Self Sufficiency: Where to begin?

[vintage]

Over a year ago dh and I moved our family from the suburbs out to the country. Our plan has always been to shift to self sufficiency, and this idea was compounded by the pandemic. Now that we are settled I'm overwhelmed on what direction to head in. I'll have a decent garden, once the weather cooperates, and chickens.

So where did you start and what direction has it led you?

 

[CluckerFamily]

Have you ever thought of goats?

 

[MissE]

Start small and work into it.

Instead of turning over half an acre for a garden your first year, start with some raised beds and 5 gallon buckets for container gardening.

A breeding trio of rabbits will provide a lot of meat. 5 minutes of work per day one you have their housing set up.

Point of lay pullets will get you into eggs right away, and a couple dozen cornish cross will be ready for the freezer in 8 weeks. The following year, decide if/what you want to expand on.

Goats take a little time each day, especially if you're milking, but are a great asset for any homestead. Breed the doe with a meat buck, and butcher bucklings for meat. Breed the doelings or sell them for some extra cash.

Plant some raspberries, blueberries, and fruit trees. Grape vines are great too. Nice thing about food crops like these, once the planting is done, there's not a lot of work in the future.

Just start small and work your way up. If you don't like certain things, don't do them again.

 

[Artichoke Lover]

I’d start with small farm animals. Chickens or goats. Personally I’d start with chickens since they are pretty cheap and you can get eggs from them without butchering or breeding. A small vegetable garden is also is a good idea. It would also be good to look at getting a water source set up. Water barrels or a well. Whatever you do start small and take it slow or you will get burned out quickly.

 

[pintail_drake2004]

This was something we wanted to do, and have been slowly making progress. Now we make, grow, hunt, or produce nearly 75% of what we consume. My wife and I bought our farm 4 years ago in the fall and started right away, just don't get overwhelmed. I had more experience as I grew up on a farm. Where as she is from Chicago.

I told her we would allocate some money right off to establishing an orchard, as it takes the longest to produce. That first fall, we planted 2dz fruit trees as well as 100 yds of berry plants. We also started on establishing a garden spot. Over that first winter, I built our chicken coop & run, and rabbit cages. We started small with 24 chickens, and have grown our flock of layers up to 50 now. We do raise 150-200 meat birds annually. Rabbit and chicken manure is sold, and remaining is added to our garden annually.

Grow what you will eat! We consume a lot of cabbage, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, and my favorite...meat! That is what we focus on. We don't buy beef at the store! We hunt deer, raise our meat birds/chickens, and fish. My best friend raises cattle, and we trade for beef often. The only meat we currently buy is pork, and I'm working on getting set up for a hog.

Also, pound for pound, fresh organic herbs are more expensive that meat. We use a ton of rosemary, dill, oregano, basil, thyme, marjoram, sage, etc (I make a lot of homemade sausage using these). We have a garden bed just for herbs. We can grow and preserve a years supply in a small space, saving literally hundreds of dollars annually.

One final point, this is often a touchy subject. Money! It can be as expensive or cheap as you want it to be. I work full time, have the farm, and my wife works full time and runs our side business. Time is money and I work 100hrs a week between my job, and side business (not counting farm chores). Sometimes, its more cost effective for me to pay someone to do some work (that I could do, but don't have the time for). You don't have to live like a pauper, UNLESS YOU CHOOSE TO! We choose to do without some things. I do without TV but refuse to do without AC in my house (I prefer 65* year round). That is your choice what you want to cut back on. Debt is a big issue. We found out as soon as my wife and I got together that we could live on my check, and pay off debt and save with hers. In 3 years, we paid off over $112k of combined debt. Remember, cash flow is key. If you are constantly dumping money into your homestead, and getting nothing in return, something is wrong! Take a second to step back and reevaluate the situation.

 

[Kiki]

Over a year ago dh and I moved our family from the suburbs out to the country. Our plan has always been to shift to self sufficiency, and this idea was compounded by the pandemic. Now that we are settled I'm overwhelmed on what direction to head in. I'll have a decent garden, once the weather cooperates, and chickens.

So where did you start and what direction has it led you?

Just an fyi BYC has a sister site:
Www.Sufficientself.com

 

[vintage]

Just an fyi BYC has a sister site:
Www.Sufficientself.com

Thank you so much!! All of you, thank you!

This is exactly what I was looking for when I posted. Collecting rain water is something we can implement asap.

We've considered goats but figured we'd start with chickens and grow from there. I have to constantly remind myself to go small to start, we have kiddos who are doing school at home, and other pets to care for so I don't want to dig myself too much of a work load.

The dream is to monetize whatever aspects we can!

 

[RiverOtter]

You start small.
Do NOT get a lot of animals right away. Just go easy. Remember that it's one thing to grow food, another to process it. And I'm not just talking about standing out in the yard looking at 25 meat birds and the sudden reality that you have no idea how to go from that to nuggets.
I mean, like, tomatoes.
Sure, you want a big garden and there are SO many varieties and SO many seeds in a packet and you've done the math and you go through 80 jars of sauce and will 50 plants be enough???
Stop.
Stop right there.
Can you make sauce? Are you sure you like that recipe? Have you ever canned anything? Where are you going to put 80 jars of tomato sauce?
So take a deep breath. Go to the store and buy 5# of tomatoes. Find at least 3 recipes to try. Make 2 jars of each - one to try right away and one to can and see how much you like it after canning and sitting for 3 months.

And so on. Go to the store and get a whole roaster chicken and turn it into the cuts that you use all the time, because I am reasonably sure that you eat chicken in other ways than entire and roasted. Then think about if you want to do that for 6 hours 3 times a year. Then consider that chicken is often a loss leader product and you can buy it cheaper than you can raise it
But, but, self sufficiency - unless you are growing all their feed, milling the lumber for their coop, securing them behind a homemade wattle fence and learning how to make buckets to carry their water in, let's just step back and acknowledge that there's a LOT of play in that whole self-sufficiency idea and the actual raising of meat birds is a teeny little part of it.
Absolutely for your pleasure more than for any other reason.

But let's also explore some aspects of that!! Like growing feed. My DD has pet lizards. We raise mealworms and collect other bugs seasonally. Now she can feed her lizards without going to the petstore.
What similar steps can you easily eliminate?

And if you need advice on what livestock to get next, first, chickens for eggs. One for every member of the family, plus one, is the magic number where you won't buy eggs but won't be beggaring yourself with feed.
Next, raise a pig. Feed it as much as possible on garden and kitchen scraps - every weed, every peel, every sandwich your toddler didn't finish, it all goes to the pig. Shop for and make a butcher's appointment now, for the fall. Prices vary wildly and spots fill fast. Pig panels are absolutely worth the money, and pen as large an area as you can spare - it can be all wooded, brambly ground you won't use for anything else, the pig won't mind.

 

[Sally PB]

You will have to have some cash coming in. Property taxes, health care, gas for powered tools, etc.

Will you or your husband still have a job to earn money? Plan for someone to work for a few years more, at least.

Are you going to sell stuff that you grow or make? Start that now. Making handmade soap, whatever. It might take off, it might now, but you need to know that before you're dependent on it.

Like everyone else said, START SMALL. Also, learn from whomever you can. Online, Youtube, books, a mentor.

Good luck!

 

[vintage]

You will have to have some cash coming in. Property taxes, health care, gas for powered tools, etc.

Will you or your husband still have a job to earn money? Plan for someone to work for a few years more, at least.

Are you going to sell stuff that you grow or make? Start that now. Making handmade soap, whatever. It might take off, it might now, but you need to know that before you're dependent on it.

Like everyone else said, START SMALL. Also, learn from whomever you can. Online, Youtube, books, a mentor.

Good luck!

Oh yeah, definitely. Not planning to go that large. My dh works full time and I stay home with the kiddos. I won't be going back to work in any full capacity (just a small Etsy shop) until he's in school.

I don't think we will ever be fully independent, and if so, not until our children are grown. But there are ways to cut some things out and that's the journey we're on.