What do you do with your small homestead?

[1flhippy]

I'd just like to hear what people do who have 2 acres or less. We garden and are working on getting some fruit trees and berry bushes and getting it fenced in. What do you grow or raise? Are you solar? How is life on a small homestead? we have some solar lights, solar ovens, working on solar shower, and fencing it. Oh, we have 1 1/2 acres. We would like to have it backyard wildlife certified. Ahhhhhh, more plans than money.

From:The other half of Hippy Dippy Homestead!

[prairiedog]

we have 1/3 of an acre in a small town and have a big garden, fruit trees and vines, chickens and milk goats

[Spinner]

Hanging my head in shame because I have to many acres to qualify for posting on this thread...

[skeeterhawk]

I have a tad under 2 acres. We used to raise chickens, rabbits, goats, large garden. Now, I have to manage things alone. I have a few fruit trees, a couple of grape arbors, some lovely perennial flower gardens, a few chickens, and a small veggie garden. I spend quite a bit of time just sittin' and rockin' on the porch and watching the weeds grow!!!

[Danaus29]

I've got 1 and 1/4 acre on 2 different sites. Our home sits on the 1/4 acre and the other has a building which needs a lot of work to be considered a house. Both have garden sites. The house has a solar clothes dryer (line streched between 2 posts) and my milkweed patch for the Monarch butterflies. The duck pens and rabbit runs are on the home site. The other acre has my walnut trees, some woods, and lots of potential for more garden and produce areas. It is also used for feed for the ducks and rabbits, they get the grass when we mow and trimmings from the multiflora roses, wild grapes, and other good rabbit plants.

[mtnest]

I don't qualify either (by 1/2 acre)but I think we have a pretty tiny place compared to many here.

[1flhippy]

mtnest, 1/2 an acre won't disqualify you! We are waiting for the property behind us to go for sale, we may just have more than our little 1 1/2 acre one day.

From: The other half of Hippy Dippy Homestead.

[1flhippy]

Danaus29, ha ha ha ha, we too have a solar dryer! LOL


From: The other half of Hippy Dippy Homestead.

[sammyd]

We had 2 acres. Made 1 acre hay and raised a couple of steers. Last year I baled it twice and used it as pasture after it grew back.
We have a fair sized garden and a few apple trees that were here when we got here. Have large raspberry and strawberry patches. Planted a bunch of bush cherries, 2 cherry trees, an apple, plum, and peach tree. Built a lean to greenhouse on the side of our house.
We cheated a little by using tethering for our cows and goats and asked the neighbor if we could tether on his property to help keep it looking nice.
We have 27 chickens running around the place, 7 rabbits in cages but tractor the young ones around the yard instead of mowing. We also have a few dairy goats.
We don't get all the food for the livestock from our place but we like having the manure.
Last fall we bought another 7 acres so we're not quite so small anymore and will be able to provide more feed for our animals.

[jessepona]

We have a tad over 2 acres, but it's on a sand hill covered with oaks that we're not really wanting to get rid of, so we only use about half an acre. So far we have chickens that have a large fenced yard and the run of the whole two acres on nice days. In the front yard we have: two raised beds with strawberries, raspberries and blackberries (put in yesterday ), two dwarf apple trees and on dwarf pear, six rhubarb plants, a 12x12 patch of asparagus with plans for six more raised beds in the future. In the back we have an orchard with two old apple trees, 5 blueberries, three goosberries, 1 currant, 2 bush apricots, 1 peach tree, six rhubarb plants, three horseradishes. In another part of the yard: three grape vines growing on posts with wire, three hop plants growing on two old corn cribs. In the front away from the house we have a prairie restoration with lupines, big bluestem, indian grass, echinacea and other plants. Behind it there is a circle herb garden. There are huge black oaks scattered around the property- four by the 'prairie' and eight in the back. The center of the yard is on a slope and we're in the process of brushing it out and making more of a 'forest garden' with an understory of service berries. We've already planted 8 in the side yard.

It's looking better and being more productive all the time, but there's still a long way to go!

[Jenn]

3 acres good part wood. I commandeered one side of the lawn for garden, no soccer playing has occurred where they said I had to leave lawn so time to start expanding. Put blueberries in the wood but uncertain about that experiment- this year I am going to try WATERING them, and put a few more in sunny lawn area. Got a peach and apple grove buzzing along, the scattered pecan trees I haven't done so well on survival. The ones down stream from drainage are alive the others- siting, soil, or too dry, something didn't work out.

If we don't move soon, since I am retiring temporarily AGAIN, I might finally get off my butt and get chickens. A small cow would need too much hay brought in. I am going to ask the neighbors though if I can remove their donkey manure heaps, and wish I had a cow etc for the dung. (Biggest issue for all livestock- why I want to be home most of the time the first few months- our two dogs!)

Energy wise the house was well built (porches over western windows, 2 levels to help drafting in transition seasons to decrease cooling costs down here) but I have splurged on a metal roof. Unsure yet if it is saving us money (it'll pay for itself in 20 years- energy and roof repair savings- or our next tornado when the neighbors all have to replace their shingle roof) but it makes me very happy to have it. Once technology looks better and cheaper (maybe never?) will try putting solar on the southern roof- might get 4 kW from that area if I am remembering my earlier investigations. I encourage a rose I think has grown from the rootstock to cover most of our eastern windows each summer.

Have herbs tucked close to the house and even have a tea bush struggling along with the blueberries in the wood. Hmm, maybe will consider taking out trees when I overrun the lawn... Asparagus beds buzzing along, raspberries not so well- but the wild blackberries are not bad if you brave the thorns.

Anyway I think you can do all the gardening you want but unlike WI here in AL 3 acres (or 1 of pasture) is not enough to graze more than rabbits. My longterm possibilities include trying to buy or lease adjacent pasture and joining the hay haulers, with the postapocalyptic vision of walking the cow along the roadsides if hay is no longer on the market.

[mnn2501]

Just under .5 acre -- all but one of my tree's are fruit tree's and I've got a large garden (20x30), and a small garden (40x5) and a smaller garden(10'circle) - all organic. No meat or dairy animals though.
Not solar yet, but looking into it.

[MushCreek]

.15 acres here- most of it house. But that doesn't stop us from having citrus trees, a few veggies, and a nice year-round herb garden. I'm seriously thinking about bringing in a few quail, but it would have to be a covert, night-time operation LOL! I mostly hang out here in anticipation of the day when we move to our acreage in rural SC.

[brody]

we have our house on 3/4 acre
7 apple trees
garden (30 x 40)
rasberries, blackberries, blueberries, run for rabbits
flower garden beds
room for my agility equipment (though not in a traditional field)

room for chickens (hoping to ad them in June)

[Sonshine]

We have 2 acres, have a good sized garden, putting in an herb garden today as part of my edible landscaping I'm trying to do, have blueberry, raspberry and blackberry bushes, hoping to have some elderberry soon. Have chickens, some pygmy goats and so far only one rabbit, but are planning on getting more in order to breed for meat. Still researching that though. We also hope to get some Potbellied pigs. We have a couple of pecan trees that were already here, but this will be the first year they produce. We have 3 dwarf fruit trees, lemon, orange and lime. We're hoping to get more dwarf trees this year.

[7thswan]

Even tho I have more acerage, most of what I need is on about 1 acre. Large fenced garden. 2 raised strawberry patches. Red and Gloden rasberrys. Grape Arbor (purple) anothe with 2 kinds of white grapes. Asparagus patch. 20 something fruit trees. Rabbits (angora)-only for spinning. Chickens.Hazelnut bushes. Vine garden ,Herb garden, lots of flower beds. Horseraddish patch, and soon to be sunchoke patch. The big part has the alfala and cows and one Illama.

[CountryWannabe]

I have just under three and a half acres, so larger than you were asking about. However, I have free range chickens and ducks, some goats (meat and milk - a couple of whom are also "free range" LOL), a few sheep and a Dexter cow. I used to raise a few rabbits for the freezer, but they did not do well here, so I quit with them. I have a moderate sized garden where I try to grow most of our veggies and a few melons. I want an orchard and fruit bushes but as we are looking for a bigger place, that will have to wait. As there is only myself and DH we do pretty nicely here, but the city is getting closer and closer is why we want to move. That and DD is 100 miles away, which would be inconvenient if we needed any help on an ongoing basis.

Mary

[1flhippy]

Sounds like I need to work on getting my fence up ASAP. I could do more with a fenced in yard. I'd love to have chickens.

From: The other half of Hippy Dippy Homestead!