Homesteaders

[Penton]

For a non electric free fridg. chec out Lehman's. Appliance and hardware store in Kidron, Ohio.
They sell to the Amish and off the grid folks. They have an online catalog. WONDERFUL RESOURCE!!!!


mins

I have been living on my own since age 16, and taking care of my son since I had him one month after I turned 17.
Our mortgage payment on our suburban home is reasonable, and the only debt that we have. I feel confident leaving him home alone for the nights I'm not here after the age of 16. I'm a nurse at a local hospital (near our suburban home). It takes me about 20 minutes to drive there from this house. It takes almost 2 hours to drive there from our homestead. My work schedule is 3 days a week, 12 hour days in a row. If I add 4 hours of travel time (2 hours each way) to that 12 hours it will get exhausting. So I'm planning on keeping suburbia for a while and staying there for the 3 days a week that I work. My son goes to his dads every other weekend, and will probably come up to our homestead every other weekend. So he will only be alone for 2 nights a week. Also my brother lives with us here in suburbia, so he won't really be alone at all...
When my son goes off to college, I will retire and leave my job. We will live off of our investments, and our income from our farm.

I'm up at my homestead this weekend. We have no running water, so we are truly roughing it. My chickens laid 7 eggs this morning! I'm getting ready to cook them now. I'm ready to be up here more often! I'm so ready for spring!
I recently had surgery (1/13/14) to repair 3 hernias. Tuesday I went back to work on "light duty" and was in so much pain I left in tears. My doctor said "go back to work, there's nothing wrong with you" the surgeon even REFUSED to see me! I finally went to ER and was told something may be wrong, go back to the surgeon... So yesterday they had to see me based on ER doc. One of the metal pieces came out of the mesh repair, and needs to be surgically removed/repaired. Surgery is scheduled for Tuesday. Words cannot describe how mad I am about being brushed off all stinking week because "there was NOTHING wrong with me" as they said...
This is why we are up at homestead, I'm supposed to be taking it easy, I just had to get out of my house for a while. Now I can lay on our couch at another house at least...

 

[stonykill]

For a non electric free fridg. chec out Lehman's. Appliance and hardware store in Kidron, Ohio.
They sell to the Amish and off the grid folks. They have an online catalog. WONDERFUL RESOURCE!!!!


mins

true but very pricey and still requires propane which is a bad as being grid tied imho. It IS an option however if you are not looking for ways it was done before modern times

 

[Penton]

Very true. The Schwartzentruber Amish use the spring running through their basement to keep things cold. But mostly canning and a root cellar works well. Oh, we also dehydrated food.

 

[rancher hicks]

I had an old non electric incubator some time ago, but no one wanted it so I gave it back to my dd's father in law and he trashed it.

I reckon with some many hens that go broody an incu isn't really necessary in the backwoods.

I'd like to get a non electric sump pump in this house. I know there is one just haven't looked into the cost.

 

[RTFchickens]

Do any of you guys/gals raise fish to eat? We have our homestead near a river that's plentiful with fish, but we can only fish with licenses and at certain times of year. I'd love to raise fish to eat/feed scraps to chickens. I live in a mixed climate where winters are very cold, and summers are hot. I'd love tilapia (I love the flavor) but they would die in our harsh winter... Any ideas?

 

[trsturself]

Do any of you guys/gals raise fish to eat? We have our homestead near a river that's plentiful with fish, but we can only fish with licenses and at certain times of year. I'd love to raise fish to eat/feed scraps to chickens. I live in a mixed climate where winters are very cold, and summers are hot. I'd love tilapia (I love the flavor) but they would die in our harsh winter... Any ideas?

Check out aquaponics. Tilapia are great for that and you get plants out of the deal! We are looking to do this in a few years. I want something other than tilapia though.

 

[MoonShadows]

My brother has a 56 acre farm in upstate NY. About 15 years ago he built a 500,000 gallon "lake" that is filled with just ground runoff from the rain and snow. He stocked it with Bass, Blue Gills (brem) and cat fish. He fishes in it regularly, and you should see the size of the fish! Great tasting, too.

 

[RTFchickens]

Moonshaddows, that is pretty darn awesome! We have 60 acres and would LOVE to do something similar! I like the idea of a back yard pond. Fish should be pretty self sufficient in a pond I think. Growing up one of my neighbors had a pond, and fish just showed up. They did not put fish in it. I'm not sure what kind of fish they were, but we had fun catching them and throwing them back in the water Do you have any other details about your brothers pond? How deep, how wide, and how did he dig it? Did he hire out, or maybe use a backhoe? Our climate is similar to upstate NY, maybe a little cooler, but not much. NY has cold winters and warm summers like I do.
Trsturself, while my family and I enjoy the flavor of tilapia, our climate simply could not sustain them. I believe 50 degrees or lower is fatal for them. My current outdoor temp now is -4. Which would require lots and lots of wood to keep those fish warm... I appreciate your input though! We have read about aquaponics, and thing its a self sufficient dream! We are working bit by bit at self sufficiency. We have quite a way to go though.
Thanks much for the replies!

 

[waynec1955]

Moonshaddows, that is pretty darn awesome! We have 60 acres and would LOVE to do something similar! I like the idea of a back yard pond. Fish should be pretty self sufficient in a pond I think. Growing up one of my neighbors had a pond, and fish just showed up. They did not put fish in it. I'm not sure what kind of fish they were, but we had fun catching them and throwing them back in the water Do you have any other details about your brothers pond? How deep, how wide, and how did he dig it? Did he hire out, or maybe use a backhoe? Our climate is similar to upstate NY, maybe a little cooler, but not much. NY has cold winters and warm summers like I do.
Trsturself, while my family and I enjoy the flavor of tilapia, our climate simply could not sustain them. I believe 50 degrees or lower is fatal for them. My current outdoor temp now is -4. Which would require lots and lots of wood to keep those fish warm... I appreciate your input though! We have read about aquaponics, and thing its a self sufficient dream! We are working bit by bit at self sufficiency. We have quite a way to go though.
Thanks much for the replies!

RTF, here in Alabama you can visit your county agent for pond assistance. They will help pick the location and size that will suit your needs. If you have any livestock or plans to get live stock they will help pay for the construction on the pond.
May be something you could look into.

 

[MoonShadows]

RTF,

Like Waynec1955 said, I think my brother just went to the local county. Their size limit was 500,000. I don't know if they suggested the placement, but it sits in a bowl with sloping hills on 3 sides. That's why it fills with runoff, and I have never seen the water level down low. He had a guy come in with a bulldozer to dig it.