(Part 2) Top products from r/homestead

It is a little unusual for the whole flock to wait two weeks. But, Ive definitely had individual birds wait that long.

With the rain it sounds like they just arent getting enough sunlight. Like others have suggested you can put a light in and keep it on for 14 hours a stretch. I would leave the tarp up. Im in Texas so we dont get as much rain but even here if it rains it makes the hens....pissy...and they dont lay for me either those days :P To be honest unless you need the eggs right now I would just wait for the rain to pass and let them get used to the weather where they live.

But you know this is where animal husbandry kinda gets more into the art instead of the science. Everybody has to decide whats the best for their chickens in their yard given the information. Like, these are things that work for me but see in Florida you may never get a time when the rain lets up and so it would make sense to have a light in the coop. You can always try it. (of course be careful with electricity and rain)

If youre letting them into your yard, on top of feeding them chicken feed, they are most likely getting all the nutrients they need.

Yeah I would put some boxes in their coop. Ideally you want them so you can access them from the outside. The first coop I built I didnt do that and most of the hens figured out on like the second day where to lay so I had to crawl in to get the eggs.

It sounds like youre taking really good care of your chickens. Really I wouldnt worry too much right now.

One of the books that I got when I first got started is this one. It was just technical enough and just common sense enough to get me going. Of course this is a really good subreddit too!

I really like Putting Food By for preservation guidance.

If you are looking for less how to, Barbara Kingsolver's book, Animal Vegetable Miracle is a wonderful read.

This isn't so much of a homesteading book, but Sara Stein's Noah's Garden is one of my favorites. It's about rethinking the way we garden so that we are doing it in harmony with ecology and nature.

I've been a fan of Ben Falk for a long time and he put out his first book not that long ago, The Resilient Farm and Homestead which is awesome particulary if you live in a colder climate. I have a feeling he will be putting out a new edition though soon given how he wrote the first one so you might want to wait on a purchase of that one.

Again, if you are a cold climate person, almost anything by Elliot Coleman is really great. He does a lot of extending the season kind of stuff that is good for shorter season growers.

Edible Landscaping is more for people with yards (as opposed to acreage I guess....) but I think the book is brilliant and well written and very inspirational with lots of resources.

Depends on the food item and your infrastructure.

Drying is good for a lot of fruits and for herbs and such.

Cold storage. We have multiple freezers. A stand up 23 cu ft, a 19 cu ft chest plus the regular fridge freezer and the freezer on the back/beer fridge in basement. We have been buying half pigs and half or 1/4 cows for the freezers and we freeze a lot of vegetables. Sweet corn does really well frozen, so do a lot of the squashes and green beans.

Canning. Canning does quite a lot of foods. There are two types, pressure canning and water bath canning. The water bath canning is for high acid, high sugar, low risk foods like jellies and most tomato sauces if prepared correctly. Pickling is also usually water bath. All the low acid, higher risk stuff goes in a pressure canning systems.


Root cellar storage. Cool/cold room storage. If you have access to the right conditions, this is a great way to store lots of stuff like potatoes, carrots, beets, etc.

Some sources to get you started:
The starter book that is indispensable for canners: Ball blue book

The more advanced Ball full book
You can find either one at a book store, online, or at most used book stores.

USDA site has a lot of info. You want tried and tested recipes and methods. Botulism sucks. https://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/publications_usda.html


Purdue University has a really good set of links and add ons to the USDA guides as well. https://www.extension.purdue.edu/usdacanning/

You can also search the (food item, canning, extension) and there is probably a state agricultural extension that has some guide for it.

NDSU has a good guide for freezing stuff. It will get you started. Each food item will have specifics to getting a good freeze. Some things need blanched and some don't. Some need to be pre-frozen spread out on cookie sheets then dumped in a bag and some don't, etc.


Interesting root cellar idea that can be done fairly cheap. https://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/root-cellaring/a-precast-septic-tank-root-cellar-zbcz1503

Root cellar list of what to store and what conditions. https://extension2.missouri.edu/mp562

Best way to get started: get a big ass boiler and a couple of dozens of pint mason jars and a couple of dozens of 1/2 pint mason jars. Start with a couple of batches of different pickles/pickled vegetables. Make a batch or two of jams and jellies. If you get a couple dozen wide mouth jars you can practice a little freezing as well. The idea is to build up your equipment.

For a full canning rig you need all kinds of stuff and if you really get into it usually large stuff. Like the ginormous pressure cooker that holds a goodly number of quarts or two full courses of pint jars in it. something like this guy. But you can start with whatever you have available. If you do the water bath stuff and start to get into it and want to get into pressure canning you should get a larger pressure canner that will do at least 6 quarts at a time. We have a medium one that we can do a limited batch of stuff in, or one round of jars and then a huge one like I linked to. Just slowly build up your equipment as you can and get the best quality you can when you buy stuff. If you try and do the I will buy the cheap one, and see if I like it, it costs you more. Usually the cheap one is crappy and wont do a good job. And you will either decide it is not worth the trouble or will eventually realize the quality one is worth the money and buy it anyway.

Get a good set of tools. You can can without them, but shouldn't. Decent set with the basic pieces.

I also find that a pair of the latex coated gloves are helpful. We have one person pull jars form the hiow water bath (keeping them sterile) and the second person will put the funnel in and spoon the food into the jar. You have to wipe the top of the jar and place a heated lid on it and screw the top onto the jar. The jar will be close to 200F. I will be the jar person and wear the heavy latex coated glove on my left hand to hold the jar stable and to screw the lid on so I don't get burned. Never have seen anyone give the tip before, but it works really well and I have less burnt fingers and fewer spills or dropped jars that way. Something like this.

I am relatively new to this subject and these books have been useful for me:

The Urban Homestead A good introductory book that touches on a lot of relevant topics.

Gaia's Garden This is not specifically a homesteading book but it is a very useful book for growing food and learning about small scale permacultural design.

Four Season Harvest Another useful book for growing, especially for those of us in cold climates.

Country Wisdom & Know How A fun reference for many homestead topics.

https://extension.umd.edu/hgic

Consider signing up for gardening classes, lectures, and seminars. Try your local extension service, garden clubs, botanical gardens, and plant nurseries. Youtube has a wealth of information, but it may not apply to where you are. There's a regional aspect to growing.

Start gardening where you are right now. Skip trying to start things from seeds (it's July), and just see if you can keep some herbs alive in pots for now, like basil or mint. Learn to cook from scratch and how to can/preserve/ferment your food. Reddit, youtube, and the internet in general is full of countless resources on this and other related topics, everything from r/gifrecipes to r/cooking to /r/EatCheapAndHealthy/ to r/baking to r/homebrewing - and of course there's tons of garden-related subreddits.

Buying your actual piece of land is step #4209 of homesteading, not #1. Without experience, you'll have no way of evaluating whether the land actually fits what you want to do or not.

Here's two books to consider, to help you learn how to garden where you are currently -

https://www.amazon.com/Grow-Great-Grub-Organic-Food-from-Small-Spaces/dp/0307452018/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8

https://www.amazon.com/The-Urban-Homestead-Expanded-Revised-Edition-Your-Guide-to-Self-Sufficient-Living-in-the-Heart-of-the-City-Process-Self-reliance-Series/dp/1934170100/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8

I can't agree more with u/SherrifOfNothingtown's questions. I would only add a couple more:

- For most farmers, farming requires community. Will you be able to rent a tractor at both sites? Will you be able to trade some of your product for something else? True self-sufficiency is difficult, especially up north. I tend to think more about the community I'd be relying on.

- I don't want to rush your relationship with your girlfriend, but are kids are in the picture? That could change the whole calculation. My wife and I were looking at larger plots of land, but the best schools are closer to cities.

One final thought: I'm personally toying with John Jeavons' Grow Biointensive Method and will start a plot in the 2020 growing season. The whole design of that farming technique is to grow food for a family on very, very small plots. Could be worth checking out. "How to Grow More Vegetables"

Okay, there are a few cables missing from this but for reference:
PLEASE NOTE I AM NOT RECOMMENDING THIS AS A SYSTEM. I do run these panels though.

Good 100W Solar panel w/ 30amp non-MPPT charge controller: $185

2nd Good 100W panel: $150

Crap inverter: $66

Battery: $99

TOTAL = Exactly $500.


You can add a second battery, upgrade the charge controller to a MPPT, and get a real sine wave inverter and kick this system's butt for less than he is asking. You need to buckle down and do some research.

http://www.amazon.com/Solar-Panel-Starter-100W-Monocrystalline/dp/B00BFCNFRM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398100963&sr=8-1&keywords=100w+solar

http://www.amazon.com/Solar-Panel-Starter-100W-Monocrystalline/dp/B00BFCNFRM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398100963&sr=8-1&keywords=100w+solar

http://www.amazon.com/BESTEK-1000w-Inverter-Supply-MRI10011-1/dp/B007SLDDHQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1398101099&sr=8-2&keywords=inverter

A note on making cheese- my husband cannot cook worth a damn, basically boxed macaroni and cheese is as advanced as he gets EXCEPT for cheese. He bought the book Home Cheese Making and started with the 30 minute mozzarella. He now makes cheese almost every week. Its fantastic and I think anyone can do it, especially with a fresh milk source.

I was thinking about getting something like this: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000VKYWUS/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=89ZORNWG0RDT&coliid=IVCG3Z6JF1JV7

Would it be best to get two and keep the rabbits separate or together?

How old should the rabbits be before butchering for meat?

I'd recommend a steam juicer. I love mine and it gives me the clearest, most tasty juice for my jelly.

The Dangerous Book For Boys

And then the things they will need to work on all the projects. (Most others have mentioned most of the tools)

Included stuff.....

>The completely revised American Edition includes:

The Greatest Paper Airplane in the World

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

The Five Knots Every Boy Should Know

Stickball

Slingshots

Fossils

Building a Treehouse*

Making a Bow and Arrow

Fishing (revised with US Fish)

Timers and Tripwires

Baseball's "Most Valuable Players"

Famous Battles-Including Lexington and Concord, The Alamo, and Gettysburg

Spies-Codes and Ciphers

Making a Go-Cart

Navajo Code Talkers' Dictionary

Girls

Cloud Formations

The States of the U.S.

Mountains of the U.S.

Navigation

The Declaration of Independence

Skimming Stones

Making a Periscope

The Ten Commandments

Common US Trees

Timeline of American History

There are some others that amazon suggests if you want to grab a couple

The LL Bean cookbook for game is awesome can use any meat to substitute if they don't eat game.
https://www.amazon.com/L-L-Bean-Game-Fish-Cookbook/dp/0394511913

Country Wisdom and Knowhow....http://www.amazon.com/Country-Know-How-Editors-Publishings-Bulletins/dp/B001RTS91U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1319034333&sr=8-1

500 pages and they pack a lot onto every page!

Are we talking about this guy or something like it?

Back to Basics A12 Aluminum Steam Juicer

Juicing grapes may be effective, which I've done, but I'm thoroughly disappointed with apples, for example. Apples simply don't appear to render as much juice and much of the flesh doesn't deteriorate like other fruits. If there's a secret to steam juicing apples, I'd love to hear about it. Otherwise, I'm going to stick to mechanical grinding and/or pressing.

I'm not really sure, but i would recommend you try and get this book.
https://www.amazon.com/New-Complete-Book-Self-Sufficiency-Realists/dp/0751364428

His book from what i remember feature different types of setups for different sizes of land.

Are you looking for novels or non-fiction?
I tried googling: "narrative homesteading book"

Found this:

http://www.amazon.com/place-country-narrative-imperfect-homesteading/dp/0156720086

http://ask.metafilter.com/261518/Pioneer-Homesteading-Country-Life-books

http://info.mannapro.com/homestead/bid/126638/Our-Readers-Choice-Homesteading-Book-List

2nd link looks to have a lot of interesting books listed.

https://www.amazon.com/Berne-GWB515-Womens-Overall-Realtree/dp/B07KT9ZLMN/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=Berne+women%27s+overalls&qid=1574522007&sr=8-3

I got my wife a set of women's suspender style insulated coveralls and matching coat in purple a few years ago at a local farm store made by the same company (Berne) but couldn't find that exact product on amazon. They're a Carhart knock-off, she uses them for chores, sledding, etc, they've been very durable.

Ahh, I'm probably referring to the same notes then - I have the Self-Sufficient Gardener which is probably part of/an addition to of your book.

I have 4 beds, each 10x10ft, and do the rotation I described quite easily - the only thing that's difficult is that since I have raised beds (and no spare space) digging down and earthing up potatoes can be a pain. If you're limited on space, then an option is to skip the potato rotation altogether, and grow these in e.g. potato bags instead, and use the extra space for other crops (sweetcorn or jerusalem artichoke perhaps?) or for more rows of the other crops.

It's also worth looking into square-foot gardening - you don't need to work in actual squares, but the measurements they provide can give you better 'density' than what the seed packets say. In general I follow the spacing given for between plants, but ignore the row spacing.

For example I can easily grow in a 10ft row:

160 carrots, beetroots etc
90 leeks, onions, or spinach
40 broad bean or pea plants
10 cabbages, brussel sprouts, fennel

It really maximises your growing area, and the lack of space between plants keeps the weeds down!

You will never regret buying this book. Your library may have it also.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1603424695?pc_redir=1398414170&robot_redir=1

We liked Dick & James Strawbridge's Self Sufficiency for the 21st Century. It's not a bible, but a good data point for study.

yeah, no. try this http://www.amazon.com/Animal-Vegetable-Miracle-Year-Food/dp/0060852569/ref=cm_cr_dp_asin_lnk

Ball Blue Book or Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving

The Gouda recipe I used is from this book: https://www.amazon.com/Home-Cheese-Making-Recipes-Homemade/dp/1580174647 (my recipe is 32.2, 33.3, 37.8, my target temps, I know all the timings.....)

I use Hanson CH-N-19 culture. I have been using the same bag for 4 years and coincidentally just ordered a 5000u replacement last week. I am in Australia so the supplier COOLAMON CHEESE COMPANY may not be of any use to you depending on your location.

​

Here are some links for the product in the above comment for different countries:

Link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000VKYWUS/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl


|Country|Link|
|:-----------|:------------|
|UK|amazon.co.uk|
|France|amazon.fr|
|Germany|amazon.de|
|Canada|amazon.ca|




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My guess is that you are looking at a much higher surge at startup. Get a kill-o-watt (Link below) and run your washer through it. Then check the actually power use and max load etc. I bet it pulls 2500watts for the first .5 seconds or so and then drops to something much more reasonable.


http://www.amazon.com/P3-P4400-Electricity-Usage-Monitor/dp/B00009MDBU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1406314887&sr=8-2&keywords=kill-o-watt

I searched for a log time and found sunelec.com had the cheapest prices. I lived close enough to one of their warehouses in AZ that I didn't have to pay shipping and probably saved a lot of money.

There are a lot of people (probably hundreds) near me that are off grid. I saw someone with a big wind setup that looked very professional/expensive, but I determined that it's not consistently windy enough to make it worthwhile.

Before you do anything, you really need to do a lot of research. It's not difficult, but I probably spent a few hundred hours reading and learning and also measuring how much power I used, how much I had to use (refrigerator & lights), how much I wanted (computer/internet, vacuum cleaner washing machine & dishwasher) and what luxuries I wanted (microwave, waffle iron) including usage (am I fine if I only use the washing machine during the day which reduces the amount of battery storage required). I bought a kill-o-watt meter and looked at consumption over a period of time.

I've read numerous times that the reason most people fail is due to lack of preparation and research and poor expectations.

I'm pretty sure you boil the cocoons before they hatch; but my entire knowledge of silkworms comes from reading this book as a child, so I may be wrong.