as i read over the first two posts, i felt i should give a little more background on our situation, since in fact we aren't making as drastic a change ("city" to "country") as it may appear on first glance. yes, we live in a suburban college town, but we've done a decent amount with our .33 acres.
two seasons ago matt dug out a 20x20ish plot in our backyard to put in a garden. and when i say 'dug out' i mean he removed 18 inches of sandy soil and replaced it with an unbeatable mix of composted horse manure and topsoil. that year we grew the biggest lettuce i have ever seen in my life, plus enough sweet potatoes to strangle a house, among other things. the next year matt doubled our garden size to about 850sqft. for never having grown anything before, his thumb is neon green.
next he decided he wanted to try raising rabbits, which i was totally opposed to. being vegan for 7 years (though i am no longer), the thought of bunnies being murdered on my property was a little too much to handle... i tried to compromise on chickens but he wasn't having it. so we got 4 rabbits (new zealand and californians) and he successfully bred them and has "harvested" several of the offspring the past few months. apparently they are really tasty, but for now i don't want to know.
we also co-own a dairy cow living on my sister's 1.5 acres, so fresh milk is available and they have generously supplied us with as many eggs as we can eat (most of the time) also. so really, moving onto more land will just mean upgrading our current setup and intensifying it in terms of time and resource commitment. e.g.:
1) bigger gardens, maybe a full acre
2) fruit trees
3) bees--we know an agricultural entomologist who works with bees in the area
4) goats and sheep
5) chickens of our own
6) cultivation of the wild blackberries and passion fruit that grow rampant in the area
i'm really looking forward to brewing beer and wine, so at some point we will have to work on hops... but that is a while away. we'll probably do it on purchased supplies until then, though we have made our own wild blackberry wine in the past with success.
matt has been a master canner over the last year also, canning store-bought and home-grown fruits and veggies as well as chicken and beef stock to the point where we have no place to put it! and we got a chest freezer also, for storing the fruits of the animals, so to speak.
the biggest change will be my taking on the role of genuine homemaker; i have always been at least 50% of our income working in an office. i cannot wait to devote my time to things i care about and to be able to cease my zombifying "career" for a life of practicality.
so it's not a wild leap of faith to think we can make it on a farm--we started small changes living in town and will be expanding on them as we move away. my point is that it's possible to 'homestead' even if you don't have the amount of land you want... start small and you'll be surprised what you can do. just look at path to freedom...
two seasons ago matt dug out a 20x20ish plot in our backyard to put in a garden. and when i say 'dug out' i mean he removed 18 inches of sandy soil and replaced it with an unbeatable mix of composted horse manure and topsoil. that year we grew the biggest lettuce i have ever seen in my life, plus enough sweet potatoes to strangle a house, among other things. the next year matt doubled our garden size to about 850sqft. for never having grown anything before, his thumb is neon green.
next he decided he wanted to try raising rabbits, which i was totally opposed to. being vegan for 7 years (though i am no longer), the thought of bunnies being murdered on my property was a little too much to handle... i tried to compromise on chickens but he wasn't having it. so we got 4 rabbits (new zealand and californians) and he successfully bred them and has "harvested" several of the offspring the past few months. apparently they are really tasty, but for now i don't want to know.
we also co-own a dairy cow living on my sister's 1.5 acres, so fresh milk is available and they have generously supplied us with as many eggs as we can eat (most of the time) also. so really, moving onto more land will just mean upgrading our current setup and intensifying it in terms of time and resource commitment. e.g.:
1) bigger gardens, maybe a full acre
2) fruit trees
3) bees--we know an agricultural entomologist who works with bees in the area
4) goats and sheep
5) chickens of our own
6) cultivation of the wild blackberries and passion fruit that grow rampant in the area
i'm really looking forward to brewing beer and wine, so at some point we will have to work on hops... but that is a while away. we'll probably do it on purchased supplies until then, though we have made our own wild blackberry wine in the past with success.
matt has been a master canner over the last year also, canning store-bought and home-grown fruits and veggies as well as chicken and beef stock to the point where we have no place to put it! and we got a chest freezer also, for storing the fruits of the animals, so to speak.
the biggest change will be my taking on the role of genuine homemaker; i have always been at least 50% of our income working in an office. i cannot wait to devote my time to things i care about and to be able to cease my zombifying "career" for a life of practicality.
so it's not a wild leap of faith to think we can make it on a farm--we started small changes living in town and will be expanding on them as we move away. my point is that it's possible to 'homestead' even if you don't have the amount of land you want... start small and you'll be surprised what you can do. just look at path to freedom...
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