Official Poll: What are the products that you make/produce at home?

[flowerbug]

make our own fertilzer via worm composting of all food and paper scraps.

 

[Mini Horses]

See you are checking out all the old threads. Lot of info in them!

I do occasional feeder pig for meat, chickens for eggs & meat (+sell eggs), goats for milk (occasional meat)...and I make butter, yogurt, cheese, kefir,& soap; have plum & apple trees, wild blackberries & elderberries, garden some. Gardening plans for a larger plant this year -- if weather & work allows. Didn't last Spring ..RAIN!!!!!

Goats, chickens & a garden....you have a complete & varied food source. I can, freeze, dehydrate & store winter hardy items.

 

[flowerbug]

See you are checking out all the old threads. Lot of info in them!

I do occasional feeder pig for meat, chickens for eggs & meat (+sell eggs), goats for milk (occasional meat)...and I make butter, yogurt, cheese, kefir,& soap; have plum & apple trees, wild blackberries & elderberries, garden some. Gardening plans for a larger plant this year -- if weather & work allows. Didn't last Spring ..RAIN!!!!!

Goats, chickens & a garden....you have a complete & varied food source. I can, freeze, dehydrate & store winter hardy items.

yes, kinda wandering around checking out what people have said. fun reading.

with all the rain we had here too i'm surprised by how well it came out for us this year. some plants didn't like it but overall we did pretty well. a lot of people gave up on their gardens this year and planted several times. we only planted the once for the main crops and i had to poke a few beans in here or there because of germination problems but that wasn't a problem with the weather as much as that some of the seeds were old and i was hoping they'd work anyways.

with the clay we have and also flash flood potential some of the gardens are raised up so that they drain well. turned out to be really good thing this year.

the thing i was most surprised by was the garlic. i expected it to be really not that good from all the rain, but after i lifted it and cured it the condition was good to excellent.

 

[milkmansdaughter]

@flowerbug , we make our own compost and fertilizer and worm beds too. The year before last, we found an ad advertising free 2 year old hay. It was over 30 of the big round bales, some already starting to break down. We brought back every bale he had and used it all over the property. I made sure that it had not been sprayed with an herbicide. That stuff really brought in the worms! We've been working for the past 3 years to increase the number of worms here on the property.
We've lived here for 3 years. When we got here, the property had been sitting vacant for several years, but already had 2 pear and 1 apple trees, 2 black walnut and multiple pecan trees, some VERY old and overgrown grape vines on old rotted trellisses, garlic, and lots of clover and flowers. We've since planted about a dozen more fruit trees, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, rhubarb, mint, asparagus, kiwi, more flowering plants, bee balm, and lemon balm, trying to add a few more plants every year. We've converted a large area of grass into a garden, added free range chickens and now ducks.
Eventually, we hope to add bees, sheep, and possibly rabbits, turkeys, or an oçassional winter pig (pigs are not currently legal where we live). We're working with someone my husband knows to see if we can raise a few head of beef (or pigs) on his land. We enjoy fishing. We hope to add our own mushrooms. I've grown them before.
With everything that was already here before we arrived, we are years ahead of where we had hoped to be by this time. I feel like God was preparing this property for us before we were even born!
I've made my own toothpaste and laundry soap in the past, and have done a few things with essential oils. But we have a friend who makes all that so I get them from her.
I've made homemade butter, yogurt, and cheese in the past but I dont have a source for raw milk right now. I hope to do that again when we get sheep.
I had a sourdough starter for years when we lived elsewhere, and keep thinking I'll get some started again here. I haven't done so yet. I occasionally make my own bread, but we don't eat a lot of bread now.
We're always busy with something around here... Always hoping to learn and implement more.

 

[milkmansdaughter]

Oh, I forgot to add sewing to the list. I've been sewing more again too.

 

[flowerbug]

there is always plenty to do! so great when you can get free or nearly free organic material. 30 round bales!!! oh my!

 

[Lazy Gardener]

My biggest money saver is dump scavenging. Correction: shopping at the town mall! I bring back books, dimensional lumber of all sorts, some of it NEW!, windows, doors, and any other materials I can repurpose. Furniture. I once brought home a Moosehead night stand that had been tossed on the burn pile b/c it had a tiny cigarette burn on the top. (refrigerator shelving is a great resource: tempered glass for cold frames, metal shelves can be zip tied together to section off part of coop for broody area.) And wood chips, stable litter, compost: both rough and finished.

On the home front: I've planted a small orchard apricot, plum, juneberry, elderberry, pear, apple (have grafted 2 trees, and intend to do more next spring), grapes, raspberries, strawberries, rhubarb, asparagus. Most of the trees are just now getting to the age of bearing fruit. I have a prolific garden and HK mound, planted some veggies in my flower bed this summer. Have added wine cap mushrooms to orchard and BTE garden. I can produce from my garden as well as apples donated by friends. Keep a flock of chickens for eggs, and some meat. Hope to add some ducks in the spring, while decreasing chicken flock size.

I love building projects. Have made 2 story CP coop, 2 tractors, a 8' x 8' CP high tunnel, stone retaining wall. Love doing tile work. Built 2 incubators. Currently building 4 RBs for the garden.

I make a plantain/Jewel weed/sage salve that is helpful for all skin conditions, but is advertised for treating poison ivy rash. Expanding my herb garden, and hope to make more skin products next summer.

We use very little pre-packaged/processed foods. And I hope to move further in this direction. Made a pot of dog food last week.

We burn wood.

I make laundry detergent, and have been making my own dish washer soap. Make some kitchen cleaning products. Hope to use some herbs to develop scented cleaning products.

On the bucket list: rag rugs, basket weaving.

 

[flowerbug]

@Lazy Gardener have you tried doing anything with purselane yet? it is edible but also seems to be goopy enough to be interesting to try (like aloe perhaps). i've not done anything with it other than eating some of it or mostly just using it as worm food (weeding and burying).

 

[Lazy Gardener]

While purslane is a common garden weed, interestingly enough, I've only seen a couple of those in the last 40+ years I've been farming here! I have lots of Lamb's Quarters, and regularly add those to my salads.

 

[flowerbug]

While purslane is a common garden weed, interestingly enough, I've only seen a couple of those in the last 40+ years I've been farming here! I have lots of Lamb's Quarters, and regularly add those to my salads.

lifetime supply here! i can get rid of it if i want, but i keep leaving a few plants here or there so it will regrow... i wish the more decorative cousins/relatives would do as well so we didn't have to buy them again.