welcome to the Village!! Great to have you here.

[baxjul]

Hello and welcome from Florida!

[getnrichslowly]

Hi and welcome to the village!

[FrugalMomof3]

Hello from PA! Welcome to the Village

[Darlene]

Lol, glad you got the post finished, sent & hope your mood has improved.
Welcome to the Village, go ahead & make yourself at home.

You might be interested in one of our sister sites if you haven't been there already, lots of homesteading talk there. www.homesteadgarden.com Congratulations on your upcoming move, how exciting!

[JustJoy]

Hello &

[Sara Noel]

to frugal village.

[kaykwilts]

to the village. I looking forward to hearing your input on organic gardening and your other hobbies. You will find some like minded people here.

[cheappearls]

Hey there!

[Edna_E]

Welcome. Also, sympathy. My fingers stumble over each other sometimes, and I'm a computer professional of several decades! I catch my self wanting to say "you sound interesting" and fearing that it will be misconstrued. So, take the words, and don't read any more into them than they say. I don't know squat about beekeeping or blacksmithting - so maybe I'll learn!

[AheeK]

Hi there and welcome to Fraugal Village!

[beeorganic]

Thanks for the warm welcome. It appears I'm caught between sites now... here and homestead Garden. I've decided to classify myself as an "extreme frugaltarian". There is truely a method to my madness in taking frugality to a new level. The only thing I am willing to spend the big bucks on are tools. Hand tools, power tools, specialty tools, tools (jigs) I've invented to make a project easier. An Example- As I mentioned in my intial post, beekeeping is one of several hobbies/interests I have. The sequence of my thought process- buy the right tools to be able to make my own hive bodies, supers, frames, and associated items for beekeeping- saving hundreds of dollars. The bees and wax foundation were the only items I had to purchase initially. Currently working on a way to make my own foundation. Bees cost me 40.00 for a 3 lb package which included a fertilized queen (a healthy hive can be spilt into separate colonies the following year... doubling your numbers by the end of the year). A few years ago, I was able to obtain 2, 55 gallon drums filled with powdered corn sugar for free. Fed the bees the sugar solution of a 1 to 1 ratio as so they could get a quicker start on drawing out the foundation into comb and not have to waste time or energy looking for sugar sources. I used the bees to pollinate my fruit trees and crops in the garden (which increased yields) to can/preserve (saving money again by not having to buy as much fruits and vegetables). Harvesting of the honey (no need to buy sugar at the store). A pollen trap can be placed on the bottom hive board (some health food stores are willing to purchase it) along with royal jelly. Beeswax- can go into a plethora of homemade products from candles to lip balms. From the honey, made Mead (honey wine) to give away for holiday presents. I've developed a gourmet honey mustard and bbq sauce (which I've entertained the idea of manufacturing and marketing on a limited scale... a holiday tri-pack). All these items from just possessing the right tools intially and being able to make my own equipment. Frugal homesteader or homestead frugality?

A little more personal insight of myself. Three years ago, I shot a television pilot for HGTV and Discovery Home appropriatley titled "The Scrounge Masters". It revolved around making PRACTICAL and useful things for the home and garden- all from scrounged/discarded items. Featured items I made- A blacksmithing forge from the brake drum of a truck, a piece of pipe, some angle iron, and a blower from a discarded microwave oven. Raised beds for vegetable gardens made from discarded wooded shipping pallets. A "Manly" watering can made from an old 5 gallon joint compound bucket and a scrounged piece of garden hose. Unfortunately, for whatever reasons... the network executives in their infinite wisdom decided not to develop the program into a series; However, was able to get it to air on our local NBC affliate for free, which was satisfaction enough for me.

If I start to ramble here... feel free to give me a gentle nudge to shut up.

[GMA21]

&