Official Poll: What are the products that you make/produce at home?

[Britesea]

Besides making our own toothpaste and deodorant, laundry detergent and other household cleaners, eggs, garden and mini orchard, and jams, I also do some wild foraging and make medicinal preparations from plants both wild and domestic. The list of what I still WANT to do is much much longer, lol!

 

[sumi]

So far I've only made jams, grown fruit and veggies and raised animals and chickens for meat and eggs. I would like to try my hand at making soap sometime and other household products, but I need to get more organised first!

 

[BarredBuff]

In addition to that, my family and I hunt for game. We also buy in bulk, and have a good food storage laid back. I cook like crazy from scratch and save lots of money. 90% of our canned items (fruits, vegetables, meats, jams, jellies, etc.) are grown, raised, or cheaply acquired (beef, potatoes, apples). I'm really wanting to get a dairy source, but I just barely am able to do what I do because of land.

 

[pepper48_98]

I raise all my meat, beef, pork, chicken, and goat. I didn't do very good with the garden this year. I am going to do a fall garden if things go as planned. With the heat we are having this summer I am going to cover it with black plastic and try and kill out the grass or put the chickens on it for a while.

 

[JonahArpi]

I am not a hunter either, although I am a crack shot with a rifle! Just can't get myself to take a life unless it is suffering.

I make a lot of breads, jellies and pastries. Can't you tell by my big butt?! Ha! I didn't do a garden this year for the first time in decades. Our drought is so severe and our well pump can't take the abuse I put it through last year. So I can't can this year. :-( But I love to put up the veggies! I tried making pasta once, but it was a disaster.

My hubby likes to stretch things around here and one thing we do is take liquid hand soap and water it down and put it in a foam pump dispenser. Wow, a bottle of hand soap goes for EVER! He claims we have saved hundreds of dollars on soap! LOL

Oh! We used to fish farm!!! Trout ponds. Wow, was it nice to have fresh home grown fish! But it was a lot of work and got to be too much. The fish kept jumping out too and the Ravens would hang around and eat them.

I like to sprout alfalfa. I always have a jar around sprouting seeds. We make salads out of them. And the poultry love them too!

I like to sew and used to make a lot of clothing, curtains and other assorting things. My machine is getting old and needs some repair. So I haven't done much with that late.

Oh, we produce some electricity. When we lived in the RV for a few years, we were totally solar. Loved it! But when we moved in here, we didn't have the cash to convert the entire place. But we do have solar panels that do various things. Right now the only one doing anything is the panel that aerates our septic system. We have another that charges batteries and other small items. We have several propane generators that can charge things or run the house if need be.

I think that is about it on what we produce. I would love to be able to do more and be more independent. We have done other stuff in the past. But for right now, this is all we are doing.

I think you have the right system to meet power demands.. Well I am very much impressed and would love to have similar system..

 

[flowerbug]

make our own fertilzer via worm composting of all food and paper scraps.

 

[flowerbug]

See you are checking out all the old threads. Lot of info in them!

I do occasional feeder pig for meat, chickens for eggs & meat (+sell eggs), goats for milk (occasional meat)...and I make butter, yogurt, cheese, kefir,& soap; have plum & apple trees, wild blackberries & elderberries, garden some. Gardening plans for a larger plant this year -- if weather & work allows. Didn't last Spring ..RAIN!!!!!

Goats, chickens & a garden....you have a complete & varied food source. I can, freeze, dehydrate & store winter hardy items.

yes, kinda wandering around checking out what people have said. fun reading.

with all the rain we had here too i'm surprised by how well it came out for us this year. some plants didn't like it but overall we did pretty well. a lot of people gave up on their gardens this year and planted several times. we only planted the once for the main crops and i had to poke a few beans in here or there because of germination problems but that wasn't a problem with the weather as much as that some of the seeds were old and i was hoping they'd work anyways.

with the clay we have and also flash flood potential some of the gardens are raised up so that they drain well. turned out to be really good thing this year.

the thing i was most surprised by was the garlic. i expected it to be really not that good from all the rain, but after i lifted it and cured it the condition was good to excellent.

 

[flowerbug]

While purslane is a common garden weed, interestingly enough, I've only seen a couple of those in the last 40+ years I've been farming here! I have lots of Lamb's Quarters, and regularly add those to my salads.

lifetime supply here! i can get rid of it if i want, but i keep leaving a few plants here or there so it will regrow... i wish the more decorative cousins/relatives would do as well so we didn't have to buy them again.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Awesome post, @baymule : Your post exemplifies my definition of "homesteading". While some folks talk the talk, you WALK the talk.

 

[CrealCritter]

My other is adult drinks and wooden stuff