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mommyof4
Guest
Most of my canning supplies have come from auctions and Goodwill. I got a whole huge stock pot that I use for canning at an auction a few years ago. I get a lot of the jars from goodwill and auctions, too.
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mommyof4
Guest
Yea, but you have to either hire someone to till the garden for you- it cost us $100 just to have the garden tilled, and purchasing your own tiller isn’t cheap, either.
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deb1
Guest
SOmetimes grocery stores will give you the old lettuce and bread that they can’t sell. You can give this to your chickens as a treat! You just have to ask the manager. Our hens used to love this.
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deb1
Guest
Have any of you heard of the Chicken Eglu? A bit expensive but an interesting product. YOu get a chicken house-small-and up to four hens(not roosters.) Our family of six had 12 chickens that each laid one egg a day. That was too many eggs for us, so a smaller group of hens would be good for many people.
omlet.us/products_services/products_services.php?view=Chickens&about=pricing
My only problem is that I think that stray dogs would get into my hen house.
omlet.us/products_services/products_services.php?view=Chickens&about=pricing
My only problem is that I think that stray dogs would get into my hen house.
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slyboots
Guest
I saw this today. Some of it may be unuseable but if you just learn how to raise chicks…then it’s a success.
tractorsupply.com/content/knowhow/knowhowcentralpage
tractorsupply.com/content/knowhow/knowhowcentralpage
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Sugabee43
Guest
I tried going onto the ‘daysofnoah’ website, and registration was turned off by the administrators.
I’ve been thinking alot about homesteading. But what do you do for income if you make the break and move out? Or do you wait and save until you can be totally self-sufficient?
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mikejacobus
Guest
I can personally vouch for Home N Stead. They are friends of mine and my son is their Parish Priest. Lots of good information on their site.
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Garland
Guest
Hi all, A little info on chickens if you need it. To get fertile eggs to hatch you need a rooster for 10- 12 hens. 20-24 hens 2 roosters etc, etc. When you put the male in with the hens wait at least 7-10 days before saving your setting eggs to give him time to do his work. Most brown egg layers will make good setting hens except the hybrids, such as golden comets, Isa Browns, Red Stars, Black Stars etc, etc. These hens have some leghorn in them and are less likely to go broody. The Leghorns, any color, are not good setters. The hens lay according to the amount of light they get per day. They need 14-16 hrs of light to lay heavily. If you want eggs in winter you must supply light to them to make up for the shorter daylight hrs. I am 66 yrs young and have lived all my life on the land supplying most all the things I need to live. I keep Saanen milk goats fo r the great milk, and meat excess bucks provide I grow only heritage vegetables so I save my own seed year after year. I don
t think I could handle living in town, but have never tried. My parents, grandparents, and gr grand parents were all what you would call homesteaders I guess, so am grateful for my many blessings. please feel free to ask any questions you like, and Ill try answering . The lifestyle is really simple and you have time, a precious thing, to live. His Will Be Done. Garland
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fultonfish
Guest
There are a lot of skills homesteaders and wannabes need to master.
Homesteading is a lot like camping out which is a really energy intensive idea. Everything takes an enormous amount of time and energy. And you get dirty real fast. And you can get worms and all sorts of internal parasites if you aren’t careful. And you had better not be allergic to bees and other stingies.
Gathering/chopping/seasoning wood gets tiresome after while. It is also heavy. And full of creepy crawlies … like brown recluse spiders [you have got to look those guys up] and yellowjackets. I got stung by a yellow jacket when I disturbed their nest in the woodpile. Felt like I had been shot in the head by a bullet.
I get a kick out of the “Survivor” television program where none of the contestants know how to start fire.
And then there is “Man vs. Wild” where he obviously stays in a hotel because mostly his clothes are clean. And he does such dangerously stpd things like cave exploring without proper equipment. Lately, he has been using his camera crew to get him out of trouble and even to help climb up and own. But he gives people the wrong idea. He ate a snake raw and then got dhrrh on television. The snake was also highly poisonous; he was lucky he didn’t die.
Homesteading is a lot like camping out which is a really energy intensive idea. Everything takes an enormous amount of time and energy. And you get dirty real fast. And you can get worms and all sorts of internal parasites if you aren’t careful. And you had better not be allergic to bees and other stingies.
Gathering/chopping/seasoning wood gets tiresome after while. It is also heavy. And full of creepy crawlies … like brown recluse spiders [you have got to look those guys up] and yellowjackets. I got stung by a yellow jacket when I disturbed their nest in the woodpile. Felt like I had been shot in the head by a bullet.
I get a kick out of the “Survivor” television program where none of the contestants know how to start fire.
And then there is “Man vs. Wild” where he obviously stays in a hotel because mostly his clothes are clean. And he does such dangerously stpd things like cave exploring without proper equipment. Lately, he has been using his camera crew to get him out of trouble and even to help climb up and own. But he gives people the wrong idea. He ate a snake raw and then got dhrrh on television. The snake was also highly poisonous; he was lucky he didn’t die.
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rpp
Guest
I have got to agree with you on these things. It is very important that people go into this both well informaed and well prepared.
I also agree with you on the Man vs Wild show. Bear Grylls is NOT someone to eitther emulate or learn from. Now Survivorman with Les Stroud, that was a decent show that a person could actually learn from. And he NEVER intentionally did stupid things liek Grylls does.
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fultonfish
Guest
I was reviewing old posts and found this one and felt compelled to agree with you about Les Stroud.
He gave up the series. I’m guessing because either he got tired of getting sick or because he had enough money and was doing a lot of personal appearances.
Even with all the backup, Les Stroud on Survivorman twice had to terminate the program filming. Once, because he got really sick from heat in one of the African deserts and once because his rescue/backup team got stranded in semi-arctic conditions and they had to be helicoptered out.
Stroud started carrying fishing gear with him and was shocked one time when he actually caught something.
On two occasions, Stroud was “saved” because there was so much trash laying around that had gotten cast ashore that he was able to make a house and hunting/fishing gear from the flotsam he found.
The ONLY positive thing about Bear Grylls is that he makes the sign of the cross before parachuting into bad situations. So, maybe if he dies, God will give him a free pass. [Haven’t seen the film of where he recently broke his shoulder in Antarctica.]
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lada
Guest
We are currently what I refer to as “semi-urban-homesteaders”. We live on two acres and keep chickens (both meat and egg breeds) and milk goats, and a large garden of vegetables and herbs, which we dry, can and freeze. We recently purchased 22 acres nearby, and are anxious to move and build our home, but we have to sell the one we’re living in now first.
My end goal is to produce all our own food - we will have enough land for some beef cattle, pigs, as well as the chickens and goats we have now, and a bigger garden. I’d like to start producing enough herbs to make my own tinctures and dry some for medicinal use. We heat with wood now, and my husband is currently building a bigger outdoor wood furnace for the new place. I’m researching rain-saving devices, wind and solar power, and whatever else I can think of. I draw the line at the composting toilet, though.
My end goal is to produce all our own food - we will have enough land for some beef cattle, pigs, as well as the chickens and goats we have now, and a bigger garden. I’d like to start producing enough herbs to make my own tinctures and dry some for medicinal use. We heat with wood now, and my husband is currently building a bigger outdoor wood furnace for the new place. I’m researching rain-saving devices, wind and solar power, and whatever else I can think of. I draw the line at the composting toilet, though.
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fultonfish
Guest
Clivus Multrum is grossly over-priced.We are currently what I refer to as “semi-urban-homesteaders”. We live on two acres and keep chickens (both meat and egg breeds) and milk goats, and a large garden of vegetables and herbs, which we dry, can and freeze. We recently purchased 22 acres nearby, and are anxious to move and build our home, but we have to sell the one we’re living in now first.
My end goal is to produce all our own food - we will have enough land for some beef cattle, pigs, as well as the chickens and goats we have now, and a bigger garden. I’d like to start producing enough herbs to make my own tinctures and dry some for medicinal use. We heat with wood now, and my husband is currently building a bigger outdoor wood furnace for the new place. I’m researching rain-saving devices, wind and solar power, and whatever else I can think of. I draw the line at the composting toilet, though.
But composting is an excellent way to conserve organic matter.
In part it depends on your local climate. If you already have good topsoil and moderate climate, adequate rainfall, and lots of normal vegetation, then composting is not as helpful as in a desert environment.
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just_me_1
Guest
LOL, you sound like me before I jumped into chickens a few years ago! I was petrified about a bloody one! I have always run a few roosters with my flock (then butchered most of them, left 2 or so) and have been eating fertilized eggs for years-- here’s the thing: if you pick them up right away and put them in the fridge, they are not bloody except once in a while a teeny tiny spec you can’t even see without studying them. they don’t get bloody until they begin to develop and this can’t happen until they are set out at room temp (well, really 95-100 degrees, that’s what my incubator says). it’s simple, if you want to raise chicks out of the eggs (and have a rooster!) don’t refrigerate them, if you want to eat them, keep em cold!
I sold my older hens and am trying to decide if it’s worth it to get more. eggs go on sale from 50 cents to 89 cents a dozen here, I can’t buy the layer feed for that! but the dark yolks and fresh, rich taste are so worth it! I dunno yet. it is worth it if you have a farm and can free range them-- they will eat bugs, plants, and pick up any feed your cows/sheep/horses miss. they also LOVE leftovers, my chickens would eat anything the dogs didn’t want. and I mean ANYTHING.
happy chickening!!!
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just_me_1
Guest
I have been a farm girl my whole life. my parents lived in the country but not on a farm so I was always working at the neighbors or riding my horses. now my husband and I are settled on about 40 acres. we plan to sell it and buy more land once we have the money for a down payment again. we raise beef cattle and a few horses (I train and sell them, breed a little on the side. they are valuable show horses, you can’t really make money in backyard horses anymore, unfortunately. but I keep a couple good old cowhorses around to gather our cows. I hate working cattle from a 4 wheeler.) I had chickens until recently and bred dairy goats for a while too. I have worked with sheep and think of starting a flock from time to time, but sheep are a whole different can of wax… we make our own hay and I have a big veggie garden, potato patch and I planted a LOT of garlic this fall. I really want to start an asparagus patch this spring too! I don’t aim to be completely self sufficient, I like walmart and Hamburger Helper too much! but it’s amazing how much money you can save if you aren’t buying meat and fresh produce! and it’s nice to know what is IN your food too! my husband is an avid hunter and our freezers are well stocked with game meat as well. my inlaws butcher pigs sometimes and we trade them beef for pork for a variety so it works out well. last fall I bought a meat grinder and started making our own sausages and things too. yum! so I’m not truly a homesteader, but I sure enjoy the country life! 
but it’s amazing how much money you can save if you aren’t buying meat and fresh produce! and it’s nice to know what is IN your food too! my husband is an avid hunter and our freezers are well stocked with game meat as well. my inlaws butcher pigs sometimes and we trade them beef for pork for a variety so it works out well. last fall I bought a meat grinder and started making our own sausages and things too. yum! so I’m not truly a homesteader, but I sure enjoy the country life!
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just_me_1
Guest
wow sorry I just now noticed the dates and how old this thread is!
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fultonfish
Guest
that’s ok. it’s a fun thread. sorry it got neglected. better than arguing about whether the navy seals committed unnecessary roughness and clipping.
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VintageRachel
Guest
I know that this thread is old but I’m happy there are others out there like me. I’m going to read the thread in detail and follow links to see what I can discover. I am longing for some fellowship with other Catholics on this particular topic. Most of the homesteaders I have encountered online are various forms of Baptist.
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lada
Guest
We do compost all our veggie peelings, etc. I just don’t want to compost our…um…other waste products.
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fultonfish
Guest
Consider “it” a high school physics experiment.
High temperature composting with vermiculture. Separate little area; two plastic trash cans with compost and worms; start with one and cover the “stuff” with compost; layer it up. The worms will do the job. After one trash can is filled; switch to the second. By the time can #2 is filled, can #1 will be done and can be gradually emptied (gradually so the worms will stay in the can). Then refill can #1 and by the time can #1 is filled, can #2 will be ready to be emptied.
Drill holes in the bottom for drainage; set the cans on a bed of sand about six inches thick.
Piece of cake.
High temperature composting with vermiculture. Separate little area; two plastic trash cans with compost and worms; start with one and cover the “stuff” with compost; layer it up. The worms will do the job. After one trash can is filled; switch to the second. By the time can #2 is filled, can #1 will be done and can be gradually emptied (gradually so the worms will stay in the can). Then refill can #1 and by the time can #1 is filled, can #2 will be ready to be emptied.
Drill holes in the bottom for drainage; set the cans on a bed of sand about six inches thick.
Piece of cake.
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