Prudent Living, an Upper Valley company offering services, strategies, products and a community that encourage a prudent way of life, is celebrating the one-year anniversary of its popular blog On the Home Front in October. The blog, which features everything from how to make homemade dog biscuits and tips on growing blueberries to a recipe for a seven layer salad and advice on what to do with left over Christmas candy canes, is one of the community-building facets of Prudent Living and part of the company’s vision for a greener, sustainable, prudent world.

The blog, which has received more than 50,000 hits since January, is written by Prudent Living’s Nancy Wolff, a frugal gardener and homemaker who has been living a prudent life with her family for more than 32 years. While the blog is short, relevant, interesting and colorful with great photos and video illustrating smart ways to live more prudently, Wolff believes its popularity is due to something more fundamental. “I think the timing is right for this blog,” she commented. “People are interested in making better use of their resources, cooking from scratch, preserving their food and gardening. I have four focuses–frugality, gardening, prudent pantry and  recipes–and touching on those four, I gather and empower a wider audience.” 

On the Home Front will feature a One Year Celebration Contest each week in October to honor the four areas of the blog’s focus. The Frugal Contest Giveaway features three books to help users live a more frugal life:  Money-Saving Mom's Budget by Crystal Paine, The Tightwad Gazette by Amy  Dacyczn and The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey.  The Garden Contest Giveaway is one of Wolff’s personal favorites, the Korean Weeder Cultivator, donated by Garden Tool Co. with a compost bucket for the kitchen counter and a book about growing your own food, The Heirloom Life Gardener  by Jere and Emilee Gettle and Meghan Sutherland. The Prudent Pantry Contest Giveaway is a WonderMill Grain Mill. The Recipe Box Contest Giveaway is a Ball Enamel Waterbath Canner with a four-piece utensil set and The Ball Complete Book of Canning.

“Nancy does a wonderful job bringing the concept of Prudent Living full circle and providing people with great ideas and strategies to implement around the home,” said Tim Biebel, Vice-President of Prudent Living. “What On the Home Front is able to relate to people is that there is always something they can do with the resources they have, which is an important part of our vision.”

Wolff, who posts four days a week, has yet to run out of subjects.  Her favorites? Making personal products such as hand cream and lip balm.  For Wolff, the satisfaction comes not just from the prudence aspect of the work; for her, the learning and sharing are equally important. “On the Home Front focuses on what people can do at home,” she explains. “Maybe you can’t put solar panels on your house today, but there are things you can do right now that are easy and fast and can change your lifestyle–maybe even the world.  Prudent Living is more than just green and sustainable building, it’s a culture change. It’s a vision of a community that lives prudently in every way–whether it’s building a green home or canning your own tomato sauce.”   

Prudent Living is an Upper Valley company offering services, strategies, products and a community that encourage a prudent way of life.  Started in 2009 by Biebel Builders, quality home and commercial builders in Windsor, Vermont since 1976, Prudent Living provides customers with energy-efficient architectural design; green strategies for homebuilding and renovation; energy audits; and renewable alternatives such as solar, wind and geothermal. More than just builders of houses, Prudent Living helps people build an intentional life –whether it’s by carefully managing natural resources, spending more wisely by investing in a home energy audit and energy efficient upgrades, or by safeguarding the health of the planet and contributing positively to the environment. The Prudent Living community relies on the dynamic web site, informative blogs and free quarterly Prudent Living e-Magazine for practical suggestions for daily life. The company will soon launch Prudent Living Market, an e-commerce site of prudent products. To visit the blog, go to http://homefront.prudentliving.com/. For more information about Prudent Living, go to www.prudentliving.com or www.prudentlivingmagazine.com

"Nancy does a wonderful job bringing the concept of Prudent Living full circle and providing people with great ideas and strategies to implement around the home," said Tim Biebel, Vice-President of Prudent Living. "What On the Home Front is able to relate to people is that there is always something they can do with the resources they have, which is an important part of our vision."