Making Self Employment and a Hobby Farm Work Together

Apr 5, 2012 by

Many people would look at the life my husband and I have chosen and see it as the ideal American dream. We work at home; work for ourselves, are in complete control as to how much money we earn, where our business goes, and when we work. We have our small 2/3 of an acre plot which the jury is out on whether this will be big enough for us or would we want to upgrade in the future. We are on the road to practicing self-sufficiency, growing as much of our food as possible and working on renewable and low cost fuel and energy sources.

Self-Employment is Not all About Freedom and Independence

The thing is that being self-employed is not always a picnic in the park like so many people think it is. We may be in full control of our paychecks, but we don’t get sick days, work holidays sometimes and often late into the night in order to get everything done. Our world is based on how much work we do, so it is not forgiving, if we have a bad day or get sick, we have a smaller paycheck, while that is not the end of the world, getting contracts done on time, not falling behind on work that is scheduled can be a challenge that is often overwhelming and there is simply no lack of work and the to do list never gets shorter.

Running a hobby farm is as most people would tell you much the same, the livestock don’t care if you get sick and the weeds do not stop growing because you want to take a vacation. If it is zero degrees outside the animals still need to be fed and cared for and like self-employment there is no lack of work, and the list never gets shorter.

Its Trying to Fit Both Worlds Together That Can be a Challenge

I am not complaining, we love our life and every day we are grateful for what we have, but the life we live does get overwhelming and out of control sometimes. There are only so many hours in the day, and some days those hours are not enough for our paying job, and other days they are not enough for our work outside, but on those days when the hours are not enough for either one, is when it really gets challenging.

With spring here, we are both needing to spend several hours outside, we have a lot of extra expenses since this property is new to being used for food production, we have had fencing to buy, animals to purchase and tools, seeds and plants and much more to come up with. It is also tax time, so yes you guessed it we are pushing on our business to bring in more money as well. But there are simply not enough hours in the day for either one, nor can we ignore either one, so it would be easy to panic, but panic paralyzes and sends dreams out the window, and our dreams are far too important to let them go by so easily.

The excitement of that first egg, that pleasure of putting our own home grown meat in the freezer and lining the shelves with produce is a thrill that you never forget. I have done this before, but it seems every year the satisfaction of feeding my family just gets better and better, and my husband has caught that fever as well. It is worth every moment, every frustration and the stress that often comes with it.

Figuring out How to Make it all Work

We have however learned a few tricks about making things work, it is not a perfect symbiosis, in fact some days are stressful to the limit, especially as my husband has some medical issues he is working out, my daughter is in physical therapy and it seems like every day we have somewhere we have to be. Money is short, the expenses of a lot of traveling, and getting the essentials together for our new homestead have left us pinching pennies everywhere, but we know this is only temporary, when everything starts to come together money may still be tight but we will have plenty to eat and be debt free with minimal energy costs.

We Took a leap, to Jumpstart Our Progress

For weeks we despaired that we would be able to make enough money, plus get all the work done that needed doing, we were both stressed and frustrated, and wondered if we needed to put a hold on gardens and livestock. We always knew that it would take time to put it all together, but it seemed that just crossing the first hurdle was more than we could manage.

So we took a leap of faith, I cut my work load almost in half, shifting some of it to my husband, and giving some of it up, and now I only spend about 3 to 4 hours a day working on business. The rest of my day is devoted to my passion which is raising my own food and taking care of my family. I have always known I could make more money this way by what I saved in food and other expenses but it was convincing my husband that it would all work that was the hard part.

Finally he understood, when I worked full time, we spent a lot more money on eating out, or buying convenience foods, something had to go and if it was not to be the garden or my work it had to be cooking. Now I am back to feeding my family and taking care of the garden and the livestock, I am happier and I made a believer out of him. I am the logical choice to do this, since I have the most experience with all of the above and while he gets jealous sometimes, our new plan has allowed him to be a part of the action as well.

We Learned to Get Into A Routine

For months I despaired of making it all work, gardens, animals, work, house, family time, and somewhere in there a bit of sleep as well, I knew somewhere it was not all going to work the way I wanted it to. In addition to cutting my schedule we worked on getting into a routine.

This is not a schedule, nor is it getting organized, I find it hard to do these things, and really with the life we live a schedule would make it unbearable. I am however a creature of habit and a routine is essential for me, if I am going to make such a busy life work. By getting into a routine we did have a schedule of sorts, but it was one that was flexible enough to deal with the hiccups and unexpected challenges of each part of our lives.

Now we get up early, work on business until lunch, taking time for breakfast and morning chores, my husband would not miss these, there is something about collecting eggs and taking care of his ducks that never gets old. I get as much house chores done as possible then after lunch if the weather is nice, and this year we have been blessed with wonderful weather, we go out and work outside. Sometimes we each do our own thing; other times we work together it really depends on what needs doing.

At dinner, my husband goes back to work and I do whatever needs doing, whether it is kitchen work or more outside time, this is my time to catch up on whatever I might be behind on. Our routine is not perfect, I often fall into bed long before my husband does, but we are getting things done, and we even manage to scratch out a bit of time for family things along the way.

We learned to Be Flexible and Live Life in the Moment

Life has thrown us all sorts of curves this past year, more than either of us wanted to deal with, it has taught us a tough lesson about living life in the moment, not worrying about what has not been done, and what is coming up to deal with. We have learned to be flexible out of necessity, when we need to do more work on the business we dig in and get it done, when the property demands more of our time, we often stay out there until it gets dark. When doctor appointments take us away from home when we need to be there working we just deal with it. Most importantly we have learned not to be hard on ourselves, the work gets done, one thing at a time, and living in the moment lets us give our full energy to the task at hand, knowing that when that is done, we are one step closer to where we want to be.

We are very grateful for what we have, and fully aware of how lucky we are, it is hard work, sometimes harder work than we have the energy for, but it always gets done, no matter how much it might seem like it won’t.

To those of you that want to leave a job for self-employment or working a small hobby farm, it isn’t a fairytale life, running a fulltime business and trying to grow your own food will be one of hardest things you have ever done, but then the satisfaction you get at the end of the week and at the end of the year, is something beyond words and the ability to set goals and feel like you are not on the road to nowhere is motivation to keep going no matter how tired you get. We never look back and wish we were not where we are, we keep moving forward knowing that every year is only going to get better and better.

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How Much Canning Do You Need For a Full Year?

Feb 26, 2012 by

Canning and preserving can go a long ways to making sure that your family’s needs are taken care of over the long winter months. With the rapidly rising costs of food and the gas needed to transport it, it is becoming more and more of a necessity to do everything you can to make sure that you have plenty of food you have grown or have been able to get in season.

Start with a Plan

Get a Good Idea of What Your Family Will Eat

One of the biggest mistakes that new and seasoned gardeners and canners alike make is growing or canning food they are not even sure that their family will eat. Another mistake is to preserve far more of one time than you are likely to get your family to consume in a years’ time. To the best thing that you can do is to start with a plan.

  • What does you family really love from the garden
  • What did You use the Most of last winter
  • What are the items you are most quickly refilling from Your Pantry?
  • what sits on your Shelves and does not get eaten?

TIP  – If you have an inventory list, take a close look at it and find the items that are most popular, many things on your list can be preserved if you are not doing it already. Aside from plant based foods, meats can also be canned, as well as complete meals.

Make a List of the Items You know Your Family Will Eat

Start by making a list of the items you know your family will eat, and make an approximate list of how many jars, or other units that your family will eat in a year. Keep in mind that you can dry, freeze and can just about anything providing you have the materials and the storage space for it.

HINT : Canning is just one way to keep your food, You can also dry, freeze and smoke foods.

Make a list of things you ran out of last year and how soon in the year you ran out, this will give you an basic idea of how much you should can this year.

Drop Anything from your list that is still sitting on the shelf, there is a reason why it is not getting eaten, If you just canned too much of it, keep in mind that many can goods can last longer than a year if properly stored, so You can easily finish up and then add it to your list next year.

Make a list based on what you find from the notes you have taken. Prioritize your list by what you know will be of the most use to your family and what you can grow yourself.

Use Your List to Plan Your Garden and Buying

Most of us do not grow enough to feed our family, but if we have a list of what we Want to can this year, we can watch for sales, search for bargains or jump on freebies when our neighbors have more than they can use. A well planned list will keep you in the know and help you to organize your canning year accordingly.

Figuring out How Much to Plant

Figuring out how to plan your garden to feed your whole family is not an exact science, It depends on a lot of factors such as:

  • How many People in your family
  • How good your growing Year is
  • How much of an item You will be using.
  • Your growing Conditions

The best thing to do is to figure out the approximate yield in pounds for your garden, then calculate how many pounds per quart jar. The links below will give you some starter numbers to work with, but don’t forget that these numbers are just approximates.

Yields From Fresh Vegetables and fruits – This link will tell you how many pounds you will need per quart jar of food, the list is short but you should be able to approximate other foods using this list.

Pounds Per Row – This PDF was written for Virginia but it will give you a basic idea of the yield in pounds per 10 ft. row for a wide range of crops while this yield  is approximate depending on your location and growing conditions it serves as a good guide for planning how much to plant to get the desired harvest.

A Final note

Make sure to keep good gardening records, you can keep them in a notebook or on your computer, but make sure to note what type of harvest you got, the crop you planted, how much you planted and how many jars you got from your harvest. Also note what your family ate over the year, so you can keep track for next year and have a much more accurate idea of what to grow.

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Taking Care of your New Baby Chicks

Oct 20, 2011 by

Getting Ready

Day One

If you have just come home from the feed store with a box full of baby chicks you may not know how to take care of them and while most hatcheries may give you lots of information about your chicks if you need more information then I hope this helps.

Getting ready for your chicks before they arrive is very important, your chicks will likely be stressed regardless of where you got them from and bringing them into a warm place that is already set up for them can really help to ease the stress. You will need to provide a few things for them, such as bedding, food, water, heat and a way to keep drafts off of them.

Bedding : should be something like wood shavings, rice hulls or ground cobs, you should never use cedar which is toxic and sawdust is far too small and you may find the chicks eating it. Good clean pine shaving are a good choice, in a pinch you can also use straw.

Food and Water: while this may seem like a no brainer it is important to make sure you get the right feed and water containers for chicks and you need to make sure that it is available to them at all times. Chick starter should be used, and for the first day or two make sure you spread some on paper towels or newspaper to make sure they are finding it, when you see them eating out of the feeder then you can stop doing this. Most authorities recommend 2 feet of space for each 25 chicks when buying feeders.

Make sure to buy feeders that the baby chicks can reach; many of them have a lip that is higher than your tiny chicks can get to. Special chick feeders are the best choice for new chicks. Many people put a water booster in for their chicks for the first couple of days, while it is not necessary it can be a good way to help them get past the stress of their move.

Heat: Heat is one of the most important parts of your chick set up, baby chicks needs 90 – 95 degrees for the first week. You can slowly move the heat source up each week until they have all of their feathers and no longer need it many more. Most people use a 250 watt red infrared bulb for this purpose. Chicks seem to be most comfortable with the red light rather than a white one.

Many new chick owners worry themselves to death that they cannot get the temperature exactly at 95 degrees, but chicks are very good at regulating themselves, if it is a bit warmer under the bulb than 95 they will find the spot they are most comfortable with. If your chicks are huddled together they are too cold and if they are spread out way away from the light then it is likely too warm. If you keep the bulb at a distance of 18 inches when you first start then you will find that this works best.

Chickens need light even when they are not using a heat bulb, you will want to install a small night light for at night and a regular 75 watt bulb for the day if it is dark in their enclosure.

Avoiding a Draft: It is very important that your chicks are not subject to a draft, this can occur when a door is open or if they place they are being house is drafty. The easy way to fix this is to put them in some sort of smaller enclosure, not only will this prevent them from getting a draft, but it will also keep their area warmer. Be sure however to give them enough room to all move away from the heat source too as well so they do not get too hot. You can use a kiddie swimming pool for this purpose or you can use cardboard to make them a circle. You want to give them about 1/2 square foot per bird when you choose the size of their enclosure.

When Your Chicks Arrive

Once you are ready for your birds, then you will have a few things you need to do when they arrive. It is important to make sure they are all in good condition and that they know where the water and food are. The best way to do this is to dip their beaks in the water and sprinkle their food on the paper under their heat source. Put your food and water containers around the light far enough away to give them room under the light but close enough that they can find it.

Day One

Watch your chicks carefully at this point to make sure they are eating and drinking, keep dipping their beaks if you think it is necessary and sprinkle their food for a couple of days to make sure they are getting the hang of it. This is especially important if your chicks were shipped to you and had a bit of a hard trip. Be sure to check them every hour or two for the first day to make sure they are getting food and water.

Another important thing to watch for when you get your chicks home is that their rear ends are not pasting up, where the feces sticks to their hind ends, blocking the vent hole. It is very important to make sure you clean this off, I have found that a warm wash cloth works best, try to avoid picking it off, because their skin is very delicate and this can cause them more trouble.

When your chicks hit 4 weeks of age there is more you will need to do to get their new home ready for them. But we will cover this in another post later. We are getting ready to deal with this stage soon and will let you know how it goes and give you some tips on taking care of your new birds.

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Preparing for the Upcoming Canning Season

Jun 24, 2011 by

Preparing for the Upcoming Canning Season

canningIf you love to do jams and jellies then most likely you have already started on your canning for the year. I honestly intended to do jams this year but with the arrival of a new grandchild, and a father in Law having  a triple bypass time just got away from me. Still it is time to start taking stock and getting ready for the new Canning season. If you have never canned before you might want to pick up a book as your first expense, not only will it show you all the right equipment that you should get for your canning but it will also give you a nice list of starter recipes to get going with. Alternatively you can visit a few of the more reliable sites online to get the facts you need. I have been canning for a lot of years, but I still love browsing recipes and getting new ideas, I have a few websites I really like to follow and will visit them year after year.

Make a List of Canning Supplies

As I am thinking about canning this year, I am making a mental list of all of the things that I will need to make sure I have, any extra canning jars I need, canning lids, pectin and the spices that I use in pickling. All these things add up fast, so making a list will make sure I don’t have to go out and buy it all at once. Fortunately I have plenty of jars, but will need to pick up a lot of lids; I find that the earlier in the year I do it the easier they are to find and the cheaper I can get them. If I wait too long the discount stores run out and I have to go to the more expensive grocery stores to buy them. If you go shopping early enough in the year you can get canning jars from yard sales, thrift stores and even ask around with neighbors, this will save you a lot of money and allow you to get really stocked up on canning jars.

Make Another List of Things you Plan to Can

canningYou might even want to plan this list before you do your supply list, or at least do both at the same time. This way you can make sure you have everything on hand, and you won’t have to go running out to the store for sugar, salt or spices at the last minute. Canning is hard enough work when the season is in full swing without having to worry about running back and forth to the store. What I usually do is make a list of things I know I am going to or have to can from the garden. Things like tomato sauce, green beans, salsa, and relish are always at the top of my list. I try to add a few new things to make the list a bit more robust, this year I think I am going to do what I have been thinking about for the past couple of years and try some new picked vegetables. With a hubby that grew up in England anything pickled is always a popular choice. I make a final list of things I would like to can if I can get the stuff together for it. These items would include stuff like canned peaches, apple sauce, canned corn, things I don’t grow but will be on the lookout for all year at prices I can’t turn down. If I have a list then when the deals show up I know what to do with them.

Getting all my Equipment in Order

Finally I make sure I have everything I need and it is all cleaned up and ready to go, nothing is worse than pulling out the tomato mill only to find out a piece walked off in the middle of the winter and you have to find it or order another one with 50lbs of tomatoes sitting on your counter. Make sure that your pressure canner is all tuned up and checked out, that you have all the utensils you need, and your jars have all been inspected for nicks or other problems. I keep mine in the boxes they came in but invariably there are always jars that got damaged along the way. Dig up your recipes and get them ready to go as well, I have a problem with losing recipes from one year to the next, a common problem when you only use them once a year, this year I am going to solve that problem by getting a notebook that is just for canning recipes. Once you have all of your supplies in order and your lists made, know where everything is, you will find that your canning adventures will go much more smoothly

If you need help with learning how to can there are several great books on Amazon that can help you get started.

Canning

Enjoy your Season of canning make sure to let us know what you canned this year by leaving a comment below!

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Planning your First Vegetable Garden

Mar 23, 2011 by

My First Vegetable Garden

I can remember my first vegetable garden very clearly I was probably 10 or 12 years old and I had been tormenting my mother about letting me put in a garden forever. I do not know what fascinated me so much about watching vegetables grow; I did not even like them that much at that age, but something about watching seeds germinate and grow into food fascinated me.

My first garden was a flop, I only had a tiny plot that was maybe 5ft by 10ft and it was right next to the house, facing west so it only got a few hours of sun, and the dirt there was some of the worst dirt I have ever dug in, dry, dusty and full of rocks. The end result was seedlings that came up but never grew, and spindly little plants that always looked like they were dying a slow agonizing death. But I still remember how excited I was when those first seedlings popped up through the crust of the dirt and I have never lost that passion since.

These days I have somewhat more luck with my gardens although I still have my share of failures. I am fortunate enough to live now in an area where most vegetables grow good, so I have been lucky enough be able to experiment a bit and enjoy the fruits our labors.

Planning starts with an Idea of Why you are Planting a Garden

I know this sounds a bit simplistic, but it is really true, planting a garden depends on knowing what you hope to accomplish, with this information you can begin to decide what you should plant.

This is different for everyone, for me, I love to grow food, but also like to eat it now too! So we try to plant things that we would especially enjoy eating fresh out of the garden.  There is simply nothing like fresh vegetables and even more so when you grow them yourself. There is no use in planting something you will not eat, take it from someone that knows, I have planted plenty of crops that I had to give away or just went to waste because I wanted to grow them but nobody would eat them.

I used to love canning in my Presto Canner but time does not give me that luxury so much anymore. But there are many families that grow gardens to put up a harvest for the long winter months.

Pick a few reasons why you want to garden, then use this information to get an idea of what you want to grow.

What you Grow Also Depends on Where you Live

Not everybody is fortunately to live in a good climate for gardening; in fact most of us will find several things we cannot grow. But the reverse is also true; there is not too many places that will not grow something if you are determined enough.

To determine what you can and cannot grow, you will have to do some research, if you happen to be lucky enough to know someone else that gardens in the area, Perfect! There is no one better to ask than someone who is actually gardening. If you don’t know anyone you can look at frost charts, visit your local extension agency and talk to the people at your local nursery.

As you become more experienced you will find out what you can get away with and what you can’t. I remember being told one year that I could not grow watermelons where we live at the time because the nights were too cool. I proved them wrong; I built a hot bed and planted watermelons. I was very happy to share those little jewels with the person who told me it was impossible. There are plenty of ways to extend your harvest, grow crops that require warmer temperatures, and expand your growing space, you will learn many of these as you plant more gardens.

Deciding Where to Put your Garden

So you know what you want to plant, what will grow in the area, next thing to decide is whether you have enough sun and space to grow the things on your list. Take it from someone with experience planting your garden next to the house on a west facing wall is probably not the best place to garden if you have another choice.

Ideally you want to have 6-10 hours of sunlight every day, you want to make sure that the land drains properly and is close enough to the house to get water to it.

Keep in mind that desperate gardeners like me have overcome obstacles where ever they were, so don’t let a few setbacks stop you from having your garden, there are always alternatives. You can put your garden in containers, you can add amendments to your soil to help it drain better or you can put in raised beds. Some people are determined to put in gardens regardless of the obstacles and you can too.

Deciding How you are Going to Garden

When it comes to how to set up your garden there are so many different alternatives, that really leaves no excuse why anyone who wants to cannot have at least a small vegetable garden. I have had opportunities to try them all, I had a farm for a while where I had more gardens than sense, and other times I have been fortunate enough to have a few containers on a patio to enjoy fresh lettuce and tomatoes during the summer months.

There are plenty of choices to choose from but if this is your first garden the best thing to do is to start with a few containers or a small garden plot that you can easily manage.

It is Finally Time to Plan

There are lots of ways to plan out a garden but I prefer to use a sheet of graph paper and measure out my garden. This ensures that I allow plenty of space for all of my crops (although I tend to push this a little bit to get more into a smaller space) and that I do not over plan or plant. I measure out my garden and lay it out onto graph paper, each large square = one square foot or if you are using the graph paper with only small blocks then  I usually do either 5 or 10 block squares, depending on the size of a garden you are trying to graph.

You can get the necessary space needed for each crop off of the Internet, keep in mind that you should put the taller crops in a place where they will not interfere with the sun for the smaller crops. I usually put my taller crops to the north. You should also keep in mind that you will want to leave space to plant at intervals, crops such as lettuce, beans, radishes and cucumbers bear after a certain number of days, so if you want a continuous harvest you will want to plant them every two weeks.

There You Have It

The beginnings of your first vegetable garden, While there is plenty more to learn and a lot of experience to gain, you will be well on your way to getting your first garden planted and enjoying the fruits of your hard work. There is nothing more rewarding than growing your own food, it is also a great way to get the kids involved in a healthy activity that not only teaches them where their food comes from but encourages them to eat a bit healthier.

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Long Term Food Storage Methods

Nov 11, 2010 by

Today we have many options for long term food storage, as long as all of our appliances are operating properly. There are several techniques used to preserve fresh foods for extended periods of time under normal conditions, including freezing, canning, dehydrating, and freeze-drying.

Freezing

Archaeologists have found evidence that man started freezing meats thousands of years ago. At first, freezing was only possible during winter months in temperate climates.

Before electricity became common in homes, there was the ice box in the city and the dairy in the country. Dairies were basically underground rooms where temperatures were cooler.

Ice boxes varied in design, but they made use of large blocks of ice to keep milk, dairy products and other foods from spoiling. The first refrigerators were not that different from the iceboxes.

Deep freezers became popular in the 1950s for several reasons. Concerns over previous wars and poor relationships with foreign countries were among them; people were motivated to have extra food on hand “just in case.”

Practically all foods can be frozen. Although the taste can be negatively affected in some cases, the foods are safe to eat for months. It is a common practice among hunters to store wild game in the freezer during the hunting season and use it throughout the year.

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