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Homesteading
Posted on 3/28/21 at 2:54 pm
Posted on 3/28/21 at 2:54 pm
I’ve been living in an Arizona suburb since 2009 and it was always a temporary thing. Living like herded cattle just was never my thing. Wife and I were fortunate that a) the Phoenix housing market has gone insane and b) we found a 3-acre spot down in an unincorporated area in Baldwin County, Alabama, to put down roots. Close enough to visit and find stuff to do, far enough away to enjoy our privacy.
The Home is meh, but the land is cleared with lots of pine & oak trees and a nice little 1/3-acre stocked brim & bass pond. But I’m also really interested in doing a lot of self-sustaining kind of improvements like raising small animals and managing a really nice-producing garden. I love the idea of living off my land as much as I reasonably could. When I was a kid, some of my extended family ran their own mini-farms, did a lot of prepper stuff (canning & pickling meats/vegetables) and I helped enough that it’s in my blood a little bit and always had an affinity for it.
Could anyone give me some advice in terms of what resources I should check out to get myself semi-educated? Are there small homesteaders that do some type of apprenticeship? Would a government resource like fish & wildlife organizations offer any resources/education? I think I’ve watched more YouTube videos than I care to imagine and although I think some are really helpful, I fear some of them sugar coat just how difficult/expensive/time-consuming it all can be.
The Home is meh, but the land is cleared with lots of pine & oak trees and a nice little 1/3-acre stocked brim & bass pond. But I’m also really interested in doing a lot of self-sustaining kind of improvements like raising small animals and managing a really nice-producing garden. I love the idea of living off my land as much as I reasonably could. When I was a kid, some of my extended family ran their own mini-farms, did a lot of prepper stuff (canning & pickling meats/vegetables) and I helped enough that it’s in my blood a little bit and always had an affinity for it.
Could anyone give me some advice in terms of what resources I should check out to get myself semi-educated? Are there small homesteaders that do some type of apprenticeship? Would a government resource like fish & wildlife organizations offer any resources/education? I think I’ve watched more YouTube videos than I care to imagine and although I think some are really helpful, I fear some of them sugar coat just how difficult/expensive/time-consuming it all can be.
9
Posted on 3/28/21 at 3:18 pm to The Quiet One
quote:
Could anyone give me some advice in terms of what resources I should check out to get myself semi-educated? Are there small homesteaders that do some type of apprenticeship? Would a government resource like fish & wildlife organizations offer any resources/education?
Melissa K. Norris has a good podcast and YouTube channel on homesteading.
As far as straight up agricultural practices, NRCS and your state extension service will have the bulk of that information. You could also look into sources on holistic agriculture and/or permaculture. Both have alot of concepts that could easily be incorporated into homesteading that would be beneficial to the land and help maximize production a small piece of land.
There's also a good book I've been reading lately titled "Start Your Farm" by Robert Pritchard and Ellen Polishuk.
Posted on 3/28/21 at 4:12 pm to The Quiet One
+ 1 on your local cooperative extension agent and state ag school as sources of info. So much general ag info is simply not relevant to the humid coastal south. Our climate comes with particular challenges and opportunities that just don’t correspond with weather, seasonality, etc in other parts of the country.
Once you’ve relocated, your local farmers and ag people will be an excellent resource. Feed stores, farmers markets, etc will lead you to people with great local knowledge.
I’ll say this about hobby farm livestock: you cannot like to travel or be away from home for extended periods of time. Goats, chickens, etc are cute and fun and not especially difficult....until you want to go away for an overnight, weekend, or, g-d forbid, weeks long trip: then you’re spending money to have someone feed and water the critters. I’d rather trade produce to someone for eggs or meat, and not have the hassle of tending to the animals day after day. Not everyone can kill and eat what they’ve raised, either, so know thyself.
Think about putting in fruit and nut trees ASAP. Most take a while to become productive, and they can be some of the least labor intensive but most rewarding crops to grow. Nectarines, peaches, plums, figs or olives (if it’s warm enough in your microclimate), pecans....
Once you’ve relocated, your local farmers and ag people will be an excellent resource. Feed stores, farmers markets, etc will lead you to people with great local knowledge.
I’ll say this about hobby farm livestock: you cannot like to travel or be away from home for extended periods of time. Goats, chickens, etc are cute and fun and not especially difficult....until you want to go away for an overnight, weekend, or, g-d forbid, weeks long trip: then you’re spending money to have someone feed and water the critters. I’d rather trade produce to someone for eggs or meat, and not have the hassle of tending to the animals day after day. Not everyone can kill and eat what they’ve raised, either, so know thyself.
Think about putting in fruit and nut trees ASAP. Most take a while to become productive, and they can be some of the least labor intensive but most rewarding crops to grow. Nectarines, peaches, plums, figs or olives (if it’s warm enough in your microclimate), pecans....
Posted on 3/28/21 at 4:29 pm to hungryone
Great stuff! Thanks to both of you. From what you both mentioned, it seems I’m at least pointed in the right general direction. I just need to take my time, learn and not over-extend. I was thinking of a small-yield garden with typical easy-to-grow veggies and a half-dozen chickens to start, then go from there as I learn.
I didn’t even think about fruit & nut trees, though. Excellent idea. I’ll need to cull a few pines on the property to get a little more sunlight. Thanks again, guys.
I didn’t even think about fruit & nut trees, though. Excellent idea. I’ll need to cull a few pines on the property to get a little more sunlight. Thanks again, guys.
This post was edited on 3/28/21 at 4:30 pm
Posted on 3/28/21 at 4:41 pm to The Quiet One
I’ve been hooked on this off the grid show on Discovery all day. Makes me want to try it.
Posted on 3/28/21 at 4:57 pm to The Quiet One
quote:
I just need to take my time, learn and not over-extend. I was thinking of a small-yield garden with typical easy-to-grow veggies and a half-dozen chickens to start, then go from there as I learn.
One of the best pieces of advise I ever heard/read as it relates to gardening/homesteading is this: work on being really good at one thing before moving on to the next.
If you try to do too many things at once, you are bound to fail.
This post was edited on 3/28/21 at 4:57 pm
Posted on 3/28/21 at 5:12 pm to OysterPoBoy
I am addicted to old Guildbrook Farm YT videos when they were on just a 1-acre plot. Very simple and realistic. I got back into canning because of their videos.
Posted on 3/28/21 at 5:49 pm to The Quiet One
The Church of LDS
Redundancy is key food water energy
Redundancy is key food water energy
This post was edited on 3/28/21 at 5:50 pm
Posted on 3/28/21 at 6:09 pm to The Quiet One
I’ve been at if for a few years. Wife and I purchased 50 acres. Live on the front three, have been clearing a spot roughly 1 acre of gum trees was a jungle with a chainsaw and my JDeere. Finally have all the trees down and pasture seed started. I have more chickens then I need, over 30 laying quail (pickle eggs, and hatch a lot for meat), 6 goats (one just had twins a month ago) been milking her for milk and have made some cheese. Just purchased 5 meat turkeys going to raise them on Pasture. I have a large garden, peach, plum, apple trees, blackberries and blue berries. I can veggies during the summer. It keeps me busy, my mind never stops so it is extremely therapeutic. I have learned mainly through you tube, books, and like other posters have stated community members. All knowledge from the goat adventure has been learned through the breeder I’ve purchased them from. Gardening online. Everything cost money, I don’t worry about how much it cost because I’m not spending it on blow, weed, or sitting on a bar stool.
Posted on 3/28/21 at 6:18 pm to The Quiet One
Pure breed Cornish raising on pasture for fall Gumbo! (Hatched in an incubator I built).
Goat Herd
Look at that Udder! Nigerian Dwarf Goat, hand milk in the morning and evening get 1/2 gallon per day.
Another thing that is fun about homesteading is building stuff. My buddy and I built my barn, I made my goat milking stand.
This post was edited on 3/28/21 at 6:22 pm
Posted on 3/28/21 at 6:20 pm to FowlGuy
Posted on 3/28/21 at 6:41 pm to FowlGuy
That’s amazing. You’re obviously really proud of the work & effort you put into it. That’s what I want even if it’s on a much smaller scale. Pride in doing it myself, caring for a small farm and enjoying at least a small measure of self-sustainability.
Let me ask, how’d you get into profitable ventures like selling small crops, canned goods and/or meat? Farmers market?
Let me ask, how’d you get into profitable ventures like selling small crops, canned goods and/or meat? Farmers market?
Posted on 3/28/21 at 6:55 pm to The Quiet One
I live in SE Arkansas, a large number of people have gardens already so it’s hard to sell veggies, we have a small stand but it’s only open Saturday mornings at certain times of the year. I’m probably going to make a small stand and let my daughters sell produce during the summer and Let them pocket the money. I sell pickled quail eggs and fresh chicken eggs to help cover some of the cost of feed. If you’re good at marketing and getting out there you should have no problems selling stuff I just mainly do it for pleasure.
Posted on 3/28/21 at 7:08 pm to FowlGuy
Nice. Yeah, I have no particular desire or need for making money doing something like that. Mainly just curious. I figured most of any excess I manage to pull would be given to friends, family and neighbors.
We actually had an accepted offer on the property two weeks ago, but we won’t close until April 26th to give us time to finish selling our property in AZ. This is going to be the longest month of my life
We actually had an accepted offer on the property two weeks ago, but we won’t close until April 26th to give us time to finish selling our property in AZ. This is going to be the longest month of my life
Posted on 3/28/21 at 7:21 pm to The Quiet One
Yeah. When I have an excess of items I’ll sell some at work or give to friends. When Covid hit we were able to be self-sustainable for a while, then had a bad snow storm a month ago same thing. It’s nice to know we can make it off our homestead. I have always had a fascination with the “old-style” of living, simplicity.
Posted on 3/28/21 at 7:48 pm to The Quiet One
There is a lot of good ?? no in the garden thread. I wish we could get back out in the country to start homesteading. I am trying to do what we can in the city to have a gain as much knowledge as possible for for later .
Posted on 3/28/21 at 8:11 pm to tjv305
Posted on 3/28/21 at 8:50 pm to The Quiet One
Piece of advice my farming father gave me: Crops don’t run away or knock down fences on Christmas afternoon.
Do with that what you will.
Do with that what you will.
Posted on 3/28/21 at 8:58 pm to jimbeam
Mother Earth News magazine has a lot of good articles related to what you’re interested in.
Posted on 3/29/21 at 8:17 am to The Quiet One
Joel Salatin. He runs poly face farms and has written several books. Look him up.
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