goats, chickens, rabbits, gardens,

[davest]

is anyone raising any or all of the above? I realize a few of you have acreage and am wondering if it's just a hobby farm type project or

a dedicated back to the earth survival way of life.

Do you store water? In what quantity and how? What do you use for stock tanks? Fencing for the goats. Have you had any cross contamination between your

chickens and wild fowl? How large a garden are you growing to feed yourself and yours? Do you irrigate using city water or a stream on

your property? Electricity, there is a small thread going on about using solar but it seems to be dying down because no one is using solar or

wind to generate what they live with appliancewise. and how do you keep meat from spoiling except for salting and drying? Do you use Amish methods

of lighting?

I ask these questions because my life will be changing a lot in a short time and I'm trying to stock up on knowledge prior to the change.

 

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[DeepseekerADS]

Good morning Dave! Thanks for bringing this topic up!

I have about 50 acres with several streams - I won't need irrigation. My water is delicious spring fed dating back to the original settlement. Solar - I'm hoping that thread picks up with a little more information. Right now I'm not thinking "wind".

Canning is labor intensive work, and I will be doing that. Whole lot of work ahead of me, as I just returned here permanently a month ago. Right now I'm fighting the wood stove in order to heat the house. I expected consumption, but it's a little more of a battle than I expected keeping the stove fed.

I'd like to pick up a junk all window van - fill it with racks and use it extensively for drying. I realize that could be of great benefit.

I will be hosting chickens. Granny's chicken house is still standing though it needs repair, and fencing as the mountain is full of predators.

I have 3 "bottoms". Come towards Spring and I'll be staring my first garden - organic raised bed, square foot gardening - I'll be trying all.

A great resource is Mother Earth News, and Grit is also good.

For preparing, I highly recommend picking up all 12 volumes of the book series Foxfire. It is extremely helpful knowing how the forgotten generations did things.

Keep the faith!

 

[davest]

thanks Deep. 50 acres is a lot of land. Come spring I'll be visiting three northern states looking for 15-25 hopefully with a stream or spring on them. Will you be moving the bottoms soil to your beds or just building them from there? Chicken and rabbit manure is great but the chicken has a lot of ammonia which would need to be composted out I think. Goats eat just about everything to the ground so they would make great clearing machines, fencing them out of the gardens afterward.

Good luck on the wood, the winter is just beginning.

 

[fistfulladirt]

Been raising chickens and other birds for years. Like they say, it's cheaper to buy at the store, but not as good.
I have around two dozen hens and feed store-bought food that contains a certain amount of protein (or you won't get decent quantity or quality eggs). Home raised birds and eggs are healthy and don't contain all the contaminants the store-bought do. I sell or give away eggs to friends and family, and just about break even on feed costs.

Have been square-footing in raised bed gardens for years also. I can get a five-gallon bucket full of 'tators from a 3'X3' cedar bed. I have a spring-fed pond in which I raise catfish, bluegill, and bass. Cut firewood from my property, cherry and oak, and house is all electric with geo-thermal heat. I built the house full of east and southern-facing windows, which warm the living area to 80 degrees, by 10 a.m., on a chilly 20 degree Michigan morning.

 

[rockhound]

Not there yet, but I am thinking of buying a parcel of hilly land with a level spot for garden. Building an underground house so heating and cooling is no problem. Using solar and or wind to power the lights and a small fridge. The water will be solar heated with a wood stove backup and a wood stove for cooking. Will raise chickens, guineas, turkeys, rabbits, goats and cattle. Will grow 99% of my food, wheat, barley, corn, rice, sunflower and quinoa, also will use for feed. Will grow a hydroponic garden year around in a sun room underground, or maybe an aquaponic in a solar greenhouse and also raise fish as a food supplement. Will use the barn for runoff and an underground reservoir for catchment and holding. Also will make a spring on the hill behind the house for my water use, and a holding tank near the house. Will make all my clothing a rope from mountain hemp, shoes and boots from leather. Soap from animal renderings, oil from an oil press and a large garden for canning and storing fruits and vegetables. Not primitive, but more like my grandfather lived. That is the way I want to do it in the future. Good luck. rockhound

 

[davest]

do you have an excavator? Or a large backhoe? Underground houses are usually built above ground and then covered with soil and sod to provide the insulation needed to heat with a candle and of course cooling would be no problem. It's just labor intensive to dig into the ground that's why I ask.

good luck.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

thanks Deep. 50 acres is a lot of land. Come spring I'll be visiting three northern states looking for 15-25 hopefully with a stream or spring on them. Will you be moving the bottoms soil to your beds or just building them from there? Chicken and rabbit manure is great but the chicken has a lot of ammonia which would need to be composted out I think. Goats eat just about everything to the ground so they would make great clearing machines, fencing them out of the gardens afterward.

I believe I'll build my beds on top of the bottoms soil. That way I can make sure the dirt is good compost. I do need a wood chipper, but have only casually looked at that.

I've thought about a goat or two just to clear the underbrush. The last time this land was clear was around 1960. The wood I cut off that will feed the stove. It's not time to get a tractor yet. Moving back in the Fall put me behind the 8 Ball on firewood thus that is going to be a continuous battle for the remainder of the Winter. I thought I had about a two month supply stacked up. It's been 5 days since I got the stove set up and good gracious! A burn lasts about two hours and keeps the entire house warm, basement, first floor, and the upstairs. I stuff it full and close the dampers at about 11:00 PM, and usually rise around 5:30 to find plenty hot coals, and throw in more wood. My driveway is a kilometer long, and so far most of my wood comes from the road. Tree or big limb falls? Goes to feed the stove. I should buy a load of hardwood, but I can't really justify that versus free wood and a little more work. Basically, I don't care if the wood is rotten or not - the stove takes care of that.

And, actually, this is all quite enjoyable!!! I'm free!!!

 

[rockhound]

Right now I am only in the planning stage. I can rent a backhoe or have someone dig it for me cheaper than I can buy one. May not even need it after that as my garden will be either hydroponic or aquaponic farming. Only grain and maybe potatoes, sweet potatoes, peanuts. carrots, and turnips/rutabagas grown in a conventional garden plot. Maybe a few cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes also for canning. Will plant many fruit trees and berry vines and some nut trees. I have my house plans on CAD and it took many times of drawing and redrawing to achieve what I feel is the best setup. A rectangular hole 50' wide and 120' long by 10' deep. Will build a block structure inside that with a 5'air space all around the structure for ventilation and heat regulation. With a 20' drive through garage on the end of the house, all underground. South facing side will have several windows to allow the sunlight in during winter and for gardening. A picnic shelter for water catchment and an underground holding tank. Still planning as its winter here. Good Luck. rockhound

 

[releventchair]

Deepseeker, with the multiple sources of moving water have you considered a small water driven turbine? From home built paddle wheels too high tech micro hydro generators it seems more dependable than wind.
Too a hydraulic water ram could bring water to some sites from others without more than water for energy.
Home build plans are out there but this one just looks cool...

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Deepseeker, with the multiple sources of moving water have you considered a small water driven turbine? From home built paddle wheels too high tech micro hydro generators it seems more dependable than wind. Too a hydraulic water ram could bring water to some sites from others without more than water for energy. Home build plans are out there but this one just looks cool...

Yep, I've considered a turbine. One of my streams is really just runoff from a spring. There's another stream 3 - 4 feet wide at spots with steady flow, but I don't believe it has enough gpm to provide power any better than just helpful. There's another creek at the North side of my property, but it's too far away and adjacent to a state road = government involvement. I've discussed the middle stream at length with people experienced with turbine generated electricity. One of them damned a creek like mine, and Corp of Engineers came in on him. The guy trumped them, but that was 4 years ago and he still hasn't received the permit. Since they couldn't get him on regulations (he'd done plenty homework), they just ignore him, and his turbine system just sits there generating nothing. Our regulations in action....

My house has a steep tin roof, and faces the Winter sun. It would be perfect for solar, but thus far I'm still frozen in the headlights.

 

[smokeythecat]

Chickens. I have four very SPOILED pet hens. They are two Rhode Island Reds and two Buff Orphingtons. They were hatched about Feb. and I got them at 2 weeks of age. They are now all grown up and live outside in the most critter proof pen ever devised. Their pen is small, but the have a much larger "playpen". and I let them stay there frequently. I also let them run amok when I'm outside with them. Their names are big Red, Little One, Buttercup and Scrambles. I guess you can tell where her name came from. They are pleasant little pets and are good for hugging also! The eggs are huge and MUCH BETTER than anything from a store. When they get out they try to fly, it is total failure. I refer to them as oven stuffer roasters with wings. Every night I bring them a treat from the store. They love blueberry muffins, watermelon and red seedless grapes. Not white, red please. They are not spoiled. It is my expectation they will die of old age and have a proper burial ceremony at that time.

 

[fistfulladirt]

Chickens. I have four very SPOILED pet hens. They are two Rhode Island Reds and two Buff Orphingtons. They were hatched about Feb. and I got them at 2 weeks of age. They are now all grown up and live outside in the most critter proof pen ever devised. Their pen is small, but the have a much larger "playpen". and I let them stay there frequently. I also let them run amok when I'm outside with them. Their names are big Red, Little One, Buttercup and Scrambles. I guess you can tell where her name came from. They are pleasant little pets and are good for hugging also! The eggs are huge and MUCH BETTER than anything from a store. When they get out they try to fly, it is total failure. I refer to them as oven stuffer roasters with wings. Every night I bring them a treat from the store. They love blueberry muffins, watermelon and red seedless grapes. Not white, red please. They are not spoiled. It is my expectation they will die of old age and have a proper burial ceremony at that time.

I know what you mean. Sometimes it's difficult for me when it comes time to eat my "pets".

That's why I eventually learned to raise fast-growing meat birds like the Cornish rocks. Ten to twelve weeks to butcher time (anything longer is just plain cruel, lol).
That way I can still put chicken in the freezer, and keep the layers laying. Hard to become too attached to the meat birds, they all look alike -

 

[smokeythecat]

I like my meat in plastic. That somebody else dealt with previously. Pets is pets.

 

[fistfulladirt]

I like my meat in plastic. That somebody else dealt with previously. Pets is pets.

Ok, but you're eating your pet's offspring -