Please share your tips and tricks! Any homesteaders out there? Anyone trying to live sustainably or off the land?

[LizzzyJo]

Can't milk them though!

 

[Miss Eliza]

What an awesome set-up! I am so jealous! I am thinking about dairy as well, but it will likely never happen as it's just the two of us and my husband is lactose intolerant. I couldn't justify milking twice a day to use it all myself. Maybe if I have a goat or a sheep with a baby on then I will steal some and feel self-sufficient

Yes milking twice a day would be way too much for us as well. Dexters are small and usually produce only a few gallons a day. With calf sharing I could potentially skip a day here and there. I have heard wonderful things about goat and sheep milk-it’s certainly worth a go at it!

 

[Sally PB]

since cleaning wool is a long process.

I have bought raw fleece before, then washed and dyed it myself. I sent it out for carding in to roving for spinning most of the time. I carded some myself, but I spun a LOT of yarn, so sending it out made more sense. Gotta get back to spinning someday... sigh.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I have bought raw fleece before, then washed and dyed it myself. I sent it out for carding in to roving for spinning most of the time. I carded some myself, but I spun a LOT of yarn, so sending it out made more sense. Gotta get back to spinning someday... sigh.

How long was the cleaning at home?

 

[Happy hen lover]

I breed holland lops for show, so I am way too deep in the bunny love cult to go there I think sticking with poultry or maybe small-scale fish farming would be good meat for me.View attachment 2976617View attachment 2976619

Fish are safe for sure. No bunnies for meat for you!

 

[itsasmallfarm]

hello, i am no homesteader but do enjoy raising my own food (or foraging)

besides chickens i raise honey bees. they don't take much room and give a sweet crop.

but these would be some tips i would give for those who may not raise animals or want to but still want to be self sufficient.

to start off with i would suggest looking into foraging. i like to pick mushrooms. nuts and berries. just going to say a good spot can give pounds of food in a few hours. (my one friend has a spot where he can get 3 ice cream pails of blue berries an hour)

 

[saysfaa]

...This year's expansion project is fruit. ...

The best resource I've come across so far for starting to sort out what varieties of fruit trees to plant is Harvest to Table dot com

It isn't as good as other sources at covering a lot of the varieties but makes the other sources much more usable.

For example (selections from the plum section)
European plums are blue and widely grown. Japanese plums are red and very popular. Native American plums are small and tart. Damson plums are deep blue and are a subset of European plums, so too are gages, which are commonly green. Prunes are a type of European plum with an extra high sugar content (which allows them to be dried without fermenting at the pit). Cherry plums are small native or wild plums. Plumcots and pluots are hybrids between plums and apricots.
...
European and American plums will grow anywhere apples grow.
Japanese plums will grow anywhere peaches will grow.

American plums (Prunus americana) are the most cold-tolerant. They grow as far north as USDA Zone 3. They tolerate drought and require well-drained soil.
European plums (Prunus domestica) grow best in Zones 4 to 9. They are late blooming and are usually not damaged by frost. They can tolerate clay soil, but loamy soil is best.
Japanese plums (Prunus japonica) are semi-hardy; they grow best in Zones 6 to 10; some will grow in zones colder than Zone 6. Japanese plums originated in China.

Plant plums in full sun. Plums can tolerate partial shade, but the yield will be less.

 

[saysfaa]

Best site I've found for info on the most apple varieties. I found it particularly helpful in comparing the selections at several nurseries.

pomiferous.com