Hi WG! Thanks for the welcome! We really are enjoying it here. We have so many thoughts and plans, just hope we can pay for them. LOL I hope to live a nice long life so we can enjoy it.
I hadn't started a thread about the property in a long time and several people have been asking. Yesterday when I was taking pics for the Poultry forum, I took some different pics of the property. There were no gardens at all. I even had to use the dirt (well, clay!) I dug up from putting in the pond to raise the ground at the foundation. Other than wild stuff, the list of existing plants is really slim! Here is the thread I started yesterday. http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/578785/
I did bring my little greenhouse with me and have plans to build a big one as soon as I can.
Thank you for the seed offer. I think I will work on my own box first though. LOL It's been yelling at me and I keep ssshhhhhhhing it!
Share your homesteading experiences and dreams.
Just visited your thread. I was born in the midwest (Indiana), but after living between big mountains, I am always amazed at all the flat ground down your way! Of course, all that flat ground is more space to garden in!
It is funny around here. My other yard was a pain because it was lowest at the street with a slow hill to the house and flat around the house. In the back it started flat at the house then when up hill but steeper on the left. It is really bizarre to look around here and see nothing but flat, flat and flat! My other house was only about a five minute drive from the Kentucky border and you had to cross the river and as soon as you hit Kentucky, hundreds of feet had been cut from the hillsides to put the road in but a few minutes down the road you were back to flat. I am most amazed at what has been done to put in roads. I can't imagine!
Driving from Seward to Anchorage, you see many rock walls where the road has been blasted through solid granite. About the flattest spot around here is the bay on a calm day! Indiana has some flat ground, too, but not like Ohio or Illinois, as I recall.
Oh yes! Indiana is very flat, at least where I have been! My father lives there. ;)
I was raised on a small farm just south of Chesterton, Indiana. It's a few miles from the Indiana Dunes State Park. I haven't been back there in about 25 years.
Maybe it's time you come for a visit. :)
I'm like a barn sour horse... just can't get me to go anywhere! All summer I am busy with my little nursery business, and all winter I am researching plants, trading seeds, and visiting on Dave's Garden. Sometimes I don't leave the property for two or three weeks and scarcely notice. It would cost quite a bit to make the long trip, and I'd be more likely to buy a yard tractor with the money! LOL!
Darn! You sound like me! LOL
Funny how barn-sour we get. If I didn't have to go anywhere, I'd be quite content to stay at home for weeks at a time. I never would get bored, there's more than enough to keep me busy from now on. If I live to be 100, I'll still never get it all done (or read) hehe. Having the internet is like having a library at your desk. I just keep finding more ideas for more stuff to do. Just wish I had enough energy to do it all. :-D
Yes, when the kids were young, I felt as if I was always stuck at home, and now that they are grown, you can't pry me away from home with a crow bar!
So ironic, but so true.
Maybe I was less interested in going somewhere than I was eager to find a quiet spot. The only quiet moments at home were at 2am or nap time!
Barn sour, hmmmmm so thats what it's called. I though I was just a little anti-social....lol. Badseed I too live in Ohio and we just moved here to 7 acres after living in a tiny rental with no yard. Oh how I love it. Nothing but rolling hills and cornfields around here. We have about 5 and a half acres of cleared land and the rest is wooded. I wish the house was closer to the woods for a little shade. We have been busy planting trees as there were only 4 lonely ones around the house. We now have 10 various fruit trees and a lot of others although I will have to wait about 10 years before I get some real shade though. My dream is to be self-sustaining, but we have a long way to go. I am really excited to be able to really garden now. I have been reading all winter long since I am new to it all, Weezing Greens I have always been fascinated with the idea of just packing up and moving to Alaska, it seems like my kind of living. Most people think I am crazy I would rather spend my money on manure than clothes or a new hairdo, talk about buying crap.....lol. I am so glad I found this forum, to actually find other people out there that would rather stay home and dig in the dirt. I don't know anything about goats but I had a wonderful experience with one at about 11:30 pm one evening I was on my way home from work and came upon 3 goats in the road so I stopped the car and 2 ran off somewhere and the other one was just looking at me so I said come here buddy and he DID just like a dog, so I was like well now what, I didn't want him to get hit so I threw him in my front seat and took him home. The best part was my husband's face when I got home....lol. I spent the next day looking for his owner which I did find. I fell in love with him though and have wanted one ever since then. Are they a lot of work? I am also curious about chickens, I would love to have some. My cousin said they are messy. I would apprieciate any and all advice from you since I am new to this whole homesteading thing. God Bless-Aundrea
Nice to meet you Aundrea! Prepare to get lost here at DG! LOL There are also forms for Farms, Poultry and Livestock and many many others! I *might* have posted on those too. ;O
You can get it, but you can't get out. LOL
Hi Aundrea! Ohio here also! I am nw of Dayton. Welcome to Dave's Garden!
We have 6 acres here..but only garden on one of them. The rest is in crops.
You will LOVE the country, I'm sure!
See you around the forums!
Marcy
Spoilsport here... doesn't anyone remember about paragraphs? Long posts with no spacing are SO hard for older eyes to read. Thanks.
Dear Darius,
I am buying you younger eyes for your next birthday. :)
There is a book called the art of seeing by quackenbush. Darius put it on your birthday wish list.
Meahwhile here ya go.
Paragraphs
I only live on 1/4 acre but have a mini orchard and vegggie garden
looking into chickens. zoning here says I am allowed 3 animals under 27 in tall. will have to eat my dogs to make room. not gonna happen
I don't see any zoning police around so may sneak them in.
So sorry Darius, I sort of write the way I talk....ha-ha. I used to live in Longwood, Florida. I sure miss that beautiful weather. Thanks for the welcome Badseed, Marcy. I am about one hour south of AkronCanton. Gonna have some decent weather here today. Boy do I have spring fever.
Aundrea, I really wasnt trying to be ugly but in saying what I did, I forgopt to say Welcome to DG. :)
Chele, yep, I could use some new eyes! Even with making the font larger, long posts with no white space are hard to read, and I've heard that comment from several others over the years I've been on DG.
You know we love you Darius. :)
I have to laugh at the comment by Aundrea. LOL Barely come up for a breath do ya? Sounds like we would get along just fine, if we ever heard a thing the other said. LOL
Welcome Aundrea ! From your post, sounds like you're getting spoiled by the good life. That's a great way to be spoiled.
I have wondered about goats also. I need to learn more before getting any though. Having chickens is great. I started with just 6 and that was a good number to take care of and learn. If you start with just a few, they're easy. Check out the poultry and livestock forum on DG. There's lots of info there and lots of questions that we all asked when first getting chickens. Again, welcome........glad you could join us here.
Thanks PeggieK for the welcome and for the info on the poultry/livestock forum, I was just over there reading about chickens. LOL badseed, I am just excited about finding other people out there that have a lot of the same views on things.
I just received chicken info. does everyone know that a cornish rock broiler male weighs 4.51 lbs at 5 weeks of age ? says they consume
12 lbs of food to get to eating weight. 8 wks 7.5 lbs anyone grow these? sounds like a good investment.
I've looked at these pretty seriously too. I'd really like to raise meat chickens in addition to my pets that provide me with eggs.
A friend of ours grows the cornishrocks. He says 6 weeks in the freezer, any longer your just wasting feed and it all turns to fat.
Heres where he orders from (free shipping)
http://www.welphatchery.com/
...........................Dennis / aka ol' tomcat
Thankyou that is where I got my info from. Welps. Thankyou carol
sorry for dropping this little post, it really is not a story. But, I just wanted to say thank you to all who posted here. I dream of a place of my own. Land, Home, Food, Water, Off-the-Grid. Or at least as close as I can get. Cn't do it now but in the future. Got to get the DW used to the idea, she is just to modernized for it and I too have to condition a little. Not as much as she would but?
I wonder if anyone else is watching this? Hello, it has been a long time since a post.
calvin
Hi, Calvin! Yep, I'm still watching this thread. I seldom 'unwatch' threads, since someone always comes along and reads old threads, then posts. Most of the comments are just as relevent now as they were when posted.
I can relate to anyone who yearns to get away from an urban lifestyle, and for some, the move into the 'sticks' is also their first move into home ownership and even the simplest self-reliance. I have always lived a rural lifestyle, having only lived in town for a few years here in Seward (population was around 3,000). I have lived without running water, but have always had electricity. I've always been within a short drive of town, no matter how small the town.
However, we have a small generator for power outages, our own well and septic, and a basement larder that would keep us fed for quite a while. I'll be 60 next January, so I'm no longer looking for ways to make my life harder, but I'm not ready to move into town yet, either. I hope to be able to live in this log house and work in this yard for many, many years to come.
I wish you luck on your migration to self-reliance, and especially your quest for a spot of your own in which to carve a life.
Weez, I too continue to "watch" this thread. While I am not actually "homesteading" I certainly an achieving a better self-reliant lifestyle in my new place. Lots remain to do but I'm eating that elephant one bite at a time!
Hi all, still watching too. Seems like our yearning for homesteading is even more appropriate now especially with using less fossil fuels!
Sure is hard to try to do my gardening etc. with a full-time job and a busy family. Got a couple of bantams mostly to help eat ticks in the backyard and because I miss having chickens. Hope the hen starts laying again soon so I can get more than 2; banty eggs are pretty small! :)
Hi All,
Just found this post today and enjoyed reading through it.
Weez, you're right, the old posts are just as good today as six months ago.
Darius, I was away from Dave's for a while and yesterday read your posts about getting a new place of your own. I almost cheered out loud when you closed on the property! Best of luck with it.
There's a great goat thread over on the poultry & livestock forum. My DW drinks only goat milk. She also cultures it to make kefir. She gets it from a local health food store, but even the local grocery stores now stock it.
Again, thanks for the thread, hope to read more...
Jim
Jim, I love kefir. I'd love to have a milk goat, mainly for goat cheese. Maybe in a year or two!
I was in Wilkes Barre just after the awful flood in the 70's. My friends had 18 feet of water in their house, and of course, lost everything.
Darius, I remember you telling me about your 70's Wilkes Barre connection.
If you ever decide you want to make your own kefir, my DW is always looking for someone to send her extra cultures to. You need to keep culturing to keep it going though.
Jim
Thanks, Jim. Maybe next year hopefully. Sorry about repeating the WB connection... CRS sets in rapidly!
hello all,
good to see ya'll are still watching threads :) There is so much info old and new for the Homestead thread. and Farming info. and news too. It is almost overwhelming. I know, i know, iknow:) a little bit at a time. Trying to shovel to much info in the brain over a short time can cause gross memory loss all all the info. :(
I have recently discussed it with the DW and she has stated that she is interested in a site of our own for retirement income (that is when we reach a age we can no longer self rely on ourselves). She knows how much I really want to get away from the I.....iots in the city. hehehe. Everyone is different and we should love them all for who they are but .....man..... I am tired of the noise, traffic, no elbow room, loss of privacy, crime, and all. DW is too and we started discussing buying land and where to buy it. State is not all that important. She fell in love (so she says) with Tenn. and west Va when she took a trip to Washington DC when she was 17 or 18. I also brought up CO and northern NM. Guess we got some serious traveling to do in the years to come to go and see the different states and climates and land prices. Prices change freq. ly I know but window shopping now helps for late buying.
calvin
I'd be close to retirement age... if I could afford to retire! Next January, I'll be 60, and I can sure feel it after a long day in the gardens! Calvin, what do you mean by "a site of our own for retirement income". Do you mean buying land and working it, or building a house and renting it out?
When I lived in the midwest, it wasn't uncommon to see a farm house in the middle of a big flat field. There was a long driveway to the back road entrance, and a yard with some big trees. The house was usually two story with a big roofed in porch (cooler in the summer). Behind or beside the house was a smaller place. When the oldest son grew up and married, he and his bride moved into the small house and helped farm the land. When the parents grew older and the son's family grew, they traded houses. That always sounded like a good idea to me.
Weezing, The idea,as I understand, it comes from my wife. She sees buying land as an investment that when the time is right can be sold for monetary gain. She stated that living on our own land is great but when we can no longer care for ourselves, being self reliant, and not giving our care troubles to our kids, we sell the property to care for ourselves till death. I understand where she is coming from, too. She believes that she is going to out live me, that would leave her alone and alot for her to take of just to live. I woldn't ask that of her. I want her to be as worry free as she can be.
Don't really know who will die first? Life will tell! I do know that all of my family to include great-grand parents have out lived her family, but that is a foolish trust and measure to go by. Life deals out a funny sense of humor.lol. I could or could not live longer than her. Shoot---- it would be nice for both of us to go at the same time, then the family has less to worry about.
My thoughts, are simple, buy the land, become as self sufficient as possible, work to improve the land and quality of self-reliant life style, die, and leave the property for family to enjoy. In my family, we have over 300 acres that has been passed down for about 3 generations now. We use it for tree farming, hunting, and outdoors activities. I grew up in the city and spent my vacations and family trips to the country tree farm. My grand parents, dad side of family, lived in a small town about 30minutes from the tree farm. My grandparents, mom side of family, were big on farming and the give-take life style with the land (take from it what you need but give back to replenish). My grandfather, mothers side, worked with the US Dept. of Agriculture. He used to take me to visit the farms and farmers when he made his rounds.
My dad, big outdoors man, used to take me for nature walks, hunting and fishing trips, ect.ect/ . He would always teach and find a lesson to be taught how if we take care of the land it will take care of us.
As a teenager, I would dream of my own land and living on it, as self reliant as possible. just enough livestock and animals to maintain mine and my families need and health and veggies and all. It would be a hard life, many sacrifices I know, but still I dream of having that .
Long winded I know I will hush now
calvin
This message was edited Aug 9, 2006 10:09 PM
Calvin, many people approaching retirement, then old age, consider the equity in their homes as their retirement fund. The house and land can be sold and the couple or surviving spouse can downsize to a smaller, easier home, or enter a facility, if necessary. Of course, the trick is purchasing your home and property early enough to build equity before you need the money!
Because my husband and I started our marriage in our 40's, we are getting a late start on retirement. Being self-employed, there will be no retirement funds coming in, and Social Security will not cover our expenses. I believe our property taxes on our primary residence are exempt when we reach 65. Since I owned this land when Dennis & I married, and we have never taken out a mortgage, we have a fair amount of equity. We work on the house as we can, but with each year, it becomes harder and harder. Personally, I'd like to die in this house, but at some point, we will probably have to find a one-story home. I wish I could just use an oil can on my joints so I could keep climbing these stairs forever. I don't want to move.
Anyway, as time passes, we will look into assisted home care. There are programs available here in Alaska to assist folks in staying home rather than entering a facility. Dennis is adopted, so he has no way of knowing whether longevity runs in the family. Since my mother died at 91 and paternal aunt died at 105, I will likely be the one coping with everything. Of course, as you say, you never know. Dennis could live to be 100 and have Anna Nicole Smith living in our house!