Homestead

Homestead Flexibility: The Key to Success When Plans Go Awry

March 29, 2025 by Leigh Leave a Comment

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.

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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.

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How to Build Flexibility Into Your Homestead Plans

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.
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.
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)

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.
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.
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.

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.

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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.

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How To Prepare Your Vegetable Garden

March 18, 2025 by Leigh Leave a Comment

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, harvest them, 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.

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.

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 75ft by 100ft. 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.

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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 can stunt 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. 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.

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 know that sometimes money is tight, but I highly recommend not skimping here because if you buy cheap, you will end up having to replace them every year. Ask me how I know. However, I finally got tired of trays breaking and having issues will too small pots and bought these from Bootstrap Farmer. I’ve had these pots and trays for YEARS and love them. I’ve left them outside to cook in the sun for an entire summer and they are still in great shape! These are the 1020 trays I use. These are the 2.5″ pots that I use.

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, Botanical Interests 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. A couple years ago, 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.

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!

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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.

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!

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How To Create A Homestead Vision Board

March 4, 2025 by Leigh Leave a Comment

As we are coming up to the end of the year, I started taking down last year’s vision board. I was able to reflect on all the things we did this year and it was incredible how many goals we hit and surpassed. It was also pretty eye opening how much stuff we just didn’t get around to. In this post I wanted to talk about how to set up a homestead vision board, how to prioritize your goals for your homestead and lastly how to prioritize WHICH goals are best for your homestead.

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Setting Up Your Homestead Vision Board

First thing is first, you need a board. I use a cork board like this one but you can use a poster board or whatever you have on hand. I like using the cork board because it doesn’t erase like a white board and it doesn’t put holes in my walls.

Next, you need to figure out your goals for the year. I’ve talked pretty in depth about the importance of infrastructure, our infrastructure goals, as well as how to set up homesteading goals in the links created. One of the ways that Jared and I set up goals is for each one of us to have 3 goals that we must hit for the year. Then we have another 5 “would be nice if” goals. The would be nice goals are simply ones that are important enough to write down but if we don’t hit them, the world won’t end. This is where homestead flexibility comes into play.

Since that piece of paper above has all of our goals on it, I will sit down and type up each goal individually, print them out and put them on my board. The original list will get pinned beneath the board so that I can cross that off as we get things done. Sometimes I just write them down on their own pieces of paper and put them on the board. It really depends on how crafty I feel when I put together my board.

Once we have those goals printed out and pinned to the board, I will find pictures of the items we want like the tractor, UTV/ATV, dream kitchens, etc and print those out. I will also have little sticky notes attached on the board to find the lists associated with each project. So for the outdoor kitchen, there would be a sticky note that said “see infrastructure list for more info”. This helps so that when we are ready to tackle a project, we know where to look.

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Layout For Your Homestead Vision Board

There is no one size fits all approach to your vision board. It’s yours to do however you want. But I do have some suggestions. If you look at the list above you will see J Top 3 and L Top 3. Those are the most important and must do of all of the goals. Those need to be highlighted so they are completed first. So I will usually make those bigger and with a different font than the would be nice if goals. I will also print those out on different colored paper to make sure they stand out.

Laying out your board is another way that you can prioritize your goals on the vision board. You can put the most important goals in the middle, or even do a flowchart style layout. But select a space that is just for those goals. In years past I have put the most important goals in the middle and on bright card stock. Then I would put the less important goals around it or on the edges, on regular paper, to show that these weren’t as important.

Another important part of laying out your homestead vision board is decorate it. Now, I’m not talking about getting out the glitter. But the purpose of a vision board is to clearly lay out the vision you have for the year. But if it is boring, are you going to want to look at it every day? If it isn’t eye catching, are you going to remember that you have a goal of setting up your chicken coop and run? So make sure to decorate it in a way that is eye catching for each goal without being either overwhelming and hidden.

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How To Prioritize Your Homestead Goals

I wanted to add in ways to set up your goals for your homestead. Since every homestead is different, I can’t tell you what how exactly to prioritize your goals. Plus, you may have different goals or priorities than your significant other. That’s okay. But in an effort of accountability, BOTH of you need to write down your goals for the year and put them on your vision board.

There are also two kinds of goal setters. Those that reach for the stars and are okay with landing on the moon. Then the rest of us who set realistic goals and want to surpass them. Either one is fine as long as you are getting it done. Jared’s goal of infrastructure is pretty lofty considering the infrastructure list is 8 typed pages. But that’s what he wants, so ok. One of my goals is to start the process of replacing our off farm income with on farm income.

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Most Important Goals First

While this may seem obvious, you need to remember to write down the most important things you want to accomplish first. This is going to help you when you get distracted by something equally as important. For example, we do not have a working HVAC system. Also it’s not on my list of priorities to fix or replace it. But if I don’t stay on track with my goals, and it is mid August and 110* with 99% humidity? You can bet your last dollar I will want to repair that unit to get some relief.

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Finish Line Goals

Every year I set Finish Line Goals or FLG’s. These are goals that are easy to hit and mark off the list. Things like: cleaning the bathroom, stacking firewood, cleaning off the front porch, or organizing one space in 10 minutes. These goals are crucial for getting motivated to tackle those big goals. They also help you slow down when you are getting overwhelmed and need something small to give you a break.

Even the best of us goal setters are overwhelmed with the need to mark off the next item. But FLG’s are a great way to get moving.

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Grace Is Key

You are probably not going to hit every single goal. Life is going to happen and every plan you had may go out the window with job loss, sickness, injury or other emergency. But if you give yourself grace, kindness and understanding? You will find that while you didn’t hit the mac daddy goal of replacing your off farm income with farmer’s market sales, it’s okay.

I hope this helps you figure out how to set up your homestead vision board as well as work on setting goals for your homestead. For us, it’s important to know what we are doing, when and why. This keeps all of us on track so that we don’t end up working on something that we don’t need to.

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Is Homesteading Hard

March 1, 2025 by Leigh Leave a Comment

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.

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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.

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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 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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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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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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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Has Free Ranging The Goats Worked?

February 22, 2025 by Leigh Leave a Comment

We officially started free ranging our goats on August 1, 2022. This was an experiment and, I would say that THIS year, it has gone pretty well. We have had some hiccups in the matrix, but nothing that was so bad that I wouldn’t free range them again. But I wanted to discuss the how’s, why’s and maybe do this next year if you are thinking about free ranging goats on your homestead.

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The Real Side Of Free Ranging Goats

There are a lot of good things that have come out of free ranging the goats on our 8.5 acres. But there has also been some bad. And while the good definitely out weigh the bad for us, it may not be the case on your homestead.

Our first full year goating, we spent thousands of dollars on hay, alfalfa and grain for the goats. We battled high parasite loads and constant diarrhea. The amount of money we wasted on pasture seed is incredible. But when we started allowing them to free range there were some fantastic results.

Finances

I mentioned above that we have spent thousands of dollars on hay and such. But that’s only a part of it. Not only have we spent money on food, we have also spent a lot on vet bills, fencing, and feed troughs. While that is definitely part of raising any livestock, this has been a lot higher than we want it to be.

Free ranging the goats allows them to do what goats do best, search for their food. It keeps them from eating food off the ground and picking up more parasites. By eating the browse, they are helping us not have to rent bush hogs and other equipment to clear these areas. Which was their original purpose according to Jared.

Body Condition

Champ, who has never had a FAMACHA better than a 3, is now at a 1 and has stayed there. Her body condition, that we could NEVER get better than a 2, is now a 4-4.5.

They have an established herd queen now (Champ) who is actually looking after her girls. By not having them fenced in, we are allowing their natural instincts to kick in and they are actually looking out for each other. This really helps because when we need to put hands on them, we just have to find Champ.

We also noticed that the babies were better able to fight off various infections, parasites, etc, simply because they were allowed to be free. This is in essence the process of rotational grazing…. just without fencing.

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Predator Control

Yard clean up is virtually non existent. We were trying to figure out how to battle the weeds, brambles, and briars when we first moved in. Now? The goats move through the property and eat all of it down. How does this help with predator control? Well, by having the goats free range, they have eaten down a lot of the areas that the predators would live in. And when we see them running back to the house or their barn, we know somethings up and we start looking.

We now have a clear line of sight to the various areas of the property because they have come through and eaten everything.

We do worry about the goats and the babies coming across a fox or coyote den, we only free range them during the day when someone is home. This minimizes the risks. Since we really only free range between spring, summer and fall, we are almost always outside anyways.

Parasite Control

Parasites are pretty much cured…. Well, kinda. It is totally normal, and completely fine for your livestock to have worms. In fact, we want them to have some worms because it aids in digestion and other good things for the goats. But you should never have an uncontrolled parasite problem. When you don’t utilize pasture rotation, you will have parasite blooms and your livestock will suffer.

Since we refuse to deworm monthly, we have to make sure that we are on our game with pasture rotation. Deworming every month as a preventative causes resistance and they aren’t making new dewormers.

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Cons?

Well, there is poop everywhere. While it doesn’t stink, it is a pain when you step in it and don’t realize it.

They’ve eaten the house plants on my front porch. ALL OF THEM.

They broke a board on the back deck and think the flight of stairs is a great place to jump from.

They have eaten ALL of my fruit trees.

Bucks chase does, so they have to stay penned up.

They will break into your gardens. The good news is that they will find the weak spot for you to fix. Just ask them.

As you can see, there aren’t many deal breaker cons for me. The trees sucked and I will be fencing in the area so that the goats won’t eat them next time. The poop is easily swept up too. Overall, we will free range them again and again. They are much healthier and happier.

Free Ranging Goats: Update 2023

As we move into fall this year, I wanted to give you guys some latest updates on how free ranging is working for us. We still absolutely free range the goats. But there are some new concerns this year that we didn’t have last year and I wanted you to be aware of them.

The coolest part of free ranging is that we have successfully trained all the goats, including this year’s kids, to come when they are called. All I have to do is yell, “Come here, girls!” and they come running.

Lack Of Browse

When we first moved onto this property, there were a ton of briars, weeds, etc. Out of 8.5 acres there was probably only about 1 or 2 acres that weren’t completely covered in weeds/ brush. Since the goats have been doing an excellent job of clearing it out, it’s not coming back as hardy. Next year, it probably won’t come back at all.

If you are only getting goats to clear land and have every intention on selling them after their job is done, then this doesn’t really apply to you. If you have fallen in love with these creatures, you are going to have a bit of a problem. There are a couple options that we are exploring for this winter but they are expanding their nom nom zones and that can be a problem. The goats have migrated to the neighbors property and up the mountain. Neither of those are a problem…. yet.

Injuries

We have noticed an increase in injuries since free ranging. While only one of them have been severe injuries, they have still gotten hurt so I think it’s worth mentioning. In their search for food, they become a little more pushy when it comes to food. This makes sense because all animals do this. But when they ram each other and one falls? They are going to limp for a minute.

Or in the case of Stella, she was so hellbent that she was going to break into the chicken tractors that she got herself wedge between 2 of them…. were the tin roofing is. She sliced all 4 of her legs and it was pretty nasty. But she actually did herself and her babies a favor because she got put into the kidding stall for a couple days to allow the blukote to work. Now she is paying more attention to her babies and letting them nurse soooooooo.

Getting Into Trouble

These goats are testing my patience this year and while that is fine, I still want to throttle them. I said before that they will find the weak spot in the fences. Well, I wasn’t aware that potato leaves were considered toxic to goats….. in large quantities. I’ve given them potato leaves and never had a problem. But when they break into a garden and gorge themselves? Apparently that is a problem.

They have found every single hole in the yard and hurt themselves.

Or that time they pulled all my clothes off the clothesline and the pigs rolled all over them.

And then there was the time that the broke into the brooding/nursery were they stepped on 6 out of 10 chicks and caused the mommas to “attack” the goats.

So while free ranging goats is worth it for their health. It can be frustrating to deal with.

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Spring To Do List For Homesteaders

February 18, 2025 by Leigh Leave a Comment

As winter comes to a close, homesteaders and farmers brace for the spring race. The sunshine lasts a little longer each day. Livestock is giving birth. Chicks are in the stores. Plants are ready to be put in the ground. All of this means that homesteaders have a spring to do list that is a mile long. But instead of being overwhelmed by it, we are going to eat an elephant one bite at a time.

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The Spring To Do List

The goal of our spring to do list is prepping for summer, but also deal with all the things that come with spring itself. The reality is that we are just not going to be able to get to some things done once the garden is in full swing. That means that we have to get as much of this list marketed off. But what should YOUR list look like? Below is how we break down our spring to do list into categories.

Garden
Livestock
Poultry
Clean/ Organize

Everyone’s to do list for spring is different because every homestead is different. Some people focus on firewood during spring, others their garden is their only focus. But everyone can agree, spring is a busy time for any homestead.

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Spring To Do List: Garden

For us, putting in the garden is the highest priority every year. The first summer we were on our property we couldn’t get a garden in. We just had so many other things going on that it just wasn’t feasible. Last year, we got our garden in, but even with the woven ground cover, there was a ton of weeds. Which is scary because what would it have looked like without it?

We are expanding our gardens this year to include a kitchen garden. The original garden was great and produced a surprising amount of food, but it just wasn’t was I expected. The tomatoes we had just didn’t wow us with big tomatoes or even a decent harvest. BUT we did grow tomatoes which is always awesome. This spring we will be installing our kitchen garden and turning the original garden into our “bulk” garden.

The biggest project for spring in the gardens (after installing the kitchen garden) is to get the pigs and chickens in the gardens and let them root, till, and poop in the gardens. We are hoping that will boost our harvests and keep down the weeds.

We are also going to be starting all of our own seedlings this year. Which is going to be intense and we will probably run out of room in the basement, but that’s ok. We built a greenhouse to hold all the seeds. To put that into prospective, we plan on starting at least 100 tomato plants. Yes, 100. That may seem like a lot, but we eat tomato sauce in some form at least once a week. Then there’s ketchup, BBQ sauce, sloppy joes, etc. We need a ton of tomatoes.

If you haven’t already, I suggest getting your seeds now. You can order online or you can stop by pretty much any big box store and get your seeds from them. Personally, I order my seeds from Territorial Seed Company and Baker Creek. I have also ordered from other sites but I prefer these two.

Spring To Do List: Livestock

Kidding season for the goats is pretty intense. Mainly because I am a nervous wreck. These girls are my favorite and I don’t want anything to happen to them. Plus, getting to see new favorite creatures born is amazing. But to prepare for it takes some effort. On my list is making sure that their birthing kits are ready and I have everything I need.

If anyone is interested, we filmed our most recent kidding. Be warned, it’s a goat giving birth so it’s pretty graphic. Bella gave us two beautiful babies; Mavrick and Goose. We will be retaining both of them and I’m so excited!

Spring To Do List: Poultry

Chickens, ducks and turkeys get their own category because we are placing a HUGE order this spring. We are talking 60 laying hens, 100 meat chickens and 15 turkeys. Why?

Spoiler alert There are cons to raising chickens…. Just so you know.

We have had a lot of issues free ranging the chickens. The chickens will wonder off or we can’t find their eggs. It’s been one thing after the other. My previous flock of 60 chickens and 25 ducks is now down to 16 chickens and 9 ducks. Though we did butcher 6 meat ducks. So I have to get the various brooders ready to go for them.

I’m going to do a blog post on why free ranging the chickens didn’t work for us and what we plan to do different this time. But the reality is that true free ranging has cost us a TON of money. Between the initial costs of buying the chicks and then having to rebuy plus the lost income of selling eggs and chicks? It’s sickening how much money was spent or lost. So we are working on some strategies to stop the bleed.

Because we are raising some chicken for friends and family, we are going to be raising 100 Freedom Rangers. We realized with our last batch of crosses that we just weren’t feeding them enough which led to them not gaining enough weight. That led to us having to wait to butcher them, making the meat tougher. This time we plan on moving them to a different area that is full of bugs, grass, and other yummy treats as well as feeding them all the feed they want.

The goal is to get all of this done before summer really kicks in but we will see what happens.

Finally, We Clean and Organize

This is another long spring to do list for our homestead. We have slowly but surely been working on getting the property cleaned up and things moved around. It’s been a long process. We usually wait until fall/ winter to start working on the outside because the weeds and grass will hide a lot of the debris. When all the grasses die back, we can find these things and get them in the pile for trash.

Come spring, it’s the final push to get the unusable stuff off the property. Also on our spring to do list is gutting the basement to allow us to get our food storage room built and the rest of the animal storage done. It’s a tall order.

Also, I am a terrible cleaner. I have ADD and I go through crazy, spastic cleaning urges and everything MUST BE CLEAN. And then I squirrel out or get too busy and the house cleaning falls apart. Every late winter/ early spring, I try to get as much of the house cleaned and organized. I know as soon as summer hits, I’m going to be in the garden.

These are just some of the things we are doing this spring on the homestead. I would love to hear about what you are doing!

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Infrastructure And Self Reliance

January 21, 2025 by Leigh Leave a Comment

When Jared and I sat down to go over our infrastructure for 2025; the projects, plans, and goals, we really wanted to get us to a place were the projects were done. That way we could focus our finances in other areas. Now, we all know that projects on the homestead are never truly done. But if we can get some of these bigger projects out of the way? We will be well on our way to self reliance and that is huge.

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What Does Self Reliance Look Like To Us

The best way to set up goals is to ask yourself some questions. Like WHY do you want to be self reliant? What does self reliance look like to you? How are you going to become self reliant? These questions will have answers, but more often than not, they lead to more questions. But to give you our starting off point, we see self reliance as a way to decrease spending, reduce off farm hours, and create a eco-system here on the farm.

The more we become self reliant, the less we will spend at the feed and grocery store. The less money we spend at the grocery and feed store, the quicker we can pay off the farm and any debt we have. The quicker we pay off our debts, the more we can reduce off farm hours. If we can create an eco-system where our garden and land feed our livestock, and we can harvest our garden and livestock. Then we will be back to reducing our need for the feed and grocery store.

This symbiotic relationship with our land and livestock are paramount in not only becoming self reliant, but being good stewards to our land and shepherds to our herds.

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Setting Up Our Infrastructure

As I’m sure you can tell, Self Reliance is the keyword for our lives for the next few years. It is the cornerstone of every single thing we are doing and planning. So we are starting the first year with infrastructure. I talked in depth about what infrastructure is in this blog post. But the point of that post was to get you to think about your own infrastructure and what that means for your homestead.

When it comes to our homestead, we are really trying to focus on self reliance. Keeping in mind that the 3 big dreams are spending less money, reducing off farm hours, and creating an eco-system are the most important things. We created our infrastructure list and plans around that.

The goal of the year is to set up the homestead with those three big dreams in mind. For example: we have made the hard decision that if we can’t sell our bucklings, they will become meat goats. We’ve also made the decision that we will no longer buy chickens because we like the way they look, or how many eggs they lay. All chickens will be a meat variety instead of dual purpose. The gardens are going to go be overhauled into a “bulk garden” and a “kitchen” garden. We are going to start working on water movement so that we are no longer laying hoses throughout the property to get water to animals and gardens.

Meat

Then there’s closing the holes in our food security. One of the things we decided was to focus on heritage breeds. While they take more time to mature, they are more efficient with what they eat. We recently purchased 2 American Guinea Hogs so that we can stop relying on other farms for our pork. We are also going to be purchasing several Bourbon Red turkeys to further reduce our dependance on the grocery store or other farms.

The caveat to these animals is that we are also only going to buy animals that can work as well. One of the things that we learned at the HOA conference in Virginia, was that the animals should work for you too. Pasture rotation is a thing we knew about, but when listening to the lectures, we learned about what pigs can do for revitalizing the soil.

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Gardens

Our gardens are going to look very different then they did last year. We are going to bring the pigs and chickens into our side yard and allow them to root, scratch and poop on that area and will turn it into another garden. That garden will hold all of our squash, cucumber, melon, herbs, etc. Then we will turn our old garden into the “bulk” garden for corn, tomatoes, peppers and food for the animals.

We are making lists of what we buy at the grocery store and of that, what can we grow? One of the things we can grow to spend less money growing cumin. We use a TON of cumin and at $20 a container, that’s a lot of money every year. It’s the same thing with lettuces. We feed our bearded dragons mustard, turnip, collard greens. At $4 a bag, and we by 4 bags a month? That’s a huge savings if we grow those things ourselves. Not to mention, that the pigs will eat the excess turnips.

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Animals

We already discussed the hogs, turkeys and chickens. But to go a little more in depth, every single animal on our homestead is going to have a purpose. And if they require additional feed that the farm can’t produce? That is something we need to look at or they aren’t going to stay long. This has led to some hard decisions when it comes to our personal animals.

We aren’t going to just get rid of them. But this thought process has shown us the amount of money spent on the dogs, cats, dragons and snakes for pleasure, hurts our bottom line of spending less. That means 1) no new animal will be brought to the homestead unless it serves a purpose and the farm can sustain it. And 2) has made us really look into how we can feed animals alternatively without affecting their health.

Another point with the animals is keeping around animals that are not producing. The animal lover in me struggles with the idea of just butchering an animal because it is no longer useful. But the homesteader in me says, but that’s their job. It’s very conflicting and confusing.

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Permaculture And Self Reliance

This word has been rattling around my head for the better part of a month. One of the things we have been talking about pre-conference was that while we could afford our $600/mo feed bill, we didn’t want to. After the conference, we realized that we could grow most of the food our animals need without having to use as much feed. This lead us to the idea of permaculture.

The plan, and resulting infrastructure, is that we are going to use electric netting to rotate the pigs and chickens throughout the property. We’ve had a lot of predator problems with our chickens and we are hoping that by giving them a safe space, with electrified netting, this will keep the predators down. For the pigs, we are planning on giving them a large space to root and poop in hopes that they will break the soil and allow the good things to get into the soil.

After they have worked the soil in that area, we will move them to the next area and let them continue through the property. The area that they worked will be seeded with a variety of grasses, legumes, and other plants that will help the soil and feed the livestock.

While I love my compost, and we will always have and use it, the idea of schlepping wheelbarrows up hill and all over the property is not my idea of a good time. BUT I can take bedding waste, wasted hay, and other compostable-s and just put it in where the chickens are. They can spread it around and the soil can break it down there. I talked here about other uses for goat bedding and we are doing that as well.

Another part of permaculture is instead of ripping out gardens when they are done, we can put the pigs, chickens or goats in there and let them “rip out” the garden. This will reduce our work load, feed them, and put them to work. That seems like a win to me.

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Bringing Self Reliance Into The House

While at the HOA conference, we were told that the house is not as important as the land. I, wholeheartedly, disagree. While the personal how’s and why’s of that is not important, what is important is that having a safe, secure, and comfortable home, is just as important as the land. And yes, part of it is vanity on my end. While I don’t want the best of the best and need designer things. I do need my home to be safe, secure, and comfortable.

We have to update our electrical panel, breakers, and some wiring. We need to take down some trees that would absolutely demolish our home if they fell. Then there’s the fire safety aspect of putting in tile accents in front of the fire place. We have to paint the exterior of our home because cedar siding will be damaged if it is not taken care of property. Oh, and our back deck is about to fall of the house. So while yes, the land is important so is the house.

I understand what these other homesteaders were talking about in regards to making sure that the land is the priority. But at the same time, so is the home. I know that they don’t mean, “Don’t worry about the electrical panel! You need to put pasture rotation into effect first.” But at the same time, me being comfortable in my home is equally as important as the land. And to be honest, we can do both.

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The Food Storage Room

One of the other ways we are going to work on our self reliance is to finish up our food storage room. While most will call this a pantry, it’s going to be much more than that. In this storage room, we will have all of our canned goods, garden harvests, coffees, etc. It will also have a dehumidifier and vents on a thermometer to help control the temperatures. It will be insulated and have a door to keep animals out. We will also be storing our crockpots, stock pots, and other larger kitchen appliances in there so that we can reduce the amount of space they take up in the kitchen.

So I will be working on making the house comfortable for my family, while Jared is out there cutting down trees and replacing the electrical panel. I may even help him paint the house.

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What Is Your Self Reliance Infrastructure

At the end of the day, you have to do what is right for your family, your land and your animals. It’s not about them or me. It’s about you and what you are trying to accomplish with your life. I hope this post has opened your eyes to what you want to do with your homestead.

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How To Deal With Cabin Fever

January 18, 2025 by Leigh Leave a Comment

The days are short, the nights are cold, and you are probably bored out of your skull. If you are like many new homesteaders, you are chomping at the bit for spring and summer. There is no big garden harvests and sunlight is at a premium. But there are a ton of ways to deal with cabin fever as we wait for spring and summer.

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What Is Cabin Fever

My definition of cabin fever is simply being stuck at home, inside for too long. For someone more outgoing, it’s probably spending a day or two at home unable to leave. For those of us at prefer to be home, it’s usually the boredom that comes with winter. There’s not a whole lot to do in the winter because winter is a time of rest.

If you think about the seasons, spring is the season of new beginnings. Livestock is laboring. Plants are starting to sprout. We are ALMOST ready to put the gardens in. Summer is the season of rush, rush, RUSH. There’s gardens to plant, fertilize, harvest, and preserve. Animals are getting fat for butchering. Fall is the mad dash to get everything finished up. Livestock is being butchered. Gardens are in their final stages before buttoning them up for winter. Kitchens are completely taken over by canning supplies, produce, and complete insanity. Firewood is being stacked for the cold months ahead.

But winter? That is the time to sit back and reflect. It’s the time to sit in front of the fire and enjoy time with your family. It’s the time to enjoy the fruits of your labor.

It’s also the time where I am ready to go insane. I am a very type A person and I don’t do well with idle time. I always want to be doing something. So I decided to share the things I do to deal with cabin fever in hope that you can take advantage of them and not go insane.

How To Prevent Or Deal With Cabin Fever

Plan

I am a planner. I love to sit down, organize my thoughts and goals. I like to use Bullet Journals to keep me on track with what I’m doing. Since they are fully customizable, they are the only planner that I use. That way when spring comes around, I can just start doing. This is also the time that I start looking back at my garden journal to see what did well, what didn’t and so on.

Also, I will start looking at various seed companies like Territorial Seed Company and Eden Brother’s to see what seeds they have, and when to order. I will also make lists of things that need to be done, things that worked or didn’t, and all the other type A planning that goes with a homestead.

Interior Projects

Since winter is the best time to do in home projects, I start looking at our infrastructure list and see what I can work on. Usually it has something to do with filling cracks in the paneling and painting, though this year it’s probably going to be flooring. Another project that we will be working on is organizing the basement… again…. yay…. I’m not super excited about that one.

Livestock

At this point in the year, I usually have several goats that are pregnant. So I hang out with them and make sure they are doing ok. This really helps to deal with cabin fever simply because they are amazing and are very expensive therapy. I also check on their hay levels and our feed stores. Since I’ve been tracking how much hay they have used, I can start planning on what they will need for next year. I will also keep an eye on their bedding and pine shaving stores to see how much we are going through.

Organize

I try really hard to keep everything organized throughout the year but let’s be real, the only downtime I have is winter and the first part of spring so I usually organize the house and declutter sometime in December and again in March. I call it my winter and spring cleaning.

This is also when I put up or bring out the flannel sheets, heavier blankets/ curtains, etc. Another thing I do is organize my deep freezers so that I know how much meat we have, used, and how much more we need for the following year. Lastly, I go through my canning jars and supplies to start looking at what was eaten, how much and how many jars I have left.

Canning

Lastly, I can to help pass the time. Usually I will get about 50# of beans and can them so that I don’t have to mess with them later. Since dried beans are shelf stable on their own, I don’t have to worry about them in the height of canning season (July through September). I will also can soup left overs so that I have extras on hand. And I work on breaking down any bulk purchases of flour, sugar, mesa and rice.

I don’t push canning hard throughout the winter. It’s mostly to help myself out come summer when the very last thing I want to do is deal with what to make for dinner.

Hobbies

One of the best ways to reduce boredom that comes with cabin fever is to work on your hobbies. I am a reader and consume (physical, eBook, and audio books) about 300 books a year. During the spring and summer, I’m not reading as much unless I’m at work or listening to books while in the garden. But come winter? My butt is planted on the couch and I’m reading like crazy.

I also crochet during the winter to keep my hands busy to give my eyes a rest if I’ve been reading a ton. Plus, who wants to be under a huge blanket in the heat of summer…. not me.

If you don’t have a hobby, I highly suggest getting one. It’s not healthy for your entire personality to be a homesteader. Trust me.

Whatever you do to deal with cabin fever, just remember it’s temporary. The spring and summer rush will come and you will be praying for the boredom of winter. Be sure to leave a comment below about how you deal with cabin fever!

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Can You Free Range Goats

January 14, 2025 by Leigh Leave a Comment

The short answer is no…. ish. I say ish because we are able to free range our goats, but it’s not something that I would recommend for most people. In fact, I would say the rule is that you can’t, but the exception is that you can try. I know, I know, that’s clear as mud. But let’s talk more about how we free range goats, and what you could do to see if it works for you.

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Our Free Range Goats

As you can see, our goats are obviously not in their fence. The reason was because they ran out of grass in their pastures and feed is expensive. And to be honest, I couldn’t fathom spending hundreds of dollars a month of grain, pellets, and hay when we have an emerald forest full of tasty and delicious browse for them.

But getting to this point was a huge stress for Jared. We all know how much I love the goats? Well, he is Papa Bear when it comes to these creatures. He was so freaked out at the thought of them being outside the fence, that he would stand and watch them for hours…. Y’all, HOURS. Man, I need you to do chores, not watch the goats!

But the reality was that because he watched the goats, he was able to direct them and keep them on the property. So okay fine.

How Did We Get Them To Successfully Free Range?

First and foremost, it was accidently on purpose. Yes, I know. But there was never ANY intention on free ranging these goats. Jared wanted long term lawn mowers but after figuring out that we were going to have to fence them, that idea went out the window. We simply can’t afford to fence in our entire property. So we fenced in three pastures and seeded them for grass. Well, that grass didn’t take very well and the grass that did? They don’t really eat it.

When we realized how poor Champs body condition was just prior to her kidding, we started giving grains and alfalfa pellets. But that shot our feed bill to over $600 a month. Which may not seem like a lot for some farmers, but that’s a lot for us. I started brainstorming on all the things I could do to get them out of the pastures and eating the weeds, briars and other yummy things that they love.

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Electric fencing?

At first I thought our magic bullet would be electric netting like this. I’ve heard great reviews on it and a lot of fellow farmers swear by it. But it’s also expensive and some of the areas we would put them doesn’t get a lot of sunlight for a solar energizer and is too far away to run electricity. We had a poultry net and I figured, let’s try that. It didn’t really work. The goats chewed a few of the strains and effectively shorted out a $250 fence. Thanks guys.

At this point, I was/am milking every morning and the goats have learned that when Mom comes out? She usually has yummy things, and it’s usually in a bucket. Without even trying I started training them to come when I shook a feed bucket. This really helped because they would come when “called”.

Once I figured out that they were following me around because I had feed or they thought I had feed, a lightbulb went off. If they come when I have a feed bucket.

Maybe I can let them run loose?

Enter Champion and Stella. These two girls are my most friendly. Jade and Sapphire are friendly, but Champ and Stella seek me out. So I said, screw it and let them out one day. Then the next, I let out Champ, Stella, Jade and Sapphire. A couple days later, I let out those four plus Oakley, Bailey, Bash and Finn. By the end of that week, I had 12 goats running loose on the property and coming when I shook the feed bucket.

Thankfully, Jared was at work because when he came home? He threw a fit when he saw his girls running a muck in the yard. He wouldn’t come inside unless they were back in the safety of the fence.

It has taken about a month or so for him to finally be okay with the girls running loose. The emerald forest, what we call the briar and weed choked property, has never looked better.

We have never looked back. Now, they have run of the property from sun up to sun down.

So Can You Free Range Goats?

Uh, maybe? I would definitely not go into purchasing goats with the expectation of free ranging them. The biggest thing I noticed with our goats is they want our attention and food. If we had a herd of Bella’s, this would be laughable. She is still extremely skittish and the only reason why she free ranges now is because all of the other goats are able to free range. Since goats are herd animals, they will follow the leader (Champ) where ever she goes. Including Bella.

Potential Steps To Take

I’m not saying that these steps will work. What I am saying is that this is what we did and it worked for us. The key here is making sure that your herd is capable of free ranging. If they are going to take off and never come back? I don’t know that anything on this list will work. But we have worked hard to make our homestead a place were animals don’t want to leave. But that doesn’t mean that the urge to take off will go away.

Make sure they know where their barn is. If they know their safe place is in that barn, when the spook they will run to the barn. Same thing with their fencing. This will take time!
Start making noise with that grain bucket and “make” them come to you. I say make, but really goats do what they want. The grain just helps things along.
Bond with your goat! I am 100% positive, with proof, that if you take the time to bond with your goat and they are happy to see you, there is a chance you can let them free range. My proof is Bella. We have had her from the beginning and if the other goats had not bonded to us, she would have run off the first time we let her out. But because we have bonded with Champ, Stella, Oakley, Bailey, Jade, and Sapphire, they will come when we call them.
Get to know your goats, preferably over winter. This goes along with bonding, but timing is important. If you spend time with them throughout the winter, giving them hay, grain and other yummy things, come spring they know that you are the bringer of yummy things. They will follow you into the gates of hell…. But only for yummy things.
Do not let any new to the farm goats out of the fence until they are 100% accepted into the herd and listen to your established herd queen. This is really important because if your herd queen will follow you or come to you, this will show the other goats that they need to do the same thing. Bella will follow the herd and the herd follows Champ.
Do NOT let your bucks loose. They will either get into your doe pen or they will take off to find girls of their own. Maybe once they are out of rut it could be okay. The caveat to this is that our bucks also love us and want yummy things. In the height of rut, we cannot let them loose. But when they are allowed to be with their girls over winter? They can all free range together.
Predator load is also very important here. If you have an extremely high predator load? This is probably not a good option for you. While our load is mild, we only let them out when we are home. If we are going to be gone, they are locked in their pen.
Probably the most important on this list, make sure that anything that could un-alive these goats is put up. Nails, paint, loose deck boards, you name it, they will try to die from it.

Since we sit on 8 acres and that bucket doesn’t make a ton of noise. I started working on training them to a dinner bell. Weird, I know. But if I ring the bell when they are close and give them a feed bucket, in theory, they should come to expect feed when that bell is rung. It worked for Pavlov’s dog right? Well, it’s also working for the goats. They usually haul ass to use when the hear that bell because they know mom’s got nom noms.

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Master Planting List

January 11, 2025 by Leigh Leave a Comment

Over the last several years, I have tried to figure out the best way to help new gardeners, garden effectively. Sometimes it helps new gardeners, other times? Maybe not so much. So today, I am going to give you my master planting list for my family of 4 and livestock. I’m also going to give you what I would have done differently if I needed to start over with the knowledge that I have now.

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My Master Planting List

The biggest problem with new gardeners that I have learned is that people expect gardening to be easy and then get discouraged when they struggle. They think they have a black thumb and give up. Or, the exact opposite happens. They have a GREAT year, and are overconfident next year. But if you aren’t exactly sure where you fall because this year is your first garden, let me help you out.

In this blog post, I am going to give you my master planting list but also how to figure out exactly how much space you need, how many plants to start or purchase, and then finally, how to put it all together.

How Much Space

Realistically, you only need about 100 Sq Ft (10ft x10ft) of space per person for a fresh eating garden. If you are looking to put up food for winter, then you need about 200 Sq Ft (10×20). This is going to vary greatly based the space you have, what you are growing, and how much meat you consume.

But what you “should” have may not be what you actually have. So how can you increase your space? Container gardens are a great option. Especially if you are focusing on fresh eating. A 5 gallon bucket with good soil and drainage can easily grow a tomato plant and it only has about a 12 inch footprint. And with vertical support, a cucumber plant can easily trellis and give you a ton of food.

Another thing to consider is adding additional plants within a space. A good example of this is planting green beans with tomatoes. A tomato needs about 12-18 inches of space between tomato plants. But that doesn’t mean that those 12-18 inches needs to be empty. You can plant something else in between those tomatoes.

As you stretch your gardening muscle and learn what works and what doesn’t, you will find more space for more plants.

How Many Plants

This is the nitty gritty of what everyone really wants to know when it comes to new gardeners. How many plants do I need…? There are a ton of formulas to figure this out, and to be honest, they are all really useful. And completely overwhelming.

If you are starting from scratch and you don’t have a clue what is going on, that’s totally ok. My rule of thumb is a minimum of 1 plant per person. At the very least, this gets you started on a garden and gives you plenty of information for your next garden.

If you are a family of 4, this means 4 tomato plants. If well cared for, that tomato plant will yield you about 25 to 40# of tomatoes depending on variety. But this doesn’t work well for say corn which only gives 1 or 2 ears of corn per stalk.

You will have to do some research about what you eat, what you are comfortable preserving, your space, etc. Which is why I say that you have to work on your gardening skills.

Putting Your Garden Together

First, let’s say that you have a 25ftx 50ft space that you can convert into a garden and are a family of 4. Then let’s say that you are not super comfortable with pressure canning but you have plenty of freezer space. Here is what I would plant within my garden:

50 Tomato Plants- That is 1 row in my garden and will give me approximately 400# for fresh eating and preservation. I can water bath can tomato sauce, dice tomato, and salsa.

4 Cucumber Plants- If put on a fence, cattle panel or something to get it off the ground, it will take up 4 sq ft and yield approximately 100#, if well cared for, for fresh eating and livestock food. If picked small, you can pickle them for shelf stability.

4 Zucchini or Summer Squash Plants- This will take up approximately 8 sq ft and yield approximately 40# of squash if reasonably cared for. Summer squashes do not can well but if flash frozen does well in the freezer to be used in soups and stews. Excess can be given to livestock.

50 Corn- Plant in a square instead of a row to increase pollination. This will yield between 50-100 ears of corn. It can be eaten fresh OR decobbed and put in the freezer for later. Cobs, husks and silks can all be fed to livestock.

8 Ft (16 plants) Green Beans- If you really like green beans and you have room, add more. They only need about 6in between plants. Green beans are super easy to grow, are delicious and usually yield about 1/2# per plant, if well cared for. They also hold up well to being frozen. Unfortunately, you should pressure can green beans.

8 Ft (16 plants) Peas- Now, peas are a cool ish weather crop. So make sure that if you are planting them in the summer, they are in shade and get well watered. Shelling peas usually yield about 2# for 16 plants but this will vary on variety and care.

10 Pepper Plants- If you don’t like peppers, plant extra tomatoes. Peppers do not need or want a ton of water and usually do well in high heat, high sun areas. You will get about 200 hot peppers or about 70 bell or sweet peppers with 10 plants. Peppers do not can well unless they are in something like salsa or relish. But they do freeze or dehydrate extremely well.

10 Potato Plants- Potatoes are the unsung hero in a world that tells us starch and carbs are bad for us. Personally, I freaking love potatoes and could eat them every day. Regardless, potatoes yield about 10# per plant and can store in a cool dry place for months. If you get an indeterminate variety, that number goes up to about 15#. You can pretty much forget about your potatoes and are all but guaranteed to get something.

Tips From A Not So Master Gardener

Start where you are and learn as you go.
Don’t panic if you can’t do all organic, everything. Simply growing your own food is better than nothing.
Gardening should be fun, not a horrible chore.
Gardening is not intuitive, it is a skill and should be treated as such.
WRITE IT DOWN! Trust me, you will not remember.
Learn to save seeds, but don’t sweat it if you can’t.
Start small and grow as you learn.
Gardening is not easy.
Mulch is your friend.
Learn to grow your own soil!

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Homestead

What Is Homestead Flexibility?

Homestead Flexibility in Action

The Reality of Homestead Challenges

Structuring Your Goals While Staying Flexible

How to Build Flexibility Into Your Homestead Plans

The Power of Switching Gears

The Bottom Line: Flexibility Fuels Success

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Before You Prepare Your Garden

Check Last Years Journal/ Notes

Look At What You Preserved

Consider Your Animals Needs

How To Prepare Your Vegetable Garden

Clearing The Garden

Lay Out Fencing

Consider Additives

Sourcing Your Plants

Starting Your Own Starts

Buying Starts

Prepare Your Beds

Building Your Beds

Laying Out Your Garden

Irrigation

Get To Planting

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Setting Up Your Homestead Vision Board

Layout For Your Homestead Vision Board

How To Prioritize Your Homestead Goals

Most Important Goals First

Finish Line Goals

Grace Is Key

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*****Be sure to read till the end*****

Why Is Homesteading Hard?

Life and Death Decisions

Running Out Of Feed

Sick Animals

Financial Impact

Working Your Gardens

Firewood

Is Homesteading Hard?

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The Real Side Of Free Ranging Goats

Finances

Body Condition

Predator Control

Parasite Control

Cons?

Free Ranging Goats: Update 2023

Lack Of Browse

Injuries

Getting Into Trouble

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The Spring To Do List

Spring To Do List: Garden

Spring To Do List: Livestock

Spring To Do List: Poultry

****Spoiler alert**** There are cons to raising chickens…. Just so you know.

Finally, We Clean and Organize

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What Does Self Reliance Look Like To Us

Setting Up Our Infrastructure

Meat

Gardens

Animals

Permaculture And Self Reliance

Bringing Self Reliance Into The House

The Food Storage Room

What Is Your Self Reliance Infrastructure

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What Is Cabin Fever

How To Prevent Or Deal With Cabin Fever

Plan

Interior Projects

Livestock

Organize

Canning

Hobbies

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Be sure to read till the end

Spoiler alert There are cons to raising chickens…. Just so you know.