How Does One Homestead?

Ask lots of questions! Many of us here have made very costly mistakes are are more than happy to share our experiences.

I would like to address the bees ~ if you only use 3 or 4 small jars of honey per year, please think long and hard before you invest a thousand dollars in bees, hives, equipment, including an extractor. Caring for bees is pretty easy, but extracting the honey is work! Chickens are different. If you eat 2 or 3 dozen eggs a week, and you have a little shed or shelter already, chickens can almost pay for themselves.

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I cried because I had no shoes, until I saw a man who had no feet.

I approach homesteading as a survivalist. I believe the "powers that be", whomever they are, are out to greatly reduce the average American's lifestyle. Actually, Alan Greenspan said it too. IMO, it is an unsustainable lifestyle anyhow now that other foreign countries can compete with us.

I'm shooting for an "upper scale" third world life. To me that means: milking my own cows; growing my own food (as much as possible); producing my own electricity; pumping water independent of the grid; heat with wood; etc. I want to be as independent from the city as I can be.

I'm lucky in that I'm an early/early retiree. My monthly check helps cover what I can't do. I'm in a terrible area for gardening due to poor soil and massive quantities of rock but I am working at it.

Welcome to HT.

You have your land, your home, and the heart to live the life you want, so you are a homesteader.

Decide what you want and go from there.

Sounds like you already have the garden planned. You might want to look up online or get a book that tells about companion planting. Some plants are good for others and some should not be planted close to each other.

Do you want milk? A goat could supply milk and a kid for the freezer.
Do you want honey? A hive would supply it and a hive doesn't take a lot of space, but can be expensive to get started.
Do you want additional fruit trees? Berry bushes?
Chickens are good for both meat & eggs, & fertilizer for the garden.
Rabbits are good for meat & pelts, & manure for the garden.
Ducks can be fun too. Muscovies are quiet and don't need a pond like some breeds do. Their eggs are good and they provide meat for the table. As a bonus their favorite food is flies.

Decide what you want to do, then go for it.

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I forgot one important piece of advice I have learned from experience:

One thing at a time.

If you try to do too much at once, you'll burn out and lose the joy of doing for yourselves.

I was talking to my husband yesterday, and mentioned how much time I'd spent in the garden forum the past couple years. Now I am spending a lot more time over on the rabbit forum because we've acquired rabbits.

One thing at a time.

Pony!

welcome Zigg, pony makes a good point. take things in order and dont try to spread yourself too thin.

dean

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Hope is something you give yourself in your darkest moments, this is the true meaning of selfreliance.

greetings from the far east of the western world

You have all given me warm fuzzies! Thank you so very much to all. I can "can;" I just purchased the book "Carrots Love Tomatoes, Roses Love Garlic" (I read it about 10 years ago and really like it). I do want some chickens and am now looking to build my own coop. Mom is warming up after being on the cold Crescent City, California coast for over 20 years. Still unpacking and scrubing the walls and floors/carpets. Got a huge laundry room and plan to make it a partial sewing room to finish the quilt I started over five years ago. Hope to personally answer your replies soon. I am so happy to be welcomed!

this is a fantastic thread! welcome again

i dont know that i could add anything amazing to the replies already given, but I just wanted to offer some support, and share our plan for homesteading.

we are currently on about 1/3 acre in the city, and have gardened this year. We also have 3 fruiting pecan trees that are going to give us lots of nutty goodness this year. We are trying to figure out if we're staying here for 3 more years or moving in early spring.

If we move in early spring we will be buying a home with land at LEAST as big as we have now. We plan to have a large "square foot" garden on our property, as well as a chicken coup with lots of chickens. I am thinking about getting a pair of Angora Rabbits as well, but have not yet made up my mind. Also on our small homestead, we will be building a solar oven, and a solar food dehydrator. We will be line-drying our clothes, as well.

I sew, knit, crochet, and craft. I love to can, and love just about all of the gentle domestic arts.

In addition to our small homestead, we plan to purchase 40-70 acres in the next 2 years. When we purchase our land, I hope to get 2 cows (both for milking). I would love to get a couple of pigs as well for meat. Finally (and what I am most looking forward to), we are planning on getting a herd of angora goats. I plan to spin and paint a lot of the fiber myself, and use the money we gain from the sale of fibers to help sustain our homestead. We also want to use about 2 acres of the land for farming for our family, with fruit trees, and plenty of vegetables!

that's our dream, anyway!