Last year on my personal blog, I decided to put forth some questions I had, in order to see what sorts of responses I’d get from what we loosely term the homesteading community of bloggers.
There is a wealth of wisdom to be had of the firsthand sort. In much of the future planning Jack and I are doing, though we know our efforts will be honed and personalized, we also recognize that we’d like to avoid pitfalls, learn from folks with more experience than we have, and not try to re-invent the wheel.
At the time, I was very curious about the ins and outs of how homesteaders chose to raise their chickens. I had noticed on others’ blogs how differently each person did things, while noting some things many had in common. I wanted to know so many things…what was the favorite type of housing? breed? were they being raised for eggs, or meat, or both? And so on and so on. And so I posted a list of what I termed Homesteading Chicken Questions.
The questions were thrown out there for anyone to comment on, in part or in whole. I was unprepared for the number of excellent responses, and was fascinated by the wide difference of choices, preferences, and advice gained.
I’ve meant to propose other homesteading-related questions here at the NotDabbling site, and in thinking about that some more, I’d love to know if any of you have particular topics you’d love to see collective comments on?
The past “homesteading chicken questions” responses I mentioned added up to quite a lengthy comments section back then. For our purposes here, I’d like to direct them to an email address and post the answers the following week in a post here all its own.
There’s really no limitation to the feedback, if you’d like to participate. You don’t have to be an expert, and don’t have to answer all the questions. If you’d like to include your name or “handle” and your blog address, I’ll include it when I post the feedback/answers the following week. And by the term “homesteader,” I interpret that broadly and inclusively, of course.
Here are the two questions I’ll kick this off with — one for future reference, and one to be posted next week:
Question #1 — (Go ahead and post your answers to this one in comments, below, if you’d like)
What topic, and specific questions related to it, would you love to see other “homesteaders” share their opinions, preferences, and experiences about?
Question #2 — (Please email any input to this question to my email address, and I’ll collate them. My email is robbynonline@yahoo.com) Here’s what I’d love your input on for next week:
Whether you are a seasoned expert or a beginner, what was your original vision/plan for your homestead (home, garden, animals, profession), and as it unfolded, what is it now?
- Is there a bit of key advice you’d offer to someone just starting out…things to do, things to avoid, what you’d have done differently?
- What would you never do again?
- If you garden, what ended up being your most reliable crops over time?
- If you keep animals, which ones did you start with, and which ones do you have now and why?
- What are your continuing goals and some things you’d still like to add to the plan, or do you like it As Is?
- Do you have to rely on an off-property job for income, or do you rely on income made from your homestead efforts?
Maybe that’s enough of a list for now, but if you think of anything else you’d like to add, feel free!
I, like so many others, love this homesteading community of bloggers, and love seeing what does and doesn’t work for different ones of us. Some differences will be hinged to geographic location, others to personal preferences, financial situations, and so many other factors. I know Jack’s and my personal plan has worked out differently than we’d expected, and that we’ve fine-tuned several areas we initially would have invested more in, but are glad now we didn’t.
Getting back to the subject of the online homesteading community, don’t forget we have a great Yahoogroup going…check it out to commisserate with a lot of kindred spirits and get feedback on just about any related topic!
Also, if you have a homesteading subject near and dear to your heart, or something along those lines you think others would love to know or learn, feel free to drop me a line at the above email address to discuss contributing a prospective post here. We welcome guest writers, and love the momentum of collaboration.
I look forward to your input!
I’d like to hear different folks’ approaches to clean drinking water. Filters? Hand pumps? Windmills? Rely on city water? Distillation? how are you pumping it, if applicable?
There are a lot of victories posted about in the homesteading world but I’d like to hear more about the disasters. More realistic I guess? Unless everyone really is that wonderful… 🙂
I’d like to here about different homesteaders approaches to root cellars or other fresh preservation.
In ground or above ground?
Under the house with a way in from the house or a ways away from the house?
How did you “build” it? Dig it by hand? Backhoe? What did you do for a roof?
How do you store your foods in there?
And, in general any tips learned in the process of such a thing would be appreciated.
Thank you!
If you keep animals, which ones did you start with, and which ones do you have now and why?
We started with chickens which we still keep for meat, eggs, manure
We added sheep (meat, manure, weed eaters), then muscovy ducks (meat, forage clean up, pest control), then a llama (predator deterrent). We are happy with the number of animals, breeds etc.
All the animals have been added after careful consideration – but unfortunately not always after infrastructure was in place. Not a great situation but we’ve been lucky.
Disasters- none really. Bad year for lambing, but usually we do fine. Disasters usually come from no/bad planning, lack of money or time to do things right, overoptimism, greed. To avoid disasters talk to people who are doing what you want in your area, read a lot, join any groups working with things you are interested in. Ask lots of questions & start small.