My Self Sufficient New Year's Resolution

[Acre of Blessings]

Don't get me wrong, I love the house we have. I would just like more land. We have the 1 acre and half of that is fenced in for the chickens, turkeys, ducks, guineas, goats and anything else that lives out there (lol).

Maybe I am being selfish. I know there are some out there that have to live in an apartment and can't even grow a tomato plant. It's O.K. God gave us what we have and until He takes it away I am content. We will work as hard as we can to make this little acre of blessings work for us.

 

[MrsSmitho]

Howdy We are also doing the "self sufficient" thing!! It is GREAT!! My garden is still going with winter stuff. It is apx 1700 sq ft...lot of work, but the veggies are wonderful!
We have 40 someodd chickens and are looking into Jersey Giants over turkeys right now, ghoats in a month or so, and DH is building me a couple bee boxes...I also want a pig or 2, but that will have to waite until all the other animals are here

I have been gardening, organically, all my life, and canning...so if anybody wants any info, just holler!

I am blessed to only work a couple days a week at the local Pharmacy/hardware/farm & ranch store...I do this only to keep into the "hook-ups". I have hooked-up with an endless supply of aged horse manure, scrap material from a local steel building guy and a LOT of info on chickens, etc from the local "old timers". It is GREAT!!!
I am going to check out the SS site, can't waite!

There are a TON of seed companies out there. I would suggest "heritage" seeds, cost a bit more to start, but you can collect and grow from your own seed after that.

http://rareseeds.com is awesome and quite the variety!

http://www.pickyourown.org/jam.htm is a great site for canning...anything...and recipes.

Enjoy!!

Kim

 

[Beekissed]

Soooooo.....Kim....ever think about sliding on over and checking out our sister site: www.sufficientself.com ?

We love newbies with good info and great ideas!

 

[freemotion]

There ya go again, Beekissed!

MrsSmitho, I would like my gardening to be more successful, and would love your input. And I have some odd chickens, too!

Come on over to the dark side, sister!

 

[Beekissed]

You know.....they also have a wonderful sister site for gardeners~ with a link at the bottom of your page....I belong to it and they have wonderful answers to your questions about gardens!

 

[ksacres]

Self sufficiency is a work in progress. I've been looking into it ever since we bought our house two years ago. This year I'm going to attempt a veggie garden, though it's terribly difficult to grow anything here in WINDY WY!

 

[Wifezilla]

Yeah...like Colorado but worse! LOL

I would start looking in to good windbreak plants and go from there.

 

[ksacres]

Quote:
I was thinking of making a very small plot and using the house as a windbreak. Otherwise, I'd have to wait for the windbreak plants to take off.

My other thought was to fence it in and put pallets around the perimeter. It wouldn't completely block the wind, but I think it would help a great deal.

 

[ntiveheart]

growing more of my own food and moving towards self sufficiency is my goal every year! some years end up better than others, but i keep plugging along! i have a giveaway for $25 of heirloom/open pollinated seeds posted on my blog, if anyone is interested:

http://tinyurl.com/9uqkqy

happy new year!

 

[Wifezilla]

Using the house isn't a bad idea. More attractive than pallets, but if you don't have to worry about HOA's, pallets would work until your windbreaks get established. Have you thought about using a drip system for watering? I don't have nearly the wind issues you have, but I still have enough that a regular sprinkler is just a waste since so much evaporates.