Any Homesteaders here??

LuvMySoldier · **Any Homesteaders here??**

There are so many aspects to homesteading: raising farm animals, home schooling, self-sufficiency, alternative medicine, alternative power or off-grid living, and gardening to name a few...and I was just wondering if any of us here considered themselves "homesteaders".

Do you raise chickens, goats, or other farm animals? Do you suppliment your food by tending a garden? Do you live in a rural area? And are you happy? Do you love the life you live? Tell us why, and why you chose this life.

And if you AREN'T a homesteader, are you working to become one?
I am!! In fact, it's a dream of mine!!

maggiebugjuice · 10-04-2007, 03:00 PM

I am not, but, if it is a dream of yours, what are you doing to be one? What do you do- raise animals, live in a rural area, have a garden?

ZooNana · 10-04-2007, 05:56 PM

I'm a homesteader. I live on 5 acres in the country. We have chickens and a large garden. I'd like to raise quail and turkeys next year. As soon as we can afford better fencing we'll have goats. We will have beehives next year and I plan to work an acre or two for crops like sunflowers, corn and grains.

I wish I'd started this lifestyle a long time ago, I love it. It has always been my dream. Eventually I'd like to be totally off-grid and majorly self-reliant.

booker81 · 10-04-2007, 06:07 PM

I would love to do more - right now I just have a garden, and we hunt (deer, turkey, goose, duck, grouse, squirrel to name a few), and we fish a lot. I grew up in a community where it was quite common to have neighbors that had cows and pigs they butchered themselves - we didn't but we did have chickens, geese and ducks that we raised for meat and eggs.

I have a really neat book on homesteading, and I try to find more and more ways to do things like that - especially cooking. I like "old" type cooking ways, ways that today don't seem "good" or right (hanging meats, cellar storage etc.

We live in a pretty rural area, dirt road and everything. The kind of place you can walk across the road for a cup of sugar, or the neighbor down the road comes and plows the road in the winter (since Country Road Commission seems to forget us every year).

I want to do more, but it's just planning and time right now. And learning! :D

LuvMySoldier · 10-04-2007, 07:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maggiebugjuice

I am not, but, if it is a dream of yours, what are you doing to be one? What do you do- raise animals, live in a rural area, have a garden?

Thanks for asking, maggiebugjuice!! I guess should have included what I WILL be doing once I become a homesteader.

Quote:

Originally Posted by luvmysoldier

And if you AREN'T a homesteader, are you working to become one?
I am!! In fact, it's a dream of mine!!

I have researched homesteading, "green home" building, and frugal living for several years now, but I hardly know everything there is to know. With the wealth of information out there these days, I learn better (easier, greener) ways of doing things all the time, and have reworked my plans more than a few times over the years.

For instance, since we've decided to use my husbands' VA benefits to purchase land, and we're hoping to settle in Wyoming, it looks like instead of a 10 acre parcel (as originally planned), we're looking at a 40+ parcel ranch. I've found that in Wyoming it's difficult to find a plot of less than 40 acres for what we're wanting to do. So, we're prepared to go BIG - or go HOME!!

I would love to have at least enough property to own a few horses, some goats, and chickens, LOTS of cats, and of course room enough to grow a huge garden. I would love to be totally self-sufficient, complete with wind and solar power, and I would love to live in an area where neighbors know each other by name, are eager to help one another, yet where I don't see their home from my front door. KWIM?

I would say homesteading is something that I've always planned to do, and strived for in my life, and may finally be coming true!! Hopefully, if all goes well, by next Spring I'll be visiting the Gardening forum here to get tips on how to plant my first garden!!

LuvMySoldier · 10-04-2007, 07:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZooNana

...We will have beehives next year and I plan to work an acre or two for crops like sunflowers, corn and grains.

Wow!! Really? Bees? You're a braver woman than I am!! But I'll bet the honey will be worth it, huh? Mmmmm...fresh honey!!

And about the corn and grains you plan to farm...will you grind them and make homemade breads and such? You'll have to post about that once you get started!! I'd be really interested in hearing about it!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZooNana

...I wish I'd started this lifestyle a long time ago, I love it. It has always been my dream. Eventually I'd like to be totally off-grid and majorly self-reliant.

I wish I would have pushed harder to make my dream become a reality sooner than later too. But it ain't over till it's over!! I think we still have time to enjoy the life we've drempt about, and share that kind of life with our daughter - which is a major reason I want to get the ball rolling. I, too, would like to live totally off-grid someday, and I want my daughter to be raised knowing how to be self-sufficient if need be.

ZooNana · 10-04-2007, 07:30 PM

I can't wait for the bees, and the honey and wax.

I already grind my own grains and make homemade bread with them. Whole grains store well and cost pennies in comparison to flour. We have a large grain mill and a hand crank one for non-electric times.

I actually run a large self-reliance and survival forum, so I'm fortunate to be able to communicate with like minded individuals.

LuvMySoldier · 10-04-2007, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by booker81

I would love to do more - right now I just have a garden, and we hunt (deer, turkey, goose, duck, grouse, squirrel to name a few), and we fish a lot. I grew up in a community where it was quite common to have neighbors that had cows and pigs they butchered themselves - we didn't but we did have chickens, geese and ducks that we raised for meat and eggs.

My DH "thinks" he's going to hunt in Wyoming, yet I've never seen him hunt, so I don't know how good he is at it. I'm hoping to live more off our garden, and chickens, though, so I'm hoping I can talk him out of hunting altogether. Fishing, now that's something I'm going to have to re-learn. How to prepare a fish. I suppose once you get the hang of it, there's nothing to it.

Tell me more about the chickens you had. Did you learn to "prepare" them? Was it hard? I mean, did you get "attached" to them? Name them? This is what I think our problem would be with our daughter. She'd have them all named, and be crushed to know we were planning to bake up old "Scooter" for dinner!!

Did you ever have this problem?

I have a really neat book on homesteading, and I try to find more and more ways to do things like that - especially cooking. I like "old" type cooking ways, ways that today don't seem "good" or right (hanging meats, cellar storage etc. [/quote]

I agree that you don't see many people putting up food the "old-fashioned way" much anymore...What's the name of the book you have been reading? Maybe I could locate a copy at my library.

Thanks!!

LuvMySoldier · 10-04-2007, 07:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZooNana

I can't wait for the bees, and the honey and wax.

I already grind my own grains and make homemade bread with them. Whole grains store well and cost pennies in comparison to flour. We have a large grain mill and a hand crank one for non-electric times.

I actually run a large self-reliance and survival forum, so I'm fortunate to be able to communicate with like minded individuals.

What do you do with the wax? Oh, I suppose make candles? That would make sense! How COOL!!

How much did you pay for your hand cranking grinder? Now THAT would be fun to do!! (Although I'm not sure how much cranking I could handle doing at one time...) It must be really rewarding to see grains (especially ones you grow yourself) go from seed, to flour, to end product - homemade bread!! Oh, I can't wait to start doing things like this for myself!! I'll bet it's hard to get used to in the beginning, isn't it? Doing things such as this, as opposed to just getting in the car and driving to the store for a loaf of bread?

ZooNana · 10-04-2007, 07:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LuvMySoldier

Tell me more about the chickens you had. Did you learn to "prepare" them? Was it hard? I mean, did you get "attached" to them? Name them? This is what I think our problem would be with our daughter. She'd have them all named, and be crushed to know we were planning to bake up old "Scooter" for dinner!!

Did you ever have this problem?

I know you weren't talking to me but... lol

Our first chickens we named and promised we wouldn't eat them, and we haven't. When we got our second big batch I bought a few fancy chickens (in this case we got blue silkies) that aren't the eating type so the kids could name them and play with them, and most of the rest are nameless for future butchering.

Whether you choose to or not, some are gonna end up with names. Like we have one named Taylor because he ended up with gray feathers and it reminded of us Taylor Hicks LOL! The kids will have to learn to deal with some being dinner and deal with some that are gonna get killed by predators. Honestly the kids deal with this a lot better than you think. Last year the neighbors dog killed 15 of our chickens and our 6 yr old was the first one to discover the carnage. We lost some of her favorite blue silkies in the attack too. Homesteading isn't easy on the heart sometimes, but the good stuff your heart gets from it far outweighs the bad stuff.

This year we hatched chicks (we even had a live webcam feed of it online) and the kids watched the whole thing, they even watched as two of the chicks died shortly after hatching.