Homestead

How To Successfully Train Farm Dogs

March 30, 2024 by Leigh Leave a Comment

First, I want to preface this entire series with the understanding that I am not a dog training expert. I didn’t go to school for it, it’s not my career, and I am not a professional. BUT I do have four dogs that I have successfully trained on my farm and I have trained dogs most of my life. So while I am not an expert, I feel like I’ve got a pretty good handle on training dogs and dispensing tips and tricks on how to successfully train farm dogs.

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How To Successfully Train Farm Dogs

There are a ton of ways to train farm dogs but I think there are some universal truths to keep in mind. Not all farm dogs can be trusted with all animals. Patience will make or break you and/or your dog. Negative reinforcement is a good thing. Perfect recall is a MUST.

Personally, I think the most important of all is understanding your dog’s boundaries. As always, I’m going to explain more about boundaries below but the fast answer is you have to be able to manage that dog’s crazy. If you can’t, then you need to figure out what your next steps will be.

So let’s get into these universal truths so that I can give you some training tips.

Not All Dogs Can Handle Animals

Some dog’s prey drive is simply too high to handle being around small animals. This can include cats, chickens, goats, ferrets, etc. It doesn’t matter what you do, that dog is stuck on go. Now, you can train that dog and you can get that drive mostly under control. But at the end of the day, you are going to have to manage that boundary.

Blu is a fantastic example of this. 99.9% of the time, she is absolutely fine around the livestock. And she won’t chase every chicken, every time. But that .1%? She is going to chase a chicken. She can’t help herself. BUT we have worked with her and she will pull off the chicken when we tell her to leave it.

Fenrir can’t handle the goats. Well, he can handle the big goats because they will defend themselves. But the babies? He has absolutely no idea why they are screaming at him. He’s still a pup and he’s learning but I know that one misstep and he will hurt a baby. Not because he’s trying to hurt them, but because they sound like squeaky toys and they are freaking him out.

Have Some Patience

This applies not only to your dog, but also for you, your family and your farm. As they say, Rome wasn’t built in a day. Explaining to the child, and reminding yourself, that we don’t need to reprimand the dog for every infraction can be frustrating. Consistency when there are other people in the house who have contact with the dog is frustrating. When the dog is more interested in sniffing everything than training, you will want to pull your hair out.

But the biggest mistake that I see being made is that people who have never allowed their dog to dog are suddenly frustrated and angry because their dog is not dogging. To give you an example, your dog has been living in a fenced in yard his whole life. You’ve never really had to work on recall because he doesn’t escape his yard. But now, you don’t have a fenced in yard and you want to let him run on your property. Well, you can’t just let him run loose because he’s never done that before.

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That means working with him on his recall and a long line. It also means that after graduating from a long line, he get’s an e-collar. I talk more about e-collars in my tips, tricks and hacks post here (coming soon) so don’t get up in arms about it yet. After a couple of weeks on a long line and e-collar, we start working off leash. But ONLY if his recall is on point. (I go over how to train recall at the end of this post)

Another thing I’ve noticed when it comes to dogs, specifically Blu, is that she gets extremely nervous and anxious when she is learning a new task and doesn’t understand what you are wanting. That sucks because I tend to get frustrated because she isn’t listening. The first few times it happened, I just couldn’t understand why the dog was being a dumbass…. But it was me. I was the problem and the dumbass. So I stepped back and figured out how to break down what I wanted her to do in more manageable pieces and BAM the dog figured out in one training session how to “Switch”. This is were she is walking on one side of me and I tell her to switch to the other side.

Remember the number one rule of horsemanship…. It’s never the horse’s fault. This holds true for 100% of animals. It is NOT THEIR FAULT! You have the bigger brain and higher reasoning, they don’t. They are just animals. So make sure that when you start a training session, you are in a good headspace.

And when you start to notice that you are getting frustrated, END THE SESSION! There will be no more good that comes out of that session because the dog knows you are upset. They will get anxious and stressed and it just becomes a vicious circle. So throw the ball with them instead.

Negative Reinforcement Can Be A Good Thing

I know, I know. You’ve been told that only positive reinforcement is acceptable. You’ve probably been told that hitting a dog is absolutely wrong. And it is! But let’s talk about what negative reinforcement is from a dog training angle. It is simply a tool and when it is used as a tool, it works extremely well. Negative reinforcement is just using something that a dog doesn’t like to get them to do the thing you want.

For example, Kodi HATES the vibrate button on his e collar. That is negative reinforcement. It doesn’t involve us hitting him or yelling at him. It is a simple, but effective TOOL to get him to stop doing what he is doing and come to me.

Another example is Bear hates a stern voice. All I have to do is give him “the voice” and he realizes that I don’t like whatever it is that he did. Blu HATES being swatted, and I’m not talking about hitting her. I’m talking a gentle swat to the butt to get her to move out of the way will send her into a tizzy. Fenrir hates being ignored.

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The key to negative reinforcement is to know when to use it. Remember, it is a tool. We don’t use a hammer when a screw driver is needed. We aren’t going to use negative reinforcement every time the dog is doing something “wrong”.

I don’t need to use Kodi’s hatred for the vibrate feature on his e collar to cow him. Nor do I want to. I want a relationship with my dogs because we are a team. They have a job to do, and I want them to trust me. I need them to raise the alarm to tell me when the predators come into the yard. I need them to round up the chickens (this is where we use Blu’s tendency to chase and redirect it into something better).

And I would normally agree that negative reinforcement is not necessary for “regular dogs”. When teaching Fido to sit, stay, down, sure, use only positive reinforcement. But when you are teaching Fido life or death lessons, things that could kill Fido if he doesn’t listen, yea, I’m going to use negative reinforcement.

Why Recall Is The Most Important Thing To Teach A Farm Dog

The reason I believe perfect, or near perfect recall is so important requires a story. When Blu was a puppy (about 9 months old) she was already 75 pounds, and not spayed since we try to wait as long as possible to allow their bones to grow. About every 6 days, the coyotes come through the property on their loop through the area. While we were outside putting up animals, the coyotes started to call to her.

You could tell her by her body language that she was getting ready to go after them. Whether to mate or attack is not important. The important thing is that she was getting ready to go to them and we were about to have a really big issue. If Blu’s recall had not been perfect, we would have had a HUGE mess on our hands. That is life or death to a farm dog.

Perfect recall ties into negative reinforcement and those life or death lessons. When you are on a farm, perimeter fencing gets really expensive, and honestly unnecessary. You need to know that your dog will come when they are called. When you tell them to “leave it”, they need to leave whatever it is alone.

Country and farm life can kill an animal. Tractors don’t care if the dog doesn’t know not to get under the tires. Cows don’t care if Fido isn’t trained to handle them. Coyotes, mountain lions, and bears don’t care if Blu is trying to protect her land. Neighbors don’t care if your dog is really friendly, they are going to protect their chickens, goats, and sheep.

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Understanding Your Dog’s Boundaries

I left this one for last, even though it is the most important. To successfully train farm dogs, you must first have a bond/ relationship. Then you have to have patience as you work through their training. Teaching recall can be a nerve racking experience. But all of that will be for naught if you do not understand your dogs boundaries.

Now, I call it managing their crazy because it is much more accurate, but less fair to the dog. But there are some things that your dog just won’t be able to do successfully. Kodi will never want to stay close. Bear will never raise the alarm. Blu will never stop barking. And Fenrir? He will constantly be a management case because of his hips. I am very familiar with their boundaries. I know when I can push them, I know when I can’t.

Our old dogs Shiloh and Diesel are prime examples of knowing and respecting a dog’s boundaries. Shiloh had to be crated if we left because he would absolutely destroy the house. Diesel would guard his food to the point of showing teeth. We managed their crazy by making sure that we ALWAYS had a crate for Shiloh. We taught our boys from an early age (they were 3 and 1 when we got Diesel) NEVER touch the dogs food once it was in the bowl. In fact, the kid got “punished” for touching the dog’s food bowl before the dog ever got “punished”. Why? Because the end result could have been catastrophic for the dog AND the child.

If your dog is not ready to be off leash, DO NOT force it. That dog is telling you they have a boundary. Kodi can be off leash but only with someone watching him. That’s okay.

If your dog is food reactive? DO NOT TOUCH their food! You are giving them reason after reason not to trust you because you are taking their food from them.

If your dog is destroying the house? Crate them!

It is our job as their caretakers to make sure that they are given tools for success. It is our job to protect them, even from themselves.

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How I Train My Farm Dogs

March 26, 2024 by Leigh Leave a Comment

I was going to tell you all the tips and tricks that I have learned raising dogs and training farm dogs first. But as I started writing I realized that you probably don’t me, my farm or my dogs. So instead of starting with all the tips, tricks and things that you should do, I’m going to tell you how I trained my farm dogs, show you my pack, tell you how I trained them and some stories. As this series goes on, I am going to go more in depth about everything I know from successfully training your farm dog to best breeds, tools, hacks, and the actual training of dogs. So make sure to sign up for our newsletter to be alerted to those posts!

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How I Train My Farm Dogs: Some Details First

There are a ton of people moving to the country and purchasing property right now. They are getting into homesteading and gardening. Which is awesome! Except they don’t really know what to do with their dogs. Most city rules don’t apply in the country and it can be a hard transition. But one of the big things I see a lot is people thinking their dog can’t become a farm dog. That’s simply not true. It’s not hard to train farm dogs but it does take a far amount of work.

I am going to introduce you to my pack, then I’m going to tell you about some of our difficulties, and finally I’m going to talk about some of the tools that we use to work with our dogs and get their training up to speed.

What Is A Farm Dog

There is a huge difference between a city dog and a country dog. Just like there is a difference between a country dog and a farm dog. Then the biggest difference is between a farm dog and a livestock guardian dog (LGD). But at the end of the day, any dog can be a farm dog with the right training.

A farm dog is really just a dog that can live on a farm. They don’t have to be working dogs. And they don’t have to be GREAT with livestock or poultry but they can’t harm them. They need to be able to be off leash/ lead and I’ll explain more why that is important below. For some dogs, that’s an easy bar to hit. Other dogs, that may seem absolutely impossible.

Putting Titles On Your Dog

As of this writing, I have four farm dogs. I make the distinction between a working dog, farm dog, livestock dog and “regular” dog because they are all totally different. A “regular” dog is the dog you have in your backyard. They are a companion animal and rarely anything more.

But when you start putting titles on your dog and expecting them to do a job, you need to make sure that dog is equipped to handle it. For example, if you get a Heeler and don’t give it a job, it can become a disaster. But at the same time, if you have a couch potato breed like an English Bulldog, and expect it to round up your cattle? Equally as disappointing.

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My dogs all have different titles and roles on the farm. Each dog does something really well, others not so much. I call it managing their crazy. I know that Fenrir cannot be put in the goat pen alone, so I don’t put him in the goat pen alone. Blu cannot handle being unsupervised with the poultry, so we don’t let her stay outside alone. You just have to manage their crazy and see where you can push their boundaries without breaking them.

How I Train My Farm Dogs

The Bear Bear

Bear is the oldest at 11 and has been raised as a city dog his whole life. He is, what I call, a pound special. We have absolutely no idea what he is mixed with, though we can guess. He took to farm life like everything else we have thrown at him. There was no running away, his recall is damn near perfect and he doesn’t care about livestock or poultry coming up to him. He is my definition of a perfect dog.

Training Bear was really easy because I have spent the last 11 years telling him exactly what I wanted him to do. From the time we brought him home from the pound at 6 weeks old, he took to training beautifully. When we moved to the farm, he already knew my “no” commands. He knew how to sit, down, and stay. So all I really needed to do was get him to come when I called him.

At this point in Bear’s life, I am not super worried about him not coming immediately when I call him. I trust that he isn’t going to run off, hurt the animals, etc. He’s 11 years old, all he wants to is hangout with me and sleep in the sun.

Training Blu

Next is Blu. She is a German Shepherd/ Great Pyrenees cross and she is 3. She is the first female dog I have had in a decade…. and she will be the last. While she is a damn good dog, she has been extra challenging to raise up. Part of that is the shepherd, part is the Pyrenees, and the last part is because she came to us at 4 weeks old. To this day, she chases chickens but her recall is just about perfect and she can be trusted with the goats.

The day we moved to the farm, I went and picked up Blu. Her breeder wanted the pups gone by 4 weeks old which is absolutely not ideal. In fact, dogs really should be with mom until 12 weeks old, but it is what it is.

Her training consisted of her becoming our shadow on the farm. That meant that she was leashed to us when we went outside or on the lead/ long line if we needed to be able to move around without her tripping us up. Once she learned recall, we put her on an e collar. It took her a while to full learn recall by the chime on the collar but eventually she did. Unfortunately, Blu is extremely stubborn and we have had to use the electric feature (always as a last resort) to pull her off the chickens.

Also, I knew that we were going to have chickens and ducks. But when she was about 12 weeks old, we brought goats to the farm. She learned a very valuable lesson when she started barking and growling at Bella. Bella rammed and rolled her. While I didn’t love it, and I knew that it could cause a fear response in Blu towards the goats, it worked exactly how I wanted. Because Bella rammed and rolled Blu, she taught Blu a lesson that we just couldn’t: sometimes the prey fights back. Blu is significantly more leery of the goats.

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Training Kodiak

Then we have Kodi (or Kodiak). This is Chase’s dog, my favorite Grand-pup and the largest of all the dogs. Kodi came from the pound and was labeled a St. Bernard. He’s actually a Leonberger and is fantastic with literally anyone that comes to the farm. He’s great with the goats and poultry. In fact the only “downside” about him is that he is a runner. Which is how we got him from the pound in the first place.

Kodi’s training was longer in some areas but was lightening fast in others. For example, he was immediately great with the animals and livestock. But his off leash training is still a work in progress 2 years later. He’s got great recall about 99% of the time. But that 1%? He’s gone.

But I can take him into the goat pens without a single worry. Baby goats absolutely love him and he loves them. In fact, I asked Chase (it’s his dog after all) if he would be willing to let Kodi stay outside and be an LGD… But he said no.

Training Fenrir

Lastly, we have my beloved Fenrir. Fen is new to the farm. We got him in August of 2023 and he has become an absolutely amazing farm dog. I have a tendency to find and fall in love with rescues, which can lead to really big issues on a farm. Fortunately, Blu and Fenrir are best buddies and he follows her around. This is great when it comes to recall but kind of sucks because he shares her tenacity to chase chickens.

Unfortunately, Fenrir has really, REALLY bad hips. He has pretty severe hip dysplasia. The kind where no matter how careful we are with keeping his weight under control, exercise in moderation, supplements, etc he could jump off the couch and break his hip.

As far as his training, we are focusing on his animal training right now. He is okay around the big goats because they will ram him when he gets too close or rowdy. The babies are squeaky toys so when they start bouncing and screaming, it freaks him out. So I take him into the goat pens and just hang out with him. By keeping everything calm, he gets to become familiar with the baby goats and everything stays positive. The chickens will take longer but ultimately a firm “No” when he starts chasing is all he needs.

Bringing City Dogs To The Farm

Bear is not the only dog that we brought to the farm when we first bought the property. We also had Diesel and Shiloh. Diesel was Chase’s dog. Diesel loved everyone, but he was Chase’s dog. Those two were thick as thieves. He was a rescue that was so sweet and gentle despite the fact that he was 100+ pounds.

Shiloh was a German Shepherd/ Alaskan Malamute cross. He was my baby and he got me through some REALLY hard times. We would go hiking all the time and I was so excited to bring him to the mountains that we so loved. He was my soul dog. The first dog in my entire life that I felt so connected to it was ridiculous. But within 3 days of bringing them to the farm they ran away, never to be seen again.

Bringing city dogs to the farm is usually not going to be a problem. But sometimes, you just have dogs that are not well suited for this life. Diesel would have killed every single animal that we brought to the property. Shiloh would never have learned recall. While it hurts like hell that we lost them, they were not suited to this life.

While I stand firmly by my statement that any dog can be a farm dog, some dogs will take WAY more effort to train up.

Training My Farm Dogs To Go Off Leash

Before I end this post, I wanted to give you one my tips on how to start training your dog off leash. First and foremost, your dog needs to be “trained” with animals. Because the reality is that if your dog is not good with livestock, the very last thing they need to have is off leash training around livestock. So if Fido won’t “leave” the chickens alone, being off leash just means you have ZERO control over the situation.

Now, assuming that your dog is great with livestock (or you don’t have livestock yet), off leash training starts with your bond with the dog. If your dog isn’t happy to see you, receive love from you, want your attention, etc, it’s going to be really hard to get them to come to you.

If you and your dog are bonded, we start on a long line like this, start with about 15ft. The goal here is to allow them to have enough “rope” to keep the leash slack and then you call the dog. When the dog comes to you, praise them, give them treats and love. Make it a big deal! Then do it again, and again, and again, until the dog comes to you every single time. Then graduate them to a longer line, 30-50ft. And do it again, and again, and again.

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Once you are comfortable with their level of recall, graduate them to an e collar. I’m going to offer some advice with the e collars. I do NOT encourage the use of the shock setting. In fact, with Kodi, I don’t think I’ve ever had to use it. But there are situations in which using the shock setting is necessary. Like your dog attacking an animal, about to get hit by a car, or other life or death situations, which I talk about in this post. If you feel it necessary to use the shock feature, start at the lowest setting and work your way up. We aren’t trying to hurt them, just break their attention off the thing and on to you.

This is the collar that we use for our dogs. Now is the time to be extremely patient. Some dogs don’t care about beeping, other dogs will panic. Same thing with the vibrate and shock. How I train my dogs on the e collar is to work on a long line (30ft) and continue work on their recall. I will recall and do the beep. When they come to me, I praise like crazy. And then do it again, and again, and again.

Tip: If they play fetch, this is the PERFECT time to work with the e collar because they are getting rewarded every time they hear the beep.

Once they have perfect, or near perfect recall, I will take off the leash. I will not them get more then 5ft away before recalling them. And then praise, give treats, a toy, whatever they want. And then do it again and again and again. Once they come back, I graduate their “invisible” leash around me. I let them go 10ft, 15ft, and so on until they come back EVERY TIME. This can be nerve racking but trust the process.

If the dog panics with the beep button, I just talk to them and work through the fear. Or, I will change the tone of the beep to something softer. Which is why I really like the e collar I linked above. It has a range of settings to fit the dog. Normally, the beeping or vibrate is just scary because it’s new. After a little bit, they won’t mind it so much.

I really hope this helps you and your dog become successful on your farm. Just remember, every dog can be a farm dog as long as you are willing to put in the work.

Can You Start A Homestead With No Money?

March 23, 2024 by Leigh 10 Comments

The short answer is no. You do need some money but it might surprise you that you don’t need a ton of money to start a homestead. Ingenuity, hard work and a lot of sweat goes a long way. But at the end of the day, no, you can’t start a homestead with no money.

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When we started our homestead, we had about $2,000. Considering the amount of work we needed to do? It was not a lot of money and I was panicking. I thought we needed all the things to get everything done, RIGHT NOW. Thankfully, after working a ton of overtime we have been able to slowly grow our homestead over the next year. Keyword is slowly.

How much do you need?

I would say a good rule of thumb to moderately build your homestead is $1,000 per acre to start. That doesn’t mean if you don’t have that $1,000 you can’t buy a homestead. But $1,000 is a good way to get started on a fair amount of projects without freaking out when you have to go back to the hardware store for the 15x in two days.

Replacing the water heater only took 7 trips in two days.

Also, depending on the state of your homestead, you may need to do a lot of manual labor before you can even get to work on any big projects. When we first moved in, we had to pull tons of debris from the homestead. Fencing, barbed wire, posts, random pieces of wood with nails sticking out of them, etc. Even a burned out freezer was just hanging out.

Can You Homestead With No Money: Animals

It took us a month and a half before we brought goats to the homestead to help clear land. Even though you can get goats pretty cheap, it’s not ideal. Cheap goats tend to be problem goats. Even mix breed goats can be expensive. Then there’s medication, feed, hay, shelters, and basic supplies.

Shelter

Before bringing home new animals, make sure that you have shelter already figured out. When we brought home Bella and V, we thought one of those plastic dog crates would be fine…. Well, we live in the rainiest parts of Georgia and every summer afternoon we have a pop up shower. Which is great for the garden, but not so great for goats. Depending on your weather, a good, cheap option is a dog igloo.

Fencing

I will say is this, before you bring bigger livestock (goats, pigs, donkey, etc) to the homestead, make sure you have plenty of money set aside because your first fence probably sucks. Especially if you have never built fences for livestock. I’m not knocking your fence building skills, but those animals will find the weak points. We spent two hours chasing Bella between our property and our neighbors. So make sure you either have extra money on hand or someone who actually knows how to build livestock fencing.

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Can You Homestead With No Money: Gardening

Gardening doesn’t necessarily have to be expensive. In fact, you could have an amazing garden on a shoestring budget. You really just need time, dirt, seed and some manual labor.

This year we put in our kitchen garden beds. While I absolutely LOVE them and I’m so glad we did it, the reality is that it cost us around $2,000 between soil, materials, trellising, etc. And we’re not even done yet. We still have to add more trellising and a better fence.

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Putting in gardens is going to be hard work. You can do a lot of work by hand instead of relying on a tractor. I feel like it’s worth it to learn how to do it manually so you know how to till (if that’s what you’re doing), amend the beds, see the soil structure, etc. However, it would be really nice to have a tractor for pulling stumps and not spending two weeks working the soil.

Can You Homestead With No Money: Get Creative

If you can get creative with what is already on your property, you don’t need a ton of money to start a homestead. We had a ton of old material from various projects we did at our old house. We made sure to bring all of that with us. Since our new garage wasn’t big enough for the 2 sets of storage shelves we had in the old garage, we used the wood for something else.

Some of the debris on the property has yielded us a couple of goat shacks, a chicken coop, plenty of roosting bars, and much more all without spending a penny. And while it’s not pretty, it works really well. The goat shack above has about $2 worth of screws invested in it. Since it has been converted into a kidding pen it has another $10 worth of hinges and wood.

There have also been instances of numerous projects that need to be done, and we only have $1,000 to all of them. Things get really creative then but when I look around at all the things we have gotten done around here, I’m pretty impressed.

Don’t be afraid of buying a property because you don’t have a ton of money to get started. It takes time to get a homestead up and running, not money. Hard work goes a lot further than a dollar so please don’t get hung up on that part.

It Doesn’t Have To Be Insta-Worthy

With the rise of homesteading, I see tons and tons of Instagram or Pinterest boards of these perfectly curated gardens, chicken coops, barns, homes, etc. Please, please, please don’t fall into that trap! Those of us that have been homesteading for more than 5 minutes fully understand the reality of homesteading.

You will wear yourself out trying to keep everything perfect.

There was chicken poop all over our back deck before we got our chicken run set up. Before we renovated the living room, we had goat vomit on the ceiling. I have a trash pile that is almost as wide as my driveway. I have flies in my kitchen no matter what I do to get rid of them.

Is my house dirty? No. It’s a working homestead. Syringes by the sink, coffee mugs on the deck, measuring tape on the picnic table, and boxes of garden harvest on every flat surface.

It’s this life, I love so much.

Sure, you could spend your entire day chasing after kids trying to keep those baseboards white….. Or you could enjoy the laughter as that child snuggles with a baby goat.

You could spend 2 hours every day making sure the chicken coop is spotless. Or you could spend those same 2 hours playing in the garden.

You could spend your day pulling every weed from the garden. Or you could cover it with some mulch and plant new things.

It’s all a matter of perspective. I don’t need a perfectly clean house, coop/barn, or weed free garden. My happiness means more to me than an insta-worthy picture.

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5 Things I Learned Heating With Firewood

March 19, 2024 by Leigh Leave a Comment

What sounds more homestead-y than a wood burning stove? Not much… Well, I would say gathering eggs too. But there are a lot of things to consider when it comes to heating with firewood, before you jump in with both feet. Things like, how much do you need? How are you going to stack it? How do you start a fire in an insert or wood stove? These are all questions I didn’t know I had, till I had them.

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I Learned A Lot Our First Year Heating With Firewood

Our fireplace insert is pretty old but still works very well. Unfortunately, it is not very energy efficient. We also learned that when we lose power, we loose the ability to heat our home well. We also have a wood burning furnace in the basement. While it was cool but not cold, we decided to start the furnace to see if it even worked. Boy did it! The boys rooms were 95* before we were able to get the fire out. After some trail and error, we figured out the basics of heating with firewood.

We’ve been heating our home solely with firewood for several years now so this list has changed a ~~bit~~ LOT!

We have since removed the old furnace in the basement since it produced WAY too much heat and ate WAY too much wood. Our wood burning insert in the living room suits us just fine.

1. Cut or buy more wood than you think you’ll need

If it’s your first year, cut double what you think you’ll need. We only cut two cords that first year. By the time the season was over, we had bought two more cords. Thankfully, we had a ton of downed trees on the property that were pretty dry. That allowed us to cut as we needed but having to buy firewood wasn’t on my to do list….until it was.

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We still ended up running low and almost out on two separate occasions and of course one of those we had a winter storm baring down on us. Figures.

In the subsequent years, we have learned that having 6 cords of wood on standby is ideal. Do we use 6 cords of wood? Rarely. But having it on standby is a great way to always have a head start on next year’s wood pile.

2. Get a good wood splitter

I love splitting firewood. Whether with an axe or with the splitter, it is incredibly satisfying to see your wood pile grow. Part of it is because you can see the progress of your work. The other part is you know you will be warm that winter.

But you do need a solid wood splitter to get the job done faster. Trust me, after an hour of swinging that axe you will be tired and looking to trade out with someone. There are several kinds out there, but we have an electric splitter. I would prefer gas but with it being 3x to 5x the price? Electric it is.

Our log splitter is smaller and we have to bend over to use it. Jared is tasked with building a table for it because after a while my back and hip start to hurt and I have to walk it off. Still, it beats having to use an axe 100% of the time.

We are also very lucky that our neighbors have a log splitter that they are totally cool with us borrowing. I would recommend saving to purchase your own and we are but thankfully that purchase is lower on the list.

3. Learn how to start a fire

You think I’m joking but you need to learn how to properly start a fire. There is no one right way to do it but you still need to know how to do it. You also need to learn how to operate your insert, stove, or fireplace. The basic jist is open your flue and add some sort of starter like paper, leaves, or similar. Light the starter and quickly add small sticks or kindling to it. Then add larger pieces of kindling until you can add a log without putting out the fire.

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How I do it, put cardboard on the log holders and a couple small logs that are “scraggly” they are super dry and have little pieces of wood sticking off them. This acts as my kindling. Then I light with our propane torch. Easy peasy. Jared has this whole process of building and building and BUILDING. I’ve go other stuff to do so I choose the easy way.

PS: Our propane torch is this attachment to the camp stove propane bottles. We then refill the camp stove bottles off a big propane tank at the beginning of every fall/winter.

4. Get a pot of water for your stove

A pot of water on the stove allows for you to create humidity. Without it, you will dry out not only your sinuses but it can also damage your home. If you have hard wood floors, or wood paneling like we do, it will cause it to dry, crack, and split.

Thankfully, when we had a cord of wood delivered, I started asking the guy questions because he had heated with wood his entire life. He walked in the house and asked where our water pot was. Before he left, we fixed the problem.

I had no idea that was a thing until I ended up getting really sick. I had a patient that had bronchitis and she coughed on me. Because my sinuses were so dry, there was no mucus. No mucus= no protection from germs.

We have since upgraded to a “fancy” pot so I could have my cooking pots back. We also have a magnetic fan and thermometer. While this may not seem important, and isn’t really necessary, it has helped a lot with monitoring the insert’s temperature AND moving air even if the power is out. I highly recommend both of these things.

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5. Storing Your Firewood

Next to cutting or ordering enough, storing your firewood is the most important lesson we learned. I knew that we needed to stack firewood off the ground. Also, I knew that we needed to keep it mostly dry. You should also probably not bring a ton of firewood on your deck or into your house because of bugs.

What I didn’t know was the mess dry wood creates in a house. I didn’t know that you should store your kindling separate. Finally, I didn’t realize that tarping your wood will actually cause to stay wet.

To fix some of these problems I made a wood storage box. It’s not pretty, but it does a fantastic job of making sure that the mess stays in the box. I also have a small ledge behind the lid that we have another box that holds small pieces of kindling. This box has been a lifesaver.

We pulled off the tarp and almost immediately wood that was previously damp, started to dry. We only pulled the tarp over our stack if it was supposed to rain. This helped a ton.

Bonus tip!

Leave a layer of ash in the bottom of your insert! I swear, this was the key to starting fires quickly and keeping those embers warm. It acts as insulation and really helps keep your fireplace at the correct temperatures. I usually keep an inch or two in the bottom when I clean it out between fires. When I need to remove ash, I place it in this bucket until it’s most full and then it goes into the compost pile.

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Overwhelmed With Chores?

March 12, 2024 by Leigh Leave a Comment

It’s easy to get overwhelmed with chores on the homestead. Goats need milked, eggs collected, dogs let out, and ducks bedding changed AGAIN. On top of that everyone needs to be fed, including the children. By the time your day is done you’ve logged 9 million steps and are exhausted. But sleep is for the weak because you have to stay on alert for predators, the baby, and the sick goat in your living room. Chore management on the homestead is a really thing and it’s hard to get a handle on.

Dealing With Overwhelming Chores

Yes, I am overwhelmed and yes, I am tired. But I have found some pretty ingenious hacks to allow me to get some sleep without sacrificing my animals care. Below are my 5 hacks to keeping up with the homestead, while working full time, homeschooling, and running a several businesses.

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Get the kids involved

I have found that there are two sides on this, and few people fall in the middle. Either kids do chores or they don’t. My boys do chores, and they do a lot of them. Every month they switch out, except for animals. We also help each other out. If I see the ducks need water, I fill it up. If Jaxson sees that the cats are out of food, he feeds them. Their current chore list looks like this:

Chase- Goats, feeding dogs/cats, wiping up the counters, vacuuming, and cars

Jaxson- Chickens/ducks, dishes, bathrooms, (yes, this seems off. But in our house, dishes get run 3x a day)

Me- Goats, gardening, other seasonal work

Jared- Building

But I see no reason why kids can’t do chores. Especially when they want toys, electronics, etc.

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Start small and grow

When we started the homestead, we started with our dogs, cats, dragons, and snake. Then we added chickens. Once we were comfortable with that, we added goats, and so on. Before we add anything new, or more of them, we ask if everyone is on board. Since the kids handle most of the day to day animal care, we want to make sure that they are good with getting more.

This means don’t start a 8,000 sq ft garden right out of the gate! Start a small garden and then grow it. This could mean starting a seeds inside before you build or buy a greenhouse.

I am currently working on this right now with our soil and pasture building project. Our soil is so compacted from lack of care that I am working to regenerate the soil and set up a strong pasture so we no longer have to feed our goats off farm inputs.

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Get into a routine

While this is tough at first, once you get into a routine of taking care of your chores, it’s easier to see where you have more time. Our routine goes something like this, I wake up, let my dogs out and shower. The boys get up, let their dogs out and start on their animals. If they are hustling they can get their morning chores done in about 10 minutes.

Because we unschool, our homeschool doesn’t take hours and hours. We talk about what they are interested in and they do research on that. We also take time for the basics like math, reading, social studies, and science. They do Spanish on Friday.

During garden season (Mid February to Mid November), I can usually be found outside until the weather drives me inside. I have a list of “rainy day chores” that I work on whenever the weather drives me inside. Like record podcasts or videos, write blog posts, planning days, etc.

Delegate

One of the first things I was taught in Paramedic school is delegation, and it’s not something I do well at work. But at home, I’ve got it covered. After talking with Jared about our goals and what we want to accomplish, I come up with the To Do lists and plans and delegate it out. This helps everyone figure out where they need to be, what they need to be doing and how to finance it. It’s not a hard fast rules/ to do lists, but it helps everyone know what they need to do.

It also extends to chores. Since keeping up the house is everyone’s chore, we split the chores as evenly as we can. I hate doing the dishes, so the other 3 handle it. They hate doing laundry so that usually falls to me. I handle the grocery shopping and bill paying. Jared handles building. Chase handles the goats, and Jaxson handles to poultry. Then we help each other out as needed to make sure that everything actually gets done.

Cleaning

I could write an entire blog post about cleaning up the house and the homestead. I would be lying if I said my house was spick and span. It’s not. I’ve got 4 huge dogs, and kids living inside my house. Not to mention the occasional goat, chicken, duck, etc. My house is never clean. But I clean up as I go and everyone else helps a lot.

Don’t get hung up in the details. My kitchen is a prime example. That little ledge behind the sink that collects all manner of nasty things is constantly dirty. I have tried everything in my power to keep that area clean but it’s not happening and you know what? That’s fine. My counters and stove are clean and the sink is mostly empty. Pick your battles and move on.

Grace

At the end of the day, you are simply human. Give yourself grace when you can’t get your kitchen scrubbed or the laundry done. The animals have food and water and the kids aren’t dead or hurt? You’ve done just fine.

Overwhelmed With Chores?

One of the biggest lessons that I’ve learned on the homestead is that there is always tomorrow. We have been conditioned to believe that tomorrow isn’t guaranteed. And yes, that’s absolutely true. But if you run yourself, spouse or kids into the ground trying to get everything done TODAY, you will burnout everyone out.

I have a saying that I have adopted since hitting homestead burnout…. If I die tomorrow, it’s not my problem. This may sound very off handed or too laid back way of looking at life, but it’s the honest reality. If I drop dead tomorrow, it’s not going to matter if I took a nap instead of starting seeds. It doesn’t matter if I put tomatoes in the freezer instead of running them through the canner.

I’m not saying that you have to have that mindset. But what I AM saying is that you have to give yourself and your family grace and kindness when it comes to this stuff. To give an example, I was supposed to be done with this blog post about 3 hours ago. But instead, I took a nap because I was exhausted from working a 36 hour shift on the ambulance…. And that’s fine.

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Goats Are Not Beginner Livestock

March 9, 2024 by Leigh Leave a Comment

I have recently been asked “If you love goats so much, why do you tell people not to get them?” The answer is simple, if more people would educate themselves before buying animals, I wouldn’t tell them not to buy goats. Most people do not do the research, and they end up getting a bunch of animals that they are not prepared to care for. But the reality is that goats are not for the feint of heart and they are not beginner livestock.

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Goats are NOT beginner livestock

I wrote my post about goats coming to the homestead and I will be honest, I left a lot of information out. Mainly because it was a piece designed to give a brief snap shot of why and how we have come to love our goats. But I feel, especially after what I said above, that I needed to be a little more clear about why I feel this way.

The plan truth is that it is easier to kill a goat than keep it alive when you are just starting out. When we first bought Bella and Voldemort, we knew that he had worms. But we had absolutely no idea what that actually meant. If a dog has worms, you give it a pill and repeat again in a week. After that you should be good to go. With goats it’s not that easy. In fact, goats will easily die from worms and quickly.

Goats Die Easily

There is a treatment protocol that is now in place because farmers have overtreated for parasites and it has caused resistance to these dewormers. Instead of two doses of one dewormer, it is multiple doses of several dewormers over several days/weeks. If you don’t know these things, you will lose goats before you are ever really comfortable with them.

Then there are plants are toxic that can kill them or the predators out there. Or that if their rumen gets out of whack, they could die. I have an entire book of treatment protocols that I have gone over with my vet to make sure I am doing the right thing.

That being said, once you understand what you are doing and why, it is extremely easy to keep them going. With regular herd checks and individual checks, your herd can thrive. We’ve had some touch and go moments since owning goats and we have managed to pull most of them through.

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Having Medications On Hand

Unlike your dog, cat or even chickens, you need to have medications on hand for goats and know how to use them. Goats can take Aspirin, but if you don’t know how often or the dosage you could kill them. You need to have antibiotics on hand for things like pneumonia, antitoxin for injuries, thermometers for temp checks and minerals for their general health.

Good luck finding a vet that will treat your goat. Seriously, we got incredibly lucky that not only does our vet treat ALL of our animals, they are goat owners themselves. So they know how to take care of small ruminants, which is huge when figuring out how to take care of these creatures.

I have a tool box that I carry when doing herd checks. It is packed to the brim and a binder that lists medications, FAMACHA scores, weights and much more. I conduct herd checks weekly to make sure that we catch any possible illness before they happen. Even with all that, we ended up with two pregnant goats that we didn’t catch until a few weeks before delivery.

But once you learn what you need to do to care for them appropriately, they are worth it. Every time they bleat when you come into their pen. Their antics when they are playing fighting, and more is so worth every ounce of heartbreak when you lose one.

Goat People vs Everyone Else

There are two types of people when it comes to goats. There are people who have goats and people who love their goats. I know many people who have goats and they are just that, a goat. Goat people truly love their goats. I have chickens, I like them and they’re pretty cool but I don’t love them. I am not a chicken person. I’m not going to snuggle my chickens. I’m not going to check on them constantly. If one goes missing? I’m not going to be upset.

My goats? I cried when we lost Voldemort and Texas. My kids bawled with Texas. I refused to entertain the notion of another goat after that for about 5 minutes because I love these goats. I am a goat person. I have spent untold hours researching everything I can about them. I have spent more money on them then I care to admit, but they are my babies.

So No Goats are NOT beginner livestock

They just aren’t. But that is coming from a goat person. Someone who truly loves these animals and wants you to love them too. So if you want goats, by all means, get goats. They are really cool critters that have absolutely stolen my heart. But understand what you are getting into. It’s not all sunshine and roses.

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Sometimes it’s recognizing that your goat isn’t acting right and getting in there with a thermometer, FAMACHA chart and figuring it out. Or collecting poop and storing it in your fridge until you can get it to the vet. It’s keeping goats in your house because they could die at any minute and you need to be there to try and stop it. It’s realizing that despite your best efforts some may die and there’s not a lot you can do to stop it.

But it’s also having your goats sing to you as you come down your driveway- RIP Texas

It’s getting snuggles from your best girl- Champ

It’s playing, getting headbutts, and dodging a buck in full rut- Midas

It’s slowly, so slowly winning the affection of Queen Bee- Bella

It’s watching two girls grow and start to play and call out for you- Oakley and Bailey

It’s helping deliver the first goat born on your homestead- Stella

It’s wethering your first buck- BeeBee

It’s being surprised by a new kid on the ground and not realizing your girl was that close- Bailey and Sebastian

It’s doctoring a sore shoulder because he jumped off a log- Finnegan

It’s listening to a tiny bleat from a huge goat with a comb over- Spike

It’s watching 2 little girls melt my husbands heart with every whiny bleat and nibble- Jade and Sapphire

So while they may not be beginner livestock, they are absolutely worth the time, energy, effort and money that goes into their care and keeping.

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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Best Chickens For A Homestead

March 5, 2024 by Leigh Leave a Comment

You’ve closed on your new homestead and are itching to get your first set of livestock. Or, you have made the determination that you need chickens on the homestead to help close some holes in food security. What are the best chickens for a homestead? The short answer is: that depends. The real question you should be asking yourself is, why do you want chickens on the homestead?

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What Do You Want Out of Your Chickens

If you simply want chickens to have chickens then really any breed will do. It doesn’t matter how many eggs they lay, or if they are good for meat. You could get any breed and be happy with that choice. However, if you are looking for a high producing egg layer that is going to give you a ton of different colored eggs to sell at the farmers market, a Cornish Cross is not your answer. So here are our top favorites for bringing chickens to the homestead.

Best Egg Laying Birds

Australorps- Lay large brown eggs and a heritage breed. They will lay about 250-365 eggs a year. They are also considered meat birds which is why our rooster may end up in the stock pot if he doesn’t start being nicer.
Black Star- This is not a heritage breed and can’t beat the Australorps with egg production, but they can usually lay about 200 large brown eggs a year. They will hit maturity about 2 weeks faster. They are also a good meat bird.
Red Star- The red start is up there with the Australorp when it comes to egg production with the same 250-365 eggs per year. Plus, they reach maturity faster which means faster eggs. And they are a decent meat bird.
Rhode Island Red- The RI Red also lays large brown eggs and will lay 250-365 eggs a year. They are also good meat birds.

All of these birds are good to free range which means that you can let them run your property and they will probably not run away. That being said, we ordered 15 birds for our first batch, and we only have 9 left.

Best Meat Birds

Before we delve too deep into the world of meat birds there are some things to consider. First, are you ONLY raising these birds for meat? If so, the Cornish Cross or Freedom Ranger are the birds you are looking for. If you are looking for something that will grow slower and you can maybe get some eggs out of? Then a Delaware or Rock may be a better option.

Cornish Cross- These are the big white birds that the chicken industry is known for. They mature quickly and hit butcher weight at around 8 weeks old.
Freedom Ranger- These are a big red bird that are slower to mature but are said to be more tender. They usually reach butcher weight around 12-15 weeks. We raise these guys for our meat birds.
Delaware Broiler- This is one of the better tasting meat birds but tend to be about 3# female and 4# male at 12 weeks old.
The Giants- I have to put these guys in here, but I’m not a fan. The meat to feed ratio and meat to bone ratio is WAY off for me. They should reach butcher weight around 20 weeks but because they get so big, their feed bill is as impressive as they are. They lay a decent amount of eggs,150 or so a year, that are large and brown.

Best Brooding Birds

Brooding hens are chickens that are most likely to sit on eggs. That doesn’t meant that they WILL but they are more likely. I added them to this list because we are moving towards hatching our own chicks and would like to have the birds do the work for us. Especially since unexpected power outages can render those eggs useless.

Dark Brahma- These are impressive birds that will fit pretty much any need you have. Unfortunately they are poor free rangers but they are excellent mothers and lay about 150-200 eggs a year.
The Cochins- These chickens come in many different colors and sizes but we have the standard black and they are more likely to sit on eggs for us, as well as give us a good amount of them. They are also good for meat with a solid meat to bone ratio.
Sussex- We absolutely love the Sussex. Every single one we have went broody and actually hatched out all of their chicks.

Best All Around Birds

Australorps- Solid egg production, good meat weights, and foragers. This is a homestead favorite. George is an Australorp and while most of these guys have a great disposition, he does not.
Plymouth Rocks- These guys come in several different colors and are great birds. They can usually be butchered around 18-20 weeks. They lay large brown eggs and should lay about 200 or so a year.
Sussex- The other two birds on this list are not likely to sit, the Sussex is the most likely to sit and in my opinion is the best chicken for our homestead. They are excellent meat birds, egg layers AND mothers.

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Things That Most Chickens Are Going To Do

Before you end up thinking “This breed is good for this, and that for that”, here is a list of traits that 99% of chickens have. We call it chickens doing chicken ~~shi~~…stuff.

Scratch and peck- All chickens will forage for bugs, grubs, and greens. They will decrease your bug population by half if you let them. They will also forage on all the goodness around your property and that helps reduce your feed bill.
Free range- Yes, technically speaking all chickens will free range. If you have a good rooster, even the worst free ranger will come back home. For all George’s faults, he takes excellent care of his girls. When that changes, he’s going in the stock pot.
Make a mess- All chickens are going to wreck havoc on your homestead. They are going to get into to your garage and break a $100 bottle of goat antibiotics. They are going to poop EVERYWHERE. That is the trade off for “free” eggs.

On our homestead we absolutely love our chickens. Not to the point that they are pets, but we love that they don’t require a ton of feed because they free range. We love that they are a meat source if necessary. And to be fair, they are pretty cool critters that allow you to hang out with them, if you’ve socialized them.

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How Much Hay Does Your Goat Need?

March 2, 2024 by Leigh Leave a Comment

No matter where you live, there’s a really good chance that you will need to feed your goats hay to get them through winter. If you live in the south, you probably won’t need a ton. But if you have an actual winter, you probably want to make sure you have enough. To figure out how much hay you need, we’ll need to ask some questions first.

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Questions to ask yourself

How many goats do you have? How long do you need to hay your goat? Are you breeding your goats? What kind of storage do you have for hay?

I wish it was a simple equation but the reality is you don’t want to find out you were wrong in the middle of a snow storm. But I am going to give you the high points and what we do with our goats. By the end of this post, you can go into fall and winter with a rough idea of how much hay you’ll need.

Oakley and Bailey the goats — Oakley and Bailey

Before we get started I want to address something. Yes, I am writing this post in March. Why am I writing a post about how much hay you need for winter in the spring? Because being prepared is key for getting your livestock through winter. It doesn’t matter if you are in a mild winter climate like Georgia, or being buried in feet of snow every winter like Alaska. Knowing how much hay your goats need will get your goats through winter without losing body condition or worst case, a goat.

How Many Goats Do You Have? And Are You Breeding?

The key to successfully getting your animals through winter is know how many mouths you are feeding and how much they should eat. While this may seem like a no brainer, you must also consider how many additional animals may be coming to your homestead. We ended up picking up two more goats in January, had we not planned for extra hay, we would have been short because we now have two more mouths to feed.

Bella scratching her side because her pregnant belly gets in the way

You also need to consider if any of your does are pregnant, or could become pregnant. If you only get the minimum needed for each goat, and now your doe needs more hay because she is pregnant, you will be short. Or worse case, you don’t have enough for when the babies are ready to eat.

How Long Is Your Winter? Where Are You Storing Your Hay?

In Georgia, we have an extremely mild winter. Sure it gets cold and wet, but it doesn’t snow a lot and we usually have some sort of greenery for goats to eat. It is certainly not enough for them to eat throughout winter, but we do have some grasses that will grow year round here. When we start figuring up how much hay we need, we look at how much we got last year, and how long that lasted us. We also figure up how many months we will use hay.

For us, we want the ability to start giving them hay by mid to end October and have enough to carry them to the end of April. Now, we don’t start getting cold enough for our pastures to start hibernating until probably November. Our grass also usually starts growing in March, but having that extra cushion allows us to not worry if we get a freak snow storm in March, which has happened.

Jared also built a hay barn that is about fifty feet from our goat barn. While that is certainly a pain some days, especially when it is raining. It adds a layer of security that if the hay catches fire, which it’s prone to doing, our goats are safe. We tweaked his original design so that it’s easier to load. He’s also going to make an opening so that the goats can still get hay if they run out.

So How Much Hay Do You Need?

The general rule of thumb is 2-4 pounds of hay per day per goat. Or if you know their weight, 2-4% of their weight per day. Before we start looking at how much hay you need, I have a hay calcula tor in our general store that will make all this math a LOT easier. All you have to do is put the weight of your animal (estimating is fine), the percentage you want to feed per day and the amount of days you want to feed for. On the second page, there is a hay tracker that allows you to see where you bought your hay previously, how much you bought, how much you spent and so on.

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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So let’s crunch some numbers. When we ordered our hay this year we got fescue/ Bermuda mix and we got two strand square bales. We had four goats, but our Texas died before we actually started using the hay. But we figured that each goat weighed 50# and we wanted to make sure that we had plenty of hay. So our equation looked like this

50# x .04= 2#/ day

2#x4 goats= 8#/ day

30 days in a month x 8 months= 240 days

8#x 240 days=1920# of hay

I know two tons of hay sounds like a lot, and it is. But if we had minimized what we needed:

30# x .02= .6#/ day

.6#x4 goats= 2.4#/ day

30 days in a month x 8 months= 240 days

2.4#x 240 days=576# of hay

We would have run out of hay in December. Let’s not mention that we wouldn’t have had enough to feed the two new goats we got in January. So knowing these figures allowed us to figure out how much hay we needed and we actually rounded down to about 1600# of hay.

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

Now the second question of where to put the hay comes into question. Because we didn’t have a place to put a round bale of hay, nor anyway to move it into the pens, we opted for 2 strand square bales. Not only did we not have space, but putting all our eggs in that basket seemed like a bad idea. If any portion of that round bale molded and we fed it to the goats, they could all die. So we went with square bales.

Jared built our hay barn so that we could house the hay without it getting wet but still had plenty of ventilation, which decreases the chances of it molding, composting, or any other nasty that would make it unusable. When we ordered our hay we ordered 28 bales of hay to get everyone though winter. That’s about 1600# and we only paid $200 for it.

This year we will have twelve goats to get through winter and we have been seeding our pasture to make sure they had plenty of options, especially in winter. To give you a break down of how much hay we are planning for and the corresponding math.

Our seven girls total weight= approximately 525#

Our five bucks/wether= approximately 600#

1125# goat x .04 & .02= 45# of hay/ day or 22# of hay/day

30 days x 45 (and 22)= 1350# or 660#

Long feed (September to April) X High Weight= 10,800#

Long Feed X Low Weight=5280#

Short Feed (November to March) X High Weight=6750#

Short Feed X Low Weight=3330#

If all of that is just a lot of information and hard to keep up with? Just head over to our hay calculator and you can purchase the much easier version.

Now we average the highest number and the lowest number: 10,800# and 3,300#= 7,050# of hay.

Why do we average it? Because they aren’t only going to eat hay. They get alfalfa pellets and grain as well. Plus they will eat branches, dead leaves, etc. So they won’t need the full 45# of hay per day. But they might. And as I said before, I would rather have too much than not enough. And let’s face it, they are going to waste a fair amount of it.

Is there an easier way to do this? Absolutely. I could just multiply by .03 instead but I like having the high and low numbers. If I am aiming for 10k # of feed and only hit 5k #, then I know I will have to buy extra grain, alfalfa pellets, or beet pulp.

So how much hay do you need to get through winter? Use the formula above to figure it out and remember, it is better to have too much than not enough.

If that was a little too much to handle, don’t forget you can use the hay calculator to make it a TON easier

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

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Cleaning Cast Iron- The Easy Way

March 2, 2024 by Leigh Leave a Comment

I was reading a forum the other day that absolutely shocked me. A lady was freaking out because she had scratched her cast iron and the advise that she got ranged from “You can never use it again” to “It’s cast iron!” If cast iron can be handed down through generations and that’s all the old homesteaders and farmers had? There’s very little you can do to break it. Unless you get cheap cast iron. But cleaning cast iron doesn’t have to be hard or difficult.

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Cleaning Cast Iron Isn’t Rocket Science

Using cast iron isn’t hard. Cleaning cast iron is not hard. But for some reason there are a lot of people out there that think that this is the holy grail of pans that must not be tarnished and never used. Cast iron cookware has been around for thousands of years. They didn’t have rubber sponges, soft spatulas and other nifty gadgets we have today. So use it, clean it, and enjoy it.

PS: No cast iron was hurt in the making of this post. Although, I think Jared considered killing me when he saw the state of the skillet.

How to Clean Cast Iron

In my other cast iron post, I talked about how to cook with cast iron and briefly touched on how to clean it. This post is about the various ways to clean cast iron. None of these methods are wrong. In fact, some people throw their cast iron in the dishwasher *gasp*. Others use soap, the horror! But technically speaking, they aren’t wrong to do so. Lodge says “You can use a small amount of soap”, in their post about cleaning cast iron.

I do use soap to clean cast iron. But I cannot think of a reason that I would throw it in the dishwasher…. I’m sure I would though. Instead, what I do is a mix of different cleaning methods based off of how nasty the pan got.

When Jared saw this pan, I really thought divorce was coming. But he just raised his eye brow at me when I told him I was doing it for a blog post. He said, “fix it” and walked away. So that’s what I did.

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Cleaning Cast Iron: Step 1

If your pan is a caked, baked, and nasty, fill it approximately half way with water and set it to boil for about 5-10 minutes. As you are letting it boil, start scraping the bottom of the pan to help get everything unstuck.

Boiling water in ANY pan allows the pan to heat up without any additional scorching to the food stuck inside it. As you become accustomed to cooking and cleaning cast iron, you will find that the hotter the pan, the less things stick to the pan. Which is pretty cool.

Step 2:

Scrape off any stuff that still stuck on the bottom of the pan with a scrubber or scraper. I use one like this. If the mess in the pan isn’t that bad, I will skip the boiling step and just scrape the pan. Either way the pan is clean and that’s what matters.

The downside to using a chainmail scrubber is that it can scratch the seasoning. So being very diligent in your seasoning after use is going to be key here.

Step 3:

Now we add a fat of your choosing. I like avocado oil because it has a higher smoke point and that is really important when breaking down the oil and getting it to start seasoning the pan. But you can use grapeseed, corn, peanut and canola.

This step is very important for creating that glassy, non stick surface. But again, there are a million different ways that people season their pans. Some put a thin layer of oil on a paper towel and smear it all over the pan, some put a dollop of oil in the pan (shown below) and heat the pan. I don’t think it matters as long as the pan is hot and that oil moves around to coat the pan.

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Some people also do this in the oven to allow for the entire pan to heat up, spread the oil, and bake in. Again, it doesn’t really matter. As long as the oil gets into the crevices of the pan, you are good to go.

Step 4:

Once the oil has moved around the pan and coated the bottom and sides, let the pan cool. If I can touch the handle, I will wipe out the excess oil and allow to finish cooling until it’s safe to hang up.

Add some oil and coat the bottom and sides of the pan

Nice glassy surface and it’s ready for storage

Tips for Cleaning Cast Iron

Pre-seasoned cast iron

If you have just bought your cast iron and it came pre-seasoned, go ahead and just repeat steps 3 and 4. I normally season a brand new pan 2-3 times before I am ready to use it. In my head, that pan is not seasoned enough for use. If I don’t want to go through the seasoning process, I just cook bacon in that pan for a couple of weeks.

Stuck on messes

For stubborn stuck on messes that boiling and scraping aren’t getting off, I will take salt and some water and scrub with that. Sometimes, it just needs a little extra muscle. This is very rare. If that doesn’t work, you can use salt and a half lemon. You’ll need to rinse thoroughly and then season multiple times but it should get it off.

If it is super stuck, I bring out the big guns. I use oven cleaner (outside) and wash with Dawn dish soap. My goal is to strip the pan down as far as I can and start the seasoning process over. I’ve had to do this with a couple of pans that got too nasty for regular methods to work.

Restoring cast iron

If you are getting a yard sale find, or Granny has given you a pan that came from the basement, I would put a sheet of aluminum foil on the rack of the oven and set it to 500. Put the pan upside down and let it go for about 2 hours.

If you have a self cleaning oven, use that setting. Be warned it will smoke like crazy and stink to high heaven. If you have the option of doing on a grill outside, I prefer that way. After that, just repeat steps 3 and 4 until there is a nice layer of seasoning on the pan. It will take time and maybe a few repeated attempts.

It is not hard to clean cast iron from the left and make it look like the right. Just a little bit of patience and elbow grease and you will have a pan that will last you and your family a life time.

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What Does Homestead Mean?

February 27, 2024 by Leigh Leave a Comment

There is no hard fast definition for what homestead means. For some people a homestead means completely off grid with no reliance on anyone but themselves. Others believe that homesteading means growing their own vegetables. But as time goes on, the meaning changes for those people as well. Regardless of what this means to others, I am going to tell you what homesteading means to me and what it has come mean as well.

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What Does Homestead Mean

Well, the formal definition of homestead I pulled from Oxford Dictionary is:

“A house, especially farm, and outbuildings.”

The good thing about that definition is that it’s as broad and vague as how homesteaders, or aspiring homesteaders define homesteading.

Really, any piece of property can be a homestead! You don’t HAVE to have hundreds of acres. You can homestead on a city lot or out in the country.

What Does Homestead Mean To Me?

At first, homesteading meant a way to take care of my family without relying so much on others. The thought of being at the mercy of grocery stores to have my food was slightly worrisome. If we couldn’t get food, where would we be? Not having access meat, veggies, fruit, dog or cat food, has the potential for disaster. There were a ton of holes in our food security.

It meant learning skills and building a legacy for my children. Things like building barns, fences, and gardens. It meant learning how to cook from scratch.

Learning Skills Ma Ingle Would Have Been Proud Of

From scratch cooking is surprisingly easy. I wonder if we were raised to believe that it was so much harder so that there was more reliance on boxed and canned meals. Since being on the homestead, we have learned a ton when it comes to cooking, canning, and other food related skills.

Homesteading can mean bringing animals into this world, learning how to milk and make cheese and processing animals. It means learning to depend on yourself in ways that you never really valued or thought you could do.

I learned that if I can raise my own hens, I can get eggs that I don’t have to go to the store for. I could raise my own meat birds and rabbits to help save on meat costs. Also, I learned that if I learn to preserve those things, I can have them on stand by and make everything easier.

Sometimes meanings change

But as time has gone by and the continued strain on our supply chain, homestead has come to mean other things as well. It means being prepared and stocking up on items that we use a lot of: coffee, tea, noodles, canning jars and lids, and other necessities. Making sure that we have enough supplies if another snow storm hits. Will we have plenty of firewood, canned food, and fuel for the chainsaws and other equipment?

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Homesteading means community. We realize that we are stronger together and we stand with our neighbors when times are good and we help pick them up when they have hard times. It’s knowing that they will stand with us in our hard times too.

It has also come to mean finding random eggs in the hay barn, playing with goats, and impatiently awaiting the arrival of Champ’s babies.

Update: She gave us a beautiful doeling that we named Stella.

It means caring for the new chicks that will not only give us eggs but also lay our next meat chickens. Homesteading means learning new skills, facing challenges, and not giving up. It means doing the things you thought you couldn’t, only to realize that you are more than capable of building fences, buildings, and fixing all the things.

Poor Champ is uncomfortable as she comes to the end of her pregnancy.

What Homesteading Doesn’t Mean

I can tell you that homesteading doesn’t mean judging others. Whether you have a quarter acre in the city or a hundred acres in the country, you are still homesteading regardless of if you purchase your food from a grocery store or farmers market, or if you grow your own.

It doesn’t mean being unaffected when creatures die or need to be butchered. For some people, taking the life of a chicken is okay, but it still affects them in some way, even if it’s only gratitude.

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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

Homesteading doesn’t mean easy. There is no part of this life that is easy. If you are hauling lumber for a barn or feed to your animals, homesteading is hard work. It can be heart and back breaking when you have to put down your favorite bottle baby because she got sick.

You can’t be lazy and a homesteader. There is simply too much to do. Gardening, canning, working with livestock and more, there is not a ton of downtime. But when you see the fruits of your labor? It’s worth every aching joint, pulled muscle, cut and bruise.

What Does Homestead Mean?

I don’t know that homesteading has a meaning. I think homesteading is a spirit. It’s the spirit of being less dependent on the power grids, grocery stores, and other commodities. These people who want to homestead do it because they want to be independent. Whether that is a completely or partially independent, is not the point. Homesteaders simply want to take care of themselves and their community. Which is what homestead means to us.

I think that as long as people want to take ownership of their little plot of land, we will keep the spirit of homesteading alive. I think as long as people desperately want to learn the skills of their ancestors, they will lead a full and productive life. And I think that as long as we are here fighting for our community and independence, we will see the resurgence of a way of life that mixes the old with the new. And we will be better for it.

What does homesteading mean to you?

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Homestead

How To Successfully Train Farm Dogs

Not All Dogs Can Handle Animals

Have Some Patience

Negative Reinforcement Can Be A Good Thing

Why Recall Is The Most Important Thing To Teach A Farm Dog

Understanding Your Dog’s Boundaries

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How I Train My Farm Dogs: Some Details First

What Is A Farm Dog

Putting Titles On Your Dog

How I Train My Farm Dogs

The Bear Bear

Training Blu

Training Kodiak

Training Fenrir

Bringing City Dogs To The Farm

Training My Farm Dogs To Go Off Leash

Other Posts From Training A Farm Dog Series

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How much do you need?

Can You Homestead With No Money: Animals

Shelter

Fencing

Can You Homestead With No Money: Gardening

Can You Homestead With No Money: Get Creative

It Doesn’t Have To Be Insta-Worthy

It’s this life, I love so much.

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I Learned A Lot Our First Year Heating With Firewood

1. Cut or buy more wood than you think you’ll need

2. Get a good wood splitter

3. Learn how to start a fire

4. Get a pot of water for your stove

5. Storing Your Firewood

Bonus tip!

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Dealing With Overwhelming Chores

Get the kids involved

Start small and grow

Get into a routine

Delegate

Cleaning

Grace

Overwhelmed With Chores?

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Goats are NOT beginner livestock

Goats Die Easily

Having Medications On Hand

Goat People vs Everyone Else

So No Goats are NOT beginner livestock

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What Do You Want Out of Your Chickens

Best Egg Laying Birds

Best Meat Birds

Best Brooding Birds

Best All Around Birds

Things That Most Chickens Are Going To Do

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Questions to ask yourself

How Many Goats Do You Have? And Are You Breeding?

How Long Is Your Winter? Where Are You Storing Your Hay?

So How Much Hay Do You Need?

The Hay Calculator:

The Hay Calculator:

The Hay Calculator:

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Cleaning Cast Iron Isn’t Rocket Science

How to Clean Cast Iron

Cleaning Cast Iron: Step 1

Step 2:

Step 3:

Step 4:

Tips for Cleaning Cast Iron

Pre-seasoned cast iron

Stuck on messes

Restoring cast iron

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What Does Homestead Mean

What Does Homestead Mean To Me?