homesteading...farming.....survival techniques

[Cheryl Marchek AKA JM]

I don't have the kind of knowledge Utta has as far as survival techniques...but over the last few years I've learned a thing or two about homesteading as sustainable living....

Anyone else into homesteading....

As in...

or

or

So~ who are the homesteaders? Lets hear from y'all!

 

[ratkingrodents]

I'm guilty on all counts.

We have mini dexter cattle, kune kune pigs, delaware chickens, new zealand white rabbits, and obviously the rats! LOL.

We have six potato containers going all the time. We raise tomatoes, string beans, eggplants, green peppers, carrots, onions, zucchini, cucumbers, radishes, egg plant, leaf lettuce, and lots of other stuff in raised bed gardens.

We have permanent patches for sugar baby watermelons, cantaloupe, strawberries, and asparagus. We plant to sweet corn in the same place every year too so I guess you could call that a patch? LOL.

We cut hay USUALLY twice a year, and put up a few hundred bales for the animals in the winter. We also grow pumpkins to bolster the pigs feed.

We're also big on using natural food for our animals to cut costs. Our pigs eat A LOT of acorns every year LOL. We have seven GIGANTIC oaks on our property and I collect as many acorns as I can to put up for pig feed.

We have two apple trees, two pear trees, three walnut trees, and a wild cherry tree. We want to plant more fruit and nut trees, but they're pretty time consuming and not cheap.

We can a lot of food over the course of the year. My mother does all of the canning. I would never dream of asking the wife to do it. She is great at a lot of things, but neither one of us pretend that cooking is one of them.

In the future we hope to add a solar array to cover our electricity costs and we want to build a small pond for irrigation and raising catfish.

This is like my wet dream. Homesteading and herping collide! LOL.

 

[porkchop48]

Not a homesteadere here... But with a possible move in the next 6 months to a year. I plan to be.

I want chickens, pigs, goats, cows, the whole nine yards. I have alot to learn but very excited.

I think chickens will be the first things on the list to get

 

[Dennis Hultman]

Guilty as charged.

Chickens, Turkeys, Rabbits, Ducks, Garden and small orchard.

 

[Focal]

One day! One, DAY!

I think my first step is either gonna be chickens or pigs, but I gotta move out of the city first.

 

[Cheryl Marchek AKA JM]

Oh goody~ looks like lots of information potential here!

Chickens are where I started~ I use my old havobators to incubate eggs every spring. This year I might get a little more serious about my geese~ they've just been a gee whiz for a couple years now but 7 geese eat a lot so they need to start earning their keep this year~ I herded them up into the small pen last night so I could start collecting the eggs to incubate and sell gosling this year. Found the first goose egg this morning (I knew they were laying in that upper pasture somewhere!). I'll post up pics when I get the bators going in a couple weeks!

 

[Miss Tuniwha]

HA HA HA .. Cheryl.. you rock.. I like the order of photos.. LOL

*hugs*

We do not do that .. but we know folks who do, and we purchase from them when they have extra

 

[Dennis Hultman]

Oh goody~ looks like lots of information potential here!

Chickens are where I started~ I use my old havobators to incubate eggs every spring. This year I might get a little more serious about my geese~ they've just been a gee whiz for a couple years now but 7 geese eat a lot so they need to start earning their keep this year~ I herded them up into the small pen last night so I could start collecting the eggs to incubate and sell gosling this year. Found the first goose egg this morning (I knew they were laying in that upper pasture somewhere!). I'll post up pics when I get the bators going in a couple weeks!

I have a couple of weeder geese as well. The female looks like a White Embden and the male a Tufted Roman. She gives one egg every other day like clockwork. I'm not to excited about trying to hatch any at this time.

I have hatched a lot of my Pekin Duck eggs and Jumbo Pekin. I find it interesting that a lot of people have emailed me stating that their ducks only lay in the spring. Wondering how my ducks are laying now. Mine started laying in November and haven't stopped. Everyday I have 100% collection from each female.

 

[Cheryl Marchek AKA JM]

100% Collection rate since last November! Ok~ I was outraged until I saw your in Sunny California~ now I'm jealous (grew up in Central and Southern Ca)~ but still~ 100%! Are your chickens doing that well? What percent protien feed are you using?

My chicken flock is going on 3 years old this year. They are completely free range in the summer with just kitchen scraps and occasionally some scratch grain, and whatever they can hussle in the pastures. Very few of the original chickens are left ~ last year I hatched a lot of eggs~ sold the older hens and processed the roos to freezer camp~ still my hens started slowing down production last September~ by Decemeber/January I was down to ONE egg a day if I was lucky. I didn't supplement their light at all and while I was feeding them for winter I was using a 12% protein all stock so I expected a slow down....but I have a LOT of hens out there (no clue how many)~ I didn't expect it to get down to NO eggs somedays!. I finally popped up to a 22% protein feed about a month ago and I'm up to 2 dozen or more eggs a day. I think I'll up the winter protein earlier next year and see how it does.

The geese~ mine are African greys. I don't know if you recall~ in early 08 I hatched an emu. I bought the first geese to keep the emu company. The emu died and I gave the geese to my neighbor. The neighbors dog killed several of them~ I rescued one from that dog in 09' and she is a crippled pet here now, then last spring the last two survivors at the neighbors house came back to my house on their own and made pests of themselves until I let them in the pen they used to live in. Neighbor said he didn't care....and I was frankly kind of mad he took such poor care of them...I wouldn't have minded if he processed them to eat but I was kind of insulted that he neglected them till most were dead and the last two came home! So I let them stay here and last summer I fed most of the goose eggs to the pigs~ but a guinea sat a clutch ~funniest thing ever to watch her when the hatched! The geese then adopted the goslings~ poor guinea it was kind of sad watching her try to sneak into the goose pack with her goslings!

So now....I have 7 geese. I'm sure my LGDs have been eating any eggs they were laying....but it occured to me I can probably get $5 or $6 a gosling...so I put them in a smaller pen for the spring and I'm gonna collect the eggs and incubate them. BTW~ I don't have ducks but as far as I can tell Geese only lay in the spring/Summer. Or at least mine do~

 

[Dennis Hultman]

100% Collection rate since last November! Ok~ I was outraged until I saw your in Sunny California~ now I'm jealous (grew up in Central and Southern Ca)~ but still~ 100%! Are your chickens doing that well? What percent protien feed are you using?

Nope. Chickens went down to a trickle even on layer pellets. The ducks and geese feed off both the chicken pellets and the turkey feed some times. Along with free range of abundance of grass, insects, worms. When ducklings they were very stubborn and would only eat grower pellets for the longest time. I spoiled them too much. Now I'm paying for it when they see me. "Hey there is the guy! Feed me! Feed me!"

 

[timebider]

I want more than anything to have a little "farmette" - but with hubby being reliant on public transportation (he's blind), that's not gonna happen, at least until he retires.

Meanwhile, almost every food item we buy is from local farmers. There are co-ops galore around here. Most deliver to a central location (someone's house) but a couple deliver to your house. I also have a huge organic veggie garden and lots of fruit trees, shrubs, and vines.

Keep it coming! I love to drool over others' stories and pics.

 

[porkchop48]

I know what you mean Lynn,

This thread is making me want to move even more.

Chickens - Who knew one could get so excited about chickens.

 

[Cheryl Marchek AKA JM]

I'm excited about chickens and other livestock~ obviously~ but

I also have a huge organic veggie garden and lots of fruit trees, shrubs, and vines.

I did pretty good with my gardens in both Nebraska and California~ but since we've moved here I have just had some miserable gardens! Not sure what my problem is~ but on the idea that perhaps the soil could use some help I went ahead and left the barn bedded pretty deaply and let the manure and bedding (hay and pine shavings) mulch under fresh bedding all year (the mulching bedding also added some heat to the barn in the coldest of winter~ think I'll do the same next year). The last couple weeks I've been working on digging down to the good stuff and putting it in the garden. The chickens are spreading the piles around~ I'll till them in soon~ we'll see how I do this year. But I'd love to see some of you gardeners post about your tricks for great produce, and most especially weed control ~OMG the Weeds here are IMPOSSIBLE to stay ahead of! Much worse than any other garden I've ever had!!

 

[Dennis Hultman]

I'm excited about chickens and other livestock~ obviously~ but



I did pretty good with my gardens in both Nebraska and California~ but since we've moved here I have just had some miserable gardens! Not sure what my problem is~ but on the idea that perhaps the soil could use some help I went ahead and left the barn bedded pretty deaply and let the manure and bedding (hay and pine shavings) mulch under fresh bedding all year (the mulching bedding also added some heat to the barn in the coldest of winter~ think I'll do the same next year). The last couple weeks I've been working on digging down to the good stuff and putting it in the garden. The chickens are spreading the piles around~ I'll till them in soon~ we'll see how I do this year. But I'd love to see some of you gardeners post about your tricks for great produce, and most especially weed control ~OMG the Weeds here are IMPOSSIBLE to stay ahead of! Much worse than any other garden I've ever had!!

These was my first attempt at gardening a couple of seasons ago.
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=140175

Looks like some of my pictures were lost in that thread. I'll see if i can dig them up.

I had around three hundred pumpkins. A lot of tomatoes, and squash coming out my ears for months.

Rabbits and chickens sure did eat good.


From what I read pumpkin seeds are a natural dewormer for chickens. They sure ate a lot that year.

 

[Cheryl Marchek AKA JM]

I've read that pumpkins are great for just about everything~ I did pumpkins back in California and they did great~ so great one year that I accidently got a second crop coming up from some missed squash plants that were in the same area and accidently wound up with a pumpkin squash hybrid....cool looking~ taste nasty!

So last year I planted several in a small hill in the garden. ONE plant came up~ it was a struggle to keep it from being overcome by weeds~ it produced TWO pumpkins that developed blossom end rot and were gross......

Tomatos seem to be destined to both early and late blight no matter where I plant them. The strawberries seemed to be doing ok~ then the entire patch just up and died last fall! Don't know what the asparagus are going to do but I'm afraid to hope for anything good.

 

[timebider]

I know what you mean Lynn,

This thread is making me want to move even more.

Chickens - Who knew one could get so excited about chickens.

Oh, it's easy to get excited about chickens! I get a catalog from Murray McMurray's every year, and I always go through circling the breeds I like best. I'm a huge fool for anything "heirloom" - be it tomatoes, apples or chickens (or whatever else).

http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/index.html

 

[timebider]

Tomatos seem to be destined to both early and late blight no matter where I plant them. The strawberries seemed to be doing ok~ then the entire patch just up and died last fall! Don't know what the asparagus are going to do but I'm afraid to hope for anything good.

Ironically, I killed all four of my tomato plants that I tried in those horrid "topsy turvy" planters last season; but all of the ones I grew from seed in my raised garden beds (using a homemade mix of equal parts compost, peat moss and vermiculite) went absolutely gangbusters. I never sprayed them with a thing, and watering was very inconsistent at times, but they thrived. They were still actively fruiting in October! It took a heavy frost to finally convince them to quit.

The thing I can't figure out with tomatoes is how to grow grape tomatoes. I planted several varietals of grape 'maters last year, hoping one of them at least would "work," but every single bush grew cherry-size tomatoes - some even larger. I had someone tell me it was because my soil was too rich. I also get full sun all day in the garden area.

Strawberries? I hate plants that grow runners, and have found that the ones my kids and I like best are those little "alpine" strawberries. They're hard to find in garden stores, but the fruits are like little pieces of candy, they're so sweet. I love the fact that we can go outside and eat fruit right off the bushes because I know exactly how they've grown and that nothing has ever been sprayed on them. The alpines are very hardy, too, as well as resistant and/or unattractive to slugs. You can't kill those if you try.

 

[Cheryl Marchek AKA JM]

I'll check out Alpine~ I actually think I may have seen that name at the TSC today. Is it a June bearer or Ever Bearer? I am considering going with Ozark because it seems to be a pretty reliable Ever Bearer producer in this area but no reason I can't do two varieties.
Thanks

 

[Dennis Hultman]

Oh, it's easy to get excited about chickens! I get a catalog from Murray McMurray's every year, and I always go through circling the breeds I like best. I'm a huge fool for anything "heirloom" - be it tomatoes, apples or chickens (or whatever else).

http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/index.html

Yes, I have been planting all heirloom seeds myself. That's all I want to grow. I have saved seeds the last couple of years for storage.

Heritage breed animals are what I desire too.

My first chickens and turkeys came from McMurray. I was very satisfied with their service.

 

[susang]

We did farm/homestead chickens, ducks, geese, gunies, rabbits, cows, pigs, cows and goats. I have made our own butter, cheese (still do when I can get fresh milk), bread from fresh ground wheat. I miss it but living with wood heat only got a little to hard on old bones.
We still have five acres and are considering going back to the land.
I am also thinking of raising rabbits for food and fertilizer.