Homesteaders

[boskelli1571]

Congratulations farmerkevin! You have achieved a lot already. Like most of us here, we do a bit at a time as $$/time allows us. I would like solar power also, but I have much research to do about that. Anyway, welcome to the site.

Sue

 

[Raech]

Originally I was a prepper. I was prepping for economy collapse.

Well, I didn't find that stocking 1000 top ramens was very healthy. So here's where I'm at.

I found that the more I did what felt "right" I was more of a homesteader.

I planted dozens of fruit trees. I listed them in another thread but I'll summarize here:
Apple
Apricot
Asian pear/apple
Avocado
Cactus (for prickly pears)
Fig
Grapefruit
Guava
Lemons
Mango
Nectarine
Orange (Algerian, cara cara, navel, satsuma)
Papaya
Peach
Pecan
Plum


Plus different annuals/perennials etc:
Blueberries
Strawberries
Blackberries
Mint
Passion fruit vine

I have a small garden going with peas cauliflower, broccoli and onions. Not a LOT but its a start for now.

There's tons more I'm forgetting though. Just a lot escapes me.

I'm on 1/3 acre and everything is planted close. Part of my self sustaining idea is to keep the trees trimmed and use the appropriate wood for smoking meats and such.

This past late summer/fall, I installed a rainwater catchment system. On the two totes, I have 660 gallons capacity. As of now, its about half full. On the barrels, I have 330 capacity. The 660 is for watering my trees and garden. The 330 is for everyday use (flushing toilets, dishes, watering the front yard roses. Hey. I love roses

)

I'm still on grid as far as utilities are concerned. My main motivation for homesteading is to reduce my utilities use age so that if the grid goes down, no big deal to me, because I'm already self sufficient. I was once able to get my light bill down to $15 for one month haha.

And just having my water totes I saved $10 last month on water. Hoping for another $10 next month. It had been $52 now its $42. I also fixed a couple water leaks in my front shower and an outside spigot.

I made the expensive switch to LED lights throughout most of the house. Haven't seen much of a decrease because I'm using space heaters to heat the house. I'm about to use more of the furnace though.

That's it so far. My biggest achievement is the rainwater storage. I'm hoping for solar this time next year.

Welcome to BYC. How close did you plant your trees together? Reason why is I was wondering if I could do it in a flower bed kind of setting, if I end up getting a smaller city lot. You must be where it stays very warm to be able to grow guava, and all the citruses, I am a little jealous of your tree collection.

 

[farmerkevin]

  Welcome to BYC. How close did you plant your trees together? Reason why is I was wondering if I could do it in a flower bed kind of setting, if I end up getting a smaller city lot. You must be where it stays very warm to be able to grow guava, and all the citruses, I am a little jealous of your tree collection.

I planted them about 10-12' apart. That way I can prune the trees to make it easier to harvest.

Forgot in my first post that I have chickens haha. They're so new, I forgot I had them

I have 5 hens and one roo. I'm checking in the laws/codes. It looks as if I move the coop to where its 100' from any house, not including mine, I can have up to 50. Hmm


As far as planting in a flower bed setting, get cocktail trees. 1 tree/3-4 different citrus grafted onto it. So basically 3-4 trees on the spot of one. I WAS going to go this route, but the varieties that I could find local, always had 1-2 grafted on that I didn't like. I'm not a huge huge fan of grapefruit. I have 1 tree here, that was here when I got the place, and I did buy a star ruby. The cocktail fruit trees always seemed to have oro blanco grapefruit. Less of my favorites haha. So I passed. I couldn't justify watering a fruit tree I would never eat the fruit off of. As with my kaffir lime. I grew it, didn't like the leaves or fruit, so I pulled it and replaced it with a bearss.

Or you can go with dwarfs. I have a dwarf lemon that puts out DELICIOUS lemons. I also have a dwarf peach, but critters get to that before I'm able to

Just look around. Buy local. I made the mistake of buying a mandarin online, and didn't like the flavor. I was able to barter it for something else, by if I had boughten local, I could easily have returned it.

 

[Raech]

My Grandpa was telling me that we are getting a dwarf cherry tree next time, since ours is well over 60 feet I swear, its taller than our house by about 15-20 feet, but the starlings sure love the tree since they are the only ones who can reach anything. Definitely getting another pear tree this spring, maybe 2, since Grandpa informed me the original is getting chopped asap.

Thank you for the spacing, helps me plan a little bit better for my house.

 

[rancher hicks]

On the chicken front, I have about 50 and certainly more eggs than the two of us need. My point being if you only intend to have them for your personal use fewer than 50 will yield enough eggs. Though you do need to choose the right breeds. Keep in mind I'm in the winter now and it's cold.

 

[farmerkevin]

One the chicken front, I have about 50 and certainly more eggs than the two of us need.  My point being if you only intend to have them for your personal use fewer than 50 will yield enough eggs.  Though you do need to choose the right breeds.  Keep in mind I'm in the winter now and it's cold.  

Seeing how my funds are limited, I figure I can sell eggs to help with the homestead. I have a friend that has a nursery/fruit stand, that I will be selling excess fruits and veggies.

Anything I can do to make some income

 

[rancher hicks]

Seeing how my funds are limited, I figure I can sell eggs to help with the homestead. I have a friend that has a nursery/fruit stand, that I will be selling excess fruits and veggies.

Anything I can do to make some income

Sounds like a good deal.

 

[CountrySon]

I was born into a homesteading life, so I consider myself lucky. We currently have 20-odd acres, between 20-50 chickens and 2-3 ducks at any given time, a horse, a dozen Nigerian Dwarf Goats, which we milk in summer, a garden that provides a year of tomatoes, zucchini, rhubarb, and whatever else suits our fancy, a small fruit and berry orchard, a rainwater catchment system for the garden, and enough land left to loan out to local ranchers in exchange for winter tractor equipment parking in our Quonset and winter trapping rights. We hunt our own food, several deer per year, along with wild ducks and geese, pheasants, turkeys, and grouse. The house is partially heated in winter by a small woodstove. We get the wood from dead trees in our shelterbelt, and from neighbors. Recently we built a seed starter greenhouse for my mother with recycled materials appropriated from a remodeling project. Our chickens (and goats) have always been totally free range, and out in the boonies, we have only had brief occasional problems with predators, a fact I attribute to our solid coop and our heavy trapping activity in the area. We can all of our own tomato products, beans, pickles, etc.

All in all, I have a happy and self-sustaining life.

Definitely need to get into selling some of our produce.

One lifesaver is a small farm tractor, couldn't do anything without it, cleaning barn, moving bales, saved my back anyway.

 

[kentuckychicks]

Kentucky - how's it going?? Sorry about the water heater, you're right....never rains but it pours....hopefully your disasters are done for the year, Sue

Hey sorry! I'm good! We got our water heater patched backed together. Called my brother in law who is a contractor and he brought over some kind of heating device and meter and dryed out my drywall. Between my husband and him they saved us a bundle. We've been having a nice storm on and off since Friday so we've been dealing with that though it's been super nice having everyone stuck in here.

Trying to get everything finished and get ready for Christmas. Busy as a bee! Hope all you guys are doing well!

 

[kentuckychicks]

Uh sorry not a nice storm an ICE storm plus a couple inches of snow. I'm tired lol forgive me. Been cleaning out and rearranging the attic!