Homesteaders

[MountainMamaHST]

Not sure if there's a link buried in here for homesteaders but I figured I'd start this one to talk with some of you guys.

We are new to homesteading. We've always had veggie gardens but never on the scale we are undertaking now. It will be about 3/4 or 2/3 of an acre (haven't measured it out yet) in addition to beds all over our property (2 acres total). We are going to have two ducks and 10 chickens total. We were going to get goats but would rather wait until we are fully on a farm setting before that undertaking.

There are three of us (me, DH, and DS who is 2) with a dog, a cat, 5 chicks and two ducks at this point.

We are wanting to be more self sufficient, eliminate our debt, and save money to buy a small farm (farmette as I call it!) I'm getting into canning, I've been knitting/crocheting for years now, and we both work outside the home.

Anyone else into this kind of life? I'd love to eventually have one of leave work and be fulltime on this project!!!

 

[TOP KNOT]

I am a homestead wanna be. I plant a large garden grind flour and bake bread. I hang my cloths on the line (weather permitting) I just received 43 chicks for meat and eggs. I want to be free of chemicals the factories try to feed us! My reason is health, for my husband, myself, family and for the animals to be raised humanely.I also work full time as a package car driver. I am currently home due to a broken leg. (horse fell on me) I think that it is great you are doing what you are doing!! Being close to the earth is so healthy in so many ways!! Hope to talk to you again

 

[The Farmers' Daughter]

Howdy
I'm living on 98 acres totally off grid in north central Alberta. Solar power, wood stove & no water.
Right now I have 2 butcher hogs (3rd was butchered a few weeks ago), 4 buckeye hens and a rooster and 3 cats (2 are mousers). Hoping to add a dog next summer and eventually some cattle or bison. Right now we've got 60 acres of alfalfa and about half an acre ready for a garden next summer.

Looking forward to chatting with everyone and picking up some tips & tricks along the way.

 

[itsasmallfarm]

well caught a mink today. pretty crazy, just a few feet from the chicken coop, saw his tracks the other day and made a special mink box, and today around or between 2:00-4:00 PM caught him in a 120 conibear. clean kill, now going to skin him and attempt to tan its hide. good day trapping/defending the chickens

 

[Moorwitch]

New to homesteading, but loving it. We have an acre, but we are putting it to good use.
We have chickens, goats, ducks, rabbits, and a pig. Come spring, we will start working on the garden. We have not even been here a year, and I am planning on planting some fruit trees.
I can what I can. Freeze what I can. Make homemade bread, butter, apple butter, try and be as waste free as we can. I am trying to find as many things I can make to use the goats milk with. Hubby does a lot of the building and repairing as he can (or me if it come to plumbing). I just wish that we had done this years ago!

 

[wyoDreamer]

Start now with some tomatoes in pots. Cherry tomatoes at the back door or spinach in the window box. Maybe some chives in a pot in the kitchen. Start somewhere and make it a part of your lifestyle. As you get stuff going, it will be easier to add more to your lifestyle.

 

[Serenashome]

I've been reading through this debate the past couple of days and it seems to be the core of it is fairly simple. People judge each other. I see nothing wrong with the original question asked as I think it came from a sincere desire to learn and understand something.

Is it ok to have a chicken as a family pet? Yes.
Is it ok to have a chicken as an egg producer only? Yes.
Is it ok to have a chicken as an egg producer and as food? Yes.
Is it ok to name your chicken or not name your chicken? Yes to both.
Is it ok to name your chicken and then eat it or not eat it? Yes to both.

Do any of those questions and answers above make me a more superior human being? No.
Does someone who eats, names, cuddles, culls, or raises chickens in another state directly impact how I raise chickens and my family? Probably not.
Have I in the past giggled at someone walking a chicken on a leash? Yes I am guilty of that.

Does any of these answers make me less sympathetic or sentimental than someone I know only through the internet? How in the world can you gauge that?

Now for my two cents on the actual question. When you give something, anything, a title or a name you give it a deeper meaning than it had without one. Take a pet rock for instance. It's a rock, until you call it a pet rock then it becomes a marketing sensation and people hold on to them for years. Why? It's just a rock right? Once you give anything a value it changes your perception of it. Some people find deep meanings in names and therefore once something is named their attachment of it grows. For some people this means they cannot eat the chicken, for some people it gives that chicken a deeper value when it is eaten, some people don't attribute a value at all. I think that the value is different for all of us. I do not think however it makes any one of us superior to the other.

I hope this was helpful to someone.

 

[rancher hicks]

Anyone homesteading with a toddler? I don't get any of our projects done it seems, we've been here almost a year and I'm not sure I have much to show for it!

Well now I will say I've had four and I'm a firm believer in "Play pens". Seems today folks don't care for them but our grandparents weren't dummies. We also used to have one that you could expand out into a big circle. There was a chance of a pinched finger but I just did a little, have a look at the kid, did a little had a look at the kid, did a little................ and things got done.

I''m also not a big fan of laundry being in the basement. Ours is on the first floor. The wife worked nights and I was fine. Made dinner or she made it before she left, but Dad's got to help out if Mom works outside the home. So get yourself a nice play pen and set it up near where you are working. Drop in some toys and keep safe snacks and drinks in a cooler and take frequent breaks. You should be fine. Small progress is better than none.

Raised beds make gardening easy and you can do a couple of beds each day for weeds and tyeing tomatoes. (I hang rope from hay bales over the fence. I have mail boxes with tools (knife/scissors, etc. in side on the post nearby) near each gate. Planning is key to everything. Today while no kids, I'm older you see, so I'll plan to do a couple of things or more and if one gets done that's progress.

I'm learning to keep just enough chickens that I can easily care for. Still have chicks hatching with broody hens. Cheap and easy. I'll cull and give away the ones I don't want for replacements. If you don't care free chickens can be a god send. An ugly hen that lays is better than a Beyonce' who doesn't. The rooster might like her but males are stupid that way.

If I plan to make jelly, I'll get everything out and set up and then the next day pick and squash the currants and cook them run them through a cheese cloth and put them in the fridge for the next. Or something like that. May pick and cook the berries first and then get the jars and canner out last. I'm working outside the home now too. I'm learning to budget my time. Time is money.

Remember plan, don't go anywhere without a pad and pen to write things down.

I wish you all well, life is good,

Rancher, got to keep moving, Hicks.

 

[CLSranch]

Stakes, t-post or panels puts a huge dent in anybody's wallet getting a lot at one time. I do the same with those of getting a few at a time.
Rome wasn't built in a day. Progress is progress.

P.S. It's a boy 8lbs 13.6oz.
yay us.

 

[lazy gardener]

My SIL bought me a book: Foraging New England. Poking through it tonight, I identified some plants that will be making it into my spring meals.