Congratulations!!

And make sure you share some pictures of your new adventures fixing stuff up and making it into your new home

What fun - no matter how much hard work!! And, you need to start your chickens now so that they will be laying this summer... just get the babies and throw them in the bathtub and let them live there for a few weeks and then move them to a plastic kids pool in the kitchen... or at least, that is what I did :taped: Will give you added incentive to get the coop ready before they start flying around the house!

 

Congrats to you. . Pics, so we can live vicariously through you?

 

^ This.

Congrats and best wishes to you on your new venture.

 

Congradulations! The wife and I just moved onto a farm ourselves, get a roof set up and park a tractor under it! How many acres?

 

Very cool! We definitely want to see some pictures!

Get yourself a nice setup for composting and you'll have a great garden in future years. See if there's anyone nearby you can get some manure from. You could even put up a makeshift fence around the future garden, put all your compost stuff on there, and let the chickens have at it!

 

Awesome!!! 12 more years for me. Once my youngest son is 18 its to the woods for me

 

Congratulations to you and your family. Ditto on the pictures/updates.

 

Congrats.

There are 2 manual pumps (Bison & Simple Pump) that will run in tandem with your electric.

I have 2 friends that have Simple Pumps. I had a quote done by SP for about $1500 + install.

http://www.simplepump.com/

http://bisonpumps.com/

Still need to get a quote from them.

Both are deep well pumps but not quite living in the rocky mountains deep.

We have 2 forest fires going on here and yesterday the power went out at the house. Thought to myself - I really need that generator and well pump.
Heck a cattle pond and a gas powered trash pump would be good insurance.

 

Good luck. Now the work REALLY begins!

 

I second the motion of RandiTS's to get those chickens soon! You want them laying by summer/fall. My set up is just one of those huge plastic tubs that you store stuff in with some shavings in the bottom. I use a bit of left over hardware cloth bent over the top and set the lamp on it to keep the chicks warm. Once they are bigger I put them in the garage in a pen that I built out of screen doors, with a tarp on the floor and shavings spread around then a lamp clipped to the top of it for warmth. Since you have a coop already then you may just be able to put them out there once they have their feathers in without the step I took of putting them in the garage. I have a flock already and add more every year. I have to do the garage thing till they are almost full grown because need them to be able to defend themselves during introductions of the new ones.

I also need to work on getting a manual pump for my place in case of power outage too. I will be looking into the ones listed above myself.

 

Congratulations! Feels good to finally be in a place where you can homestead, doesn't it? We just finally moved into our new house around Christmas.

Hope you post pictures of your various projects!

 

This is great, good luck

 

Hip Hip Hooray for Homesteaders !!!!!

in time you will wonder how you ever lived before you went to the farm.

when we came to our 23 acres, we had jack squat on it
no water, sceptic, etc etc
lived in a 5th wheel for 2 years while we built our own house ourselves
it is GREAT to be free
CONGRATS

 

Awesome!

I would next get a chain saw and an old farm tractor first thing. You could fell trees, then drag them into place to frame up your raised beds. After a few years they will rot and you can just get more logs to place around the ones that are already there, and you'll be doing a kind of hugelkulture. At least that is what I'm going to do. I will probably do this with tall mounds of earth on top of logs.

You could also use big rocks as a border.

For your well pump, find out how many volts it is, and how many amps it draws. Volts x Amps = watts. Figure it will draw double amps on the startup surge. This will give you an idea of how many watts you need for a generator, or solar power. The pump can be 120 or 240 volt so keep that in mind.

If you know how deep the pump is, you might be able to guesstimate. If its not too deep you may be able to pull it and replace it with one of those Grundfos DC low power pumps which can run off the grid, or a generator, or solar panels.

...when we came to our 23 acres, we had jack squat on it
no water, sceptic, etc etc
lived in a 5th wheel for 2 years while we built our own house ourselves
it is GREAT to be free
CONGRATS

Pretty much what I'm doing now! :thumb:

 

Photos ?

A - "Green Acre's" pose is nice --

 

Congratulations!

 

Congrats, they're a lot of work( especially with goats) but worth every bit of it....lol

 

Thank you all so much for the good wishes and helpful suggestions. It really is a great help.

Well, I have been rather busy here, Still unpacking. Getting prepped for the wood stove, which I purchased over the weekend. (Just in time.)

(FWIW: Laws are changing and you will want start sweeping your own chimney as old stoves will NOT be grandfathered in by the EPA. Sweeps will be required to become mandated "environmental" reporters with their work record audited by the IRS and cross-checked with their EPA submissions.)

I lost a couple of workers for the farm, so it will be just me doing the homesteading. No, I will not elaborate on that further.

I still have my day job so that is a balancing act.

Been too busy to post pics, but I will try soon. Here are some particulars for the curious, but not enough to identify me. Over 10 acres. House is relativity new, built in the last five years. Pasture is fenced and I am on a dead-end gravel road. My well is VERY deep and dug and sized for watering cattle, not just supplying a house. The pump is located more than 150 feet below the static water line, and is still at less than half the depth of the well; 20+ GPM. The house is over-built with a septic system designed for 12 people, not my little and shrinking clan. The woods are hardwood, mostly oak, hickory and walnut. There is a great deal of surface water on nearby properties and some wet weather creeks that run through my land.

I only have three neighbors and their plots are all a bit larger than mine. They are all wonderful people who are all homesteaders as well.

The house itself is a large, rambling, single-story farmhouse. It has a great front and back porch, which have utterly different views. One looks into the forest, the other into the open space and sky of the pasture. Large rooms and and way too many of them as it is.

I need to build a shop and a couple of greenhouses. Greenhouses are cheap, but the shop will have to wait for money. I also plan to put in a small orchard this fall.

Right now, it is all frozen and snow covered. But mud is coming.

Thank you to the previous posters who suggested the Simple Pump. I have looked at those before and was rather impressed. A backup generator will be needed as no electricity mean no water.

A lot of work.

 

Thank you all so much for the good wishes and helpful suggestions. It really is a great help.

Well, I have been rather busy here, Still unpacking. Getting prepped for the wood stove, which I purchased over the weekend. (Just in time.)

(FWIW: Laws are changing and you will want start sweeping your own chimney as old stoves will NOT be grandfathered in by the EPA. Sweeps will be required to become mandated "environmental" reporters with their work record audited by the IRS and cross-checked with their EPA submissions.)

Let me add my congratulations and good wishes to those you've already received from others here!

If things evolve as I've planned, I will be moving into my new cabin on my 28 acres in September or October of this year.

Regarding your comments about sweeping your own chimney: I will heat my cabin with a woodstove, and I want to be able to clean my own chimney WITHOUT climbing up on my roof. Is that what you are planning? If so, how will your stovepipe and chimney be configured to make that possible?

 

rpp - I'm waiting on the snow to melt at our place in WV so I can continue adding to our growing orchard. Have a few trees in the ground so far and will be adding more fruit trees. A local family has been taking out the pine trees I've marked for removal to use in their outdoor boiler and it is a win-win for both of us. Especially since this winter has been colder than the average! We are also putting in a 30x40' fenced in garden and planting lower maintenance crops like asparagus, garlic and such since we aren't there every day. Have a 12v DC pump on a timer to handle the watering from the rain catchment system which I can also top off from the well if need be.
So many projects so little time. I'm looking more and more forward to retirement so I have time to do the things I want to do rather than I have to do.

 

Wood stove installed today. Blower for it was unavailable and they will install it when they get one. I really like the store and the folks I bought the stove from. They were very considerate and professional.

The stove is going right now and I really like it. Being new, it cooked off some oil, finish and dust after it got hot. Still not fully hot, but the manual says the first three fires should be conservative and short so it is fine.

My brother really helped me with the move. I am taking him back this weekend. May God bless him.

Meanwhile, I will need to figure out what to do since in the next week or so I will not have much furniture and even less money. But that is next week, not today.

Busy, busy, busy.

 

Meanwhile, I will need to figure out what to do since in the next week or so I will not have much furniture and even less money. But that is next week, not today...

That is the right attitude. :thumb: Everything is relative, my friend, and it seems we don't always need what we think we need....

FWIW, it sounds like your living conditions are better than mine (living in a camper in the winter, no water due to the cold, etc), and probably a bunch of others here.

As long as my wife and kids are in good health, I can take anything. :

And SPRING IS HERE AT LAST!

 

Glad to hear you got your brother out to help! When I moved out of my mom's house, my brother was a huge help, too. I know nothing about electrical, and he helped hookup a washer and dryer for me (had to run a new outlet for them).

You could put an add on Craigslist that you're looking for a free couch. Or let friends know. The day I moved in, my sister's mother in law told me they had an old couch in their basement I was welcome to.

I hope you saved all those moving boxes! Use them to enlarge your garden, or even just in the compost pile. Have you ordered your chickens yet? I'll warn you, they are addictive. I started out with 6 hens three years ago. Now I have 100 pullets coming in two weeks

I'm envious over your 10 acres. I can't wait to see pictures when you're able!

 

Have you ordered your chickens yet? I'll warn you, they are addictive. I started out with 6 hens three years ago. Now I have 100 pullets coming in two weeks

I second that!! Chickens are very addictive. I think it is because you really can get so much from them. Eggs, meat, fertilizer for your garden....and something peaceful to sit and watch at the end of the day while they just scratch and "be chickens." They are really easy to take care of.

I started with 11......I now have........ummmm.......well IDK as I lost count but it is way more than 11.

 

Dropped my brother off at his place today. He lives a few hours away so the trip is essentially an all day thing.

He split a and stacked great deal of wood and I have two cords. At my suggestion, he also filled the back of my truck, about a half cord, for himself. It is all oak.

Got back near dark tonight. I will try to take some photos tomorrow, if I can find one of my cameras.

No chickens yet, but I have so much stuff I need to do.

Right now, though, I am very tired. I am here by myself and my motivation is lagging a bit. I feel like I am rattling around in my new, unexpectedly empty, house. I feel a bit sad. I will need a couple of days to rest, pull myself together and completely redevelop my plans with the change of situation.

So perhaps next weekend, I will be able to better start in earnest.

Thank you all for your encouragement.

 

If you are in need of a cat (or two or three or four) for company... I just may know someone who could hook you up :thumb:

Are you planning on planting any fruit trees this year?

 

Congrat's on the move , sounds like you have a great start !

 

RPP,

When you build your raised beds, you should try making raised hogelkulture beds. You put wood at the base of your raised garden and cover the wood with dirt. There are several different ways of doing it so I suggest you google it if you haven't already.

Hogelkulture is a form of permaculture. It allows little to no watering, even in arid environments.

From my understanding, as the wood slowly decomposes it becomes spongy and hold in water etc.

I hope to be moving to my new home next month. Michigan is still snow covered and cold, so my growing season hasn't even started this year.

Good luck on your new adventure! I hope to glean some inspiration from your posts in the near future!

Happy Homesteading!

 

Enthusiasm is a finite resource - don't burn out. Take time to regularly recheck priorities, weighing time/energy/money against outcome. Small steps and build up (though bulk buying can save money - if it doesn't work out you didn't save money). Even with lots of research it is still trial and error what will work in your exact situation, your style, local critters/challenges. Work on your daily routine to be efficient and get essentials done without extra effort - your irrigation plan seems wise. Planting tree saying $20 tree in $50 hole i.e. preparation and site location. Build the fences/pens before you buy the livestock.

Wishing you all the best!

 

Came home last night a one of the metal roof panels had come loose, secured only at the top. It was blowing in the wind.

So I have a 30 ft long, 3 ft wide knife flapping around on my roof with the wind blowing 20 gusting to 30. It had lifted up and twisted around my chimney, on the upwind side. So this metal sail, with a knife edge, is slapping my nice new stainless steel chimney and its supports, helped my moderate to high non-storm winds.

At least it was not raining.

I do not have a ladder to get up on the roof to cut it away or lock it down to minimize the damage. Plus the winds made that a challenge to begin with.

Neighbor helped and today he managed to get a couple of replacement panels. The right color! He also had the right ladder.

We cut off the damaged section and slid in the new panels, which fit perfectly. After that, we reseated, replaced or doubled every last screw on the roof to better anchor it. Then we added a couple of more laps of roof screws just for good measure. I think the roof is now much better secured than before.

The chimney itself was undamaged. However, one of the angle-bar supporting it had a minor kink. I was able to get the wood stove company to come out and inspect it. They straightened the bar and refreshed the caulk around the flashing. They also added their own sets of roof screws around the chimney at my request.

Such fun!

Total cost: About $175.

It is official. I HATE ladders.

But GREAT neighbors.

 

OMG your place sounds so much like ours! Mother Nature is really something to deal with. Hang in there, buddy!

Thankfully, spring is reaching northern Illinois and we're going to have a very productive weekend. We have to move the bull to the lower pasture, haul a ton or more of manure to compost, bury one calf and 4 turkeys that didn't survive the winter. The doors blew off our greenhouse and are attached by twisted hinges, can't use it till it's fixed, even if we have to improvise some kind of temporary doors. The snow has mostly melted off the raised garden beds and the big garden patch we turned over and improved last fall.

There is a bazillion things to do now that the weather has broken... and I couldn't be happier cuz it's our place! I'm going to be a happy and very dirty, tired, and sore, person tomorrow night. What a joy it is to work here, call me crazy. :upsidedown:

We still have a 12 turkeys, 18 chickens, 15 kitties, 5 ducks, a heifer, a bull, and a dog, 14 out of 15 trees in the orchard have survived, we still have pickles, peppers, and peaches and berries that we put up last year, we're soon to have our new and improved bigger garden, and me and my DH have each other. We are blessed going into our third year

Just hang in there, keep pluggin' away, it's all worth it! :thumb:

 

rpp, i'd love to send a message but it appears you haven't allowed that option. All the best from eastern Canada *waves

Be well, be blessed.

 

Thank you. I had to disable general access as I had apparently become a magnet for trolls. I will probably enable it again in a few months. Meanwhile, you can now send me PMs.