Homesteader Life

A real concern for many would be homesteaders is how to make money. In past posts we’ve looked at ways to live cheap, now what about making cash to cover the stuff we can’t live without. As most of know, I pay most of my bills by milking a small herd of jersey cows. This […]

One of our goals for the new homestead is to be energy independent in the next 5 years or so. To comply with the laws we had to have “store bought” power hooked up. This will work out alright becouse putting together alternitive energy systems that work require a bit of cash, cash we don’t […]

We have reached a milestone. Its sort of neat, yet kind of spooky. If you turn on the faucet in the kitchen…….water comes out. When you flush the toilet……..it makes a funny noise and fills its self back up with water(no 5 gallon pail required). Bathroom sink……you guessed it, water comes […]

Don’t miss your chance to see the The Prairie Muffin Compound. I was impressed, just like I imagined it.

Joel Salatin says that he is often asked if he learned what he knows at an agricultural college. His answer is timeless, “No, if I went to ag college I’d be like the rest of them eggheads. I learned what I know from talking to my dad and grampa and successful farmers in my area.” […]

Yesterday while I was doing the evening milking I had a nice surprise. Some old friends I haven’t seen in a couple of years, Ethan and Jeanette, came strolling down the barn floor. We had lots to catch up on. They were passing through and only could stay for an hour or so because they […]

Howdy to all. I wanted to post something last night, but we had a state wide phone meeting for the NY Constitution Party at 9pm that used up what time I had. Leah, the boys and I built “pig fence” last night after milking. I took John and Noah over to pick out some piglets […]

After I got the cows milked and back outdoors, Leah and I planted 18 tomato plants and seeded carrots, radishes, and beets. The garden is starting to come along now. The peas look pretty good. I’m pushing the envelope a little as far as frost dates, but we’ll see what happens. I’ll either have an […]

I’ve been busy as a beaver the last couple days, hence my lack of blogging. I now return to the computer to bring you more thoughts and updates from a simple reformed hillbilly. We have had a few calves born yesterday and today. A couple of new fresh cows always adds some time to chores. […]

Old Elsie had a lovely heifer calf this morning. Its a big one, with some white markings on its side. The calf is sired by a Just Wait son out of the EX 95 renaissance cow from Taylors. She calved out on the pasture so Little John and I had to walk a ways to […]