Some people think that being a Homesteader means you have to go to bed at sundown, and can't watch TV or have any fun.Baloney!
In the Summer, the sun doesn't even go down until 8 or 9 at night so you have plenty of light to have fun. In the Winter, light a fire in the fireplace or woodstove, or an olive oil lamp. Here are a few suggestions to pass the time until bed:
- Play board games: We have been collecting board games for several years now, and have quite a stash... Chutes and Ladders, Life, Sequence, Pictionary, Battleship, Yaht5zee, Trivial Pursuit, Clue, and many more. We also buy extra pieces that we pick up at yard/garage sales (like dices, play money, etc.)
- Cards games: Poker, old maid, and many more can be very fun! We also have Uno, and are teaching the Tween how to play solitaire.
- Storytelling: This is becoming a lost art. Tell stories of your youth, of your heritage, or even get out mythology books and read bits and pieces from them. Here's another: have one person start a story, the next person add a bit more, and the next person, and so on, going around the circle several times until it's time to end.
- Music: Have a jam session! Get a guitar now, and a couple of books teaching how to play it. What about a ukelele? A recorder ($1.00 at the dollar store)? Drums? Keyboard? Harmonica? Stock up on all the music and songbooks you can find at yard sales.
- Camp in the backyard with a tent and sleeping bags, with a small safe fire, roasting marshmallows and making s'mores. Look up at the stars or clouds. Listen to the birds, your chickens, or your goats.
- Other: Play dolls, trains, cars, dress up, etc. Play catch with the dog and your kid. Do a craft like quilting. Draw pictures or color.
There are so many things that people used to do ... before television. If you don't have anything in your home to entertain you with no electricity, then you need to get some. And if you don't want to, well, why are you on this website?
What are YOUR suggestions for entertainment at home that don't involve electricity?
3 comments:
ok so what about the portable generator and solar panels to run the computer lab without grid electricity.. So 20th century..
haha..the stead is a self-survivng entity if it has to be. With enough stuff to keep the teens and kids busy during an outage.. Even in winter..
That's true. There are definitely chores to do. But in an effort to get back to non-electric entertainment, I wanted to come up with ideas that didn't involve electricity, even that generated by solar panels, etc. Activities that brings the family together.
Board games are cool.. As well as nature hunts and foraging expeditions.. Friday and Saturday mornings the kids and I go foraging around the neighborhood for new goodies that others have discarded. On Saturdays I go foraging and scaven ging for excess produce and food for us as well as books and stuff that I can snag for free.
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