Farmers and homesteaders

[Babybear2006]

Are there any other farmers, ranchers, or homesteaders on here? Do you raise, grow, hunt, or catch your own food?
I live in a small country town and hunt deer and wild pigs but I also raise chickens, ducks and geese for eggs and meat. I also have sheep and goats to raise for meat. We also put a garden in every year. We also go fishing for snapper and tuna a few times a year.

 

[Yendrik]

I wouldn't say i'm a homesteader or rancher but I do have a garden every year and go fishing a lot! Id like to go hunting one day especially for duck. Id really really love to have some animals too but my local homeowners association does not allow it : ( i don't think we are even supposed to have compost but we do anyway.

 

[Cottontail]

We keep goats (just as pets) and garden during the warmer months. Wife really wants chickens, but every animal seems to become my responsibility, so… “We’ll see.”

I enjoy hunting (deer, ducks), but haven’t done it for a few years.

 

[Zeke]

I come from a family where we had a root cellar and huge garden. We froze and canned the majority of the garden’s produce. From age 8 through about 15 I ate primarily moose that my dad would hunt in Ontario. This was supplemented by deer that him and I would harvest during our Wisconsin whitetail season. My wife had a large garden, when I was driving truck and away from home for long periods, so our family had fresh and frozen vegetables. She has since divorced me and then passed away in 2019. So other than the garden that I had at my house when I returned to college I haven’t had the benefit of a garden or wild game since our divorce, something that I do indeed miss. Oh, and by the way my state gives me what is called a “Homestead tax credit”. Does that make me a homesteader?

 

[winterheart01]

every year I grow a good load of chili peppers, some tomatoes, lemongrass, spices and I am growing cold hardy citrus trees, but they're still young so I still need to wait several years before they get fruit

 

[Babybear2006]

I come from a family where we had a root cellar and huge garden. We froze and canned the majority of the garden’s produce. From age 8 through about 15 I ate primarily moose that my dad would hunt in Ontario. This was supplemented by deer that him and I would harvest during our Wisconsin whitetail season. My wife had a large garden, when I was driving truck and away from home for long periods, so our family had fresh and frozen vegetables. She has since divorced me and then passed away in 2019. So other than the garden that I had at my house when I returned to college I haven’t had the benefit of a garden or wild game since our divorce, something that I do indeed miss. Oh, and by the way my state gives me what is called a “Homestead tax credit”. Does that make me a homesteader?

Farmer for sure

 

[Babybear2006]

I wouldn't say i'm a homesteader or rancher but I do have a garden every year and go fishing a lot! Id like to go hunting one day especially for duck. Id really really love to have some animals too but my local homeowners association does not allow it : ( i don't think we are even supposed to have compost but we do anyway.

I have a compost pile that I put the poop and old bedding in after I clean out the pens

 

[Zeke]

Farmer for sure

I’m not sure that you can call me a farmer, more like a wannabe gardener. The house that I bought after finishing college is on 1-2/3rd lots on the back streets of a town of 3,300 population. I’ve been thinking of putting in a garden, but the ground here is quite sandy so might have to bring in some top soil to make it feasible. When my folks started their garden dad found a farmer that had some old rotting manure and had several loads hauled in and plowed under to improve the sandy soil that they had. The days of the small farms are pretty much over around here so I’m not sure that I could find the same thing over half a century later.

 

[PamperedMarine]

I have a good size garden. It has 3 12x4 growing areas. I got about 150 meals worth of produce last year. I am dabbling dabbling with a green house and so far have hept box grown lettuce and cabbage for winter months. It'll be better next year it was my first year. I also have 3 apple and 3 pear trees and 4 blueberry bushes. I may do chickens but don't eat much eggs so I trade produce for what I need with a neighbor. I do hunt but mostly pheasant and turkey.

 

[Woncrinklz]

I want to be a homesteader, but I currently have chickens and wild game as pets. I enjoy the eggs, though. I think Purina crumbles is crap lately. I wish someone has a better wild bird game feed they know about. I have to make my own mixes. It's expensive!

I just switched back to Bar Ale. I buy from Tractor Supply now and then, but I never can tell when the feed is fresh or not. Too much to do.....

 

[BlueHama]

Kind of into that stuff.

 

[redsan]

When I lived with my parents, it was in a rural area. We had a large garden, it was definitely a lot of work to maintain. I had to chop wood for the wood and coal furnace. I also went deer and turkey hunting, I still enjoy hunting but I don’t go hunting every year like I use to. Venison is delicious. I don’t do any gardening anymore, maybe I will again when I retire.

 

[messydiaper]

Yes. No details to share. Might give away too much info.

 

[tas84]

I’m in the UK and farm 1300acres growing wheat, barley, Oilseed rape/canola and beans, along with 100 breeding ewes and 30 Angus cows. Eat our own lamb, but not beef as we sell our calves at 10months to go elsewhere for fattening. Eat deer whenever I get the opportunity to shoot one.

 

[Kittyinpink]

We keep goats (just as pets) and garden during the warmer months. Wife really wants chickens, but every animal seems to become my responsibility, so… “We’ll see.”

I enjoy hunting (deer, ducks), but haven’t done it for a few years.

Have you tried making cheese from the goats ? . That's something I want to do , when I win the lottery!

 

[Cottontail]

Have you tried making cheese from the goats ? . That's something I want to do , when I win the lottery!

Nope! Males are notoriously poor milk producers, heh. These guys are just pets. We have friends near by who have a dairy goat herd though. They make cheese to sell, but often give us some when they have extra.

 

[Hoksiyopa]

I have a small farm. I have about 150 birds, from ducks, turkeys, chickens, guineas, and quail. I produce pasture chicken, turkey, quail, and rabbits where they are raised on grass and get moved daily. Sell at a local farmers market. Haven't had to buy meat in the store for over 20 years. Red meat is the deer we harvest in season. Raised 2 kids on deer meat and they don't really like to eat beef to this day. If I had a bigger place would do pigs and maybe some beef the same way as the poultry.

 

[egor]

Grew up on a 15 acre farm and ran it until 2007 when I broke both of my ankles a just could not do it any more.

I have a 0.15 acre home and grow a moderate garden and hope in the near future to raise some laying hens.

The family raised goats and lost our shirt, tried dairy cows and lost our shirt, raised sheep and game birds. We ate but did not make a lot of money.
After I finished school I raised sheep and made enough to fund some beef and it was just not worth the time and effort. I raised chickens around 200 a year and feed the family and had a good customer list, then got into turkeys and did ok. Tried ducks and game birds but the cost was to much.
I have not raise meat since 2007 and still get customers that ask if I would go back into it, but the costs are hereunder. I was raising birds at right around $1 a pound and last time I did the math with current prices it was $2.50 a bound for chicken and $5 for Turkeys.

 

[Tomtomthedl]

Not a homestead exactly but we are on a little piece of land in the woods. We have a small barn that we raised quail in for meat but we have stopped with it. I need to put some chickens in there with egg prices be what thay are. Love to fish and hunt I do it as much as I can.

 

[Blacksmith]

I work on a vegetable farm