Homesteaders

[boskelli1571]

Hang in there! You can accomplish much with dreams, a little assistance & will power....

 

[RTFchickens]

There is another fellow on BYC is the same situation. He's on fixed income and lives in a city that is anti chicken. He makes it work though! He keeps his chickens in his garage, grows a garden, and feeds his chickens lots of what he grows. He also heats his home with wood. Most of his wood comes from fallen city trees, and broken limbs or cut trees from power companies. It's a great idea for free wood/heat, and it helps the city too from having to dispose of them.

 

[rancher hicks]

Wanna be homesteader here too. Problem is I am now on disability and cannot afford to move back out of town. I have a small yard and can only plant in the front. (too much shade in the back). But I plan on getting a coop and rabbit hutch built this year from scavenged materials and my son's help. I have been small scale and pot gardening for years. I can, crochet and knit when my hands allow it. I am also researching aquaponics to utilize my 55 gal tank I haven't used in years. So many plans, so little money- but the first step and all that. Hope this thread continues to get some good ideas!

If you have a book store you can go to and sit, perhaps peruse the farm and garden magazines. The public library is a great place to get information too. Of course the internet is good too. I like Pinterest and if you just have an idea, "google" it.

Coops google from scavenged materials and bam! You find lots of ideas. I once read an article where a guy made a coop for three hens, out of a Dresser he trashed picked. He lived in New York City.

 

[Raech]

The neighbor behind me is building a greenhouse up against our shared fence, and he hasn't paid a penny for any of it. He got the windows from a person up the street that just got their house windows replaced and was going to throw them away, and he gets a lot of his fire wood from scrapes that got wet and aren't any good for building. It isn't done yet but he has been building the frame during the winter and has most of the windows in and has it mostly done from what I can see. Gave him some wood that my husband had thrown out of the shed during the winter and it got wet. I knew he could burn it and heat up his shop, just warned him about the nails that are in there, and he laughed and said he just takes a cat litter scoop and uses the nails for a different purpose, he throws the whole thing in the stove and deals with them later. It is possible stretch that penny into hundreds, just takes patience and time.

 

[rancher hicks]

I've seen garden sheds built from old doors and windows. The thing for me is having a vehicle to stop and pick them up off the side of the road. Trash day in the cities is a good place to get stuff, plus recycle places. I stop at Home Depot and collect "cull lumber" which is sold cheap. I would not be able to afford to do much else otherwise. Why should they toss stuff when they can sell it the poor like me.

Sometimes Craigslist will have stuff too. You're really only limited by your imagination. These are just a couple on Pinterest.

 

[RustedOak]

I plan on building a hoop house style greenhouse using an old trampoline frame as my structure. I'm all for repurposing what I can/when I can. Better for the environment, better for my wallet!

 

[Raech]

I've seen garden sheds built from old doors and windows. The thing for me is having a vehicle to stop and pick them up off the side of the road. Trash day in the cities is a good place to get stuff, plus recycle places. I stop at Home Depot and collect "cull lumber" which is sold cheap. I would not be able to afford to do much else otherwise. Why should they toss stuff when they can sell it the poor like me.

Sometimes Craigslist will have stuff too. You're really only limited by your imagination. These are just a couple on Pinterest.

This is similar to his, the roof's pitch isn't as steep though. I can only see the top 2 feet though, but it looks like it will work.

 

[RTFchickens]

We just planted potatoes indoors in 5 gallon buckets! ;-) I can't wait to see how they turn out! It's much to cold to plant them outside in my climate, so I'm hoping they turn out good. We are mixing rabbit poop with potting soil in the buckets as fertilizer. Worst case scenario, they don't grow. Our buckets are old recycled 5 gal buckets, potatoes say in closet too long, and soil was left from last summers raised bed garden. So this experiment cost nothing... Woohoo, I like that price! Hopefully I will have a good report on how they are doing in a few weeks.

 

[boskelli1571]

Good luck with it - let us know how it turns out

 

[Anna6]

After 10 plus years DS is cleaning out the family garden and trying to get it going again. We want to put in Kentucky wonder beans and they are pole beans. Any creative ideas. low cost no cost, on what to use for poles?