Independence and location, which may be related or not. It can be costly but the paybacks are incalculable.

 

Any region with higher taxes will afford to higher more Law Enforcement personnel. these may be in the form of building inspectors, fire chiefs, dog catchers, health inspectors, and zoning / planning bureaucrats.

Any place with low taxes, can not afford to hire so many enforcement personnel.

When shopping for a place to settle, first thing is you must check how many people they have hired to keep you in line.

 

What is the best hack that most people wanna know about homesteading?

My best hack is getting the 'magic-bulbs' installed throughout the house, so when a power failure happens, everything will stay the same, and we don't have to do anything.
No flashlights for us!
... TMI is available on request.

 

My best hack is getting the 'magic-bulbs' installed throughout the house, so when a power failure happens, everything will stay the same, and we don't have to do anything.
No flashlights for us!
... TMI is available on request.
Magic, lightbulbs really a thing?

 

The most important thing is to accept that homesteading is a full time job, but you need to keep your full time job to afford homesteading.

 

I second this

 

Save your eggshells, crush them, and sprinkle them around your garden beds. It’s free calcium for the soil and keeps slugs away. My grandma swore by it, and she was rarely wrong

 

You, have to enjoy what you are doing. You have to get up everyday and say how am I going to get better, how am I going to improve my land, my animals, my infrastructure, myself. If it ever becomes a chore. Then it is just a job that you lose money at and you won't stay at it.

 

That’s great advice!

 

Don't be empty-handed. If you have to go to the barn, shed, or back to the house, think first to see if there is anything you need to carry to save you a trip later on.

 

Half the time I have to wonder why I walked into the barn, now you want me to bring something?

 

This is a fun conversation.

When the tractor is broken I have no problem forgetting why I am in the shop. If I have even two projects going I am screwed. The wife is the multitasker deluxe. She get's mad at me because she can do a BUNCH of things at the same time and sort them all. There is no small irritation that I can't do the same. Even to "you guys have a one track mind." Well, yeah, for me.

But I have to focus - that's how I do stuff. It sucks when the focus of your attention is a shrug - I could've done that i less time. But only because of new new information. Someone had to discover it.

 

I have a large dry erase board in my "Tool Room" It list all my projects, recent hay purchases, calf weaning dates, heifer breeding dates, top ten things to do,

I also moved my journal to my Tool Room, I find that I am documenting going ons at the Ranch much better than trying to do them in the evening when I come in and am tired, hungry and want to relax.

 

The rodents keep messing up the dry erase board. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

Instead of buying something I need, I can often build it myself for twice the price.

 

But it was better.

 

In the barn we have a,7 foot tall, rescued chain link gate across the milk stall. Lots of things hang on that chain link - extra collars, I tied a bit of baling twine to it and clipped a red magic marker onto it, an extra length of chain with carabiners on both ends for emergency temporary gate closures, extra carabiners, 2 extra leashes for loose goats, extra baling twine, a pair of bandage scissors clipped to the gate with a carabiner, etc. Grab & go stuff has been pretty handy across the years.

 

There is no such thing as a wasted trip, call it exercise.

Start small. If you start off so big that you can't take care of it, it's just a waste of time and money.

Have a spot for your tools and return them after each use. I had 10 expensive hand trowels scattered all around the yard. There may be more out there. Those are just what I found and put away once I set up a spot for them.

 

Do not let the sasquatches see the aliens. They do not believe in each other.

 

That’s funny