Homesteading....

RobMcBee

RobMcBee

Slow n easy when you're not gettin greasy....
Joined
Jan 12, 2009
Location
Fort Mill / Indian Land SC
Seems like with all thats going on locally and in the world, I find myself pulling away from society more and more. The wifes job is the only thing that keeps us as close to the city as we are, but I've really gotten into the self sufficiency/homesteading lifestyle (as much as I can). Is anyone else doing this?
 
We've been steadily getting that way as well. As hard as we've worked this year with the garden, animals, and maintaining the property I've developed a deep respect for what my grandparents went through growing up.
 
Agreed, we've only been in our home since January. I didnt get a chance to set up a garden this year, but Im clearing land for one this upcoming spring. I also hope to have my chicken coop and goat pen finished by then. Doing alot of it by hand.
 
We have a small square foot garden that we have had some luck with this year. We have had a ton of squash which we sliced and froze, a bunch of cherry and pear tomatoes, lots of cucumbers and it looks like we will have a good crop of sweet potatoes in the fall. Regular tomatoes have been few and far between. I thought they would take off like crazy, but they have been slow. The garden is there to supplement couponing and stock-piling. I don't ever see us being self-sustaining - mostly because we can get such good deals on food with couponing and other stuff.

I have NO interest in raising chickens - not when I can get 7 dozen eggs at Costco at a time and we buy chicken breast from Zaycon foods 120 lbs at a time. We bring it all home, process it into bags, freeze and use when needed. For our family, 120 lbs of chicken lasts about 6 months - just long enough for Zaycon to have another event. We also bought 40 lbs of 93/7 ground beef this last time which we processed into browned ground beef with onions, Salisbury steaks, 1 lb packs of frozen raw beef and a bunch of Taco Rice which we froze as well.

We could definitely live off our stockpile for at least 4-6 months only buying milk and small sundry items. We buy milk at Costco and freeze it as well so we could even go without a grocery bill at this point for a month or so. Periodically, we do challenges where we try to "shop out of the freezer" for a month at a time so we don't eat out or grocery shop and transfer the money that was budgeted for groceries into another purchase. This month it was our beach trip. For our family of 5, we budget $600 a month for food, which includes all soap, shampoo, paper towel, toilet paper, shaving supplies, etc. That may seem high to people with smaller families, but it's near impossible to do without couponing/stockpiling.

I love that at any point in time, we can open our freezers and come up with a week's worth of meals at a glance. We may not be rich, but we will not be hungry!
 
You can freeze milk? o_O
 
XJfreakHO said:
You can freeze milk? o_O
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Absolutely! Just make sure you remove at least a cup of each gallon prior since it expands when it freezes. We have found that Costco milk stays fresh at least a couple days past the exp. date even without freezing it. When you freeze it, it seems to suspend the expiration date until after you thaw it out. Mind you, it takes a LONG time to thaw a gallon of milk when it's block solid. Shake it often to break it up. My kids love it when it's ice cold, too. I've never been much of a milk drinker, but ice cold milk and a sleeve of Oreos makes for a great snack!
 
You probably have already, but if not, check out Mother Earth News magazine. Lots of great ideas and stories of people that have adopted the lifestyle you speak of.
 
I'm not self sufficient, but I have everything needed to be. Except time, but if SHTF, I won't be going to work anyway, which will free up most of my time.
 
I have done a lot to my house and yard to make myself not dependent on others if the stuff hits the fan. Wife likes being close to everything so we stay close but I am still doing more and more to not be dependent. One thing I need to do more is bigger garden.
 
AV8 said:
We've been steadily getting that way as well. As hard as we've worked this year with the garden, animals, and maintaining the property I've developed a deep respect for what my grandparents went through growing up.
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I got to see a lot of it, my grandparents still grew most of their own food into their 70s and would keep hogs. When my dad was a kid, they kept a milk cow and chickens, as well, and grew tobacco for a living. They didn't have indoor plumbing until he was 16.

RobMcBee said:
Agreed, we've only been in our home since January. I didnt get a chance to set up a garden this year, but Im clearing land for one this upcoming spring. I also hope to have my chicken coop and goat pen finished by then. Doing alot of it by hand.
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You can still grow cold season vegetables like roots and greens this fall and winter.

ManglerYJ said:
We have a small square foot garden that we have had some luck with this year. We have had a ton of squash which we sliced and froze, a bunch of cherry and pear tomatoes, lots of cucumbers and it looks like we will have a good crop of sweet potatoes in the fall.
Click to expand...

If you're concerned about possible SHTF scenarios, or just the chance of a hurricane leaving you without power for a week and spoiling all your hard work in the freezer, you should to consider other methods of food preservation, such as canning, drying, pickling, and root cellaring. Tomatoes and pickles, for example, are stupid easy to can using a water bath process.
 
Im not talking about "Prepping" (although I do some of that too), Im speaking more of just a return to living in a more self sufficient way. We shop at BJ's and buy meats n stuff in bulk. Split it and freeze it. Actually trying to buy a side of beef and butcher it myself. I love to can vegetables and meats to eat in the winter.


trailhugger said:
You can still grow cold season vegetables like roots and greens this fall and winter.
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If I had my plot ready, I would be. Right now its still got about 3 chords of wood that has to be split and stacked laying where it will be... all in due time.....
 
Check out Backwoodsman magazine it has a plethora of this type of stuff. We usually process 100lbs of deer meat into hamburger and vac seal into 1lb packs. it lasts us 3 around a year and we have been doing this for about 4 years now. We havnt planted a garden in a while but I am planning on a big seven top salad patch this fall with some turnips mixed in.
 
Im also building several raised beds. Ive collected a bunch of old heat treated pallets to use
 
Infamous1 said:
We usually process 100lbs of deer meat into hamburger and vac seal into 1lb packs. it lasts us 3 around a year and we have been doing this for about 4 years now.
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We pressure can venison stew meat and then warm it up in a pan. It falls apart like barbecue and we vary the seasonings, sometimes bbq sauce, sometimes taco/enchilada type seasoning. It's really good in quesadillas.
 
Homesteading describes the way I grew up pretty much. Eastover!!! Up to the age of ten, the family and I lived on basically a self sufficient farm way out in the boonies. My father was a machine operator at a paper mill and my mother was a stay home mom. We had 50+ acres with chickens, huge garden, goats, etc. and made or traded just about everything we had. The neighbors down the street had all kinds of livestock and between our little community, none of us ever had to ride into town for anything but once a week for groceries since milk, eggs, meat and veggies were walking distance away. The adults were close knit and us kids in the neighborhood played together and grew up together as best friends separated from all the bs in the city. Damn that was fun times!
 
trailhugger said:
If you're concerned about possible SHTF scenarios, or just the chance of a hurricane leaving you without power for a week and spoiling all your hard work in the freezer, you should to consider other methods of food preservation, such as canning, drying, pickling, and root cellaring. Tomatoes and pickles, for example, are stupid easy to can using a water bath process.
Click to expand...

The last hurricane that affected this far inland was Hugo. I wasn't here for it, but my wife was. I asked her when we started "stockpiling" if she was concerned about a hurricane or other natural disaster destroying all of our hard work and she wasn't too concerned about it. Even if we were to lose everything in the 4 freezers and two refrigerators, we would be out somewhere in the $1000 range - tops. Odds are pretty good that an event of the proportion to allow us to lose everything in our freezers, would be big enough that losing $1000 worth of food is the least of our worries.

We are by no means "preppers" nor do we want to be (although my wife enjoys watching "Extreme Preppers" only to make fun of them). Not saying it couldn't happen, but where we live is pretty well protected from a lot of the natural disasters that seem to plague other areas. Being far inland, living at an elevation far above the gully behind our property, etc. means that flooding and hurricanes are not a very serious concern. A tornado would be rough, and an ice-storm seems more likely to paralyze us. An ice storm at least brings with it cold weather, so if the power is out, at least the freezers won't thaw. Tornado taking out the power grid would be rough, but again - we'd have bigger problems to deal with.
 
My argument about the whole pepper thing is why on earth would you want to be buried in a hole in a catastrophic event? Stashing vehicles, gasoline, resources at various locations sure, but being mobile is better. A lot harder to hit a moving target.
 
Preparing is one thing, being one of the "extreme preppers" is another. Alot of those idiots make me laugh too, and I find the show hard to watch b/c of the idiocy.


...... but again, we're not talking about prepping. I was curious if anyone else was homesteading or farming and what they've been doing. Any tips and advice on keeping livestock and gardening on small or large plots.
 
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