• Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
permaculture forums growies critters building homesteading energy monies kitchen purity ungarbage community wilderness fiber arts art permaculture artisans regional education skip experiences global resources cider press projects digital market permies.com pie forums private forums all forums
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
master stewards:
  • paul wheaton
  • Anne Miller
  • Carla Burke
  • Nancy Reading
  • John F Dean
  • Timothy Norton
  • Jay Angler
stewards:
  • r ransom
  • Pearl Sutton
  • Tereza Okava
master gardeners:
  • Christopher Weeks
gardeners:
  • M Ljin
  • Megan Palmer
  • Kate Downham

What does your homestead do best?

 
Steward of piddlers
Posts: 8442
Location: Upstate New York, Zone 5b, 43 inch Avg. Rainfall
5117
monies home care dog fungi trees chicken food preservation cooking building composting homestead
  • Likes 13
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I was inspired by a recent Youtube video from the Farm Hand's Companion discussing Figuring Out the Things Your Homestead Can Do Best.

In summary, the video discusses looking at the things you accomplish on the homestead and narrowing down to two or three enterprises that you do best.

For example, raising hogs and milling lumber could be some of the main things that someone enjoys both during the process and with the finished products the processes create.

What things do you consider to be your favorite endeavors on your homestead? You may not sell the product, but bonus points if it created a stream of income for you.
 
gardener
Posts: 3124
Location: Zone 4b/5a
1884
ancestral skills forest garden foraging composting toilet fiber arts bike medical herbs seed writing ungarbage
  • Likes 11
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Potatoes and squash!

Maybe pokeweed too?
 
Timothy Norton
Steward of piddlers
Posts: 8442
Location: Upstate New York, Zone 5b, 43 inch Avg. Rainfall
5117
monies home care dog fungi trees chicken food preservation cooking building composting homestead
  • Likes 11
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
For my current setup, I say that raising laying hens and building soil organic matter have been my most fruitful endeavors.

I have a semi-consistent supply of eggs that feed myself, my local family and work family. Tending chickens is a pleasurable endeavor that I imagine I will continue to do for years to come.

Compost/Biochar/Chop and Drop are my second best. I enjoy helping things rot. What a strange thing to say!
 
master gardener
Posts: 7066
Location: Carlton County, Minnesota, USA: 3b; Dfb; sandy loam; in the woods
4511
8
forest garden trees books chicken food preservation cooking fiber arts seed woodworking homestead ungarbage
  • Likes 9
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Potatoes and raspberries are the only things that both: just loves it here AND is something people would recognize as a possible enterprise.

Maybe garlic if I had better weed-control practices and more compost.

Milkweed. Sugar maples in 50 years. Wild mustard, horseradish, dandelions.
 
master steward
Posts: 8974
Location: southern Illinois, USA
3889
goat cat dog chicken composting toilet food preservation pig solar wood heat homestead composting
  • Likes 14
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
sanctuary…for me, my wife, the deer, our shelter pup, and our shelter and foundling cats. We have a slightly s shaped driveway through trees and overhanging vines.  People have told me they are afraid to use my driveway … which makes it perfect for me.
 
master steward
Posts: 19843
Location: USDA Zone 8a
4981
dog hunting food preservation cooking bee greening the desert
  • Likes 11
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
my property does the best prickly pear tunas.

It also does a lot of acorns that my deer love.  Those deer also like the tunas.
 
master pollinator
Posts: 3054
Location: RRV of da Nort, USA
1028
  • Likes 11
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

John F Dean wrote:sanctuary…for me, my wife, the deer, our shelter pup, and our shelter and foundling cats. We have a slightly s shaped driveway through trees and overhanging vines.  People have told me they are afraid to use my driveway … which makes it perfect for me.



Ha!....yes, I can relate.  Wife's endeavor has been rescue...primarily pigs, but many things that have either wandered onto the property or come along with other visitors for the ride.  We live in a sub-region that does not "do" gated driveways.  But our animals have free run of the fenced property so the gate is a must.  On more than one occasion, a delivery person has opened the gate to enter.....even with large chest outside the gate that says "Please leave all deliveries here".  Most contractors and delivery people are so accustomed here to walk onto a property (with owners typically gone) to install cable services, read meters, etc.  But the sanctuary part is the main focus....from mammals to birds to monarch caterpillars.
 
Posts: 994
Location: Sierra Nevada foothills, 350 m, USDA 8b, sunset zone 7
276
  • Likes 8
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Sheep, figs, firewood.
 
pollinator
Posts: 528
Location: UK
187
kids urban seed
  • Likes 8
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Figs and soft fruit, probably. The fruit trees are getting there but they need a few more years yet. The figs though, they just do their thing with very little fuss.
 
pollinator
Posts: 1717
Location: Milwaukie Oregon, USA zone 8b
219
  • Likes 6
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Tasty dinners, starting baby trees from seed/pit, calendulas.
 
pioneer
Posts: 302
Location: Wisconsin Zone 5a
133
cat forest garden chicken building medical herbs wood heat
  • Likes 5
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
My current homestead does best at growing perennial foods and medicinal herbs. We are pretty good at caring for chickens and kitties too. We are good at making soap.
 
Let nothing stop you! Not even this tiny ad:
Switching from electric heat to a rocket mass heater reduces your carbon footprint as much as parking 7 cars
http://woodheat.net
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic