Rapid falls farm
Enjoys Recycling
- Joined
- Feb 2, 2014
- Messages
- 3
- Reaction score
- 2
- Points
- 13
1. I live in Maine.
There are four very distinct seasons. Fall is my favorite. The leaves are beautiful and the air is so crisp and fresh. Both my babies were born in fall. Plus it's deer & bear hunting season! And canning season! Time to reap the benefits of all that sweaty work in the garden!
Winter begins in November and the last few have been " mild" but this year has been a doozy. It's awful!!! We get a lot of snow. Everything is buried in snow. Get out your woollies and mad bomber hats. Most " mainahs" spend there winter days ice fishing, snow mobiling, sledding, snow shoeing & rabbit hunting. Then it's time to tap the maple trees!
Spring weather arrives end of April or beginning of June, it really depends on the year. Mud is awful.but planting, yay! Spring babies are born! Watch out for ticks!
Summer is also nice. Our beaches are amazing. We have a river beside our house. we swim there daily. Our unofficial state bird, the black fly will carry you away. Mosquitos are a whole other beast. Eat lobster and go fishing. "Ay uh"
2. I am married and have two sons 6 & 2. We hope to have more babies in the future. I am 25 my husband just turned 36. Don't judge our ages. He's my soul mate
3. self & sufficiency are loaded words. To me it's about using your resources to limit your dependency on others. Which is really hard. But, growing your own veggies is a form of independence to me even if you have to buy your seeds.
My personal family goal is to Grow our own veggies to last thru the winter, to purchase all our fruit locally and preserve it all and raise or locally buy our all our meat. We make everything from scratch... Even our gifts for people. To me that's as self sufficent as we will get.
4. I'm not sure when I had a change of heart to be a 'homesteader'. There were a couple factors. I was definatly raised in an environment that encouraged this life, but it wasnt as " hardcore". I grew up on a 20 acre farm. It's an 1800 farm house with a barn that dates older. My parents were high school sweet hearts. They bought their house and its literally 30 seconds down the road from my moms childhood home and a mile from my dads childhood home. My whole family lives on the same road!!! Anyway, we raised horses and cows and pigs and chickens. My mom Gardened but it was small and she didn't can. On my second birthday I got a pony. She is a POA and still alive. Her name is little spirit. But as teenager i steered away from anything " farm-ish" .Anyway, when I got married we searched for a house near my family but nothing was even close to our price range. So we bought a house 30 mins from where I grew up. We only have an acre of land. We tilled up ground and planted a garden. i taught my self to can. My uncle raises goats and he gave us a doe and a wether. We fell in love. We decided we needed milk so we bred the doe. I'm a very impatient person so we bought a doe in milk while we waited for the other one to kid. We realized how amazing the milk is! i taught myself to make soap. We got chickens. Then meat birds. It just kind of snowballed. Then My husband lost his job and we were poor. Really poor. I learned to make everything from scratch. Why buy it if we can make it ? Even after he got a great job I kept that mentality.
5. We always use cloth. It cheaper and chemical free.
6. I quilt and sew. I am learning to crochet. My husband is mr handy man. He is an amazing wood worker. Back when he had no job and we had barely any money we thought of ways to make home made gifts. He went out to the garage and 2 hours he produced a wooden spoon. It was amazing. Since then he has made amazing things. Spatulas, forks, honey dippers, candle holders... He made our son a potty chair bc we couldn't afford one at the store! My husband uses a lathe and other tools but I have no idea what they are called.
7. We have goats for milk and meat and chickens. We're going to get meat rabbits in the spring and hopefully buy a boer doe. We have also tossed around raising a calf and slaughtering him in the fall. There is dairy farmer who is a good family friend. He is always looking to get rid of the bulls.
8. My family is into horses. They all have them. Every summer we hay all the fields. We use antique tractors . When I was a kid we used the horses to hay. I didn't appreciate it then like I do now. I like that my kids get to have that experience. It's always a family reunion. The women help as much as the men. It's a good time even if it about kills us. Some of my relatives garden and have chickens and horses and my uncle that raises goats but they don't define themselves as homesteaders. They're just living as they were raised. It's kinda funny bc I have shown my mom how to can, make soap, candles and bread. I also taught her to milk a goat and how good it tastes.
9. We drink raw milk. When our goats are dry we have access to raw cow milk.
10. We heat with wood only.
11. When I was 13 I began working in my uncles slaughter house. He would pick me up after school and I worked until about 6-630. It wasnt much money but it was better than nothing! I lied to all my friends and told them that I was really baby sitting.. If they knew I was wrapping up cute little piggies or cows meat they would have shunned me! Those skills taught me how to process chickens without the " ick" factor. I still feel sad when it's time to say goodbye to our critters but working at the slaughterhouse helped me. I realized that these animals live a much more peaceful and happy life than the animal whose meat is bought at the grocery store. We do not eat store bought meat.
12. We garden in a 50x100 foot space. I am guilty of letting the weeds go wild. I want to try a better method. I have been reading about the " back to eden" method. We do ok. But no where near where We wanna be.
13. We are wishing/ hoping/dreaming/ praying/ trying to get to the point to buy more land. Our acre is great, but I want a milk cow someday. I want to raise pigs. I want privacy. I want our own woods to hunt in. I don't want car head lights to shine into my bedroom window at all hours of the night ( we live on a busy road and hate it)
14. Living this way had changed everything. I use to be all about appearances and spending money!!! But now my mind set is soooo different. I see the world differently. I find myself appreciating the hard work ( kinda) that it takes to put food on the table. Or to heat our home. i apperciate the smaller more meaningful things in life. my ideal vacation is a secluded cabin in the woods with an outhouse. ( my parents have such a camp. it has no running water. But a wood stove and electricity! we spent a total of 8 days straight in the middle of february. there were 7 adults, 3 children, a 4 month old and a 7 month old baby. It has become a family tradition... It's so much fun .)
We buy everything secondhand. We constantly talk about how we can save more money. We are proud that we raise our own food. We are proud that our kids know where milk, meat and eggs come from. We are proud that we know the names of the animals of the meat, eggs and milk we put on our table. (Except for hunted deer/ bear/ turkey/ rabbit but always see the body so that counts?) my kids know the cycle of life and respect it. Any extra money goes back into our homestead!
Phew that was a lot
There are four very distinct seasons. Fall is my favorite. The leaves are beautiful and the air is so crisp and fresh. Both my babies were born in fall. Plus it's deer & bear hunting season! And canning season! Time to reap the benefits of all that sweaty work in the garden!
Winter begins in November and the last few have been " mild" but this year has been a doozy. It's awful!!! We get a lot of snow. Everything is buried in snow. Get out your woollies and mad bomber hats. Most " mainahs" spend there winter days ice fishing, snow mobiling, sledding, snow shoeing & rabbit hunting. Then it's time to tap the maple trees!
Spring weather arrives end of April or beginning of June, it really depends on the year. Mud is awful.but planting, yay! Spring babies are born! Watch out for ticks!
Summer is also nice. Our beaches are amazing. We have a river beside our house. we swim there daily. Our unofficial state bird, the black fly will carry you away. Mosquitos are a whole other beast. Eat lobster and go fishing. "Ay uh"
2. I am married and have two sons 6 & 2. We hope to have more babies in the future. I am 25 my husband just turned 36. Don't judge our ages. He's my soul mate
3. self & sufficiency are loaded words. To me it's about using your resources to limit your dependency on others. Which is really hard. But, growing your own veggies is a form of independence to me even if you have to buy your seeds.
My personal family goal is to Grow our own veggies to last thru the winter, to purchase all our fruit locally and preserve it all and raise or locally buy our all our meat. We make everything from scratch... Even our gifts for people. To me that's as self sufficent as we will get.
4. I'm not sure when I had a change of heart to be a 'homesteader'. There were a couple factors. I was definatly raised in an environment that encouraged this life, but it wasnt as " hardcore". I grew up on a 20 acre farm. It's an 1800 farm house with a barn that dates older. My parents were high school sweet hearts. They bought their house and its literally 30 seconds down the road from my moms childhood home and a mile from my dads childhood home. My whole family lives on the same road!!! Anyway, we raised horses and cows and pigs and chickens. My mom Gardened but it was small and she didn't can. On my second birthday I got a pony. She is a POA and still alive. Her name is little spirit. But as teenager i steered away from anything " farm-ish" .Anyway, when I got married we searched for a house near my family but nothing was even close to our price range. So we bought a house 30 mins from where I grew up. We only have an acre of land. We tilled up ground and planted a garden. i taught my self to can. My uncle raises goats and he gave us a doe and a wether. We fell in love. We decided we needed milk so we bred the doe. I'm a very impatient person so we bought a doe in milk while we waited for the other one to kid. We realized how amazing the milk is! i taught myself to make soap. We got chickens. Then meat birds. It just kind of snowballed. Then My husband lost his job and we were poor. Really poor. I learned to make everything from scratch. Why buy it if we can make it ? Even after he got a great job I kept that mentality.
5. We always use cloth. It cheaper and chemical free.
6. I quilt and sew. I am learning to crochet. My husband is mr handy man. He is an amazing wood worker. Back when he had no job and we had barely any money we thought of ways to make home made gifts. He went out to the garage and 2 hours he produced a wooden spoon. It was amazing. Since then he has made amazing things. Spatulas, forks, honey dippers, candle holders... He made our son a potty chair bc we couldn't afford one at the store! My husband uses a lathe and other tools but I have no idea what they are called.
7. We have goats for milk and meat and chickens. We're going to get meat rabbits in the spring and hopefully buy a boer doe. We have also tossed around raising a calf and slaughtering him in the fall. There is dairy farmer who is a good family friend. He is always looking to get rid of the bulls.
8. My family is into horses. They all have them. Every summer we hay all the fields. We use antique tractors . When I was a kid we used the horses to hay. I didn't appreciate it then like I do now. I like that my kids get to have that experience. It's always a family reunion. The women help as much as the men. It's a good time even if it about kills us. Some of my relatives garden and have chickens and horses and my uncle that raises goats but they don't define themselves as homesteaders. They're just living as they were raised. It's kinda funny bc I have shown my mom how to can, make soap, candles and bread. I also taught her to milk a goat and how good it tastes.
9. We drink raw milk. When our goats are dry we have access to raw cow milk.
10. We heat with wood only.
11. When I was 13 I began working in my uncles slaughter house. He would pick me up after school and I worked until about 6-630. It wasnt much money but it was better than nothing! I lied to all my friends and told them that I was really baby sitting.. If they knew I was wrapping up cute little piggies or cows meat they would have shunned me! Those skills taught me how to process chickens without the " ick" factor. I still feel sad when it's time to say goodbye to our critters but working at the slaughterhouse helped me. I realized that these animals live a much more peaceful and happy life than the animal whose meat is bought at the grocery store. We do not eat store bought meat.
12. We garden in a 50x100 foot space. I am guilty of letting the weeds go wild. I want to try a better method. I have been reading about the " back to eden" method. We do ok. But no where near where We wanna be.
13. We are wishing/ hoping/dreaming/ praying/ trying to get to the point to buy more land. Our acre is great, but I want a milk cow someday. I want to raise pigs. I want privacy. I want our own woods to hunt in. I don't want car head lights to shine into my bedroom window at all hours of the night ( we live on a busy road and hate it)
14. Living this way had changed everything. I use to be all about appearances and spending money!!! But now my mind set is soooo different. I see the world differently. I find myself appreciating the hard work ( kinda) that it takes to put food on the table. Or to heat our home. i apperciate the smaller more meaningful things in life. my ideal vacation is a secluded cabin in the woods with an outhouse. ( my parents have such a camp. it has no running water. But a wood stove and electricity! we spent a total of 8 days straight in the middle of february. there were 7 adults, 3 children, a 4 month old and a 7 month old baby. It has become a family tradition... It's so much fun .)
We buy everything secondhand. We constantly talk about how we can save more money. We are proud that we raise our own food. We are proud that our kids know where milk, meat and eggs come from. We are proud that we know the names of the animals of the meat, eggs and milk we put on our table. (Except for hunted deer/ bear/ turkey/ rabbit but always see the body so that counts?) my kids know the cycle of life and respect it. Any extra money goes back into our homestead!
Phew that was a lot
