Homesteaders

[RentaPig311]

I object to the people calling themselves homesteader wannabes. Us "wannabes" are really the heart of the homestead life style. Homesteading is all about being self sufficient and doing the best you can with what you got. I feel it's about using creative means to reach your goals and most importantly understanding that today's zombie like culture and self mutilating food culture is not natural, and trying to do something about it. Most of us weren't blessed to be on large lands but finding a way to live this life style on a small city lot where the majority of the population lives is amazing. Honestly I think the under funded homesteader on a small city lot is a lot more impressive than the rich guy that dropped out of society to live in Alaska. The adaptability of a city dwelling homesteaders really embodies what the life style is all about. Homesteading today looks a lot different than it used too and too many people get caught up with being down on themselves for not having a big ranch or being a newbie.


Stepping off my soap box:

My wife and I are expecting our first child in March and are running our small operation out of a rental house on about 3/4 acres. We have a 150 pound Irish Wolf Hound, a 15 pound street dog we adopted, and 7 chickens. We Foster for the Humane society and have pups coming in an out. Our rental is 1.7 miles from the Down town square. We keep an 8x4 raised bed and some containers for our garden. We haven't been able to grow year round yet but we are learning with every grow. We have 3 Ameraucanas, one silky, and 3 French Black Copper Maran chicks still in the brooder. In the spring we are hoping to start an Oliver Egger project with them.

My dream is to one day be completely off the grid inside the city the limits. Once the student loans are paid for I would like to go full time and try to provide the local establishments with real meat and eggs. I want as many people as possible to be as close to their food as we are. When we eat an egg or a bird we know exactly who it is from or who it was. I dream of being able to supply the public with the same knowledge. How cool would it be to buy a dozen eggs and have a photo of the hen inside the carton and a hand written date on the shell?



Edit: In the mean time our focus is learning how Grow, pickle, ferment and store our crop. North Texas can be a challenging area to be grow in.

 

[UnlabeledMama]

I object to the people calling themselves homesteader wannabes. Us "wannabes" are really the heart of the homestead life style. Homesteading is all about being self sufficient and doing the best you can with what you got. I feel it's about using creative means to reach your goals and most importantly understanding that today's zombie like culture and self mutilating food culture is not natural, and trying to do something about it. Most of us weren't blessed to be on large lands but finding a way to live this life style on a small city lot where the majority of the population lives is amazing. Honestly I think the under funded homesteader on a small city lot is a lot more impressive than the rich guy that dropped out of society to live in Alaska. The adaptability of a city dwelling homesteaders really embodies what the life style is all about. Homesteading today looks a lot different than it used too and too many people get caught up with being down on themselves for not having a big ranch or being a newbie.

Well said!

 

[boskelli1571]

It sounds really odd, but something that might help with your deer problem is wolf urine. My husband's family swears buy it. An Uncle used to own some and it deterred everything, from coyotes who were eating out of the pond and the neighbors cats, to deer in the garden and a cougar that came into the neighborhood. Hubby says you can probably buy off of the internet. You just sprinkle it on the posts around your garden or hang it on a string, and when the deer smell it they figure you own a wolf now, so to speak. It's sold as "Predator Pee" just type it in the search bar and you should be able to find it. Any questions you can message me.

Come to think of it we never had problems at the house garden until we stopped keeping them, its been about 9 years since our last one. Had our first deer in the garden this spring, she brought her baby, she jumped over the 6 foot fence and the baby crawled under the gate that is raised about a foot so the dogs could always get in there if need be.

Thanks for the idea. I may well try that next year. Does it have any effect on dogs? We have 2 Beagles and I don't want them to get paranoid! Sue

 

[newbie32]

I object to the people calling themselves homesteader wannabes. Us "wannabes" are really the heart of the homestead life style. Homesteading is all about being self sufficient and doing the best you can with what you got. I feel it's about using creative means to reach your goals and most importantly understanding that today's zombie like culture and self mutilating food culture is not natural, and trying to do something about it. Most of us weren't blessed to be on large lands but finding a way to live this life style on a small city lot where the majority of the population lives is amazing. Honestly I think the under funded homesteader on a small city lot is a lot more impressive than the rich guy that dropped out of society to live in Alaska. The adaptability of a city dwelling homesteaders really embodies what the life style is all about. Homesteading today looks a lot different than it used too and too many people get caught up with being down on themselves for not having a big ranch or being a newbie.


Stepping off my soap box:

My wife and I are expecting our first child in March and are running our small operation out of a rental house on about 3/4 acres. We have a 150 pound Irish Wolf Hound, a 15 pound street dog we adopted, and 7 chickens. We Foster for the Humane society and have pups coming in an out. Our rental is 1.7 miles from the Down town square. We keep an 8x4 raised bed and some containers for our garden. We haven't been able to grow year round yet but we are learning with every grow. We have 3 Ameraucanas, one silky, and 3 French Black Copper Maran chicks still in the brooder. In the spring we are hoping to start an Oliver Egger project with them.

My dream is to one day be completely off the grid inside the city the limits. Once the student loans are paid for I would like to go full time and try to provide the local establishments with real meat and eggs. I want as many people as possible to be as close to their food as we are. When we eat an egg or a bird we know exactly who it is from or who it was. I dream of being able to supply the public with the same knowledge. How cool would it be to buy a dozen eggs and have a photo of the hen inside the carton and a hand written date on the shell?



Edit: In the mean time our focus is learning how Grow, pickle, ferment and store our crop. North Texas can be a challenging area to be grow in.

I would like to OWN my own so I can have it always but for now-I too-am in your situation. WE ROCK!!!! Now please pray for me that I can get this rock bed to do what I want!!!!

 

[Raech]

Thanks for the idea. I may well try that next year. Does it have any effect on dogs? We have 2 Beagles and I don't want them to get paranoid! Sue

It shouldn't, they might pee there as well, but that should be about it. They might also sniff around the garden area, or wherever you put it, to see if they can "catch a trail," but that is normal I think for Beagles. I don't really know for sure, and hubby doesn't think so either. Worst case scenario we could think of, is they avoid the garden as well, but they could just treat it as a territorial border; by them peeing near the garden they are just reclaiming their "territory" from the wolf scent. It just smells like another dog to most pets, it would only be associated if the dogs are used for tracking wolves then they would see it differently.

 

[LBejaran]

  Thanks for the idea. I may well try that next year. Does it have any effect on dogs? We have 2 Beagles and I don't want them to get paranoid! Sue

I've heard from others who use dried deer blood that it keeps all larger foragers away from gardens. Some people use it in their compost but others use it directly in their garden. I've heard it works, but I've never tried it myself. I've never really had a need to, to be honest. The dogs take care of all the rabbits in the area and soon, after planting fragrant herbs around the garden, rats won't be a problem either.

 

[newbie32]

I've heard from others who use dried deer blood that it keeps all larger foragers away from gardens. Some people use it in their compost but others use it directly in their garden. I've heard it works, but I've never tried it myself. I've never really had a need to, to be honest. The dogs take care of all the rabbits in the area and soon, after planting fragrant herbs around the garden, rats won't be a problem either.

Which herbs are you referring to?

 

[LBejaran]

Which herbs are you referring to?

Lots of mint, basil, and rosemary, along with a few others like cilantro and sage. Essentially, the most fragrant, obnoxious herbs will ward away rodents, particularly mint.

 

[newbie32]

Lots of mint, basil, and rosemary, along with a few others like cilantro and sage. Essentially, the most fragrant, obnoxious herbs will ward away rodents, particularly mint.

Oh I love mint!!! YAY I am going to try growing that around the edges of my raised bed-which BTW we start gathering the rocks for this week. I know the chickens will eat the mint because I have purchased it from the store and fed it to them. Any herbs that will deter the chickens?

 

[boskelli1571]

I've heard from others who use dried deer blood that it keeps all larger foragers away from gardens. Some people use it in their compost but others use it directly in their garden. I've heard it works, but I've never tried it myself. I've never really had a need to, to be honest. The dogs take care of all the rabbits in the area and soon, after planting fragrant herbs around the garden, rats won't be a problem either.

The dogs take care of rabbits, voles etc. they even chase foxes away, so the chickens are pretty safe with them around. It's the veggies.......the dogs bark & chase the deer, but the deer have become used to them and just stand & stare at them

they only move at the last minute! At night they dial up their friends and dine very nicely in our garden, so I think I'm going to try the wolf pee thing, see how it works, Sue