Canadian Homesteaders
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Howdy partner! I also am from the Great White North, but in Ontario. We are on a small 2 acre farm about 1/2 hour from Toronto. We live in an old farmhouse built in 1870, with a cistern under the front porch.There is no furnace & we heat strictly by 1 woodstove & 1 cook woodstove. (DH has about 4 years of wood,hauled & chopped all by himself) We raise chickens (meat & layers) turkeys,muscovy ducks & rabbits.I want a goat for milk,but DH is fighting tooth & nail....he still thinks we are "city folk"! :no: I have not found any sites for Canadian homesteading, but I honestly Luv this one....so no loss! Welcome aboard Hoosier ,eh !:haha:
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Where abouts in sask are you located? I was born and raised in sask, just south of yorkton in a SMALL town called Calder. I now live on vancouver Island and have a SMALL farm as that is all we can afford with Island prices. We have turkeys, chickens and ducks, potbellied pigs and a couple goats. We grow produce for restaurants and the local folks, I have a soapmaking biz, and the DH is a partime mechanic at a dealership. It would be so great to have a canadian homesteading group. I do love this one though, man are there some knowledable folks here!
corry
corry
Nice to hear from you other Canadians. WR your situated between my
Sask. homestead and where I'm caught in the rat race in south eastern B.C.
I run a few cattle on some land I rent here and wish I had a lot fewer now.
Have 3 saddle horses, some farm equipment and log for my own use and
cut fire wood.
Doc
Sask. homestead and where I'm caught in the rat race in south eastern B.C.
I run a few cattle on some land I rent here and wish I had a lot fewer now.
Have 3 saddle horses, some farm equipment and log for my own use and
cut fire wood.
Doc
Nice to hear from you Earthbound.I know of the place where you were
raised.My farm is at Spalding just north of the Quill Lakes.See the post to
wr.I'm a mechanic here in SE B.C.trying to keep the bills paid. We live on
an acerage and raise a few beef cattle.Life is good but would love to
get out of this rat race,but then I have friends back in Sask.who would
love to trade places with me. Times are hard on the homestead now.
Very dry here in B.C and not much snow 4". 12" in Sask. and dry also.
Doc
raised.My farm is at Spalding just north of the Quill Lakes.See the post to
wr.I'm a mechanic here in SE B.C.trying to keep the bills paid. We live on
an acerage and raise a few beef cattle.Life is good but would love to
get out of this rat race,but then I have friends back in Sask.who would
love to trade places with me. Times are hard on the homestead now.
Very dry here in B.C and not much snow 4". 12" in Sask. and dry also.
Doc
Things are pretty tough for a lot of folks. We raise longhorns and as long as there's enough money in the country for recreation, we'll remain far better than many. I fear it's going to get a lot tougher for a lot of people before it gets any better in the beef industry. We're a few weeks from calving yet but it's still a worry. Husband still has family in Sask and it was pretty dry when we visited at Christmas, hopefully they'll see some moisture or they have one more thing to worry about this year.
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38 Posts
Hello! Fellow Canadians here as well. Were in Alberta, about a half hour from Vegreville. Just moved to our first homestead in mid November, so we are still very new to this lifestyle and loving it. We live on 320acres in a schoolhouse built in 1907. Heat with wood and haul water in buckets from the well. We live here for free in exchange for light caretaking duties. I will be getting some chickens and perhaps some rabbits in the spring and cant wait to get a garden started. Welcome to the Boards!
Nature Girl, I'm in awe! This hasn't exactly been the warmest winter to be relying on wood heat. It sounds like you must be doing okay cause you're still here to greet others. It's nice up in your country, a little too far from the chinook belt for me to cope with. The last time I was up in that country it was awful dry, I'm hoping you got enough snow this winter to help out a bit. The first time I was up there, I was absolutely amazed, I'm used to churches being in towns or small communities but not covering the rural areas like they do. There are some wonderful old buildings in that area and it's sure nice to hear that you have the pleasure of living in one.
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38 Posts
Wr, yeah it was pretty cold here for awhile, but we stayed pretty cozy in the house. I actually find it too hot upstairs in the bedrooms at night. Our only problem with moving out here when we did, is that we had to hurry and haul as much wood out of the woods as we could before the really cold weather hit and before the snow got too deep to get the truck in and out. So far we've made it through the winter fine, I'm hoping for this warm weather to stay, but knowing Alberta we have at least another blast of cold and snow before spring.
We actually got quite abit of snow so far this year, at least a foot and a half if not more, we defenitely could use as much as we can get.
There are soo many old farmhouses and buildings out here. The man who owns the land we are living on gave us some good advice about these buildings. He told us that most of the farmers who owned the land and the buildings have no use for them and would be more than happy to sell us the building and a couple acres on which to start our own homestead. He said to look for a decent building thats sturdy of course, with a power pole and a good well and offer the farmer $2000 and acre. It doesnt take much to put in windows and fix it up. So thats our plan as of now, well save for a couple of years and look around in the meantime.
We actually got quite abit of snow so far this year, at least a foot and a half if not more, we defenitely could use as much as we can get.
There are soo many old farmhouses and buildings out here. The man who owns the land we are living on gave us some good advice about these buildings. He told us that most of the farmers who owned the land and the buildings have no use for them and would be more than happy to sell us the building and a couple acres on which to start our own homestead. He said to look for a decent building thats sturdy of course, with a power pole and a good well and offer the farmer $2000 and acre. It doesnt take much to put in windows and fix it up. So thats our plan as of now, well save for a couple of years and look around in the meantime.
If the BSE issue keeps going the way it is, you may not need $2000/acre, there's already folks selling off land and generally just trying to jump ship in any way they can. When you do get your land, look around, there's a lot of lovely old churches that are for sale for $1 as long as you move them and some of them are plenty big enough for a family. Another thing to look for (a sign of the times but a benefit to someone like yourself) is the old grain elevators that are being sold off to make way for the new super elevators. The old buildings are made so sturdy that they can withstand anything and some have been made into lovely homes. My father built a wonderful little barn out of discarded telephone poles that would make a lovely little home but it would be small cause you're restricted by the lenght of the poles.
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38 Posts
Thats good advice wr, Thank You!
Hello there
Another one from Ontario, we are about 1 hour north from Toronto, just starting out on our 7 acres. Only chickens, ducks and vegetable gardens so far. Hopefully get a couple of milk goats come spring and expand the garden. Nice to hear what everyone else is doing.
T
Another one from Ontario, we are about 1 hour north from Toronto, just starting out on our 7 acres. Only chickens, ducks and vegetable gardens so far. Hopefully get a couple of milk goats come spring and expand the garden. Nice to hear what everyone else is doing.
T
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9,934 Posts
Whereabouts north of Toronto, MrsBob? I grew up in Muskoka -- near Gravenhurst.MrsBob said:
Tracy
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1,219 Posts
Hi all
I'm in the north of Ontario, about 3 1/2 hours north of Toronto, not far from where the Dionne Quintuplets were born. I have laying hens and ducks, and meat birds in the summer. Hope to do some turkeys this year as well. We live in an old farmhouse, heat stricktly with wood, gas stove in kitchen though, so we can still cook when the power goes out. We have approximately 50 acres, with about 5-6 clear, part of which is a very large pond. Next door neighbours live in a stack-wall house made of cordwood, they're off the grid and use solar with backup generators. They have a petting farm so there are llamas, goats, horses, cows, sheep, rabbits, assorted poultry (all my extra hatchlings go there), pigs both regular and pot bellies, and whatever else shows up. My hubby won't let me have goats either - says the only old goat I'll ever get is him! I keep saying "but what about a young one?" I get THE LOOK, and told if I need to pet a goat to go to the neighbours.....
And Tracy - I was down to Toronto for Canada Blooms last week and waved to Gravenhurst for you on the way by....
Bernie
I'm in the north of Ontario, about 3 1/2 hours north of Toronto, not far from where the Dionne Quintuplets were born. I have laying hens and ducks, and meat birds in the summer. Hope to do some turkeys this year as well. We live in an old farmhouse, heat stricktly with wood, gas stove in kitchen though, so we can still cook when the power goes out. We have approximately 50 acres, with about 5-6 clear, part of which is a very large pond. Next door neighbours live in a stack-wall house made of cordwood, they're off the grid and use solar with backup generators. They have a petting farm so there are llamas, goats, horses, cows, sheep, rabbits, assorted poultry (all my extra hatchlings go there), pigs both regular and pot bellies, and whatever else shows up. My hubby won't let me have goats either - says the only old goat I'll ever get is him! I keep saying "but what about a young one?" I get THE LOOK, and told if I need to pet a goat to go to the neighbours.....
And Tracy - I was down to Toronto for Canada Blooms last week and waved to Gravenhurst for you on the way by....
Bernie
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Thanks, Bernie!!! Dad injured his shoulder last month, and I've been itching to go home and see how he's doing. He tells me he's fine -- and my sister says he's fine -- but I wish I could see for myself! Maybe I'll get home again this summer.Bernadette said:
Tracy
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1,501 Posts
Hey Bernadette, sounds like we are living @ the same place!!! (except you have neigbours with critters, I'd be there All the time) We have raised turkeys (for meat) for the last 3 years, you will enjoy it. Turkeys are so low key, they don't freak out like chickens. We would let them free range @ nite & they would follow us around like devoted dogs.....so cute. They can be nasty when the toms start fighting though. * Mrs.Bob where abouts are you? You can't be too far from us, we are about 1/2 hour from T.O. * Isn't this kind of freaky, finally talking to neighbours? All my friends just roll their eyes when I start "talkin' chickens", heck I even chatch DH doing the same thing sometimes!!! :no:
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118 Posts
poultryprincess said:
Hey Poultryprincess, do you sell fertile turykey eggs? Im looking for about half a dozen eggs. Im located 45 minutes East of Toronto. And would you ship?
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304 Posts
Hey BarW..
I'm a fellow Canuck saying Hi.. I'm in Montreal.. But will get to the land one of these years.. Welcome aboard ... Enjoy this site.. its one of the best..
HelenRose.. aka KindredCanuck
I'm a fellow Canuck saying Hi.. I'm in Montreal.. But will get to the land one of these years.. Welcome aboard ... Enjoy this site.. its one of the best..
HelenRose.. aka KindredCanuck
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