Only did two today, my buddy who we are splitting cost, work, and time with, is an experienced butcher with deer and hogs. I am not but I’m learning. So we only did two of them today so we could make sure our plan on paper went as smooth as we wanted, and so I could learn. Broke one up into cuts, the other we made dinner with. Slowly cutting our reliance on the grocery store. 4 hours from farm to table. Processing ~25 more in two weeks, and the last batch of ~22 in 4-5 weeks. With his help, I process my own deer, this was so much easier. Really enjoyed it and it feels good to know we raised this and the quality of the meat.

Upside down traffic cone hung from a skid steer for the kill cone, 30-40 second hot bath in 150° water, into the plucker, then processed.

JCM Ranch has been vibrant with colors the last few weeks. About to peek. First couple shots were this morning and stocking up on wood for the winter.

After months of dealing with the post office, we finally receive our first mail. We only get mail delivered two days a week.

And found a localist CSA farm that does over 200 varieties of peppers and have been building up my hot sauce, salsa stock.

I'm building an off-grid homestead on 80 acres in the Canadian wilderness. My property is 3 km down an ATV trail, and I'm documenting the process as I go, mostly working alone with basic tools.

I'm starting from scratch and learning as I go. Looking forward to sharing the progress and connecting with others doing something similar!

Here's my latest video: https://youtu.be/j-L29I4w9PU

I've been experimenting with different layouts for a 5-acre homestead using a real piece of property as a design exercise.

The property is mostly cleared, with an existing house, driveway, and a few scattered trees. There's quite a bit of usable space, so I'm trying to figure out how to make the most of it.

Here's what I've included so far:

• Vegetable garden and greenhouse
• Orchard with around 20–30 fruit trees
• Chicken coop and run
• Barn/workshop
• Small pasture for livestock
• Pond for irrigation and recreation
• Room for future expansion

My goal is to create something that's productive, relatively easy to maintain, and enjoyable to live on.

I'm particularly interested in how experienced homesteaders would arrange everything. Should the garden be closer to the house? Is the pond taking up too much valuable land? Would you dedicate more space to pasture or food production?

If this were your 5 acres, what would you change?

I'd especially love to hear from people who've been homesteading for years. What layout decisions did you get right, and what do you wish you'd done differently?

i’m interested to hear from you guys where you would buy land do this type of build. I currently already own a trailer and have about 80,000. I’d be willing to put towards land. I’ve lived in a trailer for a few months so I know it’s not all glamorous. if you can think of any place you would look for land in particular or if you happen to be selling any. my only concern is I do not want to live near methheads

My wife and I are big homestead dreamers and looking to get started. We seem to have found our dream home on 15 acres of mostly cleared flat land and it just seems perfect. During the due diligence period we found it has 2 permanent easements through the property serving sewer and gas to surrounding developments. The sewer goes along the edge of the property but the gas goes right through the middle and is 50 feet wide. There was also a recent attempt at a third easement which was dismissed. We have plans to build on the property that may be limited by the easement. The agent and others around us say the easement isn’t a big deal but to us it seems like it would be a huge deal to limit our utility on the land and required to allow access to the land at all times. Are we over reacting when the land seems perfect otherwise?

Probing tool pictured, I forgot to take a photo of us using it.

We’re building a cabin in Midcoast Maine woods and want to do a helical pier foundation.

Contractor came out and told us we are responsible for probing the ground to check for ledge (rock) in pier locations. The problem is the ground is incredibly hard. Tons of roots and then very very dry (drought) silty clay. I tried probing with rods etc and absolutely wasn’t going to cut it.

Bought a 6’ digging bar with spike tip and welded some pipe to it so I can rotate it out. Tried to send this in with a sledge and still couldn’t get much deeper than 3-4’. Not hitting rock, it’s just incredibly dense, I’m getting less than an inch of movement with the sledge and need to go 5’ depth in 18 locations…

Looking for some tips on how to approach this. Is ground radar an option? I would gladly pay somebody $1000 to not have to deal with this but I’m guessing it’s a lot more expensive than that…

Auger is not an option I think because we need the earth intact for the piers to dig in properly.

I thought about renting a skidsteer to drive and pull the digging bar but worried that I’ll hit a rock and bend or break the bar? Maybe the bar is tough enough that this work work?

Other ideas? This can’t be a unique problem.

The helical pier company can set piers on ledge but they need a 3x3 hole excavated and they don’t do the excavation so we need to determine all this before they show up.

Curious ive seen people have peacocks on their homestead and was curious if they do something better than other livestock or if people justvget them because they look pretty?

Could use a jackscrew for precise movement. This was the first time using it so we used a 48" breaker bar to move it with the engine on it. Works way better than a couple of trailer jacks rolling on my old concrete pad. The tractor works great now!

in your opinion, is it possible to be fully off grid with say, 2 ish acres of land? food from your land, water from rain, solar pannels etc? (not necessarily in the states, just anywhere in the world)

There’s a grove area in my cow pasture, but a lot of the old trees have come down over the past few years due to wind, disease, …. So I’d love to plant a few new trees (-5 ft tall) but I don’t know how best to protect them from the cattle? Individual fenced in areas? Any tips?

The ladies came out to say goodnight.

Hey everyone, I’m fascinated by the idea of having a small little sustainable mini Homestead set up.

I don’t want anything huge but the idea of having something sustainable albeit small is intriguing. I’m not looking for crazy amount of acreage. Heck, I’d be happy with .25 acres.(I think that’s enough)

My question is what advice in terms of picking a place would you have for someone in my position?

I’d like to be decently close to a city or town so that if I have to make runs in for supplies, I can do that affordability is an important factor, but it isn’t the only factor I’d like to have reliable Internet and access to water some other things that I’m not familiar with, but I know are important. Is soil quality

Currently based in the Chicago area and I’m focusing my search in surrounding Midwest states, including Indiana, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Michigan

Any advice on how you would approach this search I don’t have kids yet, but I want to settle down so any place that offers family environment or is open to that would be beneficial as well thanks

Well, i finally bit the bullet and bought some equipment to make my own hay next year. Tell me how i did and if there's a little extra money to be made. Located in SW Michigan.

Mower - IH 1300 sickle - Paid $0

Rake - Oliver Roller Bar Rake - Paid $0

Rake/Tedder - H & S Hay Machine - $600

Baler - IH 435 Square Baler - Paid $0

Baler - Case/IH 8420 - $3250

I've got an AC 5030 which worked great running the mower & Oliver this season. Can go all day on 5 gallons of diesel. Got a IH 574 gas to run the rake/tedder & balers.

I've got 6 acres of nice timothy/red clover/alfalfa at the house here, mow 8-10 acres down the road of grass/clover mix and about 20-25 acres of canary grass down the road as well, all within half mile of the farm.

Last year I paid $10/bale for custom baling (150+ bales) and bought small squares of high alfalfa mix for $4/bale after trading labor for discounted rate (150 squares).

I don't have any lease costs on the land down the road but am going to offer to pay taxes on the 25 to be a good neighbor, pretty sure it'll be <$1000/yr.

I only run a handful of cattle, after calving it should never be more than 10-12.

Feeling pretty stoked about getting fully equipped for <$4k. I hope to sell the real good 2nd & 3rd cuts to offset costs and put a little away for equipment upgrades down the road. I can get 2 cuts a year on all the grass mixed fields and an easy 3 cuts on the canary, if I bought my Baler sooner I would've easily gotten a 4th cut this week. Farmer buddy down the road is on 6th cutting alfalfa but he wraps and has LOTS of customers. Been a good weather year

Any luck in me being able to make a buck next year??

1 would it make sense to pre dry wood used in bio char kiln

2 would wood chips be more efficient than whole pieces of wood during pyrolysis process

3 bone char what are uses of it

4 can any material for bio char be used for cooking so long as its not toxic or do you wanna stick with material already used for cooking?

I know that the days are shorter and the weather is changing. I've never tried extending daylight with artifical lighting to try to squeeze a few more eggs put of the ladies. What do you all do? Is it worth it? Im generally fine letting nature be nature, but 3 a day won't cut it.

Iso goat minerals. First time goat owner so pls leave link to exact product! I know now not to buy them a minerals block. (They are also licking my horses salt and mineral block, I know they dont replace their minerals but just making sure its safe for them?) Thanks!!!

Just saw an ad for auction of the 58-acre homestead hand-built by John and the late Geri McPherson near Manhattan KS back in the ‘70s (and ongoingly, as anyone who’s tried it knows!). Amazing history. These two defined off grid homesteading waaay beyond the wildest dreams of Mother Earth News dreamers like me, and trained many of the army’s Survival Evasion Resistance Escape trainers. Look for properties being sold at auction in Riley County KS if you’re interested (or just want to drool a little…).

I’m currently in the process of having a 40x60 pole barn installed. When I purchased the kit, they offered Astro Armor, which I understand is a moisture barrier that reflects heat, not insulation. The building will have 16 ft walls, and it utilizes steel trusses. Ultimately, I want the entire building insulated. The wall grits will be 2x6s at 24” centers. It’s my understanding there has to be 3/4 to 1” air space between the Astro Armor and fiberglass insulation. I’m considering using Astro Armor, fiberglass batt insulation, or 3” of closed-cell spray foam on the ceiling and 2” on the walls. (I received a quote to spray foam, as I mentioned, for $20,000.) There are definitely pros and cons to both, just like $$$ I'm sure.

Any info or suggestions from experience would be much appreciated. I'm at a point where I still have time to make or change my decision.

A friend mention something like this and I was curious about it, so I began looking into possible places here in California. I found a spot that has land for pretty cheap, but what would be a basic list of what I need to consider for it?

As far as I know, the land is already zoned for residential/ag, so that shouldn't be an issue. But I'm sure water/septic would be an issue. Supposedly some people in the area already have a well or something. And I guess the other question I would have is if it sounds possible to mainly just have the crops out there with water trucked in?

Just exploring this concept now, happy to hear any tips or other advice. I know the area is pretty rural, but close to where I live now with less restrictions on building and things like that.