Just bought the farm!!!

[10-Ring]

My parrots eat almost everything people do - no chocolate, avocados, Apple seeds but they love veggies!!! And I think I will go with goats - I cannot drink cow milk or eat cow cheese. I want as close to off grid as I can go - I want a well that does not need electricity and solar to run my swim spa ( guess that ruins the image of off grid- lol) I hope to have fish in the pond and lots of fruit trees. I really would love to raise bees but not sure I would be able to! I love to shoot but I'm afraid it will scare my animals too much but I'm craving a range!! Lots of plans !!! If anyone digs wells or turns up gardens near Sweetwater - let me know!!!


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I wouldn't worry too much about shooting around animals so long as they are safely out of the way.  Most of the time they will get used to it.  Of course I'd set my range up as far away from the animals as possible.

[analog_kidd]

We spent the last year doing exactly what you are planning. We bought a small farm a year ago that already had a barn, some pastures, and a chicken coop. I'll tell you about our experience.

 

Since you are a bird lover, definitely get chickens. They are my favorite livestock we have. They have personalities and are generally friendly. They make me laugh all the time with their crazy antics. You'll definitely need a coop for them to go into at night. You can either pen them in with a chicken yard, or let them free range. Be prepared to have casualties if you free range. Coyotes got all of my neighbors. We have a fenced in area, with a net over the top.

 

We also have a couple of guinnea fowl. They are cool looking birds, and produced eggs last summer, but then stopped.Some birds don't lay all year long, so that may be normal. We'll see what happens this spring. I tell them all the time they better start making me more than they are costing me, or they'll go in the pot ;-) We have ten chickens and two guinneas. We get about 9 or ten eggs a day, all from the chickens. It's way more than we can eat, but we give away the rest to family and friends. 

 

Do not get a pig!!! I had a friend convince me to go halfsies and get one and it turned out to be a horrible idea. Unless you are really set up well for one, they will destroy everything. It took mine about 24 hours to turn a lush grassy pen into a sloppy mud pit. I won't be able to use that area for years. They stink horribly. All they want is food. They are extremely strong and will knock you down into the mud. We figured out how much he cost me in food, medicine, and butchering costs, and for the same money, I could have just bought a butchered pig. Trust me, don't get a pig. Plus they are very social and you should have more than one. We just had the one, and I think he spited me by being tough and full of gristle. Damned pig.

 

We also have bees. They are fairly easy to care for, but there is a lot to know about them. Some people coast along and let nature take it's course, but to have a really good hive, takes some knowledge, and it doesn't come over night. They don't take a lot of time to care for, I check on mine every few weeks or so. The hard part for you, is with RA you might have difficulty lifting the hive boxes. Full of honey, they can be over 75 pounds. Fortunately, there is a robust community of beekeepers in nearly every TN county. They are a cool group of people, that love bees, adn are extremely helpful and eager to assist. Get into your county's beekeeper association, and you'l easily find someone to help you out. There is also about $500 worth of startup costs, between buying the hives, tools, suit and bees. Sadly, I think between bad luck and my own stupidity, I may have killed mine off. I looked in on them today, and the only bees I saw were dead ones. 

 

Fruit trees will take time before they really start producing fruit. At least 5 years or so. Make sure to read the labels, some trees need to be planted in pairs to cross pollinate. Plant them away from where you live and hang out. We have two well established apple trees right near the pool, and thought we'll just make a nice little orchard all around the pool area. So we planted several more trees right there. Then the apples started dropping and made a huge stinky mess. This spring, I'm pulling up all the fruit trees I planted and moving them to the back 40. The deer can eat the ones that fall, or they can turn into fertilizer, I'll pick the ones I want to eat.

 

We planted a big garden last year, and it was a lot of work. I learned to never plant pumpkin in the garden - it took over everything. Plant it far away form the garden. We let the weeds get away, seemingly overnight, and I eventually had to keep them at bay with a weedeater. Cukes and tomatoes did really well. I'll plant a lot more corn this year. I'll skip the lima beans, they grew well, but it takes a bunch to make a meal. I harvested a whole row of limas and got maybe two meals from it all. I ran an electric fence wire all around the garden, and bugs were the only thing that ate anything. With that much land, offer a friend a garden plot, and you can work together. It's a lot more fun that way.

 

Take time every day to enjoy your property. You have a blessing not many people get. Good luck.

[tn high viking]

congradulations.

 

I will chime in with our experience.

 

We are early 60's and reasonalby good health.

Bought a bit more land than you, but otherwise in the same boat.

You will find the physical part of homesteading more draining than you are thinking, so think about that and plan accordingly.

 

I know you are chomping at the bit, try to control that urge and make a 5 year plan.

 

Go ahead and start some small things - chickens for sure (check out Buff Orpingtons) and a very small annual garden.

Check out BioIntensive Gardening. http://www.growbiointensive.org/

 

I will differ on owning a tractor. It is a huge capital cost that can be spent elsewhere.

Find a neighbor you can hire to bushog and do other tractor work.

Get a rototiller instead.

 

We have bees and they are great and in addition to the honey the make your garden and fruit trees more productive, but there is a whole lot of knowledge required - don't recommend for a newbie.

 

Do some research on Permaculture. Basically plant perenials like bushes, fruit trees and perenial veggies like Asparagus. Basically plant once harvest many times.

 

Good luck. Be patient, but hang on to that enthusiasm.

 

Work hard to make friends with the locals.

[CLC]

Thank you! I am being very careful - I am 55 alone and I have Rheumatoid Arthritis - so careful is a necessity. Just purchased an old wood cook stove and a good cast iron wood burner for the living room- these two should keep my house warm! I am very interested in a well that will work if the grid goes down . Love the plan of chickens and interested in goats too. Falls are my biggest issue - it is very hard for me to get up - I need a chair or table to hold on to and if I am on the land then I am stranded. I have a baby English mastiff - hoping I can pull up with him as help! All in all, if I had one day left to live - it would be on my front porch with my view that makes me feel so blessed!!!


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