This is our dream and hope to have it with in a year. looking online and were we would like to live the average listings for sell are 3-5 acres. I know they are only online but it's giving us an idea of what's out there in our price range and travel time for DH's work. Unless something crazy came in that we can afford, a home with 3-5 acres is what we are looking for. We want to have a garden and chickens. Someday I'd like goats but DH says no. I want them and a pony, if we stay in our new home for the next 20 years. Anyone have a recomendaions on books for gardening, chickens, basics of a hobby/small farming. I prefer not to get the Everything for _______ or ______ fo Dummies books. I think they sell just about ______ for Dummies at our NEX.:roll: Thanks
I just saw a magazine at Sam's and am mad I didn't buy it because I want chickens, but it was called Backyard Chickens. Most of my gardening tips have come from hubby's family.... we live on part of what was once a pretty large working farm, now it's just a few cows to feed the family and everyone has their own garden. His uncles have been a wealth of information... like putting powdered milk (1/4 cup) in the ground when you plant your plants.. esp tomato. It helps avoid blight (rotten tomatoes). Newspaper makes a perfect garden cover... it's biodegradable and keeps out weeds! I'm not much help beyond that. We would love to turn our land (15ish acres in all) into a self sufficient farmette.. you know a few dairy cows, a few beef cattle, chickens for both eggs and meat, a few pigs, a few more fruit trees and a garden that is endless.... but I will admit, I'm lazy and that much work scares the crap out of me..lol
We have no family to get advice from. Only grandma lived with a family chicken farm and two gardens. One for family and other for profit. She died in '04. We are just the backward family members.
What makes a garden flourish varies by area because what is in the soil varies across the country, so you will want to find someone in the area you settle in to mentor you, or search online for area specific growing hints. Until I moved on the mountain, I never had to do anything much more than throw some plants into the ground, but I had lived in an area that flooded every few years... it deposited all kinds of things into the ground I guess that living up here doesn't have the chance to get.. so it's more important to know what nutrients the ground is missing that the plants need. It's kind of frustrating because I don't like to ask for help.. and it's really discouraging when I don't ask, and see my plants thrive then suddenly die because I didn't double check what the plants would need.
There's a couple blogs that I read that you might find helpful: http://www.littlehouseliving.com/homestead-living http://homesteadrevival.blogspot.com/ http://sherellechristensen.typepad.com/my_weblog/
www.backyardchickens.com That is our dream, too, and I hope you have good luck making this dream come true!!
Fall cannot come soon enough for us to start looking. My concern is flooding. We saw some houses with ponds, creeks online or near rivers. I don't want to move into a wonderful house and some land only to learn it becomes a swamp during the rains.
Books, no, websites, yes We also like http://www.backyardchickens.com/ http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/index.html http://everything-poultry.com/chicken-breeds/ http://www.theprairiehomestead.com/
There is a magazine called Countryside Magazine that has some great info on all things small livestock,gardening,etc.I used to have a small hobby farm,and learned a lot from articles in this magazine.The articles are pretty much all sent in by readers,so its all things that work for them. Here is a link to their site http://www.countrysidemag.com/
I only read a few of the posts before this one so please excuse me if I mention something that already has been said. We are slowly moving or evolving into the hobby farm I guess you could say. We have 2.5 acres and this will be my 3rd season as a garden enthusiast. This is our 1st year with chickens. Our first year gardening we set aside a section of land that gets the most sun and fenced it in. We planted directly into the ground only to have an all out war with moles and gophers. If you even remotely suspect that these critters are around.... don't fight them chances are you will spend more money and time to find out it's a loosing battle. We tried a few different strategies ( like the sonar?? (sound stick) that you put into the ground that is suppose to scare or aggravate them enough to leave ) . None of it worked. We lost almost all of the watermelons , some tomatoes, lettuces and squash too. The 2nd year ( last summer ) we decided to not fight them and built lots of raised beds and added some half wine barrels. It took a few weekends to do this and it became the family project . We had a great growing season last year. We have 11 fruit trees and we are learning how to prune them and care for them as well. In the last few years here are some things that I have learned by either reading / researching or asking some old time farmers/gardeners for tips. - try to plant your tallest things ( like tomatoes ) on the north side of your garden... sun travels east to west and it will provide the most sun to the shorter plants if the taller ones are placed on the north side. But... I am figuring out how to do this and do crop rotation each year. This may be challenging - if using raised beds and you need to fill them with compost --- wait about 2 weeks before planting anything in them. The compost is too "hot" and it needs time to cool off , otherwise it will burn your plants. - Tomatoes --- too much water will affect the sugar levels in the fruit . Adopt the principle of "SUFFER AND SAVE" . You let the tomato plants go until they look like they are beginning to suffer ( droopy or wilty a bit ) and then you come and save them with water. Don't water everyday. - Here we mix in coffee grounds into the hole for tomatoes. Adds Nitrogen I guess. - When you plant tomatoes plant them DEEP ! Cover them up past the first set of side shoots. This encourages a strong root system. Also the idea of companion planting. When you get closer to your opportunity to having a garden research companion planting - The idea is that by mixing plants in the same area you confuse pests so they stay away from your lovely fruit or veggies. You WANT pollinators in your garden to help pollinate your plants ( bees, butterflies etc .) So place flowers that attract them throughout your garden. Here in Northern CA we have had great success with the Blanket Flower , Zinnias and Bee Balm (which is also known as Minarda ) and even Lavender too . We have deer and I have had great luck with stuffing Marigolds around the tomatoes , strawberries and anything else they like to snack on. Deer HATE any strong odors - so marigolds and also Lavender work. My neighbor went as far as hanging strong smelling soap on a rope from her fruit trees to keep them away. A book that I read for fun ( it's more about her journey than it is educational ) is titled " The quarter acre garden" by Spring Warren. It is her story about her attempt to ditch the lawn and figure out how to feed her family off of a quarter of an acre. It was a fun read, motivated me in my own gardening , and has some good recipes in the book too. I order each season from Baker Creek Heirloom seeds (www.rareseeds.com) , some things I enjoy growing from seed. They might be worth checking out for basic info . Also the Seed savers exchange is another good one. You can find really unique types of heirloom seeds from either of one these . As for chickens we made our coop a fortress. We were not messing around. We also have coons and did not want to be in constant battle with them either. We dug the perimeter of the coop down 1 foot and 6-8 inches in width and filled it with concrete - nothing is going under it in order to get in !! And we did not use chicken wire. We have discovered that keeps chickens in but not predators out. We used some heavy gauge no climb wire. That was the most expensive part. The initial investment in chickens can be costly with building adequate housing. But it eventually pays off. We are a family of 4 and we have 5 hens. We currently are getting 5-6 eggs a day. 5 healthy layers are supplying our family with enough eggs each week and 1 dozen per week to sell to our friends , which pays for their scratch. Well I feel like I have written a novel. I hope this helps or sparks an idea for you. Have fun in your hobby farm adventures !! Jamie -
