Moving towards Self-sufficiency

For discussion related to emergency preparedness, survival, self-sufficiency, food and water storage, guns, heat, light, building, gardening, etc.
RaVaN
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Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by RaVaN »

In about 2007/08, my Companion and I were impressed by God to start moving towards becoming self-sufficient and to prepare for the hard times that are coming. This was a big change for her and I and we began to do the study into the best way to do this. We began by preparing a list of items that were of immediate need with which we could survive 6 months if need be on what we had on hand. This included food/a water source/tools and items/and heat. In constructing this list, I realized that each person's list would be different based on the information and my own experience since different areas require different preparation.

Our next step was to begin utilizing the land for farming. This began as a small garden about 30 x 30. On this small garden we managed to increase our self-grown food from 0% to about 5%. We grew tomatoes, beans, turnips, cucumbers, peas, and peppers. With little effort, we managed to have a large crop of food stuffs but not enough to store.
During this time, my Companion began teaching a class of how to repurpose old clothes into usable items and started a knitting class.
We had a planning meeting and began discussing our long term goals and plans. This resulted in opening up 2 more 30 x 30 plots and beginning to build a barn designed for chickens and some sort of usable larger animal and preparing to store food via canning/drying. We started with 15 chickens and 5 guineas. We discussed Alpacas in detail and began preparations to clean up a wooded area that had goats at one time that was about half an acre. This basically amount to piling up all the dead trees and burning it. At this time, I realized how effective chickens were in turning a 20 x 20 area from grass to dirt increasing the need for feed.

The next year we planted on the 3 plots potatoes, turnips, peas, beans, tomatoes, sweet corn, onions, scallions, cucumbers, peppers, dill, horseradish, and various herbs. We also planted grapevines. This resulted in increasing our food production from 5% to 15% with the eggs and extra roosters. I also found that the variety of tomatoes we grew naturally grew like weeds from the unharvested fruit and grew just as well as those we bought from the local greenhouse. The barn was finished and we started seriously looking into Alpacas. At the time Alpacas seemed the most likely option due to be scrub animals and good for meat/fiber. The price was prohibitive, and it appeared that the artificial inflation of the price was about to drop due to some changes in law so we decided to wait. We also began to put excess eggs down at the local church for any to take if needed(we did put a free will contribution box for feed since feeding chickens is a bit expensive)
During this time, we continued to add to our tools and knowledge base with informative books and put things into active practice. I also began looking hard into alternative feed for farm animals. We also began a push to let others know that the time to prepare was now. All I came across I told them to prepare, prepare, prepare. A few others at the time were beginning to feel the urging as well, and some meetings on preparedness began. It appeared that most people wanted to talk about things rather than make the lifestyle change necessary to be prepared and wanting to be told specifically what to do. This led to the meetings amounting to very little as seen right now.
We began harvesting wild strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and hedge cherries. We had quite a bit of jelly and jam. We also began pickling and making tomato sauce as well as drying cayennes. A neighbor also had extra apples that we harvest and processed as frozen apples.

The next year I began clearing an old garden that had last been used in the 1980s that was about 12000 square feet. I also fenced in this area. I didn't finish until a month after planting should have done but planted anyhow. I planted herbs, barley, sunflowers, turnips, beans, peppers, buckwheat, peas, tomatoes, carrots, onions, corn, sorghum, potatoes, cucumbers, Jerusalem artichokes, watermelons. This resulted in both failures and successes due to weather and lack of experience in certain things but still what did well we got a lot of. This resulted in pushing the food production up another 5-10%. We increased our chickens by 15 as well with new varieties. The price on Alpacas hadn't dropped noticeably so we delayed again. We found that a dog is an absolute necessity with the fowls since that year we had a bumper crop of foxes due to them having 2 sets of kits increases the amount of foxes around to 13 within 1 mile of us. We invested in an Australian shepherd to start the job of keeping the predators at bay and to help me take care of them as well. This led to the fox problem going away as well as the raccoons in the fall.

During the winter, the Alpaca idea died when my Companion came across Pygora goats. When we did the math on paper, they appeared to be exactly what we needed for our area both for food, fiber, and dairy as well as clearing the land. We began preparations to purchase them. During this time, I started clearing the area around the big garden to allow more sun to reach it resulting in about 60 trees felled. I began cutting and splitting this excess wood and offering it free to any who came and picked it up. The neighbors, even though free gave contributions for upkeep of tools and gas. Spring came and I began planting, fencing in about 2-3 acres for the goats. We planted more grapes of the variety we had planted before because they bear fruit the first year. We also planted pear trees that for the first time were available to our zone as well as quinces. This was a bountiful year even with the drought. We pushed our food production up to 35%. We found that some varieties we have planted of the heirloom plants were completely viable so even when we had a mishap while sprouting, the seed we had plus that which came up wild not only provided for us but for relatives and neighbors who had lost everything due to frost. We were truly blessed in everything. I had moved the chicken yard 2 times that year so they could continue feeding when I made a startling realization. The area chickens had been in the year before sprouted corn and watermelons and produced. I found further that if you keep moving the chicken yard, the chickens will clear the ground almost as well as if it had been tilled rendering the ground ready for planting and things WILL grow there and well. An amazing discovery to me.

Now, that brings us to now. We are at the point where we are moving swiftly to where we want to be. There are still three things needing to be done; wood heat for the garage, a root cellar, and a well down by the large garden with a hand pump. I am excited to get to these projects come Spring. Since I live in Northern Minnesota there is not much to be done, even if there is still much to be done.

Throughout this God has continually blessed us. Every time we reach a point we think we can't continue God blesses beyond that which we need to proceed. We are not wealthy, and it is amazing to see the blessing of God that occur daily.

Anyhow, I write this so that people can know these things can be done. Having no debt made this a lot easier and not going into debt for anything was a blessing by God. This is not to say we are righteous or deserving of these blessing from my estimation, but God does have a purpose and a plan for those willing to listen and act. While we aren't where we need to be, God willing we will get there. People need to know their plan and execute that plan even though it seems hard and God will open the way.

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dlbww
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Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by dlbww »

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bbrown
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Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by bbrown »

I would also add that chickens make great composters. You throw in your compost (and if a large enough space, even your manure from your goats) and they will turn it automatically digging for bugs. It is a win-win. Better feed for them (kitchen scraps and lots of protein in those bugs) and it cuts down on your feed costs, and they do the turning and airating of the compost for you.

The other area we've researched some is companion gardening ("How to grow more food than you'd think in less space than you can imagine", Square food gardening, "Carrots love tomatoes", etc). In theory, you could grow far more than 35% on those gardens --sounds huge to me! Another method for building soil that I love is http://www.backtoedenfilm.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and even in a place that gets 150-180" of rain a year (usually TOO wet and depletes soil), it works. We've also looked into auquaponics and year-round gardens (using everything from thermal mass, to water pipes in the soil with a small pump and water heater, to using compost to heat a greenhouse in winter. There is so much out there if you really start searching for self-sufficiency...

We've been collecting, learning, gearing up for a move to the land, but with 6 young children and a mortgage, we have some steps to complete before we can sell the house, buy land and move.

CB

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mes5464
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Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by mes5464 »

We were well on our way to accomplish these very same goals in our family when I lost my job. We went for 1.5 years without a job but I finally landed a job in CO and we had to move (leaving our 3 acre farm). This was a terrible set back for us but we have faith and will start again soon.

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mes5464
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Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by mes5464 »

I want to add that getting out of debt is key.


Doctrine and Covenants 64:27
Behold, it is said in my laws, or forbidden, to get in debt to thine enemies;

RaVaN
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Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by RaVaN »

@dlbww

Yes, your climate is a lot more friendly than ours. You really make me drool with that variety of trees/plants. I live in northern Minnesota so we have to be very careful in what we decide to add because of long and cold winters(cold being -20f to -40f on a stretch. Until just recently, you couldn't grow pears up here. We planted three last year and they produced about 2 gallons worth that same year. If they make it through the winter, I plan to buy as many as I can...because apples is a comfort food but pears are a luxury food...if you have pears it's hard to complain.

The portable chicken house idea is something I plan on doing now that I saw exactly how much ground chickens churn up in a short period.

As for wood heat, you really can't beat it in terms of how easy to get firewood in our area. On about 20 acres, you do have to plan for a lot of things, a wood lot being a big one. Our popular trees are just like weeds around here and work well for firewood while being very sustainable. It only takes 15 years to have harvestable trees and doesn't take many to heat a house/barn for a winter. Just need to be fit and work smart, though really I prefer burning Ash.

The goats were for manure as well, since the chickens don't produce enough for our purposes. I really hate goats, but boiled down for our area it's really the best way to go. Fiber, meat, dairy, manure, scrub animals, and they clear ground for you. Proverbs 27:26-27 really says it best:

"26 The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the price of the field.
27 And thou shalt have goats' milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household, and for the maintenance for thy maidens."


@bbrown

Thanks for that chicken composting tip. I never considered that when placing the location of my manure pile. Great idea, though with the current set up, my chickens are free range within the pasture. The fencing I used for the goats was bought specifically with free range chickens in mind. The issue with feeding them is during the winter since the chickens can't go out in -20f and 1-4ft of snow(winter dependent). So I am looking into other means, which will be root crops, various grains, and leftovers. We seldom have any scraps for chickens since we generally consume what we make, except when processing or during the summer.

The greenhouse is an idea I keep thinking I might like to try, the issue begins to revolve around winters here though, it just is more viable at present to dry/can or make a root cellar.

@mes5464

I had a similar experience in 2009. Construction work ran out and we were a bit concerned but it ended up being just a great blessing since I could focus fully on building up the farm. God blessed us greatly throughout this. I ended up becoming an woodcarver/artist and created a flow of income from selling at the local artshows/craftshows with things I cut, hauled, and carved. That actually made things more desirable due to being local produced completely and "green" since I hand carve it. As I said, God has blessed us greatly. The most amazing thing is that at one point we were at the point where without higher funding, we couldn't do what was needed to make the next step without me working. Then my companion was blessed with a 50% pay increase in a time when everyone else in her line of work was getting a decrease due to economy and state laws. It really staggered us and was a witness we were on the path God has for us.

The debt issue is a huge deal. When my Companion and I accepted God's will and came together to work in union, our first and foremost goal was to get her out of debt. This was a process and all our efforts went towards that for a couple of years. It's amazing how free you are without debt. It was a lifestyle change and we now live a very simple life...in fact when people ask us what we do for fun we end up telling them that you have to think of us as a old 80yearold married couple. It was funny one day when doing an odd job and one fellow there was talking up how exciting his weekend was going to be and was very excited about it and then asked what we were going to do and I replied with the same excitement, "Friday night we are going shopping and Saturday we are going to the dump...and we might even go to the meat store!" He seemed baffled that I would be so excited about that...but pretty much that is what we do. Live simply and enjoy the things most people never experience due to the loud obnoxious distractions in the world.

Charley
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Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by Charley »

Firstly, I'm technologically challenged. I attempted to post on this, only to find that it didn't. Ugh. So, if it shows up later, I apologize for double posting.

Thank you so much for posting your self-sufficient adventures with us. It gives us hope to keep trying.

Nearly 2 1/2 years ago, my husband and I were returning from a trip to Nauvoo back to the Kansas City area. We were reading to each other and all of a sudden we stopped and both declared that we had to move. This actually came as quite a shock to us. Over the years, we had thought "Wouldn't it be nice to live in the country some day?" That was really the gist of it. Now we felt strongly that it was time and now. It was an urgent call. We didn't know where/why. After doing a bit of concrete work, the house went up for sale and sold in a month.

We didn't feel we were getting answers as to where to go. Hubby does computer contract work from home, so that gave us some freedom. We began thinking what would our goals be if this was something we had desired. Well, I still had two teen daughters in school and they were dancing ballroom six days a week. It would be nice to be within an hour or so of that so they could still dance on occasion. Would be nice to have some land, to be out of debt, etc. Each time we looked, we ended about 1 1/2 hours south of our suburban home. The "dream" home was out of reach financially. Instead we opted for a double-wide on 40 acres with some woods, small pond, creek, and hay field. The home leaves much to be desired, but we should be all paid off in about 5-6 months. Woohoo! That leaves a small Jeep loan and school for the girls. We are now having to pay for an apartment near our old home for the girls to go to college. Ugh.

Over the past two years, we have struggled, but seeing an end in sight re financial obligations is refreshing and exciting. While I feel like I am camping in this home, it is soon to be ours. We left a basement and now food storage is lining the walls of the living room, bedrooms, behind/under beds too, behind books on the shelves, floor to ceiling in all the closets. But... we have it. Now our dreams are to have the economy hold out long enough to actually build a permanent off-grid home. We hope to do this over time without going into debt ever again.

We have had chickens and guineas for the two years we are here. They have been a delight. Yes, even the noisy guineas have been a delight:) We now have 27 new chicks under a lamp in my kitchen waiting to fill in gaps in the flock. It would seem that my romantic notions of having the birds free-range is coming to a close. The coyotes here are atrocious and brazen. I've looked out the window to see them in the yard stalking the girls. We have two Shepherd-mix dogs, but they are inside/outside and appear to be quite clueless. Doing it again, I would have purchased a stock/guardian dog. We have plans to build a large chicken yard, but due to a swampy, snow-filled yard, it may take us a few weeks.

We have a large, fenced garden area and have decided it would better serve us if it was in raised beds. We purchased several pallets of landscape timbers last fall and are slowly building the new beds. We've built six large berry beds and are anxious to fill them with bushes this year. We, like much of the country, had a terrible drought last year. However, we found that we live in a sort of swampy area when it does rain and it could remain wet for several days after. Ugh. We are hoping to learn how to better use that water as it runs off the hill. We bought a large hoop-house off Craigslist. Hoping to learn to utilize that.

Plans for an orchard keep getting put on hold. The drought last year was one reason. However, I am purchasing all the pieces to start bees. I was hoping to get bees this spring, but I may need to go help an out-of-state aunt for a few weeks this spring (unsure dates) and can't be sure I'd be here when the bees arrive. So, bee hives and such this year and bees next. :(

We are starting to fence - expensive. We hope to have a handful of cows and a couple goats and rabbits down the road.

Others may find that they have the knowledge, finances and time to be up and running more quickly. For us, the Lord knew we would be slow I think. However, preparedness is "the" main financial goal of our lives. Since living so far out now, fancy restaurants, shopping and a perfect home is a thing of the past. But, we are happy and hope to have time/resources to achieve our goals. I pray often that Heavenly Father will put folks in our path that can either teach or help us in our goals. We are currently in the most expensive years of our lives with paying off the home, college and providing for housing for our girls. But, we can see an end in sight and that is exciting.

We wish we would have been more awake and made a move such as this ten years ago. We love the tiny branch here. We love having only two neighbors that we can see (although we wish we had more land and 0 neighbors now that we've been out for a while.) We love the privacy. We were worried about our children coming here. There have been challenges, but they both now say they intend on living in the country when they have families of their own. While they still and currently do enjoy city life, they know it's a temporary thing for them.

I thank the Lord every day for bringing us to this "imperfect" place and hope that we can make it home.

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gclayjr
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Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by gclayjr »

mes5464,

I dont't think I could have lasted a year and a half. I try to manage my money well, but I have not been able to get completely out of debt. I love living in the country, even though I only have a couple of acres (in Pennsylvania). I am inspired by your positive attitude and wish you the best,

Regards,

George Clay

RaVaN
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Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by RaVaN »

@Charley

I see you all are like us, step by step, you see it getting done. It is an odd thing to see someone echo the thoughts that I have on a day to day basis too with the economy. Over the past few years, there have been a few times I have prayed, "O lord, please one more year". Even now, I still think we need about 2-4 years to truly be where we want to be.

The joy of work of your own hand is a great thing, and something I never expected. It is a very great thing to finish your days work, and see all that has been done, and know you have earned your nights sleep. And when you are cooking a meal, and breaking out the foodstuffs you have stored, thinking it is a strange thing that the seed put into the earth by you is now what you are eating. The same goes for the chicks we have raised who have produced broods of their own now. It is a greater joy and excitement than anything I have done...and I have done a lot. Growing your own food too, has now become the best return for money invested. For $100-200 dollars we receive $3000 or more (depending on if you figure eating cucumbers at $1 apiece or not...if you do it's much, much more) in foodstuffs with 20 hour initial time investment and 4 hours a week +harvest/processing time.
That is actually a real piece of advice for anyone thinking about gardening. You have to plan well and be faithful to that plan. If you do not spend that 4 hours a week weeding and upkeep of a garden, you will never catch up to what needs to be done. A great book on gardening is:

Joy of Gardening by Dick Raymond

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/joy-of- ... 0882663197

He really demonstrates effective gardening techniques. Just add well composted manure instead of fertilizer. My copy is so worn now that pages are starting to fall out.

I have tried the raised beds for certain things, just never was very effective due to our weather and soil unless you plan on doing the watering yourself. Even in the drought last year, proper garden placement worked better than the raised beds without watering. Basically was a matter of reading the flow of water in the ground and placing the garden there. Otherwise you spend a lot of time worrying about the rain. It was strange though, the top of the soil was just sandy dust for 2 inches, but below that due to natural water flow the soil was damp and it stays that way whether dry or wet during the years.

Orchard plans for us has continually been buy 2-6 trees/shrubs/plants each Spring, if they survive we get more. In our area it is all based on winter hardiness.

One thing about a fence though, make sure you plan your fence according to the animals you have in mind and do not scrimp. There are a lot of various fencing and buying cheap WILL cost more in the end. For us, we bought Pygoras which are a pygmy/angora mix and a new breed. Since they are smaller than full sized goats we were able to have a much shorter and cheaper fence than if we had gotten a larger breed. This also allowed for us to get a fence that not only keeps the goats and chickens in but the predators out as long as you check the fence regularly for repairs. Our dog even before we put the fence up we made sure to walk it as a puppy every day around where the fence was going to be. It knows what things should and should not be within that patrol area. This allows us to be warned when something is out there and to remove that threat. It is odd that until I had animals that I hold a stewardship over, I had a live and let live policy towards predators. That changed rapidly once I lost a few guineas. I am a firm believer that with the animals you hold stewardship over, it is your duty to give those animals the best life you can and to protect them fiercely, so I now have a zero tolerance policy towards predators whether wild or domestic.

Anyhow, I loved reading about your journey. Anything worthwhile is work to achieve, but that doesn't mean there isn't great joy in it.

Probably the greatest advice for others thinking of doing things is do it in steps and listen to God to what those steps should be. I have seen quite a few with knowledge, finances, and time fail to succeed at this because they tried to do it all at once without direction from God beyond prepare, prepare, prepare. They swiftly lost hope and became some of the greater mockers of what me and my Companion are working towards because they tried and failed. Listening to God is just the first step, executing the plan according to his wisdom is the next which requires doing it according to His will rather than what You want. This isn't to say there won't be hardships, because there will be and people need to realize that to begin with. They can be overcome with God's help.

Charley
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Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by Charley »

RaVaN, Likewise, it is nice to hear of others trying to move to self-sufficiency. Consider coming to SE, KS and we'll be neighbors. How I would love like-minded neighbors:)

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uglypitbull
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Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by uglypitbull »

and there just happens to be an article on this topic in this months Ensign.

Living the Principles of Self-Reliance

http://www.lds.org/ensign/2013/03/livin ... e?lang=eng" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

bbrown
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Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by bbrown »

I haven't read all the new responses, but just wanted to add really quick a bit of inspiration I had last night when thinking about these things. Here, people are always moaning about not being able to grow things they can in UT, ID, etc because of our weather (boatloads of rain that affects the soil in many ways, and a short growing season with mild temperatures). They spend countless hours and do tons of extra work trying to make these things grow. They are sometimes very successful with determination and lots of effort. The inspiration was, that we needed to figure out what it is that grows here almost spontaneously and put our energies and efforts there. That our time would be better spent learning to enjoy what grows well here, and learning how to preserve, prepare, cultivate, etc THOSE things, instead of spending lots of time and energy year after year trying to grow those things that are difficult to grow here but we currently consider staples. So, basically, we change our eating to match our production instead of changing our production to match our eating. It may or may not help some of you to think about it this way, but I thought I'd post that this thread helped me gain this insight...

CB

RaVaN
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Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by RaVaN »

@Charley

That isn't an option due to the land I am on is where I need to be until God says otherwise, and according to family history that this area will always be a refuge for our family. The sad thing though, is that the majority of my neighbors do believe as I do in what is coming, yet do not prepare. I spend a goodly portion of time trying to get people to just start a garden even to the point of offering them time and resources to do so and yet they do not. It just baffles me to see people who know what is coming, yet do not prepare like they know they should. They like to talk, but when it comes to the work so many excuses get thrown up on why they can't do the work. Some of these people have known for 30 years due to prophetic visions of what was coming. I keep thinking to myself, "HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE!" When God spoke, I listened and continued to listen and act. Just makes me shake my head and be concerned for what will happen.

@uglypitbull

That is a fine article, and echos a lot of my own thoughts and things I have said to nay-sayers about the subject who think that people who prepare are just getting caught up in fearmongering. The fact is, calamities occur and it is our duty to prepare, not just to provide for our families but to be able to aid those around us. It isn't about selfishly look to saves one own skin but to help those in need around us, as much as we are able. A blessing rather than a burden.

@bbrown

That is a great post! It is something we do as well in our preparation. As well, it is good to know what your resources are in the area and how earlier pioneers did things in your specific area that was successful. Examples would be what trees are native and what did early settlers use the various trees for. The same goes for what to grow for foodstuffs. I have been guilty of trying to make things work...a prime example being sorghum when I planted it fully knowing we lived above the sorghum line. Anyhow, thanks for sharing that!

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uglypitbull
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Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by uglypitbull »

RaVaN wrote:
@uglypitbull

That is a fine article, and echos a lot of my own thoughts and things I have said to nay-sayers about the subject who think that people who prepare are just getting caught up in fearmongering. The fact is, calamities occur and it is our duty to prepare, not just to provide for our families but to be able to aid those around us. It isn't about selfishly look to saves one own skin but to help those in need around us, as much as we are able. A blessing rather than a burden.
Agreed, because the alternative to being a prepared person, is being a burden on someone else. I always think about it like this...I never want to stare into my starving kids eyes and explain to them that they are hungry because of me.

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dlbww
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Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

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Sheol27
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Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by Sheol27 »

I'm looking for a place in Utah County that has a half of an acre to an acre. It would be nice to get at least a baby farm going. (Chickens, fruit trees, and a garden) How much area do chickens need to free range?

singyourwayhome
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Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by singyourwayhome »

Sheol27 wrote:I'm looking for a place in Utah County that has a half of an acre to an acre. It would be nice to get at least a baby farm going. (Chickens, fruit trees, and a garden) How much area do chickens need to free range?
Depends how many bugs and plants are on your property. With the snail and spider problem we'd had, along with the accidental full access to our garden, our 9 chickens required nearly no 'chicken feed' last summer, and we're on less than 1/3 of an acre. Winters in Utah are going to require supplemental feeding, no matter the lot size.

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dlbww
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Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

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dlbww
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ndjili
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Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by ndjili »

I live on a little less than a quarter of an acre but it's amazing what can be done even on a small suburban lot, especially when moving to a larger lot is not an option. A few years ago I discovered espalier trees. This has been a blessing. We do have 2 large apple trees and 1 large plum tree, and all my neighbors know to call me when they have extra fruit on their trees...ad recently we've added 2 nectarine and 1 peach tree. The rest of the fruit trees will all be espalier, we currently have pears but I would like to add some apple espalier trees. I was able to fit a small strawberry patch in some pots in one corner, A blackberry near a fence that I grow vertically and one raised bed full of raspberries. I discovered that the peppers here love growing in pots, but the tomatoes don't. We've hidden herbs in flowerbeds and grow them in our windowsills...potted veggies are all over our deck and we even have a decent sized garden. We're planning to add chickens this summer. Lots of land sounds idyllic, but you can still work on self sufficiency in the suburbs.

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dlbww
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dlbww
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Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

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Last edited by dlbww on September 26th, 2015, 10:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

RaVaN
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Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

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I am doing the whole shiitake mushroom thing right now myself as an experiment. I put the plugs in stumps and logs in various places to see what will end up working best. This was back in May. You can see them spreading currently in some places. With the stumps, I cut the top off the stump and placed that top back on the stump in such a way that rain will drop onto the stump and that seems to work better than leaving the stump exposed to the sun...only did that with just one but I am wishing now I had done it with all of the stumps when I compare the growth. I did 1000 plugs since I had cleared around my garden of 40-60 randomly sized trees last year. I cut the top off the stumps since to some degree they were inoculated with wild mushroom spawn.

In other news, it's been a good year and bad year so far. The caterpillars and cutworms have just been death. I lost over 150 plants to cutworms and personally dispatched 300+ cutworms...but since I always have tons of spare plants it wasn't an issue until now, where I am going on faith now that what is in the garden will do will. The biggest issue with the cutworms was just not getting enough ash to put in the garden.
We are not going to get much fruit this year due to the late winter that really dropped the pollinator populations. There just weren't enough bees to do the job and what did get pollinated was lost in the "June Drop"...which is something that I just learned about since it happened for the first time...BUT THE PEARS SURVIVED!!! So we added 3 more.
Basically, we are a full month late garden wise, but we have been blessed to have reached fresh peas(well, we will since they are close) in June and the corn is knee-high by the fourth of July as of today.

We were blessed with an increase of our herd(by 1 doe) and experienced the horror that is dehorning firsthand twice. It's a terrible thing to have to do, DO IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME! We waited to long to shear, and now know when the proper time to do it is. Really been a big learning experience and we exhibited typical new herd owner failures...SO next year for sure!

Our flock has been very blessed this year with one broody hen hatching out 8 little chicks and another still sitting that should hatch out within the week. We lost a few due to various reasons over the past two years so it would be nice to push our flock back up to 40.

I am still behind on a lot of projects since new ones have cropped up continually that have priority but things are getting done. It has been a busy Spring and Summer seems like it will be the same. Anyhow, still constantly amazes me on some of the blessings God gives. I did not expect the new chicks, and the hen that hatched out her brood just out of the blue decided to hatch some out...in about 18-19 days...which is pretty fast and that 8/10 eggs hatched.

Our spring tonic of Burdock was good and we felt pretty great during the week of taking it. We have now moved on to trying to poison ourselves with a Dandelion root tonic that is about the most bitter thing I have ever had the misfortune to drink...even with the added honey...works though in terms of having a feeling of general well-being as well as took away the feelings of arthritis I had been feeling in two fingers.

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dlbww
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Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

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Last edited by dlbww on October 2nd, 2015, 12:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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dlbww
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Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

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Last edited by dlbww on September 26th, 2015, 10:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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