Share your homesteading experiences and dreams.

hahahahha YER KILLIN ME HERE !!!

"....every mouthful stolen from the hands of corporate agriculture ... " love it!! More motivation! I think it's Joel Salatin that comments that supermarket chicken is 10% fecal soup (ugh). Course the coyotes/raccoons/osprey/hawks got my Rhode Island Reds here.....need to work on the chicken's quarters.

Jay I grew up on deer meat and we did also call it venison, but I certainly don't consider myself a city slicker - haven't dug any post holes though (let SO do it). I certainly worry about those microchips - keep on fighting against those and against big agri-biz!! For the first year ever the tomatoes did poorly - let SO grow them from last year's heirlooms instead of starting them myself. Froze a mess of pears tho - delish! Will have to remember to put them up in honey next time but keep harvesting from the hive too late. I can't believe more people don't have kitchen gardens in America's heartland - just incredible. It is definitely Victory Garden time now. Quite a few people at least have a few tomato plants here in Mass., and the farmers markets have lots of customers.

You are not a city slicker if you - brought your pony into the house when your folks weren't looking.

You are not a city slicker if you can't eat supermarket cukes!! (mine are SO much better)

WOWthis forum is great you all are just so funny. Andso encouraging to people to follow there dreams. Had almost gave up hope that people like you still exisited.

lindalou, are you near the Peace river?

yes peace river runs through the city limits of my town its called arcadia, fla

Mayflwr,

I never got a pony... I started with a horse I had to climb up on the fence to get on. My first lesson in outsmarting someone bigger than me, but not my last. =) However, there was no way, no how that I was going to spend enough time in the house to bother trying to get the horse in there, so I napped in the barn with my horse. My dad was very old school cowboy and I got spanked for 'spoilin' the horse... next lesson in outsmarting something bigger... I just waited til he wasn't around.

Now I know the idea was to prevent the horse from laying down while tied... she was kind of a lazy horse, I do recall.

But at the time (8 yrs old) I figured my dad was just another unreasonable, crazy adult.

Anybody else here remember ducking into the nearest hidey-hole and going deaf when Mom started hollerin' for help cleaning the house?

Around here, we dust once a year whether the house needs it or not! LOL

I'm going out to work on the winter prep some more...
Jay

The Health Dept. would condem my house but my barn is as neat as a pin! I have my priorities straight. LOL Friends say my barn doesn't even smell like a horse.

I have a dream......................zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz That one day the world will be off my case and out of my face!

Wow, this was one of the first threads I read when I first joined Dave's. Wonder how PeggyK is doing? I"ll have to go back and read this whole thread to see how far some of you have come!

I know in my case, it's quite inspiring to follow these and discuss projects and ideas.

Lot of water under the bridge since then. We moved and set up shop an hour and a half away from the old place. The animals are not in nearly so nice of conditions. Need to build new pens when the weather gets nice. Need to sell 4 or 5 horses. But life does go on. Got 3 planting beds made and plans for more. Got seedlings in the cellar. Yes, got a cellar in the deal. That's a plus. Chickens are laying very well. Got chicks in the brooder and eggs in the bator. Learning new things everyday. God is still on the throne and life is good!

“Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly…” ~ Langston Hughes

I'm holding on so tight I'm afraid I may squeeze the life right out of them but I won't give up.

I just looked back at my posts back in 2006 (#1968599) and it seemed like a good idea to post an update, some four years later. While there have been some big changes in my life, my lifestyle hasn't changed all that much. The question of longevity was settled for my husband when he dropped dead in our bathroom at 59, over 17 months ago. I guess that was his retirement plan. Though I miss him every day, I find that my life is much the same. I am learning to live alone and have settled into my own daily routine that is comfortable for me.

I'm now 63, so it takes me longer to get things done, but I have kept my little nursery business open the last two summers since his death, and I plan to continue until my old body just can't take the punishment anymore. Keeping up my yard and all the plants I sell keeps me outdoors most of the spring and summer. I've come to prefer it, though a rainy day indoors to clean house, edit my music or play on the computer is welcome from time to time.

Since I am not a handy person when it comes to automobiles, Toyostoves, plumbing or electricity, and I no longer have the physical attributes that inspire young men to offer me assistance, I have begun enlisting the aid of my son. When he is too busy or hasn't the expertise I need, I call upon the husbands of my friends.

This requires tact. One never wants to ask the hubby directly, as this can cause trouble with the wives. Not because they will be jealous, but rather, any time spent on my honey-do list may shave time from theirs. So, instead, I mention to my friend that I need to have a widget mounted on my wall, but lack the skills to do so. I mention how lovely their widgets look and ask who mounted them. Usually it is the hubby, and usually, the wife will volunteer his assistance. I leave it to her to nag him into it.

For most things, however, I do the work myself. If it just requires a strong back and strong will, I try to figure out a way to use leverage or some tool to make it happen. I've been contemplating splurging on a new hand truck. Mine is at least 40 years old and squeaks so badly when I haul something that the border collie anxiously runs circles around me. I suppose he thinks I'm in pain... or the hand truck is.

When my husband died, I went on Social Security survivor benefits, so I guess I am technically retired, but when I am lugging around big wheelbarrow loads of soil, I don't feel so retired. But, in the long run, I guess I am living out my dream, and for the first time in my life, I'm doing it alone. Whatever happens here or doesn't is up to me. If I can't do it, I must make it happen another way or pay the consequences later. I no longer worry about who will go first, as Dennis beat me to the punch already.

As for what I will do when I truly 'retire', I'll keep my nursery business going as long as I can make it work. I figure, as the greenhouse crumbles, the table tops and sawhorses fall apart, the the wheels fall of the wheelbarrows, I'll be downsizing and downsizing until it will be just me and a few pretty hanging baskets I put together to sell. When I cannot manage that, I'll just hobble over to my compost pile with a bag of leaves, fall in, and dump the leaves over the top of me!

One Web definition of homesteading:
"As of 2010[update] the term may apply to anyone who follows the back-to-the-land movement by adopting a sustainable, self-sufficient lifestyle. While land is no longer freely available in most areas of the world, homesteading remains as a way of life. According to author John Seymour, 'urban homesteading' incorporates small-scale, sustainable agriculture and homemaking."

I live in Alaska on around two acres of land. I grow what I can in my gardens. I depend on my son's chickens for eggs, and his chickens enjoy the scraps I give them. They, in turn, make lovely compost. I live on my social security and a meager income from my business, but it is enough. I have no mortgage and drive a 1986 Suburban. I'd rather go to a garage sale than a retail store. My freezer is full, my pantry stocked.

It's been a long journey from my girlhood in Indiana farm country to a coastal town in Southcentral Alaska. It took me three men to get here, but I chose every one of them myself, and I picked well. I've watched one reject me and two die suddenly, and while it was sad in all three cases, I'd do it all again, because here I stand on my own land in a log house we built and the gardens and yard we worked so hard to create. I hope to be here a long time, and I will never forget where I came from and who helped me get where I've come.

Weez... Lol, you haven't changed one bit since I first 'met' you almost 10 years ago! Glad to see you are hanging in there, doing what you love.

Wheezingreens, Thank you! Loved the update.

I've often wondered what happeded to Peggy and how she's doing. This was the first thread I read on DG.

Serendipity: "Serendipity is a propensity for making fortunate discoveries while looking for something unrelated." I often wonder what has become of many of my old DG friends, but I hope, like myself, that if original dreams and plans are not realized, that we all can give ourselves up to the serendipity of life. The world is full of fortunate discoveries just hanging around to be 'discovered'. You've just got to lift your head up and see past the linoleum.

That was beautiful. Thank you.

Happy accidents. They are God's rewards for not whining when things don't go our way. :)

Putting oneself in the way of a fortunate accident. =0)

Hi all ! It's so good to know I'm still thought of here by my friends on DG.
I am still around, just not so good at getting around any more.
We are still in our little house, unfinished, but comfortable and at least livable. We had to get rid of our chickens. All my gardens and perennial flower beds have since grown over, and died away.
I lost my contracting business that was the means for us accomplishing our dream of the lifestyle we so wanted.
This all happened as a result of life being disrupted by a burst compression fracture of the L-2 vertebrae in my back. I spent 3 mos. flat on my back, then 4 mos. in a brace, and finally surgery. It has been a long and painful recovery, but I am still trying to learn how to deal with a new way of life now with a handicap.
It all happened on Friday 13th, 2009 when we went to a Moose Lodge to watch a family member play music. We don't go to these type places... I don't even drink beer or alcohol. But that fateful night, there we were. An intoxicated customer had sloshed her drink on the floor, and of all the things in the world that could happen, I slipped on it and hit so hard it broke my back.
The event has changed mine and husbands lives and the way we live. I'm glad we got as much as we did, done before this all happened. It's good to have our little house even though it isn't finished to the home we planned. It is security, even though it's lonely and isolated now that I can't enjoy the lifestyle. I really miss my chickens, and gardens........ and oh, the fresh eggs and vegs. It made me feel so good to pull up Dave's Garden and see that my friends haven't forgotten me, or the passion I had for a better, cleaner lifestyle. Love you all, May God bless you richly, PeggieK

Oh, I'm so sorry to hear of your injury. Will you ever be back to what you were? I'm sure I am not alone in wishing you all the best.

WhooHoo! Peggy is back!

Peggie, I am so sorry to hear about this. I had no idea. I thought you were just busy with life and your business. I wish I lived close by and could help you. Is there a possibility you can get some of your lifestyle back? Maybe bale gardening. You could grow a few plants for fresh veggies without much bending. There is a whole forum on it here on DG. Can DH help you at all? Maybe a chicken tractor would allow you to have 3 or 4 hens for fresh eggs. I will certainly be praying for you. Life is so hard sometimes.

Hi peggy...
Just some encouragement... I had a friend who had suffered a broken back from a drunken driver, put her in a wheel chair, & she found a way to garden. I know that you will too.

Life is so uncertain, one never knows what's going to arrive in the next minute. You've kept your love of the land, & your gratitude. Keep your passion for the land & you'll find a way in time.

Now, come on up to December on the 'Stead & pile in... =0)
Blessings,
Jay

Peggie, ditto....please come join us for some chit-chat.

Just follow the cookie crumbs -< * -< * -< * http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1143680/

This message was edited Dec 16, 2010 3:27 PM

You will love it over there Peggy. We are doing what we can as we can and sharing the good and the bad with each other.

Nice to see you all postingespecially Peggy! I hope further mending allows you to regain more mobility. I am working 3 jobs now, feel tired but blessed to have them It's hard to keep up with all I want to do here with the chickens and angora rabbits and gardens. But lets keep dreaming and working towards self-sufficiency!
Juli in Mass.

3 jobs! Wow! You must be worn out. Come on over to the January thread and lets commiserate. I woke up to 5" of snow this morning. Hope I can get to the mares on top of the mountain.

I wanted a farm all my life. I bought my steading-8.735 acres-a year before I retired from the World's Finest Navy. I raise hogs, chickens for meat and eggs, ducks for eggs, and sometimes a goat or sheep for meat. My neighbors graze cattle on the back part of my place and I get milk, and butter from them for it, and whenever they have a steer butchered, I get a 1/4 for my freezer. I have 1/4 acre 3-sisters garden, and another garden a bit smaller for other veggies. I have planted or transplanted Black berries, gojiberries, serviceberries (Juneberries), asparagus, horseradish, mulberries, grapes, cherries, apples, pears, hickories raspberries (red and Gold), and walking onions. This summer I am building a wood-fired oven for bread and pizza, and setting up a small green house.

Cool set-up, NikB... glad to have you join us!

What kind of a wood-fired oven are you planning? I have Kiko Denzer's books and have wanted to build one for ages...

Kiko wants for me to take and send pics as it gets constructed. I am going to build a block base about 3-4 courses high, filled with glass and rubble and sand. Pack it down and then build an adobe oven on top of that. Vermiculite and a second adobe dome for insulation. Then cover the whole thing in lime plaster. I am going to do a fascia of cobblestones around the base. I'm building the whole thing on a 10 by 10 concrete slab that I poured this past summer. That's the plan at any rate.

Wonderful plan. I'm sure we'll all be interested in your progress.

Nik, you have got it goin' on! I am impressed. Looking forward to pics of your place. Hope you will come over to the monthly chat threads and talk with us.

Well, I'm working on getting it going on. I just ain't there yet. This year I am expanding the gojiberries and aronia, and maybe adding some sea buckthorn. I wanted a greenhouse business, and bought a 28 by 72 hanger type of greenhouse but the township and the neighbors all pitched a fit about it. I am building a smaller one (12x16) just for me to start my tomatoes and peppers in, and cabbages. I think I will probably use it for propagating trees and bushes, too. Then I can sell nursery stock. One thing I've learned is that no matter how much you get done, you'll find something else to do. A case in point is the apples. I have a wild apple in my fencerow that has great apples, and plenty enough of them for me. But, I buried a couple apples in some loose sharp soil. I plan to let them grow for this season, then about a year from now I'll cut them off and graft yellow delicious or something on them. I started a second flock of chickens this year, too. to sell hatching eggs. I been selling buff orpington eggs, and in a couple months I'll start selling barred rock eggs, too. It's a good life because there is something new everyday.

The sexlinks are great egg layers. They lay a lot, good sized brown eggs and hardly ever go broody. They are a hybrid and don't breed true so you can't hatch out your own but for eggs to sell they are a good option.
I suppose you could breed them by crossing the same hens and roos as the hatcheries use. I have 9 Red Sexlinks, 3 Black Sexlinks and 1 Golden Comet laying. I have 6 Golden Comet chicks. I really like the Golden Comets. They lay as early as 4 months and their eggs are huge. If I remember right they are a cross of White Plymoth Rocks and Rhode Island Reds. I think the Red Sex Links are a cross of RIR roos and White Leghorn hens. The Black Sex Links are a cross of RIR roos and Barred Rock hens.

I'd like to hear more about the apple tree project. We have a very old apple tree on our place. No idea what kind.

Yeah, I've bred the sexlink crosses a couple times. But I want to get to breeds that are selfsustaining, and hybrids aren't. As far as having eggs goes, I sell mostly eggs for hatching, not eating. I have a couple ducks who's eggs I eat. I don't eat a whole lot of chicken eggs in the summer. They just don't compare to duck eggs.

I made bread and scones today. The bread is barley bread and the scones are made with raisined blueberries, cranberries, and cherries. Then I made an orange flavoured simple frosting for them. I bottled a bunch of the concord peppermint wine, too. Pretty good day. Going to town this evening-got a date.

We have 1 duck hen. She is an Ancona. Black and white. She was laying everyday but quit just before winter and has only layed twice since then. I call her Miss Quackers. She is in the pen with the chickens. What are the best ducks for eggs? I like duck eggs. They are the best for baking.

I would dearly love to have a flock of blue or lavender EEs. I have one hen that I traded for that may be an EE. I have her in with my EE roo but she has not layed yet. She looks to be an older hen so if she ever starts laying in Spring I will incubate the blue eggs ( if they are blue ).

Are raisined blueberries dried?

, Yes, dried whole like grapes are to make raisins. Pekin, runners, magpies, and a couple strains of khaki Campbells are the best laying ducks. Pekins lay a huge egg, while magpie eggs might be greenish in colour. Runners won't usually set, so they lay all season long.

I don't care for the Pekins. Runner ducks look a bit odd standing up so straight and tall. I have never heard of magpies. Those khaki campbells are real lookers. I have heard muscovies are good layers and I like that they hiss rather than quack.