Homesteading Thread #1, In Honor of Granny

billyjoesfoodfarm ^ | 12/30/2012 | me

[teenyelliott]

So, I'm sure at least one person here on FR has wondered what happened to me, maybe two of you. Before I really really stopped posting, many of us had discussed the possibility, and or the desire, to get out of the city to our own little homesteads and try to grow some food, for security, for peace of mind, for whatever reason.

Well, my family did it.

Two years ago we made the jump. We bought a place in the country, and have spent the past couple of years setting up our little homestead. We have a big garden, many chickens, some ducks, some guineas, some sheep, some goats, and a barn for all of them. A woodstove, a hand pump well, even a solar chicken coop.

Any of my old pals, and any new ones, come check us out! Would be pleased to hear from you, and share what we are learning.

Please ping any of my old buddies that you know of; I seem to have misplaced my old ping list!

[MamaTexan]

Did you know you can just let a couple go to seed, and you will have lettuce year after year.

We do the same with our tomatoes. We don't have much luck with lettuce. The weather's too unpredictable in winter and it has a very bad habit of becoming 'summer' overnight! LOL!

Don't know if you've grown any herbs, but a couple of things I've learned is that rosemary makes a lovely bush suitable for landscaping and herbs like dill and mint shouldn't be planted anywhere you don't want them to take over....they're masters of self-propigation!

Oh,,, and if you plant oregano, I'd suggest the Mediterranean variety. It's a much hardier plant than some of the others.

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Glad to hear from you again, teeny! I, for one, DID wonder where you'd gone, but there are quite a few of us 'oldtimers' who have left or just don't post all that much anymore.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Awesome news you cutie you!

I was wondering where you've been. I see it has been productive time spent away from this place. Most excellent.

You have done what I have been dreaming of doing. It may take a while longer.

Best wishes and prayers up for you and your family for a happy and healthy 2013!

[teenyelliott]

MM, I am glad you made it through that. MRSA is a scary, scary deal, and one reason I have stopped with procedures and treatments. One, no one knows exactly what is wrong with me anyway, so they just throw treatments at me as a guess, and 2. Sick people and germs hang out at doc offices and hospitals. I'd rather toddle around out here, petting my goats. I also feel like being out here has been better for my health, so there is that, too.

The ketotifen, I only take it when I am reacting super badly to something, otherwise I just stick to regular benadryl on a daily basis. I'll have to look into the DAOsin, don't think I've heard of that. I am SO glad it is working for you!

[metmom]

One, no one knows exactly what is wrong with me anyway, so they just throw treatments at me as a guess,

Yeah, no kidding. The mast cell stuff just caused no end to consternation and debate amongst the medical staff, some of whom I had to explain what it was.

Likely being out on your homestead it better for you because stress is the enemy of MCAD.

[teenyelliott]

Oh, I am SO sad, and really surprised, to hear that no one took those threads over. I had saved the third thread as a favorite, thank you for the first and second. I never really fit the "prepper" category, although homesteading and prepper often go hand in hand.

For me, the doom and gloom that seems to surround the prepper groups is depressing and kind of panic-inducing, where as the lifestyle of homesteading is a gratifying peaceful kind of thing. Just a gradual change in the way we live, a slow removal from what was a "supposed to" life, to a "want to" life. :)

And hey, CottonBall, I should have put you on my ping!

[teenyelliott]

Gunner, gunner, how’s it hangin? Shoot anything lately?????

[humblegunner]

Shoot anything lately?????

Nothing interesting.

Glad to see ya back!

[teenyelliott]

Oh MT it is so GOOD to hear from you! I know a bunch of people I used to know are gone now, for various reasons. Glad you are still here. :)

I do have a bunch of perennial herbs planted; the front garden at this place was full of water dependent plants that served no real purpose. The first summer we were here was very dry, and most of them died. I have been replacing all the regular landscaping with edibles for a while. Several years ago it occurred to me that I had spent years landscaping with plants that were just pretty, and not necessarily useful. Now, everything I plant has to serve at least two purposes. I have blueberry bushes, raspberries, fennel, sage, rosemary, lavender, marjoram, thyme, basil, and a bunch of others in my front gardens. I keep all my mints and chives and such in pots in that garden, too, but also have get-as-big-as-you-want areas of mint, too, because I use it for my ever-present nausea. Works great!

I love being able to just step outside and gather herbs for dinner.

[EveningStar]

Bump! :)

[CottonBall]

Our newest dairy goat, Hazel. She is a Nigerian Dwarf, born this past June.

She is beautiful!

I can't wait to get some goats. I got a bunch of cheese-making equipment from Santa, but will have to practice with purchased milk for now ;(

[CottonBall]

We ended up in Northern MN btw...

GOOD to hear from you again! I thought you were farther west? Did you move again or do I just have memory issues?

[CottonBall]

For me, the doom and gloom that seems to surround the prepper groups is depressing and kind of panic-inducing, where as the lifestyle of homesteading is a gratifying peaceful kind of thing. Just a gradual change in the way we live, a slow removal from what was a "supposed to" life, to a "want to" life. :)

And hey, CottonBall, I should have put you on my ping!

Thx for the ping! Your website is great - looking at it makes me want to jump into homesteading myself. Aw well, it will be a few years (we are waiting to have enough cash on hand to survive until SS). We aren't as adventurous as you, darn it ;(

Yes, the prepper mode is a bit different than homesteading. I call myself a prepper for now, while I am in the city and not as prepared as I'd like to be (with a self-sufficient farm). When I get there, I will be a prepared homesteader.

We could use some more granny-type threads, IMO, with less emphasis on guns and storing food, although those are important issues, and more ideas on being self-sufficient.

[teenyelliott]

Sam, Sam, Sam, I've missed you! Look what I have done. :)

You know, before we did this, we were planning and planning how to do it, and it was just taking too long to get to where we thought we "needed" to be. So, we sold the house, and the cars, and the RV, and everything else that was just stuff tying us down, and jumped.

And as I have said many times, if I can do it, you can too. Just gotta DO IT. Even if I had to do it again and could only afford a double wide on a few acres, I would rather have that than be in the city. Anyone can do it. Go for IT!!!!!

And you have a fabulous New Year. Hope your Christmas was peaceful.

[teenyelliott]

Well you know, we had a Jersey ow all lined up to be delivered here, and it fell through. I think she had Johne's disease, so it is for the best. I did write a story about how I ended up with goats, and laughed at the fact that with all of my dairy sheep and dairy goats, I would have been better off just getting a cow! It is a funny place to be, coming from the city, to say getting a cow would have been easier than what I have done.

Do you have someone near you where you can get raw milk to make stuff with?

I'll tell you what, I never thought I would get goats, had planned on the cow, but now that I have them I am so glad we got them. I just love them dearly; they are like dogs, they are so sweet.

So good to see you! You'll have to keep me posted on the cheese making, I haven't done it yet.

[teenyelliott]

We could use some more granny-type threads, IMO, with less emphasis on guns and storing food, although those are important issues, and more ideas on being self-sufficient.

I agree. Some of those kids of threads really are stressful! Of course food storage and self defense are a natural part of homesteading, but I prefer to focus on the lifestyle change of it all, rather than MRE's and bullets, gold and razor wire. :)

And really, you can do it even if you haven't crossed that bridge to reach to SS. I wanted to establish our place sooner rather than later, because it relieves so much stress about having to pay attention to all the bad news, wondering if we would be safe, or prepared enough, if the masses went wild. I think we definitely have less disposable income now, but man how are lives have changed for the better. Change is always scary, but I figured if I failed, I could always go back. Now, I know I never will.

We aren't wealthy, we aren't in our twenties, and we had no farming experience. Of course we have made mistakes (buying a property that did not have fencing was the biggest one that I would do differently!), but I really started the website to show people that it really can be done, by anyone who simply wants to do it. Steep learning curve, and sometimes money is super tight until the beasts start reproducing so that we have a little income from them, but it is worth it. I really wanted to get started while I was still relatively young enough to enjoy it. I think we as Americans are so entrenched in the idea that we can't do anything enjoyable until we retire, or until we have enough money, or whatever the idea is that we dealt with and finally discarded. Do what you want to do, it is possible!

[CottonBall]

We aren't wealthy, we aren't in our twenties, and we had no farming experience. Of course we have made mistakes (buying a property that did not have fencing was the biggest one that I would do differently!), but I really started the website to show people that it really can be done, by anyone who simply wants to do it. Steep learning curve, and sometimes money is super tight until the beasts start reproducing so that we have a little income from them, but it is worth it. I really wanted to get started while I was still relatively young enough to enjoy it. I think we as Americans are so entrenched in the idea that we can't do anything enjoyable until we retire, or until we have enough money, or whatever the idea is that we dealt with and finally discarded. Do what you want to do, it is possible!

True and I know if the SHTF before we make our move, we'll regret not having moved sooner. On the other hand, if we move just because we fear doom and gloom - and it never happens, we'll regret not having waited. Problem is - we are just a few years away from being financially self-sufficient, assuming hyperinflation doesn't rear its ugly head. And hubby is in his peak earning years. Just 3-5 years and we are free to move anywhere. And we are old enough to not be able to make the move back to working - discrimination for older workers that have been out of the workforce for a while is there, when younger ones can be had for cheaper. And we're old enough to know we can't be physically capable of running a farm on our own for very long either.

So we'll just hope it doesn't happen any time soon and keep investigating farms in KY (our target state).

I'll keep looking at your site for ideas too and get started on what I can in the mean time. Your goats are just precious! I"m thinking of dairy goats instead of a cow. I don't know if I can deal with all that milk from one cow - plus don't they get lonely, being herd animals? I'd have to have 2 - so even more milk to deal with!

[CottonBall]

Good to see you again, metmom.

Sorry you are having health issues.

[CottonBall]

DW, don’t know if you’re still around, but we are having old home week here, thanks to teenyelliott.

[JDoutrider]

Your memory must be like mine!

Yep... we moved to my wife's Reservation in Northern MN. Still there improving on our personal "gulch"! It's been quite the challenge, but things are coming along as well as can be expected...

There's still quite a few souls from Granny's threads here and about FR, but the political wars have thinned us out a bit. I see that Delawhere still posts occasionally, Think I'll ping him here!

[JDoutrider]

Whoa! DelaWhere’s ears must be loudly ringing! We bothed pinged him within one minute of each other! GMTA!