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Homestead Flexibility: The Key to Success When Plans Go Awry

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When it comes to homesteading, there are countless essential skills to master—gardening, animal care, food preservation, and efficient time management, to name a few. However, the most valuable skill of all might be homestead flexibility: the ability to adapt, adjust, and pivot when things don’t go as planned.

The Ultimate Homesteader’s Starter Bundle – Only $47!

Get the tools you need to stay organized, track profits, and manage your homestead with ease!

Includes:
✅ Schedule F Tracker – Simplify tax prep
✅ Profit Calculator – Track earnings
✅ Hay Calculator – Plan livestock feed
✅ Garden Journal – Digital & printable
✅ Herd Health Tracker – Monitor animal care
✅ Simple Budget – Manage finances
✅ Backyard Homestead eBook – Essential tips

$99 value – now just $47! Start your homesteading journey today!

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What Is Homestead Flexibility?

Homestead flexibility is the art of adjusting to unexpected changes while maintaining progress toward your goals. My husband, Jared, used to say that the Army’s real motto should be Semper Gumby—“Always Flexible.” This phrase became even more relevant when I worked in EMS, where situations could change in an instant. But nowhere has Semper Gumby been more applicable than on our homestead.

Homestead Flexibility in Action

A perfect example happened just yesterday. I was deep into meal prep, making breakfast tacos in bulk for Jared. While handling pounds of meat, eggs, and potatoes, a nagging thought told me to check on Jade, one of our goats. She wasn’t due for another few days, but something felt off.

I planned to check on her after hanging laundry, but before I could finish, I heard a scream—one unlike her usual noisy calls. Rushing to the pasture, we found Jade mid-labor. Within moments, we were in full-on kidding mode. My carefully planned day was out the window, but instead of stressing, we adapted. By the end of it, we welcomed two new kids: Onyx and Amethyst.

This is homestead flexibility at work—knowing that sometimes, your schedule will take a backseat to what truly matters in the moment.

The Reality of Homestead Challenges

Many homesteaders start with an ideal vision of self-sufficiency, but reality often paints a different picture. Equipment breaks down, livestock gets sick, and the weather doesn’t always cooperate. Learning to work with what you have rather than becoming frustrated with what you can’t control is a crucial part of long-term success.

Take, for example, the unpredictability of animal births. Even with calculated due dates, animals often surprise you. The key is having supplies ready and being mentally prepared to pivot at a moment’s notice. The same goes for your garden—some crops may fail due to unexpected frosts or pests, and you’ll need to replant or find alternative solutions. The more you can embrace the unexpected, the more sustainable your homesteading journey will be.

Structuring Your Goals While Staying Flexible

We started the year with clear homesteading goals: fencing the garden, building chicken tractors, and clearing the basement. But then came the rain. In our part of Georgia, February was the rainiest I’ve ever seen. Mud pits replaced pastures, barns flooded, and outdoor projects became impossible.

Had we been rigid in our plans, we would have felt defeated. Instead, we shifted gears. Jared focused on splitting firewood, something that needed doing anyway. Rather than forcing progress on the flooded garden, we redirected our efforts to indoor tasks. Flexibility saved our momentum.

The Ultimate Homesteader’s Starter Bundle – Only $47!

Get the tools you need to stay organized, track profits, and manage your homestead with ease!

Includes:
✅ Schedule F Tracker – Simplify tax prep
✅ Profit Calculator – Track earnings
✅ Hay Calculator – Plan livestock feed
✅ Garden Journal – Digital & printable
✅ Herd Health Tracker – Monitor animal care
✅ Simple Budget – Manage finances
✅ Backyard Homestead eBook – Essential tips

$99 value – now just $47! Start your homesteading journey today!

Buy Now

How to Build Flexibility Into Your Homestead Plans

  1. Give Yourself Time
    Unexpected events will arise—ill animals, bad weather, or surprise births. When setting goals, allow extra time so that delays don’t completely derail your progress.
  2. Accept That Not Everything Will Happen on Time
    Some projects will need to be pushed back. If rain ruins your February planting plans, move them to March. If the basement isn’t cleared, reevaluate your approach. Adaptation is key.
  3. Prioritize Your Goals
    Not all tasks are equally urgent. Structure your to-do list based on necessity. For example, as we plan for the next quarter, our priorities are:
    • Seed and plant the garden (critical for food supply)
    • Improve our butchering space
    • Stack and split firewood
    • Clear the basement (helps with storage and future projects)
    • Build the firepit (a lower-priority, nice-to-have project)
    • Work on the greenhouse (can be gathered gradually)
  4. Have Backup Plans
    Flexibility isn’t just about shifting schedules—it’s about having alternatives. This year, we opted for a slower-growing meat bird breed to allow for unexpected butchering delays without compromising meat quality. This kind of foresight makes all the difference.
  5. Give Yourself and Your Family Grace
    Homesteading is demanding, and sometimes, despite your best efforts, things won’t go as planned. That’s okay. Giving yourself and your family grace means understanding that delays, setbacks, and mistakes are part of the process. Instead of frustration, practice patience. Celebrate progress, no matter how small, and remember that each challenge is a learning opportunity.
  6. Stay Organized and Track Your Progress
    One of the best ways to maintain flexibility while staying productive is by keeping detailed records of your projects, goals, and setbacks. A homestead journal can help you track planting schedules, livestock health, weather patterns, and completed projects. By reviewing past records, you can make better decisions moving forward and quickly adapt when unexpected challenges arise.
  7. Lean on Your Community
    Homesteading isn’t just about self-sufficiency—it’s also about community. Whether it’s neighbors, fellow homesteaders, or online support groups, having a network to rely on can make a huge difference. Sharing advice, bartering resources, and lending a hand during tough times can ease some of the burdens and help you stay adaptable.

The Power of Switching Gears

On any given day, weather, emergencies, or surprise animal births can throw a wrench into our plans. But instead of losing an entire day to frustration, we ask: What can we do instead?

Today, for instance, it’s raining again. That means no gardening, no firewood stacking, and no firepit building. But it’s the perfect day to clean out the basement—a task we can tackle indoors.

Beyond switching gears for productivity, it’s also important to recognize when you need rest. Homesteading can be physically and mentally exhausting. Building flexibility into your routine also means knowing when to take a step back, recharge, and return with fresh energy.

The Ultimate Homesteader’s Starter Bundle – Only $47!

Get the tools you need to stay organized, track profits, and manage your homestead with ease!

Includes:
✅ Schedule F Tracker – Simplify tax prep
✅ Profit Calculator – Track earnings
✅ Hay Calculator – Plan livestock feed
✅ Garden Journal – Digital & printable
✅ Herd Health Tracker – Monitor animal care
✅ Simple Budget – Manage finances
✅ Backyard Homestead eBook – Essential tips

$99 value – now just $47! Start your homesteading journey today!

Buy Now

The Bottom Line: Flexibility Fuels Success

A successful homestead is built on vision, adaptability, and hard work. Without a clear vision, you’ll struggle to stay on course. Without flexibility, unexpected challenges will leave you feeling overwhelmed. But when you combine vision, flexibility, and a willingness to pivot when needed, your homestead will thrive—rain or shine.

If you like the content I put out, feel free to buy us a coffee! It helps keep this site running, marketing and the goats in grain!

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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.

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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*****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.

The Ultimate Homesteader’s Starter Bundle – Only $47!

Get the tools you need to stay organized, track profits, and manage your homestead with ease!

Includes:
✅ Schedule F Tracker – Simplify tax prep
✅ Profit Calculator – Track earnings
✅ Hay Calculator – Plan livestock feed
✅ Garden Journal – Digital & printable
✅ Herd Health Tracker – Monitor animal care
✅ Simple Budget – Manage finances
✅ Backyard Homestead eBook – Essential tips

$99 value – now just $47! Start your homesteading journey today!

Buy Now

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.

If you are new to heating with firewood and are looking to master the finer points of it. We’ve got a great eBook that goes in depth of what tools you should consider, how and where to stack, how to build a fire and so much more!

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Running Out Of Feed

Sometimes you run out of feed, and can’t get more. The supply chain shortages were 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.

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Are you looking for garden journal prompts, but aren’t interested in a weekly email? Check out our 365 Garden Journal Prompts! This is an amazing, all in one, yearly product that you only pay for once.

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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.

goat kidding

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!

Buy Now

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.

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.

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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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.

If you are new to heating with firewood and are looking to master the finer points of it. We’ve got a great eBook that goes in depth of what tools you should consider, how and where to stack, how to build a fire and so much more!

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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.

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.

goat kidding

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!

Buy Now

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.

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Are you looking for garden journal prompts, but aren’t interested in a weekly email? Check out our 365 Garden Journal Prompts! This is an amazing, all in one, yearly product that you only pay for once.

Buy Now!

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.

If you like the content I put out, feel free to buy us a coffee! It helps keep this site running, marketing and the goats in grain!

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What Does Food Security Look Like?

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If you live in America or really any industrialized country, there is a good chance you have a ton of holes in your food chain. The vast majority of Americans don’t even know what food security is, it’s just not something they think about. As long as they can get to the store and buy their food, they are happy. Unfortunately, when the pandemic hit, it was eye opening for a lot of people. They learned that having an emergency food supply isn’t just about a zombie apocalypse. This series is here to help you identify and start to fill the holes in your food security.

The Ultimate Homesteader’s Starter Bundle – Only $47!

Get the tools you need to stay organized, track profits, and manage your homestead with ease!

Includes:
✅ Schedule F Tracker – Simplify tax prep
✅ Profit Calculator – Track earnings
✅ Hay Calculator – Plan livestock feed
✅ Garden Journal – Digital & printable
✅ Herd Health Tracker – Monitor animal care
✅ Simple Budget – Manage finances
✅ Backyard Homestead eBook – Essential tips

$99 value – now just $47! Start your homesteading journey today!

Buy Now

Why Food Security Is Important

I don’t understand why so many people don’t think about where their next meal is coming from. It’s mind boggling to me how many people just go about their life with no thoughts to the future. Most people don’t have a plan if their house catches on fire, let alone what they are going to do if they lose their job. Preppers have caught a bad name due to being hyper prepared but also due to propaganda. But those of us that have lost jobs, homes, or other life altering events know how important it is to have a back up plan.

Not all emergencies look the same, nor are they all on the same scale. For example, losing a job could be catastrophic for one family, but not a big deal for another. A week without power could cripple a family that relies on freezers to feed their family. A cancer diagnosis could financially ruin a family. But all of these are emergencies. But by having food security, it reduces one part of their emergency. Even if it’s small.

What Is Food Security

To start, we need to figure out what food security means to you and your family. To me, food security means having the ability to source and acquire the food, water, and other necessities my family and animals need to survive, at a minimum. If you don’t know what that looks like, you came to the right place.

Save on Seeds

In order to start filling food security holes, you need to first identify them. Then you can start figuring out how to close those holes. Remember, we are trying to source these items. Are you on a special diet? What do you know how to cook? What do you like to eat? What kind of storage do you have? What do your animals need to eat? These are all very important questions in closing food security holes.

The Ultimate Homesteader’s Starter Bundle – Only $47!

Get the tools you need to stay organized, track profits, and manage your homestead with ease!

Includes:
✅ Schedule F Tracker – Simplify tax prep
✅ Profit Calculator – Track earnings
✅ Hay Calculator – Plan livestock feed
✅ Garden Journal – Digital & printable
✅ Herd Health Tracker – Monitor animal care
✅ Simple Budget – Manage finances
✅ Backyard Homestead eBook – Essential tips

$99 value – now just $47! Start your homesteading journey today!

Buy Now

Let’s start answering some of those questions

If you are on a special diet like a cardiac, diabetic, or even lactose intolerant, getting emergency supplies is going to be harder to do. There is a ton of carbs and sodium in long term, commercial foods. Preserving your own foods is ideal, but it’s not necessarily long term.

Can you cook? If not, having pre-made, commercial meals may be the way to go. Especially if your culinary skills are limited. However, I would highly suggest you learn to cook more and also learn about the fundamentals of cooking.

Are you a picky eater? Or have someone in your home that is picky? Then you need to make sure that you’ve got foods that they like or can tolerate. It’s cruel to tell someone, “sucks to be you” in an emergency situation. So make sure you’ve got foods that they like. A side note to this, if you buy a pre packed survival meal kit like this, please make sure that you like EVERYTHING in it. It may save you some money now, but if you don’t like beef stroganoff, don’t waste your money on it.

What kind of storage do you have? We are blessed to have a basement/garage combo that we were able to retrofit with shelves and turn a 12×12 area into our food storage room. We’ve got tons of shelves and supplies to help us out. Everything from canned goods to extra jars as well as commercial, long term storage items. If you aren’t that lucky, where can you store your emergency supplies? A linen closet? Under the beds?

Lastly, what do your animals need to survive? It seems that most people forget to make sure they’re animals will be okay in an emergency situation. That means making sure that you’ve got medications, food, and water.

Tractor Supply

Why is this so important to me?

Well, recently we had to replace our well pump. I know you’re thinking, “Leigh, a well pump isn’t about food and food security.” But it is. Without water, all things will die.

When we moved on to our homestead, we were told that the well pump was pretty new but to have a couple of pump switches on stand by because the power would surge and cause the switch to fail. The first night we were here, the water cut off in the middle of my shower. I had to use bottled water to finish washing my hair. I called my step dad and the old owner trying to figure out what happened. The switch failed.

If you are new to heating with firewood and are looking to master the finer points of it. We’ve got a great eBook that goes in depth of what tools you should consider, how and where to stack, how to build a fire and so much more!

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For the next several months we dealt with the water randomly cutting off or the water stopping if we ran the back spigot. Multiple plumbers came out and no one knew how to fix it. Then one morning, the water cut off completely.

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This is a big problem, without water you cannot drink, shower, water crops or animals. Since the other plumbers couldn’t figure out the problem, I decided to call a well plumber. We were showering at the stations because we had no water at home and we were giving our animals bottled water. There was also a winter storm bearing down on us that was supposed to hit that weekend. The stores were running out of water. In short, we were screwed if we couldn’t get access water.

The well plumbers came out and said it was the well pump. When we explained it was a brand new pump, they said that everything we were describing; running out of water, low pressure, etc were all because of the pump. Once it was replaced, we never had another problem.

PS: Shortly after the well pump was fixed, that winter storm hit and we lost power for three days.

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So how does this relate to food security?

Simple: if you do not have water, you cannot cook, clean, drink, or survive. Without that well pump, our animals would die of thirst. 

Some of the steps we took after this incident was to make sure that we always have 5 gallon jugs filled. We also have a pump to get water out of them. Then we have several IBC and 55 gallon totes around the property that we fill for animal water.

Our garden produces a lot of our veggies, if not all of them. This helps make sure that we have fresh veggies for today, but also canned veggies for later.

Then we have our animals, all of the animals on our homestead can survive off of what the homestead produces during the warm months. The chickens and ducks give us a ton of eggs and we’ve only selected dual purpose breeds so that we can butcher when we need to.

Our goats provide us with milk and we make our own cheeses, creamers, and even butter. We are also going to be purchasing Boer goats and breed them so that we can have meat from them as well.

Don’t live on a farm?

Don’t panic! Just because you don’t have a garden or animals, doesn’t mean that you can’t start preparing for an emergency! You can go on Amazon or Walmart.com and start looking at various long term, emergency food. We like Augason and Ready Wise, but do your research.

Also make sure you have manual can openers or keys like these. Oh and coffee!!!! Make sure you’ve got some form of caffeine because when the power goes out, nothing is better than hot coffee!

Food security includes water, food, and basic necessities like soap, medications, first aid, and clothes just to name a few things. So what can you do to start identifying holes in your food security and fixing them?

If you like the content I put out, feel free to buy us a coffee! It helps keep this site running, marketing and the goats in grain!

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How To Save Money On Livestock Feed

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Whether you homestead on a large scale or small, livestock feed is expensive. To be fair, raising livestock in general is expensive. But with the holidays on us, plus supply chain issues and inflation, saving money is becoming more and more important. These tips are how we save money on livestock feed.

How To Save Money On Livestock Feed

  1. Just Add Water
  2. Grow it
  3. Microgreens or Sprouts- Another great way to stretch feed
  4. Buy in bulk
  5. Reduce animal numbers.

You could also make your own, but that is an entire post all on it’s own so make sure you subscribe below to be updated on that post!

Let’s talk about each one of these a little more in depth.

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!

Buy Now

Just Add Water

Soaking feed is number one for a reason. It is hands down the easiest, cheapest and fastest way to stretch your feed. All you need is a 5 gallon bucket with a tight lid for each different feed you plan to soak. For example: I soak/ ferment pig, chicken and goat feed, plus alfalfa and beet pulp, which I do together. So I have 4 buckets.

What’s the difference between soaking and fermenting? Time. If you leave your feed for too long in a bucket it should ferment. And if you leave it too long past that, it will mold. We soak our pig feed and the alfalfa/beet pulp overnight. The chickens and goats get fermented feed that we start 2-3 days prior and then add more as we go.

PS: if you ferment your pig feed for too long, or if there is corn in the feed, you will have drunk pigs…. Don’t ask how I know.

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.

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Grow It

Right now growing isn’t as easy because it’s winter. But growing crops for your animals is hands down the cheapest way to reduce feed costs. In fact, I would dare say that if you have enough property, or not a lot of animals, you could feasibly never buy a bag of feed. Between grasses for grazing, pasture rotation, and then expanding your garden to grow corn, barley, buckwheat, winter squashes, and more, you could never buy a bag of feed. This could save you thousands of dollars a year for just a few seed packets. You can get almost all of your seeds from Territorial Seed Company or Eden Brothers.

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What kind of fodder crops should you grow for your animals? That really depends on what animals you have and what they can eat. But corn is a great plant that is easy-ish to grow, store and feed out. Another good plant is pumpkins, and our animals love it. Winter squashes are another really great veggie that does well despite most attempts to kill it. It’s very easy to store and will last a long time in proper conditions. Another good option is putting your animals in your gardens after harvest. They can get all the left over yummies in there and clear your garden at the same time.

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Are you looking for garden journal prompts, but aren’t interested in a weekly email? Check out our 365 Garden Journal Prompts! This is an amazing, all in one, yearly product that you only pay for once.

Buy Now!

Microgreens/ Sprouts

This one can get very in depth and long winded. But to give you the highlights: take a tray, add soil (you don’t have to use soil), add microgreen seeds (densely packed), and then soak. With proper lighting and care you can grow fodder for your chickens and even pigs and goats. The 104 Homestead has a great post on sprouting barley. The Homesteading RD also has a great post on the different microgreens and the process of growing them. Just make sure that your animals can eat the greens. Rainbow Heirloom Seed Co. has some great seeds on Amazon.

What kind and how much to feed? Honestly, we are just starting out with our microgreens and there just isn’t that much information out there on feeding microgreens to livestock. But I will say this, we are growing greens that they can eat the plant or seed of. So if goats can eat broccoli we will feed them half a tray of broccoli microgreens and see what happens. I’ll post more when we know more or find more research of it.

goat kidding

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!

Buy Now

Buy In Bulk

Buying bulk depends completely on two things; your ability to load/unload and your ability to store. When I talk about buying in bulk, I’m talking about half ton totes like these. We have neither the ability to unload or store, so buying in bulk isn’t really a good option for us per se. But we do get a discount on how many pounds of feed we buy at a time. At our feed store if we buy a total of 500# of feed, we get a discount on all of the feed. It doesn’t matter if it’s pig, chicken and goat. I can move and store 10 50# bags of feed, I cannot do that with a ton of pig, a ton of chicken and a ton of goat feed.

What do you need to load/unload and store? Dolly’s to start if you are planning to store in 55gal drums. But if you are buying those big 1 ton totes? You’ll need pallets, pallet jack, and probably a tractor to get it off the delivery truck. There are places that you can go and fill 55 gallon drums but you have to find them first.

Another caveat to this is to shop around. While I absolutely adore Tractor Supply, I cannot afford $25-30 for a 50# bag of chicken feed. Not when I can get a better quality for half the price at my feed store. So ask other homesteaders/farmers in your area where they go for feed.

The other thing that buying in bulk helps with is reducing the amount of feed bags laying around your garage….. Not that I have that problem.

Our herd health bundle helps you keep track of your herd’s health. Includes the goat assessment, herd check sheets AND Herd Health Tracker!

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Reduce Your Animal Numbers

No one wants to talk about this, and for good reason. I don’t want to cull, sell or give away any of my animals. On our homestead we can’t keep around animals simply because they are cute. If an animal doesn’t have a purpose, they don’t stay on the farm. The best way to save money on feed is to not have so many animals to feed. It’s just the cold hard truth. If you are trying to reduce your spending, buying feed from the feed store isn’t going to reduce your spending.

If you are having trouble choosing who needs to go, ask your self this: who is the oldest? Who is the meanest? Who is the fattest? Who is the hardest to handle? This should start to help you narrow it down a bit. Again, while not ideal and it breaks my heart, I know who is on the chopping block if we ever get to that point.

Saving Money On Livestock Feed

There are a million different ways to feed your animals. But at the end of the day, feed is an expense that you need to be okay with. If you’re not, then you need to reconsider the amount and type of animals you are getting. Meat chickens require tons of feed but pigs can be maintained on kitchen scraps and good pasture. It’s all in how you want to raise your animals.

If you like the content I put out, feel free to buy us a coffee! It helps keep this site running, marketing and the goats in grain!

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The Actual Cost of Raising Livestock

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Do you get “free” eggs or “free” milk? If you think it’s free, think again. Your chickens do not produce free eggs. Your goats do not produce free milk. And when you are drowning in eggs or milk, you may be tempted to just give it away. I wanted to breakdown the actual costs associated with common livestock before you get too far in debt trying to care for these creatures. So what is the actual cost of raising livestock?

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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Actual Cost Of Raising Livestock

There are many variables when it comes to the cost of raising livestock. You’ve got the initial investment of the animal, then the care and upkeep of that animal. Not to mention possible vet care, feed, fencing, and replacement animals. There is so much that goes into the care and keeping of livestock that anything that you get out of them puts you solidly in the red. It takes a long time and constant vigilance to make a profit when raising livestock.

The Animal

Initially, all animals have to be brought to the homestead. Rarely, though it does happen, is livestock left behind when old owners sell and new owners buy a piece of property. We were hoping that the previous owner’s Brahma would stick around, he didn’t. But that being said, we had to bring almost every single animal onto this property. How much did that cost us?

Our goats are our most expensive creature here. We have spent about $3,000 on the goats we bought. Bebe, Stella, Finnegan, and Sébastien are the only ones we haven’t paid for since they were born here. That also doesn’t count their registration fees. That gives an average of $375 per goat. But we paid way more than that for some of them.

The chickens are by far the cheapest animal on the homestead but still pretty expensive at about $5 each. Ducks were about $10 each. The more “exotic” or heritage breeds are obviously more expensive.

Containment

This comes in a couple of different forms but the most common is fencing and housing. We were lucky enough to get our fencing installed pre-inflation. The cost of the fencing alone has almost doubled, not to mention the T posts, clips or gates. Our cost was right at $1200 for the 3 goat pastures.

Our initial coop cost us about $500 and while I really liked it, we out grew it quickly. Now, we have a metal shed that houses our chickens and ducks for the night. That set us back another $500 but effectively quadrupled our square footage.

Tractor Supply

Our goat barn is another cost that is pretty high. I think we paid about $2200 in materials for it. Unfortunately, it’s not great and is going to need to be torn down and rebuilt not only at a better location, but also bigger because we have more goats now. The cost of rebuilding is estimated at $1500.

Feed/ Supplements

This is probably the most flexible of all the costs because you may not need to buy hays, grains, and other feeds. I talked in depth about how much hay a goat needs here. But something else to consider is that it’s very difficult for animals to get their nutritional needs 100% met with browse or forage alone.

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

My feed bill is about $400-600/mo depending on the time of year and what they need. In the winter, they eat more grains and hay so the cost is closer to $600+. In the summers, I don’t have to feed as much because they have access to all the browse, forage and bugs that they could ever eat. The bucks have to stay in their pasture in the summers because they get a little too excited to see my girls. So I still have to hay them.

Supplements are another cost to consider into the actual cost of raising livestock. Goats need minerals. Chickens need extra calcium. During kidding season, I will go through a bulk pack of Tums in about a month. Then there’s the iodine, iron injections, B complexes and more. I spend about $500 every 6 months in supplements.

Vet Care/ Medications

Within the first 48 hours of having Oakley and Bailey, I had spent over $300 on them. They had gotten into mountain laurel and Bailey almost died. I also spend about $200 a year on fecals. I could do them myself but it’s easier and more time saving to have the vet do it. The vet comes out once or twice a year to do a herd health check and make sure that they are doing good. Getting 12 goats to the vet would be almost impossible. In 2021 we spent $3,000 in vet bills. In 2022, we are on par to spend $5,000. That includes the fecals, prescription medications, wormers, and other supplements.

Another thing to note when it comes to vet bills is that as you get more comfortable and confident in your care of livestock, the less you will spend in vet bills. That’s not to say that you won’t spend any money, but it does go down. We spent about $2,000 in 2023 and maybe $500 in 2024 for vet bills. Most of that is culling sickly animals and the other part of that is having a better understanding of what is happening with these animals and caring for them appropriately.

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Miscellaneous Materials

I went pretty in depth in these posts about what to have on hand throughout the year.

What To Have On Hand During Kidding Season

What Do you Need to Care for Goats

How To Brood Chickens Inside

You can also check out this from Redfin article as well! “Whether you’re planning to raise chickens at home in Asheville, NC, Eugene, OR, or Burlington, VT, check out this Redfin article we were featured in on 5 Chicken Coop Ideas For A Thriving Flock“

But there is so much more.

Tractor Supply

Bedding runs us about $600 during the winter. In the summer, we just keep the barns mucked out and have them on dirt floors. But in the winters, it gets so raw and wet that it’s better for them to have some sort of bedding.

Buckets, troughs and other feeders: My initial investment was somewhere around $200 for these and I plan to have the ability to replace them every year or so, depending on if they, or the kids, wreck them.

Then we have things like hoof trimmers, syringes and needles, milk pails, glass jars for milk and cheese making supplies. We’re probably another $500 there.

So our total cost for 2022 for all of this was: about $12,000.

For 2023 we are on par to hit $20,000. The split between chickens and goats would be about $2,000 for chickens and about 18,000 for goats.

But What Do We Get Out Of It?

The Cost

The average cost of goat milk is $9/ quart in my area. Each girl gives me about a quart of milk a day so each one produces about $270/mo worth of milk. They didn’t give me any milk last year, so we’ll count the estimated $18,000. If they keep production at $270 x3 girls in milk, my milk will cost me $8,280. Yes, cost me. They don’t save me a dime. Unless we sell babies and even then, it won’t make up the $8,280.

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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The chicken eggs go for about $5/dozen in my area and I get about a dozen eggs every 2-3 days. So we’ll say 2.5 days for a dozen eggs. If they keep production up for the whole year, which they should since we have different ages on different laying schedules, they will cost me $1,280 a year. They also don’t make me a dime.

So Why Do We Keep Them?

Well, the goats help clear the land and that helps keep the predator population down. If the goats can keep the brush down, it allows us to see and take care of predators. They also provide compost for the gardens. Goats are also my form of therapy. I’ve been to counseling over the years and I’m just not a fan of talking my problems out with strangers. But give me a goat? All that stress melts away. AND they’re adorable.

Chickens are probably the best cost to advantage ratio. They eat all the spiders, grubs, termites, and other nasty things. They help turn the soil in the winter and the tomatoes love their compost. If they get too old or too mean, they go to freezer camp. Plus, they give us eggs.

Beyond all of that, the animals have taught all of us patience. They’ve taught us to care for things more than ourselves. The animals have also taught compassion for our food, whether it be milk, eggs, cheese or meat. The goats have shown the boys biology lessons that they never would have gotten in the city or in public school. They’ve taught us life skills that we never would have gotten without them. And most importantly they’ve taught us about death and how to cope with it.

And that is worth more than money.

If you like the content I put out, feel free to buy us a coffee! It helps keep this site running, marketing and the goats in grain!

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Our Homestead Buying Guide

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I’ve been getting asked a lot, “Where do you buy x?” So I figured I would take the time to list out where we buy the stuff for our goats, chickens, canning, seeds, garden stuff, and other odds and ends that we have used and really like. This is a VERY link heavy post, so here is our affiliate disclosure again. It doesn’t cost you a penny, but it does help us here on the homestead. The other thing is that I am not going to push you to buy anything that we have not already bought, tested and liked/loved. You don’t need that and to be honest, that’s not who I am. Here is the Homestead Buying Guide.

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Get the tools you need to stay organized, track profits, and manage your homestead with ease!

Includes:
✅ Schedule F Tracker – Simplify tax prep
✅ Profit Calculator – Track earnings
✅ Hay Calculator – Plan livestock feed
✅ Garden Journal – Digital & printable
✅ Herd Health Tracker – Monitor animal care
✅ Simple Budget – Manage finances
✅ Backyard Homestead eBook – Essential tips

$99 value – now just $47! Start your homesteading journey today!

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PS: if you don’t have a Honey account and you shop online a ton, I highly suggest you download it. You can use my code here. They are great because it can automatically search for coupon codes and you earn cash back on purchases. I’ve earned $300 in the last year. It’s worth the minimal effort AND you can add items to your honey list which will tell you when prices have dropped or if it’s at the lowest price.

Livestock

Goats

You can read any of my posts involving my goats here.

goat kidding

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!

Buy Now

We get most of our goat gear from Tractor Supply. Their prices can be higher than a local feed store on some things but cheaper on others. For example; my local feed store has alfalfa pellets for $17.99/ 50# bag. Tractor supply has theirs for $19.99 as of this writing.

Buckets– We get these for feed, water, and so many other things. They are really useful.

Troughs- We use two different kinds. This one is the one we hang on the fence at different points to give them feed, alfalfa, or whatever else. We use this one for portability or if we are hanging a temporary feeder in a kidding pen for them.

Balling Gun– This helps us get pills down into the goats without having to worry about getting bitten. Yes, that happens a lot.

Tractor Supply

Hoof Trimmers- We’ve bought two of these, and I’m a fan of this one. It just seems sturdier and I like it better. BUT this one from TSC is fine too. It’s not that I don’t like it per se, I just prefer the orange one. If you’ve got some money to spend, I would HIGHLY suggest the Hoof Boss. I’ve seen it used and it does a fantastic job. It is on our wish list of things to buy.

Meds- Now, I’m going to say this. We treat a lot of aliments on our homestead. But we also have an amazing vet that we can call any time… almost. But having a few meds on hand is going to save you a ton of heartache. Meds to get from a vet: Thiamine, Banamine and a good antibiotic. Things to have on hand that you can get from a feed store: Red Cell, Probiotics, Safeguard or Cydectin (or your choice of dewormer), electrolytes, Iron, B-complex, and Copper Wire Bolus. On the copper wire, make sure you get kids or adults based on what you have.

Chickens

You can read about how we brood chickens here. The list below are links to the items we have bought.

Incubator- We use this one and have had great success with it. The only thing I don’t like is the size. I wish it were bigger but beggar and choosers.

Brooder lights- We have used CHE’s like this one, but it can cause the chickens to attack other chickens. So a red light and housing is what you really need. We also use pine shavings for bedding for both the goats and the chickens.

Tractor Supply

Feed- When we have chicks, we start them on a medicated feed. This helps with cocci and other harmful organisms. Remember, you really only need a week or two worth of this feed. What we do is feed approximately 1#/ chick. If you have two chicks, you would need 2#, if you have 50 you need 50#. This is not perfect, it’s really a guess. When we do our meat chickens, we buy one bag of medicated chick start and than it’s regular chick feed after that.

Feeders/waterers- We use this feeder when they are little, and this one when they are bigger. However! If you’ve got some money to spend or you are only interested in buying one thing, this is the feeder you need. I love it! AND we can hang it, which really does decrease the mess. It also works fantastic with the ducklings.

When chicks are little, they need a ton of water, but they are also extremely messy. So finding one that isn’t going to make a mess but also be easy to fill has been difficult. This waterer is good, not great, but it will get the job done when they are little. As they get bigger, we use this one. We found that the metal ones did not hold up well at all. If you have a waterer you love, let me know in the comments.

House Supplies

Canning

Alright! I’ve been waiting to do this one!

Canners- This is my water bath canner and this is my pressure canner. I’ve got two of the presto pressure canners and I love them. One of these days, I am going to get this mack daddy. I can process 19 quarts a time. Which replaces BOTH of my other canners. The price tag is steep at around $500 but it’s got a life time warranty and it’s worth every penny.

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Jars- All I’m going to say is this: when you think you have enough, double it. Then double it again. Here’s why. I have over a thousand jars. When I can, I can for an entire year. So when I am figuring out how many jars of tomato sauce I need for the year, it’s not a couple dozen. I can 104+ quart jars. When I can green beans, it’s not a couple pints. It’s 146+ quarts and 146+ pints. Same with corn. Soups and stews is another big ticket item in my house. We are talking 200 quarts and 200 pints-ish. Sometimes it’s more. That’s already 600 quart jars that I need. So while you may not need that many, be prepared that you will need more than you think.

Funnels- Yall, you will never, and I mean never have enough funnels. I love the metal funnels and I have at least 6 of them. Make sure to get wide mouth and regular!

Jar grabby things- Get a bunch of these too. You will lose them or the handles will break while you are mid canning.

https://www.wickedgoodcupcakes.com/shop-online/thinking-of-you-boxes

Books- Canning cookbooks are some of the best investments that you can make. This book is hands down the best period. Buy it. She’s got a ton of amazing soups in there and they are divine. This is another really good one with some great recipes. If you are new to canning, I will recommend getting a Ball Book. There is a ton of great information in them. BUT after you get some experience, or after doing your own research, take it with a grain of salt. Some of the recipes are extremely convoluted and contradictory. Lastly, I’m not a Prepper, per se. BUT I do put up my own food because after the pandemic, I realized that relying on the grocery store isn’t a super smart idea. That being said, this book has some great recipes, ideas, and more for being self reliant.

Check back for more items as we find them and add them to the list!

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Is Homesteading Worth It?

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When the shutdowns hit the US, a lot of people were stuck inside with nothing to do. They were scared of the virus and scared that they couldn’t find the basic supplies they need. All of this caused a huge uptick in people learning about homesteading. Mostly because they were stuck at home and bored out of their mind. This in turn caused a lot of people to start gardens, learn how to process foods, and in general adopt the homesteaders mentality. Is homesteading worth it? Absolutely!

The Ultimate Homesteader’s Starter Bundle – Only $47!

Get the tools you need to stay organized, track profits, and manage your homestead with ease!

Includes:
✅ Schedule F Tracker – Simplify tax prep
✅ Profit Calculator – Track earnings
✅ Hay Calculator – Plan livestock feed
✅ Garden Journal – Digital & printable
✅ Herd Health Tracker – Monitor animal care
✅ Simple Budget – Manage finances
✅ Backyard Homestead eBook – Essential tips

$99 value – now just $47! Start your homesteading journey today!

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How To Get Started

I wrote an entire blog post about how to start a homestead and how to homestead on 5 acres. You don’t need to have a million acres to homestead. To be honest, you don’t even need 5 acres. You just need the right attitude to get started. I talked, in depth about what homestead means here and the reality is that no two homesteads look the same.

An urban homestead is just as amazing as a country homestead. A 100 acre homestead is just as awesome as a 5 acre homestead. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what homestead means because YOU are the homestead. It’s your ideas, your dreams, and your needs, not someone else’s.

What Do You Want?

Do you want to have a veggie garden, fruit trees or a container garden? Should you have chickens, rabbits, or quail because you only have a quarter acre in the city? What about a couple of goats or pigs? What about converting your lawn into a veggie garden? Or removing non edible landscaping and replacing it with edible, like raspberry bushes, grapes, or a salad bar?

All of these questions should be floating around in your brain about how to get started. The only thing that should be limiting you, is you. Set your goals and get to work. If you are on a small property, get creative. Instead of having a huge garden plot, go vertical. There are hundreds of posts on vertical gardening but my favorite is this one from The Homesteading RD. If you follow her, especially on Instagram, you can see all the wonderful ideas she has.

I always suggest writing down all of your wants, dreams, and desires. Then pick a couple a week to really dive into. As you start educating yourself on that thing, ask yourself if this is something that you really want to do. For example, we really wanted ducks, chickens, and rabbits. After doing a deep dive into raising each, we realized that rabbits just weren’t really worth it. That’s ok! It saved us a ton of money, work and frustration just because we educated ourselves on what it would take to actually raise these animals.

Becoming Self Reliant

We are in an age where shortages are a thing. Toilet paper, baby formula, you name it. What is next? So, I’ll ask the question again: Is homesteading worth it? Yes. Because if you become self reliant, you will do yourself and your family a world of good.

2 goats

Being self reliant can mean many different things. It could mean having the ability to grow, harvest, and preserve your garden. It could mean having the knowledge and understanding of what animals can eat, how to make them grow faster for meat, and to butcher them humanely. But it also means adding new skills to your toolbox and not relying on others to fix it.

By being self reliant, you can barter for goods or services. If you suck at growing veggies but you have the space for extra meat birds. Strike a deal with someone who does grow veggies but doesn’t have the space for meat birds. If you have never canned anything, find someone who has and start learning.

We have become more and more self reliant, just by being more frugal with what we do purchase, make or use. We purchase whole ingredients instead of quick meals… for the most part. But one of the things that we decided early on was to learn the “manual” way to do something.

We wanted to be able to make pasta if we ever needed to instead of always buying it from the store. Or making bread. Learning to be more self reliant doesn’t have to mean these big huge skills like gardening, canning, butchering, etc. It can be as simple as making bread or pasta.

Is Homesteading Worth It?

At the end of the day, you need to make that decision for yourself. I can say this, it is the most amazing feeling knowing that I made most the food in my food storage room. It’s also pretty cool that if I’m out of something, I know how to make a lot of things from scratch. Like that time that Jaxson wanted hamburger helper but I haven’t bought that stuff in years. Instead, I was able to make my own cheese sauce from butter and cheese that I made.

The question is, do you want that? Do you want to cook from scratch? Does a garden appeal to you? You have to know your why.

Every decision you make and goal you have should start with a Why. Why is it so important to you? This helps keep you on track when things get hard… And they WILL get hard. If you remember your why, every single decision you make will be a lot easier.

Our Why

Our why is simple: to not rely on others for things we can do ourselves. When it comes to the blog our why is equally as simple: To help beginning homesteaders with setting up their homestead and avoid the pitfalls of doing things “wrong”.

I have said for many years, if I just had 5 years and 5 acres, I could get us about 75% self reliant in terms of produce and meat. I could get our infrastructure set up to a point were trees, bushes, and other perennials require minimal effort with major results.

While we have had some major set backs, we have made a good sized dent in our infrastructure and are working towards doing more. I have to remind myself daily that our neighbors homestead has had over 100 years of work done to it. Ours only has a couple. They may have what we are moving towards, but we are starting from scratch. We’ll get there, though, and so will you.

So Join Us

The homesteading community is an amazing resource for all of us. It doesn’t matter if you are a master gardener or a beginner. It doesn’t matter if you have 1/8th acre or 800. We are a supportive group that only wants you to be successful.

YouTube is an amazing resource, as well as Instagram. The vast majority of us want to chat about anything and everything from livestock to gardens to preserving. Don’t be afraid to reach out!

If you like the content I put out, feel free to buy us a coffee! It helps keep this site running, marketing and the goats in grain!

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If you like this post, feel free to share it and follow us below on our social media accounts!

What Is Predator Load

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Up till recently, we have been very lucky when it comes to predators. In our immediate area, we have a couple coyote dens on the surrounding properties and the typical skunks, opossum, fox and minx. We also have a couple of bears and bobcat, too. But what is a homestead predator, what is predator load and why is it important?

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Get the tools you need to stay organized, track profits, and manage your homestead with ease!

Includes:
✅ Schedule F Tracker – Simplify tax prep
✅ Profit Calculator – Track earnings
✅ Hay Calculator – Plan livestock feed
✅ Garden Journal – Digital & printable
✅ Herd Health Tracker – Monitor animal care
✅ Simple Budget – Manage finances
✅ Backyard Homestead eBook – Essential tips

$99 value – now just $47! Start your homesteading journey today!

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Let’s First Answer: What is a predator?

A predator is simply any creature that wishes, is programmed and is able to do harm. That is a very broad definition right? But the reality is that anything could be a predator. The rabbit in your garden is a predator because it wants to harm (eat) your plants. A chicken is a predator to plants and bugs, sometimes each other.

Large black, white and brown goat

It’s natural to think that predators are only big, scary animals with bigger teeth and claws. And while that is correct, you also have to broaden your definitions when you homestead or care for any kind of livestock. And, it’s not just other animals you have to be careful of. Humans are just as bad, if not worse predators.

What is Predator Load?

By definition, predator load is the amount of predators that come through your property or surrounding area. It could be high, moderate, or low and it can be seasonal as well. If you don’t know your predator load, I would start talking to your neighbors, local extension office, or Google. I would also do this prior to getting livestock.

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Just by knowing our neighbors and having their phone numbers, we have successfully avoided several attacks. We alert our neighbors, or they alert us, and we get outside with our animals or put them up.

If you don’t have access to those things, I would hold off on getting any livestock until you have a better understanding on what other animals live in your area. The last thing you want is to pick up an amazing herd only to have it torn apart by bears that you didn’t know lived in your area.

Why is knowing your predator load important?

Once you know what is going to actively try and kill your animals (besides your goats trying to kill themselves), you can start planning steps to fix problems before they arise. For example; I stated above that we have coyote, bear, bob cat, minx, skunk, and opossum as our homestead predators. This tells me that I need to make sure that I have secured my chicken coop at night. It also tells me that I need to put my goats up at night too. But my day time problems, shouldn’t be too bad.

Black rooster and several chickens

Next, you need to start researching various predator deterrents. There are several non lethal methods but at the end of the day, you have to decide how you are going to protect the animals in your care. Whether that is trapping and releasing, SSS (Shoot, Shovel, Shut Up), or hoping that they decide to leave a free buffet alone. Otherwise, you’ll need to mark off a section of your property for your animal cemetery.

You can also check out this from Redfin article as well! “Whether you’re planning to raise chickens at home in Asheville, NC, Eugene, OR, or Burlington, VT, check out this Redfin article we were featured in on 5 Chicken Coop Ideas For A Thriving Flock.” The big thing to remember when it comes to deterring predators is your enclosures.

The Ultimate Homesteader’s Starter Bundle – Only $47!

Get the tools you need to stay organized, track profits, and manage your homestead with ease!

Includes:
✅ Schedule F Tracker – Simplify tax prep
✅ Profit Calculator – Track earnings
✅ Hay Calculator – Plan livestock feed
✅ Garden Journal – Digital & printable
✅ Herd Health Tracker – Monitor animal care
✅ Simple Budget – Manage finances
✅ Backyard Homestead eBook – Essential tips

$99 value – now just $47! Start your homesteading journey today!

Buy Now

How We Handle Predator Load

One of the first things we did, when it started getting cooler, was to start working on our goat barn. We knew that the coyotes were going to start coming up into the yard to find food. I was not going to risk my goats lives because I didn’t want to build them a secure enclosure for night.

https://www.wickedgoodcupcakes.com/shop-online/thinking-of-you-boxes

Another thing we did was order these. They are predator lights. We have them all over the property to help deter predators. It’s not foolproof but it does help. We’ve got them in the garden, around the chicken coop, goat barn, etc.

We also have huge dogs that we have praised for alerting us since we got them. Bear is our smallest at 75# and Kodi is our biggest at a skinny 140#, we are working to put more weight on him. This helps because most predators are not going to come into the yard of dogs that are 2-3x the size of them. We also rotate dogs in and out of the house so there is always a dog outside during the day. You can read more about how we train our farm dogs here.

kids with their XXL dogs

Lastly, we practice SSS. I really struggle with this because I don’t want to harm another animal. Especially one that is doing what it is supposed to be doing. I struggle when we butcher meat chickens. But at the same time, when I bought animals, I took on the responsibility of keeping them safe. I take that very seriously. Not just in terms of predators but also educating myself on the best possible practices for their care.

Tractor Supply

I tell you all this because we have officially lost our first chicken to a fox. I was at work and Jared sent me a text saying that our favorite chicken was killed by a fox. When I was able to call him, I got the recap. Apparently, the fox was chasing our ducks and chickens around the house before he finally caught one. Jared was too far away from the rifle and by the time he got to it, the chicken was dead and the fox was enjoying his meal. We have since beefed up our protection measures and hopefully, won’t lose anymore chickens, ducks, or goats.

Blonde and black dog

Predators No One Wants To Talk About

Lastly, I wanted to talk about the predators that no one wants to talk about. There are two; humans and their dogs. Now, this may never be a problem for you. You may never have to deal with neighbors intentionally harming your animals. But those people are out there. We have been beyond blessed that our neighbors are amazing. But on the next mountain over? That’s a different story entirely. So how do you protect your animals from humans? Honestly, cameras are going to be your best course for any sort of legal action. Because livestock is expensive.

As for dogs? This is a lot harder. Dogs can climb fencing or dig under it. We had an incident where our neighbors dog would come over and eat our ducks and chickens. I wasn’t mad about it, per se. The dog was doing what her breed is supposed to do. But it was a frustrating. Luckily, our neighbors are awesome and he fixed the problem on his side and we fixed it on ours. But not everyone is that lucky.

I am here to tell you that for any predator on your property, you have to make the decision on what YOU are comfortable with. If you aren’t comfortable with SSS, then you are going to go the extra length to secure your animals. If you can’t, then maybe don’t get animals. Dealing with predators comes down to your personal ethics and answering the question; is my stuff more valuable than the predator?

So before you get livestock, save yourself some heartache and do some research. Not just on the types of animals, breeds, and their care. Research the predator load in your area, how to handle it, and how you are going to deal with the predator that maims or kills your favorite chicken.

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When To Plant A Garden

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Have you ever wondered when to plant a garden? If you live and breathe based on your zones, you could also be in for a world of hurt. But there are a lot of nuances to planting a garden that may make you freeze up and think, I can’t start a garden right now. But you CAN start a garden right now, you just need some insights to do it “right”. So when do you plant a garden? Let’s talk about it.

If you are interested in learning more about my favorite garden planner. I highly recommend Seedtime! This planner has been instrumental in helping me plan out my gardens with WAY more efficiency than I could ever expect! It has also reduced overwhelm, stress, and calmed my ADD/ADHD!

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When To Plant A Garden

To start with there are several different zones, frost dates, and ole timers that all say something different. But how do you know which is right for you? If you are new to gardening and don’t really have any experience or are just new to your area and aren’t sure about your specific growing climate, I suggest using your frost dates. I’m going to walk you through my entire system and how and when I actually plant my spring, summer and fall gardens.

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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Frost Dates

First thing first, you need to look up your frost dates. This is as simple as Googling “What are the frost dates for X city.” PS: X city is your city. Google may not be able to give you an answer for your specific zip code, so you may end up having to figure out your next closest city and use those frost dates. My first frost date is October 31st and my last frost is April 15th.

Next, grab a pocket calendar from your local dollar store or order one like this off Amazon. Put your dates in the calendar. You can use whatever calendar you have but it does need to be something that you are going to keep track of. We don’t want to put this much work into a planner to never touch it again….. Guilty.

Finally, you are going to count back from your first frost to your last frost. Google makes this really easy. Simply type “How many days from X date to X date.” Google will spit out the answer. You can also search for a week count that tells you how many weeks from this date to that date. I like to use days so that I can figure out how many days the plant needs vs how many day the plant will get.

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Tips For Frost Dates

Depending on what season you are in and your dates, there is usually something that you can plant year round. If you live far north or in extreme climates, you need to pay more attention to what you are planting and when, but for us that isn’t a problem.

Also, remember that just because your frost date is closing in, doesn’t mean that you can’t plant something. You may end up with plenty of time to plant extra plants. Or you may just need to take some precautions. If you wanted to plant some squash but you know you are going to be pushing close to your frost date, through a sheet or blanket over the plant at night time.

For example, I want to plant squash but I know I’m close to my frost date, I would look at my seed packet to see how many days to maturity. Summer squash usually takes 40-60 days. But the fruit doesn’t get to edible size until about 2-3 weeks later. So to make sure that I have plenty of days, I will assume that it will take 90 days from seed to table. That means that, for my first frost date of Oct 31st, I need to plant by August 2nd. But if I miss that date, and I plant summer squash on September first, I may have to protect that plant for a couple of weeks.

If you are interested in learning more about my favorite garden planner. I highly recommend Seedtime! This planner has been instrumental in helping me plan out my gardens with WAY more efficiency than I could ever expect! It has also reduced overwhelm, stress, and calmed my ADD/ADHD!

More Info!

Planting A Spring Garden

For us, a spring garden isn’t really “smart”. I do it anyways because come February I am begging to play in the dirt. The reason that a spring garden isn’t “smart” is because it tends to be a waste of time and seeds. Our springs in Georgia flip flop worse than a politician during election season. You will have an 80* day and a 25* night and the next day will be 40*. Then next day will be 80* again. You’ll have torrential downpours that turn to ice overnight. It’s insanity.

To plant my spring gardens, I check my calendar and see when my last frost is. Again, for me, it’s mid April. I know that come end of April to beginning of May, my summer gardens are going in so I don’t want to take up space in my gardens for things that aren’t going to be ready to go by then. Usually, I will start my spring stuff in January and put them in the greenhouse and plant in end of February to beginning of March. Usually, the weather has started to stabilize a bit and it’s not too crazy.

I don’t plant a ton of things because again, most of this stuff is going to bolt before I ever get a chance to harvest. This is almost exclusively for fresh eating and seed saving.

If you live in a climate similar to ours, where it goes from winter to summer in .388393 seconds, AND you have limited space, feel free to skip the spring garden.

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Planting A Summer Garden

Every gardener loves the summer garden…. at least at first. My summer gardens start in February when I start about 60% of my seeds. As the months go on, I start the rest of my seeds so that I have wave after wave of plants that will be going into the garden. Some things like melons, pumpkins, cucumbers, beans, etc can go in mid April. But there are some things that can’t go in until the threat of frost has completely past. This is stuff like tomatoes, peppers, okra, and other heat loving things.

As I stated above, I will start planting things mid April, pending the weather. This means that if I don’t have a 10 day stretch of non freezing nights, I don’t plant. If one night is less than 35*, I don’t plant. If I have one day that is less than 65*, I don’t plant. The 10 day stretch gets restarted until I have a whole stretch were the temps are at least above 35* and 65* respectively.

There are two really important things to remember when planting in the south. First, never rely on one set of crops if you are planning to put up your harvest. You will want to continue to succession sow until you have run out of days. The reason for this is because we have a ton of bugs here. Between the Japanese beetles and squash bugs, you will absolutely lose your harvest before you ever get the full bounty of that fruit.

The second most important thing to remember is that full sun in the south is not full sun anywhere else. Because we get more direct sun, you will absolutely scorch your garden if you are not careful. This means constant watering or even having to put up shade cloth. I talk more about the effects of full sun in the blog post above.

If you are interested in learning more about my favorite garden planner. I highly recommend Seedtime! This planner has been instrumental in helping me plan out my gardens with WAY more efficiency than I could ever expect! It has also reduced overwhelm, stress, and calmed my ADD/ADHD!

More Info!

Planting A Fall Garden

If I’m being really honest, this is my favorite garden. While I love most of the produce that comes out of the summer garden, the fall garden is hands down my favorite. I love kohlrabi, carrots, peas, cabbage, and broccoli. I love the fact that I am not going to have to worry as much about heat stroke. It’s an easier garden to tend and it’s not as fussy as the summer garden. That being said, it’s still a timing issue to get my plants in the ground.

Usually, I start my seeds for the fall garden mid August. I start them in the house where it’s cooler and then move them to the greenhouse after a few weeks. Once the temps drop to not Satan’s armpit, I will start planting. This is usually mid September.

Also, I will take down our cattle panels for the tomatoes, and use those to help create covers over the beds in case we get a light frost. Most brassicas and other cool loving crops can handle a light frost. In fact, carrots will taste better after a few frosts. But as we creep closer to December, we start getting pretty chilly nights that are closer to or at freezing.

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When To Plant A Garden

At the end of the day, you are going to have to look at your frost dates and experiment. We learned that planting in mid April is risky but not impossible, we just have to check the weather. We’ve learned that we can easily grow throughout winter, as long as we keep an eye on the weather and plant damage.

But that knowledge comes with experience for our area and our gardens. If you are new to the world of gardening, you will struggle. It’s just the reality. But paying attention to your frost dates and Googling “How many days till X date” or “How many days from X date to X date” will allow you to figure out how many days you plant needs to mature and produce a good harvest and how much time you actually have.

I hope this helps you figure out when to plant a garden and I hope that you look forward to your next planting season!

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Is 5 Acres Enough For A Homestead?

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There has been a self sufficient movement over the last couple of years. More people are wanting to become self sustaining. They want to be able to grow their own food, raise livestock, and be less reliant on others. Personally, I am ecstatic. But how big of a property do you need? 100 acres? 50? At least 20, right? Is 5 acres enough for a homestead? The answer is yes.

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✅ Schedule F Tracker – Simplify tax prep
✅ Profit Calculator – Track earnings
✅ Hay Calculator – Plan livestock feed
✅ Garden Journal – Digital & printable
✅ Herd Health Tracker – Monitor animal care
✅ Simple Budget – Manage finances
✅ Backyard Homestead eBook – Essential tips

$99 value – now just $47! Start your homesteading journey today!

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Is 5 Acres Enough For A Homestead

Technically, we have just over 8 acres. But 2 acres of that is a pond, and another 1.5-2 acres is a giant hill that we can’t do a lot with. So, we have 5 usable acres. We have 30ish chickens, 17 ish ducks, and 10 goats that all need a place to live. There is also the garden that needs to go somewhere. Not to mention all the small projects that need land, like the orchard, clothesline, and *fingers crossed* the pool. Or the larger projects like the shop, greenhouse, and granny pods? 5 acres is enough for a homestead.

What Are Your Goals?

Do you want to be totally self sufficient? Is this a hobby? Are you supplementing your income? Why do you want to homestead? What does a successful homestead look like to you? When you can answer those questions you can start crafting your goals. Our goals are: Have the homestead be self sustaining and self funding. Mortgage paid off in less than 15 years. Animals provide food and/ or income. Land produces 75% or more food and 100% of firewood. Yes, 5 acres can do that.

By having clear goals and expectations, it allows you to focus your energy on the things that matter.

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The Plan

In another post about homesteading, I talked about what homesteading means and starting a homestead. You really need to figure out what it means for you and how you want to make this property work for you.

Before you even decide on a property, or if you already have a property, you need to plan what you want to do with it. Do you want goats? What about chickens? Are you going to try and squeeze a cow or pigs in? What does your property look like? Is it hilly or flat? Do you have access to plenty of water? Are you going to garden for fun or for purpose? These are just some of the questions that you need to answer before you get into the guts of building up your homestead.

If you want goats, do you already have browse for them? Is the fencing goat proof? How long would it take you to put up good fencing and install a good pasture? Do you already have a barn? Is there a predator problem? Do you want to milk them? Breed them? If you can answer these questions you can start to plan.

goat kidding

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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As a beginning homesteader, you are going to want chickens. At least every beginner that I have met does. But really think about how any eggs you eat. Jared usually eats 3 eggs a day but no one else really does. When we make breakfast for dinner, we normally go through about a dozen eggs. But what about expansion. Do you want to sell eggs? Do you want to sell chicks? Are you going to be a victim of chicken math? Are you going to raise meat birds?

What about raising larger livestock, do you want pigs or cows? With enough pasture land, you can have a cow on an acre. You could have several pigs as well. The key is knowing your space and maximizing it.

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Get To Work On The Plan

Most people only need a 800 sq ft (or 200 sq ft per person) garden to feed their family of 4 for a year. That’s not really a ton of space when you are talking about having 5 acres. Since we can a ton and give it to family, we decided to triple that. Plus, tomato math is a thing. We also knew that we were going to put in an orchard and decided that strategically planting trees throughout the property would benefit us more than having trees in rows. This would help with shade and keep pests from demolishing the entire crop.

We decided that we wanted to up our egg production for sales as well as reducing our need for chicken at the store. Then we bought more chickens and all of them are dual purpose birds, meaning that they are both egg layers and meat birds. We are also looking into selling any extra chicks.

Then we bought ducks…. Initially, I bought 10 meat ducks and 10 egg ducks. After our losses, I’m pretty sure I now have a total of 17 pet ducks. I’m not sure if I can butcher these guys. The way I see it though, I have 10 production meat ducks and those guys can lay and hatch our meat ducks…. At least that’s what I’m telling myself.

Our goats are for milking and breeding. Goats are a long term investment. If we can keep them alive and healthy, and all our does produce milk and good kids, we are looking at making about $9,000-11,000/ year. Not counting vet, feed, fencing, etc. That’s also not counting cheese, butter, soap or lotion sales.

Stick To Your Plan

We went off plan by getting the goats. They are no where near returning their investment. But they are so damn cute that we let it slide. Unfortunately, we had to put pigs on the back burner because of it. Same with meat rabbits. Homesteading on 5 acres or less is totally doable, but I will say it again and again. Set your goals, prioritize them, and get your plan in motion.

I would love to hear how you are homesteading or planning to homestead your property.

If you like the content I put out, feel free to buy us a coffee! It helps keep this site running, marketing and the goats in grain!

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