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

[MysteryChicken]

If you want lots of lambs (also look into selling bottle babies if you go this route. Usually you can get people lined up ahead of time and they sell surprisingly well for the most part), look at either Finland or finnish sheep, or something like that. They tend to have 3-5 in a litter

Not lots, just enough to fill the freezers when needed. But I can keep that in mind.

Dorset, can have quite a few too, but we don't want woolly sheep.

 

[NatJ]

look at either Finland or finnish sheep, or something like that.

Finnsheep

 

[MadGardener]

Late to the thread! Catching up was nice.

DH and I left the suburbs for good Oct 2020 after his Covid layoff. Finished renovating the old place and sold at the right time, then off to our new 7 acre slice of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Hubby is a builder and fixer which has been so great. I've been gardening and dabbling in preserving for a few years. Last season was pretty good. I put up what I think will be 1/3 or more of the veggies we'll eat until next season.

We added chickens in August. 2 have been harvested for meat so far, but old enough to be crockpot meals only. I plan to have a dual purpose mutt flock to produce meat birds on the regular, with a crockpot hen here and there.

Reusing, repurposing and recycling as much as possible is huge. Learning to build something yourself is huge. Living without HVAC has been a massive savings - we heat with a woodstove so only a few summer days are really uncomfortable.

I think the past year has taught me to reassess "productiveness." There are many valuable things that result from work...money is just a small part. Taking the downtime you need is worthwhile. Enjoy the slower pace this lifestyle can provide!

 

[LizzzyJo]

Late to the thread! Catching up was nice.

DH and I left the suburbs for good Oct 2020 after his Covid layoff. Finished renovating the old place and sold at the right time, then off to our new 7 acre slice of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Hubby is a builder and fixer which has been so great. I've been gardening and dabbling in preserving for a few years. Last season was pretty good. I put up what I think will be 1/3 or more of the veggies we'll eat until next season.

We added chickens in August. 2 have been harvested for meat so far, but old enough to be crockpot meals only. I plan to have a dual purpose mutt flock to produce meat birds on the regular, with a crockpot hen here and there.

Reusing, repurposing and recycling as much as possible is huge. Learning to build something yourself is huge. Living without HVAC has been a massive savings - we heat with a woodstove so only a few summer days are really uncomfortable.

I think the past year has taught me to reassess "productiveness." There are many valuable things that result from work...money is just a small part. Taking the downtime you need is worthwhile. Enjoy the slower pace this lifestyle can provide!

Love all of this! I so badly want a woodburning stove. I can't have it in use all the time, as I don't breathe well with them, but I want one to be able to go off grid should I ever need to (prepper mentality)

 

[LizzzyJo]

We'll be breeding them once, or twice a year for meat. Just hope the Ewes we get produce maybe 1-2 lambs each.

You're my hero. I butcher chickens, but I need to ramp up to mammals. I so strongly value everything about it, but I am concerned about getting attached to the lambs. What has been your experience with this issue?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

You're my hero. I butcher chickens, but I need to ramp up to mammals. I so strongly value everything about it, but I am concerned about getting attached to the lambs. What has been your experience with this issue?

Think of it this way. Sheep don't really like people. Especially the black faced ones, they're basically muscled Mediterranean chickens temperament wise.

So they're not exactly AHs like mean Cockrell, but they're not cuddlebugs either.

And they're usually literally very stupid.

 

[MysteryChicken]

You're my hero. I butcher chickens, but I need to ramp up to mammals. I so strongly value everything about it, but I am concerned about getting attached to the lambs. What has been your experience with this issue?

Issue of avoiding attachment?

I have an attachment to all the chickens I raise, whether for meat, or pets. I bond with all the same way.

Butchering isn't hard, when you know they've been given a happy healthy life, with a good diet, & the fact they're going to serve the new purpose of keeping the freezer full, & family fed.

But, I do get emotional when I have a favorite bird I spared for a breeding project dies though. It's weird.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I just remember "a decent life and one horrible day"

 

[MysteryChicken]

Think of it this way. Sheep don't really like people. Especially the black faced ones, they're basically muscled Mediterranean chickens temperament wise.

So they're not exactly AHs like mean Cockrell, but they're not cuddlebugs either.

And they're usually literally very stupid.

Watch Sandy Brock's videos on YouTube. She's a great sheep farmer/breeder. She has sheep that beg to be petted.

 

[LizzzyJo]

Think of it this way. Sheep don't really like people. Especially the black faced ones, they're basically muscled Mediterranean chickens temperament wise.

So they're not exactly AHs like mean Cockrell, but they're not cuddlebugs either.

And they're usually literally very stupid.

Hahah ok that helps