Anybody here interested in homesteading?

[JackieMom]

Yes, I understand that and that is the fine line people have now. Where to draw the line at complacency and where to fight for the land. Why not go ahead and let those people like the OP suggests, homestead a certain percentage of the land and let the certain percentage be modernised? Then if there comes an Apocalypse, the ones who run the land will survive.

No one is stopping anyone from buying a lot of land in the middle of nowhere and “homesteading.” They are free to try it today!

Of course, I have a feeling that the mortality rate is much higher being effectively cut off from modernity than it is from this feared apocalypse!

 

[Ridgerunner]

And plainly you don’t know much about backyard chickens. You can’t tell me that my chickens are not in a better environment for them than if they were in a factory. Mine free range from dust to dawn all over the farm and are healthy. You have been in some facilities, you have not been in all of them.

When I was growing up, we raised chickens in the standard Old MacDonald’s Farm way. So I do know. I have been in a lot of what you think of as “factories”. Keep in mind that those are owned and operated by farm families who are making an honest living doing it. One shouldn’t disparage it without knowing first-hand what it’s like.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Most people who have lived in the city all their lives do not understand the country life at all, and what it has to offer. It’s just very foreign to them. I used to be one of those city people. I was the most resistant in the family to make the move from city to country. Now I have my own Jersey, Nubians, chickens and guineas. I can churn my own butter, make my own cheese, yogurt, sour cream, buttermilk, ect. We send a steer to the butcher yearly and fill up our freezer. I have gotten together with friends to processes roosters and rabbit to put in the freezers as well. I understand the draw. Not many people do.

I agree wholeheartedly with this. It takes a lot of learning if one did not acquire the skills and the taste for the endeavor early and continuously.

 

[EasterJoy]

The US is not short on pretty rural areas with nice little old churches and traditional Catholics and falling real estate prices. It is only short on ways to make a living in them and there is not much to do there if you can. Increasingly, the young people move out and don’t (or can’t afford to) come back.

If you want to find some people who’ve spent a lot of time considering how to wait out a “small a” apocalypse, a local version of the Dark Ages, my impression is that the environs around Grants Pass, Oregon, are one ticket. I couldn’t say how traditional the Catholics are. For all I know, they are resurrecting the old Oregon court of the KKK down there, too. Lots of people raising their chickens, though!

 

[KostyaJMJ]

Sounds romantic, but no thanks. Ag land is incredibly expensive, the work is back-breaking, and unless you plan to farm as a business - you’ll still need another job to pay your bills, insurance, and other expenses. I prefer not to be too far from a major hospital and other resources… Maybe someone could come up with a Catholic suburban town.

There are numerous communities around the country. Faith Village, in Augusta, GA comes to mind. I wouldn’t mind buying a house there, but I wouldn’t be too keen on granting strangers access to my finances, particularly when they benefit from me being as “generous” as possible. I would also be worried about financial oversight and having to take financial responsibility for the greed, laziness, and ignorance of the other members.

 

[mommamaree]

Come on guys!

Sore backs? Butchering animals is nasty? That’s what you guys are afraid of???

The food we survive off of doesn’t come from nowhere. Someone’s got to do all this stuff.

Oh, that was funny!

We Americans (Westerners) have become quite soft and lazy and complacent, haven’t we?

We love our air conditioning and our packaged meats and our sofas and computers. But for every one of us, there are a hundred (or more) others, often in developing nations, whose strong backs and willing hands provide us with comfort and nourishment that is just a short, air-conditioned drive away.

 

[Rence]

Oh, that was funny!

We Americans (Westerners) have become quite soft and lazy and complacent, haven’t we?

We love our air conditioning and our packaged meats and our sofas and computers. But for every one of us, there are a hundred (or more) others, often in developing nations, whose strong backs and willing hands provide us with comfort and nourishment that is just a short, air-conditioned drive away.

It is quite amusing when city folk get totally freaked out at the thought of milking a cow or a goat. It’s as if God said: …and let there be half-rotted and chemically treated plastic jugs of milk to line the shelves of your nearest Kroger’s.

 

[Becca3]

Oh, that was funny!

We Americans (Westerners) have become quite soft and lazy and complacent, haven’t we?

We love our air conditioning and our packaged meats and our sofas and computers. But for every one of us, there are a hundred (or more) others, often in developing nations, whose strong backs and willing hands provide us with comfort and nourishment that is just a short, air-conditioned drive away.

And you be surprised at how many children don’t know where an egg comes from? Or where we get our burgers from? Most of them don’t know! Especially the ones that live in the cities. We have taken our complacency for granted.

 

[Rence]

I agree wholeheartedly with this. It takes a lot of learning if one did not acquire the skills and the taste for the endeavor early and continuously.

It really doesn’t take that much at all Truly, it’s not hard to learn about chickens, and there couldn’t be any easier livestock to maintain than chickens. Milking a cow is as easy as sitting down a fluffy bag of pine shavings and sticking your bucket under the cows udder and milking her while she chews her cud. Making cheese is every easy to make…you just follow the directions in the book or magazine or website. Seriously, our grandmothers and great-grandmothers had it tougher: they had to learn from their elders. Nowadays we open a book, turn on our Kindle or set up the computer by the stove/sink and pick up tidpits from our older neighbors.

I’ll tell you, I don’t miss the city. I’m not kidding when I say I don’t have any clue where the keys to my home are. I haven’t seen them in years. I leave the key to the car in the car - where it won’t get misplaced.

 

[Fairwinds]

It is quite amusing when city folk get totally freaked out at the thought of milking a cow or a goat. It’s as if God said: …and let there be half-rotted and chemically treated plastic jugs of milk to line the shelves of your nearest Kroger’s.

that’s called the “division of labor”, its what civilization was built on. I have no interest in milking goats, so I pay someone else to do it for me. if you milk cows for a living you don’t have time to mill steel or publish the New York Times.

 

[KellyPalmer]

that’s called the “division of labor”, its what civilization was built on. I have no interest in milking goats, so I pay someone else to do it for me. if you milk cows for a living you don’t have time to mill steel or publish the New York Times.

No, that’s not what that is called. There is division of labor within homesteading as well. I already do this with friends that I am in community with. One milks the goats (through a closed system pump), one will make the kombucha, one will make the bread, one will process the chickens, one will grow this and another will grow that…and on and on. There’s no reason every single person needs to do everything themselves. You can’t call puss filled dead milk lined up in Walmart, “division of labor”…it goes far far beyond that into something more sinister where the motivation is the all-mighty dollar.

 

[KellyPalmer]

Plainly, you do not know very much about the poultry industry. I have been in lots of those facilities, and they’re a great deal more benign that people come to believe who have watched PETA and other Luddite propaganda films. “Old MacDonald’s Farm” is not a better environment for the birds at all.

I have never seen a PETA or Luddite film so I have no idea what you are talking about. Do you seriously suggest that anyone other than you or someone who has worked in a factory chicken mill can’t possibly know what it is like? Or they must be watching PETA films? Really? May I suggest that you look into farming outside the type of operations that you describe? So far, the only alternative you are mentioning is a nursery rhyme. Additionally, please don’t forget that you already gave details. I responded based on those specific details and then you said I don’t know much, lol. What don’t I know, then? How is what you describe better than allowing chickens to walk around in the daylight and eat what God intended for them to eat? I’ve witnessed both with my own eyes and I am curious to read how you will be able to explain this.

 

[Rence]

that’s called the “division of labor”, its what civilization was built on. I have no interest in milking goats, so I pay someone else to do it for me. if you milk cows for a living you don’t have time to mill steel or publish the New York Times.

If have time to milk my cow and work full time It’s not about division of labor, it’s about doing what you like to do and not worrying about what others do. If you (not you, just any you) want to pick up your milk from the store, that’s fine with me. I’d rather have farm fresh and luckily, I can do just that We should all be able to live the life we love. Obviously we won’t all love the same thing.

 

[Rence]

No, that’s not what that is called. There is division of labor within homesteading as well. I already do this with friends that I am in community with. One milks the goats (through a closed system pump), one will make the kombucha, one will make the bread, one will process the chickens, one will grow this and another will grow that…and on and on. There’s no reason every single person needs to do everything themselves. You can’t call puss filled dead milk lined up in Walmart, “division of labor”…it goes far far beyond that into something more sinister where the motivation is the all-mighty dollar.

That’s true too

 

[KellyPalmer]

It is quite amusing when city folk get totally freaked out at the thought of milking a cow or a goat. It’s as if God said: …and let there be half-rotted and chemically treated plastic jugs of milk to line the shelves of your nearest Kroger’s.

 

[Ridgerunner]

How is what you describe better than allowing chickens to walk around in the daylight and eat what God intended for them to eat? I’ve witnessed both with my own eyes and I am curious to read how you will be able to explain this.

Large scale poultry operations are cleaner, for one thing. The operators also have a better idea than most what optimum nutrition is. Safety for another. One assumes you do not live in an area where hawks, owls, eagles, raccoons, wildcats, coyotes and such predators abound. Because of more widespread hunting long ago, our losses from predation then weren’t all that great. With the decline in “varmint hunting”, raising “range chickens” now would be almost impossible unless one simply accepted huge losses and kept up a steady replacement stream. In some places, no doubt, that wouldn’t be that way. Regardless, predation is not a hazard in poultry houses.

 

[KellyPalmer]

Large scale poultry operations are cleaner, for one thing. The operators also have a better idea than most what optimum nutrition is. Safety for another. One assumes you do not live in an area where hawks, owls, eagles, raccoons, wildcats, coyotes and such predators abound. Because of more widespread hunting long ago, our losses from predation then weren’t all that great. With the decline in “varmint hunting”, raising “range chickens” now would be almost impossible unless one simply accepted huge losses and kept up a steady replacement stream. In some places, no doubt, that wouldn’t be that way. Regardless, predation is not a hazard in poultry houses.

In what way are factory poultry farms cleaner? I have seen the exact opposite. Have you read anything from Joel Salatin? We have wild animals and large birds galore here, but there are many very simple and affordable ways of protecting the chickens and turkeys from those predators outside of the factory farm industry. I’ve already described some of those things earlier such as chicken tractors and covered coops. I explained how they move the tractors across the fields and how Joel Salatin provides free instructions on how to build them. I’ve seen them built and I’ve seen them in production. In fact, the factor farms have to accept much loss from the undesired conditions. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. Chickens are healthier, safer and live better when they have more room, air, sunlight, plenty of exercise and consume food that is better for them.

 

[Ridgerunner]

It really doesn’t take that much at all Truly, it’s not hard to learn about chickens, and there couldn’t be any easier livestock to maintain than chickens. Milking a cow is as easy as sitting down a fluffy bag of pine shavings and sticking your bucket under the cows udder and milking her while she chews her cud. Making cheese is every easy to make…you just follow the directions in the book or magazine or website. Seriously, our grandmothers and great-grandmothers had it tougher: they had to learn from their elders. Nowadays we open a book, turn on our Kindle or set up the computer by the stove/sink and pick up tidpits from our older neighbors.

I’ll tell you, I don’t miss the city. I’m not kidding when I say I don’t have any clue where the keys to my home are. I haven’t seen them in years. I leave the key to the car in the car - where it won’t get misplaced.

You are clearly a better student than I am. I am still learning, after a lifetime at it, all kinds of things about cattle genetics, maladies and physiognomy, as well as the characteristics of various grasses and efficiencies in use. There are some very good people who write the “instruction books”, and I pay serious attention to what they say. However, I have also found that they sometimes get things wrong too; lessons learned the hard way. And sometimes I have found that the old-timers know nuances better than the agronomists do.
Not always, but sometimes.

Regarding the keys. Same here, except that my wife probably knows where the house keys are. That’s kind of amusing. An old timer once told me he would rather a thief stole his parked car with the keys in it than that the thief come into his house to get them. He also opined that if somebody was going to steal from his house while he was gone, he would rather they didn’t have to break a window to do it. I asked him if he wasn’t afraid somebody would come into his house while he was there, and he said no he wasn’t because he had two sizeable and very loud dogs running loose in the yard that would give him enough warning to get his shotgun.

 

[Rence]

Large scale poultry operations are cleaner, for one thing. The operators also have a better idea than most what optimum nutrition is. Safety for another. One assumes you do not live in an area where hawks, owls, eagles, raccoons, wildcats, coyotes and such predators abound. Because of more widespread hunting long ago, our losses from predation then weren’t all that great. With the decline in “varmint hunting”, raising “range chickens” now would be almost impossible unless one simply accepted huge losses and kept up a steady replacement stream. In some places, no doubt, that wouldn’t be that way. Regardless, predation is not a hazard in poultry houses.

Ok come on. Of course large scale poultry operations aren’t cleaner. Now you’re being silly. My backyard and surrounding fields are much cleaner than any factory. So is their pine-shaving bedding in their henhouse. In addition, chickens were designed by God to be out on the pasture. I assure you the bottom line matters more to large scale poultry operations and they couldn’t afford to feed them optimally. And my 3 german shepherd dogs, collie and great pyranese do a fine job keeping the predators away and freely mingle with the chickens. Seriously, my chicken house and surrounding chicken yard is like Fort Knox and the first few years I locked it up from dusk to dawn, but I don’t need it anymore due to the dogs, and keep the chicken house and yard open around the clock.

 

[Fairwinds]

If have time to milk my cow and work full time It’s not about division of labor, it’s about doing what you like to do and not worrying about what others do. If you (not you, just any you) want to pick up your milk from the store, that’s fine with me. I’d rather have farm fresh and luckily, I can do just that We should all be able to live the life we love. Obviously we won’t all love the same thing.

I have hobbies too.