starting out

[PaLady]

Hey,

I am newly divorced, 41 years old, 3 months from being a grandma (oh my god) and am seriously interested in homesteading...is that possible by myself?? And what do I need to do to be successful?? Any help or advice would be appreciated.

[pancho]

Start small and slow. There isn't any hurry. Take one step at a time and when you have an understanding of that one step go to the next.
A small garden spot would be a good start. Then some type of small animal, chcikens are easy.

[Blair]

Norma-Jeanne

It depends on your definition of homesteading. People are "homesteading" in all walks of life, from the city with some plants on the balcony to backwoods 40 where you can have gardens, animals and orchards.

I personally rent a farmhouse on 1 acre and I have a garden, chickens and do from scratch cooking. I plan on adding ducks, rabbits and pigs this year, Lord willing. So it is possible to homestead by yourself.

Things you will need: a desire to do it, some good books on different subjects, ( buy, borrow or find on internet) some knowledgable people to ask advice from( in person or here in this forum.) There's a LOT of knowledge assembled here.

Welcome to the great world of homesteading! Remember to have fun while you're learning.

[giddy]

You bet you can do it. I was divorced after 24 years at age 42 and literally had to start over from scatch. My youngest had just graduated high school so I didn't have small children. Ten years later, I'm now a grandmother, building a new house on 27 acres that I own, have 4 goats, a few cows and soon chickens. Go to the library and check out all the magazines and books you can find on gardening, canning, farming or anything else you want to do. Sometimes knowledge is more important that money. Start small and as you get comfortable with that, try something else. You can grow quite a few vegetables in pots or if you have the space a 4 x 8 raised bed. Good luck, you'll have some ups and downs- main thing is just dust yourself off and get up and try again.

[PaLady]

thanks for all the advice. I am familiar with canning and farming...I was raised by my grandparents on their 50 acre farm, so I do come somewhat equipped with a little knowledge. It just seems so impossible considering where I am beginning at...a nursing student, teenage son and pregnant adult daughter, and living in a 3rd floor apartment...time for some changes and the beginning of the year is the perfect time to start. Thanks!

[Belly Acre]

Hey Norma Jeanne,
Your post got me to thinking, I knew some people from Woodsville, N.H. Their names were "The Allens" I believe the "boys" names were Steve and Robbie(they are probably in their 40's now). I grew up in NH and those 2 boys used to come to Conway to stay with their grandparents for the summer.
Just wondering. Welcome to The Forum!
Emily

[PaLady]

Hey Belly Acre,
The only Allen I know is Tom...I work for him at my work study job during the school year. I also moved here at the beginning of my divorce 8 months ago, so I don't really know anybody yet...but hey, the town is the size of Mayberry so who knows??? Thanks for the welcome though.

[Terri]

Between the family and the nursing school, I think that you will be too busy to turn around right now!

That being said, I think you are doing VERY well! Every small town seems to have a pint-sized hospital and nursing home. You will earn a decent income. You can live in the country and drive to a local small town, so you will have an income AND insurance!

As for the physical stuff, women can and do do the work: we just use bigger wrenches!

[PaLady]

Terri,

I saw in your profile that you're an RN...my hat's off to you!!! I am in my second full semester and will sit for my boards for my LPN license in June. It's the toughest thing I've ever done, but I have waited 19 years to do it so...here goes. I'm going to start VERY slowly...probably turning my 3rd floor apartment kitchen into a make-shift garden this spring...then canning and jamming in the fall...2 crafts semi-down, about a million more to go. Eventually my plan is to buy some land with a small cabin and raise some animals, probably chickens, cows and pigs and go from there. Thanks for the kind words of support. It means alot from someone who has done the school thing...you can appreciate how tough it is.

[FarmboyBill]

First, you dont have a place. next, you dont have any tools, machinery, pickup. To me, this is the starting place, when you have most of the machinery/tools, and a place to put them on. Are the kids going to be deeply involved in this also, or has school functions got them wrapped up tight? As was said, subscribe to good magazines, Backwoods, I guess, Mother Earth, Small Farmers Journal, And any others. Get online and have the seed companys send you their catalogs. Let the subscriptions lapse to the ones you dont feel you need. Get a good almanac and sinyc yourself to the rythemn of the seasons. I recommend Llewelyns, or however its spelled. Ive used it for 20yrs. Get into YT Forums, and start learning about tractors, machinery, ect. I learn more from seeing a thing done than from reading a book about doing it. If your that way also, in the magazines you subscribe too, you find where they sell vidios of raising certain livestock. Get those. I have 2 for goats. Teach yourself to can, even if you have to go to the store and buy the veggies to can with. Find a building you can store stuff, and start going to flea markets and picking up hand tools that you think you will need. Be on the lookout for a cheap tiller, BUT BEWARE, theres probably a good reason its cheap, Tillers are expensive to fix. Garden tractors much less so, but harder to find with their attachments. Think David Bradley in garden tractors. Troy bilt, Ariens, or that little thing if your going to have a small garden in tillers. Collect jars as you find them. Some people clearing out their parents place after their deaths throw them away. a 5/10 gal crock also if you run onto it. hoes rakes, schovels, post hole diggers, and make a tamping stick out of a thin trunk of a tree. U may need/want a chain saw, circular saw, electric drill. youll need a lawn mower. Find one with a bagger if your going to have rabbits and chickens. Dump the bagger into big trash bags and seal them, Put them in the dry till winter and feed your hay to your chickens and rabbits. When you get to where you can do it, get yourself a doz old hens from a broiler operation. Im getting ready to get me a doz or 2 myself, and sell of my 5 3yr old birds this Sat. You could keep them in an area the size of 4 cattle panels. Keep them one place a yr, then move them to another and make your garden where they had been, BUT FIRST, buy you 3 wiened pigs and let them root up that chicken pen soon to be garden for 3 weeks, sprinkling shelled corn on the ground for them to root after. Get you some already made cages, a 1/2doz or so, and get you 4 does and a buck around a month old. Raise them up and breed them at 6 mos. One doe one month and the other the next. Use the extra cages for raising their young. Find someone who will show yo how to kill chickens and rabbits and dress them. Well, you do alla that, then thats a good start. Good luck

[EDDIE BUCK]

Take your time, somewhere in this small world of ours is a single successful farmer thats about your age thats been searching most of his life for someone just like you. All you have to do is search a little to, till he knows where you are. That life style you want, he can give it to you and what you both were searching for you both found.

[simplefarmgirl]

welcome to the homesteading site,, I live in NH also. Not quite as far north as you. We live on a family farm and 8.5 acres,on Mt Cardigan, the Alexandria side. we take it one day at a time, each year we sit and figure what we need to add to the farm to make it run smoother, easy for us, every year we add more animals, This year will be a pair of beligan horses. I want to add chickens and turkeys, we have had request for them to sell for meat, along with the 75 pigs we have. Dont get over whelmed, take one day at a time.. It can be done, I am a few mos from being 48, mh dh is 38 we work together,, but I have learnt I can do it myself if i have to..I love this way of life and as long as health stays no worse we will die here.

[turtlehead]

We moved from city to country when two of our kids were still at home -- teenagers, in high school. The change did not go over well with them. SO... unless your kids are completely on board with the idea of lots of extra outside work, I'd say you should "homestead" in your apartment for a few years until they've moved out.

Acquire the following skills, if you don't already have them:

canning
dehydrating
knitting/crocheting
sewing
spinning
soap making
make butter
make cheese
make wine

Try to do everything yourself before you call a plumber or electrician or whatever to fix things for you. Also try to fix something before you throw it away and replace with new. It sounds easy but for me this "do it myself" frame of mind has been one of the toughest parts of moving from city to country.

[Terri]

I never had my kids do much of the outside work, as I do not think either will want to homestead. Instead, I had their chores be more of the inside work, under the theory that both will need to cook a meal, vacuum a rug, wash laundry, and so forth.

They each have chores. but, I chose the chores that they would likely benefit from. Yes, if I am ill they ARE expected to water the garden and feed the chickens, but that is the exception rather than the rule. And, I DO have them help me snap the beans and such, as even a city dweller might plant a garden.

I am not ENCOURAGING them to become city dwellers, I am only predicting. the one is a flaming extrovert who thrives on crowds, and the other is mostly interested in machnery. He might become a custom planter, but I cannot see him raising chickens!

*IF* either of them get the homesteading bug, I will be more than pleased to help. I just do not think either of them will!

[Maura]

If you graduate by the time you are 45, that gives you 20 years of being in the work force before a typical retirement. If you can do that, you can move to a new place and put in a garden. I didn't get my first sheep and chickens until I was 48.

[PaLady]

Hey,
I will graduate next year at 43(ugh) and then I'm going to try to buy some land or at least rent a farmhouse somewhere quiet...I'm starting to believe more and more that this is possible for me! Just what I've always wanted...just had to accept that most men in this neck of the woods don't want to live without their xbox! But we women can do anything right? And if what doesn't kill us makes us stronger, then I should be Hercules anytime now!

[PaLady]

I hope you're right about the successful farmer thing...but I do think God better make sure he drops him in my lap with a sign around his neck saying "this is him" or I just might miss it!