Homesteaders

[Butterflyhigh]

I think it's good that you take account of what you buy and what you supply for yourself.

I always cringe when I read about homesteaders, but one or the other is a writer or some other profession. OR they inherited the property or live on land their parents or some other relative own. I gave DW a small plaque I bought that says "every successful Rancher has a woman who works in town".

I've recently decided to keep files on what I spend on my chickens and what I sell. Records are important.

So far what we spend on chickens and feed is more than if we bought eggs outright. BYC helps think about how to save and manage my chickens. One thing I've learned is don't put all you chickens in one basket. I keep a variety of breeds since they're laying cycles and habits can vary. This way I have eggs at all times, though I will say my Dels are best. Hybrids are better layers. Dual purpose is best but many breeds have been ruined and some of us here are trying to fix that. Utility and heartiness is my goal in breeding and keeping.

It can be hard to figure on crops and quantity. How much is needed and how much to plant. Though I suppose more is better, since it does a body good to donate to the less fortunate.

So that said since I began, We no longer buy eggs of course, I do can jellies and jams, tomatoes and freeze some other vegetables.

Now be aware that while we did pay to pick apples, there are free apples and fruit out there if you can find abandoned orchards. My neighbor gave me apples that only needed to be peeled for free. Another neighbor has a pear tree loaded that also will need to be peeled but are fine other wise.

I trade chickens/chicks/ hatching eggs for hay. Find a farmer who needs to clean out his barn for the new years harvest.

We no longer buy garlic. An easy crop to grow in my raised beds.

I have a Granny Smith apple tree to plant and garlic of course. We got our first frost last night.

If you can't afford magazines go to the book store and have a look for free. Though Mother Earth news is affordable IMO. Or share a subscription. I do subscribe but then barter with back issues if I can.

Remember to collect that cardboard for mulch. Store it up if need be. Saves lots of time. Remember to use #19 cans or other things around the plants you can to conserve and save time watering.

Homesteading to me is an on going process. I like how it evolves so I don't get bored.

I wish you well,

Rancher

Thank you! Some great stuff in that post.

I like that you pointed out that Homesteading is an always evolving process.This is the end of my first year living this way. I can already see that the next couple of decades will roll by quickly with each year's progress being built upon last year's accomplishments.

I keep meticulous records. I do not want to blindly handle my expenses and finances. It's easy to see how keeping chickens can get expensive simply by not paying attention. I don't think breaking even on expenses will be hard, I just need to figure which route will work best for me....selling eggs, day old chicks, layers, or processed chickens? Maybe a specific breed? I'm not sure, but over the course of the next year I'm sure I'll figure it out.

 

[Butterflyhigh]

Just wanted to share my canning pantry but I have tons more in my laundry room, my kitchen, hall closets, bedroom closet and under my bed. I really need more storage for food!!!

That is so beautiful! The fruits of some serious labor. I hope to be that way after a few years. Wowza.

 

[rancher hicks]

Hi there I just wanted to subscribe to this thread. I'm would love to be as off the grid as possible! We have an acre garden but I want to make that even larger because I can actually have my pressure cooker going right now! I put in ten fruit trees six blueberry bushes four raspberry bushes and have probably 40 blackberry bushes. I want to add on to that number yearly. I'm actually pretty close to the veggie production that my family needs leaving out fresh lettuce ect in winter months (gotta get started on that greenhouse!!!!) My husband is a big time deer hunter which we make jerky with and have processed (gotta get a good meat grinder!!!!) into "hamburger" meat enough that it's very rare I have to buy ground beef. We are getting 30 dual purpose chickens this spring and still trying to settle on a number of the Cornish x. We are also starting (in the spring) to raise meat rabbits, though I need to do way more reading on. Sigh. The year after that we are planning on fencing in two acres for kinder goats. I'm a stay at home mom to two small kids so our income is limited but would love to add a root cellar (I have food everywhere!!!) a greenhouse, a cistern ect ect ect lol. I'm very interested in learning more homesteading skills (spinning, dehydrating (I only do on a all scale just meat ect). There just doesn't seem to be too many people around here that I know of that are into the same things! I live in western Kentucky and I'm sure there are some here but I've yet to find them! I would be willing to volunteer my time to help in exchange for the hands on knowledge!

Any ways I'm rambling I'm just excited about this thread!

Just some unsolicited advice.

Hoop coops made of Cattle panels are easy and make great greenhouses. Panels are $22 here and two make a nice 8' X 9' house.

Remember to barter for what you can. Try to find a way to NOT buy what you need. BYC and magazines can give you some great ideas. A good imagination helps. Sometimes I sleep on it til it hits me.

Check local lumber places for pallets and culled lumber. Much of what I've built I got for cheap.

Some of my recent scores? I got 14 metal corragated panels for free from my SIL's friend. A savings of over $200. Used for the roof of one chicken run and 6 left over for something else. Free apples, pears.

One idea that saved me money was my wifes seat belt gizmo that kept the clip from sliding to the floor broke. It was driving me crazy, just a little plastic button. I had thought to buy a pin or something to hold it up. Then it came to me after much thought to use a large yarn darning needle to run a few lines of yarn through it. Fixed an no money spent.

Don't be afraid to talk about your goals or what your doing with non homesteaders. They sometimes have things laying around you can get just for picking them up. I got about 100' of 2' poultry wire from a friend who got it in the house purchase. It was left behind.

Don't try to do everything yourself. Learn to barter your talents for someone else's. I'm very good at hatching and keep some nice heritage breeds so if folks have something to trade they never have to buy chicks. That's how I got 15 bales of hay to use for nest boxes, mulch or inside the chicken runs for the winter.

Traded eggs and jam for Black Berries. Got some raspberry and chive plants that way too.

I just put all this out there for the young people. Maybe they can use it maybe they can't but it's there. I got some of my best ideas from M.E.N.'s (Mother Earth News) back in the 70's when it first came out.

enjoy the day,

Rancher

 

[kentuckychicks]

I set up music time under the kitchen table with pots and pans give the kids wooden spoons and whisk! It's loud but heck so is my pressure canner!! it's safer for everyone plus mommy gets loads more done!! It's an idea at least! Or fill them a cake pan of baking soda and medicine droppers of vinegar with food coloring and have science time. I always find if I have a big project then they need their own big project plus I can keep an eye on them if I'm at the stove and they are at the table!

This is my first year canning all by myself, last year my friend taught me and my hubby's grandma helped make sure I did my pears up proper, I learn by watching not reading my canning book. I just put up 3 quarts of tomatoes today.

I was taught by an older gentleman and he told me that the most important things to remember are: keep it clean, have new lids and make sure your product is not bad when you process it. So I have a stock of lids on hand and my jars are washed by hand, then steamed before I put anything in them. I don't have a dishwasher so I like heat to make sure my jars are as close to sterile as I can get. I don't have a basement to put my jars in like he suggested but I make do with my hall closet, it gets no light and the temp stays pretty consistent. Also I don't think any of my stuff has lasted more than nine months, except for my pickles, those are hubby's pride and joy because he put the dill and grape leaf in it. I think if you just follow the basic safety precautions and the directions exactly on time, and which kind of canner is needed you should be ok. I thought it was going to be super hard, and I had just had my second son when I started learning, and for me the hardest part was trying to keep the baby happy with one hand and convincing my friend I could do two things at once and only use one hand to slice the cucumbers on a mandolin. I shocked myself with that one, I normally end up cutting myself when I get around sharp objects so I could understand why he was worried but I had a point to prove to myself. But with that being said I don't have a pressure canner, I only have the water bath and I love it, but I hate how long it takes to heat up and fill up since my stove only has one working burner, so I can only can my tomatoes, pears, peaches(if I ever get any to put in a jar) and my pickles. I am scared of using a pressure canner and most of our meat is in the freezer and we don't get a lot of fish, so I think I have awhile to work through my fear of it exploding with kids under my feet. Anyone else have that problem?

Children under your feet while trying to can/cook anything. My youngest thinks that the drawer under the oven is his play place if mommy's at the stove, and when I wash dishes that cupboard is the greatest place. Sorry for the mini rant, I stepped on a wooden car today trying to get a knife, and then got yelled at because "I knocked him off the road!!!!"

 

[Raech]

I have 2 cupboards set aside for my canning. I don't think you can ever have too much storage in a house. Its like they say "you get a 2 stall garage, 1 stall for the car and the other for all the crap you bought since you have a 2 stall garage and it looks empty now" lol

 

[Raech]

I set up music time under the kitchen table with pots and pans give the kids wooden spoons and whisk! It's loud but heck so is my pressure canner!!

it's safer for everyone plus mommy gets loads more done!! It's an idea at least! Or fill them a cake pan of baking soda and medicine droppers of vinegar with food coloring and have science time. I always find if I have a big project then they need their own big project plus I can keep an eye on them if I'm at the stove and they are at the table!

The science idea is a good one, I live in an apartment complex so music time isn't ideal, they bang on a wooden box that they flip over with the blocks that go in it and I have had noise complaints about that. But my oldest is really starting to get into a "homeschool" pattern before he goes to kindergarten so that would be awesome for him to do while his younger brother sleeps. Thank you for the ideas.

 

[kentuckychicks]

Thanks! I appreciate your input! My granddad is in his late 70s and still has beef cattle though he says he's getting too old for much else. He was a hobby animal farmer while working in the coal mines. He never and I mean never throws anything away so we dug through his old stripping barn last week and the angels started singing I swear! I really racked up! I got 12 metal nesting boxes metal hanging waterer and feeder for chickens plus two trailers full of old barn wood! Only found two old windows not broken or rotted so I took them too! That should be almost my whole chicken coop! Happy dance here! My brother in law is a contractor so I have him on the look out for building supplies (most people pay him to haul old windows doors ect to the dump so he gets payed and I get free stuff!) This year I probably got 300+ mason jars after asking on Facebook if anyone had any for sell. Someone's grandmother had went into the nursing home and no one in the family was into canning so I got them all free (well I promised to can them some green ketchup never made it but I have their grandmas recipe)

My next door neighbor is an older lady and she has six huge walnut trees I can have as many has I want as long as I pick up a bushel for her since she has trouble getting around. I need to actually head over there this afternoon....

I buy my kids clothes mostly out of season for the next year when everything goes on clearance.

It is all about finding an opportunity but more people amaze me my moms neighbor had several huge Apple trees when the née neighbors moved in they cut them down because " they didn't want to deal with the mess" sigh

Does anyone find it odd that I'm 30 and that whenever I go in public I always end up chatting with people who are 70 plus?!?! Lol

 

[kentuckychicks]

          I have 2 cupboards set aside for my canning. I don't think you can ever have too much storage in a house. Its like they say "you get a 2 stall garage, 1 stall for the car and the other for all the crap you bought since you have a 2 stall garage and it looks empty now" lol

Lol !

 

[kentuckychicks]

The science idea is a good one, I live in an apartment complex so music time isn't ideal, they bang on a wooden box that they flip over with the blocks that go in it and I have had noise complaints about that. But my oldest is really starting to get into a "homeschool" pattern before he goes to kindergarten so that would be awesome for him to do while his younger brother sleeps. Thank you for the ideas.

For sure try it! There are some great ideas on the internet! I have a five year old and a two year old so I like to try to find things both can do. We also do homemade "play doh" non toxic and things like that. I want to try the ivory soap in the microwave just haven't gotten around to it yet. Be creative they might make a mess but it's better than someone getting burned and it keeps everyone's temper down.

 

[ctrymama]

Well just came from me meeting downtown with the planning and zoning guy, first step is done, we are cleared to have chickens and rabbits. As it turns out we are zoned agricultural and don't need a permit after all, which actually will make homesteading all the more easy. My kids are so happy and are asking to start working on the coop today.