Oh, the joys of self sufficiency

[sumi]

My DH and I have been self sufficient up to a point until recently, when curiosity and financial worries made us decide to take this concept a bit further.
We've been keeping chickens for years now, selling any uneaten eggs and discovering there is a huge demand for "real" eggs, so we ended up paying a small fortune for some almost-battery hens (16 weeks old, ready for battery life), who promptly repaid our kindness by taking a long holiday before they even started laying. By the time we got our first egg from them I had a waiting list longer than my arm and a rather scary list of expenses. Took me a year to get my money back, as the madams failed spectacularly to lay the promised 90%, combined with me overfeeding them, which added to the lack of eggs (and the list of expenses). They had a wonderful time, though.. Some went broody, raised chicks. They do make wonderful moms. And we now have an indecent amount of chickens.
The pigs were a different story. We raised 10 piglets at first. One of them will always stand out for us. Jumping Pig. I can't tell you the number of times I went running to the pens, yelling to the helper as I go "Jackson, that ****** pig's out AGAIN!!" I did feel kind of sad when we slaughtered him though. After the initial horror of slaughtering my own animals subsided I can't say I enjoyed it, but we did and do still enjoy the meat. The highlight of my pig keeping years was the day our sow, Pandora, gave birth. With me, the vet and the neighbours watching. It was amazing.
And of course there's the vegetable patch. Whatever will grow at any given time of the year in this climate. At the moment we have tomatoes, lots of basil for pesto, lots of spinach for the chickens and some young pea, carrot and broad bean plants. We eat and freeze our veg yearly and it's a great pleasure for me.
And we always have at least one compost heap going.
Then came the interesting bit. How far can we go with this thing? What else can we do?
Fire wood. It's cheaper to cook on a fire, especially with the electricity price going up all the time. I bought a handsaw and bravely tackled the thorn trees on our farm. Ouch, ouch.. Did manage to fell and saw up an entire (small) tree today. By myself. (Note to self, after cutting the same toe open twice with the saw: wear shoes) But you must see my log pile!
How about beer? Today DH decided to start brewing his first batch. I'm digging out thorns, licking my wounds and wondering if it smells that bad, how's it going to taste?? Neither of us are convinced about this idea yet. Though it may turn out o.k... May.
I also did a batch of bread cooked over an open fire. The fire wasn't hot enough and the bread was a bit chewy. Still edible, but it took me so long to finish a slice by the time I finished I was hungry again!
We live and learn....
So tell me about your adventures. If I don't reply it's because I died of beer poisoning. (Is it supposed to smell this bad?)

 

[wyoDreamer]

My dream is to build an outdoor bread oven.

We heat with wood, well about 90% of the time. We have two wood stoves in the house, one upstairs in the kitchen/diningroom and the other in the rec room downstairs. I have a Huskvarna chainsaw, my hubby has two Stihl chainsaws. We spend spring and summer cutting and splitting wood so we can stay warm all winter.
this time of year is tough to heat with wood, wood stoves don't do just a little bit of heat very well.

Last April, my sisters and my mom came out to visit. The snow storm started right after they arrived and lasted all weekend. It cleared up the day before they had to catch a flight home. The power went out for a day, my sister showed me how to bake biscuits on the woodstove. Luckily, I had stew planned for supper and could cook on the woodstove. My family took to being snowed in very well.

 

[sumi]

I'd love an outdoor bread oven. But we're moving soon, so it'll have to wait.
We do have a chainsaw, but I won't touch it. If I can't cut wood with a handsaw without hurting myself, can you imagine what I'll do with a chainsaw? The nearest medical centre is 30 miles away...

 

[wyoDreamer]

I know what you mean about the accessabilty of medical care. We live just off I-80, but it is still a 20 minute drive to town. It takes 35+ minutes for emergancy services to get to our neighborhood. Plus, where we cut wood is another 8 miles down the gravel road and then 2 miles on dirt into the area with trees.

DH bought me some chaps for working with the chainsaw - they are made to bind up the blade and stop it if you hit your leg or anything. I always where work boots, long sleeves, safety glasses and leather gloves. All I need now is the hardhat and facesheild to look professional!
Mostly I trim the branches and stack logs. DH does the heavy cutting.

 

[sumi]

I just flat out refuse to use the chain saw. I'm too clumsy and ours isn't that safe... and it's quite heavy.
We only have a doctor in town for about 3 hours mondays, wednesdays and fridays. So if you hurt yourself or get sick, good luck. A few weeks ago my 5yo son cut his knee open, down to the bone. We had to wait more than 2 hours for the doctor. That was difficult. We've spent many hours waiting for the ambulance too (usually for other people on or near our farm having babies, thankfully).
DH's beer stopped smelling so bad, but it still looks weird. Like muddy water... With 4% alcohol. Hmm...

 

[mohillbilly]

DH's beer stopped smelling so bad, but it still looks weird. Like muddy water... With 4% alcohol. Hmm...

thats because you are use to american beer which is really a pale ale. If you would like some different recipes let me know I wrote a book on making beer and other alcoholic beverages at home.

 

[wyoDreamer]

Mohillbilly - we have a number of neighbors who brew home beers. I tried to talk my DH into brewing his own, but he says why when the neighbors will do it for him. One neighbor is developing his own recipes/flavors. His last chocolate beer attempt was not so good ...

What is your book? Is it available for purchase? I would be interested in what you have to say on the subject.
My hubby likes stouts.

 

[mohillbilly]

Mohillbilly - we have a number of neighbors who brew home beers. I tried to talk my DH into brewing his own, but he says why when the neighbors will do it for him. One neighbor is developing his own recipes/flavors. His last chocolate beer attempt was not so good ...

What is your book? Is it available for purchase? I would be interested in what you have to say on the subject.
My hubby likes stouts.

It was never released here in the US but I still have the rough draft for it on my computer. It is called The Hillbilly Survival Guide.

 

[sumi]

Dh is very interested in your book. He's really into brewing his own and wants to learn to do it properly. We'd love a copy of your book or just some tips and recipes.

 

[mohillbilly]

Dh is very interested in your book. He's really into brewing his own and wants to learn to do it properly. We'd love a copy of your book or just some tips and recipes.

I could print you out a copy of it that you could put in a 3 ring binder , but I would have to charge you 20.00 for it and that's half what it has been selling for in England.