Sarah Kellogg

We live in a tiny house Mongolian Ger/ yurt and are wondering if anyone else has had experience with painting their canvas cover to help extend the canvas life. Wondering if a latex is the way to go or water based... not very familiar with painting but thought it may help prevent mildew of the canvas and help it last longer. Any suggestions would be helpful 😊 thanks fellow permies!

Thanks Tyler! Lots of cover in the area so we should be good with that!  We've may get geese at some point to help guard but for now, our bull Mastiff does a descent job keeping predators at bay 😊

Thank you for your helpful information Jen! We have never had bantams before so we are excited about experimenting Thanks for the advise!

I'm actually in the process of writing a book called "Yurtiful Transitions- the story of how one family left mainstream America to pursue their dream" and also we are looking to start a podcast that will share more information for those who are starting out or planning there "Escape" as my husband calls it.
You aren't alone!

We took the transition pretty slow over the past few years, but it was totally worth doing!

Recently we moved from our off-grid homestead in Maine to "start over" in Missouri. It was very hard for me to leave my support system, community, my midwife (I was about in my 3rd trimester... talk about trust shift!), my family... yeah, left it all. I had never even been to Missouri and knew only one family there who had used to live in Maine. But we have no regrets. We found a community who is super supportive and we love our Yurtiful life!

So after selling most of our homestead family (livestock, chickens, ducks) and moving across the country, we are finally re-establishing our homestead. We decided to start with Cochins (never had the breed before) because they are supposed to be very docile, multipurpose, and good Mamas. The biggest reason though is we wanted... no needed... a docile breed. Our son (almost 2) loves chickens and roosters, but he has very bad eyesight which has caused a massive fear when up close to fowl due to several experiences of birds flying towards him, or fluffing up at him etc. Even with his glasses, it is better, but still hard for him to be around them if they start running around. Anyways, when we went to pick up our 6 hens, the man decided to through in an extra chicken for our son. A little white bantam hen who is super cute and super docile. He is totally in love with "Miss Cluck Cluck."

The problem is that she seems to be getting picked on by the six big Cochins. We are considering getting her a few other bantam friends and keeping them as a second more so "pet" flock for my son. We have heard that you can still process the birds, just get a bit less meat, and that they eat significantly less food, and are also generally good mamas.

Anyways, since we are thinking of keeping a second flock in a dedicated area, I was wondering how it would be to keep them in the garden ( it is close to the house, fenced and has all raised beds). How much damage do bantams do? Would it be a good bug control addition or total destruction of the garden produce? Anyone have experience with raising bantams? What are they capable of, aside from stealing your heart?

Thanks!

Thanks Ken! That is what our neighbor told us (about the predators). Regarding Geese... we had some back in Maine, and our neighbor has some here... it really depends on the goose Some are "mean" but those I have seen are usually just trying to protect their mate, babies, territory, etc. We had one goose who would go after anything he thought was going to take away his girl... but that was probably because his former owners knew little about geese (only kept them because they looked cool on their manicured estate) and separated him from his mate for months while she was setting and hatching babies, but kept him where he could still hear but not see her (torture in my mind). After we got them, we immediately put them back together and he was very protective of her, but it was mostly just hissing a back off warning.
All that said, I love geese and hope to get a pair in the future to guard our fowl... and to have offspring for a meat source!

Hi Su... I will definitely check you out! Our family blog about homesteading and living off-grid in a yurt is www.ouryurtifullife.com.

Ken- we are in the Ava area, about an hour south-east of Springfield.

Carla... Thank you for the helpful advice! We have done a lot of homesteading in the past... as we were part of a permaculture off-grid farm for several months in Maine and also had our own small homestead for a while. Since moving to MO, we know we won't be self sustainable right off, but we want to work towards that, and part of that is having a plan of action in place We are definitely looking into raising mealworms and having a maggot bucket to help feed the chickens through the winter. As for the goats, I thing bartering may definitely be the way we need to go at first.
Reading about your childhood sounds a lot of what we have been doing so far. We don't have teenagers (a newborn and two toddlers though!) but we always work together as a family and we are enjoying our Yurtiful Adventure.
Thank you all for your helpful replies!

Thanks William and Kate for the suggestions... never heard of "tree hay" before! Only issue may be drying and preserving due to the high humidity.... anyone tips or tricks for that? I definitely have been learning more about the plant life here... being used to New England has been a huge change!

New to permies here. My husband and I moved from Maine to Missouri a few months back and we are in the process of beginning our permaculture homestead. We definitely are trying to start small and build our way up. We have some cochin chickens, muscovy ducks, and friends offered to give us a Saanen who is in milk. We are finishing getting our home up and in place (we live in a yurt) and putting up some fencing. We got two small garden beds in place for a small fall garden. There are just so many projects still to be done!

Who else out there is trying to homestead and stay off-grid and not reliant on grocery or feed stores? Who feeds their animals without any commercial feeds? What do you suggest for someone starting out who wants to be off the grid and completely self sustainable? What type of foods do you feed? How much? What do you grow for your family in your garden?

Thanks!

Hi Fellow Permies!

I recently moved to the Missouri Ozarks from Maine. I am looking for information about raising goats off the land. You know, like if everything goes south and buying hay and grain isn't an option. We strive to live as naturally and sustainably as possible on our permaculture homestead.
We are just starting out homesteading here in MO and want to grow/produce our own food to sustain our family, 2-3 dairy goats, and a dozen or so chickens. We don't have large grass pasture or hay fields to mow. We do have a lot of woods surrounding us though. Does anyone have any thoughts, suggestions, or helpful opinions? Thanks!