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clawhammerdan
01-11-2007, 09:20 AM
of homesteading, and what features does/will your homestead contain?

I used to live in a log cabin almost 30 years ago. I had ten acres, but worked almost 40 miles from my cabin. Hence no time for livestock. The ground was mostly wooded. I enjoyed hunting for morel (mushrooms) , hunting , and fishing. Now that I am retired, my wife and I have acquired 15 acres, and we built a small log cabin on it. The land is quite hilly and there is about 70% meadow and 30% woods. We were fortunate to have good road frontage, electricity, a spring, a well and two septic systems already in place. I'm not versatile at posting stuff on the computer, so when I learn, I'll try to share some pictures. Our cabin is 24x28. It has a full basement. (I'm in the process of finishing the basement now). The cabin has two bedrooms, a loft, two bathrooms, a kitchen and a great room. My wife and I currently mow almost 6 acres by hand. There are so many things we'd like to do, but either time or money fail to intersect frequently. I've been a reader of the Foxfire Books, and have some of the very first editions of Mother Earth News. Also have read many books by Bradford Angier and Ben Hunt. My wish for my homestead is to grow a nice garden (maybe 30x40) along with a 5x30 asparagus patch. I'd like to put in a half dozen dwarf apple trees, and begin growing grapes. My wife and I have made homebres in the past and that is something I'd like to get into once again, along with perhaps winemaking. She and I have had several years experience with urban gardening (30 x 40) where residents pay $30 / year for a plot. I'd also consider raising rabbits, earthworms, some chickens, and a goat or two. We both love to kayak, and fish, and I enjoy shooting especially with bow and black powder. We are both avid readers. Share with me what you'd like your place to include. I look forward to hearing about your dreams, as well. Good luck and PEACE.

bookwormom
01-11-2007, 01:41 PM
what has caught my eye is the statement that you mow 6 acres by hand. could you elaborate on that? do you mean by scythe? Excuse me while I catch my breath and close my mouth again. In case you do, how often have you done that?

clawhammerdan
01-11-2007, 04:08 PM
I have an Exmark walk behind that I use on about five of those acres. My wife has a 21 in. Toro (self-propelled). We cut around every two to three weeks.

flatbed
01-11-2007, 07:49 PM
Your place sure sounds lovely!


WELCOME!

bookwormom
01-13-2007, 05:49 AM
Oh! so you mow it with machines and not by hand. since you walk behind them maybe you can say you mow it by foot ;)
In the past, when I was still younger and stronger I used to mow our half acre orchard with a scythe twice a year and let me tell you, it wore me out.
Now, on our retirement homestead we put fencing around the area where the house, orchard and gardens are. We fenced the animals OUT. Husband thought the geese should be kept in to keep the "lawn" cropped down, but they tend to be destructive, so there should be a subfence inside the enclosure that includes a pond to keep the geese away and hopefully doing what they are supposed to do, graze the orchard and grapes. we wind up doing a lot more mowing than we really like to as our 15 year fallow pastures are really overrun with weeds and sumac sprouts, and we want to reestablish pastures. Sitting on a tractor and bushhogging is not exactly one of my favvorites, but we do what needs to be done.

daphodil
01-15-2007, 07:42 AM
since 1995 (seems like longer) and we are beyond just dreaming; have a little place in the woods. Welcome to the forum :)

Toad_Sticker
01-15-2007, 09:23 AM
We bought 30 acres of my families 1866 homestead 4 years ago.
70 acres got sold to a farmer.
its all I can do to pay for it.
I work full time 20+ miles and the Mrs. is a stay home mom of 3 oldest is fixin to turn 6.
we have chickens so far and have had them all killed twice by different critters. Have 23 right now.
bought an outdoor wood furnace last spring and will run out of wood tomorrow *:(.I have a lot more cut but it is thru a quagmire of mud down in our woods. I guess the propane will keep us warm till it freezes.
Fence is the biggest obsticle to getting more critters.
When I was a kid the county was fenced and cross fenced now the only fence around is the interstate about 4 miles away.
sooooo much to do.
and I ain't a spring chicken any more.
I got married late so I'm over 40 with 3 tiny kids *;D
TS

candy
01-15-2007, 01:59 PM
I'm with you on the mud toad sticker.

I have about enough wood at the house for maybe two weeks.

It literally rained here all summer making it impossible to get a truck to our cut rounds of wood.

But I have been hauling about four rounds a day home myself the last couple of weeks to get them here.

Lot of work. My hubby wants to know how come I can't carry two at a time.

Almost got him slapped for that comment.

I want a pair of mules. Feel they would be like the postal service . No matter the weather they would be able to drag that wood in.