im such a city person but..........

[elijahboy]

My mother has purchased close to 10 acres near Columbia SC with a mobile home that needs repairs. The repairs should be done within a couple of months and I'm looking to move there after repairs are completed. I will rent my current house for a year just incase I cant handle the country life. I am a single mother of 3 children and want a simpler way of life. I so want to be more self sufficient but I'm so cityfried and not sure i can handle what it takes. This website is very inspiring. The only thing I have ever planted was sweet potatoes and that was just for kicks because they were in my kitchen so long that they grew into house plants. I am ,however, excited about moving to the "COUNTRY" and having my children understand a different way of life. I know I want chickens for the eggs and MAYBE meat but i have a problem with killing palmetto bugs. Once raising chickens are second nature I would like to move onto bigger things. With only 10 acres what could I possibly have? I know I want a large garden to feed me and my 3 kids so that should take up atleast 1/4 acre. If some of you have chickens and have them for meat do you also eat any red meats that you do not raise. I know I want the chickens to roam free on the land to rid the yard of the bugs because the grasshoppers are like crows out there. What I ask of you is to tell me what I need to get started and what will make life easier for my trasition. Like I said I want chickens for the meat and eggs but I also dont want to have ugly chickens or black chickens so please give me your best input on the chickens I should purchase. I have been reading this forum for months and finally decided to register because of all the great people and information here.

 

[New adventure]

from Colorado and congrats on your ambition to be self sufficient. Hopefully you are reading all you can about the "life" you want, Mother Earth News is really good, there are lots of homesteading sites on line, the county extension agent, etc. Harvey Ussery has great advice at www.themodernhomestead.us and of course the best sites around are BYC and sister sites.
The best advice I can offer is to start small, being self sufficient is time consuming and its easy to get overwhelmed; but very rewarding also.

Also, build your coop before you get your chickens!

 

[Eggs4Sale]

from one city girl turned country girl to another!

You will love it, it just takes some adapting! But you and your kids will love it! 10 acres, I wish I had 10.

I hear Wyandottes come in all colors and are good for eggs and meat.

Check out Henderson's chicken breed chart, and Feathersite.

Feathersite has so many chicken photos of all different colors.

WARNING: This is addictive.

 

[saddina]

First, welcome!

Second of all, you'll mostlikely want 2 flocks, one of hens for eggs & chicks (I'd suggest a rooster or 2 so you can grow your own egg birds); and a flock of meaties for eating. You can always get a middle of the road chicken like a rhose island red and do both. Now then ugly chicken is in the eye of the beholder, but remember white chickens dirty up and are easier for predators to spot.

With 10 acres you could have plenty, depending on time you can put into it.

 

[Buckhorn Farm]

from FL

 

[NGT ANGL]

from Virginia! Congratulations and the best of luck on your move to the country life. The best advice I could give is whatever you chose to take on to begin with, start small. It isn't as overwhelming and allows for a more gradual merge into the learning curve of it all. Start with a small flock but research first - do you want white eggs or brown? Large eggs or small bantam eggs? What foods does your family eat - tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, etc. While it is all very rewarding and should be wonderful for your children, it is work and if you are like me and take on too much at one time it can fast become more of a chore than a pleasure. For other great information and wonderful people, use the links on BYC to TheEasyGarden.com, SufficientSelf.com and BackYardHerds.com

Best of Luck and most importantly - HAVE FUN

 

[elijahboy]

Quote:
i want an array of veggies such as broc,corn,asparagus,green beans, tomatoes and so forth. However my 9 year old son only cares about green bell peppers. I plan to start small with maybe like 4 chickens/roos but Im going to build a fairly large coop so I wont have to build a second one once I decide to have more birds. Only about 3 to 4 acres is actually cleared and I want to start picking up free fence between now and then to fence the cleared land and let the chickens roam free. Will chickens jump a fence? Is there items the riun like the siding on a home? I dont care to buy chicken feed and would rather let them eat off the land. I read here they eat almost anything so there is no need to buy feed. Is that correct? A warehouse just posted free windows and glass doors to be given away tomorrow so Im going to try to score some to use on the coop, so happy.

 

[19hhbelgian]

Ahh yes, another "city person" moving to the country

That's like me just visiting the city

As long as you're willing to adapt to the country, and not having stores and what not with in walking distance, you should be good to go! It's funny because around here, we always say the city folk are moving to the country, and then don't like the smells and everything that goes with it! We live in a very old farming & land conservation community, and those old dutchies can be pretty grumpy... I guess down south you won't have to worry 'bout them though

I personally would start out small, and grow into your new life style. Gardening can be very tedious, and you don't want to start out so big it overwhelms you. Get a few chickens to begin, possibly some of laying age so you can reap the benefits right from the get go, then if you so desire, you can always add to your flock. Good Luck & keep us posted!

 

[vfem]

Just know, I moved from being a city girl all my life to a rural community. Its not as rural as I orginally thought... thank goodness, I'm a social butterfly... but I have fallen in love with the ability to do whatever I want, and raise my birds in peace... and let my cat out... and have a larger dog... and spend HOURS in the garden everyday. I'm learning to go more green in our everyday life and its taken over a year to get a good foot hold on it. I still have a LONG ways to go... but I just want to warn you to be patient, it takes time. It took me a couple of months to get used to the quite at night. Not hearing screaming baby mama's and police and fire trucks all night threw me WAY off my usual sleep pattern.

 

[elijahboy]

Quote:
Well where I currently live is not so so populated but I nboticed they built a huge new apr complex next to WAlmart and Im not happy about that at all. The grocery store now is only about 10 min away and no stores in walking distance. It is pretty quite here just the neighborhood cars mainly driving by my house on a dead end street. However they are biulding a brand new huge neighborhood directly behind mine not happy about that either. When we were at the property for 2 hours 2 cars drove by and it was awesome. Almost straight solitude.