The Shift from Backyard to Homestead The beginning of our homestead journey started when we lived smack dab in the middle of town with a pretty big fenced in back yard. We decided to get some chickens and start a raised bed garden. The garden didn't grow anything, but we had 3 great little bantam chickens. A few months later we decided that while having 3 chickens was great, ...
livestock
Before You Buy Baby Chicks: 5 Essentials for New Chicken Owners
5 things you need to know before getting chickens It’s that time of year again. You walk into the local farm store for a bag of soil or that viral home decor item that you definitely need, and there it is: the chirping. Those stock tanks full of adorable baby chicks are the ultimate gateway drug to homesteading. Believe me, I’ve been there—I started with a very bougie ...
Heat wave on the farm
We've had a summer of mostly cool temperatures. So imagine it being almost September, a Monday of course and dealing with a heat wave on the farm. Heat waves are hard to deal with, but today has been extra. It's always constantly checking to see if the livestock is staying cool and that their waters are full. Hosing off hot pigs, pigs love getting hosed off with hot water, ...
7 BIG THINGS ACCOMPLISHED YEAR TWO ON OUR SMALL HOMESTEAD
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 ...
Losing livestock on the homestead
Homesteading isn't always as cute and dreamy as you'd envision it. There's hard work, invasion of privacy (ironically), and heartbreaking losses. We don't wear cutesy dresses and frolic in fields and spend our days petting goats. I actually bought a long flowy gingham dress because it was clearance and my tween thought it was hilarious. Then one day I was wearing it outside ...
8 big things accomplished year one on our small homestead
Year one homesteading on three acres As we embark on our 4th growing season on our homestead I thought it would be helpful to reflect on the projects we worked on in our first few years homesteading. We learned so many things our first year, and we really "hit the ground running" as soon as we could. It seems like we did so many things because we were breaking ground ...
Why don’t homesteaders use vets
One thing you don't realize when you bring home farm animals, is how much you'll have to vet them yourselves. You bring home some cute cuddly goats, and you're not thinking about checking their poop for parasites and worming them. You better believe that's what you're going to be doing though. You'll have to research and learn so many things, that you probably didn't want to ...
Common mistakes with meat chickens
We just butchered our first ever group of meat chickens, the process overall went pretty good, but there are definitely things that we will change next time. Here are some common mistakes with meat chickens. This year we had 37 cornish crosses that we raised in a chicken tractor for 10 weeks. We ended up with an average of 3-4 pound birds, so there's room for lots of ...
Is raising meat birds gross?
We have raised laying hens for the past 3 years, we're no strangers to the process. You place them in a brooder, it gets smelly and full of poop, you put them in a coop when they're old enough, that'll get smelly and full of even more poop. How much worse can meat chickens be, right? Is raising meat birds gross? It can't be as gross as they say, right? Is raising meat ...
Best DIY chicken coop ideas and materials to use
If you're thinking of building a DIY chicken coop but don't want to break the bank, there are several cost-effective options to consider. We're homesteaders on 3 acres, now we raise goats, pigs, rabbits, but it all started with chickens! They're the gateway animal for everyone's homestead. Here are some tips to help you build the best DIY chicken coop on a budget: Use ...
Winter is Coming
The busiest seasons on the homestead when you live in a place that actually has 4 seasons will always be spring and fall. Winter is coming, when you homestead that's just as scary of a phrase as it was in Game of Thrones. We might not have white walkers, but we do have a whole lot of stuff to get done before the snow starts flying. We did have snow flurries the other day, but ...