Re Post - Homesteading

[MyBlackHen]

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If you have a decent library nearby, you can borrow the book for a few weeks to get some ideas until you can buy it. You would definitely get a lot out of this book!

What kinds of vegetables do you have this year that you want to store?

Also keep in mind that even if you didn't grow the veggies yourself, you can still go out this fall while the prices are low and stock up on the vegetables that you think you'll need this winter.

 

[deChickyHen]

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I like the SufficientSelf site, its just tha I can't really find what I'm looking for... I'm looking for more info like scheduals on when to grow , how many, whats the best time to start the next batch, whats the best time to start planting what and when and where lol.... and soo on and sooo on, I really liked the info on solar energy, I was talking to someone today who said they use some sort of solar energy stove... I think that would be great and thanks I talked it over with the hubby and it seems like it would be better to do the large batches and have a rest in between

 

[triplepurpose]

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oh no offense taken!

an thank you for the advice, but to be realistic , I have a very large family and we eat Meat Everyday! and not only will I be putting away for my family but I will also selling for the extra money, I have been to a few chicken swaps and believe me there is much money to be made. I Have acres that are being used for garden use, I have a room filled with preserves and canned veggies, 2 large freezers full of just veggies and fruit , that will prob last us till next season or longer. we have a small flock of sheep and are thinking about getting a few cows for dairy, next year we will be getting turkeys to do the same thing.

The idea is to get away from the store brought food and get into organic, I am not worried about the work because the outcome is well worth it. at least we know what we are eating and its soo much better to know that the pantry and freezers are always gonna something inside. especially with growing kids and hungry grown-ups

I kinda think that if done right the cost will take care of itself, when we plant, we plant for ourselves, to sell and extra for the animals. the chicks eat the food, then they give us compost to replant next year.. eggs and more chicks hopefully!... I'm not saying that it will be easy and prob some extra cost that I haven't thought of yet, but I am willing to try.

with the cost of gas goin up by the minute it way more cost effective to grow for self.

our meat intake is normal, our family basically only eat meats and lunch or dinner, either way, it's a bird / meat a day
not to mention that we throw parties / get togethers / holidays, all of which you need extras for, I would love to not have to go to the store for anything. To serve family and friends strait from the yard / ground.. would be well worth it

Haha! I was thinking to myself, just as I posted my earlier comment, "ya know, I'll bet deChickyHen has a really big family to feed, THAT must explain it!" I guess I stand corrected in this case. And BTW I read some of the follow up posts and it sounds fabulous what you are doing! Congratulations, keep it up, and all the best you and your big family!

 

[zzGypsy]

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doesn't take a lot of space. we looked at a setup in CA, might buy the basics from the guy. the smallest system is made up like this:
a 6'x12' table height growing area (lined planting area with a gravel bed, 6"deep about ) with the top of the bed about hip high
a 4'x4'x2.5' high fish tub with a lid, 1/2 the tank tucked under the planting area so only 2 feet stick out
a 2'x2'x4' high settling tank.
a trellis suported above the growing area to string up top heavy plants.

add a couple of feet around the whole thing and you're maybe 16'x10' total area inside the greenhouse.

the gravel planting bed can be densely planted with tomatos, corn, green onions, peppers, herbs, lettus, zucs and squash... basically anything that isn't a root vegetable. there are a few things that don't thrive, but most of what they've tried has grown lushly. it's such a high nutrient environment that everything just goes gangbusters.

it's a system I *want* <whimper>

oh, and the same size fish tank and settling tank will support a 6' wide bed more than 40' long...
not to mention it produces pounds and pounds of tilapia.

the tilapia eat miscelaneous chopped greens, duckweed or koi-type food. if you want to grow your own duckweed, a couple of kiddy pools of it are all you need... and I'm thinking, properly arranged, they could be under the growing bed table, if you mounted grow lights underneath it.

Any pictures or links to what you are describing. This is new to me and I would love to see how it works.

I am also a subscriber to this thread!

these are the folks I'm familiar with http://www.portablefarms.com/
they have a turnkey system, or you can buy a kit of the critical items and build/supply the rest yourself. it's not the cheapest system out there but I've seen their operation and it produces oustanding veges, big fish, and is sustainable with very little weekly maintenance once it's set up (one of my criteria). plus they've got a roster of clients that includes both the smallest home installations and rather large commercial installations, so it's successfully scaleable. I've met Colle Davis, the inventor/designer of this system, he's one of those slightly eccentric inventor types and very generous with his knowledge.

if you search on aquaponics you'll turn up other systems as well.

 

[m.kitchengirl]

its just tha I can't really find what I'm looking for... I'm looking for more info like scheduals on when to grow , how many, whats the best time to start the next batch, whats the best time to start planting what and when and where

Mother Earth News is a great source for all of that. They even have a gardening app for your iPhone/iPod that is really handy. Tons of ideas for your homestead. Plus, they were the first folks to do all this sustainable stuff, so they're back by years of experience. They also link to thousands of blogs by homesteaders and farmers alike, its a great resource. The man in my life thinks they're TOO good. Even though I almost never ask him to help with my projects...

 

[Beekissed]

The older MEN is better than the newer but it still has a lot of good growing info. I agree....read, read, read some more. The SS site is a place to glean some great info but it's best to go in there prepared by reading, reading, reading and then have some questions that can only be asked of people who've put theory into practice and can tell you what the perfectly managed gardens/animals in MEN wouldn't come up against~real life situations.

Countryside is an excellent mag for learning about homesteading as well...better by far than MEN, IMO.

 

[Tracydr]

How many hens would you have to maintain to have enough fresh eggs for hatching in just two batches a year, in the kind of numbers the OP was talking about? That's the only problem I can see with doing less batches. Also, can you rely on those hens to lay enough in winter for a January hatch? Somebody was saying they wanted to hatch out in January?
You will also be hoarding all your eggs for hatching, having none to eat, if doing very large hatches, which could be a problem, if you rely on eggs for baking and meals.
One thing I like about dual purpose birds is the ability to spread out the harvest, butchering a few at a time and not being forced to butcher huge batches twice a year. I find it less unpleasant to quickly butcher two or three chickens than to butcher chickens for an entire day, although I've yet to experience an all-day butchering with friends/family. That might make it more fun.

 

[LilyD]

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I know that right now I have 12 hens laying and I get 7 dozen eggs a week. I eat some sell some and hatch some. If you had two incubators (Little Giant or Hovabator type) that hold 40 eggs. There is no reason you couldn't hatch out enough eggs for two hatchings a year. The trick for having a January hatching is to actually choose breeds that are cold hardy and hatch through the winter. Breeds like Delaware, Brahma, Cochin etc would work well for this. I plan on starting collecting eggs in January and hatching out my first batch them for my summer processing. I will do one batch of birds in April or May and a second batch by about August or so that way I don't have to process in the winter months unless I have a sick hen or roo.

The butchering is definitely better for large batches if you get together a large group of people. We usually have 5 or 6 people together and everyone has a job that they can do whether it be plucking, or gutting or deboning and packaging. By having so many people it doesn't take very long to get a bunch of birds done and we all benefit from having some of the birds. If we do 100+ birds and everyone gets 20 or 30 birds to take home but we all share the labor it only takes us one day to get it all done rather than having to process off and on the whole year.

 

[Oregon Blues]

30 birds to process is a lot of birds. I wouldn't want to do 6 times that many in one go.

I'm a big fan of fruit trees. I think that for your investment of both time and money, that's where you get the best return. Late apples and pears can be stored and eaten as fresh fruit all winter. If the crops are larger than you can use or preserve yourself, fruit has excellent barter value.

Dried fruit takes up little space and no electricity to store. Plus, kids can be rained to eat it as a substitute for candy. Excess fruit is excellent livestock feed.

The only downside is that you must protect the trees from the livestock and wildlife. They don't wait for the fruit, they eat the tree itself.

For recommendations about what to plant and when to plant, I think the best is Garden Web, and go to the veggie forum. Also, the fruit tree forum is useful.

 

[deChickyHen]

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You are sooo right.. I have alot of fruit and nut trees on the property.. Apples, peaches, pears and cherries. Walnuts and pecans. they grow really well here.. our kids are addicted to dried fruit and home made granola.. as far as protecting the trees, the people who owned it before us planned the acres really well. except maybe for the cherrie trees, I cant seem to keep the birds away from them, they even get in under the net.. I was sooo surprised how well the grapes, blueberries and blackberries did this year, we had so much we was giving them away..