If you could..........

[moolie]

We will be enlarging our garden next summer, and our 2 fruit trees (apples) will continue to grow and our raspberries will continue to spread so that's something we can actually accomplish. We also hope to put a wood stove into our basement family room in the next few years to help reduce our natural gas bill.

We live in the city and can't have "livestock", but I wish we could have chickens and a pig or few.

Baby steps, some day when the kids are done school and the house is paid off we hope to move to a larger more rural property.

Then we can have the chickens and pigs, a larger orchard rather than just a few trees and bushes, and a much larger garden and greenhouse.

 

[Marianne]

If I could...

I'd plant a forest garden that would actually produce in this wind, hot summers and cold winters. We'd have solar and wind power, a maid.....oh wait.....that's me.

I'd have a much smaller place in a wooded area, rocket mass heater, play with strawbale or cob building...

 

[dragonlaurel]

I'd want a mix of woods and open land near here. We would have a hill on our Northwest to protect us from the worst storms. It needs good water onsite for drinking and possibly mini hydro power. We would have hives in the orchard and by the main garden area. I want some living fences to help protect the property and livestock.

We would start off with some guineas and laying hens then add more as we got egg customers. I'd encourage broody hens and let them raise started and POL chickens to sell and to supply more laying hens for us.
I'd start with a pair of Nubian does then increase the herd when needed and add some Gulf Coast sheep for a wool supply.

The cob home would have an attached sunroom/greenhouse on the South and passive solar details to keep it comfy year round. I'd build it from local clay and use thinned trees from the property to keep building expenses down. It will be 1000 - 1200 sq ft including basement, and will have a pantry and a wood cook-stove in the big kitchen. I want mostly non-electric equipment, so we wont need to make make much power.

 

[SSDreamin]

Good question BarredBuff!
My 'dream homestead' would be a combination of the home we are moving to, and the farm I was raised on. It would have a house I found in a plan book, with an attached greenhouse and a nice sized basement & centrally located woodstove. Love that plan - not huge, not small, just right, with all the ideas that I've had kicking around in my head already built in! Our new house has sooooo many positives (concrete block construction - cool in summer, holds heat in winter, and tornado resistant , lots of storage space, workshop area, big kitchen and large pantry space, perfect set up/configuration for wood heat, nice garden area/orchard area/pasture, across the road and down the road from large wood sources, two excellent water sources nearby, also a perfect spot to put a root cellar in) and some negatives (no immediate water source, other than a well, house situated in such a way to NOT be able to take advantage of southern exposure, no basement, lack of out buildings, limited acreage). The farm I grew up on had 80 acres, which was a perfect size to supply almost everything that was needed for a family of eight, a large flock of chickens, two holstein's, two steers and a bull. Two year-round water sources besides the well, a decent sized wood lot, and a great selection of farm equipment to operate it

We plan to get a boyfriend for our Ice Cream (and plan to build them a nice barn to live in), two pigs and some rabbits next Spring. Already have an established flock of dual purpose birds we will be bringing with us. Have a fairly good selection of orchard stock heeled in and ready for Spring planting, as well as blueberries, blackberries, grapes and rhubarb. Need to clear some scrub brush from the garden area, but it will encompass a sizable space (I didn't measure, but it will be about six times the size of the space we have now - give or take). We will be putting up temporary fencing this coming weekend, but need to fence in about two acres for the heifer/bull (we have a solar/electric fence set up that we are taking with us) - the front yard is about an acre, and I would like to fence it in as well (It's lush and green. Good eating and saves me the mowing ). The plan is to build a solar preheater for the water heater, set up a small solar system for minimal back up power, build an outdoor oven/stove for summer, and set up our propane powered generator. DH is very much a 'back up for our back up' kind of guy, so we will have several ways to get what we need. I want an attached greenhouse, for the convenience in winter and the solar heat, but we aren't sure where yet. I want it attached to the front of the house. DH says people won't be able to find the front door. I point out that they will be sitting behind the solar powered gate honking their horn anyway, because my whole yard will be pasture, so I can escort them in, after I buzz them in

 

[Windyhillfarms]

If I could change this farm to my "heart's desire" I would split one of my fields in half and goat fence it, getting a small herd of goats with their own "goat sized" barn, pond, jungle gyms, etc. Molly Moo Moo would have the other half of the field, and I would probably add another 2 heifers in with her. They too would have their own barn, pond, shade trees, etc. ... cow heaven. I would split other fields as well, making more of it pasture instead of just a field, making a few more hay fields along the way. Coastal has to be "sprigged" and the expense of sprigging is astronomical. The rabbits would get their own barn as well as they are quickly outgrowing the whole sharing with the chickens thing ... In this barn I would probably design it where I could have "colonies" of rabbits rather than individual cages.

I would then turn my attention to the farm equipment I'd love to have. All hay bailing equipment would be a must, round and small bales. That would cut expenses to nothing for hay which would be amazing. I would also put up a hay storage barn, nothing but hay! It would probably end up being my favorite building on the farm ...

The dogs would get a new "dog barn" that is insulated to the T to help with the weather extremes here in Texas. My house would new windows, insulation and propane heating system, as well as wind power. I also already have well water, but we can only get water if there's power ... so would have to get an alternate to that if we were to lose power to an extended period of time. I would also purchase a generator and some type of gasoline storage system as I often wish I could buy gas when it's "cheap" and then not have to go to a gas station for a while.

As for any changes to our house, I'd add my own master bathroom with an old fashioned deep tub to just soak in. Of course that's a luxury but we are dreaming right? On the more practical side, I'd like to build a root cellar and if that's not possible, add a room just for supply storage, nothing but shelves, floor to ceiling, containers galore!

 

[FarmerChick]

I downgraded from a full blown income farm.....I don't want to 'if I could'

I had it all, but the one thing I wish I had finished was the pond over on my 30 acres. It is good size but the banks are steep, grown up wtih weeds, critters live there now and it isn't the functional pond I wish it was, but at this stage of the game I will not devote any more time to it cause I am done farming.

I will do a small garden next season, be as SS, (save money and resources) any where I can.....what I wish I could do is now get back all the money I spent in fencing and barns, tractors and equipment

If I could I would increase pantry space. Find a way to make solar happen at my home (ugh) and just hope the future goes well.

 

[2dream]

I would not change much - I do wish my house was arranged a little differently so I would have more storage space. I want a wood cook stove but I am not sure I want it in my house. Maybe an added outside enclosed cooking area. I really want to build a brick/clay oven in my back yard but just have not had the time or energy over the last few years to actually make it happen. The only other thing I want is to finish my fenceing. I have some of the post in the ground and most of the wire purchased but just have not gotten around to stringing wire yet.
The only animal I would add at this point in time is a billy goat. But got to finish that fence first. I don't want him in with my girls full time. A small pond would be kind of nice but I would really like a well more than a pond. Solar power is not something I think about often. I have always said, I can live without power at all, actually sometimes I think I would be better off without it sometimes.

 

[FarmerChick]

LOL 2dream...I am thinking like that--what can I live without cause I am sick of it all HAHA


I will add, cause 2dream said it, a backyard brick fireplace/oven/grill/everything fire lol

Hmmm....might be having time to make that happen. (runs off to think about a progject-- thanks alot 2dream )

 

[2dream]

What ya gonna do FC? You are aware that you will have to post a thread showing your progress?

 

[Beekissed]

If I were still living the homestead dream, I'd want to do it on a property of which I know that I could possibly rent but never afford to buy. Wonderful place!

I'd want:

Layer flock~ and meat bird production at least twice a year so that I could teach others how to do it on the cheap and how to process. I'd like to have workshops for the same.

I'd like to have hair sheep and maybe a few Boer goats to keep the pasture in condition. I'd also like to do workshops on those and I'd like to write a book about the hair sheep breeds and what people are using them for now.

I'd like to garden with "green" mulch, companion plantings, and all natural means and preserve those foods...and have a workshop on that.

I'd like to have a smaller team of work horses and cut/rake/ted and gather all my hay using horse powered equipment and store the hay in the barn as loose hay. I'd like to have workshops on that also.

I'd love to grow many types of herbs and use them in homemade tinctures and ointments for livestock husbandry.

I'd like to take up bowhunting like all the males in my family and harvest my own guv'ment beef instead of depending on my boys to do it. Free, lean meat that I didn't have to do an ounce of maintenance upon is my kind of extreme frugalism. I'd like to do a workshop on gutting, skinning, processing the deer~THAT I know.

I'd like to eat seasonal foods only and avoid even going to the store more than quarterly. I'd like to have my cellar packed to the brim, barn filled to overflowing, and my acreage dotted with fat beasts of pretty colors. I'd like to hitch the horses to a sleigh on a frosty, snow-covered night and go for a ride....take some of the neighbors and sing as we shoosh and jingle over the white dreamscape.

I'd like to use the horses to get in my firewood each year....hook them up and drag the logs down to the house and cut it up there. I'd like to split my firewood by hand once again, like we used to do.

I'd like to have some useful and beautiful dogs to help me in the homestead and a few cats to do the same. I'd like at least one good riding horse that I could bond with and train to suit my needs.

I'd like to have a good, heavy duty farm truck, a small but useful tractor with good attachments, and horse drawn equipment/harnessing.

I'd like to have plenty of church groups, workshops and other groups to come and enjoy the place and see it as a place of learning, a place of warmth and good foods, a place of beauty and hospitality.