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Building Your Legacy: Leaving Your Mark On YOUR World

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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?

If you are just starting in your homestead journey, I have the deal for you! In The Homestead Bundle you will receive our Hay Calculator, Profit Calculator, Digital and Printable Garden Journal, The Backyard Homestead eBook, the Simple Budget, Schedule F worksheet, and Herd Health Sheets. That’s a $99 value for $47!

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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

  1. an amount of money or property left to someone in a will. “my grandmother died and unexpectedly left me a small legacy.”
  2. 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.

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.

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. Wither 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 Not Eat Fast Food

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Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as saying, “Don’t eat it, duh”. We have been conditioned to believe that from scratch cooking is hard, time consuming and not for you. Clever marketing has made fast food a trillion dollar industry. And we are just trying not to starve. So here we stand, trying to figure out how to not eat fast food, while also trying to figure out how to feed our family. Well, I’ve got some tips that have served us well over the last 15 years.

How to not eat fast food

It isn’t always as simple as not eating fast food. I am a paramedic in real life and I can honestly say that I eat fast food occasionally. I ALWAYS bring my meals to work and have for the last 10 years. Simply because eating 3-4 meals out every shift would break the bank. If I spent $10-15/ meal out every meal for 12 shifts per month, I would spend about $360-$540/ month in meals.

Jared is also a paramedic and the way our schedules work, he cooks dinner one out of three nights and I cook the other two. So I follow the 70% rule. For us, we eat home cooked meals 70% of the time.

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Why We Don’t Eat Fast Food…. Much

Don’t get it twisted, we still eat “fast food” but we don’t eat at the typical fast food restaurants. We only eat at 3; Chick Fil A, Zaxby’s and Arby’s. The reason is because those foods will rot. If I were to leave them out, bugs will eat them. That means it’s mostly real food. We also eat there because it’s the lesser of two evils. We’ve got to eat and I can’t whip up a meal while driving down the highway.

Also, it’s not just about the money. I feel like crap every time I eat fast food. It disrupts my gut in ways I won’t mention here. So I try to limit the amount of food I buy on shift. But sometimes you need food while you’re out and about. Or the thought of cooking a meal is going to send you over the edge. Here’s what I do to limit the fast food trips.

Ways To Limit Eating Fast Food

Plan ahead- This is probably the most important which is why it’s number 1! By planning ahead you can limit your need for grabbing a quick meal at a fast food restaurant. Every week, I put the proposed meals on our weekly board. I pull out about 3 days worth of meats and put them in a bowl in the fridge to thaw. We don’t have to have the meal that’s planned for that particular day, but having the meat out, limits the 4 o’clock, what’s for dinner questions.

Grocery shop your pantry- A well stocked pantry (or food storage room in my case) is an absolute necessity when you are trying to put meals on the table. I use Azure Standard to help keep my pantry stocked.

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Double it- This is my tried and true hack for always having a home cooked meal. I make HUGE meals and we put up the left overs. We’re talking 4 boxes of spaghetti and 16 boxes of left overs. We use these containers because my kids still break EVERYTHING.

Freeze it- This goes with doubling it. There are many times were it is easier to cook a whole chicken, eat some, then shred and freeze the rest. Or I’ll double or triple a biscuit recipe then flash freeze them. Then I can just take out however many I need for the next dinner. I don’t even thaw them. I just give them a little more time and they are just as good as fresh made.

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Soups- I can’t tell you how many times soup has saved the day. I use this cookbook and make a big (HUGE) pot of one of the soups. Then I can the left overs. This has literally saved my bacon more than I care to admit! Especially when we have gone out for dinner and I don’t have ANY food to take to work the next day.

Coochie boards- Yes, I know it’s charcuterie but Jaxson couldn’t say that. He called it coochie boards and it stuck. I’ve always got some sort of deli meat or salami type meats and cheeses. I can make crackers in a pinch so this has been a fall back many nights too.

Crock pot meals- Throw it in the slow cooker and forget about it. And it’s not just for roasts! Whole chicken? In the crock pot. Tacos? In the crock pot. I’m not afraid to say dinner is in the crock pot if it means that my sanity stays mostly intact.

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Family Cooks- As the boys have gotten older, they have helped more and more in the kitchen. This has a two fold benefit: it takes the load off me and it teaches them to cook. Chase can make spaghetti, mac and cheese, toast tortillas, and brown ground beef. He has amazing knife skills and for the most part could feed himself. Jaxson? He’s got the attention span of a cracked out gerbil and the knife skills to match. But we’re working on it.

Make Your Own- This has been a lifesaver when I am absolutely exhausted. Everyone makes their own dinner. Whether that is a bowl of cereal or a steak, everyone makes their own food. And before you tell me that you have littles and they can’t do this? My kids have been doing this since they were about 3. Granted Jaxson wanted a “Daddy” sandwich consisted of two pieces of bread and mustard and ketchup…. No one really knows how that works because Jared doesn’t eat ketchup on his sandwiches but whatever.

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Grace!

Give yourself grace. This is not a change that will come about over night. Nor should it! You’re not a robot. You are human and that means that you can’t be perfect. But by pulling out enough meat for 3 dinners or doubling a meal up, you can limit your need to eat out or eat fast food.

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The Real Homestead

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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!

If you are just starting in your homestead journey, I have the deal for you! In The Homestead Bundle you will receive our Hay Calculator, Profit Calculator, Digital and Printable Garden Journal, The Backyard Homestead eBook, the Simple Budget, Schedule F worksheet, and Herd Health Sheets. That’s a $99 value for $47!

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

If you are just starting in your homestead journey, I have the deal for you! In The Homestead Bundle you will receive our Hay Calculator, Profit Calculator, Digital and Printable Garden Journal, The Backyard Homestead eBook, the Simple Budget, Schedule F worksheet, and Herd Health Sheets. That’s a $99 value for $47!

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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:

If you aren’t math-y (don’t worry I’m not either), check out our Hay Calculator. It literally does ALL of the math for you and gives you totals based on what you want your goals.

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

Buy the Hay Calculator

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.

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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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4 Ways To Reduce Food Waste

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The simple answer is get a couple pigs or chickens. That’s it. End blog post here. But that’s not an ideal answer. If you can’t have pigs or chickens, or you don’t like or want livestock. What are your other options? How can you reduce food waste?

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If you are just starting in your homestead journey, I have the deal for you! In The Homestead Bundle you will receive our Hay Calculator, Profit Calculator, Digital and Printable Garden Journal, The Backyard Homestead eBook, the Simple Budget, Schedule F worksheet, and Herd Health Sheets. That’s a $99 value for $47!

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Can It!

Sometimes reducing food waste is as simple as making a larger batch and canning it. For example, beef stew is literally the easiest meal on the planet to can. Make a big batch of it and can the left overs. You will need a pressure canner. Though it’s not absolutely required, it is strongly recommended.

If you don’t want to make a large batch but still want to get a couple jars of left overs canned? This little canner is a great option. It’s a little pricey but for the ease of use and not having to lug out one of the big canners? I think it’s definitely worth the investment.

Canning can be pretty nerve-racking to start. Especially, if you are teaching yourself how to start canning. But I promise, the old days of pressure canners exploding are WAY less likely to repeat themselves.

Dehydrating To Reduce Food Waste

I talked here about my new love for dehydrating and I have to say it’s one of my favorite ways to not only reduce food waste, but also to put up food for a rainy day. I love the “set it and forget it” ability with dehydrating food. With a couple hours of prep (for large batches), I can fill up my trays and be done. One of the ways that I work my dehydrator schedule is to cut a large batch of a veggie while prepping/cooking dinner and then fill the trays. Usually, by morning it’s done and ready to be put into jars.

If you are only cutting a cup of carrots but have another pound that will go bad? Just cut all of them and throw what you don’t need in the dehydrator.

When it comes to using a dehydrator to reduce food waste, I mainly use it when I find great deals or sales. Or when my garden is over abundant. I have two dehydrators, one that is a DIY that we picked up from our local Habitat For Humanity and our Excalibur. I have to say the mac daddy one that we picked up? Absolute favorite because it is MASSIVE.

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Can You Feed Food Scrap Your Livestock

Another fantastic way to reduce food waste is to feed it to your animals! This goes for ALL animals on the homestead but is only where applicable. We have a 5gal bucket on our back deck that is strictly for our chickens and pigs. Every evening fill the bucket about half way with feed if it’s not full and throw it on the ground for them.

By feeding kitchen scraps to your livestock, you can effectively reduce not only your food waste but also your feed bill! In fact, we have a whole section of the garden that is for livestock fodder. Another cool hack is to bring a small covered bucket to work and have your co workers fill the bucket with their food scraps! We have been feeding our pigs and chickens for months like this.

A word of caution though, not all animals can eat all food scraps. So be aware and prepared for that. Goats can’t eat meat. It’s taboo for a chicken to eat chicken. Cows shouldn’t have large apples. Etc. So just be cautious when feeding your livestock out of your kitchen scraps.

Meal Prepping To Reduce Food Waste

Lastly, meal prepping will help you reduce a lot of food waste. I talked here about how to stretch your meals out to reduce the stress of cooking after a long day of work. When you have a plan of what you are going to eat for the week, it really helps to reduce food waste and stress!

If you are working towards reducing your need of processed foods, that not only feed your family but the scraps go to your livestock, I talk about cooking from scratch here. Because buying the non-gmo, no corn/soy feed for your meat animals doesn’t make a lick of sense if you turn around and feed them a box of mac and cheese.

Bonus Tip: Compost!

The reason why this wasn’t included in the main group is because composting has some “rules”. The general rule of thumb for compost is to put in organic matter. Things like leaves, grass clippings, garden waste, and most kitchen scraps. BUT!

You really don’t want to put meat scraps in your compost. You can put meat or bones in your compost, but you chance predators or the meat going rancid and causing problems in your compost. Another problem is using things like oil, butter, etc can also go rancid. But if you have left over carrot caps, watermelon rinds, etc? Abosultely put them in the compost.

What I Wish I Knew Before Starting A Homestead

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Oh, the things I wish I knew. “They” say that hindsight is 20/20 and they are absolutely right. There are so many challenges that we have faced over the years. If someone would have told me, before starting a homestead, that it would have been this hard? Well, I still would have done it….. and I probably wouldn’t have listened. But if I can help you avoid some pitfalls, I’m going to do it, even if I’m wasting my time.

If you are just starting in your homestead journey, I have the deal for you! In The Homestead Bundle you will receive our Hay Calculator, Profit Calculator, Digital and Printable Garden Journal, The Backyard Homestead eBook, the Simple Budget, Schedule F worksheet, and Herd Health Sheets. That’s a $99 value for $47!

Buy Now

What I wish I would have known before starting a homestead

Set Goals, Make A Plan, And Stick To It

This seems to be the hardest thing for people to do. There is so much excitement in buying a piece of property and you have all these ideas of how you want to do things. Only to realize half way through a project that it’s not working or you don’t need it. But if you can spend some time thinking about all the things you want, how you’re going to accomplish it and putting it in play? You will be ahead of the game.

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Paralysis By Analysis

This is the next part of the planning process and it happens to EVERYONE. Don’t get so caught up in making plans, that you don’t execute them. Yes, there are a million ways to do something. But don’t get so tangled up in the best way, that you don’t do anything. Sometimes jumping in with both feet is the best way to learn. Sure, it can be an expensive lesson. But imagine the pride that comes with learning how to build a coop, a garden bed, or canning? Imagine if you were to put aside the “best” way to do something and just did it? Those lessons are far more valuable than the loss of a couple dollars.

To give you an example, if we had waited to build our goat barn, they would have died that first winter. If we had waited until we knew exactly how to build it, proper plans, location, materials, etc, it wouldn’t have gotten done that first year. We would have had to bring them into the house when we got 4″ of snow and ice. Sure, it’s in a bad spot and doesn’t look pretty but my goats are happy.

Garden Before Livestock

This idea tends to be a forgotten thought on most influencer’s platform. Every single one of us know that you are going to get chickens before you have a way to feed them. Or goats before you have the best practices in hand. It’s just the way this lifestyle works. Sure, you’ll have a few people that will learn everything possible before taking the leap. But a lot of us don’t.

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It’s easy to have the mindset of just going to the feed store for food. A bag of non gmo, corn or soy free feed is about $15 for a 50# bag by me. That doesn’t seem like a lot, right? But it is when you buy 6 bags (or more) of chicken feed, goat feed, pig feed, and alfalfa pellets per month …. Then you have to buy hay, supplements, and medications. The feed alone is $360+ a month.

OR you can learn how to grow their food.

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Live There For A Season

So many times, new homesteaders want to get straight to work. While that is an amazing attitude to have, sometimes living in the space for a season will give you the best possible look at what is going to happen. For example, we waited a whole year before we put in gardens. Why? Because I didn’t want to waste a ton of time, money, resources, etc on putting a garden in, only to have it be in the wrong spot.

Another example is the goat barn. If we had waited a season before putting that in, we would have seen that the water runs right into the barn after a big storm. Now it’s a constant battle to keep them and their bedding dry.

If You Want It, Get It

Not everything needs to be so utilitarian that you can’t have pretty things. But you will realize very soon that utility and practicality are far more valuable than a pretty face. My gardens are a prime example of wanting something pretty vs totally utilitarian.

My kitchen garden has raised beds in rows, with arched trellises, decorations on the fence, and figurines tucked throughout. Yes, it is pretty and fussy. Yes, we sank over a thousand dollars into it. And by the time it’s finished, we will dump another couple thousand. But it is hands down my most favorite spot on the homestead. I’m in there for hours every single day I’m home. That means it gets weeded and watered regularly. The bugs get picked off more often. It’s better taken care of.

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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My big garden? I walk through it to check on things. I’ll weed occasionally. But I’m not hanging out in there. Why? Mainly, because there is just so much more work that needs to be done in there. Also, because my kitchen garden brings me indescribable joy.

Just Because It’s Cute, Doesn’t Mean You Need It

The flip side of idea above is: you don’t need to waste money on garden statues if it takes away from your seed budget. Just because you love llamas, doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to get one. Unless you plan on selling fiber. But the point is that whatever it is you want, it needs to fit in with your budget, plan, and goals.

Before Starting A Homestead Define What Success Is

This is really hard for those that aren’t goal orientated or those who don’t really have a goal in mind. But for some of us, we want to have this successful homestead. But what does that actually look like? I ask myself a lot, “At what point will I consider this (whatever it is) done and a success?”

To give you an example, my gardens will be a success when they provide 75% of the food needs of the entire farm. This includes livestock and humans. My homestead will be successful then.

Infrastructure Is Not Build In A Day

So many times we want everything done right now. But it’s important to realize that unless you have a TON of capital, you won’t get all of your infrastructure built right now. Not only does it take time, your plans change! Initially, we didn’t want a greenhouse. Our spring/summer growing season is about 200 days and usually we can grow frost hardy crops straight through winter. In theory, we can grow year round. But we realized after the second failed attempt at starting seeds inside, we need a greenhouse. Blu loves to look out the windows and she doesn’t care if the seedlings are in her way. To protect our seeds, we need to get the away from the 110# fur missile.

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Invest In Good Tools An Equipment

This is probably the most important thing you could possible do. Do not waste your money on tools or equipment that aren’t worth anything. I’ll be posting a garden guide (coming soon) of the tools that we have bought and love, and those that I wouldn’t waste your money on. But at the end of the day, spend the few more dollars for tools that work well and will last you a long time. A lot of influencers have a list a mile long of tools that are amazing, and tools that we will tell you to stay away from. Obviously, it’s biased, but walk into large purchases with your eyes wide open.

In that same category, don’t waste money on courses that you don’t need. YouTube, Instagram, and blogs like this one are all great resources of information that is FREE!

Before Starting A Homestead: Grace

The absolutely most important thing that you should keep in mind when starting a homestead, is grace. Grace for yourself when you screw up. Understanding when your spouse screws up. Joy when there is success. All of these things are so important. You won’t be successful every time, with everything. And that’s okay. It’s the best part of learning.

How To Build A Successful Homestead

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This is a loaded question that is personal, individual, and can only be answered by you, your family and your land’s capability. At the end of the day, every single homestead is going to look different. You may not want a lot of animals or you may not want huge gardens. You may have to work off farm or on a fixed income. There are so many variables to building a successful homestead. But here are my thoughts on how to build your successful on the homestead.

If you are just starting in your homestead journey, I have the deal for you! In The Homestead Bundle you will receive our Hay Calculator, Profit Calculator, Digital and Printable Garden Journal, The Backyard Homestead eBook, the Simple Budget, Schedule F worksheet, and Herd Health Sheets. That’s a $99 value for $47!

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What Is A Successful Homestead?

Before you start the first project, buy the first piece of land, or anything else, you need to determine what will make your homestead successful to YOU. Is it being 90% self reliant? Raising 100% of your own meat? Surviving or Thriving? It’s so important to have a definition of your success so you can measure your progress. And it’s okay if that definition changes or evolves. But if you cannot figure out the benchmark for your successful homestead, you won’t be successful.

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Defining A Successful Homestead

If you already know what your successful homestead looks like, congratulations! You are ahead of the game by a LOT. I didn’t really understand that I needed to define what my vision of success looked like until I had been homesteading for a couple of years and realized that I was spinning in circles, getting a lot of things done, but nothing that was moving us towards “success”.

So Jared and I sat down and really thought about how would we define the success of our homestead. The question we needed to answer was, “What is THE thing, that when it’s done, we can say we were a success.”

For our homestead, we define success as growing 75% of our food and our animals food, that means meat, dairy, and produce for us. It also means fodder like corn, oats, BOSS, squash/pumpkins and other veggies. Success also means building as much of our infrastructure ourselves whenever possible. Finally, I will deem the homestead and this blog a success when it not only supports itself financially but also allows us to retire early.

Measuring Against Your Definition Of A Successful Homestead

Every single goal, project, expectation, or purchase needs to be measured against your definition of success. That doesn’t mean that you can’t do that project, set that goal, or make the purchase. But the KNOWING is the most important thing.

Successful Homestead

To give you an example, I want a greenhouse so badly. I want to grow coffee, citrus, and other heat loving plants that my zone gets too cold for. Towards the bottom of the blog post, I have listed out our definition of success, but one of the big ones is growing 75% of our food. Measuring the want of a greenhouse against growing 75% of our own food, the greenhouse would be a good purchase and project. If I build a greenhouse, we could start our garden plants in the greenhouse which would greatly improve their chances of surviving Blu. It would limit the amount of citrus and coffee we purchase from the store. Win.

Another example would be buying a milk cow right now. This would definitely help us with grow/ own 75% of our own food because we would save a ton of money on dairy products and potentially meat. But if we do it now, before we have solid pastures set up, we would not be working towards success because of the amount of hay we would have to purchase. Lose. BUT it’s something that can be done later.

So before you start doing things to or for your homestead, make sure it’s getting you closer to success instead of further away.

Setting Expectations For Success

A long time ago, I heard someone say that the #1 relationship killer was unmet expectations. I thought it was a crock, because everyone knows it’s communication, right? But when he explained it further it makes total sense. Let’s say you expect your spouse to always do the dishes, but you never said “this is your chore” and they never agreed. They can’t meet your expectation. Or if you have told your spouse a million times that you can’t stand roses. But they get you roses all the time, you have the expectation that they will not buy you roses because you don’t like them. That expectation is not met. Overtime it causes immense frustration and anger that ultimately can kill a relationship.

It’s the same for homesteading. If your expectation is to have all of your infrastructure in place within one year, and it doesn’t happen, you’re going to be upset. If you keep failing to meet your expectations, you could hit burnout and give up.

Unrealistic Expectations

One of the things that every single homesteader is guilty of is setting unrealistic expectations. We think that we have to have everything done, RIGHT NOW! The reality is that unless you have the capital to buy a farm that is already where you want it, it’s going to take years of work and a ton of capital to get you where you want to be. And if you don’t have a ton of capital, it’ll take even longer.

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It’s saying I’m going to buy a cow with absolutely ZERO grass to raise them on. Or I’m going to heat only with the trees harvested from my land and there isn’t a single tree on your property. Or my favorite, I’m going to grow 100% of my yearly food needs in an unproven garden with no experience.

These unrealistic expectations will not be met. Sure, you can get a cow, but you will be buying TONS of hay. You can’t heat with only wood from your farm if you have zero trees on your land. And trust me when I say, you won’t grow a year’s worth of food in an unproven garden if you have zero experience.

Realistic Expectations For A Successful Homestead

Setting your expectations for a successful homestead should be in line with your definition of success. For example, if you’re definition of success is for the homestead to feed you and your animals, maybe don’t get animals before the garden. Which ALL of us do, no matter how many times we say we won’t.

Your expectations should be worked into your goals. There is a huge difference between a goal and an expectation. A goal is something you are striving for, while an expectation is something you expect to happen. If your goal is to grow 75% of you and your animals feed, the expectation is that you are going to put in a garden.

Having a realistic expectation of what you are able to do, the capital available to do those things and a clear set of goals will set you up on the path to a successful homestead.

Your Land’s Capability

I feel like this is very important when it comes to homesteading, that you really look at what your land is capable of. I mentioned that if you have an expectation to heat with only wood harvested from your own land, but you have zero trees on your property, that is unrealistic. But I wanted to take it one step further because I don’t think new homesteaders truly understand what they are getting into.

preparing for winter

If your land is steep hills, mountains, etc, it is not necessarily capable of supporting a cow. If your land is mostly trees, you are going to have to do some major work to get a garden in. I want everyone to homestead in SOME capacity where you are right now. But at the same time, you have to be realistic in what you can and can’t do base on what your land can do.

Neighbors may not want to listen to your goats scream all day. Local ordinances may not allow more than so many chickens. Before you start defining your successful homestead, you have to be aware of what land you are buying and what it can actually do for you.

Our Successful Homestead Plan

For Jared and I to feel like we have been successful in building our homestead, it has to have 3 key points:

  1. The homestead grows 75% of the food for us and our animals.
  2. We build, create, or source from our property as much as we possibly can.
  3. Our homestead (and blog) would be considered a success if it can fully support itself and allows us to retire early.

Let’s break this down

75% Of All Food

This is a big expectation because it’s a lot of food. But I don’t expect that overnight or even in one year. We learned a lot in our first garden and we’ve learned even more since. But we have realized that we have to grow slowly so that we don’t end up packing too much work on ourselves. Since we both work fulltime, we have to be aware of how much we can actually do. This is where that homestead flexibility comes in.

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We also have a ton of trees on our land. Which is great for heating the house, but sucks when it comes to sunlight and garden space. This year we installed a kitchen garden in this weird lawn space in between our driveways. It’s a lot of space and a great place to have veggie plants, flowers, herbs, and lettuces. We can even put in our potatoes, carrots, garlic and onions. But I forgot that in the summer, there are a ton of trees that block the sun. This isn’t a big deal because those trees need to come down anyways. But our garden may not thrive because of them.

Our gardens are a process and that’s okay. 75% of our food doesn’t need all be done right now.

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Being Self Reliant

Jared and I are both city kids and we don’t have anyone teaching us how to do these things. Because of that, it’s really important to both of us that we learn how to do stuff for ourselves. I didn’t know how to make bread before I started this journey. Now, I can make sourdough!

Jared had never felled trees before coming to the homestead. Now? He’s really good at it. He didn’t know how to sharpen a chainsaw. Now, he does.

Leaving behind a legacy is really important to me. I’m not going to get my great grandmother or grandmothers cast iron pans. I didn’t get cooking skills from my mom, grandmother, great grandmother. Jared and I didn’t learn how to butcher animals or put in gardens from our family. And that’s okay because that’s not the life they lived. But because this is so important to us, we are also teaching our kids how to do these things. We are teaching them how to repair toilets, install light fixtures, build chicken tractors without plans, put in gardens, sharpen chainsaws, and so much more.

That’s a legacy I am proud to leave behind.

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Financial Freedom

I started this blog and our homestead with one single end goal: Retire early. That’s it. We are putting in the work now, while we are young, so that we can have systems in place for retirement. When the homestead produces 75% of our food, that puts approximately $900/mo back in our pockets. When it produces 75% of our animals food? That’s $600/mo!

While this blog is not currently making a lot of money, the reality is that it is getting to the point of being self reliant. Thanks to you guys!

Successful Homestead

Walking into retirement with virtually zero bills or debt allows us to not worry so much about a crashing economy. Knowing that we can garden and sell the produce or sell goat kids? That brings more options to the table than praying my 401k and social security will still be there.

Building Your Successful Homestead

At the end of the day, your homestead is not going to look like anyone else’s. You’ve got your own hopes, dreams, capabilities, resources, and needs. But if you can define what a successful homestead looks like to you, and then start setting expectations and goals for it, you will get there so much faster.

How To Prepare Your Vegetable Garden

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It’s March, y’all! In just a few short weeks, we will be planting our first plants and I am ridiculously excited. There is not much more thrilling, mood enhancing, joyous, and prideful moment then harvesting your first vegetable from your garden. When you plant a bunch of peppers, dehydrate them, and use them in your dinner? It’s an indescribable feeling. But in order to get there, you have to do some work to prepare your vegetable garden.

Prepare Your Vegetable Garden

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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Before You Prepare Your Garden

They say that the first thing you should do on your homestead is start with a garden. They would be right, unfortunately, most of us start with animals. We get attached to our critters and then end up with a poorly producing garden, or no garden. But your garden has the potential for being the most money saving thing on the homestead! So there are a couple things I like to do every year before I prepare my garden.

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Check Last Years Journal/ Notes

Every year, I keep a garden journal. Mine is multi-year so that I can look back and see what we did, how it worked, etc. This really helps because there are a ton of finer details of a garden that sometimes get missed. Like how much you watered your peppers? Did you use pig, chicken, goat manure? What variety of melon did you hate? This information is important to make sure that you don’t make the same mistakes, but also so that you can make sure you are doing the “right” thing for your gardens.

Prepare Your Vegetable Garden

Look At What You Preserved

If you are using a garden for fresh eating, then I would take notes on what you are eating, how much you ate, etc. If you preserve your garden, go to your pantry and figure out what all you have eaten, used, etc and determine how much you need for this years gardens. For example, I know that we average 2 quarts of spaghetti sauce a week. That means that I need to make sure that we have at least 100 quarts of spaghetti sauce by the time my tomatoes are done for the year. This will help you determine how many plants you need.

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Consider Your Animals Needs

If you have chickens, goats, pigs or other livestock, you should consider how much of their feed you could grow. This will look different for everyone based on the space they can dedicate to a garden and how many and the size of their animals, but this is something to consider. We have the space to have a fairly large garden, that means that I can absolutely grow a fair amount of feed for my animals. I know that pigs and chickens can eat basically anything in my garden. The goats require a little more care to make sure that whatever they eat, won’t make them sick. But I know that all of my animals can eat corn, beets, tomatoes, peppers, etc. So I will plant extra for them.

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How To Prepare Your Vegetable Garden

On to what I know you are interested in.

Depending on your philosophies for gardening, you will want to go ahead and clear any debris, weeds, or other things you don’t want in your garden. Our garden is roughly 58ft by 108ft, the 8ft is just to account for gates and walkways. That is just over triple the size of last years garden. We are going to be producing more of our animals feed this year which is why we are taking up more space.

Clearing The Garden

Because we are making the garden much, much bigger, we have to go in and clear a lot of debris from the previous owners, as well as a couple of dead trees that are in the way. We also have to pull a lot of briars and other browse that the goats didn’t get to last year. This actually works out well because we can actually replant the briars in an area that we are leaving for the goats. Win, win.

Lay Out Fencing

Now, you don’t have to put up fencing around your garden. In fact, a lot of people don’t. But we free range a lot of our animals and the goats and pigs would absolutely DESTROY the garden if we didn’t protect it. Last year the ducks ate all of the garden and the goats used our baby fruit trees as scratching posts. So we learned to protect our food. Because we are expanding our garden, we removed the old fence and reused it when we put up the new one.

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Consider Additives

I consider anything that I add to my soil (including more soil) an additive. You should have a soil test done every year to make sure that you are only using additives that you need. Too much nitrogen will kill your plants, even nitrogen loving plants like corn and tomatoes. You should also make sure that you aren’t adding hot manure straight to your soil.

All hot manure should be composted to make sure that it won’t burn your plants. Hot manure comes from pigs, chickens, horses, etc and should be aged or composted because they are so high in nitrogen. Cow, sheep, goat and rabbit manure are considered cold and could be put right on the plant with minimal adverse affects. However, I still allow my pig and chicken manure to compost in their bedding before adding it onto my plants. Just to be safe.

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Other additives would be liquid fertilizers, pesticides, etc. This is where your philosophies will come into play. I do not spray or add anything to my plants. The reason is because I don’t feel like it’s necessary. I compost regularly for fertilizers, add mulch for weed protection and have chicken tractors in my gardens for fertilizer, weed control, and pest protection. I’ll be posting a whole post about our chicken tractors in the garden here soon.

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Sourcing Your Plants

No matter what plants you decide on, either starting your own seedlings or buying starts from the store, the simple fact that you are starting a garden is amazing! Don’t freak out about not having the “right” things. Starting a garden is the best part.

Starting Your Own Starts

This is hands down the most economical approach but it definitely requires patience and some start ups. I use 1020 trays and 2in pots. Each 1020 tray will hold 50 2in pots. After soil, pots, trays and seeds, each tray costs me about $15. I usually don’t transplant into bigger pots because I feel it’s unnecessary but you do what you need to. Since my garden is so large (again 58ft x108ft) I need 100’s of starts.

Prepare Your Vegetable Garden

Uh…Remember that I offer full disclosure in every single post….. Well, let me tell you, the pots I used last season did not do well. I’m not 100% sure what caused the issues. It could be soil, the pots were too small, Blu wanting to look outside, not enough sunlight? I don’t know but out of about 1000 starts, only about 200 made it into the garden. Out of the 200, ALL of them were stunted, if they grew at all.

Now, I use these pots, inserts, and 1020 from Bootstrap Farmer and I have had MUCH more success. I would highly recommend using these. Out of about 4 trays of starts (128 pots) in this system, I have only had 1 not make it…. and there’s a really good chance we forgot to put a seed in it….oops

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The best part about starting your own seeds is that you have the ability to get a bunch of different varieties. I have 5 different tomato varieties and at least 8 different pepper varieties. I buy most of my seeds from True Leaf, Eden Brothers, or Territorial Seed Company.

Buying Starts

Buying plant starts can be a great way to start your garden. Again, just starting a garden is fantastic, so don’t think you HAVE to start your own seedlings. Last year, my ducks ate ALL of my starts. I found a local nursery that only charged me $2/ 4 pack tray. That’s a great price! Especially because big box stores charge $3-6 per plant.

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The biggest downside to buying plant starts is the lack of variety. When you go to the store, you are probably never going to see luffa gourds. That’s sad because not only are they amazing sponges but luffa is great for goats!

Prepare Your Beds

Whether you are planting in raised beds, in the ground, or in containers on your patio, you are moving in the right direction! Playing in the dirt is one of my favorite past times and it makes me unbelievably happy. There is nothing like it. I am very excited that you are getting ready to start on your gardens. Big or small doesn’t matter. Starting does.

Building Your Beds

If you are using a raised bed system, you should be building these in the late winter or early spring. For us, March is the last push to get any infrastructure for the garden done. This means building beds, sourcing soil, moving compost, etc. If you are building beds, you don’t want to run out of space half way through planting season and then get bogged down having to make multiple trips to the store for supplies.

Prepare Your Vegetable Garden

Laying Out Your Garden

If you are planting in the ground, you should have a plan of what you want your rows to look like. Where are you putting the peppers, tomatoes, rosemary? Are you going to work on companion planting? All of these things are very important to figure out BEFORE you get too far into planting. So do yourself a favor and spend a few minutes planning your rows.

Irrigation

For some reason most people think about watering their gardens last. I don’t really know why since it is possibly THE most important thing. But I am equally as guilty of this. Last year, it was a last minute, oh crap moment that resulted in 4 trips to Lowes to get more irrigation hose. So do yourself a favor and put your garden in close to your water source, and figure out how much hose or water you need first. This year, the cost of drip hoses was going to be ridiculous, so we are toying with the idea of a sprinkler system. We haven’t decided yet. Because again, we are waiting till last minute….oops.

Get To Planting

This is the best part of any garden. Personally, I absolutely LOVE my kitchen gardens and raised beds. I don’t know what it is but when I get to play in the raised beds, it brings me indescribable joy. The big garden? Not so much. I love it, but I’ll hang in the kitchen garden thank you.

Whether you are planting in rows, raised beds or containers, the big thing to remember is spacing is important! You don’t want to stack your tomatoes too close, but peppers should be a little closer. Zucchini needs room, but beans can be 4in apart. Just remember to keep your spacing in mind as you plant.

The most important part of preparing your vegetable gardens? Enjoy it!

Is Homesteading Hard

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I should probably wait to write this, maybe when I’m not quite so raw. But the cold hard reality is that homesteading is hard. Out of all the things I have done in my life, I think homesteading is the hardest. I have had multiple miscarriages. Sent my husband off to war twice and raise two babies while he was gone. I have stood over bleeding and mangled bodies and said, “I’ve got you.” I’ve had a mom hand me her infant and say, “Save her.” Is homesteading hard? It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done.

Is homesteading hard
*****Be sure to read till the end*****

Why Is Homesteading Hard?

The constant life and death decisions will wear you down. The constant checking on feed, hay, and medication levels. Hauling sick animals into the house or into the vet. Checking finances to make sure you can cover the feed, vet or light bill. Worrying about the garden producing not only your food but your animals. Prepping firewood and praying you’ve got enough. Constant research to find another way to possibly save money or a life. Frustration when a product doesn’t work. It’s enough to drive you insane. Homesteading is hard.

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Life and Death Decisions

When you live a “normal” life, maybe you really only worry about your dogs or cats, maybe an “exotic”. But when you homestead (even small scale), you have to be constantly aware of your house pets and livestock, their safety and wellbeing, their health, laboring or egg/ hatching rates and so much more. You have to worry about predators.

You order chicks and realize that one just isn’t doing well, and you have to make the decision to cull. A duck breaks a leg? Is it worth the pain they will go through to see if you can set it, splint it and keep them confined? Actively warming a goat kid till the wee hours of the morning. Only to have them die a couple days later, anyways.

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Running Out Of Feed

Sometimes you run out of feed, and can’t get more. The supply chain shortages are a thing and usually the small farmer is who suffers. You’ve got to get creative with how you are going to feed your chickens, ducks, pigs and goats with no access to feed. Sometimes it’s taking 5gal buckets to work and asking coworkers to fill it with their food scraps, just to feed your pigs or chickens. Or begging neighbors for a couple bales of hay.

The reality of caring for so many animals on the homestead is overwhelming sometimes.

Sick Animals

Sometimes, your living room turns into an infirmary. Sometimes, your really nice SUV turns into a litter box because you’ve got to haul the pigs to the vet. Then despite all of your very best efforts, your animal dies anyways.

It’s pulling goats because momma is too tired to push, only to realize the kid is stuck and you can’t get it out. Praying to forces you don’t even believe in to save this baby.

It’s a cemetery on your property because you just couldn’t save them.

Financial Impact

Sometimes life and death decisions are made because of finances and that feels worse. When you have to cull an animal, especially a favorite, because you don’t have the money for medicine or a vet visit. Or it’s feeding the pigs out of your pantry or fridge because you don’t have anything else.

Other times, it’s using your emergency fund to cover hay because you ran out.

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Working Your Gardens

Whether you are praying for rain, or praying for rain to stop, your life revolves around your gardens in spring and summer. Since you’ve decided to grow as much fodder for your livestock as possible, you are stressing over it’s growth. You are simply hoping to reduce the strain on your wallet.

You are constantly checking for pests and weeds. Thinking about next years garden and what you will do differently. Pouring over notes, blog posts, and more trying to get a leg up.

Firewood

When you make the decision to heat solely with your wood stove, you spend hours, days and weeks building that firewood stack. One cord down, seven more to go. Only to realize mid winter, seven wasn’t enough either. So you’re back out there, cutting down trees or finding your stacks you had put back for the next year.

It’s hauling huge rounds of wood up hills. It’s the pure manual labor that feels back breaking, but isn’t.

Is Homesteading Hard?

Yes, but it is worth it. Every single time and every single way, it is worth it. The good outweighs the bad, every single time.

The pure joy of harvesting peppers, dehydrating them, grinding them, and then using them in your dinner? It’s a feeling of pure satisfaction.

Seeing that firewood stack go from empty at the beginning of spring and full at the end of summer? Knowing that you are going to be warm and snuggly? It’s hard to describe the feeling of accomplishment.

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It’s cleaning eggs, putting them in a jar to waterglass, and putting them on shelves in your basement, knowing you will have eggs this winter.

Watching your garden bloom and grow. Eating beans fresh from the garden, while harvesting peppers and tomatoes. Canning your tomatoes. Knowing that when you are buttoning up everything for the winter, you have succeeded in your goal of providing for your family and livestock.

It’s watching that goat kid thrive after a traumatic birth. Knowing that you would do it again and again, just to see that baby come out alive and hear those first cries. And crying when you bury her sisters and listening to that momma goat cry for her other babies.

It’s waking up before the sun breaks the horizon to milk the goats. Softly talking to your most skittish goat and thanking her for her milk. Watching the sunrise with her as her kid jumps and plays with the other kids. Listening for her call her kid and the kid call back.

Planning a bigger, better garden because you learned from your mistakes last year or the year before.

Is homesteading hard? Yes, but you should absolutely do it. There is no better feeling in the world than watching all of your hard work pay off. No amount of money or promotions, or follows, likes and shares compares to feeling of being self reliant, self sufficient, and earning through blood, sweat and tears the bounty.

Because when you homestead, it’s real. And in a world full of slight of hand, disinformation, division, and mistrust, your homestead is a living breathing thing that YOU created.

How To Set Up A Garden Journal

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Much like everything else that is homestead related, there is no one size fits all approach to a garden journal. I wish there was because it would make it easier to just have someone tell you what to do and it work 100% of the time. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. The next best thing that we can do is try different things until something works. Today, I’m going to show you how I set up a garden journal and give you the high points of how to start yours.

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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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What Is A Garden Journal

A garden journal is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a journal that details your gardens throughout the years. Yes, years. In the first year, you may notice a high infestation of Japanese beetles. In your journal you would make note of the beetles, an estimate of how many beetles, when you first noticed them, what plants they were attracted to, any treatments you did to get rid of them, etc. The next year as you look through your journal, you remember that you had a problem last year, and you can be proactive this year.

How To Set Up A Garden Journal

Everyone will have a different set up based on what they are growing, where they live, and so on. But here are some starting points. If you aren’t sure where to start, you can purchase my garden journal printable in our general store.

The Binder

I think that the best thing you could do is to purchase a binder for your garden journal. I use this binder because I like that it doesn’t take up a lot of space on my desk. Plus, when I am down in the basement working on seeds or out in the garden, it’s not this huge bulky thing. I also like using a binder because I can move pages around from year to year.

I used to have a bullet journal and while I loved it, it was hard to find what I was looking for since it was chronologically done. Not a bad thing, but if I couldn’t remember when I did something, it was lost. Being able to look back and see that last year I planted 100 tomato seeds and only 80 germinated tells me a lot about the seeds, soil, watering, etc if I have that information available.

The Dividers

I have a TON of dividers in my garden journal, but again, I want simple and easy to find. I use these mini dividers to match my mini binder. For your dividers, you need to think about the things that you want to track. Do you want to track how many seedlings you bought? Or are you planting your own seeds? Do you want to keep track of your soil tests? What about expenses? These are all things that you need to think about so that you can keep track accordingly.

I like to know what seeds I started and when. Then I want to know my soil tests, pests and what seeds I saved. When our orchard stops getting attacked by goats, I would like to know when I pruned, harvested, and more.

Loose Paper

I use loose leaf sheets to take notes, brainstorm, etc. I get the college rule and blank to make sure that if I want to design a garden bed, I can design it on a blank sheet and write on the lined sheets. I store all the excess paper in the back of the binder. I also use sheet protectors on the important pages.

For example: If I go into the basement and I am working on transplants, I don’t want the pages to get dirty. Or if I have designed a garden bed, I want to be able to take that page out of the binder and take it with me to the bed. By having a sheet protector on it, I don’t have to worry as much about it getting destroyed.

Using Your Garden Journal

After getting your journal set up, you should start filling it out with the information you have. In your soil test section, you should fill out previous years soil test results. Be sure to separate years with a line or something so that you don’t get confused. If you don’t have that information anymore? Or this is your first garden? No worries, do the best you can.

When you start your seedlings, be sure to write where you purchased your seeds from. This will help you decide if that was a good buy. If you buy seeds, make sure to put where you bought them from. In your Pest section, make sure to keep track of what pests came when and how you treated for them. This will help you because next year, you can say, “In 2022, the Japanese beetles came in April and only hit the apple trees.” In 2023, you can make sure to have beetle traps or other treatments already in place.

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I am the type that will write down everything because I will forget it. We had a great pepper harvest last year, but I know it could have been better if I had known only water them every 4-6 days. Because of my garden journal, I know not to water the peppers as often.

Another cool thing about my garden journal is that I have a harvest/ preservation section. This section tells me how much food I need to harvest and preserve from my gardens. I know that we eat a TON of green beans. Like, I can 100 quart jars of green beans and it’s usually gone by April. That tells me that I need to harvest at least 200# of green beans. Because I know these things, I know I need to plant a minimum of 200 pole bean plants. Same with corn and peas.

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Lastly, in my garden journal, I have a list of monthly chores that I need to do. This helps me stay on track with the needs of my garden. Because our goal is to reduce our grocery bill by 75% in 5 years and our feed bill by 80% in 2 years, I need all the help I can get. It not only tracks the weeding, watering and planting, but it also tells me when exactly when to do those things. In April I have final till of the garden, lay final layer of compost, plant after April 15th, weed weekly until seedlings are established, and so on. That way there is no guess work about what I need to do.

If you haven’t checked it out yet, you can find my garden journal printable in our general store here. There are a ton of different planners on the internet but none of them fit the style that I was going for, so I created my own.

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