Leigh

Why You Should Be Using Garden Prompts

October 26, 2023 by Leigh Leave a Comment

Whether you are a brand new gardener or you’ve been doing gardening for a few years, using garden prompts in a journal is extremely important. It doesn’t matter if you are a straight to the point garden journal-er, or someone who is more fanciful and elaborate. Journaling specifically for the garden is going to help you improve your garden year after year.

Who Is Using Garden Prompts

That entirely depends on the gardener. I’ve noticed that there are usually 4 types of gardeners: The Utilitarian, The New Gardener, The Fanciful Gardener, and The Chaotic Gardener….. One guess which one I am 🙂

The Utilitarian Gardener

This gardener KNOWS the importance of their garden, but at the end of the day, it’s a project, chore, or other responsibility. It’s a place were they go to plant, weed, grow and harvest. They are very proud of their garden but it’s not their heart and soul. They’ve probably been gardening for several years but the wanderlust of the garden isn’t lost on them.

This gardener is using garden prompts as part of a system to improve their gardens year after year. Their garden and garden journal is probably a spread sheet and is extremely organized. There are lists of where they bought seeds, if they saved seeds, what they pruned and experiments they are running.

The New Gardener

This gardener probably doesn’t even know they should be keeping a garden journal. This is their first or second garden and they aren’t exactly sure what they are doing or when they should be doing it. The entire garden is an experiment in growing food. They are are super excited and tell EVERYONE about their garden.

This gardener is also absolutely enthralled with the coming and goings in their garden. They are usually a Google machine because they are constantly looking up things like “Should I prune tomatoes?”, “Why does my zucchini leaves have spots?” and my favorite (from personal experience) “What do I do with all these beans?!”

But they don’t write anything down. By the end of their 4th or 5th garden, they are questioning their sanity because they KNOW they planted tomatillos but there are NONE in the garden. They finally figure out they should be keeping track of SOMETHING and start working on their journals grudgingly.

The Fanciful Gardener

The Fanciful Gardner is the one that has plants EVERYWHERE! In the bathroom, the kitchen, an old boot in the garden. Their beds are overflowing with flowers, herbs and vegetables. They have, or are working on, harvesting the power of soil.

This gardener’s garden is probably pretty wild just like them. Their garden journal is a tattered notebook that is filled with random tidbits, pressed flowers, and notes. There’s seed packets, garden plans, sketches, dreams and poems.

PS this is the gardener I want to be but alas…. that is not the case.

The Chaotic Gardener

This is the gardener that always starts with a plan but it is abandoned within 10 minutes of planting their garden. Everything is done in fits and starts because ADD/ADHD is real. Their use of garden prompts is more a checklist to ensure that they don’t forget to plant the tomatoes…. like they did last year.

They constantly ask themselves, “What did I plant here?” because they deviated from the plan so spectacularly, they put the wrong plants in the wrong garden. And labeling things? That’s for someone with time. Their June and July gardens look like an August garden because they totally overcommitted themselves with not just one garden, but three.

Using garden prompts for them is an insurance policy that they KNOW they have to pay in full, otherwise they will forget to make the payments. And yet, they still manage to miss the payment and now their garden is overgrown.

Which One Am I?

Well, I want to be The Utilitarian and The Fanciful. But the reality is that my brain doesn’t work on a wavelength that allows for either. In fact, as I was writing this blog post, I was trying to figure out where I fit in to these categories.

Where Do I Fit In?

I am no longer the new gardener that is absolutely clueless and growing food despite of myself. Though, I still grow food despite my best efforts at unintentional self sabotage, like NEVER hardening off my plant starts and then wondering why they died.

I am definitely not The Utilitarian Gardener. I have a very utilitarian journal that I update as the seasons pass but my go to journal would make The Fanciful Gardener proud.

I am more The Fanciful Gardener who plants things where ever I want, simply because I love them.

But at the end of the day, month or season? I am The Chaotic Gardener, meandering through the garden, hacking away at unsuspecting tomato plants while Jared gasps in horror. Pouring mulch on weeds that I am WAY to lazy to pull. I am constantly complaining about chickens getting in my gardens with no intention of actually getting them out of the garden.

I will never be one to keep up with labels, instead always being surprised when a zucchini plant turns into a patty pan squash. Or that time I could have sworn I planted watermelon only to realize WAY to late that it was ACTUALLY a pumpkin…. oh well.

Why I Use Garden Prompts

I started creating garden prompts as a way to reduce my stress and overwhelm in the garden. But as I started to use them more regularly, I realized that when I take my tattered notebook into the garden, I can write about whatever I want. There is no set thing that I HAVE to write about. As I look at past garden journals, I see how far I’ve come.

Are you getting overwhelmed in the garden? Stressed? Or just not enjoying the garden like you used to? Check out our garden prompts! We send out weekly emails that get you back in the garden and out of your head! Turn the garden back into a place of love and joy instead of frustration and headache!

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My first garden journals were an attempt at being something I’m not. Again, I am a Chaotic Gardener so trying to smash myself into the mold of being Utilitarian or Fanciful just isn’t going to work. But because I KNOW which gardener I am, I can use garden prompts as a way to keep me on track.

My garden journal and subsequent prompts are a mash up of homework, tasks and journal prompts. I’ve got over 600 prompts that I put into seasons to ensure I don’t get behind in the gardens. This allows me to track my gardens, plan my gardens and, most importantly, ENJOY my gardens.

Should You Be Using Garden Prompts

In short, yes. Everyone should have a garden journal. It doesn’t matter if it’s a spread sheet, notebook, old journal or a bunch of papers. You should always have a garden journal. You should absolutely have garden prompts that help guide you.

Like journal prompts for mental health, creative writing, or ANYTHING else. But you don’t have to use the prompts every day. You don’t have to write a garden journal entry every day. The prompts are simply a tool to help you enjoy your gardens while also allowing them to be the most productive.

Plus, who doesn’t want to gush about their garden to a captive audience.

Buying A Garden Prompt Subscription

Remember me telling you that I have over 600 garden prompts? Well, I created a garden prompt subscription that sends you weekly emails to help you if you are looking to be more intentional in the garden. When I tell you this saved my gardens as a semi New Gardener, I’m not lying!

I can’t tell you how many times I would forget to plant things or get overwhelmed with the sheer square footage of my garden and just start throwing seeds in beds. Yes, that happened. In my defense, I was OVER it that day. But as I grew my prompt list and started journaling, that stress and overwhelm subsided and I was able to enjoy my gardens again.

Creating Your Own Garden Journal Prompts

You can absolutely create your own garden journal prompts. In fact, I think it’s a great idea! My prompts are semi universal but also semi specific. While they can be used for anyone in any season, the reality is that those prompts aren’t specific to YOU and YOUR garden.

Be aware, it takes a LONG time to build up enough prompts to not repeat the same journal entry over and over again. It can also be hard to figure out where to start with your prompts. Do you want to focus your garden prompts on a task list? A reminder? Or do you want to wax poetic about your garden for every entry?

Lastly, the biggest problem with creating your own prompts, at least it was for me, is consistency. It’s very hard to start a habit of journaling in the garden. Especially in the winter or “off season”. That’s why I set up our email list to send out two emails a week. But you could put reminders in your calendar or on your phone.

Which Gardener are you?

Are you The Utilitarian, The New Gardener, The Fanciful Gardener or The Chaotic Gardener?

Let me know below which gardener you are and if you journal for your garden!

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Building Your Legacy: Leaving Your Mark On YOUR World

October 25, 2023 by Leigh Leave a Comment

When I was in school, there was this hype of “You can be anything you want to be”. I had thoughts of being President of the United States. Or maybe an astronaut. But I never really figured out what I wanted to do. Even now, in my 30’s with a great career, I just want to retire. I want to leave the rat race and homestead full time. Over the last handful of years though, the thought has shifted from what do I want to be when I grow up to asking myself: How are you building your legacy?

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Building Your Legacy

I think the first step in building your legacy, is to look at the definition of legacy. I pulled this definition from the Oxford dictionary.

noun

an amount of money or property left to someone in a will. “my grandmother died and unexpectedly left me a small legacy.”
the long-lasting impact of particular events, actions, etc. that took place in the past, or of a person’s life. “he left us a rich legacy of buildings that are both innovative architectural creations and genuine works of art”

For some families, the legacy is being in law enforcement or military. For other families, it’s cycling addiction and abuse. And for me, it’s the dreaded 9-5 and grocery stores.

What Was Passed To Me?

The legacy that was passed to me is the typical American legacy. It was working 40 hours a week in a job that you like just enough to keep going to. Or the feeling of being stuck in a job because you don’t have the time, money or education for something different. It was going grocery shopping at a big box store with labels, directions for cooking, and packaging galore. It was sending your kids to school to get an education that they could take to their 40 hour a week job. It was expected that I get a job at 13 and work as much as possible, or as much as my family could get me to that job.

Beyond the typical legacy, my love of creating came from the women in my life. I learned how to sew from my mom. I learned how to crochet and knit from my grandmother. My love of photography came from my aunt.

But I’ve never been one to do what I’m told. I’ve been accused of not listening or following direction on MANY occasions. And most of the time, it wasn’t in a good way. I am pure frustration for anyone “in charge” of me or any rule follower teaching me how to do something. Being a rebel has a lot of up and downsides. So those skills I picked up from my mother, grandmother and aunt were expanded upon by going further down the rabbit hole on my own.

Wanting Something Different

I’m an observer. I see what other people do, how they do it, and most importantly, how they LIKE it. Then I take that observation and pull it into whatever I’m doing. I saw what the 40 hour work week was like and knew I didn’t want to work 40 hours a week and only see my kids and husband a few hours at night. Being stuck inside 4 walls, without the ability to escape when I need it, causes HUGE amounts of anxiety. There HAD to be something better than packaged food from the grocery store. I wanted something different.

I am a VERY independent 4 year old trapped in a 34 year old body…. with access to the bank cards.

The legacy I want is handed down recipes. I want second and third generation cast iron. I want generational knowledge of gardening, canning, animal husbandry, and working WITH nature. And I KNOW it sounds spoiled but I desperately want to learn these things at my family’s knee instead of the internet.

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So we started building our legacy

Building your legacy doesn’t always start with a radical shift. Sometimes, it’s just one thing. It’s prioritizing family over work. Or making family meals every Friday night. Sometimes something small is enough to get you moving in the “right” direction for you to build the legacy you want.

Your Legacy Is In Your Hands

We definitely broke the mold over the years.

Since we were a young family and Jared was in the Army, I stayed home with the kids. My cooking skills grew and I no longer had to buy Bisquik to make pancakes. I got a job where I could work two days a week and bring home a full time paycheck. A job allows me to homestead and homeschool while earning a paycheck.

Jared broke the cycles of addiction.

We are creating a legacy of skills, hard work, and independence that our boys can take to their own families.

Do I expect them to be paramedics? No. In fact, I don’t want them to be paramedics. This job is HARD. But I will support them no matter what they decide to do.

Do I expect them to go into the military? No. Again, I don’t want them to. But if that is what they decide, I will support them.

Do I want them to have a homestead? Yes. Because then I know they will be able to take care of themselves and their families. But if not? That’s okay too.

Do I want them to homeschool their kids? Meh. It’s what worked for us.

Before we get too far into this, I have a great course on the basics of goat care. I call it Goat Crash Course: Goat 101. In this course, I explain things like types of shelter, types of feeds and hays, basic assessments and so much more! Check it out!

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So What Is My Legacy?

I don’t know, yet. I know what I want my legacy to be. I want my legacy to be a person who is supportive of not only my family’s endeavors and decisions but my own. I want to raise boys who are good and capable men. I want my family to be able to grow their own food, raise and butcher their own animals, and be good stewards to the resources they have been entrusted with. Whether they do those things or not is irrelevant.

I want my children and grandchildren to know that I will pass down second or third generation cast iron. I will teach them how to cook from the heart and not a book. I will always be willing to teach them the skills that I have learned so they don’t have to learn them from the internet. They will learn how to raise and butcher animals. They will know how to put in a garden.

But most importantly, when I die, I know that I did everything I could do to raise a family that doesn’t roll over when things get hard. I know that I have taught the next generation skills that will help them thrive no matter where they find themselves.

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How To Tell If Your Goat Is Healthy

October 20, 2023 by Leigh Leave a Comment

This is a loaded question because if you are not completely aware of how goats act and behave, you may not know what is normal or healthy. Then again, you could have a goat that is totally healthy but doesn’t bounce around like you think they should. So here is my best tips for being able to tell if your goat is healthy.

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If you are looking for an audio version of this post, check out out below

First Step To Tell If Your Goat Is Healthy

First thing first, you need to have a routine of how you assess your goat. Now, I am a paramedic in real life, so I have a system of how I treat EVERY SINGLE patient, EVERY SINGLE time. It always starts with a scene size up. That means that as I am walking up to a car accident or into a home, I’m looking around. I want to make sure it’s safe, but also what do I see? Is the patient crushed inside a car? Is the patient gasping for air?

Next comes the ABC’s. Airway, Breathing, Circulation. Is the patient’s airway open? Are they breathing? Is their skin normal? Is there blood?

After those first two things, we start to treat based off our findings. If we didn’t find any life threats, we continue on with our assessment. These things are based on the problems we see or the complaint of the patient.

Goat Assessment

When it comes to goats, it’s really no different. Except that they can’t talk to you. You have to get all of this information based solely on what you see and find during your assessment. Which is why learning how to tell if your goat is healthy NOW, when they are healthy is SO important.

If you haven’t already, sign up above to receive our goat assessment worksheet. It is incredibly easy to use but as we go through the rest of this post, we will be using that sheet. I also use my Herd Check Sheet when I am doing my weekly herd checks to make sure I check EVERY goat. I also to write down any concerns or findings I may have on this Herd Check Sheet.

I’m not going to go super in depth about how to treat any illnesses here. The whole point around this blog post is for you to learn HOW to do an assessment. I want you to start getting into the routine of doing this assessment while your animals are healthy before we go down a rabbit hole of treatment.

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Goat Size Up

The Goat Scene Size Up is very, very simple. As you walk up to your goat, do they look at you? Are their eyes bright and alert? Are their ears erect and moving? Do you see an injury? Do you see fluids around them? Are they jumping around like a jumping bean? Are they playing or fighting with other goats? Are they screaming at you to bring them food? What are they doing?

ABC’s

Human ABC’s are the same as Goat ABC’s. Is their airway open? Are they choking or not moving air well? Are they breathing normally? Does it seem fast or slow? Do they have a cough? Are they bleeding? What is their heart rate? Is it fast or slow?

The Head To Toe….Hooves

Once you are past the life threatening concerns like what would be seen on a scene size up or ABC’s, it’s time to move on to your head to hoof assessment. It is exactly what it sounds like, we are starting from the top and working down.

Head- Check eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and FAMACHA. We are always looking for something “off”. Blood, mucus, fluids, swelling, broken teeth, FAMACHA score.

Body- This is a large part of the animal but we are still looking for all the same things. Do you see blood? Is there an injury? Bodily fluids? Body condition? Fur and skin healthy and intact? Legs in good shape? Temperature? Are they chewing their cud? Do you hear rumen sounds? Does the left (THEIR left) side of their belly seem swollen or bloated?

Hooves- Are their hooves normal? Do the hooves stink? Do you see abscesses? Are their hooves sound? Are they limping? Do they need a hoof trim?

What To Do With The Information

Well, that all depends on what you found on your assessment. But I will tell you to head over to one of these 3 Facebook groups:

Goat Emergency Team

Successful Goating With Rosie

The Holistic Goat

These are the goat groups that I have been apart of for YEARS! They have pulled several of our goats through in those first couple years. Plus there is always a moderator that can help no matter if it’s day or night.

Treatment Protocols

Once you can do your assessments correctly and quickly, now we can start diving into treatment protocols. However, I do want to caution you. You need to have a vet or mentor on stand by. Even if it’s only a basic relationship. You never know when you are going to need help and it’s better to know where to find that help before you need it.

Treatment protocols are basically a set of things to do IF your goat meets these certain criteria. For example: I would only follow a worming protocol if I had a positive fecal because I don’t deworm preventively. Another example would be using antibiotics for a cough. I don’t believe in just giving antibiotics for any reason. That doesn’t meant I won’t give it, but it’s not my first line treatment.

If you look through those 3 pages, especially Goat Emergency Team and Successful Goating with Rosie, you will see the treatment protocols that they actually use. Those are very close to the protocols I use on my farm.

Remember To Be Kind

As you are on your goating journey, you need to remember one thing. Be kind to yourself. You are learning. Yes, you will have animals die on you. Yes, it will break your heart and you will want to give up. You will beat yourself up because you didn’t catch something.

But remember what the ole timers say, “If you haven’t lost a goat, you haven’t owned one long enough.”

It’s the truth. These are not extremely hearty creatures to start with. They can be indestructible like Bella or fragile like Champ. But at the end of the day, everything will die. We just don’t want that to happen too soon.

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Top 10 Ways To Improve Soil

October 19, 2023 by Leigh Leave a Comment

As we are steadily moving towards cooler months, and for some of you freezing already, now is a great time to start looking into ways to improve soil. You don’t have to do any of it right now, especially if it’s too cold to work the soil or grow a cover crop. But having these ideas in your journal as ways to improve soil will help in the long run.

10 Ways To Improve Your Soil

Mulch

Mulching is usually a forgotten chore in the garden but it is so important. I know what you’re thinking, “I don’t have any plants in the ground, why should I mulch?” Because mulching, no matter the season, keeps weeds at bay, puts organic matter back in the soil and helps retain moisture in the soil.

Cover Cropping

This is another huge thing that gets left out for most new gardeners. They think, well I’ve harvested what I need so I’m just going to rip out all of the plants. Then they don’t put any new plants to make sure that the soil stays covered.

I use this mix from True Leaf Markets for the kitchen garden. Depending on what I need in my big garden will depend on what mix (or self mix) I use. I usually try to do a mix that my chickens and ducks can eat on. But regardless of what you buy, something has to be planted in order to keep your ground soft and workable.

Organic Matter

This goes hand in hand with mulching and cover cropping. Soil needs to have organic matter to give it better structure. If you have ever lived in a place with clay soil, you know it is clumpy when wet or blows away if too dry. We want to change the structure of the soil by allowing roots to grow and create channels. The more growth and channels, the more water can be absorbed.

Low or No Till

Tilling isn’t bad per say, but over the last hundred years or so, we have come to realize that tilling may not be the best thing for the soil. When you till, you are ripping the soil apart and that means you are ripping apart the microbiomes that live in the soil. To make this more relatable, it would be like a nuclear bomb going off in your town every couple of months. Everything is destroyed and you have to rebuild season after season.

If you can limit the amount of destruction to the soil, you will have soil with better moisture retention and a lot less run off. Not to mention it’ll have the channels to retrieve nutrients from deeper in the ground.

Leaves and limbs

We’ve been taught to think that leaves and debris is something that must be hauled off. But you are getting rid of one of the best (and FREE) resources that our land gives us! Throw those leaves into the compost or straight onto a bed to act as mulch. Trust me, your garden will thank you for it.

There could be issues with the leaves and branches composting and sucking up a ton of nitrogen. But I have not seen that to be an issue. But I also cover crop with nitrogen fixers.

Animal Bedding

I talked in depth about using animal bedding as compost here. It is probably the best and easiest ways to fill up or top dress a garden bed. Especially, when you are looking for free or cheap materials for your garden beds.

You can also use pine shavings as mulch too.

Eliminate pesticides and synthetics fertilizers

When I read Gabe Brown’s Dirt to Soil, he mentions that when you use synthetics you are creating “lazy” plants. If the plant doesn’t have to work to get its nutrients because you give it to them, the plant isn’t going to be as hardy or give back to the soil. Same thing with pesticides. Even natural fertilizers and pesticides are creating a situation where the plant doesn’t have to defend or protect itself.

We don’t use any amendments to our beds except compost and animal bedding. That’s it. We learned very quickly that our plants were healthier and are better able to fend off pests if we just left them alone. So that’s what we do.

Animals

Animals are a phenomenal way to improve your soil! To put it very simply, you put an animal in a portable pen, give them some hay and let them be in that pen for 1-4 days depending on the animal size and size of pen. After you move them to a new area, seed where they were. If you can keep this up, they will slowly but surely fix your compacted soil!

Our pigs have been instrumental in bringing our property back! They turned hard, compacted clay, that a tiller couldn’t get into because of the rocks, into the softest black soil within 3 rotations!

Crop Rotation

We’ve all heard this one. You’ve got to rotate crops to keep pests, fungi, etc from becoming a problem. But it’s actually more than that. When you rotate your crops from a heavy nitrogen feeder to a nitrogen fixer, you are giving the soil a chance to recover. We want to make sure that we don’t put heavy feeders in the same place for about 3 planting seasons.

For example: You planted Corn in summer 2022, Squash in Fall of 2022, and Tomatoes in summer 2023. Your soil is going to be bone dry when it comes to nutrients. But if you were to plant beans, peas, and garlic in fall of 2022 instead of squash, you have broken the heavy feeder cycle without having to amend the beds with inputs.

Plants

Plants probably the most under rated way to improve soil health. I used to pull spent plants from the ground and give them to my chickens, goats, pigs, whatever. But when you rip out plants, you are taking all that carbon out of the soil. You are wrecking all those channels and creating more work for the soil microbiome to fix.

The best thing you can do when you are done with a bed is to just hit it with a weed eater, clippers, etc and just chop and drop it just above soil level. This will leave all that carbon (roots) in the ground to compost and feed the microbiome.

What are your favorite ways to improve soil health?

These are just my favorite ways to improve soil health. In fact, these are the only things I do and we have seen a HUGE improvement in planting. It used to be that we would have to use a drill attachment augur to be able to plant. Now, I can just stick my hand in the dirt and move the soil out of the way. How cool is that!?

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November Garden Chores

October 11, 2023 by Leigh Leave a Comment

As the season winds down, so does the garden. We started writing the monthly chore list as a way to help those that are new to gardening and are not really sure what to do. We also talk about what we do specifically for our zone 7b. You can still do some of these things but if you are colder (or warmer) than us, you may need to make some adjustments. Our November garden chores are more focused on keeping things warm and covered than anything.

3 pictures of garden space with the words november garden chores

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November Garden Chores

Our November usually consists cover crops and harvesting various fall crops. There’s also the mad dash to cover everything with frost blankets when the temperatures dip. It’s also the time that we work to make sure that everything is mulched well.

Cover Crops

Every year, we work really hard to put cover crops in the garden. Sometimes we’re too late and other times the chickens eat all the seeds. BUT we do try to get our cover crops in and for the most part we are pretty successful. We use TrueLeaf Markets to get most of our cover crop seeds because the pricing is great. I really like the fact that their selection is pretty big and that allows me to make my own mix.

The reason for my own mix is because I want to make sure that I am addressing problems found in the garden (low nitrogen, impaction, etc) but also planting things that my animals can eat. I don’t want accidently plant something that will kill my goats.

Harvesting

While in some places, there’s snow on the ground. In Georgia, it’s just cool/cold at night. Sure, we’ll occasionally get a frost but it’s not too bad. But we have to stay on the harvest in order to make sure that we don’t accidently forget something out there. Here’s looking at you last year’s zucchini.

We usually have several bean plants that we are still harvesting green beans from. Some, we let go until they are dry so we can save seeds. But for the most part we are really looking for fresh eating.

Frost Blankets

This is the time of year that our frost blankets are getting a workout. While we don’t want to cover everything, like the onions and garlic, we do want to make sure that the things that are tender get covered but only if the temps are going to get at or below freezing.

Usually we put the frost blankets on after dinner and take them off in the morning before all the other chores. We try to make sure that we only put them on if it’s going to be cold enough. This cannot be said enough.

Why don’t we cover the garlic and onions? Well, we want them to “die back” so that they start growing well again in the spring and summer. They don’t actually die back, but they need enough cold to set good bulbs.

Mulching

Mulching is probably just as important as water for the garden but is always the first thing that is forgotten. Every time. Mulching is this magical, amazing thing that solves a ton of problems in the garden.

Weeds? Mulch. Still have weeds? Put more mulch down.

Watering too much? Mulch. It helps the soil retain water.

Compacted soil? Mulch! It will start to decompose on the ground and the soil will take it up and start to compost it.

Cold? Mulch. It acts as insulation.

Heat? Mulch! It will keep the ground cool.

The only thing it doesn’t do is help with pests.

Can you tell I love mulch? It’s probably because I hate weeding. I will seriously shovel wheelbarrows full of mulch before I pull a weed. Which is ridiculous but it is what it is.

Not That Many November Garden Chores

As you can see, there really isn’t THAT many things to do in November. It’s mostly protecting what you’ve got going and harvesting as you can.

What do you do in your November gardens?

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October Garden Chores

October 5, 2023 by Leigh Leave a Comment

I was going to do a month by month to do list all in one post, but I soon discovered that the post would have been extremely long. So instead we are going to go over what to do in your garden by month. While the posts will generally be shorter, I think it’ll break down easier and be less overwhelming. I’m also going to write this for those in zone 7 since that is where I am and this is what I do. I don’t feel right making a blanket post and you’re in zone 4 and can’t do half of this stuff. You can absolutely adjust this based on your growing seasons, frost dates, etc. So here is my October garden chores.

October Garden Chores

There is a fair amount of things that should be done in the October garden but it is not as exhausting as the spring or summer gardens. October is the month of final summer harvests and starting to harvest the fall garden. We are also prepping gardens for winter. Since, we are always pushing the limits on our fall gardens, we have some prep work that needs to be done before we actually button up for winter.

If you are struggling to stay consistent, focused, and less stressed, sign up to be notified about our garden prompts! It’s a weekly email that helps guide you in the garden! It has greatly reduced my stress and anxiety and gotten me back to loving the garden!

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Finish Pulling Summer Plants

Usually we are done with this chore in September, but sometimes we’ve let a tomato plant or sweet potatoes go for a little longer, depending on our weather. This means that we can have a ton of things to pull down, even if they are still producing for us.

We do not actually pull plants out of the ground, unless they are weeds. We choose to cut plants at soil level to allow the soil microbes to keep working and feeding. We started doing this after reading Dirt to Soil by Gabe Brown, you can read my review on the book here.

If the bed is “done” for the winter, we will either lay the cut plants on top to act as mulch or we will put a chicken tractor over the cut plants and let the chickens do some work. If we have planted cover crops we will move the cut plants to the side and seed that bed with cover crops. Once the cover crops have sprouted, we will put cut plants back over the sprouts.

Planting Onions and Garlic

We plant all of our onion and garlic for the year in October to harvest in May/June. This means about 400 each of garlic and onion, which is a TON. But we usually eat about an onion per day and can run through some garlic pretty fast. We also try to put some to the side for replanting the following October.

This can be a pinch point in the garden because we have such a long growing season. Because we plant in October and harvest in June, we don’t want want to put it in a bed that we will need for spring or even early summer planting. This is when having a plan for the following year and understanding exactly what you’ve planted, where, etc is so important. It’s also a really good idea to make sure that you’ve got a good garden journal.

Before we get too far into this post, I wanted to give a suggestion about keeping a garden journal. A digital garden journal is a fantastic way to keep track of past, present and future gardens. Our Digital Garden Journal is a great way to keep up with everything without getting too overwhelmed.

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Another option to avoid a pinch point in the garden is to use the garlic/onion beds to provide bumper crops of tomatoes, peppers, squash, etc. In our zone (7b), our last frost is anywhere from April 15th to May 1st and our first frost is from October 15th to November 1st, and it is never the same. We plan our summer gardens off where the garlic and onions are and just prepare that bed for a bumper crop.

Barn Clean Out

While this doesn’t seem like a “normal” garden chore. We go through and thoroughly clean out the barn, chicken coops, tractors, etc and make sure that all of the animal bedding is either put into the beds that will be “bare” over winter or put into the compost piles.

I wrote a post about using animal bedding as compost here. This allows us to have a fresh space for the animals going into winter and also sets up those beds or compost piles for the following spring. While it’s not as much of a back breaking chore as it is in the spring, it is a really good time to amend beds that may have had heavy feeders in them the previous season.

Animals In The Gardens

This is the time of year that we let the animals eat the gardens. Not the whole garden, but we will put them into the garden areas that we want eaten. This helps us because we don’t have to chop and drop as much and the animals get a “free” meal.

For the chickens, this means putting their tractors over the kitchen garden beds and letting them go to town. They amend the beds, eat left over plants, and eat a bunch of pests that are in the beds. We have had a lot of luck with this but I’ve had a lot of people ask about the high nitrogen in chicken manure.

We’ve not had a problem with ANY plants burning because we don’t put the manure directly on the plants. What we do is add hot manure to the compost pile and let it age a bit. Or we will put in a bed that has gotten pretty low, and we add a bunch of soil or other compost over it. That way, it can continue to break down and drop all that nitrogen back in the soil.

Watering!

This is a chore that a lot of people tend to forget about, myself included. It’s just not as hot! So there’s not really a need to get out there and make sure that the garden gets watered. The problem is, where we live, it doesn’t really rain a whole lot in September and October. Sure, we’ll get a shower here and there but it’s not uncommon to go weeks without a real rain.

Make sure you’ve still got your garden on a water timer like this one. We hook a 4 spout splitter above the timer like this one. This ensures that we don’t have to constantly adjust the water timer if we need to use the hoses.

You’ll also notice that you won’t need to water as often or as heavy, provided you’ve been mulching. That’s because the sun isn’t as bright or hot and, of course, the days are shorter.

That’s about it for my October Garden Checklist

I usually try to get out in my gardens at least 3 or 4 times a week at this point because I’m still harvesting green beans, peas, squashes, etc. But for the most part, my gardens are getting buttoned up for winter.

Don’t forget to check out our garden prompts!

Let me now in the comments what you do in October!

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Review Of: Dirt to Soil

September 18, 2023 by Leigh Leave a Comment

As always, when I do a review, I am going to give you my honest opinion of every book, tool, and product that I do. Reviews do no good if they are not real. I recently reached out to a homesteading Facebook group in search of a couple books about building good, healthy soil. Man, did they deliver! The first book is Dirt to Soil by Gabe Brown.

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Why I Read It

I absolutely love all things soil and biology. We are also working with Georgia clay in our gardens which is causing a far amount of issues with it. The soil in our big garden is very compacted in the areas that we haven’t covered it. We’ve had a ton of issues with the soil this summer between soil and water run off, compaction, and stunted plants.

So my goal was to spend this winter learning as much as humanly possible about soil. My first question is why is my soil not great. The second was what can I do to fix it. So off I went in search of a book that could answer those questions but also the more technical questions about the biology of soil.

I already knew we had clay soil, but…

I didn’t realize that I could “fix” it so quickly! I thought it would take years and years to properly build up my soil. I had considered that we were going to have to bring in a lot of inputs to get the soil back to a place where it was healthy.

But after hearing a ton of horror stories about toxic compost, I am really leery of bringing in soil or compost from outside sources.

I already knew that we could use the animals to work with us to bring our 8.5 acres back to life. But I wasn’t sure how to do it exactly. I knew that we could rotate the pigs through areas to root the soil and break it up. Doing this would allow organic matter to get into the soil. We could also seed the areas that they had worked and pray that we could keep the chickens and goats out of the seeds.

But nothing we were doing actually worked. We really struggled to hone in on the finer points of building soil.

While the book doesn’t offer clear, concise, step by step instructions on HOW to build soil, Gabe DOES give his 5 soil principles as well as a very thorough recounting of what he did. He even goes in depth about how he has made his farm profitable. Giving a little bit more interest and insight on how to make a homestead or farm profitable.

Where To Purchase

I purchased my copy from Amazon because it’s what’s easiest for me. However, I found it at Barnes and Noble for close to the same price. Sadly, we don’t have bookstores that are local to us, so Amazon tends to be where I get the majority of my books.

How The Book Reads

I love the style of the writing in this book. It’s very conversational and Gabe walks through how he got started on his farm. As the book moves through, he not only tells you how he did it, but gives the basic foundation for what you can do.

There is an amazing compilation of science, experience, and options for you to try as well. But the foundation stays the same. Follow these principles, experiment, and watch your soil grow.

One of the things I didn’t like was the constant “you can do it too”. Now, I understand completely that the book is not necessarily meant for the small homesteader. It ABSOLUTELY applies to us, but I am already interested in regenerative farming and hearing again and again that it can work for us was slightly annoying. Not enough to discredit what he was saying but enough for it to be redundant.

My Take Away’s From Dirt to Soil

There are 4 main points that I took away from Dirt to Soil, though they aren’t in any specific order.

Cover Crops

I knew the importance of cover crops, but couldn’t wrap my head around exactly how to do it. Do I plant things I can harvest? What if I still need that space? Which crops do I plant? Isn’t the soil still going to be bare in the winter when the plants die back? Won’t I have to remove the cover crops when I plant for spring/summer? Gabe answered most of these questions in his book.

Tillage Kills

There is a lot of satisfaction when tilling because you can see that beautiful soil (or clay in my case) break up and see the bed take shape. Except, I always struggled because I knew earthworms are GREAT for a garden, but I was rending them into pieces every time I tilled. So how do I create beds that don’t require tilling but keeps the soil healthy and beneficial critters happy? Simple answer? Stop tilling, start using cover crops, limited to no inputs.

Building Soil Is…. Easy?

I figured this out when I started using our animal bedding as compost. Within a few months of using the animal bedding, I noticed that had actual soil in my beds. Now, I had added top soil to my beds when we created the kitchen garden. But I found actual soil when I started planting for fall!

Use The Animals

We have been using the pigs and the chickens to work the soil and it’s been working pretty well. But one of the things we have been “struggling” with is that we let the goats and chickens free range. We had not truly been practicing rotational grazing. Sure, we rotated the chicken tractors through the gardens but we never really did much with them or the goats.

My Garden Process After Reading Dirt to Soil

My garden process now is actually quite simple: animal bedding to compost over time, a couple inches of compost or top soil, plants, then mulch. When the bed is done producing, we cut all the plants down and lay them to the side. If we are “done” with that bed for a season, we add a cover crop then put the plants we cut and put them over top as mulch.

Once the cover crop has been established, we let the goats go through and eat down an area. Then we put the pigs through, and finally the chickens. This process has been amazing because the goats cut down and tamp down the crop. The pigs tamp it down more, and eat closer to the ground. Finally, the chickens come through and peck through the poop and spread it. They also eat all the bugs and parasites. This has GREATLY dropped our need for dewormers.

The following season, when we are ready to plant, we chop and drop the cover crop. Usually, we will use the cover crop as mulching until it fully composts down.

This process has been working well for us and I’m excited to see what happens in this summer when we plant the big garden!

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How To Bottle Feed Goat Kids

September 17, 2023 by Leigh Leave a Comment

Whether you have a surprise goat kid or trying to help a momma out, if you own goats you will probably, at some point, end up bottle feeding goats. This may come in a variety of forms, like getting suckered into bottle babies at an auction, a sudden loss of a doe, or maybe on purpose. But the reality is that there are times when it will happen and if you aren’t prepared, you may struggle to get calories into that goat kid. Let’s not wait till last minute to figure out how to bottle feed goat kids.

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When To Bottle Feed Goat Kids

First and foremost, we really, REALLY want a kid to stay on mom for as long as possible. There’s a couple of reasons for this but the biggest is that the milk from momma is the best for them. Period. Yes, bottle babies can do well being bottle raised, but the reality is that they do much better with momma. Momma’s milk is specifically designed for THOSE kids. Removing those kids from her can lead to unthrifty kids. We don’t want that.

BUT there are situations were you need to bottle feed babies. And that’s okay. I liken it to the argument of breast is best vs formula fed babies. At the end of the day, the only thing that REALLY matters is that the kid (human or goat) is fed. So if you have to bottle feed a baby, no worries. I’m going to help you through this.

Too Many Kids

One of the situations that you may encounter that has you asking, “Should I bottle feed these kids?” is too many kids. Your goat only has two teats. Therefore only two kids can nurse at a time. If you have triplets, quads or quints? You may need to seriously consider bottle feeding a couple of them.

There are plenty of does that can handle trips or quads. In fact, Bella is helping to feed quads right now…. And three are not even hers!

However, Bailey is not a doe that can handle a lot of babies, at least not yet. A couple of weeks ago Bella gave birth to twin girls but we lost June to Bacon the AGH. Three days later, Bailey dropped her triplets. Now, Bailey is not a fantastic milker. She produces, but not a whole lot and now she’s trying to produce for trips? Well, we decided to help supplement her milk with Bella’s milk.

I really wish we had grafted one of the trips but I wasn’t exactly expecting triplets from Bailey!

Not Gaining Enough Weight

Sometimes momma just doesn’t make enough milk. While this can be because of too many kids, it’s not always. After every birth, you should get a weight on every kid that is born. This will show you if the kids are gaining weight. If they aren’t, you may need to supplement milk because momma isn’t making enough.

Usually, this isn’t a problem unless you have multiples. But again, it does happen.

Rejection

Some mommas will just never take care of their babies. Usually, this is because they are young or they’re babies have always been taken from them. Other times, momma knows the baby is weak. Finally, they could reject the baby because the sky is the wrong shade of blue.

If the momma rejects the baby, you have a couple of choices. You can try like hell to get momma to accept the baby, or you can just take the baby and bottle feed. Bottle feeding is a last resort for me. I want that baby to stay with momma for as long as possible. So I will try and try to get momma to accept the baby. If it doesn’t happen, okay. But I’m going to try.

Injury or Illness

If one of those kids is born with a defect, is ill, or has something going on that makes them fragile, I would highly consider bottle feeding. If June had survived Bacon, she would have been one that we bottle fed because her jaw was broken in multiple places. Sometimes it’s as “simple” as a kid not being able to maintain temperature.

Like I said, sometimes these things happen, and you have to be prepared to step in and start bottle feeding.

Hacks For Bottle Feeding Goat Kids

Everyone has a different way of bottle feeding. Some swear that you can only use a teat nipple like this. Others, like me, say fed is best so they get whatever they will eat. I use regular baby bottles. It works great and I can get them literally anywhere.

If the kid just won’t latch, try different nipples. Just like with human kids, they may not be able to work the nipple right. It happens.

Sometimes you need to cover their eyes so they think they are up against mom. We have also found success with rubbing a stuffed animal all over momma to get the scent and then holding that over the kid’s head while holding the bottle upside down.

Other times, the kid may want to be held while they feed. Samantha is like this. She will drink about an ounce or two and then walk away. If we hold her, she will gobble down the whole bottle.

Another thing you can try is to put a little bit of honey or molasses on the nipple and see if the kid will take the bottle that way.

If the kid still won’t latch, you may have to put a stomach tube in and force it. This is usually the last ditch effort.

How Much To Feed Your Kid?

According to the internet, it’s all over the map. Since I try my damnest to keep my kids on their momma, I don’t have a hard fast true rule to give you. BUT this is what I have found that works well for us. You should keep an eye on your kids for signs of overfeeding (lethargic, floppy, grinding teeth, head thrown back, etc).

You want to start with colostrum only for the first 24 hours. Hopefully, you have colostrum from a healthy goat you can use. If not, replacer will work but it’s not as good.

After that first day, start with 2-4oz every 3-4 hours for the first couple of days. Then, I increase to 4-6oz about 4-5x a day for a couple of weeks. Then I move to 6-8oz 3x a day for a couple of weeks. They should be eating hay and drinking water at this point.

Then I move them to 8-12oz 1-2x a day until they are at least two months old.

I would only deviate from this if 1) my vet said to or 2) the kid wasn’t gaining weight. They should be gaining about 5-10#/ month depending on breed. If they are not on pace with that, I would up their feeding SLOWLY to avoid overfeeding.

What To Feed Them?

The goal would be only fresh goat milk. But if you don’t have access to that, the next best thing would be whole cow milk from the grocery store.

Goat milk replacer really isn’t that good. In fact, most goat kids just don’t do well on it. They have issues with bloating, lethargy, and just generally not doing great. It could be that particular goats genetics, but I’ve heard of more problems with the replacers than just using cows milk.

We are lucky to have Bella. She may be a total pain in the butt but she has single handedly supplied us with milk for over a year AND provided milk for her own babies. Plus Bailey’s babies.

I’m also really happy that she gave me a girl! Fingers crossed Ursula is just as amazing of a mother and milker as Bella.

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The Real Homestead

September 17, 2023 by Leigh Leave a Comment

As the years have progressed, there has been a huge influx of people wanting to homestead. Which I am ALL FOR! I think it’s absolutely fantastic that we have people rushing out of the cities and onto land. Or turning their lawns into food, either for themselves or pollinators. I love the fact that we have people that are wanting to grow their own food, preserve it, and get away from the overprocessed life. But I’ve got a really big problem when I see the content that people are making and it’s these carefully curated posts or reels. It’s not a real homestead!

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Why Is It Not Real?

This blog post has been on my mind a lot over the last couple of months. To be honest, I wasn’t sure how to write it without sounding judgmental and nasty. While that is not my intent, I feel like I am seeing so many more posts about “I can’t do that because… insert reason here” and it absolutely breaks my heart. And I’ve had enough.

While I know it’s not great for my sleep habits, I scroll TikTok and Instagram at night. I have seen a ton of these carefully curated reels of homesteads and gardens. I see women and little girls in these prairie dresses picking vegetables from the gardens or collecting eggs. Men and little boys working a tractor or building a barn in perfectly crisp wranglers and a pearl snap button down shirts.

Or I see designer chicken coops with perfect eggs and chickens that don’t escape their run. A beautiful garden that has not a single pest, bruised leaf or dropped veggie. Perfectly cropped lawns with beautiful houses.

And I want to scream from the roof tops, IT’S NOT REAL!

Go check out my Instagram feed, I’ll wait.

What you see on my profile is the real stuff. Sure, I try not to get the trash pile from clearing the land or burn pit in the pictures because who wants to see my amazon addiction. But I will gladly tour my homestead and show you the REAL homestead. The one where the chickens have pooped on the deck and I’ve not had a chance to get it cleaned off.

Or the real homestead where Jared is building my greenhouse and there is paint EVERYWHERE. There are piles of scrap wood that needs to be close to the greenhouse for some reason or another.

The fallen trees that we won’t take care of in the summer but will work on in the fall or winter. The goat barn or hay shed that is absolutely not designer. It’s REAL!

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy those reels because it’s visually pleasing to watch. It’s amazing to dream. But if THAT reel is why you want to homestead, keep reading.

Why Does It Make Me Mad?

It absolutely infuriates me when I hear new homesteaders that are upset that they can’t start their garden because they think they have to have perfect garden beds. Or they give up hope because they saw a TikTok that showed an obviously manufactured chicken coop and run, and they don’t have enough money to buy one.

Content creators are taking the spirit of homesteading out of it and creating this world where people don’t want to try because they think they can’t afford to homestead the way they see on reels. Or they are making people believe that what they are showing is what homesteading is. And people give up before they even start. And that breaks my heart.

I could spit nails when I see someone say they just popped out to harvest a couple things from the garden in their white linen dress. They are making a from scratch meal with their fresh bread made from their sourdough starter.

Let me tell you this, that is not what homesteading looks like.

Not a single person would be caught dead wearing WHITE LINEN in their garden, at least not to harvest anything.

I can just imagine wearing a white linen dress, dodging the pigs that have found a mud pit on my way to the garden, dogs playing and the chicken poop on the walkways. While in there, I am having to hold my dress up so it doesn’t get caked with Georgia red clay and trying to harvest a couple of tomatoes, squash or melons. All while knowing I should have brought a basket (and I always forget one) because my dress doesn’t have POCKETS! It’s freaking hysterical! Mainly because I don’t even own a dress.

Let’s not mention that my fresh bread rarely looks Insta-worthy, though it’s pretty delicious. And my sourdough starter jar is NEVER clean. In fact, it’s usually caked in starter residue from it overflowing the jar.

But you know what my homestead is? It’s the place that I don’t have to pretend. And I am honored by that.

What Is A Real Homestead?

So if those reels are not entirely accurate, what is a real homestead?

It’s a spirit of self sustainability. A person or family that simply wants better, not just for themselves but for their food, animals, community and the earth. It makes you FEEL every time you step outside.

It’s a perfectly ripe tomato on a hot summer day.

It’s the cry from you and a brand new baby goat that you had to pull from momma.

It’s humanely butchering an animal that has been loved and taken care of from birth.

It’s watching your kids come to you, absolutely filthy, holding a frog, snake or lizard they found.

It’s sitting at the dinner table, talking about your day with those that share what you hold so dear.

It’s creating a legacy were you previously didn’t have one.

It’s slow dancing with your partner in the kitchen while dinner cooks on the stove.

It’s watching your sons learn how to be capable men.

It’s watching your daughters learn to be capable women.

It’s working with nature to bring forth the harvest.

It’s freezing nights in a barn with a momma who is scared.

It’s bringing animals into the house because they are hurt or sick.

It’s NOT asking why there is goat vomit on the ceiling, a duck in the bathtub, or a chicken perched on the shower rod.

It’s syringes by the sink and hay in your hair.

It’s flies in the house, poop on the deck, broken eggs and hearts.

It’s a tearful good bye to a beloved animal.

But most of all, it’s this soul soothing, living and breathing thing that brings us back to nature in a way that a weekly hike or walk through the park just can’t do. It’s something that no content creator can make you feel.

It’s a deep breath and a weight off your shoulders when you realize that more doesn’t equal better.

While I am not a country fan, like at all, because heavy metal is life in this house. I have to appreciate what Zack Bryan said in Fear and Fridays….

“I’ve learned that every waking moment is enough and еxcess never lеads to better things, it only piles and piles atop the things that are already abundantly in front of you like breathing and chasing and slow dancing and love making, fighting and laughing“–Zack Bryan (Fear and Fridays)

My Dearest Homesteader In The Making

I beg you not to look for your life on social media. It doesn’t matter if you are a homesteader or not. The internet is not honest. It’s brief snippets of life, whether real or created. But YOU are real, your dreams are real and you will create YOUR real homestead.

So buy that property, make it YOURS. Make mistakes and learn from it. Dig into the dirt, and feel. Feel every single possibility and make it YOURS.

“Save it with the blame game
I’ve heard it all before
Ain’t nothing holdin’ you down
‘Cept your own feet on the floor
So go on, roll your sleeves up
Put your hands down in the dirt
It’s alright to follow your heart
And take what you deserve” –Charles Wesley Godwin (Here In Eden)

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10 Things To Start Preparing For Winter

September 17, 2023 by Leigh Leave a Comment

I know, I know! It’s only September. BUT you can never be too prepared, especially when you have lives depending on you. Here in north Georgia, it’s 90*+ and it feels like winter is forever away, but trust me when I tell you, it’s all down hill from here. The leaves are already starting to fall, albeit one at a time. The mornings are cooler and though it’s still hot, it’s not as unbearable. So I figured I would talk about the things we are doing now, to prepare for winter.

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Preparing For Winter Is Easy…When You Do It Early

First thing is first, go ahead and make a list of all the things you think you’ll need. Then check it against my list and maybe google some other blogs like Southern Dreams Homestead, The Homesteading RD or The Farmer’s Lamp to help give you a few more ideas. Below is simply part of my list that I think everyone could benefit from.

The List

Firewood!-Seriously, if you haven’t started sourcing, chopping or collecting firewood, stop everything and go do it right now. Like, now. If you haven’t been able to get around to it, make the time. You still have some time to get a few cords chopped and drying if you make it a priority. You can check out our latest eBook Heating With Firewood to help get you started.

Also, check around with neighbors or even different market places. You may find that someone has a tree they need cut and hauled away. Easy firewood. You can find a small electric log splitter less than $300 or even a big gas powered one for less than $1,500

I’m going to throw candles in here too. A small tea light candle can heat a small room for several hours. It can even cook food when placed in terracotta pots. So maybe having a million of these little buggers around would be a good idea too.

Pantry Restock– I go through my canning inventory sheets and check it against my shelves in the basement. I restock our pantry/ food storage room quarterly. That means that I go through and find all the things we have used or are running low on and make a run to the store. This tends to be a big haul for us and has things like toilet paper, laundry detergent, etc. But you don’t want to find out in the middle of a snow storm that you’re out of toilet paper. If you don’t have a place to store it, check out Home Depot for wire shelves or check out my post on our shelves.

Canning– The entire month of September, I am canning the last bit of the summer garden and soups. I will put up about 300qts and 200pts of soup to prepare for winter. The way I see it, if the power goes out, I can still heat soup on my wood stove. If you haven’t already, check out The Canning Diva’s cookbook. She has a ton of amazing soups. This book is my holy grail for soup season.

Coffee– If you are a coffee drinker, go ahead and can several quarts of coffee. I know, it sounds crazy, but when our power went out last year, guess who didn’t have coffee? So yea, can a couple quarts. I waterbath can my quarts for 20 minutes. Now, I can just heat it in a pot on the stove. I’ve also got a great recipe for homemade creamer too.

Extra Blankets– We have a million blankets and every year, I am tempted to throw out half of them. BUT it’s nice having the ability to close off rooms, layer up, or even insulate freezers if necessary. Not to mention if livestock needs to come inside because it’s freezing or they are injured.

Finn had to come inside when he busted his shoulder.

Portable Battery Banks– We have a bunch of these guys around and they are really handy to have. When the power goes out and the boys last device is dead, this thing saves my sanity. Plus, we can hook it up to our kitchen radio and still have news updates and more.

Animal Feed– This isn’t just Fido’s dog food. If you have any kind of livestock, now is the time to make sure you are sourcing enough for winter. For us, that means finding enough hay to get through the winter. It also means sourcing grain, alfalfa pellets, and other miscellaneous food stuffs they need.

The Hay Calculator:

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On the second page, you can track where you’ve bought hay, what you spent and how long it lasted.

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Animal Bedding– Don’t forget their bedding! While it doesn’t get super cold in Georgia, it does still get cold. And wet. So make sure that you’ve got some form of bedding for them. We use the deep litter method and pine shavings. The deep litter method really helps insulate them in winter and helps keep them off the cold ground. We also spread Diatomaceous Earth between layers to help keep down bugs. Again, it doesn’t get super cold here so winter Lice/Mite infestations happen. The great thing about it is we can use all that bedding as compost in the spring!

Emergency Medicines/ First Aid– This looks different from homestead to homestead, but having the ability to treat various illnesses or injuries is extremely important. I talked about the basics needed to care for goats but you also need to include yourself here. Sometimes band aids just aren’t going to cut it. You may need sutures, super glue, etc to close lacerations. Or when you’re animal suddenly develops pneumonia, having the ability to treat that without calling for a vet is a huge time and money saver.

Something to alleviate boredom– It’s true. The hustle and bustle of summer makes way for a slower winter. Maybe not 100% of the time, but more often than not, the weather keeps us inside. Extreme weather could keep us inside for days. I am a bookworm and have at least twenty books on standby waiting to be read. But my boys and Jared are not so lucky. We have games, puzzles, cards and more. They still refuse to let me read, but at least they have something to do.

Preparing For Winter

I hope this helps you start preparing for winter at least a little bit. This is not an exhaustive list by any means, but it is a start. Only you know what you are going to need to get through the winter. And while this may be your first winter on a homestead, it’s not your first winter. So get a list going and start stocking up!

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