How We Homestead: Our Future Goals

It's hard to believe, but this is the final installment in our five-week series called How We Homestead. I have really enjoyed writing each post for this series and I hope you have enjoyed reading! For the final installment, I'd like to talk about our future plans and goals we have for the homestead. Looking back on the past two years, I've realized that we have accomplished a lot so far, but of course we still have more we'd like to achieve. Here is our vision for the future.

Animals
I am a huge animal lover, and that was a big part of our reason for moving out to the country. I didn't want to be restricted by city ordinances on the types of livestock I could keep, and I also wanted plenty of room for my animals to roam and enjoy their lives. I told David a while back that one of my goals was to have some of each type of fowl, and so far we only have chickens and guineas, so we have a ways to go! Our next addition will be ducks to help with garden pests, and we are hoping to add them next year.

A little further out into the future, we want to get some sheep or goats. To me, there are few things cuter than a tiny goat kid jumping and bouncing around, so I really want to experience that firsthand. And of course it would be wonderful to have goat milk to make my own goat cheese. Yum!

Just visiting with this sweetie, but hopefully I can have one of my own in the future!

Garden
We have adopted a "learn as we go" mentality with gardening, and we still have so much to learn! Each year we are discovering more about our land and soil to help us maximize the efficiency and productivity of our garden. We recently expanded the garden and added lots of raised beds, and we are still working on enclosing the entire area to keep thieves from our harvest.

Gathering fresh lettuce for a salad.

In the future, I hope to keep adding new veggies to our garden each year and grow as much as I can from seed. One of our big long-term goals is to grow enough food each summer to last us year round. I think we are quite a few years out from realizing that goal, but we are working towards it. I need to learn more about food preservation as well so that we can safely store food to get us through the winter months.

House
We love houses with lots of charm (like our first home, a 1914 bungalow in the city) but our current house is really lacking. It is a newer house which is wonderful, but there isn't much in the way of the architectural detail or character we typically go for. We have been saving up our money for a while now, and today just purchased new flooring to go down in our living room and kitchen area (currently there is a commercial style carpet and linoleum). In July, David's mom and stepdad are coming to help us install the floor so we are very excited for that! We want to build bookshelves and make a new mantle for the electric fireplace as well to give the living room some more interest and charm.

A few more years down the road after we have saved up enough money, we'd like to change the outside of the house a bit. On the bottom part, we want to add a natural stone facade to make it look a little more cozy and woodsy. The previous owner was a big John Deere fan, so everything is green! It does fit in well with the landscape of the property, but we prefer brown tones, so we may also look into painting the roof to fit in with the stone on the bottom of the house.

Land
The thing we wish for the most on our property is to have a pond dug behind the house. So far, we've had local conservation agents come out to map and flag the best location for a pond and got several quotes for the work ($18,000 - yikes!). Since it is so pricey, we are looking at other options and trying to figure out how to best make this become a reality.

Back here is where the pond will go (looking out from our back porch).

We had the property logged last summer and it is still a mess (the photo above is pre-logging). Shortly after we moved out here, David made several trails in the woods and we really enjoyed walking on them with Duchess whenever we could. Logging destroyed our trails, so over the next several years we hope to clean some of it up and make some new trails. Right now it seems daunting to tackle a 20 acre pile of sticks and downed trees, but somehow we will make it work!

Of course all of these goals require money, so we would like to be able to do something from the homestead to earn some extra income. Not sure what that will be just yet, but we are always thinking and open to new ideas. In our ultimate dream, we would both be working on the homestead each day and making a living somehow off our land. For now we still have our day jobs, but we are always dreaming for the future.

Four other awesome bloggers are participating in this series as well, so don't forget to check out their posts to read more about where they are in their homesteading journey. You can find them here -

Staci at Life At Cobble Hill Farm
Meg at Little Homestead
Daisy at Maple Hill 101
Amber at Making A Home

Thanks so much for reading and please do let me know if you have any questions or comments. I'd love to hear from you!

~Tammy

How We Homestead: Our Daily Life

Welcome to the fourth installment of our new five-week series, How We Homestead. Each Wednesday I write a post about a different homesteading topic to shed more light on where we are on our path to self-sufficiency and what homesteading looks like for us.
 
Ever wondered what a day in the life of a homesteader looks like? Here is a typical day for me.

I wake at dawn to let the chickens out of their coop and feed all the animals. This time of year, that means the alarm goes off at 5:45 each morning. I usually try to snooze a few times before getting out of bed, but Jasper won't have any of that and he climbs all over me until I get up to feed him and Fitz.


By this time, Sylvester (one of our outdoor cats) is sitting right outside the back door waiting to accompany me down to the chicken coop. I fill up a bucket of fresh water for the chickens and head down the hill with Sylvester by my side. Duchess is happy to see me emerge from the house because she knows I'll give her a few treats when I get down to the chicken coop.

The chickens are usually screaming at me to make sure I know they are in the coop and I need to let them out, so I open up the coop door and get out of the way because they all come flying out like they've been locked up for years. They follow me around until I throw them a handful of treats (scratch in the winter time, black oil sunflower seeds in the summer). I fill up the chickens' food and water, let the "pre-teens" out of their coop, then tend to Ellie and her chicks and make sure they have plenty of food and water.

After everyone has been fed and watered, it's inside to feed and water myself and get ready for work. During the school year, I also fix David's lunch and help him get out the door on time, but right now he's on summer break so he's been catching up on sleep! I pack up my lunch (usually leftovers from the previous night's dinner) and drive 35 miles to work where all day I dream of being back on the homestead.

Once the work day is over, I run any errands that I need to in town (like grocery shopping) then drive 35 miles back home. When I arrive home, I greet David and tell him about my day and ask about his, then it's outside for the rest of the evening. First I go down to check on the chickens and see how they're doing, then David and I walk the property and gardens to see how all of our plants are growing and changing. We do a little bit of work in the garden if need be and beg our plants to grow faster.

Usually I head back over to spend more time with the chickens. I make sure to hang out with the "pre-teens" as much as possible so they continue to feel comfortable around me and let me pet and hold them.

Ellie and her chicks are irresistible, so I usually spend a good chunk of time just sitting and watching.

I like to walk Duchess and let the chickens out for some supervised free ranging if there's enough daylight.

Once the light begins to fade, the chickens head back to the coop on their own and settle in for the night.

I gather eggs, lock the chickens up in the coop, lock the pre-teens back up in their coop, check on Ellie and her chicks one last time, and feed Duchess. I usually play with Sylvester for a bit, then if I'm lucky and the cows across the street are out by the fence, I go visit them and hope they don't run away at the sight of a crazy lading mooing at them with a camera pointing in their direction.

David is usually still tending to the garden at this point (he usually handles the flora department while I cover the fauna), so I head inside to get started on dinner. I try to fit in a little bit of exercise just before dinner (I really like my mini trampoline and free weights) since I really slacked on that over the winter.

This time of year we like to stay outside for as long as possible, so dinner is quite late; sometimes 8:30 or 9:00. We watch a little tv while eating dinner to unwind, then clean up and do any other inside chores that need to be done (like laundry). Lately we've been doing a little bit of reading at the end of the night just before heading to bed, and I usually end up falling asleep on the couch with a book in my hands. David wakes me up and tells me it's time to go to bed, so I groggily head towards the bedroom and pass out until my alarm goes off at 5:45 the next day and I start all over again.

Other than when I'm at work, basically my day consists of tending to the chickens, gardening, cooking, playing with the animals, and spending as much time as possible with David. We have really worked hard to get to this point and have the lifestyle that we have dreamed about, so right now we are enjoying the fruits of our labor. I recently heard someone say, "Think about how you would spend your day if you knew this was your last. If it looks completely different from your typical day now, then you need to make some big changes." I can honestly say if I knew today would be my last day, there is nowhere else I'd rather be than on my homestead surrounded by God's beauty, my animals, and my precious husband. Maybe I'd call in sick to work that day, but otherwise, I know without a shadow of a doubt that I'm right where I'd want to be.

Four other awesome bloggers are participating in this series as well, so don't forget to check out their posts to read more about where they are in their homesteading journey. You can find them here -

Staci at Life At Cobble Hill Farm
Meg at Little Homestead
Daisy at Maple Hill 101
Amber at Making A Home

Thanks so much for reading and please do let me know if you have any questions or comments. I'd love to hear from you! Don't forget to check back next Wednesday for the final installment in the series where I will be focusing on future plans and goals we have for our homestead.

~Tammy

Shared with Rural Blog Hop, Down Home Blog Hop, From The Farm Blog Hop   

How We Homestead: Real Food

Welcome to the third installment of our new five-week series, How We Homestead. Each Wednesday I write a post about a different homesteading topic to shed more light on where we are on our path to self-sufficiency and what homesteading looks like for us.

If you read the first installment in this series, you may remember that the documentary Food, Inc. was the catalyst for us in getting started on our homesteading journey. Since seeing the film, we have been focused on providing real, whole foods for our family. For us, that means growing as much of our own food as possible. I am somewhat of a control freak, so it is right up my alley to have a hand in each step of the gardening process, from seed to harvest.

Row of cucumbers.


This is only our second year gardening out here, so we still are in the planning and organizing phase. Last year was sort of a test run, and we made lots of changes to the garden area this year. The biggest change was defining a large spot for the garden and building raised beds. We are still working on it, but we finally see an end in sight! We just have to add a little more mulch in between the beds (this way we don't have to worry about weeds) and finish the fence to keep all the critters away from our veggies.

Radishes popping up like crazy!

Our first strawberry!

In addition to our large vegetable garden, we also took up beekeeping this year and are eager to harvest our first batch of honey. In the meantime, I buy local raw honey from the head of the beekeeping club in our area. I love to use honey in place of white sugar whenever I can (especially in my homemade granola and ice cream) so we tend to go through quite a bit!

My first time holding a frame full of our bees. I finally did it!

One of our girls foraging on sedum blooms.

Earlier this year, we decided to try tapping our maple trees to make our own syrup. While we found that we didn't feel the process was worth it for the time and effort required, we are so glad that we tried and learned more about how syrup is made.

If you've been reading this blog for a while now, you know that we also have a flock of chickens and guineas to provide us with delicious farm fresh eggs. At first I was only concerned with keeping chickens for their eggs, but along the way I have learned how much fun they are and what great companion animals they can be. I just love my chickens and the gorgeous eggs they provide for my family!

Our ultimate goal is to be able to grow and preserve all the food that we eat here on our homestead. I realize that is a very lofty goal, and we are nowhere near it yet, but it is what we are working towards every day.

Four other awesome bloggers are participating in this series as well, so don't forget to check out their posts to read more about where they are in their homesteading journey. You can find them here -

Staci at Life At Cobble Hill Farm
Meg at Little Homestead
Daisy at Maple Hill 101
Amber at Making A Home

Thanks so much for reading and please do let me know if you have any questions or comments. I'd love to hear from you! Don't forget to check back next Wednesday for the fourth installment in the series where I will be focusing on what a typical day looks like for us out here on the homestead.

~Tammy

Shared with Home Sweet Home, How Does Your Garden Grow  

How We Homestead: Living Simply

Welcome to the second installment of our new five-week series, How We Homestead. Each Wednesday I write a post about a different homesteading topic to shed more light on where we are on our path to self-sufficiency and what homesteading looks like for us.

When we decided to make the move from the city to the country, we didn't realize it at first, but we instantly began to simplify our lives. In the city, we had a house that we absolutely adored, but it was very big. Much too big for what we needed, and it had old leaky windows, so our utility bill was sky high. Our new home is just a few years old and is much smaller and better suited to our needs. Since the structure is newer and shaded by trees, it is highly energy efficient and we spend about half in energy costs compared to what we spent at our old home in the city.

Living in the country, we are kind of forced to eat meals at home. The nearest restaurant is about 35 miles away, so there's no ordering takeout on a night that I don't feel like cooking. This is sort of a blessing in disguise, though, because it is much healthier to eat homemade meals prepared with whole foods rather than a diet heavy on processed ingredients made in a laboratory.

Where our lives are most simplified is what we do in our leisure time for fun. Tending to the garden is one of our favorite ways to spend a weekend and is also a great stress reliever. We love to take walks around our property every evening to note the changes in our flowers and veggies and take hikes in the woods together when we aren't busy with the garden.

We haven't been to a movie in ages; instead we watch chicken TV.

For us, simple pleasures is what life is all about. There's nothing like watching a mama hen with her new baby chick (something we witnessed for the very first time yesterday, more on that later!) or seeing the woods come back to life after a long, cold winter. Give me nature and I am one happy girl!



Four other awesome bloggers are participating in this series as well, so don't forget to check out their posts to read more about where they are in their homesteading journey. You can find them here -

Staci at Life At Cobble Hill Farm
Meg at Little Homestead
Daisy at Maple Hill 101
Amber at Making A Home

Thanks so much for reading and please do let me know if you have any questions or comments. I'd love to hear from you! Don't forget to check back next Wednesday for the third installment in the series where I will be focusing on real foods and how we grow and incorporate them into our diet.

~Tammy

How We Homestead: How It All Began

Welcome to the first installment of our new five-week series, How We Homestead. Each Wednesday I will write a post about a different homesteading topic to shed more light on where we are on our path to self-sufficiency and what homesteading looks like for us.

In spring 2009, I began to hear a lot of buzz around a new documentary called Food, Inc. It promised to give viewers an honest look at the current food industry in the US and reveal how it is controlled by several large corporations. I hadn't been too interested in where my food came from for most of my life, but when I found out about the film something inside me was provoked and I felt that I had to see the movie.

We weren't aware of it at the time, but Food, Inc. proved to be the catalyst for making big changes in our lives and inspiring our homesteading journey. The documentary opened our eyes and we were totally appalled at what we learned, so we vowed to take more control over our food supply. My first thought was that we had to start a vegetable garden; David was immediately talking chickens.

One of our first ever tomatoes.



Some of our first eggs.


We still lived in the city at this point, but were beginning to have big homesteading dreams and goals that would require more land than what we had on our tiny lot. We absolutely adored our home in the city, a very charming 1914 bungalow, but felt that as much as we loved our home, we wanted land more. So on St. Patrick's Day in 2010 (I remember it vividly because we lost our first hen, Raven, that morning) we met with a realtor and listed our home for sale.

The next year was an emotional rollercoaster. We eventually took our home off the market due to not receiving a single offer in nine months. We were crushed and figured our dream would just have to be put on hold until the housing market rebounded. After some serious and passionate conversations, we realized we were not willing to stay put and keep shoving our dreams aside, so we decided to relist with a different realtor and drastically reduce the price of our house for a quick sale. And guess what? We got it! Our home sold this time in just one week!

After accepting an offer, we kicked into high gear to find the perfect homestead. After a couple disappointments, we finally found a place with 20 wooded acres about 35 miles outside town. It wasn't totally perfect, but we vowed to turn it into our dream home; something we are still working on today.

The day our journey began.


Four other awesome bloggers are participating in this series as well, so don't forget to check out their posts to read more about where they are in their homesteading journey. You can find them here -

Staci at Life At Cobble Hill Farm
Meg at Little Homestead
Daisy at Maple Hill 101
Amber at Making A Home

Thanks so much for reading and please do let me know if you have any questions or comments. I'd love to hear from you! Don't forget to check back next Wednesday for the second installment in the series where I will be focusing on how we have begun to embrace simple living.

~Tammy

Shared with The Backyard Farming Connection Hop 

New Blog Series: How We Homestead

I just wanted to pop in to let you guys know about a new five-week blog series I will be taking part in. Staci from Life At Cobble Hill Farm had the great idea of starting a series to highlight homesteaders all at different stages in their journey and asked me to participate!

I will be joined by Staci, Meg from Little Homestead, Daisy from Maple Hill 101, and Amber from Making A Home. We will be posting each Wednesday for five weeks starting May 15th about different homesteading topics including what led us to the path we are on now and what we envision for our future.

I am really excited for this series and can't wait to share more of our story with you. I hope you will check out my post each Wednesday and also all the other bloggers' posts to get an idea of what homesteading looks like at different stages on the path to self-sufficiency.

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great Mother's Day weekend!

~Tammy