T Kearney

bruce Fine wrote:just wondering if the fruit trees your thinking of planting are bare root. if so its best to plant them in dormancy after all the leaves have fallen and everything is asleep for the winter. digging holes is a lot of work. if they are not too big, roots a foot or less, you might save yourself a whole bunch of hole digging and use a hoedad or a dibble bar.

Yes, I was thinking bare root but I'll plant whatever I can find locally. And I was planning on late fall so that I could get them in the ground while they're dormant. I'm not worried about getting the holes dug as I'm no stranger to digging. I wish I were! I'm not planning a whole orchard, just a few each of apples and pears to start with.

I've been here for a little while now, casually having a look around. Been reading and learning new things while only feeling a tiny bit overwhelmed by how much I have to learn. So now, after much procrastination, I want to get started and I'm worried that I've waited too long to do anything meaningful.

Here we are in mid October and I'm in extreme western Missouri, thinking I can at least plant some fruit trees before winter. What else should I plan on developing, building or planting through these cooler months? I've recently run a water line (my only grid connection) to the area I want to plant and now that the days are a tolerable temperature, I'm itchin to get to work. I already have compost breaking down, so that's at least one thing checked off the list. What should I focus on next?

Welcome Alan, and thank you for taking the time to educate us. Some of us (me) need more education than others!

I'm turning 50, single and doing the off grid thing by myself. Well... I WAS by myself until my son moved onto the property last December. Now, at 75 years old, my mom has decided to join us! She's in a camper until we can get her cabin built. But I'm still essentially doing this on my own. My son is young and has his own interests and I want him to live his life. He lends a hand anytime I ask... but I rarely ask.

Prior to that, I lived in a tent for a couple months then upgraded (if you can call it that) to an old camper and then into an adorable micro house that one of my best friends built for me. We're situated on 22 acres of youngish trees, shrubs and little clearings that I wouldn't call pastures because they're not big enough. lol! I absolutely love this lifestyle. My house is 104 sq feet and in November I'll have been in it for two years. In that time, I've built pens and fences and animal shelters. I even dug out a storm shelter by hand. I'm particularly proud of my goat shed/chicken coop/loft storage shed. lol!

I share my space with a herd of horses, a herd of potbelly pigs, chickens, geese, goats, peacocks, rabbits, cats and dogs. Like literally... we share the space. There are a few pens for kids who like to test their boundaries or just can't live peacefully with these rest, but otherwise, they've had the run of the place. I did move the horses out of my living area after my mom moved onto the property. They're a little too intimidating and messy for her liking.

I used to let hipcampers come out and while I never had a bad experience with any of them, I did have VERY bad experiences with people I thought I knew and called friends. After that, I decided that my life was no longer for public dislpay and I now limit visitors. I don't give farm tours and I keep the front gate locked. I sometimes second guess being closed off, but I'm not ready to try and trust people again.

Living this way is a lot of work, but it's rewarding in so many ways. It's absolutely worth the effort! I'm happy to have strumbled upon this thread because I've been looking for other folks who are taking this lifestyle on alone to hear how they're handling it.

Group B here. 🙋🏼‍♀️ My farm is extremely private and I've got zero issues about peeing outside. I started the first 20 some odd years of life gallivanting around the countryside on my horse, leaving home after breakfast and usually returning well after dinner. Peeing outside was just how it was done or I couldn't have peed at all. I never understood why girls needed trees or trucks or things to lean on to squat and pee. Seemed the most natural thing to me. Messy only became an issue if there were only hard surfaces to pee on... boots helped.

When I moved to my current property there was absolutely nothing here but green space. I spent the first couple months in a tent, a few in an old camper with a nonfunctional bathroom and then moved into my micro home that a friend insisted on building for me. (He seemed overly concerned about me freezing to death in the camper through the winter months). I do recall being grateful for my new, indoor composting toilet after squatting in deep snow and few times!

I've been here for two years now and while I do pee inside, I don't necessarily GO INSIDE to pee.

Yes! Night time is the best time to handle the birds! They get lethargic and don't overreact.