Homesteaders

[Raech]

I've wondered whether I can work out a deal to get someone to use my land to keep animals.. They'd have to take care of them most of the time. Especially in the winter. Or some other way to get help.

People around here will lease out pasture and just keep up the fencing or have it part of the agreement where the person with the animal/s helps keep up the fencing for a reduced cost.

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

I've wondered whether I can work out a deal to get someone to use my land to keep animals.. They'd have to take care of them most of the time. Especially in the winter. Or some other way to get help. 

That is common enough here. You can rent or lease out the land for others to use. It is great income just be certain to know what your area is worth and get a decent renter.

 

[wyoDreamer]

We have a hay field that we let a neighbor use for making hay. Long story, but he was the one who planted the field to begin with and we do not have the equipment to maintain it. I would rather have him get the hay for his horses than to let the field grow up into weeds and shrubs. As an exchange for the hay, he mows the rest of the pastures for us also - since we do not have animals yet to graze it down.

 

[spurrer]

We have a pasture that we let a young man use for his goats and cows for free. Just to keep it from growing up with trees and bushes. It has a very nice spring and a so-so pond that goes almost dry in the summer. The good thing about this is that he owns his own heating and cooling company. My son and his family were coming from San Francisco and the upstairs air conditioning unit wasn't working and he fixed it for free. The other day I had three State Troopers staying overnight and it was really hot and I called him at the last minute and he came and fixed it again. I think I am getting the best of the bargain.

 

[Loc20chick]

Can't post pics but my beds are higher and I use a weed whacker to clean between the beds. I'll post pics when I get home. We're getting rain at home now. I know the Kale was coming up when I left and Squash and Pumpkins under milk jug green houses. Too I've got tomatoes or had.

Forgot I have pics on this site. You can see the weeds have been whacked.This is from last year. All this talk makes me anxious to get home to garden.

Doing some more raised beds now, will make them higher. Come fall I will lay down cardboards in between them to keep he weeds down. 

 

[rancher hicks]

Gort this in an email.

Feed your family ALL YEAR from your backyard garden.​

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[rancher hicks]

Raised beds make "square foot gardening" easy. Too many things can be used for the sides but the key is that the soil remains untrampled. One year it was very hot and the soil outside mine was rock hard.

Gradually I added more beds. I got my "culled lumber" from HD and saved til I had enough for another bed. Each cost about four dollars.

Now if I had a truck CL had some great building supplies free for the coming and getting.

 

[harley587]

Gort this in an email.

Feed your family ALL YEAR from your backyard garden.​

​

Hi! I'm a silent homesteader wannabe and I just wanted to thank you for the link. I'm thinking strongly about adding this book to my library. I currently grow my own corn, carrots, tomatoes, green beans, lettuce, onions, potatoes, cucumbers, yellow squash, zucchini, strawberries, rosemary, sage, basil, sweet mint, peppermint, spearmint, and lavender. We have 17 chickens and I am looking to get a couple goats within a year or two.

 

[Beekissed]

Got a couple of days and a night of a good, soaking rain and each rain causes the garden to green up even more, with good things happening in many plants that seemed stalled or off color, so I'm thanking the Lord for the blessings of rain and for the greening of the garden.

The roses are starting to look so lovely, especially this Rose of Peace...a salmon colored lovely that is putting out picture perfect blooms. I had planted salmon colored impatiens in that bed as well, so the combination of all that coral/salmon in that bed is going to be stunning when they all fill out into mounds.

The corn is growing quickly with this rain also and though it's not as fully sprouted as I would like, I can use the spaces where it didn't come up to plant more melons or cantaloupe or even some more pumpkins or butternut squash.

I'm going to attempt to plant some greens and carrots the old fashioned way....just throwing seeds in the ground. We'll see if that works.

The seed tapes and pelleted seeds just aren't germinating....at all.

Chives, onions, strawberries, rhubarb and such are all looking great. Hoping the cukes and beans come up soon. All the potatoes are coming up nice and deep green...soon as they are up a bit, I'll start piling on the straw, a little bit of old horse manure, thin layers of grass clippings as the season progresses. Don't want to make those hills a sodden mass of rotten vegetation.

The tomatoes are growing fast, some faster than others....sure hope they don't get blossom end rot from all the rain. Got little tomatoes on the Romas and a few of the Brandywines. Am putting down eggs shells and pelleted lime to provide some calcium there.

Ate a strawberry this evening....very sweet and juicy. Unfortunately, the insects think so too and are getting to many of them before I do.

Sorry for the blurry pic, but this is the garden thus far....sparse still yet, but getting there. Definitely getting there.

 

[Raech]

I love the chickens sitting on the bench looking at the garden . Almost like they are haveing a conversation of which plant is first. lol