Homesteaders

[Chicken girl 15]

Anytime. I know how livid I was when everything looked beautiful but tasted like horse poo smells. It almost made me give up. Instead I made a salad and a jar of pickled veggies and gave them to the person who gave me bad info.

 

[rancher hicks]

I don't generally get fresh manure. I just get what I can get for free. If you get it mid summer or in the fall mix it in and let the winter snows do their job.

Usually I mix it into the compost pile with everything else anyways. I also add any leftover garden soil I might buy or topsoil.

I really do need either more compost piles or higher ones. Everything breaks down so much there is hardly as much as I'd like.

 

[KlopKlop]

Check it out! i tripled my grow bench area (not couting my fodder system. 8 feet x 2ft on top and 4 ft x 2ft on bottom

I think i may enclose the back and sides on half of the top and add doors to make a sort of greenhouse but we will see.
my herbs are coming up nicely, lettuce and kale are growing quickly, my onion starts are about 2 inches tall and my strawberries are looking dandy, ready for transplant this spring. Oh and my carrots finally broke ground too!



After building it, i was reorganizing my garden stuff that was just in a big pile (in the back of the photo) and sorted all my seeds i have left. Last summer at the end of the year i got this huge bag of seed packets for free from a friend's mom who runs the garden center at a local store. they were going to be trashed and she figured i could either grow them or soak them and feed to my chickens. I found this packet of neat beans called 'Royal Burgundy' bush beans so i planted some in a pot. we will see if it amounts to anything. everything else seems to be growing very well. I suspect i will need to manually pollinate the flowers if this is successful but we will see!

 

[MoonShadows]

That's a real nice set up!

 

[KlopKlop]

That's a real nice set up!

thanks. time to get it filled up

will be ready to start growing plant starts for the garden in a few weeks!

 

[Loc20chick]

Check it out! i tripled my grow bench area (not couting my fodder system. 8 feet x 2ft on top and 4 ft x 2ft on bottom

I think i may enclose the back and sides on half of the top and add doors to make a sort of greenhouse but we will see.
my herbs are coming up nicely, lettuce and kale are growing quickly, my onion starts are about 2 inches tall and my strawberries are looking dandy, ready for transplant this spring. Oh and my carrots finally broke ground too!



After building it, i was reorganizing my garden stuff that was just in a big pile (in the back of the photo) and sorted all my seeds i have left. Last summer at the end of the year i got this huge bag of seed packets for free from a friend's mom who runs the garden center at a local store. they were going to be trashed and she figured i could either grow them or soak them and feed to my chickens. I found this packet of neat beans called 'Royal Burgundy' bush beans so i planted some in a pot. we will see if it amounts to anything. everything else seems to be growing very well. I suspect i will need to manually pollinate the flowers if this is successful but we will see!

nice.

 

[Chicken girl 15]

Well all is frozen on this little homestead. I have replaced chicken water twice already and they won't be getting fermented feed until the weather breaks. 3 days in a row it has froze before they can eat it. They seem to not be bothered by the cold all that much though, they are still laying and playing.

Both horse farms we work at have kept everyone in for the last 2 days. So if you've ever cleaned a stall with a horse in it you know how my weekend has gone. They have had to have their water replaced every couple hours and hay is going fast so they can keep warm. The colt that normally eats 2 flakes in the morning ate 5 and is still going. Everyone else just got a full bale . Keep a horse eating they stay warm, just like a chicken.

 

[rancher hicks]

Well all is frozen on this little homestead. I have replaced chicken water twice already and they won't be getting fermented feed until the weather breaks. 3 days in a row it has froze before they can eat it. They seem to not be bothered by the cold all that much though, they are still laying and playing.

Both horse farms we work at have kept everyone in for the last 2 days. So if you've ever cleaned a stall with a horse in it you know how my weekend has gone. They have had to have their water replaced every couple hours and hay is going fast so they can keep warm. The colt that normally eats 2 flakes in the morning ate 5 and is still going. Everyone else just got a full bale . Keep a horse eating they stay warm, just like a chicken.

Well I've been having some thoughts about the Homestead thing and.

I've put two heated dog bowls out for two coops and that's helped with the water. My intent is to make a mash with nearly a crate of white milk I got from the school. I sometimes get the expired milk. Plus lettuce and other gleanings that would go in the trash.

However while I was out snow blowing and had to go get shavings (sale) I thought to myself, that a Snow blower and Truck are NOT luxuries to the Homesteader. They're NECESSITIES!

Before you think, "I'm young I can shovel it", let me educate you a bit. Your bones will wear out, the disks in your back with bulge as time goes on. So keep that in mind. Take care of those things.
Lord have mercy I can't tell you how many young folks I know are having hip and knee replacements. People younger than me! We belong to a large church. So don't put off that snowblower and truck if you intend to Homestead.

Normally I buy more shavings to stock up but with just the Chevy and not enough money I got what I could.

I would not have chickens if not for my snow blower. Heck I couldn't get the car out without it.

It is a bit of work since I have to hold the machine up just enough to "skim" the ground but it works. I bought the largest I could afford and it's served me well so far. I'm not a big man, but I manage.






I've learned not to give them too much space as the migrating hawks and what not spot the black chickens easily.

 

[duluthralphie]

Rancher Hicks.

I could not agree more!

I use to be the guy that could lift this, push that and just muscle my way with things. That included no snow blower or plow.

While exercise is good for us, over doing it is not. I am now putting off knee replacement as long as I can still bear the pain. Living and bearing the pain is no fun. I am only 64, too young for that in my mind. One of my best friends from High school now has 2 new knees.

I will go a step further. no matter how much homesteading you are doing, partial, full, whatever, get the equipment you need, even if it is old and needs lots of repairs. Learn to fix the stuff. I have had a Bobcat for the last 12 years or so. It is invaluable to me. Even my wife says we could not get along without it.

I plow snow with it. Move trailers, chicken huts, dig fence posts and a myriad of other things. Things that I could not do or would blow my joints out even faster than they are now. We all seem to forget we were not created to live 70, 80, or 90 years in these bodies. The joints start to go around 50 (in my case) So I say do what Rancher Hicks says, get the equipment you need, buy it with a friend of neighbor whatever it takes, just save those joints and backs.

 

[Chicken girl 15]

I'm in total agreement about the equipment. I'm only 35 so there is a lot of go left in me, however if I can extend the time I'm mobile by using a plow not a shovel so be it. We have 2 quads, one with a plow one w/o. Both are 4×4 and we also have a small tractor with a bunch of 3 point attachments.

Much respect to those of you older than me doing things by hand. I pray your body stays as sharp as your mind. I however am a sissy and do not enjoy pain. On the same note I am not going back to my old ways of eating out of a box.

I do walk to and from the barn and not ride the quad, it's only 100 feet from house to barn though. We also (weather permitting ) walk our property daily to see what animals have moved in. As for moving round hay bales that's what equipment is for, not my body.

A truck is in no way a luxury on a homestead or farm of any size. Bedding , hay and feed must be bought in large amounts at my house as there are large amounts of animals. We have 21 chickens and 9 horses (they are the neighbors but we tend them) 2 dogs and 5 kids. Plus we have a ton of logging that needs done out back . That in itself requires a truck and several chainsaw.

Would I ever give up my backache to have the easy life again? NOPE !!! I love hard work and clean country living. I smell cow crap from late winter through early fall, not funky city smell. I hear gun shots daily and know that no one was hurt, not worry about calling 911. I can send my kids outside and know they are safe of human predators and my dogs keep animal predators away. There is no substitute for life lessons, that's what living should be learn as you go.