Chris Giannini

Just wondering if anyone has any info/thoughts on building a barn to house both chickens and goats. I'm hoping I can do this as opposed to building a barn and a separate chicken coop. I assume the chickens just need a space to nest and something to roost on? Should this structure be insulated in any way? I live in southern VT. Thanks

Wow that property in Maine is gorgeous! That's a beautiful part of the world and it's right near the Kennebec. Moosehead Lake is one of my favorite places in Maine to go to.

I would try Maine as a potential state. Very little restrictions as far as what you can build on the land. Vermont is the similar as far as building codes go and you do not need to purchase water rights. VT does require septic though.

Hello, I've just gone through the process of buying land and I'm still in the process of building an initial dwelling on it for the purpose of starting a homestead. My wife and I are new to homesteading but it has been a dream of ours for some years now and it looks like it's just about starting to come true. We are always looking to connect with like minded individuals who are interested in homesteading and permaculture especially those who live in the same neck of the woods as ourselves. I would be happy to share our experiences thus far and perhaps assist you in your planning. We live on a 20+ acre property in VT and have almost completed constructing a small log cabin as our home. We plan to start our gardens in the spring and are saving our plans for livestock until next year. What are your visions for the land and homestead?

You can help to keep them straight if you put a stake at one end of a row and another stake at the other end. Then just run a string nice and tight between the 2 stakes and let the corn rest on the string thus keeping them upright. If your rows are close enough you may find that you only need to do this for every 2 or 3 rows. I just helped a friend with this exact problem and the string idea worked great. If you put in enough stakes and enough string all the corn will keep perfectly straight. At least this way you don't have to stake every single plant.

Sketchup works great! It's easy enough to roughly draw the topography and then add the actual homestead to that. This will be fun! Thanks again!

Hi, I'm in the process of purchasing some land to start a homestead in a few years. I was wondering if anyone out there knows of any software that can take a topographical image from say Google Earth and render it in 3d. I was hoping to use this software to plan the homestead based on the current topography. Basically, I'm looking for software anyone could recommend for planning a homestead. I was hoping to be able to download a free version but any kind of software that can achieve this will do. Please let me know.

Is it true that seeds will not germinate at certain times of the year even if you create an environment that is ideal for germination? I have some seeds that are not germinating but are in an ideal environment to grow. I have had had success with seeds germinating in the same environment a few months ago.

I have a couple of mushroom patches with a mushroom bag tightly wrapped around each patch. I was wondering if you need to cut small holes or slits in mushroom bags in order to allow mushrooms to grow through the bag or will the mushrooms push through the bag on their own? To me, it doesn't seem as if they could push through the bag on their own. Thanks