The Best Buy I Ever Made For My Homestead
 

Not necessarily the cheapest thing you bought, but something that has been worth its weight in gold, for making homestead life better or more efficient.

Mine would be my wood heater. Over 25 years ago, I bought a Hearthstone wood heater for my house. It's still my main source of heat and does a wonderful job on a minimum amount of wood.

It's saved me thousands of dollars in heating costs, provided a focal point for my den and has the comfort a good fire.

What's your best buy?

Marriage license.

Great answer, Snowfan.
37 years so far on mine.
A steady hard working very sweet wife.
A much deeper love is growing every year.

Other than my lovely wife the best and most dependable thing we have is a 1940 chest freezer we bought used for $40 in 1978.
It is still running very quietly and keeping food rock hard.
Two times we have found it not working over the years.
First time was about four years after we bought it.
It was full of pork and fifty chickens.
The ice cream was just not as hard as it should be.
I was sweating bullets as to what we were going to do with all that great meat.
It is my very nature to at least try to fix everything and very seldom do I fail. A freezer though had me doubting but I just had to try.

What I saw on the back of it was a small box with the dial to adjust the temperature.
I opened the box up and dug down a ways and guess what I found.
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.
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.
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Well,,,, It was a set of corroded points like the ones in the cars we were driving at the time.
I grabbed my point file, cleaned them up, put the box back together, plugged the freezer back in and it purred back to life.
Last Winter it did it again.
I no longer had a point file handy so I used a piece of emery cloth.
No problem.
I have never even seen the coils that are under it somewhere.
They must be full of dust and spider webs.
I bought a Kill-O-Watt device and tested the freezer.
There is nothing you can buy now that comes close to as efficient as this great old round cornered Hotpoint.
One day this Winter it is my goal to test it again, then jack it up to clean the coils and test it once more.
I gave a report on an alternative refrigeration site and I could have sold 20 of them for a thousand bucks a piece. Not too shabby for a 73 year old freezer.

Probably my tractor with a front end loader---I can do So Much with it---It and myself for example built a 14ft tall tractor/corn picker shed----I picked up each home-made truss and set it into place----with one finger. Also use it to put out "compost tea" (big time) and water the garden when needed. Does all the lifting around the farm. When I go buy fertilizer etc I throw a pallet in the truck for them to put the fertilizer/feed/corn etc, etc, on then I unload it with one finger when I get home. Life is so much better around the Farm with it!!


For a single Small item, I bought a "broken"(latch was broken off---fixed that with a c-clamp) antique coffee grinder. I bought a childs battery scooter for $3 for the DC Motor to put on the grinder----hooked it to the solar set-up and have ground tons, and tons, and tons of corn for the animals over the last years.

Rustaholic, you could also use an emery board or a nail file. If I use any of those though, I try to clean off the points with alcohol and let it dry. I've been told, by a chemist, that the oils in the cloth or boards can cause corrosion. I don't know if it's true but I have always done it. Also, my wife and I will be married 37 years on 7 January.

Log Splitter.

Our land. It's like no other place on earth. I feel incredibly lucky to live in this unbelievably beautiful spot.

I was going to say the soil. I've always had to have my bare feet and hands in the soil. My need to create can be fulfilled rather inexpensively this way.

I've got a Hearthstone soapstone stove and it is pretty awesome, cuts way down on the wood consumption over the previous stove we owned.

My #1 best purchase has to be my Kubota tractor with front end loader. Everything from dressing/hanging a deer, to using it like a giant wheelbarrow, it turns many 2 person jobs into singles.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a5/...Picture035.jpg

#2, one of those wagons with the drop down sides. We use it to wheel firewood right onto the deck.

Chuck

My 1948 H Farmall. Its got a starter. I use it for nearly everything now and hardly ever start my 34 CC Case, WHICH makes it hard to start when I do want to use it.

Nothing remarkable here, but big helps nonetheless.

A wheelbarrow--I use it for so many things. I've used it for the garden in the summer, and hauling firewood in the winter. This one had a plastic bin, but to my surprise it has lasted 13 years.

A chainsaw--I bought a Stihl "Farm Boss" new 13 years ago and would have found it very helpful even if not cutting firewood.

Garden tiller--bought a new Craftsman (all American parts, don't know if they still are) 12 years ago. It does just sit a lot of the time, but when you need it it's great to be able to break up that hardened garden soil in the spring.

Buy quality, take care of them, and your tools will provide years of service.

I have to go with my tractor on this one. I have some second runners up... but that little to35 ferguson has to be the most universal benefit to the farm of all. It cuts the hay, feeds the cows, tills the garden, helped me build the cabin, grades the road, spreads the manure, builds fence, totes everything all over the farm.... and never once has it asked to be fed or have I had to have the vet out for it. :)

I agree with the Kubota tractor...I have two of them. :D Also, nice buck.

After any kind of point filing I always clean the points afterwards.
I believe I used a piece of an old t-shirt on the freezer points.
The fine emery cloth grit was a good deal more aggressive that most emery boards or nail files and did a great job cleaning the points up.
I remember telling my sweet wife that this time I got those points in better shape than I did 31 years earlier.
They should last at least 35 years this time.
Our daughter has claimed it because there is no available match for it.

When I clean the points on a small engine I always run a dollar bill through them. Someone that doesn't would be surprised at how much crud comes off them. At an antique engine show I usually run a hundred dollar bill through them because it looks better. I do not know if these weird new ones will be any good for point cleaning.

We are a bit ahead of you. We will hit 38 years on June 19, 2014. You are doing great though.

The marriage license response is best, but since I already had the DW when we bought to land, I'm going with a loader-backhoe. We have a tractor which is more versatile, but the backhoe gets the big jobs done MUCH faster. They have similar sized engines, but the LBH has well over twice the lifting capacity in weight and volume and the hoe can lift over 10K lbs. There isn't much I need to do that requires more power than that.

I bought it mostly to do land clearing and have pulled many 100s of stumps from where we logged about half the farm.

Hmmm. DH would say the skidloader as he does everything with it. It's heavy, tho so can't drive it over the leach field area, but I'd sure like to have a tractor. We borrow the neighbor's little JD when we need to mow the pastures or do large areas of tilling. The skid loader can move large 4 x 4 x 8 bales of hay, pick up vehicles, etc. He might say the Shopsmith, tho. Very versatile, but over priced in my opinion.

Small things would be the shredder, Craftsman tiller, lil' hoe tiller. Also the solar system we bought about a year ago. Small one, but it runs our freezers and fridge in the garage and has saved us almost enough in electricity to pay for itself. Just wish we could use it for heating purposes like dehydrator.

Thirty Six years for us as of this past November. Don't know what I'd do without the man!

A good quaility shovel followed by a good quality spading fork. Followed by good quality fencing.
We need another thread of dumb things that promised so much and delivered so little.

Seal a meal. The food keeps so much longer and you can buy in bulk and then separate into smaller packs as needed.

To those who said marriage license - I loved that and it made me grin. Value your spouse and they will return the favor. IMO if a couple can be happy shoveling poop together, there just isn't much that can tear them apart :-)

me too, our New Holland Tractor with all it's attachments..we bought it used and it has been a real blessing

We're just getting our place together, so the most useful thing I've used so far has been a real good set of cordless tools. I've built a barn, and most of a house, and I rarely use corded tools.

It's good to know what others have found useful, so that those of us who aren't there yet will know what to buy next. A tractor is high on my list.

And especially for those of us who still don't have our homestead. We have a little more than a half acre where we live. The only things that keeps me from going nuts living here is the woods right next to me-I have permission to take out all the dead trees I want for firewood and my horses. But, they're 10.8 miles away. I'd rather have several acres of my own and have them home and be able to use my own wood.

Gotta add another vote for the tractor. My tractor/loader/backhoe combo has allowed me do work that I never would have been able to complete by hand. I didn't realize how useful it would be until I had it.

A close second will go to my solar electric fence controller. Relatively small expense, but single-handedly kept our garden from becoming a deer food-plot.

Attachment 18760

More than just one: 9N, Sawzall, Husqvarna weed whacker, cedar boards for ten to twenty cents on the dollar at Menards salvage bins, insulation, vinyl siding, plastic five gallon buckets at a real rib shack, set of old thresher iron wheels for a rolling dock, EZE-GO golf cart with full enclosure, and most of all, this place thirty years ago.

geo

I agree with most of the other items listed but my wife mentioned something that is also my opinion that the most important item we have ever purchased is information. We have a vast library of homesteading and how-to books accumulated over the past four decades, all of which have been invaluable.

Yes, we are from before the computer age, when people used to hold leaves of paper in their hands and read them. There was no "Homesteading Today" site where you can get such information, and books were and still are a very valuable resource.

I hope no one gets the idea that I think this site is a waste of time or anything, because I think it is a wonderful idea that can help many people who otherwise couldn't get the information they need for specific projects.

The Cobett energy free livestock waterer I got over a decade ago.

Paid for itself in electricity saved, and if everything worked as advertised like this does it would be a wonderful world.

http://www.cobett.com/

Paul

Oh how to choose? Ok, the John Deere. Can't imagine how we would have done a lot of it without that.

Smaller stuff: the auto waterer for the goats. The light bulb on a timer in a welded basket under said waterer that keeps them in fresh non-frozen water all winter.

The Excaliber dehydrator and my pressure canner.

The grow light shelves.

Finally, the trellis nursery against the house.

You should apply tons of compost. Makes the dirt hand dig able.

Tractor obviously, "you're no farmer without a tractor" my dad used to say. And its true, without it I'd be a struggling frontiersman with a stiff back. With it, I'm a productive farmer.

Next I go with the soapstone stove, which is our only source of heat and a step up from the old cast iron we had last year.

Honorable mention goes to the Mr. Bean electric bean sheller, the quad, and the chainsaws.

Neat deal. Tad expensive.

Our set of cordless tools (18V Black & Decker - purchased back in 2004 or so) have without a doubt, far and away, been the most labor-saving and indispensable tools we have ever purchased for the farm.

Not having a tractor, we dig fence post holes with a wooden-handled post hole digger. A 6' digging bar makes the job go 2x as fast. The digging bar has come in handy for a number of other chores as well. It weighs a ton but that weight comes in handy. One end is pointy and the other end is a chisel.

The two-wheeled rubber-tired hand truck has been a lifesaver on many occasions. Especially since I herniated my back and have had to start thinking about working smarter rather than harder.

A ratcheting cable come-along is a very good investment as well.

A selection of lengths/diameters of pipe to use as a cheater on the handles of your wrenches/socket drivers is a great thing to acquire.

The tractor comes to mind, is wonderful having the big lumbering beast to do the heavy work. But I don't use it everyday. What I do use everyday is the water lines, buried in the ground to the barns. So much better than the 5 garden hoses I used for the first few years!! Used to have to keep them in the bathtub in the winter so they wouldn't freeze. Nothing like showering on top of garden hoses!

Jenni, what you call a digging bar, out west where ive been they called them a pry bar. most of my use with them is that I have 2. A real one, an d one made out of a auto axle. I use them to widen the split in a tree trunk so I can cut the stringers.
Course, I ujse a house rachet HEAVY house jack, that I call a tractor jack to widen BIG trunks.

Our SunDanzer refrigerator. After living for 6 years without one, before that we had a gas one, which was okay, but still had to pay for the propane. This one runs for free, and keeps the food icy cold. Next year, I am hoping to get the freezer.

The automatic chicken coop door closer is precious to me. No more racing home from town at dusk or waking up in a midnight panic because I forgot to shut the coop door.

My vote is for my Bobcat skidsteer. Just can't beat them. It's a hired hand all by itself.

The other thing would be a pour of cement around any muddy area around your barns where animals are in mud every year. It's amazing how it can make you feel better to not have to mog through the mud after your animals. And they like it, too. It's one of those things that when I've done it in different places, I wonder why I didn't do it before.

Yes, I apply compost when I can. With Ozarks clay and rocks you need all the help you can get.

Its hard to say just one. I suppose, running the gaswell line to my house, freegas, but then again, I so love my 444 international, but without that 6.5 foot tiller and my 6 ft brushhog its just a tractor..lol.. The case backhoe/bucket tractor...oh I suppose those are all my favorites, the 5/4 ton diesel truck is a good runner up...They all make life different on the farm...:rolleyes:

Tough call for me. It's a toss up between the Kubota with front end loader & box blade, and our wood fired boiler. The Kubota saves my back, and the boiler saves my wallet.

Hey you get past the rock you got pretty good dirt.

I have to say Pickup.

big rockpile

This might not be number one, but I think a computer has to be somewhere on the list. The information and advice that would not be available without a computer/internet is worth a fortune.