For years, I dreamed of having a little homestead where our family could live a purposeful life working with the land to be as self-sustainable as possible. Now I’ve got my land, well, six little acres in southern Wisconsin. These are my adventures as we learn the rules of homesteading, both the good and the bad.
You can check out the story of how we got to where we are now here.
You can expect to hear about things like:
- Chickens (both egg layers and meat chickens)
- Dairy goats and handmilking
- Sheep
- Pigs
- Honey bees
- Cooking from scratch
- Growing our own food
- Frugal and homemade projects
- Homeschooling
So drop by often to see what we’re up too!
thank you for finally doing this for my entertainment! hee hee
looking forward to more reading!! xoxo
great job!!! cant wait to make it out there hopefully sooner then later and not at the end of July…just sayin’
Can’t wait until you get here! And come on, you’d look cute butchering a chicken. I’d even let Mike come along to help!
Hi Mandy! Thanks so much for stopping by my blog and leaving me a comment. I look forward to reading about your adventures!
Thanks for coming by Goodwife! I didn’t mention in my comment on your blog but we really like the Old Spots too. Once we figure out how to raise pigs in general, we’d like to look at that breed. I just don’t want to get a rare breed right now since we’ll probably make every mistake imaginable! But Ed Earl and Luanne sure are cute…
They are cuties and such fun! Don’t worry, we all make mistakes all the time. We just have to hope our animals forgive us, which they usually do!
You talked about growing vegetables in buckets when you lived in the suburbs. What did you grow other than tomatoes? What kind of soil did you get or purchase to use in the buckets. This is all so brand new to me and I would love any advise!
We grew lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, herbs, peas and strawberries (although the darn birds ate the few strawberries we got). We also had a community garden plot so this was just what we grew around the house. We got old pickle buckets free from a restaurant, made some holes around the bottom and put in about 2 inches of landscaping rock from our flowerbed. Then we filled it with organic potting soil we got from the store. (You don’t have to use organic since it is more expensive but we wanted organic.) Then plant away! Some things like tomatoes and peas need extras support in pots just like they do when planted in the ground. Oh and make sure your fertilize the pots according to the fertilizer instructions. We bought organic vegetable fertilizer from the store and just feed the plants based on the package recommendations. Some things like herbs and peas are quick and easy to start from seed but things like peppers and tomatoes are easier to buy as little plants when you are just getting started.
Container gardening and gardening vertically really can open up a whole new level of gardening for people in smaller places. I’d suggest googling it or checking out some library books – there are lots of good references out there. Have fun!
I love your website!!!!
I started reading about the cattle panel chicken coop – saw the photo of the panels on the minivan and hooted! And kept reading.
My wife and I bought a 109 acre “Farm” in SW Wisconsin in 2002. When you described mowing by looking straight ahead so you wouldn’t get depressed – that resonated with us!
We cannot believe how tired we are each weekend working there (we live 3 hours back toward Milwaukee – so only weekends are when we get to work there).
What a great website! Whereabouts in S Wisconsin are you guys? I have a million questions.
Tom & Barb
I love your blog and I would like to recognize you by awarding your blog the Versatile Blogger Award.
If you would like to accept it, please go to my blog to receive it here:
http://www.countrykidsfarm.blogspot.com/2012/02/aww-shucksim-flattered.html
Thanks,
Lisa (Country Kids Farm)