Where to go from here?

mom2hancjhe · #1 05/14/12, 10:15 AM

ey! I'm new here and trying to figure out how to go a bit further with our homesteading lifestyle and prepping. Thought you lovely people might be able to help.

We just moved to our home about a month ago. We are on 5 acres and will be clearing about 3 more of it for our two horses. We currently have 8 chickens, 3 roosters and 5 hens. We were getting at least 5 eggs a day before we let them sit on the eggs. For the first time, we hatched eggs 4 eggs hatched, one didn't live and another gotten eaten by our dogs . Thinking we should get rid of the other two roosters due to spaced constraints in our coop...should we give them away or any other ideas?

We brought with us from our other house, 4 fruit trees that were just planted last year....two pear and two peach. We lived on an apple orchard last year so I will miss that this year. We will be getting a few apple trees as well. There were 4 blueberry bushes and a blackberry bush here when we moved. We put in two grape vines that are getting established and another blackberry bush. We brought over 8 strawberry plants that still have pretty small berries. We planted some asparagus as well and they are ferning. I put in some herbs from our other house and bought a few...dill, spicy basil (love it), mint, rosemary...I am missing some I believe.

The last few years we have done some gardening and are getting better at it. The soil here is a bit different and pretty sandy. Hoping to be able to figure it out quickly. I canned for the first time last year....green beans, apples...all varietys and still have some, pickles...froze eggplant, greens, etc. I just put my garden in the ground and actually grew some seedlings from seeds this year . I put in 21 tomato plants, an eggplant (we got sick of it last year), cucumbers (my dad loves spicy canned pickles), a few pepper plants...spicy and bell, watermelon, cantelope, beans, corn, and will put in sqaush/zucchini summer ones when the corn gets bigger...using a native american method. I also put in butternut and winter squash as well. In my spring garden, I have potatoes, peas, two lettuces, radishes, carrots.

So where do I go from here? I am going to focus first on my food supply with (step 1) organizing. I am going to build some shelves in the pantry...even though we moved a month ago, our pantry/laundry/and kitchen supplies are a mess already. Then we will work on stocking water (step 2). I heard the best way to start with food stocking is take 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, and 2 dinners then stock ingredients for those meals x7 as a good beggining. That will be step 3.

Does that sound like a good plan? What after that in prepping and what after what we have going on in homesteading? We have considered a milk goat or two. Thanks in advance for any help

Ok so to update this from when I posted it on another forum....we have an opportunity to get a free rabbit and hutch...waiting to hear if we get it. Also I can get a goat for $100. Just don't know what I am doing with either of those. Also we are considering building a garage and putting in a wood heating source that ties into our heating system.

I am a bit overwhelmed when i think about where to go and where to start and why

goatlady · #2 05/14/12, 01:50 PM

One roo per 8-10 hens is the norm so get rid of 2 of your roos! Butcher for chicken and dumplings or dog food! Do NOT get just ONE goat - they are herd animals and ONE will get into trouble and make you hate goats! They need a "buddy" and they MUST have good fencing to protect them from dogs and other varmits and to protect YOUR orchard and garden from them! They MUST have shelter from wind and rain and also clean water available at all times. Do a bit of research/reading first before getting a goat please for both your and the goat's sake. YOu need to know why you are having a goat in the first place - for milk, for meat, for fiber, for producing other goats to sell, for land clearing? Each purpose can be served by different breeds of goat and their purpose will point you in the direction of providing for the goat to ensure your goals are met.

mooman · #3 05/14/12, 01:59 PM

More fruit trees and berry bushs

When I was at your stage is when i constructed a 2nd poultry enclosure and started raising a batch of turkeys every summer. 6-10 turkeys don't need that much space to grow up and give you a lot of meat. (you end up paying a little more per pound than you do in the grocery but the meat is far superior)

a couple beehives?

MO_cows · #4 05/14/12, 02:20 PM

Welcome! Sounds like you are off to a pretty good start.

You do have too many roosters. Give them away, try to sell them, or try your hand at butchering.

Two horses on 3 acres?? Depending where you live, maybe you can get by with that for awhile, but eventually they will scalp it and ruin it. Try to sub-divide and rotate them thru it so each section gets some rest.

Sounded like good advice from goatlady.

mom2hancjhe · #5 05/14/12, 06:19 PM

Thanks you all! My goal for having goats would be milk. I will do plenty of research first.

We will do something with one or two of the roosters. Maybe try butchering. Are roosters ok to eat...I heard you should only eat hens? I told you I know very little LOL

Beehives scare me b/c I am allergic to bees.

I thought about turkeys too. I will research those as well.

What would be a good reason to have rabbits?

I need a how to homestead for dummies

goatlady · #6 05/14/12, 06:58 PM

Roos are most usually butchered at 6-7 months as fryers; older are tougher and need long slow cooking, but quite tasty. You really do NOT want to eat hens until they are past their laying prime and then THEY are tough and need long slow cooking. Meat birds are different breeds than egg producing birds, so you figure out what your goals are for birds and choose the right breed to achieve that goal.

FarmboyBill · #7 05/14/12, 08:30 PM

Ive never ate a hen that I knew about in my 64yrs.

If you decide to get goats, and as said, make that plural. Just get does. MILKING does.
Being that your new, Buy your does from a farmer. Youll pay more, but youll get to see all of what your getting.
If hes got nothing to hide, hell be glad to milk them in front of you, so that you can see how they milk and see their volumn of milk.
Make sure your fence is up FIRST, and that youve got feed and hay on hand and salt BEFORE getting goats.
Feed up the billys and BBQ them. GOOD eating.
Buy bucks in when needed, keep them around for a month but no longer than 2 and get rid or butcher him. Get the best buck you can afford. Hes 50% of your herd
Rabbits are only good (here) for meat animals. They wont make you a dime if you live around me. Get 6 does and 2 bucks. That way, youll know if you have one bad buck, the other one ought to work.,
You can buy these at a auction. Try to buy the bucks from a different farmer than the does. Californians give alotta meat.
You dont tell how big your garden is.
You dont tell where your at.

Hog fence your garden, and in the late fall, put in THREE weined pigs. Take a post hole digger and dig a hole a foot only deep. Fill it 1/2 way with shelled corn. Do that every night digging the holes 3 ft from the fence and each other until the entire garden has been broken up. Butcher as many as needed when they take a tape measure 40.48in around. May want to do the same thing early in the spring.

Whisperwindkat · #8 05/15/12, 05:09 AM

I would put i more fruit and add some rabbits, then the goats. Take it slow and get comfortable with each step. Keep working on the garden and expanding that along with your skills. Get ready to clear more land for the horses. Like was said before 3 acres will be fine for a little while, but will quickly become eaten down and packed down. Rabbits are a great source of meat. They are fast growing, butcher out easily and cook anyway you want to cook them. Blessings, Kat

Kazahleenah · #9 05/15/12, 05:32 AM

Go one step at a time till you get your feet wet. Learn all you can about each animal before getting it, and remember that "cheap is usually not the best". What growing zone are you in? More fruit trees, nut trees etc would be my first addittions.

meanwhile · #10 05/15/12, 06:13 AM

Good start! We were overwhelmed when we first move to the country. On some days, we still get overwhelmed! I like the story about "how do you eat an elephant?" and the reply is "one bite at a time."

I would second the advice above about going one step at a time and slowly. Learn and read all you can and then made decisions. Good luck.

motdaugrnds · #11 05/15/12, 07:39 AM

If I were you, I'ld deal "first" with my feelings of being overwhelmed. I would do this by taking pen and paper, sitting where I won't be disturbed and making a list of my "end goals". Then I would sort those by order of importance. Then I would take a different piece of paper for each goal, write the name of that goal at the top and then list what I needed to do to accomplish that "one" goal. (I would do this for each goal!) Now that should help you stop feeling overwhelmed!

Remember the backbone of any quality homestead is the care of its soil. To understand it you would do well to take samples to your local agricultural department for testing. That will tell you what type of soil you have, what nutrients it is deficient in and what amendments it will need for "each type of vegetation" you want to place into it.

Your priorities of food and water are excellent! If you're going to be canning, you will need a proper place to store canned goods. (A cool, dry, dark place is my preference.) If you're going to store fresh veggies (like root crops), you will need a root cellar (one with a dirt floor is my preference for root crops). As for stocking water, creating a method of collecting rain water would be useful. It only requires a couple of good-sized barrels with adequate filters & faucets on them.

When considering what to do first, think in terms of the "time it takes for whatever you get to grow". If I were you, I would get all trees in the ground first as it takes longer for them. I plated a couple of sugar maples so later on I can tap them for syrup. I planted the type of fruit trees/bushes that would have "medicinal" qualities as well as be enjoyable.

The next thing I would do in your shoes on your new place is invite a local agricultural agent out to walk over my place with me and identify all vegetation that is presently growing on it. (We did this and it cost us nothing. We have discovered some of our "wild" vegetation has more nutrition...as well as medicinal qualities...than what we could have planted in a regular garden.) Once you find out what you "already" have growing on your place, you will have a better idea as to what to place in your garden.

As for chickens: You're getting good advice about roosters. However, you can take "any" old chicken, pen it up in a "small" cage for one full month and feed it a lot of bread crumbs..along with its regular feed. This not only fattens it; but as it starts to gain weight, it will become tender. (This is the way we feed all animals we are going to process for the freezer, albeit we don't feed all of them bread crumbs.) The rule is: If an animal is losing weight, it will be tough. If an animal is holding the same weight, it will be tough. If an animal is "gaining" weight, let it do so for at least two weeks and it's meat will be nice and tender. This has proven true on our homestead for over 16 yrs. (Also, yes, you can "slow cook" any animal for more tenderness.)

As for goats: You need at least two goats; and if you choose only does, you will need to find a way to get them bred each year "safely" (not with diseased bucks). By getting one doe and one buck, you will solve both problems. Just let them run together all the time. (If for milk, the buck will "not" affect the taste of that milk.) If you're going to raise goats, you "must" goat-proof all your prized vegetation. They will destroy fruit trees/bushes, many flowers and will eat bark off many trees, thus killing those trees as well. We goat-prooffed our place by simply putting three (3) rows of chicken wire loosely around the trunks of all trees we wanted to keep, running it up just high enough to deter a goat's nibbling on its bark. We protected all our fruit orchard/vineyard and our vegetable garden by having it all in one area that we encircled with wire a goat (nor deer) could get thru or over. (This year I'm going to add some baby chicken wire all around the outside of it to deter foxes too because our chicken house opens into the garden...as does the back of our barn.)

As for rabbits, you've received some good advice already; and rabbit fertilizer does not even need to age before using it on your food plants. Rabbits need good shade in the warmer climates as they don't tolerate heat well. I would suggest you do a little research as to what "type" of caging they need for when they give birth. I have been told the bucks eat the babies, though not sure about that. (I'm considering raising rabbits too; only I want to create a "colony on the ground" for them .. not hutches. They would be used for our guard dogs' food supply. We already supplement the dogs' store-bought feed with "cooked" goat hocks, ribs and bones left over from whatever I've prepared for us humans to eat.)

Another alternative to chickens is "guineas". They have great tasting meat (I always make pot pies out of them.), will keep the ticks down and will warn you should anything unexpected show up on your 5 acres..even kill copperheads. (Just get young keets to start and train them to "stay" around the chicken house so they will have more of a tendance to stay on your small homestead. Guineas have a tendancy to range rather widely; however, we have 18 running around our little 6 acres and, though they get let out early every morning now, they have not as yet left our homestead...knock on wood.) We also added Brown Chinese Geese because we "never" have to feed them, they weed our garden (once the plants have grown large enough so as not to be pulled out of the ground) and they serve as great watch dogs.

Welcome to the world of homesteading; and I do hope you enjoy your adventure as much as we are enjoying ours. (You really don't need a lot of acres to live off the land and stay healthy in the process.)

geo in mi · #12 05/15/12, 09:02 AM

Welcome to the forum. You'll gets lots of answers here. Just stay tuned. You are getting some really good info already in this thread. I would second most of what motdaugrnds has mentioned about the planning of some of your projects, and that your soil is your bank account, so to speak. Second is your water supply. Third might be your overall goals and planning process. Depending on where you live, you might consider your outbuildings and your fencing situation, too, as being of great importance--depending on the weather and moisture conditions.

One of the best things I have found important is a "home office", that is yours and only yours, so you can get a routine going for planning, researching, and measuring your progress. My "office" time is my morning routine. I use it to do bills, keep papers organized, keep the plan sheets and lists, etc, etc. I have computer space and seperate desk spcce side by side, so I'm not having to move too much 'stuff' about. You can organize something that fits you, and a lot of the overwhelming feeling will go away as you realize you are in control. For me, when the caffeine wears off, I'm ready to get started on the plan of the day.

One other consideration is that I'm not sure how horses and homesteading and prepping are compatible--but that's just my own opinion. Another is that I wouldn't invest in goats--again that's my own opinion(having been raised on a cow farm.....)

Best of luck, and keep posting....

geo

mom2hancjhe · #13 05/15/12, 09:09 AM

Great advice!!! Thank you all so much. I do think my husband and I need to decide our goals. I am a little overwhelmed by the thought of raising and butchering our own meat. However, it may be necessary at some point. It would be better to know how now then when necessary. I found some good fruit bushes on sale so will get those today for sure.

Thanks again!