what was your first year of homesteading like?

misplaced · #21 05/21/10, 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TedH71

If the dogs are killing the chickens, first thing they would get from me is a belt whooping. I'm serious. I do not tolerate chicken killing. I have heard tying a dead chicken to a dog's neck to the point where the dog can't get rid of it for a week works. Also depends on what breed of dogs you have. Some have the genetics for chicken killing compared to others.

That is how we would handle it too.
Gotta train those dogs to avoid the chickens completely.
When I first married my husband, my dog had a blast chasing chickens. He never caught any and I don't think he would have killed one if he did, he is just a small dog. One day I looked out there and saw the chickens chasing him... he never messed with them again after that

Tim has had to whoop his share of dogs in the past for killing chickens.

motdaugrnds · #22 05/21/10, 02:35 PM

Kerry the first few years are usually difficult. Once you learn your land & what is around you, plans can go smoother.

I would repete what others have suggested, i.e. fencing is a must to keep outsiders away from what you are attempting to establish. I also agree that some dogs need a stronger hand than most; and I suggest you not hesitate to give it so they will know they are to "protect" what you have and not harm it. (We have an alpha female shepherd and a male lab. We taught the shepherd to "baby sit" baby goats and we taught the lab to "do no harm". The lab killed our pidgeon and a chicken and had a goose by the neck when we said "that is enough" and took a water hose to him. David held the goose in front of his nose while I hit him several times on the rump with the water hose. That goose pecked his nose. That was last year; and since then, he has not harmed any of the animals. Instead, he helps the shepherd guard them.)

I doubt I ever forget our first year. It was a "must" for us to get on this 6-acre tract because Mother was terminally ill and did not want to go to a nursing home. She had no one to tend to her needs but me. My grown son moved in with us to help & a stranger gave us a trailer house to move onto the acreage. (This is lengthy so will not state it all here. You can view our first years at http://motdaugrnds.250free.com )

Some of the most important things to learn was how the land was shaped, what the soil was made of, how the water flowed when it rained & what problems "around" us we needed to guard against. Fencing was a must and controlling water flow was a must as well as deciding what sort of foods (animal/vegetable/fruit/nut) we could establish and keep protected.

Be strong, Kerry, as it will all start coming together for you with some experiences.

motdaugrnds · #23 05/21/10, 02:51 PM

Sorry, tried to "edit" my post above and discovered that was not an option.

Wanted to let you know to click on the "motdaugrnds" name (a large button on upper left corner) at that site to see homestead. (Also, just discovered those advertisements. Apparently I forgot to pay 250free to keep them off.)

RiverPines · #24 05/21/10, 03:17 PM

The first year we learned that everyplace we put each pen, shelter, coop, gardens and hay storage was wrong for many reasons.
The second year we learned the new location were wrong because of one reason... the 100yr flood we had reached everything. Of course we have a flood unlike anything seen in the area before the second year here! LOL

The 3rd year we finally have the locations figured out!!!

Now we are beginning to gut the house.

ChristieAcres · #25 05/22/10, 01:36 AM

I am convinced the 1st year should be spent really getting to know the new property! It may be frustrating, and it was for me, but it really helped us to determine where to site our garden. We had made the mistake of moving our fruit orchard from our other property to this one, without knowing enough about the sun exposure, water run-off, etc... Turns out the orchard didn't get enough sunlight! DH built a fence right away to protect the Orchard. Since we had actually dug up mature fruit bearing trees, we were faced with logging. After we took down 40 massive 2nd growth trees, the Orchard was in good shape, then it was clear where our garden should NOW go (we hadn't put that in during yr 1, thankfully).

So, year2 (100 yr flood, too, here) we put in our 1,250 sq ft raised bed garden, fenced it, got chickens, DH built them a chicken house, got an electric mesh fence to protect the chickens, DH built my garden cabin (slow to finish due to life/circumstances, but has all doors/windows, just needs insulated & water/power lines ran to it), and I put in an herb bed. I dehydrated a lot of fruit/veggies, then made a bunch of applesauce, pear sauce, etc...

Spring of our 3rd year, we doubled our garden to 2,500 sq ft, built more raised beds, and planted a lot more (mature blueberry bushes, raspberries, thornless blackberry, 12 yr old grapevines--green/red, Kiwi vines, and dedicated beds for strawberries/potatoes. We grew an incredible amount of produce, fruit, and put up a LOT. The chickens have done well and are laying regularly. We learned about light in the chicken house and have proven to ourselves the locals know what they are talking about. HERE, it works to turn on those lights before dark and keep them on later instead of turning them on real early in the AM (so they can run out into the cold wet darkness...). It never adversely affected their egg laying, to the contrary. They did well all Winter!

Yr4, here we are adding more raised beds, now have a little greenhouse, DH is working on my garden cabin to finish it, and I am hoping to get a cellar in the bank- it is beckoning to me (perfect for it). I'd like to get a road put in that runs behind the garden, greenhouse, and garden cabin (wood shed is built on back of that). That would prevent DH from driving on our backyard (which I would like to really dress up with lots of pretty flowers/bushes and take out that worthless grass). Another road to the back of our property would be nice, too.

If we could do it all again? I'd clear another acre & have more areas ready for planting right now. However, I am as busy as I can be right now

ronbre · #26 05/22/10, 05:38 AM

Kerry, might I suggest that you locate some 5 gallon buckets to get your manure with, or use double layered garbage bags until you can come up with something better.

it might not be much but it will help.

sorry about your chickens, the reason i haven't gotten chickens is cause my cats will take down and kill rabbits and tried to even kill a fawn, i'm sure they would kill a chicken

Laura Zone 10 · #27 05/22/10, 08:52 AM

[quote]what was your first year of homesteading like?[quote]

I put in a 20x20 garden with tomatoes, cukes, and beans.
I cared for it, and we ate or gave away everything that year.

7thswan · #28 05/22/10, 11:24 AM

I don't remember the first year, but one month I can't forget. Moved out of the cabin to another place, 1st night one of my Labs decides to go home to the other place,she gets killed by car. I went upnorth bear hunting, Dh (ex now) stayes home and burns the house. We move into the boat house on the river while the repairs are being done. The river floods the boat house. Walk into the barn, all the horses are in the run in-except my 1st horse that was a gift. He was stolden,found the cut fence and the tracks leading him out. Never found him. Lots of crying that month.

sunshinytraci · #29 05/22/10, 11:33 AM

Oh gosh. I have been at this for seven years and I am still coming up against problems and disasters. No matter where you are or what you do, life is going to throw you some curveballs. I think the biggest thing I learned in the first couple of years is that I cannot control every single variable, or every single event. Things are going to happen and things are going to fail no matter what we do. But more and more of it is going to come out well as you learn from your mistakes. So I've lost the myth of perfectly undisturbed peace and tranquility. That's unrealistic. In its place, I have gained knowledge about myself and the world around me. I know better how to manage my resources - my time, my strength, my finances, my desires, etc. Knowing those things about yourself is going to get you further than anything in my opinion. Plant an acre of garden when you only have a couple of hours a week to work it and no equipment other than your hands and a hoe and your garden will fail.

Feel better knowing what you are experiencing is absolutely normal. Experienced farmers and ranchers lose crops and animals to pestilence and disease. Twice, I have had apparently healthy animals (one sheep and one goat) drop dead for reasons unexplained. I would have liked to have been able to afford an autopsy because I still wonder about them. My dogs too have killed many of my chickens. Pen them up and be done with it. I tried to whip them when they killed chickens. It didn't work. Tying them to a tree on a short leash or putting them in a small cage for the day when they so much as looked in a chickens direction worked for them. It took close to a year though, so don't expect immediate results. Currently, my cats are eating my hen's eggs (every single one of them) so I am about to inject some eggs with serious hot sauce or even the spicy chick pick stuff to see if I can break their habit. If they don't stop, then they go.

My first garden was so pathetic. I did grow enough zuccini for the neighborhood though. And about 15 tomatoes. That's about it. Today, I must say it does much much much better than that. I even opened up a new field for corn this year. We'll see how that does. It's all an experiment to me. Last year, my tomatoes got late blight because of the cold, wet summer. But I got great cabbage. If I would have known better, if I could have predicted the weather, I would have put more cool weather crops in the garden last summer. There's nothing a person can really do about that kind of stuff. You're going up against Mother Nature Herself sometimes and you know what? If She don't want you to win, you're not winning. She just might be wanting to teach you a deeper lesson about life that year.

Take time to really appreciate your successes, however small. You made the move to the country and hey, that's probably the biggest step of all! Definately something to celebrate!

Keep up the good spirits and ask lots of questions on this forum.

big rockpile · #30 05/22/10, 05:45 PM

Forgot to add me and my wife before we came here we had farmed all our lives.But when we got here we had to clear brush for a Shelter and put something up,doing this while we both worked Full Time at the Poultry Plant 25 miles away.

This was all without Electric,Phone or Water.

big rockpile

plowjockey · #31 05/22/10, 06:23 PM

When the pioneers, many who never lived in the country, stopped and said "ok we'll live here", how do you suppose their first year went?

Our first year our dogs (now gone) killed all 15 of our laying hens at once. Our wire fence crumbled like pretzels and all barn roofs had major leaks and leaning to fall down.

A couple of years later and there is fence, less leaks and a bigger garden.

Still 1000 things to do, that will get done sometime "later".

This has been a extremely wet spring, so no one has got nearly the things done, they need to.

Keep slugging away.

jirwin · #32 05/22/10, 06:43 PM

Check out our blog. What an experience! Year #1 was 2008. concordmeadowsfarm.blogspot.com

IndyGardenGal · #33 05/22/10, 09:31 PM

Kerry--Our first year, we had chickens & a garden. I spent time in my grandparents garden growing up, so I wasn't a total greenhorn to the garden, but there is still a BIG learning curve when you increase your gardening space. We're still trying to work out how much we need to plant of everything to supply our needs.

I cannot say enough how much just searching the forums and reading through this site has given me a better understanding of homesteading. This is a VERY valuable resource!

Nothing goes perfectly ANY year, but it does get easier. Stay positive. I've had enough moments when I felt we were in over our heads, but then when you open a jar of home canned salsa in the dead of winter, those problematic things from the summer seem to disappear.

shanzone2001 · #34 05/23/10, 01:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 7thswan

I don't remember the first year, but one month I can't forget. Moved out of the cabin to another place, 1st night one of my Labs decides to go home to the other place,she gets killed by car. I went upnorth bear hunting, Dh (ex now) stayes home and burns the house. We move into the boat house on the river while the repairs are being done. The river floods the boat house. Walk into the barn, all the horses are in the run in-except my 1st horse that was a gift. He was stolden,found the cut fence and the tracks leading him out. Never found him. Lots of crying that month.

WOW!!! What a traumatic month!!!

twospirit · #35 05/24/10, 10:30 PM

Wow, you're getting hit with all the bad stuff up front!

Really, the best way to look at homesteading is to treat it just like every other aspect of your life. When you were first learning to cook for example, I'm sure those first few dishes weren't anything to write home about (other than to laugh) - am I right? So it goes with homesteading. The more you do it, the more you will establish a rhythm that works for you and your family. You'll have successes and failures and each are learning experiences.

Though I have been what I call an "amateur homesteader" in varying degrees since I was 7, I'm about to find myself largely in the same boat as you when at the end of the month I leave my home in Atlanta, GA for my new 10 acre homestead in Alabama. This is going to be a very long summer for me!

In fairness I already have my chickens established and laying on the farm in temporary housing that will suffice until I build the new chicken houses next week. Because I am so late in the season with my move my garden is going to be slim pickin's this year I'm afraid. I do have 3 dozen tomatoes and a few pepper plants doing well but timing nor weather have cooperated with getting anything else planted yet.

Best of luck to you!

Michael
Two Spirit Farm

rscheiderer · #36 05/26/10, 12:20 PM

Can't add too much. We got our first Dexter cow right after we moved out to our little farm...she was bustin'-out pregnant, but still managed to escape from the trailer and run off. We never even got her into a stall, and we never saw her again...$500, a day's work missed and a 6-hour round trip and all we got out of it was "I told you so" from his family, who still think I'm crazy and pulling poor husband down with me. My husband swore that this wasn't for us and that we'd never get another cow, he was never going to go through all that again...but now he drinks fresh Jersey milk every day, eats homemade cottage cheese and puts homemade butter on his toast along with my homemade grape jelly. He also eats homegrown beef and pork, chicken and eggs and rabbit and veggies, etc. I just told him that if we gave up after one loss, then that loss would define our homestead. Now, that loss is our "first cow" story that we tell to other newbies and the homestead is defined by our successes...and the "I told you so" family members buy our eggs and milk and honey and meat because it's soooooooo much better than what you get in the store.
Hang in there. You're going to lose some but you'll win a whole lot more.
Rebecca

TedH71 · #37 05/26/10, 12:33 PM

Are you serious? How can you lose a $500 pregnant cow?

Patt · #38 05/26/10, 12:36 PM

First a {{{big hug}}}!

I would say you had a pretty decent first year! We have been at this 9 years now and we are just going full time this year. You avoided the big mistake we made our first year of getting way too many animals and completely overwhelming ourselves.

Homesteading is a never ending struggle. Eventually you will gain enough knowledge to get your poultry sorted out and healthy and then you will try something new and the struggle starts all over again. I know for me I never minded so much when something went wrong except when an animal got hurt or died. Then I felt awful!

Just keep working at it. You'll learn and develop a rhythm to your life, you'll get to really know your farm and things will come naturally and instinctively. Right now you are on a steep learning curve but it will get better!

Heritagefarm · #39 05/26/10, 02:52 PM

Well, this really is only our second year. Our first year was very hard, and I never want to redo it again. If I went to hell, I would be made to redo our first year.