How are you self sufficient?

[BarredBuff]

I know there is thread about this a few months ago I just wanted to put in a new one. Tell us what you have on your homestead and how you want to expand or how you are happy right where you are.

On My Homestead I have:
A Vegetable Patch
3 Established Orchards
3 Rabbits to Breed
15 Laying Hens
35 Dominique Pullets
4 Honeybee Hives
5 Raised Beds
A Water Tank that collects rain water for the veggies
A cellar filled with all sorts of veggies

On My Homestead I would like to have:
Another Rabbit to Breed
2 Cold Frames and maybe a greenhouse
8 Toulouse Geese
6 Ancona Ducks
6 Naragansett Turkeys
Another Beehive
Thats what I can realistically have. I would like more.

 

[Michele_Lynd]

this is what I have and do:

about 15 hens 5 roos
geese ( 3) 1 gander 2 goose
A raised garden
two apple trees
make my own landry soap
make my own fabric softner
Can what I grow


what I would like:

A green house for longer grow time
some turkeys and goats
More Fruit trees
Rain water collection for plants and animails
Soloar heat for hot water
There is more but these are doable in the next yr

 

[Camelot Farms]

We use the term self-reliant. I like it better because I dont think that we can ever be truly self sufficient in all areas of life.

So we are self-reliant in the following ways:

Huge garden. We can/freeze everything that we cant use up right away
Hubby fishes and hunts so venison and walleye are on the menu frequently
I make our own bread from scratch.
We have chickens of course...lol...for eggs and meat.
We use rainwater/pond water for watering animals and plants.


Next year we are putting in 100 fruit trees in order to supply our own family with fruit as well as make a little money on the side
Just ordered my beeboxes so that the orchard will have no problems pollinating. lol
Bees will also provide honey as well as added value products such as mead, honeycomb etc.

We are always looking for ways to build our self reliance as individuals and as a family.
It is so empowering!!

 

[Gerbil]

We have

Laying hens
a large veggie garden
2 apple trees
raspberry patch
7 geese
rabbits


What I would like to have

Goats
meat turkey flock (working on it)
green house
blackberry patch
beehives

And I can always dream of a horse

 

[BarredBuff]

I had a bread starter going but it got to be a pain so I stopped. I want to start it back this winter. We also make most of our cleaning supplies.

 

[Tigerjane]

I really like the idea of this thread. We just moved into our house a little over a month ago, and in addition to the chickens (which we're getting as chicks on the 7th, and incubating eggs on the 12th), we are planting Meyers lemon trees and putting in a garden next spring. We make our own cleaners for environmental reasons. I'd love to read what others are doing - gets the wheels turning for things to tell the hubs we HAVE to do, lol!

 

[BarredBuff]

Quote:
A good way to be kind to the environment is to keep bees they are excellent pollinators. Plus they provide wax for candles and soap and the fresh honey which can sell up to 12 bucks a quart.

 

[BarredBuff]

What do you think the value of Geese, Ducks and Turkeys are on a homestead?

 

[Michele_Lynd]

I would love to raise bees but dont know how ?
would also like a berry patch


And both hubby and I fish and hunt

 

[SallyF]

DH tried bees, on the advice of a friend who raised them. Invested in three hives, bees, all the equipment (startup ain't cheap). Over the course of two years, all the hives failed. I now have two empty hives and a shelf full of hat, suit, smoker, etc. Never got a drop of honey, but we sure did feed them a lot of sugar syrup to try to keep them going. The friend has the third hive, to try to get a colony established in it. Now don't ask me how he's going to transport it back here full of bees; I don't want to think about it. For me, the beekeeping experiment is just another item I use as an example when I want to spend money on something.