Year two homesteading on three acres

Our first year on our homestead was definitely our foundational year. We bought a small bit of land with an old school house on it, started a garden, put together a makeshift chicken coop, and started our journey as homesteaders, you can read more about that here 8 things accomplished year one on our small homestead. In year two we added a lot more livestock, upgraded a lot of things and we learned some new skills. Plus, we had our 3rd daughter, because starting your homesteading journey is so much more interesting when you have an infant and a toddler only 14 months apart in age, right? Here’s what we accomplished in year two on our small homestead.

Impulsively adding goats

We technically got goats right after harvest season our first year. On the homestead we basically count years as growing seasons, so I’m going to say we got goats year 2. We got a breeding pair of Nigerian Dwarves, oh did we learn a lot with those two. The biggest thing we learned; we don’t like Nigerian Dwarves. They were an impulse purchase. I got AJ to agree to goats and found ome on Facebook that day, oops. They ended up beinga  great breeding pair and had quads, three does and a little buckling and they all thrived. We milked our doe, Seaweed, that summer and fall and loved having fresh goats milk. We also decided to start with Nubian goats. We brought home bottle babies Astrid and Twyla and a weaned buckling Apollo. Our Nubians are the absolute best and we adore them and their laid back nature, we don’t even mind that they yell “maaaaaa!” even more often than my toddlers. We did end up selling all of our Nigerian Dwarves, they were too mean to our Nubians and didn’t have a place on our homestead.

Adding KuneKune Pigs

Around the same time that we brought home our Nubians we brought home Kunekune piglets. These pigs are our breeding stock, and hopefully we’ll have babies this summer. Starting with young animals makes for such a long process. We love our KuneKunes, they love treats and that’s about it.

Learned to process venison

AJ has hunted most of his life, but he never knew how to process venison. With help from our neighbors he learned how to process venison. Our tween helps my husband get the deer back home and I help grind and package all of the meat. It makes for very long days, but there isn’t anything more rewarding than getting your own meat harvested and processed by your own hands. It’s one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve ever been a part of. Having a freezer full of meat is incredibly helpful too.

Upgraded our coop

We normally DIY everything, but I was very pregnant during our second growing season so we bought a chicken coop. Our updated chicken coop was actually an 8×8 foot shed complete with windows that open and close and doors that we can lock. We had it custom built and delivered by a local Mennonite shop and the quality can’t be beat, it’s absolutely amazing. We added an automatic coop door, nesting boxes and roosts and we have the perfect home for our flock.

Learned to pressure can

We learned to pressure can! This was a huge step in our journey to preserving as much food as possible. Our favorite thing to have on hand that we pressure can are green beans and homemade chicken stock.

Upgraded our barn

Adding more goats and pigs meant turning what was the chicken coop into a barn. It’s really a shack the size of a one car garage. We upcycled wooden shipping crates to make stalls. We also milled the pine trees that were growing into the power lines in front of our house and used some of that lumber to side the barn. Here’s the back of the barn, we have since fixed the lean-to.

Had our third daughter

We had our 3rd daughter during our second growing season. She’s such a joy, but she also refused to sleep. AJ and I were zombies dealing with no sleep, an infant, a toddler, a tween, the garden and the livestock. Our sanity and garden definitely suffered the most, we had so many weeds. Our garden needed maintenance so bad. It’s ok though, some seasons will lead to extra weeds, some seasons will lead to bountiful harvests, and eventually you’ll get the rest you need.

 

We expanded a ton in year 2, it was the year of livestock and learning how to e a family of 5. It was exhausting, and thrilling, and so rewarding. If you’re ever thinking that you’re bored in life maybe adding pigs, goats, and a third kid is for you, because there is definitely never a dull moment here.