Homesteaders

[lcertuche]

Muffins are a quick bread. You barely stir together and bake. Throw in all kinds of stuff like zucchini, pumpkin, nuts, raisins, craisins, coconut, citrus zest, etc. Bakes up in 20 minutes. Good for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or a snack. No need for yeast, instead baking powder or baking soda to rise. I have to make at least 2 dozen if I want them to last for a day or two. Everyone loves muffins.

 

[lazy gardener]

Muffins are a quick bread. You barely stir together and bake. Throw in all kinds of stuff like zucchini, pumpkin, nuts, raisins, craisins, coconut, citrus zest, etc. Bakes up in 20 minutes. Good for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or a snack. No need for yeast, instead baking powder or baking soda to rise. I have to make at least 2 dozen if I want them to last for a day or two. Everyone loves muffins.

Do you make a master mix?

 

[lcertuche]

No actually I use the universal recipe from The Tightwad Gazette book. It is really versatile.

 

[lazy gardener]

No actually I use the universal recipe from The Tightwad Gazette book. It is really versatile.

can you share it?

 

[Falconfree]

I'm going to just jump in here and say hi everybody! We have a mini-homestead here on slightly less than a quarter of an acre with veggies in raised bed gardens (that are largely unsuccessful... but I'm learning), 4 hens, and a few fruit trees. The really exciting thing is that my parents made me an offer a few days ago to start up a homestead with them, as they are downsizing from their large house to a smaller house on a few acres. As a newly single, stay-at-home mother to a 2 year old, chicken-loving girl (my husband of 9 years abandoned us for a 19 year old coworker 4 months ago), this is like a dream come true. It will take time to get the houses sold and the new place found, but I'm definitely already making plans for a dairy cow (and calves for the freezer), more laying chickens, meat chickens, a horse boarding/lesson barn, and more space for produce and fruit trees. Anything you would do or learn while you wait? I'm digging all my homesteading books out now and making lists and having a good time making plans.

 

[lazy gardener]

Will you have a paying job as well, or will you be able to devote all of your time to your farming? Congrats to you and your family. I think that multi generational family living can provide far more benefit than any inconvenience that may come of it. My suggestion to you: start slow. I have no experience with horses, though my family did have them when I was growing up. Looking at horses from my perspective is that they can become a very expensive hobby. Great if you have the money to put into them, but... if your personal economy does a tail spin, you may regret having them. A lot of your planning is going to be entirely dependent on the piece of property you end up with. It would be helpful if you put your general location in your profile.

Will your parents be helping you with the livestock and gardening? What tools do you have at your disposal now? I think the most important skill you can work on while waiting is to learn how to use power tools, and be sure you have a well stocked work shop with all of the basic wood working power tools. With a little ingenuity, and the right tools, you can build a coop, chicken tractor, shed, green house, and just about anything else you decide your property needs. IMO, the land (soil quality) and sun exposure are the most important part of a homestead. A house, while necessary is less important. The house can always be improved. But, if you have a wet piece of land, lots of clay, heavily wooded, stripped of topsoil, or otherwise difficult to work piece of land, you are going to be fighting every step of the way.

Start with your local library, and spend your time reading about all of the topics pertinent to your homesteading effort. What kind of animals do you want? How much work does each species entail? Can you think of any spin off profit making activities you can add to the homestead? Want goats? How bout selling goat soap, goat cheese. Ever milked a cow? Will you be hand milking? I suggest you visit a local farm, and give it a try. Ask lots of questions as you help the farm owner do chores for the day. Have you ever processed a chicken? Again, valuable experience can be gained by visiting someone who does their own processing. Read all of the books pertaining to gardening and farming that you can get your hands on. Here are a few of my favorites to get you started.

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgur...ved=0ahUKEwi7_9WhpM_QAhVR6mMKHQ3dBrIQ_B0IbzAK

http://www.ebay.com/p/?iid=152258625134&ul_noapp=true,true&chn=ps&lpid=82,82

https://www.google.com/webhp?source...xTSpzTIostQQcS0sy8otC8p3y87P983IqAb4_gRArAAAA

https://www.amazon.com/Small-Scale-Poultry-Flock-All-Natural-Approach/dp/1603582908

In the mean time, while you are working on selling your home, do what ever it takes to get top dollar. It's amazing how a couple of cans of paint, and purging any clutter from your home can both be freeing to you and increase your assessment and sale value. Start frugal living now. One of the biggest money savers for me in my home is home made laundry detergent. I made a year supply for around $5.00. I'm finally down to my last quart. Time to make some more. It's idiot simple to do. To save money with your poultry, use dry leaves (if you can still get them) in the coop for bedding. IMO, leaves are far superior to shavings for bedding. They are also more useful in the compost and garden when you remove them from the coop. If not already doing so, switch them to fermented feed for about 30% reduction on your feed bill as well as giving them superior nutrition.

 

[Falconfree]

Thank you so much! I very much appreciate all the advice, it is absolutely invaluable. I'll be doing this full time, in addition to my little Etsy/local business. Thankfully, I worked in a couple different barns growing up, partly to make my horse hobby a little cheaper, so I'm eyes wide open on how expensive they are. It would only be a few horses boarding, and only one pony of our own for beginner lessons (realistically, I think they just want to give my kiddo a pony ). The area has a few good barns already, so I'm not honestly expecting the lessons thing to be more of a "small side hustle" for beginner kids whose parents aren't interested in the pressure of the big show barns with long-term lesson contracts. The most promising property right now used to belong to my riding instructor in high school, so that's pretty neat.

My dad is a good carpenter, and has a ton of tools I need him to teach me on. He's retired, so he will be helping a lot, but he has disabling migraines quite often. Most of the work will be on me. Mom is a practicing doctor, so she won't be involved much until she retires, which is probably still a ways away. The nice thing is, since I've had this dream for so long, I've been researching this stuff for years. I mostly just need hands on experience (not going to lie, I hid in the car when the processor did my roosters, but next time I'm going to ask him to teach me). And to learn about improving soil. I know that is super important, and I'm really pretty ignorant about it, which might be part of my gardening issues. LOL. Thank you again and thanks for the links, I'm checking them out now.

 

[lazy gardener]

Oh... if you don't already have the experience, buy and learn how to shoot a gun. Helpful if your property is in an area where you can legally take out varmints that threaten your animals.

 

[Beekissed]

Muffins are a quick bread. You barely stir together and bake. Throw in all kinds of stuff like zucchini, pumpkin, nuts, raisins, craisins, coconut, citrus zest, etc. Bakes up in 20 minutes. Good for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or a snack. No need for yeast, instead baking powder or baking soda to rise. I have to make at least 2 dozen if I want them to last for a day or two. Everyone loves muffins.

Not me. Never been a fan of muffins.

 

[Beekissed]

Still getting in firewood here...the latest we've ever gotten in wood without mitigating circumstances getting in the way. Don't know why it worked out that way but it just has. Thankfully, God has seen fit to give us warm weather for this whole month so that we haven't been using much wood anyway as of yet.

Also still butchering the flock...another late chore that we usually have done by now but is just working out that way. Hope to get the last of them butchered this week before temps start to drop next week. One more batch of 8 should do it.

Then I can move on to breaking down the pumpkins and squash and getting them canned or stored properly.

Still plenty of jobs on the homestead needing of doing, even after those are done. I feel like I'm so far behind I think I'm first!

Got a new hatchet the other day....been needing one and chose the Fiskars hatchet due to the sharper blade and smooth design compared to the other hatchets they offered at Lowe's. Have yet to see how it does on kindling but hope to find out this week. Got some cured out aspen that's light as a feather and will split like the page of a book, so we'll see how it performs on the easiest stuff before we put it to the test with bigger, badder things. Works great at chopping off chicken feet...already tried it for that!

Still collecting leaves for bedding~animal and plant~purposes but need to rewire my utility trailer to get a more effective load from town...our truck just has a short bed, so I can only get about 20 large leaf bags packed onto that thing.

That's one thing that I love about homesteading....the work is never truly ever done. There's always one project or another that needs doing to improve on the whole, then there are the seasonal chores that come around each season and are specific to that season, so one is always busy. It's never boring, that's for sure!