homesteading - the real truth? (advice wanted) - newbie, but not green.

If you intend to free range your chickens expect losses. Something I learned in the couple years I had goats is that they can squeeze out of almost any fence you put them in so don't skimp on your fencing. If your only looking at 7 or 8 chickens i'd get layers......you can eat them too!

If you are going to have dairy goats you will HAVE to feed them correctly. Yes they will eat anything and that "anything" makes their milk taste terrible. It tastes great if they just get to eat good stuff. But one rose bush can ruin it all for days!

Sic, have you given consideration to all of the equipment you will need for your farm? Not discounting your planning, but have not seen mention of this. So as wilderness brothers I think we need to cover the equipment he will need for his farm, don't you agree?

From what I have read, this is some of the things you will need:

1. 4X4 pickup
2. Trailer
3. 2 chain saws, 1 large, 1 small
4. Tractor with tiller and brushhog attachments
5. ATV would be nice!
6. Back up generator.
7. lots of gardening hand tools.
8. Lots of mechanics hand tools.
9. Riding lawn mower.
10. Gasoline water pump.
11. Gas storage tank.

Probably nowhere near a complete list, but just some things off the top of my head!

the plan for the chickens, is free range them in one (unplanted) section of the garden. with three planted. rotate them through the other three sections (every 3 months) so they clear and fertilize the soil for the planting season. so yes, they will be free range, but in an enclosed area. so fairly protected. on average, figure an egg every other day from each chicken? so a dozen chickens would provide about a dozen eggs, every other day?
well aware of the equipment, the area I am looking at is fairly clear land (no trees) so I may rethink my wood fired idea, and go with something else. Also, would a good sized ATV (with tractor accessories) work for the utility as well as the soil work?

thanks -

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SIC-society

the plan for the chickens, is free range them in one (unplanted) section of the garden. with three planted. rotate them through the other three sections (every 3 months) so they clear and fertilize the soil for the planting season. so yes, they will be free range, but in an enclosed area. so fairly protected. on average, figure an egg every other day from each chicken? so a dozen chickens would provide about a dozen eggs, every other day?
well aware of the equipment, the area I am looking at is fairly clear land (no trees) so I may rethink my wood fired idea, and go with something else. Also, would a good sized ATV (with tractor accessories) work for the utility as well as the soil work?

thanks -

---

I doubt that an ATV would serve well as a tractor. Nothing beats a small tractor with a tiller and brush hog attatchments for tilling a large garden, and hogging brush and weeds to keep the land clear. Now, actually a large tiller would do the job for the garden, and a large riding mower would keep the weeds down if you didn't let them get too big. All I'm saying is a tractor would make your life much easier. If your truck gets stuck, the tractor will most likely pull it out! Tilling the garden would only take an hour with the tractor and would be tilled deep and fine. You can always get out cheaper with lesser equipment, but if you can afford it, I would want at least a small tractor for tilling and mowing. There are so many uses for a tractor it is hard to list them all. With a PTO you can even run a generator!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SIC-society

the plan for the chickens, is free range them in one (unplanted) section of the garden. with three planted. rotate them through the other three sections (every 3 months) so they clear and fertilize the soil for the planting season. so yes, they will be free range, but in an enclosed area. so fairly protected. on average, figure an egg every other day from each chicken? so a dozen chickens would provide about a dozen eggs, every other day?
well aware of the equipment, the area I am looking at is fairly clear land (no trees) so I may rethink my wood fired idea, and go with something else. Also, would a good sized ATV (with tractor accessories) work for the utility as well as the soil work?
thanks -

---

ATV do have accessories but I can tell you they are too light to be of much use in tilling and moving soil......Fun though.

I mowed about 2 to 4 acres with a pull behind mower for years at "The Place" (our cabin/homestead) and it beat the carp out of both the machine and mower.
They are not designed to run for long periods of time at low, pulling speeds, ....a bucket will move mulch, but not much else....hard to plow with them as the turning radis is very long.
ATV Machine $3000 to $7500 + mower $1000 to $2000 bucks

You will need a tractor w/implements......and although an old tractor looks cool, they are not a "working machine" but a toy to most that have them.
Kubota, Mahindra, John Deer, Massey Ferguson....are all good....be sure you get one with local dealer back up, if they break down, it will ALWAYS be in the middle of a job....a lot of the cheaper tractors don't have parts and service avalible (tractors are a whole another subject alone)
Used/new $5000 to $25000 plus implements.

Can't speak to chickens, but varmints are a concern........

One thing to look up and do more research is look for youtube videos on Joel Salatine. He does cows, chickens, turkeys and pigs. He also does rabbits, but not large scale. All his methods are scaleable, up or down.

Not to hijack the thread but more info on why the tractor needs to be so $$ and big? We are going to do the same with chickens in fenced in areas, chicken tractor, and perhaps goats (who can help eat the brush on the weeks when I don't need any dairy from them).

We had planned on the Ruth Stout NO TILL method for our garden as it is filled with bedrocks and gravel. We plan to use the "plant in the bag" method (ala Mother Earth News and others) on top of mulch/straw/cardboard and at the end of the year dump the soil bags on the now mostly decomposed straw/mulch. We figure 2 years of this and we will have over 15" soil and compost beneath it. They say not to till this kind of garden.

But you are saying we will likely need a tractor to keep brush down (could we just rent something 2x/year - so much cheaper? and use goats) and mowing. We can rent a large mower for a day for $200 and we would likely only need it 4x/summer for paths. We have a small electric one for the area around the house.
We have never had land before. Ours is mostly wooded with a large clearing and pond. Are there other reasons we would need a tractor that I am missing? Any suggestions are welcome as we are trying to do what he is and are doing all planning now. Thanks.

Solar you can get by without a tractor no problem, all we are saying is that it will make your life much easier. I guess a no till garden will work although I have never tried it. A tractor is good for many things, and will go almost anywhere unlike a truck or car, and is the farmers friend when it comes to mowing, tilling, pulling stuck vehicles out of the mud. They will pull huge loads, drag logs, pull out stumps after the roots are cut, go through deep snow ( better than a truck ), run a generator from a PTO, blade gravel driveways, on and on.
But you can do without one it is just a lot more work!

I started a tractor thread so as to not hijack this one if anyone is interested....
BTW I purchased/have a Mahindra as I have local dealer, and was prices 20% lower then JD, M-F, or Kubota

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...-the-Homestead

Getting back to the OP's opening questions: You mentioned the Columbia River Valley. That encompasses a huge area. Is your area in the NE section of WA, or is it in southern part of the state? Alot of central Washington is extremely arid and a farmer must irrigate. Water rights are a big deal in most parts of the west. The northern section of the Columbia is much more moist, but with much longer and colder winters.

I have passed most of the farm, the metal shop, and other business over to my kids to run.

I keep a 5 acre homestead that is pretty self sufficient.

I find that it takes me about 24 hours each day to fully live each day. This includes sleeping eating, taking care of things and smelling the roses.

a homestead is a 24/7/365 thing unless you have someone to cover for you. Every single day stuff has to get done.

It is a good life, but it isn't one of laying up and being taken care of, and while you can always borrow time for this or that, if you don't take care of the place things die. Gardens, Animals, even the soil and water need regular stewardship.

Thad.

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