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Monday, December 12, 2016
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Homesteading Tools! Expected verses Actual
So with all that has been going on I have kind of gotten off track of keeping things together homestead wise. With working 2 jobs and the farm and the kids and just life in general happening I have gotten just mired down.
I realized this yesterday and just decided I needed to regroup and readjust where I am and what I need to get done....I have a lot of people ask me about tools and such we use on the homestead. We made a list years ago of things we would need. We have worked slowly on getting those items built up. We had a set limit of money we would spend on each item. As we find them for that price we buy them if we have the extra money.
Here is that list.
The first item is the item we needed. The first price is what we anticipated paying. The second price (if there is one) is the price we actually paid.
Green House $200
2 compost piles $50 $40
Chainsaw $100 $169*
Bone Saw $20 $5
Gardening Fence $200 FREE
I realized this yesterday and just decided I needed to regroup and readjust where I am and what I need to get done....I have a lot of people ask me about tools and such we use on the homestead. We made a list years ago of things we would need. We have worked slowly on getting those items built up. We had a set limit of money we would spend on each item. As we find them for that price we buy them if we have the extra money.
Here is that list.
The first item is the item we needed. The first price is what we anticipated paying. The second price (if there is one) is the price we actually paid.
Green House $200
2 compost piles $50 $40
Chainsaw $100 $169*
Bone Saw $20 $5
Gardening Fence $200 FREE
2 Plum Trees $60 $30
2 Apple Trees $60
2 Peach Trees $60 $12 (still need 1)
Good Barn $500
Bow Saw $20 $5
Horse Trailer $1000 $1400
Wood Stove $300 $65
Heirloom Seeds $100 $79
2 Spade Shovels $50 $6 (still need 1)
2 Regular Shovels $50 $6 (still need 1)
6 Quilts $500 decided to make on own
Tractor $3000
Tiller $300 $70 (auction)
Wheel Barrow $100 FREE
15 Rabbit Cages $300 $60
2 Freezers $300 $65 for one the other free
Hoe $25 FREE
Broad Fork $50
6 Oil Lamps $100
Cast Iron Cookware $100 $60*
Canning Jars/Lids continual cost per year
Welder $200 $50
Torch $50
Pressure Canner $150 $79
We overspent on the chainsaw. However, we did get a bigger one than we anticipated and I bought it for Morgan new for Christmas as a gift. I did use a coupon and it was on sale. We had figured we would have to buy a smaller used one so we came out ahead by spending the extra money and getting a larger new one for not much more money.
Morgan got me my cast iron set (I had many pans already but wanted to add to them) for Christmas the same year we got the Chainsaw. It was on sale the day after Thanksgiving.
The freezer at Church started frosting inside really badly. The church opted to buy a new one. They gave us the old one and we figured we would have to replace the seal. We unloaded it in the drive way where it had to set for 3 days until we could get it inside. This warmed the seal up enough that walla it went back into place and so we had to pay nothing for it.
We paid more for the horse trailer than we anticipated, however, we got a chance to buy a bigger one that was much newer than we had planned which would do us a lot better for just $400 more. We got this from a friend and were able to make payments on it.
The bone saw and other saw we got super cheap off of a Facebook group where a guy was selling out a bunch of stuff because he was moving out of the country.
The wood stove we bought off of a Facebook selling group. It wasn't the exact kind I wanted but it worked for what we need. In a few years, after we get a few other things bought up, I will purchase a new one when it goes on sale for the end of the season.
The rabbit cages came cheaply because we had some wire given to us and we bought some other wire on sale. It was MUCH cheaper than we had anticipated materials wise.
Heirloom seeds will be a constant, however, we won't have to buy the same kinds of seeds every year as we can harvest from what we grow. I do anticipate it costing us about $50 per year to add new things and such.
We add to this list as we find other things we might need and as we learn of things that would just make our homesteading life easier and better.
Hope this list inspires you to make one of your own and figure out what you need! Planning is definitely key to Homesteading.
2 Peach Trees $60 $12 (still need 1)
Good Barn $500
Bow Saw $20 $5
Horse Trailer $1000 $1400
Wood Stove $300 $65
Heirloom Seeds $100 $79
2 Spade Shovels $50 $6 (still need 1)
2 Regular Shovels $50 $6 (still need 1)
6 Quilts $500 decided to make on own
Tractor $3000
Tiller $300 $70 (auction)
Wheel Barrow $100 FREE
15 Rabbit Cages $300 $60
2 Freezers $300 $65 for one the other free
Hoe $25 FREE
Broad Fork $50
6 Oil Lamps $100
Cast Iron Cookware $100 $60*
Canning Jars/Lids continual cost per year
Welder $200 $50
Torch $50
Pressure Canner $150 $79
We overspent on the chainsaw. However, we did get a bigger one than we anticipated and I bought it for Morgan new for Christmas as a gift. I did use a coupon and it was on sale. We had figured we would have to buy a smaller used one so we came out ahead by spending the extra money and getting a larger new one for not much more money.
Morgan got me my cast iron set (I had many pans already but wanted to add to them) for Christmas the same year we got the Chainsaw. It was on sale the day after Thanksgiving.
The freezer at Church started frosting inside really badly. The church opted to buy a new one. They gave us the old one and we figured we would have to replace the seal. We unloaded it in the drive way where it had to set for 3 days until we could get it inside. This warmed the seal up enough that walla it went back into place and so we had to pay nothing for it.
We paid more for the horse trailer than we anticipated, however, we got a chance to buy a bigger one that was much newer than we had planned which would do us a lot better for just $400 more. We got this from a friend and were able to make payments on it.
The bone saw and other saw we got super cheap off of a Facebook group where a guy was selling out a bunch of stuff because he was moving out of the country.
The wood stove we bought off of a Facebook selling group. It wasn't the exact kind I wanted but it worked for what we need. In a few years, after we get a few other things bought up, I will purchase a new one when it goes on sale for the end of the season.
The rabbit cages came cheaply because we had some wire given to us and we bought some other wire on sale. It was MUCH cheaper than we had anticipated materials wise.
Heirloom seeds will be a constant, however, we won't have to buy the same kinds of seeds every year as we can harvest from what we grow. I do anticipate it costing us about $50 per year to add new things and such.
We add to this list as we find other things we might need and as we learn of things that would just make our homesteading life easier and better.
Hope this list inspires you to make one of your own and figure out what you need! Planning is definitely key to Homesteading.
Sunday, October 16, 2016
Bertha decided to bless us with the piglets a little after midnight on Friday night. Of course, she does this because I worked 15 hours and had just gotten home and laid down and needed to be up to go work the auction in just a few hours.
She had 3 adorable little ones. 2 guilts and 1 boar pig. Mama is doing a great job. She is a seasoned mom but when you weigh over 700 pounds its kind of hard not to lay on the little ones.
We will be keeping all 3 on the farm. The red and white one is the male. The final photo is mama. I tried to get into the pen to move those two bricks but Bertha wasn't having any of that.
Warning about the photo: cuteness overload
Monday, October 10, 2016
I'd done a lot of things different.
I have had an ongoing conversation with myself today about life. Life in general, life in reality, life in dreams.
How I anticipated, at the age of 15, what life would be like. How it was at 21 and how different I figured it would be. How 30 seemed to be the limit of how long I wanted to live. How life at 44 is certainly not as I planned it out to be.
The truth is that my life, today, is nothing like I had ever planned it to be. There were lots of chances I took that I look back and wonder "What was I thinking". There are lots of chances I didn't take and I have some regrets over the way things turned out.
My plans were much different in high school than they are now. I planned on being single, having a law degree, living in a big city, childless, and doing whatever I wanted to do when I wanted to do it. I was going to advocate for women and children.
In reality, I am not a lawyer, am married, have 3 children of my own, 2 step children, 3 grandchildren, and live on a farm.The only advocating I do is why bedtime needs to be 30 minutes earlier. I am not convincing a judge but rather trying to convince kids and grand-kids that they need more sleep. (For the record, convincing a judge would be much easier.)
I slop around in mud with pigs and goats who are trying to have little ones. I get dirt under my fingernails working in the garden. I mow my own yard. I try to cuddle with my chickens. I have a trailer house..a far cry from the large house I had planned.
When I look back at my life, although I do have regrets and often wonder where my dreams went, I cannot imagine life any different than the way it is right at this moment. I can't imagine waking up and getting in my truck without chickens under my feet waiting to see if I brought out a treat. I cannot imagine life without a baby goat in front of the wood stove in the winter. I cannot imagine life without noisy screaming pigs in the pasture waiting to see if they can have an extra bucket of feed. I cannot imagine life without my grand-kids calling my name.
I set tonight and wonder how many of my friends find their lives to be exactly what they TRULY wanted instead of what they THOUGHT they wanted.
Today I am so very thankful that God knew what I wanted and provided that over the dream I thought was perfect for me.
God's Grammar Rules:
1. Never put a period where God puts a comma.
2. Never put a comma where God puts a period!
Joanna Weaver
Monday, May 30, 2016
Homesteading Plans
Since my last post I have really been trying to decide
exactly where it is I want to go with things here on the homestead and how I
plan on getting there.
I decided to go with a 3 year plan with goals for each year.
Of course at the end of each year we will reassess and see if we need to be
going in another direction.
The store will be shut down July 30th. That means
I will have more free time to do things around the homestead that need to be
done.
While I am waiting on the store to close I am going room by
room and organizing and cleaning. I am getting rid of what we don’t wear, what
we don’t use, what we don’t need. This will make things simpler for me to just
move into the new role when the time gets here.
Here is what my three year plan looks like. This is just a
plan. We have often found ourselves blessed and able to move things from one
year to the next because items were given to us or we found them for
reasonable.
Year One
Pay off loans (all but vehicle loan and mortgage)
Raise a big enough garden that I am able to put at least 500
jars of home canned food away. This will include crushed tomatoes, stewed
tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, salsa, pickles, sand plum jelly, green beans, corn,
and black-eyed peas.
Keep track of what grows well and what doesn’t and in what
area it will be. This will help me to prepare for year two plans of what needs
to be added and what needs to be changed around.
Apply for grant for high tunnel.
Till second garden area in partially shaded area for lettuce
and items that don’t handle sun well.
Build two raised bed gardens for herbs and other edible
items that don’t need to be planted near the garden.
Reintroduce rabbits to the farm for extra income and meat.
Plant 3 fruit trees
Start saving for tractor
Only handmade gifts for Christmas (quilts, soaps, lotions,
things of that nature)
Year Two
Have at least 4 nanny goats and 1 male goat for breeding and
milk purposes. Sell all but 2 female babies.
Butcher 1 pig and 50 Cornish Cross chickens for freezer and
pressure canning to fill storage.
Apply for grant for bee hives.
Buy a Steer Calf for processing in year four
Use extra bedroom as seed starting room
Sell babies from all 3 female pigs for extra income
Attend farmers market to sell extra produce
Can at least 500 jars of food for storage and replenishing pantry
Pay off Vehicle loan
Build outdoor kitchen
Plant 3 fruit trees/bushes
Plant new garden area
Year Three
Put in solar panels
Buy a female cow (already raised) to allow for our own meat
production in later years.
Pay off mortgage
Replace windows in house and add on screened in porch to
ensure not using air conditioner
Buy a tractor (cash money only)
These are pretty basic goals and I realize that but homesteading is a pretty basic. It does take planning, time, and effort to be successful, What do your homestead plans look like? We are "new" to all this so I am sure there are things I have missed. This is a learning process for each of us and what works for one doesn't work for others. Here is to learning and figuring things out.
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
Getting Off Balance
Have you ever gotten out of bed one morning and thought how did I get here? Have you ever wondered how you manged to get so off balance that life was passing you by without you even realizing your dreams and hopes had been derailed somewhere down the line and you don't even remember when or where?
I woke up yesterday morning feeling that exact way. I looked around and wondered what the heck happened. I had a dream. Somewhere I lost it. So, I have searched my heart and mind the last 24 hours and tried to figure out where things went wayward. Truth be told I was never able to figure out exactly where they veered from the plan. I just know they did. They got lost in the shuffle. A shuffle I didn't even realize was happening.
So this morning, after some doctor's appointments and some rather unsettling news, I have decide to regroup and get back to where I intended to be. Refocus on the dream. Reestablish what the dream truly is, and make a plan to get back to where I need (and want) to be.
I think focus is a huge problem for so many of us because we are use to living in a time where so much has to be crammed into so little. We want small cell phones that act like huge computers. We want large houses that have small house payments. We want cars that interact with our cell phones, that drive themselves, that beep when we are about to hit something.
We want everything bigger. Better, More User friendly.
I remember a time when I left the house and never had to worry about someone calling me. In fact, I actually remember my mother turning off the ringer on the phone that hung on the wall. I remember setting outside drinking Kool-aid because we didn't have all the soda water, bottle water, iced coffee, energy drinks that we had now. In fact, you were pretty certain to remind your mother to get sugar for the Kool-aid at the store so you didn't have to drink it bitter.
I am not certain why I, personally, veered from a more simple lifestyle after my teen years. It wasn't an extreme simple. We bought groceries at the store, we had a new car, but we played outside, mom made my clothes, and things of that nature.
5 years ago I decided I wanted to go even more simple than the lifestyle of my growing up years. I worked hard at it and got our homestead started. This last year, I opened our resale shop in a town 30 miles away. Since then I have spent more time away from home, more money than I made, and haven't managed to get ahead at all.
Yes, the store has been fun. I have enjoyed meeting new people, learning, painting, and being away from home. BUT, I lost the dream I had 6 years ago. I was diagnosed with Diabetes, have had to start taking more medication (we started eating processed foods again and I am SURE that had something to do with it). Instead of getting a few pieces of furniture and redoing them at a time and selling them in the Facebook groups, at the trade days, or using them in my home, I opened a store. Now, after a year, I am in the process of having to reassess what I really wanted and I realize that I miss being home canning foods, working in the garden, blogging, cleaning, reading, researching plants, and doing all those things.
It wasn't a failure. Some people might feel that way. For me, it was a chance to meet new people, learn new things, and to help me realize what TRULY is important to me. I am thankful that I was able to have the store but I am also grateful that I know its time to go back to the simpler things. It will be several months before I close the store down as we have events that will be happening, however, it is in my plan to do so. I want to spend my summer working in the garden, canning, and doing those things that captivate my heart.
I am a planning kind of person so I will have to set down and write out all my goals and plans for the next couple of years. My plan is to share them here and really get back to the root of my heart.
When things happen and you realize that somehow, somewhere, you got off track just plow a new track back to where you want to be. Life is a journey not a destination. If stopping to learn something new isn't in the plan but happens, learn from it, appreciate it for what it is, and move forward with what your heart really desires.
Happy Homesteading!
I woke up yesterday morning feeling that exact way. I looked around and wondered what the heck happened. I had a dream. Somewhere I lost it. So, I have searched my heart and mind the last 24 hours and tried to figure out where things went wayward. Truth be told I was never able to figure out exactly where they veered from the plan. I just know they did. They got lost in the shuffle. A shuffle I didn't even realize was happening.
So this morning, after some doctor's appointments and some rather unsettling news, I have decide to regroup and get back to where I intended to be. Refocus on the dream. Reestablish what the dream truly is, and make a plan to get back to where I need (and want) to be.
I think focus is a huge problem for so many of us because we are use to living in a time where so much has to be crammed into so little. We want small cell phones that act like huge computers. We want large houses that have small house payments. We want cars that interact with our cell phones, that drive themselves, that beep when we are about to hit something.
We want everything bigger. Better, More User friendly.
I remember a time when I left the house and never had to worry about someone calling me. In fact, I actually remember my mother turning off the ringer on the phone that hung on the wall. I remember setting outside drinking Kool-aid because we didn't have all the soda water, bottle water, iced coffee, energy drinks that we had now. In fact, you were pretty certain to remind your mother to get sugar for the Kool-aid at the store so you didn't have to drink it bitter.
I am not certain why I, personally, veered from a more simple lifestyle after my teen years. It wasn't an extreme simple. We bought groceries at the store, we had a new car, but we played outside, mom made my clothes, and things of that nature.
5 years ago I decided I wanted to go even more simple than the lifestyle of my growing up years. I worked hard at it and got our homestead started. This last year, I opened our resale shop in a town 30 miles away. Since then I have spent more time away from home, more money than I made, and haven't managed to get ahead at all.
Yes, the store has been fun. I have enjoyed meeting new people, learning, painting, and being away from home. BUT, I lost the dream I had 6 years ago. I was diagnosed with Diabetes, have had to start taking more medication (we started eating processed foods again and I am SURE that had something to do with it). Instead of getting a few pieces of furniture and redoing them at a time and selling them in the Facebook groups, at the trade days, or using them in my home, I opened a store. Now, after a year, I am in the process of having to reassess what I really wanted and I realize that I miss being home canning foods, working in the garden, blogging, cleaning, reading, researching plants, and doing all those things.
It wasn't a failure. Some people might feel that way. For me, it was a chance to meet new people, learn new things, and to help me realize what TRULY is important to me. I am thankful that I was able to have the store but I am also grateful that I know its time to go back to the simpler things. It will be several months before I close the store down as we have events that will be happening, however, it is in my plan to do so. I want to spend my summer working in the garden, canning, and doing those things that captivate my heart.
I am a planning kind of person so I will have to set down and write out all my goals and plans for the next couple of years. My plan is to share them here and really get back to the root of my heart.
When things happen and you realize that somehow, somewhere, you got off track just plow a new track back to where you want to be. Life is a journey not a destination. If stopping to learn something new isn't in the plan but happens, learn from it, appreciate it for what it is, and move forward with what your heart really desires.
Happy Homesteading!
Monday, May 23, 2016
First Fruits Of The Gardening Season 2016
We got our first tomato off the vines! What an exciting time of the year!!
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