Show me/ tell me abt your micro/mini homestead

[Hedgeland Farms]

Haven't checked in in awhile...
We've gotten our 3 pigs for the season (raising one for someone else) and harvest one of the last items out of our garden. I've been making veggie stock and freezing, homemade bread, bagels. Homeschooling started full force...
The babies I hatched out abt 5.5 wks ago are integrated into the flock.

The chicks I hatched out 18wks ago will be harvested this wkend!

 

[1cock2hens]

@Hedgeland Farms what kinds of pigs are you raising? I had potbelly’s and Julianne this past year, I made really good money growing the potbelly’s out. I've got an American guinea hog and a hereford mix right now, once the mix is grown out I'm going to get another guinea hog, they are so sweet and smart.

 

[Hedgeland Farms]

@Hedgeland Farms what kinds of pigs are you raising? I had potbelly’s and Julianne this past year, I made really good money growing the potbelly’s out. I've got an American guinea hog and a hereford mix right now, once the mix is grown out I'm going to get another guinea hog, they are so sweet and smart.

We have Berkshire mixes our last was amazing!!!

I don't know much abt other pigs tbh. This is only my second year with them...but also really wanted Berkshire for the meat. These guys are close, and within a hr of us when we pick them up.

Do you raise for meat?

 

[1cock2hens]

@Hedgeland Farms The mix I have right now is for meat. The potbelly’s and Juliana were sold to pet homes. The American guinea hog is going to be my momma pig, guinea hogs are really popular with homesteaders so I'm planning on raising piglets for barter purposes. They aren't huge pigs and they have alot of fat so they are perfect for lard. Alot of our settler ancestors in the Appalachias and Ozarks had them and would let them free range around.

I'm looking for an Idaho pasture pig to let loose and raise up on forage

 

[Hedgeland Farms]

@Hedgeland Farms The mix I have right now is for meat. The potbelly’s and Juliana were sold to pet homes. The American guinea hog is going to be my momma pig, guinea hogs are really popular with homesteaders so I'm planning on raising piglets for barter purposes. They aren't huge pigs and they have alot of fat so they are perfect for lard. Alot of our settler ancestors in the Appalachias and Ozarks had them and would let them free range around.

I'm looking for an Idaho pasture pig to let loose and raise up on forage

Interesting!!! I'll have to read up on them!
That'd be great for you to be able go barter!! We are raising 1 extra this yr for a friend, but are considering raising up several more next year for other people. We have our limits though since our homestead is super tiny. We thought abt having a sow and a boar to have our own piglets, but space does not allow us to house a breeding pair plus raise the babies.

 

[1cock2hens]

Interesting!!! I'll have to read up on them!
That'd be great for you to be able go barter!! We are raising 1 extra this yr for a friend, but are considering raising up several more next year for other people. We have our limits though since our homestead is super tiny. We thought abt having a sow and a boar to have our own piglets, but space does not allow us to house a breeding pair plus raise the babies.

I'm definitely going to have to build more animal housing. My chickens have no house and my goats are sleeping in random doghouses strewn about lol I have the space for a nice little goat house just not the resources

 

[Hedgeland Farms]

I'm definitely going to have to build more animal housing. My chickens have no house and my goats are sleeping in random doghouses strewn about lol I have the space for a nice little goat house just not the resources

We made ours outta pallets...
I am wishing we made it a bit bigger ...(8x8)

This will be our first winter with them and we will see if bigger is needed...

But we NEED to expand their pen...(which would then hold a second house bc its already there) but that again won't happen till spring...

Our chickens are covered, but I am in the process of hatching out 30 chicks...(which was dumb ) and they will get a makeshift shelter this winter while they grow out for the freezer.

 

[1cock2hens]

We made ours outta pallets...
I am wishing we made it a bit bigger ...(8x8)

This will be our first winter with them and we will see if bigger is needed...

But we NEED to expand their pen...(which would then hold a second house bc its already there) but that again won't happen till spring...

Our chickens are covered, but I am in the process of hatching out 30 chicks...(which was dumb ) and they will get a makeshift shelter this winter while they grow out for the freezer.

Our pig pen is made from an old bunkbed and reclaimed barn wood lol it's not pretty but it works. I had 9 goats in it last winter lol they decided they were free range and gave it up do I gave it to the pigs.

 

[Hedgeland Farms]

Our pig pen is made from an old bunkbed and reclaimed barn wood lol it's not pretty but it works. I had 9 goats in it last winter lol they decided they were free range and gave it up do I gave it to the pigs.

Pens don't have to be pretty, just functional lol.

I LOVE using what's available to me to make things work!! It's super interesting and cool to see what can be done, and repurposed.

Isn't that part of what homesteading is about??
Using what you have on hand to make what you need in hopes of keeping costs minimal!

 

[Sally PB]

Isn't that part of what homesteading is about??
Using what you have on hand to make what you need in hopes of keeping costs minimal!

Absolutely! And barter is another way to do just that.