Halloween Duckling

My one and a half year old loves ducks!  We have Indian Runner ducks and he follows them around the yard flapping and quacking.  I asked him if he would like to dress up like a duckling and he squealed in glee!  I figured, hey, let's go out this Halloween.  The next town over closes off part of their downtown for kids and families to enjoy some safe trick or treating fun.  He can't really eat the candy yet (which I'm totally fine with!) but he can wander around and quack at people!

I decided to make a costume.  I didn't want to pay five times as much for a costume made from cheap materials when I could spend a few bucks and make one.  Money is always tight on a homestead. Also, I wanted it to be warm enough for a Maine Halloween night.

Total cost: $2
Materials: an old brown knit sweater, old orange striped pants, orange and yellow feather boas, suspender clips (or safety pins), cardboard box, orange crayon, yarn.  If you don't have brown or orange clothes, you can dye natural fibers yellow, orange, or brown with turmeric.

The first step was weaving the feathers onto the arms to make wings.  I bought two feather boas, one yellow, one orange.  They cost $1 each at Goodwill.  Actually, I couldn't find an orange one and got a white one which I dyed orange using orange Koolaid and vinegar.

Cut several short lengths of yarn and stitch them into a row on each sleeve.  A tapestry needle is ideal for this.  However, I can never EVER find a tapestry needle in my house.  In a pinch, a bobby pin works well, too. I suggest spacing them out an inch or two.  NOTE: if you do not want the yarn to be visible in the finished costume, turn the sweater inside-out before weaving the yarn through.  I like the way the orange yarn looked with the feathers, so I left it on the outside.

Next, cut lengths of the feather boa to run down the sleeve.  Place them inside the spread out yarn pieces.  Tie them tightly onto the sleeve.  Voila!  Wings!

Next, you need a tail!  Bunch up the remaining feather boas, fold them upward until the length is everything you dreamed of, and tie it off.   I wanted my kiddo to be able to sit and fit into his car seat without having to change his pants, so I attached the tail to his pants with suspender clips.  I happened to have them lying around.  Safety pins would work just as well.  To attach it to the pants, leave lenghts of yarn long when you tie the feathers together.  Attach the ends to the clips or safety pins and clip them onto the waistband when you get where you're going!

Last, but not least, a bill and feet!  We had a cardboard box hanging around so I drew a bill and some feet onto it and let my kiddo color them with orange crayon.  I finished the coloring for him because 18 month olds are not great at coloring in the lines. ;)

 I haven't cut them out yet, but I will.  I'll attach them with more yarn and tie them around his hat and boots.  I'll update with a photo on Halloween!  We're not going to wear it until then because the feathers tend to get everywhere.  The best part about this costume is that the clothes go right back to normal after Halloween.  They don't fit Charlie very well anymore, but who knows... we may need them as hand-me-downs someday...

Happy costuming everyone!

Welcome to the Back Forty

Welcome!  I'm Allie, a mom on a homestead on the side of a mountain in Maine.  My husband, Andrew, and I have a beautiful son, Charlie, and we have chosen to raise him in as natural and "crunchy" a way as possible.  We live in an off-grid log cabin on a private road.  We balance part time work with homesteading and parenting.

Being an off-grid parent is certainly an adventure.  But being a parent is an adventure, anyway.  I often hear, “wow that must be so much work,” or, “good for you!  I could never do it!”  In truth, it is a lot of work, and no, it isn’t for everyone.  But it isn’t as difficult as people imagine it to be.

One myth I’d like to dispel is that we have no electricity.  We do.  It’s just powered by the sun and we don’t have to pay for it.  Winters can get a little interesting, when we don’t have the long days that fuel us through the summer.  Our system of electricity just requires more consciousness of how we are using our energy and if we are doing so responsibly.  Frankly, I think we could all be a little more conscientious of our power consumption, whether we are on or off the grid.

Another frequently asked question: “What do you do about water?”  We have running water.  We have a well and an electric well pump.  We’d like to invest in a solar well pump, but that’s another story for another day.  Because the well pump draws so much power, we are, again, more conscientious of how much water we use.  This being said, I do know other off-grid families who do not have running water—it can work just fine.  We haven’t chosen that path.

What off-grid really means to us is “sacrificing” those things that we consider superfluous amenities. We don’t have cable or satellite TV.  In fact, we don’t have a TV.  Nor do we pay for internet.  Instead, I have a reliable smart phone with a 6GB data plan.  That amount of data easily allows us to check email, Google things that need Googling, and write a blog.  We find these “sacrifices” actually simplify our lives.  We do work hard here, so time is valuable.  Time is valuable no matter what.  Devoting less time to a screen, for us, means more time for gardening, reading to our son, or splitting wood.  So yes, we work long, difficult hours.  But we have simply chosen to work those hours at home harvesting our own food and fuel instead of spending that time at full-time jobs away from home to make money to pay for those same things.

Choosing the homesteading life does occasionally require some creativity, I’ll grant you that.  We’ve had our share of obstacles and mishaps.  But we always seem to be better off on the other side of each obstacle.  Each time something breaks, we find a way to repair it in a way that it is stronger and more reliable than it was in the first place.  We like to think of each obstacle as an opportunity.  It isn’t always easy.  And having children out here… Well, creativity and optimism don’t even begin to cover it.