BarredBuff
El Presidente de Pollo
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What did you accomplish in 2010?
- Thread starter BarredBuff
- Start date
freemotion
Food Guru
Raised meat chickens (on purpose, not extra roos this time)
Raised two pigs for meat (although processing will be on Jan 4, 2011)
Did the first section of cross fencing of my pasture (due to the Great Pig Escape of '10)
Planted raspberry canes
Created another large veggie garden (which became goat food, first
and then pig food and will be cattle-panel-fenced by spring planting time)
Learned to make wine and mead and went crazy with that
Got a major grain grinder and discovered the joys of REALLY GOOD wheat flour
Plucked chickens without getting nauseaus!
Grew mint, made extract, made mint chocolate chip goat's milk & pastured egg ice cream that made me swoon
Greatly improved my cheesemaking skills
Innoculated logs with shiitake mushroom spores
Did some baby steps into processing raw fleece and hand carding
Wow, it is fun to make the list, didn't know I learned so much just this year! What is next? Let the fun continue!
Raised two pigs for meat (although processing will be on Jan 4, 2011)
Did the first section of cross fencing of my pasture (due to the Great Pig Escape of '10)
Planted raspberry canes
Created another large veggie garden (which became goat food, first
and then pig food and will be cattle-panel-fenced by spring planting time)Learned to make wine and mead and went crazy with that
Got a major grain grinder and discovered the joys of REALLY GOOD wheat flour
Plucked chickens without getting nauseaus!
Grew mint, made extract, made mint chocolate chip goat's milk & pastured egg ice cream that made me swoon
Greatly improved my cheesemaking skills
Innoculated logs with shiitake mushroom spores
Did some baby steps into processing raw fleece and hand carding
Wow, it is fun to make the list, didn't know I learned so much just this year! What is next? Let the fun continue!
Woodland Woman
Almost Self-Reliant
I started a flock of ducks
Put a roof over my duck pen.
Redid one of my chicken coops to accommodate ducks.
I added outside opening nesting boxes and put plastic carpet protector on the inside.
Planted and canned more vegetables.
Canned lots of jam with foraged berries.
Canned lots of pears.
I planted a lot of different kinds of fruit in 5 gallon buckets.
2 new kinds of blueberry bushes.
2 kinds of raspberry.
2 kinds of grape vines.
1 new fig tree.
Also planted 1 more pear tree.
Downsized my chicken flock.
Put a roof over my duck pen.
Redid one of my chicken coops to accommodate ducks.
I added outside opening nesting boxes and put plastic carpet protector on the inside.
Planted and canned more vegetables.
Canned lots of jam with foraged berries.
Canned lots of pears.
I planted a lot of different kinds of fruit in 5 gallon buckets.
2 new kinds of blueberry bushes.
2 kinds of raspberry.
2 kinds of grape vines.
1 new fig tree.
Also planted 1 more pear tree.
Downsized my chicken flock.
tortoise
Wild Hare
I successfully increased wool density in my angora rabbit herd by.... 70%!!
I butchered rabbits for people (as in not dogs), and learned how to cook it.
I had my first real vegetable garden, and it was good enough that my fiance is helping me expand it for next year!
I had to stop working and apply for disability.
Not really an accomplishment, but maybe something that will force me to be more SS?
I taught my son a lot of stuff - too much to list.
I re-learned how to bake bread.
I can make frozen pizzas to rival DiGiorno!
Learned how to render tallow.
Learned how to use a drop spindle.
Learned how to process a deer.
Learned how to NOT tan a hide.
Harvest acorns and learned how to NOT get all the tannin out.
Learned how to NOT overextend myself.
Got healthy!
I guess it has been a good year.
I butchered rabbits for people (as in not dogs), and learned how to cook it.
I had my first real vegetable garden, and it was good enough that my fiance is helping me expand it for next year!
I had to stop working and apply for disability.
Not really an accomplishment, but maybe something that will force me to be more SS?I taught my son a lot of stuff - too much to list.
I re-learned how to bake bread.
I can make frozen pizzas to rival DiGiorno!
Learned how to render tallow.
Learned how to use a drop spindle.
Learned how to process a deer.
Learned how to NOT tan a hide.
Harvest acorns and learned how to NOT get all the tannin out.
Learned how to NOT overextend myself.
Got healthy!
I guess it has been a good year.
FarmerDenise
Out to pasture
Aquired and raised 2 bottle baby goats
Butchered chickens from start to finish
Butchered and processed venison for the first time from start to finish
Pressure canned for the first time
Grew more varieties of grains and fodder
Lived on less $$ than ever before
Made wine (I hope it is wine otherwise it is wine vinegar
Made wine vinegar
Got FIL to buy us a deep freeze and stuffed it.
Got family used to eating real food to the point that much storebought stuff doesn't taste good anymore
Got family to read food labels!!!
Saved 2 different neighbor's dogs
Started making kefir (thanks Free for the starter)
Started making sourdough bread again
Butchered chickens from start to finish
Butchered and processed venison for the first time from start to finish
Pressure canned for the first time
Grew more varieties of grains and fodder
Lived on less $$ than ever before
Made wine (I hope it is wine
otherwise it is wine vinegarMade wine vinegar
Got FIL to buy us a deep freeze and stuffed it.
Got family used to eating real food to the point that much storebought stuff doesn't taste good anymore
Got family to read food labels!!!
Saved 2 different neighbor's dogs
Started making kefir (thanks Free for the starter)
Started making sourdough bread again
Wannabefree
Little Miss Sunshine
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2010
- Messages
- 13,397
- Reaction score
- 712
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- 417
Got one kid out of the house &
Gained a son
I raised and sold a bunch of rabbits
Got into quail...and back out...and back in
Raised ducks for the first time.
Raised a bunch of goats for the first time
Got saved, and in the process saved our marriage to Jesus!
Started going back to church full time.
Lost 35 pounds.
Went back to work after 7 years SAHM.
Lived on less than $20K with 2 kids
Uh...I can't think of anything else
Not bad though eh?
& Gained a son
I raised and sold a bunch of rabbits
Got into quail...and back out...and back in
Raised ducks for the first time.
Raised a bunch of goats for the first time
Got saved, and in the process saved our marriage
to Jesus!Started going back to church full time.
Lost 35 pounds.
Went back to work after 7 years SAHM.
Lived on less than $20K with 2 kids
Uh...I can't think of anything else
Not bad though eh? 
FarmerChick
Super Self-Sufficient
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2008
- Messages
- 11,417
- Reaction score
- 14
- Points
- 248
almost finished dismantling the farm
the family survived the year healthy--my best goal
made some very good financial decisions which will only help with the future, and we all know the future is so financially unsteady right now.
a good year! and the next WILL be better.
the family survived the year healthy--my best goal
made some very good financial decisions which will only help with the future, and we all know the future is so financially unsteady right now.
a good year! and the next WILL be better.
patandchickens
Crazy Cat Lady
Good thread concept!
1) I did not kill my husband this year. This in and of itself is an increasingly impressive accomplishment.
2) I was not any worse of a mom than this, not necessarily *good* but at least better than some.
3) Got sheep, built oodles of fences and little shacks for sheep, tasted sheep milk, decided I like it *and* (much to my amazement) the sheep themselves too in their own funny brainless way; *hopefully* have got the three girl sheep bred to be milked next spring. And for Christmas, my m-i-l gave me a little scarf knitted from my ram's fleece. Neato!
4) Potatoes! Why did I never grow these before. Sure, it does not save much money, but they are so EASY and SATISFYING to grow. Next year: more potatoes!
5) Hatched our first home-grown turkeys, put half a dozen or so turkeys in the freezer (along with some chickens), have not bought supermarket poultry meat for a couple years now.
6) Got a dog. Not self-sufficient at all, but really really fun and I am having a total *blast* training him and walking him and hanging out with him and so forth. This spring, he'll get another doggie friend
7) Learned that eating less carbs and more fat/protein makes me feel better and lose weight.
Pat
1) I did not kill my husband this year. This in and of itself is an increasingly impressive accomplishment.
2) I was not any worse of a mom than this, not necessarily *good* but at least better than some.
3) Got sheep, built oodles of fences and little shacks for sheep, tasted sheep milk, decided I like it *and* (much to my amazement) the sheep themselves too in their own funny brainless way; *hopefully* have got the three girl sheep bred to be milked next spring. And for Christmas, my m-i-l gave me a little scarf knitted from my ram's fleece. Neato!
4) Potatoes! Why did I never grow these before. Sure, it does not save much money, but they are so EASY and SATISFYING to grow. Next year: more potatoes!
5) Hatched our first home-grown turkeys, put half a dozen or so turkeys in the freezer (along with some chickens), have not bought supermarket poultry meat for a couple years now.
6) Got a dog. Not self-sufficient at all, but really really fun and I am having a total *blast* training him and walking him and hanging out with him and so forth. This spring, he'll get another doggie friend
7) Learned that eating less carbs and more fat/protein makes me feel better and lose weight.
Pat
Shiloh Acres
Lovin' The Homestead
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2010
- Messages
- 970
- Reaction score
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Love the thread! Just thinking about it makes me feel better about myself (I've been feeling lazy lately, LOL with my 2-1/2 week vacation from work).
Learned to live and heat a house isolated and living under 3 feet of snow
Moved across country (so I don't need the former knowledge hopefully!)
Restored a house to liveable condition that the realtor asked me incredulously "You're going to LIVE THERE while you do that???"
Fenced in a pasture and several large yards, and restored a small barn.
Built a large chicken coop from mostly free (yay!) materials
Researched and bought llamas
Raised a bottle baby goat, and bought three other babies and two does
Learned to milk a goat
Built rabbit cages
Bought rabbits and raised a lot of babies
Re-learned to cook rabbit (always just watched grandma do it)
Learned what most of the trees around here are and what they are good for (still working on the weeds!)
Cleared a huge patch of poison ivy (well, let the goats do it really)
Raised something more than 30 chickens
Built a goose coop and raised a small flock of geese
Bought guineas and managed to put them to good use eating bugs and haven't killed them ... yet
Put in a garden with LOTS of tomatoes and a few rows of peppers ... learned that you can't have too many tomatoes (well, you can have too many fresh ones but I can eat more than 30 plants' worth in a year!)
Planted peach trees
Managed to buy a little furniture and have some given to me ... this house was awfully empty! ... working on building and refinishing some more
Learned what "heatilator" fireplace is and how thankful I am that I have one!!!
Cut and hauled a LOT of wood, fallen trees, etc.
Lost a lot of sleep over coyotes and unfortunately my two does, but ... found a good dairy herd a couple hours away I hope to buy replacements from
FOUND A JOB (even though it pays very little, LOL)
Oh, and I got a dog too. Not a very SS type, but he IS good to keep an eye on things and helps me out when the goats decide to be obnoxious (though these days they lead perfectly fine with food and I don't need him for that), but I'm teaching him to come and go with hand signals (he's a herding breed) so hopefully there will be some usefulness in him if only to warn me of coyotes and make ME feel safer.
I think that's the most of it. I feel like I have a long way to go, but I guess looking back I HAVE managed to accomplish a bit this year.
Next year's goals include replacing my goats if I can afford it (don't want to lose a year's milk), clearing the back acre for rotational grazing or gardens, building a new SECURE goat shed, maybe breeding a llama and hopefully getting some useable fiber from her, expanding the garden by many times, adding ducks (egg layers, meat ducks, and muscovies) and hopefully heritage turkeys. Maybe selling some chicks and pullets as well as the eggs and increasing my flock.
Learned to live and heat a house isolated and living under 3 feet of snow
Moved across country (so I don't need the former knowledge hopefully!)
Restored a house to liveable condition that the realtor asked me incredulously "You're going to LIVE THERE while you do that???"
Fenced in a pasture and several large yards, and restored a small barn.
Built a large chicken coop from mostly free (yay!) materials
Researched and bought llamas
Raised a bottle baby goat, and bought three other babies and two does
Learned to milk a goat
Built rabbit cages
Bought rabbits and raised a lot of babies
Re-learned to cook rabbit (always just watched grandma do it)
Learned what most of the trees around here are and what they are good for (still working on the weeds!)
Cleared a huge patch of poison ivy (well, let the goats do it really)
Raised something more than 30 chickens
Built a goose coop and raised a small flock of geese
Bought guineas and managed to put them to good use eating bugs and haven't killed them ... yet
Put in a garden with LOTS of tomatoes and a few rows of peppers ... learned that you can't have too many tomatoes (well, you can have too many fresh ones but I can eat more than 30 plants' worth in a year!)
Planted peach trees
Managed to buy a little furniture and have some given to me ... this house was awfully empty! ... working on building and refinishing some more
Learned what "heatilator" fireplace is and how thankful I am that I have one!!!
Cut and hauled a LOT of wood, fallen trees, etc.
Lost a lot of sleep over coyotes and unfortunately my two does, but ... found a good dairy herd a couple hours away I hope to buy replacements from
FOUND A JOB (even though it pays very little, LOL)
Oh, and I got a dog too. Not a very SS type, but he IS good to keep an eye on things and helps me out when the goats decide to be obnoxious (though these days they lead perfectly fine with food and I don't need him for that), but I'm teaching him to come and go with hand signals (he's a herding breed) so hopefully there will be some usefulness in him if only to warn me of coyotes and make ME feel safer.
I think that's the most of it. I feel like I have a long way to go, but I guess looking back I HAVE managed to accomplish a bit this year.
Next year's goals include replacing my goats if I can afford it (don't want to lose a year's milk), clearing the back acre for rotational grazing or gardens, building a new SECURE goat shed, maybe breeding a llama and hopefully getting some useable fiber from her, expanding the garden by many times, adding ducks (egg layers, meat ducks, and muscovies) and hopefully heritage turkeys. Maybe selling some chicks and pullets as well as the eggs and increasing my flock.
