What homesteading projects have you taken on?

[Weeg]

Ahhh yes I have found my tribe There is just something that feels so good for the soul when you spend time in the garden growing your own food and raising your own farm animals. We are converting part of the old barn into an insulated/heated greenhouse to grow veggies that don't keep well and warmer climate dwarf fruit trees year round. I'm currently raising chickens and ducks for eggs (soon chickens for meat as well). In the back field we're building what I have called my "Eden" which hopefully by the end of the year will be fully fenced in. We currently have (4x) 50'x100' tilled garden plots back there. I grow my own beans, lentils and chickpeas for drying and canning (super easy the grow). I also grow and store about a years worth of potatoes, dried corn for cornmeal and musque de province pumpkins that I store in our basement so they take up a lot of space growing. I'm hoping to grow enough tomatoes and peppers to supply a years worth of sauce and salsas. We are also adding a fruit orchard with peach, plum, cherry and apple trees and a covered berry patch with strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries. We've been composting in piles, but I would like to build a nice and organized composting site with large separate bins. I've also ordered quite a few red sugar maples to be planted in the fall. I am planting them perfectly spaced around the entire property to help as a wind break, but also I grew up tapping trees to make our own maple syrup so I would like to make our own here as well. I removed quite a few invading species of plants that were here when we moved and replaced them with native wildflowers for the butterflies and bees. My husband wants goats for milk/cheese and to raise our own beef, but I told him he has to take care of those because I have reached my limit since I've been running the farm while he's at work

That is so cool! Your property sounds like my dream idea of my homestead.

We have an apple orchard, but just got a fig tree and ordered a nectarine tree. FastGrowingTree's sends you ALL the good discounts after you order once from them. It gets pretty chilly up here, so if I wanted to have any tropical tree's I would need a greenhouse dedicated to them. That would be super cool though!

Goats! Thats something I've always wanted. Not actually a huge goat milk fan, and actually haven't eaten any dairy since I went paleo, but the rest of my family does. I'd be interested in making yogurt with it.

You have some awesome plans for your property! Thats exactly what I want things to be like around here. Someone mentioned nut trees earlier and I would love to do that as well. Gosh, everyone on this thread is making my projects stack up. Meat chicken math is going to hit hard, now orchard and plant math too!

Thanks! It's exciting to know other people are on the same page. No mushrooms yet, but the mycelium is looking good. This bed is pink oyster, and if it goes well I'll probably expand into wine caps.
I actually don't have garlic or chives yet, just "garlic chives" which is a perennial relative that's supposed to be hearty here in zone 5b, but definitely looking to get into garlic and chives and all the plants
Oh and that's a great reminder for the strawberries, I ordered some bareroots that should be arriving soon and I have no bed ready! Also on the way are raspberry, honeyberry (aka haskap), horseradish, and sweet potato. (Lots of beds to prep lol)
Ok I have a weird story about ponds and bees and I had no one to tell it to so now you get to hear it. So I started digging a small area to get more soil for beds and at first it was holding water. Then the bees showed up and they DRAINED THE POND! I don't know what kind of bees, but they dug a ton of tiny holes into the soil and drained the water, I'm still dumbfounded. So I have a lot to learn about bees.
If you ever get down to your bee friend you should post an article here, I'm sure it would be all the buzz

Thats great! I'm trying to decide what mushrooms to plant. We typically only get button mushrooms from the grocery store, not very adventurous in the mushroom world. We pick as much chanterelle's as possible during their season in our woods though, so I was thinking of doing those. They're native here as well so I figured that was good. Might try some others as well.

Neat! If you get Garlic, or chives in the future, you don't need many! They'll double by the next year. We have to cut and pull bunches out every year before planting, theres just so much of it! Strawberry's two. They have their own separate bed, and they still manage to wiggle into the raised beds.

Wow! Thats incredible! I had no idea bee's did that! That interesting.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

Cool thread! There are some great ideas here.

I always do a garden every year, but this year I did nearly everything from seed (direct sow or started in March under lights). I also am focusing on higher-producing crops, and crops I can grow vertically to save space and grow larger quantities. We'll see how my little experiment goes. I also have been focusing more on my compost pile this year.

I started keeping laying hens in April and I love the eggs and how they make good use of my extra food scraps. And their poop is great for compost. I am also getting my first-ever meat birds in September.

Another focus this year is food preservation. I want to waste less of what I grow, so I will do more dehydrating and canning this year.

My question for you all is how do you make good use of chickens in your garden besides their poop/compost? Does anyone occasionally let them into the garden area to be on bug patrol, or will they just dig up my tomatoes and kill them!

EDIT:
I want to add that I don't technically have a "homestead" (I live on a decent-sized lot for my urban city, but it's still tiny). Having more land is a dream of mine for the future, but I was just posting the projects I'm up to that could fall under "homesteading".

 

[Weeg]

EDIT:
I want to add that I don't technically have a "homestead" (I live on a decent-sized lot for my urban city, but it's still tiny). Having more land is a dream of mine for the future, but I was just posting the projects I'm up to that could fall under "homesteading".

I think thats a lot of us. I have 8 acres, most of which is forest. Certainly not enough area to call it a homestead. We still have our weekly trips to town, and the grocery store.

My question for you all is how do you make good use of chickens in your garden besides their poop/compost? Does anyone occasionally let them into the garden area to be on bug patrol, or will they just dig up my tomatoes and kill them!

My birds get to free range some in the summer. When I'm home to watch them. My ducks to tend to wander into the garden. I have raised beds, so when they do go over there on occasion, I'm sure they help with the slugs!

 

[WIchickMama]

I think thats a lot of us. I have 8 acres, most of which is forest. Certainly not enough area to call it a homestead. We still have our weekly trips to town, and the grocery store.

We have 10 acres, 2 different spots, we live on 3 and have 7 north of us that is woods, trails and we added some blueberries and red buds to this year-some day we will live there.

Homestead is more than just amount of land though, it is about being self sufficient for you and your family. They recommend (whoever they are) 1 acre per person in the family but you can make it work on 1 acre


Love hearing about everyone's ventures. We just started a new addition to the chicken run, hope to finish it next week, using all recycled wood

Trying to determine what bushes/shrubs/trees I can still plant this season. Not expecting fruit but to get established.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

I think thats a lot of us. I have 8 acres, most of which is forest. Certainly not enough area to call it a homestead. We still have our weekly trips to town, and the grocery store.

My birds get to free range some in the summer. When I'm home to watch them. My ducks to tend to wander into the garden. I have raised beds, so when they do go over there on occasion, I'm sure they help with the slugs!

Haha well I have a 1800 sq. foot lot! You have a lot of land in my eyes.

I have just put chicken wire fencing around my garden beds. I definitely won't be letting my birds roam in there with the baby plants, but maybe as the plants mature they can occasionally be let in there to take care of bugs.

 

[Sally PB]

I just found this thread. Thanks for starting it, @Weeg!

I have been gardening for many years, but the output from my two gardens hasn't been great. For their size (one is big, the other is BIG), I should be getting more. Especially tomatoes. I can 50-60 quarts per year, and we use them all. (Don't be impressed; my neighbor does 150 quarts, but she's feeding 4 adults and 3 growing boys.)

This year, I'm going all out to improve the soil where my tomatoes are. More compost. More mulch. Wood chips to break down. Actually, I want to improve my soil in general. The two gardens are VERY different: one is sandy soil, the other is very heavy clay. Mulch-mulch-mulch.

I planted some different potato varieties this year, and more plants than I ever have before. So far, almost all have started growing. A few duds, but not many. I bought some seed potatoes, but some are from what I grew last year.

I'm working on not needing to buy seeds/starts. DH built me a green house, and we're looking into ways to heat it in the winter. Right now, I can grow greens, very slowly, but only if we get enough sunny days. I started my tomato plants in there, and they did well, but some were still quite small by planting time.

I have 6 hens, and all the eggs we need, plus some to give away. I'm trying water glassing as a way to preserve some for the "off" months in the winter.

Goals for the year are to get some kind of rain catchment system going, put a better fence around the garden, and perhaps buy a backup propane generator. We're out in the boonies, so we have a propane furnace, though we heat mostly with wood. Solar would be great, and that might be in the not-too-distant future.

Time to go get my hands dirty in the garden!

 

[Rangergord]

My homestead is 5 acres, mostly wooded about 1/2 acre developed with a home and workshop. An edible landscape including fruit trees berries, vegetables, herbs and mushrooms surrounds the buildings. Fenced with deer and electric fencing. I have a backyard nursery where I propagate fruit and food bearing perennial plants for sale. I manage the woodland as a woodlot for firewood and to integrate the forest edge with the food forest plantings. The chickens are integrated into the gardens with a chicken tractor. I have rainwater storage and a solar off grid battery backup system for power outages. That’s all I plan on doing because its all the time and energy I have!

 

[Sally PB]

@Rangergord, that sounds like a lot to me!

 

[Rangergord]

R

@Rangergord, that sounds like a lot to me!

it certainly is! The limits of self sufficiency are defined by time and money.

 

[igorsMistress]

We live on a corner suburban lot in the desert. I have a garden and chickens of course. This year we’ve added some mulberry bushes and fruit trees, worms for castings and general garden goodness, and have added to our emergency food supply. My biggest focus is harvesting water into rain barrels, increasing our emergency water supply and alternative cooking methods. Since we live in the desert access to water is extremely important. We have plenty of sun though, so I’m going back to my solar oven and added a parabolic cooker to my options. Solar cooking is basically free once you invest in the oven, whether you make it or purchase it, plus it keeps the house cooler in the evening which means my a/c runs less. We’ve been working for years to add shade to our property by planting trees, and this year was no exception. In addition to the fruit trees I’ve finally added the last two shade trees. Now we’re just waiting for everything to grow and produce.