Homesteaders

[RichnSteph]

Just so you know, you are effective. Your being here helps me to have an ear and you teach me things. Friends are always together in spirit.

Thank you! I must confess that up until a while ago I had no use for "spirit" or to be more precise "God". Things have changed though and I'm raising my family with His will in mind even though I don't have a clue what his plan is. First World problems fall from our shoulders each evening as we pray before dinner. Tis truly comforting to see my 19 month old daughter smile as I bring out our book. She even holds her hands out to her mother and I and has been saying "Amen" afterwards for months.

My grandmother passed away the week of Christmas and she was the most devout Christian I've ever meet, and also the biggest hypocrite I've ever known. It was her hypocrisy that drove me from God 30 years ago. It was only after becoming a father and a happy husband that I realized there was something missing in our family and that was being able to read and discuss the written word of the bible so we've become closer to one another through the word.

I just realized that your response to me had nothing to do with Christ..... I just sort of ran with it. My apologies.

 

[RichnSteph]

As I said, I like some of the concepts of the house. I wouldn't want to own any of the ones I saw on the site, I do like my modern conveniences.
I have worked out my dream house also. DH wants to do a concrete house - I like the insulated concrete form walls. No air infiltration and a lot of mass to moderate temps.
I would like to do overhangs to shade interior during high summer, but appropriate overhand to let in any winter sun that is possible, with a mass wall painted dark to gather any heat possible for the house. I love the atriums at the front of the house. My dreamhouse will have two greenhouses on the front of the house, with a mudroom area between. They both will be stepped down at least 3 feet so the beds will be raised to the floor level of the house, with a window between the greenhouse and the house for light. The kitchen will be located behind one of the greenhouses and the other will be in front of a study. The front door will open into the great room with a high efficiency woodstove/fireplace in a mass wall at the back. The stairway will be behind the fireplace wall. Upstairs will be a sitting room along the window wall and off that the upstairs bedrooms. Above the greenhouse will be a porch, so the roof will be stepped back from the front of the house. The back of the house will be partially earthen berm to help conserve the heat. It will have windows down low to let a breeze in and windows up high to let out the heat.

I wish you luck in achieving your dreams and building the house you want.

Oh that sounds like a dream come true! Our current dream home is much less involved since it's a double wide (that we bought new) on only an acre of land. We are in the the best school district here in south Texas and that was our single biggest priority for our daughter. The year my daughter graduates from high school is the same year that I retire with 22 years as a civil servant and 31 years in the military. Once I retire my wife and I will begin our search for a few hundred acres to build our "final home" on and it will be very similar to the home you just described.

 

[rancher hicks]

Hey homesteaders. Check in time. What's going on? What are you doing during the winter that helps keep the homestead going? Buying seeds. Planning an order of chicks? Hatching spring chicks? etc. etc.

"You don't have to live in the country to homestead ----your mindscape is more important than your landscape." - Homesteading in the 21st Century

 

[Raech]

I started laying out where my raised beds are going to be, only one sort of set is the blueberris. Planning on buying more blueberry bushes this spring, and debating on where to plant everything. Started getting the yard raked up so we can reseed it, got the fruit trees trimmed back where they should have been in the fall. Hubby has started designing a way to give me 2 faucets outside from the one faucet that is in the garage.

On a side note I love listening to the neighborhood's roosters in the morning, followed by the cows talking for breakfast as the tractor starts up. Feeling very blessed at my new house already.

 

[trsturself]

Mostly garden planning right now. Our new house has 0 area set aside for a garden. Plenty of room but it's all rough. So I'm trying to figure out where to put everything.
I've put in an order for bees so I'll need to get building a hive soon. I also put an order in for 60+ chicks. Both will arrive in late april. It will be a busy time! I plan to hatch out some chicks too.

We're making plans for adding window coverings to the coop that will block the winter winds but that will raise up to provide shade in hot weather and protection from the rain in summer.

Will be testing out a solar powered version of our automatic coop door soon. Also need to build a waterer using the horizontal nipples instead of the vertical ones we have used in the past. They freeze too easily.

Trying to find a place to get my goat bred so we can have kids this spring.

Oh, and making plans for shelter and milking area for a cow.

Busy!!!

 

[DesertChic]

I've fallen behind on my garden planning because of a heavy work load at our business and adjusting to raising chickens. This past weekend I hatched 11 beautiful little Naked Neck Turkens in my new incubator...my first hatch ever...and have been highly distracted as a result. When I can finally pull myself away from my new chicks I need to start my seedlings for the spring planting, and plant a cover crop for soil reconditioning in my garden beds.

Here's a few of my favorite hatchlings:

One of my "chipmunks".
One of my half dozen "blondes".

Pippen - a homozygous feathered neck NN Turken.
One of two gorgeous black chicks. Love the "smudged mascara" look.

 

[trsturself]

I've fallen behind on my garden planning because of a heavy work load at our business and adjusting to raising chickens. This past weekend I hatched 11 beautiful little Naked Neck Turkens in my new incubator...my first hatch ever...and have been highly distracted as a result. When I can finally pull myself away from my new chicks I need to start my seedlings for the spring planting, and plant a cover crop for soil reconditioning in my garden beds.

Here's a few of my favorite hatchlings:

One of my "chipmunks".
One of my half dozen "blondes".

Pippen - a homozygous feathered neck NN Turken.
One of two gorgeous black chicks. Love the "smudged mascara" look.

cute chicks! I can't even begin to think about hatching right now. Which is fine because my girls aren't laying anyway. lol

 

[RichnSteph]

We've gotten nothing done in weeks due to the death of my grandmother and having to figure out the estate sale, decide to keep or sell her lake home, deal with mineral rights that I inherited in South Texas.... so very much to do and zero time to do so. If it wasn't for my wife I'd never accomplish anything.


We are hoping toe get our first raised AP bed up on supports this coming weekend (we're going nowhere and not doing anything that doesn't involve our house). I've got to set a pole outside the house and then run wire from the breaker panel up the pole and out to the garden area to power our pumps. We've got 6 chicks waiting for us at a friends house so I've got to get a brooder set up and get the little puff-butts home. I've got to get seedlings planted and find a source for lava-rock in -3/4" size and in quantity for our beds. Lets see.......... Yeah that'll about do it for this weekend and if I can get a third of it done I'll be happy.

 

[rancher hicks]

We've gotten nothing done in weeks due to the death of my grandmother and having to figure out the estate sale, decide to keep or sell her lake home, deal with mineral rights that I inherited in South Texas.... so very much to do and zero time to do so. If it wasn't for my wife I'd never accomplish anything.


We are hoping toe get our first raised AP bed up on supports this coming weekend (we're going nowhere and not doing anything that doesn't involve our house). I've got to set a pole outside the house and then run wire from the breaker panel up the pole and out to the garden area to power our pumps. We've got 6 chicks waiting for us at a friends house so I've got to get a brooder set up and get the little puff-butts home. I've got to get seedlings planted and find a source for lava-rock in -3/4" size and in quantity for our beds. Lets see.......... Yeah that'll about do it for this weekend and if I can get a third of it done I'll be happy.

We were just discussing mineral rights, when buying land on another thread. Now I wouldn't be to hasty to sell land these days. It's the only thing that will retain it's value. We own a bit next door. I have no intention of developing it. Taxes are affordable anyhow.

We watch the Fixer Upper show on TV and I talk of coming down. Don't know much about Waco though. Daughter and hers live in Conroe. We're retired now so this cold really hurts my arthritis.

For those new to chickens, be prepared for Broody hens. I didn't know that it was a common as it is. Every year hens go broody and I hate to pull them out everyday so I give them a couple of eggs. Some do okay. I've not yet set up to handle them. Last year it seems like about ten hens were broody. Lord have mercy!

Now my Delaware roosters are okay with chicks but my other roosters were not and some chicks got killed. Now I know. Learning the hard way sometimes.

Dealing with this cold is okay but wonder how dry it will be come summer. Not much snow this year in our area. Others were not so lucky. I didn't pray for no snow this year so don't know what the Lord has in mind.

Gotta get set up to collect rain this year. I'm beginning to see the wisdom of rain barrels. Spent a bit on water the year I did pray for a dry summer. Ground got so hard I couldn't get the tomato stakes out of the ground. Good garden o' peas, the ground was like cement.

The pastor always says be careful what you pray for.

Take care and check in from time to time, It's nice to get a budge from my BYC family. Bible says if a man doesn't work he doesn't eat and that is so true for the homesteader.

Rancher

 

[alldembirds]

All I have been doing is cutting down a lot of small oak and dogwood trees. to make room for some raised beds. I have been trading some seeds, and ordering up, I keep forgetting cauliflower .


@rancher hicks Check water collection laws before you set up a barrel, a couple months ago my friend woke up to a cop tipping all her barrels and coming up to the house to give her a warning that she was violating stagnant water laws said next time it would be a ticket, it was in NW arkansas, jee-