Our TWO ACRES into a self sufficient farm

[Farmfresh]

I agree. I homestead on just a tiny city lot. With that much space the sky is the limit!

 

[PamsPride]

I would get started on an orchard as soon as possible! We love fruit and they take a while to get started.
We are doing a little at a time. We have a nice little garden, chickens, and goats. We are getting bees and rabbits next!
We just keep adding more to our garden every year! I have a little less than 2 acres.

 

[Farmfresh]

AND nut trees! They take a LONG time to grow, but are worth the rewards in the end.

 

[ALANB.]

CJ PARKER ; I love Fresh-cold goats milk , and Ice cream . BUT my desire is to make goats milk Butter . I have tried without succese !! , even bought a new daisy churn , But it takes a week just for the cream to seperate . Advise me please , Thankyou .......... , ALANB.

 

[freemotion]

Do a search here and on byh, Alan. Lots on it, I'm sure.

We have a bit more than two acres, but are using about two acres. Part is swamp and an old metals dump and is not usable, although we have a few hardwoods out there if we ever need firewood in an emergency year.

I found out this year, after a gradual process, that there is a certain threshold when things can sort of come together and make sense. What I mean is this....our pasture, yard, gardens, poultry, goats, and pigs seem like one giant loop that intertwines and everything helps everything else to thrive.

There is almost no waste here at all anymore. All scraps are fed to someone, all waste is useful for something else. The chickens are amazing at turning the compost into the gardens in the fall, and doing so again in the spring until the gates are closed at planting time. The compost comes from all the animals, plus plant materials from my suburban neighbors, like lawn clippings and leaves. Some of this serves as mulch under plants and between rows in the gardens first, though.

The hens also turn the compost pile and speed up the process.

The pigs are in a part of the pasture that was not very productive.

I am now attempting to grow mushrooms in the unusable woods near the swampy part. I also pick leafy branches for the goats and have harvested green walnut husks and dried them for deworming along with other herbs.

Acorns are pig food. And goat food, if I can't get them picked up fast enough.

The front yard, far away from all animals, is gradually being overtaken by food-bearing gardens and foundation plantings.

Lawn clippings are dried on the driveway in the spring to save in sacks for supplementing the hen's diet in the winter.

I could go on and on, but my big advice is to really know your land and your native plants and use caution before ripping everything out....you may find a good use for it later and regret it. Leave plenty of shade trees for your animals.

I hope to plant peas and maybe oats in the spring where the pigs are now, and hopefully get a cutting of this for hay for the goats before the next batch of pigs arrives in late spring/early summer. If not, if the weather is too rainy or whatever, it will still be a rich pasture for the pigs.

See what I mean? This is a fraction of what we are doing, but take a good long look, and experiment, then work on permanent things like fencing and removal of trees and plants....do your research and set up your homestead to work with what is already there....if it is there, it is working. Don't fight it too hard.

Am I making sense? I think I need to go to bed now!

 

[ALANB.]

ELDERWOOD ; Forget the Cow !!! you can feed six Goats for what one cow will eat . I have lived on 2-1/2 Acres for 20 years , Have my own milk-Meat-eggs- Fruit and Veggies . You will find it to be "MUCH" more work than a regular job , But the challenge and end result are worth IT !!! .......... , Give me a HEY' . ALANB.

 

[justusnak]

Beef is WAY over rated! LOL Altho ask my hubby, and he would say...BEEF ROCKS! He loves a good steak. We have about 5 acres. 3 of that is in woods. We have 5 Ewes, 2 rams, 3 pygmy goats and raise pigs every year. We also have 3 coops...one is 12 x 30 which has 4 seperate pens for the large chickens. One of the other coops is about 12 x 15. It has 4 pens, for the Banty's. ( great for brooding eggs.) The last coop is about 6x6 and houses 5 turkeys. Oh, and the duck pen..with 4 Khaki Kambels...with thier own small "pond" We have apples, cherries, grapes, multiple types of berries and 2 gardens...and we STILL have to mow about 1 1/2 acres of grass. 2 acres is plenty for a family to be sustainable on. I am hopeing we will be getting Miniature cattle next summer. ( so hubby can have his steaks) I am looking to get a beef bull, and a milking heifer. Breed them, and share the milk with the calf...then seperate it off, and milk her for the summer. ( they only give just over a gallon a day) Then we will have the calf to butcher. We rotate pasture paddocks, to keep the animals on green pasture all summer. We also have a very small pond which we hope to make larger, and deeper for sustainable fishing. Good luck with your place....I just know before long you will be telling us all tales of your great adventures.

 

[Sunny]

Im watching this thread..

Right now Im waiting on a land owner.. They are considering doing a rent to own with us.. It has a run down mobile home on it.. And it is 2.71 acres.. This will come in quiet handy to read every ones replys.. Oh and it has two sheds also.. I see one being turned into a chicken coop..

But this is only if they decide to finance it..

Im dreaming.. But not holding my breath....

Im anxiously awaiting their decision on doing an OWC.. Im hoping it will be a yes.. I know that property has been for sale for at least 8 months..

Oh and to the OP.. I would get some mini cattle.. They are easier on the land.. And you still get beef and milk.. Less feed too..

 

[cjparker]

Alan B, I would love to advise you, but I am but a novice myself. From what I've read, making butter from goat's milk is quite a challenge, as goat's milk is naturally homogenized. From what I've read, only cow's milk separates like that, into cream and milk.

And Sunny, I've been seriously considered a Dexter mini for milk. I know somewhere between diddly and squat about cows, tho, so have to do a bunch more reading before I make a final decision.

We are blessed with a large (currently empty) farm pond that should be deep enough for trout. Not that I have ever been able to find a supplier for them...........

 

[ELDERWOODCA]

WoW, Thank you all so much! What a great response.

When I purchased my property it was just a friends horse pasture. It's shape like an axe with a 60ft wide drive at the main rd thats 200 ft long then opens to 180ft wide all the way down to the middle of COTTONWOOD creek 3 0r 400'. we had water january to june then it just runs under ground. our well is only 90ft but even in the worst of droughts we've had water. 7.0 ph. I had the well updated, added 2x 155gal bladder tanks a 5hp motor. I knew I would need water for growing and animals and us. I cleared the land with a D8 dozer when i bought this place and only have one oak for shade. My rock driveway is down the center of that 60'. So i have a 20' wide 200' long row on either side and the rest of the area my house is'nt siting.
we had chickens that we were going to let roam free, but our boardercollie and queensland had other ideas for meal plans.:/

I know theres hard work ahead, but thats why we moved to the country. we want to raise our daughter out here, population 140. I finished our RECYCLED HOME in 10months with my wifes help of corse.