tommywalnuts-My Self Sufficient Journal: Rural, Urban, and back again

tommywalnuts

Lovin' The Homestead
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I have decided to join in with a journal of my family and I and our efforts in becoming more self reliant. I grew up on a farm(to age 14), but have lived in a city for the past 22 years. My wife has always been a city girl, but her family has rural roots. We have decided to move back to the country for several reasons-tired of the dregs of society that an urban enviroment breeds, a wish to live closer to the land, a place for our kids to grow up safe and with good values. My grand mother has kept the farm we grew up on- 140 acres in south central Oklahoma. She gave my wife and I our choice of 5 acres to start on, and we are planning to get a mnaufactured home there soon.
At the present time, we have various money saving and self sufficiency projects going on here in town. The first project was to decrease our water usage and lower our water bill. I fixed all our water leaks, replaced all the toilet tank parts(for more efficient water usage), replaced all worn faucets, and purchased a set of the new energy efficient front loading washer/dryers. Trying to get the kids to use less water also, but thats hit and miss. We have also replaced17 out of 24 light bulbs with the EE type without a huge cost by buying 2-2 at a time once a week. We use the old ones for our chicken house and the porch light.
My youngest, John, wanted to show chickens at the fair next year, so we got 6 Buff Orpington pullets in September. I built a metal insulated chicken house from metal insulated panels, and a run from scrap steel tubing from work and chicken wire. We sectioned off our backyard to keep the dogs from the chickens as well as to give the kids a place to play. But now we are planning for a raised garden in the spring. Below is a pic(posted earlier on another topic).

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Well, thats all for now. I know some of this is a repeat from another post. I will post more later, future plans, ideas, and such. Going to cook supper now(homade Indian Tacos-yum).

T
 

roosmom

Almost Self-Reliant
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Well, salute to the plans. You are very lucky to have property to start out with. Plant fruit trees and nut trees now if possible. Good looking chickens and pen. :welcome
 

FarmerChick

Super Self-Sufficient
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and don't forget to pick out good berry bushes...blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, etc....whatever is best for your region.

fruit, nut trees are wonderful like Roos said! add berries and you have a alot of great food! yummy stuff! :)
 

dacjohns

Our Frustrated Curmudgeon
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It sounds like you are off to a great start. Keep it up and good luck.
 

tommywalnuts

Lovin' The Homestead
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Well, its been a bummer of a week. I was working on an onsite job Monday(I builld portable metal buildings). It was running late, and I was rushing to get home to feed the chickens before dark. I go out back and it looked like a massacre. A dog ripped through the wire and killed all six of my BO's. Devastating to say the least. We are trying not to let it drag us down though. I plan to use some 2x3 welded wire that will be recucled from a friends dumpground. Maybe in the spring we will get some chicks and try again.
On a lighter note, our electric bill is down a full 1/3(from $300 to $196), due to the EE lightbulb program we have been working on. Our water bill has also been cut in half! I also had an idea for a neat chick brooder for springtime using the shell of a non working shop fan about to be trashed at work. I'm planning to cut a flip up door through one grate(this will be the top). Then turn on its side and set in the grass for chicks to enjoy a nice warm day.
Hope everyone has a good day.

T
 

keljonma

Epicurean Goddess
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T - sorry to hear about your Buffs!! Chicken wire is infamous for keeping chickens in but not stopping predators.

Good luck with the brooder. Please post pics when you have it done. I'm sure others would like to see it too!
 

2dream

Flibbertigibbet
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So sorry about your chickens. What a horrible thing to happen.

Good idea on that brooder. Would love to see a pic of that when its done.

Looks like you have a really good start on a SS life with all you have already.
 

sylvie

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Sorry about your chicken loss.

The self reliant lifestyle is fun to incorporate and rewarding as you see the bills go down. Some of it is very work and time intensive, but satisfying.
We heat with wood from our property which we cut, haul, and hand split with a maul. The wood we have bought in the past has been junk or mixed junk that burns up quickly. Even the oak and hickory was depleted of BTU's! We am now learning how to coppice a small portion of our woods to have renewable firewood for decades like they do in Britain. I'm pretty excited about this because we can also sell some for basket work.
I also make Christmas birdhouse ornaments from the slivers of wood that we end up with when we split for firewood. I sell these.
It's amazing what you can do with a small amount of land!
 

FarmerChick

Super Self-Sufficient
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WOW that just stinks. That dog (whoever he was) wouldn't see another day with my shotgun handy. Being a farmer I don't care who's dog it is, if it kills it is history. I know you probably don't know where he came from, but be on the ready. If he comes back, go for it--I know I would.

WOW ---:thumbsup
that is a great reduction on that bill...you will be saving over $1000 a year on that electric bill....alot of money!

It is amazing when we really take hold of our bills we think can't be reduced by, say a good bit, truly can be cut low. We just gotta try. Hang in there, new chicks, new fencing, etc. and you are on your way again! :)

2 steps forward, 1 step back...happens to all of us!
 
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