Balance And Burdens Of Start-Up Homesteading

Mother Nature can be a big help. Look into fungi to convert the sawdust to nutrients faster.

 

Our friends (middle 50s) have a large farm and they are very active on the farm and both also work full time. They had trouble getting all the things done that they wanted and also finding someone to take over for them when they wanted a break or vacation. Solved that problem by building a one bedroom cabin and offering it as free accommodation in exchange for work and farm sitting. They had dozens of applicants and settled on a young man who is attending the local college and had been raised on a farm. He was having trouble finding a place because he refused to leave his dog behind. I think they want to adopt him now.

 

Focus on not spending money rather than making a lot to live on. Live off the land. 2 acres is not a lot to work with but may be enough, spend time on value added instead of production of low value crops. We only have 1 acre, too far out to make any real money, we focus on growing as much as we can. Small 6'x8' greenhouse, hoops over raised beds and heat producing grow boxes to extend the seasons. Focus on not buying anything, barter a little labor for things we do use. Build on the cheap, recycle, repurpose and reuse. We have 3 pygora goats for milk, meat and fiber, 3 rabbits for meat, 3 hens and a rooster for eggs and meat, pigeons for meat. All of them for manure for the gardens, each enterprise feeds the others. Chickens get some dairy by-products. Gardens feed the animals. Everything earns it's keep here, everything has a purpose. We use mostly raised beds for maximum production. We plant oats and peas as a cover crop, cut some green for feed, dry some for hay later. Make some pasture hay by hand. We plant thick, thin for ourselves and the animals. Start picking when young and tender, using waste for animal feed. Lots of compost. Plants can give up a lot of foliage and still mature or fruit, thin and prune for animal feed, keeping the best for ourselves. We are off grid, low inputs, minimal 12v and 24v power, wood cook stove and solar heaters for air and water heating. Use solar gain, wide overhangs and shade to save on heating/cooling. Very small innovative (cheap) ways to move air around where needed. Summer kitchen, outdoor sleeping area for the few hot nights. Both of us have health issues, slow and steady gets it done, I am usually moving, daylight to dusk. We do have a small retirement, retired early at 55 to get away from stress. This is as stress free as it gets. I get a kick out of seeing what I can do with very little, gives me purpose. We don't coupon because we don't buy. We like everything neat and orderly, we don't want or need much. We keep it simple and small....James

 

IF I CAN DO IT, SO CAN YOU!

I am 65 years old, and only partially recovered from a stroke that felled me four years ago. I hobble around, as my Left leg won't cooperate any more. I trip over pebbles and blades of grass. I frequently lose my balance.

My goat keeping conditions are very primitive.My *barn* is an old, re-purposed mobile home set up on blocks. No electricity, and a good hike from my house, tripping all the way. Despite that, the old mobile home has nobly served its purpose for the last two years. My goats normally take shelter under the mobile home (AKA *the barn*), and I keep the *barn* closed to them, unless inclement weather dictates otherwise.

With the recent unabating rainfall and flooding, the area under their barn has become a mud wallow, so I opened up the barn for the goats to use and vandalize as they see fit. (I just put everything up that I think they will investigate and destroy.) They poop all over the milkroom, and I need to clean it up before milking chores, but better that my precious dairy herd is dry and safe over my convenience!

I really enjoy my dairy goats; I enjoy milking them, I enjoy kidding season; I enjoy interacting with them, and observing them on a daily basis, and my disabilities do not interfere (much) with my enjoyment.

My point is this; if you are doing something you truly enjoy, all of the obstacles in the world can not deter you.

Keep on keeping on!

 

We have been in our place for eight years, and I still have to remind my husband to look around and see what all we have done, that he can take a day off and not worry about starting a new project. So many people get so focused on what they feel they don't have or don't have done that they forget to enjoy the blessings they already have.

Yes, we need to tear out the carpet in our bedroom, but...we already have the new flooring. And look at the garden, everything is planted and growing. Sit for a minute on the porch. Listen to the chicks we hatched peeping away, look at the bees in the apple blossoms.

We all know there are some things that have to be done when they have to be done. The ripe tomatoes won't wait to be canned. But outside of those times, I look for little things I can cross off the "list", and then take a moment to watch the deer. Or the iris blooming. Re-energize my batteries in this gorgeous place. Send up a little "thank you" to God, and then go clean the rabbit cages.

 

You need a list of priorities and don't spread yourself too thin.
I always have too much on my plate and there are days, I think I am on a merry go round.
I currently am downsizing slowly. I have already sold off all my big rabbits and now I play with small pet rabbits.
I am not going to add any more standard size chickens to my current flock. I will tweak my numbers more as Fall
gets closer. I am trying to work with tiny chickens. So good size eggs from a small bird and I have a couple of
customers who will buy their eggs as well as the standard size ones. I am also increasing my duck numbers.
I like the khaki campbells because of the number of eggs they lay. I am currently incubating eggs.
I have tried farmers markets in the past. A lot of work and very seasonal. If you sell eggs at one, then when
season ends, you will need customers year round.
I don't plan on getting rich at what I do. I enjoy my animals and they keep me busy. Busy is good

 

Welcome MizJones - glad you posted. You've gotten really good inputs from folks with lots of experience. DH and I have in our late 50's and moved from city-slickers to rural folks 5 years ago. What worked for us was to have a written plan and to revisit it regularly - both to stay focused and to celebrate our accomplishments. For 35+ years, we sit down every January 1 and write down everything we want to accomplish in the calendar year. Then we prioritize it - Needs, Wants and the 'wouldn't it be loverly's'. From there, we assign budget dollars to the needs and wants and then set the best timeline we can. To do this, we go to a local diner, have breakfast out (a treat for us), laugh and make our plans. We pin the plan to the refrigerator and we change it often, if we need to. Every July 1, we revisit the plan - celebrate our successes and revise our plans for the rest of the year. Every December 31 - we revisit the plan again. Celebrate the closing of a year and remembering everything we accomplished. Next day, new year, new plan.

You have achieved so much - celebrate each success and take joy from the little things as well as the big things.

 

We have a similar situation. I retired early due to a health issue, and I am in my late fifties. We bought 3 acres 2 years ago. We have 4 sheep, 20 something chickens, 10 turkeys, 2 dogs, a ringneck parrot, and a cat. I grow a small garden, I have planted some fruit trees for the future, and we have a lovely mature guava tree on the property. We had a pretty big mess on our hands when we moved in, and like you I just felt I had to get everything done & cleaned out. I have slowed down quite a bit. I did get the 2 stall horse bard re-purposed into a barn for my sheep on one side and feed storage on the other, we painted it and had to replace some of the siding. We built a large turkey coop with a run, and used re-purposed stufffound on the property to build a chicken coop with a run. There is still much to do but I have learned the hard way not to be in such a rush and to work at a slow but steady pace. There are still many things we want to accomplish, but with God's help we will get it done one day. My other half works a 6 days week so that leaves to me most of the daily chores and maintenance, but I do enjoy it, even if my body complains a little.

 

Another of the +50 disabled homesteaders here to voice my support. I have disabling arthritis and peripheral neuropathy. In the fall of 2013 we decided to buy my old family homestead where I first lived when I was 12. My dad was a lazy hillbilly and my mother was a hoarder, so when we got this 3 acre place I can't even begin to describe the mess we acquired. All of the buildings were/are in need of repairs, the fences almost non existant and the trash heaps were tall as were the weeds. My husband works full time and I babysit part time for my pre-schooler grandson, so that limits the amount of work as well as my physical condition on a certain day.

But we are winning.

The first thing I would recommend is having vision. You really need to allow yourself that dream time, so that you can have a goal firmly fixed in your brain to aim for.

My second recommendation is to keep homesteading projects small, tight and cost efficient. Record keeping is ESSENTIAL. Especially since you want your husband to be able to retire. Feed only the number of chickens that you need to stay in the black for example. We found that at first 6 to 8 hens kept us in all the eggs that we needed to eat and some extras to freeze for the lean times during winter. At this point our flock has expanded, but we found a market for the eggs BEFORE we got more hens.

Run a tight ship and keep your limitations in full view. We live in an area that can experience hard winters. Combining this with the bald faced fact that my arthritis always is more severe during cold wet weather we have taken a two prong attack on the problem. First we really thought out a winter maintenance schedule. How is the fastest, most efficient way to keep our animals housed, fed and especially watered when the temperatures outside plummet and I can barely walk well enough to get to the bathroom at night? We came up with a solution that requires only about 5 to 10 minutes morning and night to get the job done, so that even if I am bed fast my husband can handle it alone and still get to work on time. The second prong to that system is elimination. We plan fall as harvest time. We butcher or sell animals until we are down to a skeleton crew during the winter months. Easier to buy and haul feed for 6 hens than 50 meat birds. Three sheep (even pregnant ones) eat less hay and drink less water than three ewes and 6 lambs will in the spring.

Finally my best advice ... Every little bit you can accomplish is a little bit! I can't work a full day anymore. A job like stripping a stall now takes me 3 or 4 days to accomplish instead of the hour that it used to and my husband has to move and dump the wheel barrow BUT I get it done.

By keeping a finish goal in mind and ruthlessly working towards that goal each of the "Little Bits" add up - one on top of the other - and soon you can really start to see amazing results. Take pictures. LOTS of pictures. Take pictures of your worst messes, because someday those "little bits" add up and the mess is suddenly not a problem anymore. By taking pictures along the way you can see the results happening and WOW that is encouraging!

Here is a little video of how those little bits start to add up for us. I hope that this encourages you as well.

 

Looking good!