Learning From My Mistakes

There are so many learning opportunities on the homestead, and it seems as though I have one almost every day.

On electric paddocks with new born calves, I learned that I should have put the bottom strand closer to the ground.

I've learned that calves can get out of an electric paddock on a fairly regular basis, but rarely, if ever find their way back inside.

Whatever you tools/items you think about buying but don't you'll immediately need as soon as the store is closed, it's raining, dark, or a combination of the three.

Snakes will find your eggs, and your hatchlings. Wooden eggs will end your egg snatching, but it won't bring back your hard work on the hatchlings.

If you're buying a calf to introduce into your herd, always try to buy two instead of just one, they'll integrate a lot easier into your herd, and they won't be lonely. Nobody likes the emotionally needy.

Hogs are easier to raise than you think, don't be afraid of raising them.

Cornish Cross chickens are weird, but man they're tasty.

Finding a local butcher that cares as much about your meat as you do is like winning the lottery. Ask around, and listen. Start at the feed store, they hear directly from the farmer who does good work and who doesn't.

A Calf Named Smore

It's been almost a week now since we welcomed Smore into the world, only to see her almost slip away. I was terrified she was going to die on our floor. Then I was sure that her mom wasn't go to take her back. I fully expected after she walked into the night with her mom, that I'd find her lifeless body the next morning.

Each day has been a joy to see her alive and growing. Her mom doesn't have a large udder, or a lot of motherly instinct, but she's trying.

I learn something everyday, be it at work or here on our little homestead. The Reds amaze me everyday, especially when I don't think they're listening, they'll pull a line of wisdom I thought they'd ignored and use it at the appropriate time. I don't understand why or even how my wife loves me so unconditionally, but everyday I fall a little more in love with that woman.

The farm has taught me to love deeper, to know that it's not me in control but that what I do matters, it's the doing that really matters. Do I work hard at work? Do Iove the people I work with? Do I put my wife and family first? Do I continue to hope and dream? Those things matter.

Honestly I think I have a half dozen friends reading this blog, and I hope you all know how much you each mean to me. Thanks for being a part of this journey.

So You Want Independence?

"The greatest act of rebellion in America today is growing a garden."  I can't remember who said it, or where I first heard it, but the further I get away from the first time I read it, the more it rings true.

If you just looked at the meager 45 or so posts I have up, you'd never know that I spend the last 8 years getting ready for this homestead. I failed spectacularly more times than I can count, but each one was on a small scale, and each time I walked away a little smarter.

Google Fu is your friend. Learn how to use a search engine effectively. If you're writing articles to help folks learn how to label them to be able to help the biggest number of people possible.

I started my journey after watching my 401k get halved in value. I, wrongly I might add, listened to "experts" who told me to leave my money put and "invest for the long haul". It was a valuable learning experience. I knew, in my bones, that something wasn't right in 2007, and by the spring of 2009 I was planting my first garden. Something I'd denigrated a previous girlfriend for wanting to do only a few years prior.

I had some moderate success that first year, thanks more to wonderful Idaho soil, and free irrigation water. I was hooked, and the more I grew the more I shared, the more I gave away the softer my heart became. That little garden fixed my soul as much as coaching wonderful girls at The College of Idaho.

From the garden I moved to fruit trees in 2010, then onto raspberries, strawberries, goose berries, currants, and a failed attempt at arctic kiwis. By the time the first fruit harvest really came on two years later, I had moved into a few chickens and ducks in the back yard, breaking several city ordinances at the time. My neighbors were kind and my closest neighbor said she liked to hear the ducks as it reminded her of home.

I learned about predators, and that if your wife, who's more or less blind without her contacts/glasses drops a skunk with one shot from a pellet gun in the middle of a dark night with no light, you'll never hear the end if you ever miss another shot. :-) Andrea is a fierce protector of her children, myself, and the animals in her charge.

If you dream of a homestead, you have to communicate not only the whys, but also the HOW it's going to work. Be gentle, be realistic, be honest, start with the piece of land you have now. and start showing that you really can produce things that feed your family that are of higher quality than what you could ever afford at Whole Foods.