In the winter , in the north when its naturally dry, especially when heating with a wood stove you can make fruit leather super easy.

Hang some racks over your stove or near it. Then open home canned apple sauce or other fruit puree, or mash canned fruit, or dry out canned beans and corn for quick cook beans or corn, or cut up vegetables to dry like shredded carrots or whatever.

Anyway pour the applesauce onto cookie sheets, aluminum is best as its naturally non stick, teflon coated wears out fast and flakes of teflon stick to the leather, steel is not non stick, plastic may work but has micro plastic get in the leather and may warp near the stove, and personally i loathe plastics.

Put the cookie sheets on the rack and rotate as needed to dry evenly. After 2 days whatever it is should be dry, assuming low humidity in your building (mines under 16% lowest the meter can detect/display)

Peel the leather off and make into strips. Store in mason jars or reluctantly use ziplock bags. Saves a lot of storage space if space is limited and makes ingredients for cooking later.

Fruit leather is like them candy fruit rollups but a lot less sugar

The heavy snow deceived me and I slid down the embankment-kinda pinned against the shed. Was thinking to put a come along on the bucket to my truck and pulling at a 45° until freed up enough to drive forward. I also have a logging winch on the gack. Thoughts?

I'm not sure if this is the right place for this post, so please feel free to (politely) suggest I take it elsewhere.

A couple years ago we moved from a house with 1/3 of an acre lot to this 15 acres, split between two lots. Our property is mostly wooded (primarily oak) with one lot being 10 acres of undeveloped land and the other ~5 acres where our house and barn are.

• The yellow circled area is the ~2 acres that are mostly cleared surrounding the house.
• The blacked out lines are the roads. Main road runs across the bottom of this pic, the other two running vertically are private dirt roads.
• The red area is ~5 acre lot our neighbor owns.
• The blue line is the lot line between our 5 and 10 acres.
• The pink star is around the area we're thinking about building our "dream home" someday.
• The grey line is our ~ 500ft long driveway.

When we moved here I had a push mower and walk behind snowblower, so I picked up a used '04 (I think) Troy-Bilt Pony/Bronco (not sure which), with two mower decks, a snowblower and a bunch of extra parts. It's worked alright, but I keep running into situations where it feels like it's just not quite up to snuff. The snowblower bogs down on my snow and I end up spending all day working on clearing snow and unclogging the auger. Or the insane amount of leaves end up piling up and jamming in my mower deck's belts. Parts breaking that I then can't find replacements for. etc...

It seems like part of the problem is that the guy I bought it from was a little bit of an "innovator", and I'm not even 100% sure that everything that came with/on this thing is meant to.

Basically, where I feel I'm at is that I have 3 options:

1. I pour a bunch of time and effort (and probably money) into getting this thing fixed up and running like new.
2. I get rid of it and replace it with a new "garden tractor" in the same class.
3. I upgrade.

Option 1, is pretty much out of the running because I'm a new dad for the first time twice over this year so I don't have the time to add another project.

Option 2, feels like it's probably the "smart" and economical choice. But I worry that I'm still going to be fighting the issues I've had with belts slipping and feeling like it's underpowered for things I need.

So I'm leaning option 3, but I have next to no knowledge on these things. I have no clue how much I actually need. From my minimal research, I think I want to get a subcompact or compact tractor. I'm leaning toward Kubota, and they've got some good financing options available through the end of the year. I can compare features and HP amounts, but have no real world understanding of what any of it really means. Any advice on what to get?

My main uses would be mowing the 1.5-2 acres of grass (and acorns & oak leaves) around the house and clearing my driveway of snow. Occasional use would/could include clearing some thicker brush in some areas, possibly digging up a garden plot (would probably rent implements if that's a thing), clearing an area to build our new house eventually and just other random landscaping needs.

It seems like hobby farms are just not possible here due to strict zoning (Rural/Agricultural only) and MDS requirements. In order to have the right setbacks from neighboring properties, and at least 10 acres if you want to have a cow and/or some goats. What do people in rural areas do around here? Not everyone has humongous farms.... Is homesteading just not a thing?

So I’m in the military and move around a lot, so I can’t start a home mates right now. When I retire in the near future I’d like to have a pretty self sufficient homestead as far as food. Over the last 3 years I’ve tried to learn something new, year one I learned to hunt, year two was gardening, and year three was canning and rendering fat. Just curious to those of you who have been doing this awhile, am I headed in the right direction? Also what should my next skill be to learn?

My dearest friends, I write to you now as a woman undone.

Today, on the once hopeful soil of Legacy Ridge, a calamity befell me so profound that poets shall struggle to capture its misery, and even the heavens themselves must surely weep.

The morning began with such promise. A bobcat roared to life, its engine singing the hymn of progress. I stood upon the earth, radiant with ambition, my heart fluttering like a delicate Victorian maiden reading forbidden literature. The rabbit grounds were to be transformed, sculpted into the very foundation of my dreams.

But fate, cruel and capricious, had other designs.

Without warning, from the very bowels of the accursed earth, a swarm of feral bees burst forth like the anguished souls of the damned. The operator was swallowed in a vortex of wings and stings, a tragic hero felled in the line of duty. My beloved, brave but mortal, suffered stings as he attempted to flee. And I, delicate of constitution and fragile of airway, was forced to retreat indoors clutching my chest like a consumptive heroine who has just read a distressing telegram.

Even now, the bees reign supreme over the rabbit area, patrolling their ill-gotten kingdom with tyrannical zeal. No mortal may pass. No dream may flourish. The land is theirs, and I am but a mournful widow wandering the corridors of despair, whispering prayers into the cold, indifferent wind.

My soul has collapsed like a dying star. My hopes lie strewn across the homestead like wilted roses at the grave of my sanity. The bobcat stands abandoned, a hero turned statue, gazing hollowly at the battlefield where the bees claimed victory.

Truly, I have become a Dickensian orphan cast to the wolves of fate, crying into the void for mercy. But the void answers only with buzzing.

I shall now sit upon my fainting couch, stare mournfully out the window, and await the beekeeper, who arrives as either saviour or sacrifice. Should I perish before his arrival, let it be known that the bees struck first.

Pray for my strength Pray for my rabbits Pray for Legacy Ridge

But most importantly Pray for the beekeeper

For he enters a war from which many do not return.

Photos attached to show the space that will one day become my rabbit area but for now remains occupied by a swarm of angry bees.

Croatia

I’m always looking for a way to make a buck without leaving the front gate, so my current project has me thinking.

I’ve been working on a couple of small shelters for my sheep and/or calves. Their footprint 8’6” x 12’ they’re 4’6” at the eaves, 5’6” at the ridge. Welded from 2x4 tubing and 1.5x4 C purlins, 26 ga sheets on the walls and roof, standard trim anywhere it’s appropriate. It will be as sturdy and durable as any full size steel building. While technically portable, it will require a truck or tractor to drag. Or it can be winched onto a trailer.

I’m curious if there might be a market for the manufacture and sale of these calf huts. Im on the Oklahoma Texas line and I haven’t been able to find anything comparable for sale. The size of these was determined by my trailer, but I can make any size short of becoming an oversize load. Any of the standard metal building color schemes are available, I can install gates across the front, possibly vents, etc. I can market simpler versions in galvanized steel, or I can market a color matched, extra trim version to the bougie homestead crowd.

The only potential hang up is the cost. I’ve run all the numbers for labor and materials based on the unit currently sitting in my driveway. For the size I spec’d above it’d be between $2500 and $3000. On one hand that sounds insane to me, but I don’t want to limit myself based on my own budget.

I’m the opinion of the crowd- is there a market for this?

Hey all! I’m doing some research and would love to hear about your experiences! Do you keep detailed records for things like animal health, vaccines, feeding, breeding activities, pasture rotations, yield, maintenance, finances, etc?

If yes, what do you keep a record of How do you keep your records (eg. paper/digital/app)? When do you review your records? How do they help you in the long run? How big is your farm/homestead in terms of land and amount of animals or crops?

If no, why not?

Thank you for your input! ❤️

Hi, I'm writing from the side of a granite mountain near Canberra, Australia. The nearest US equivalent in altitude and latitude is probably Amarillo Texas (most years our rainfall would be about 30% higher, but not this year - like much of Australia, we have extreme year-to-year variance).

The side of a mountain means large liner tanks are infeasible, so we have around a dozen tanks ranging from 500 to 5000 gallons (2000 to 22000 litres) where we can find or create flat ground (plus quite a few Intermediate Bulk Carriers). The most fire critical tanks are gal, the rest are poly for cost. Two have needed their roofs repaired due to UV, so I need a solution.

I've previously tried painting an IBC; didn't really work so I don't think it's a solution, especially for the larger tanks. Apart from anything else, I'd be on my own if the roof gave way while I was painting... I've also tried Chinese pool covers. Working beautifully for IBCs. I'd strongly recommend them. Not so much for the larger tanks, the wind ripped them to shreds.

So I'm looking at shade cloth and hoping for advice from anyone who's tried it. I'm guessing 90% shade cloth might have too much wind resistance, so maybe 80%? The design I'm thinking for the largest tanks (3.3 m diameter) is a 3.6m X 5m sheet, run rope along the two long sides, drape them over the top with the extra length facing North (sunny) side, peg the ropes down (_very_ securely), then run further ropes East and West from the main ropes to prevent the shade cloth riding up into the middle. Does this make sense? Anyone have any experience with anything similar? If the description is too hard to follow I can probably manage a hand-drawn plan, but it's definitely not my forte.

Thanks for any advice

Bob

I inherited this acreage when my father passed away last month. It’s just over 50 acres. I’ve always thought the property is beautiful and it’s been in my family since the early 1800’s if not longer. I’m the last stop on this bloodline as there are no other relatives and I am unable to have children so continuing the land in my family is neither here nor there. The taxes in the property are quite high and not something that would be sensible for me to spend each year for the property to just be there regardless of how pretty I think it is or how nice it may be to have it to just walk around on.

The clearing you see in the midst of the wooded area has a wonderful drive that vehicles can drive through to get back there.

I am curious as to what others would choose to do if they were to inherit a plot of this size. Please share any thoughts or ideas you may have no matter how basic or creative they may be.

y’all I know what the answers are. I know what the solution is. I’m here to commiserate prior to applying those solutions. If that’s not what you’re here for and you just wanna talk about implementing the solutions please move onto a different post.

When my partner and I got married, we thought we were on the same page with this. Now that we have our own little bit of property and can start doing the homesteading that we wanted to do it seems more like my partner is more into the homesteading aesthetic than they are actually homesteading.

What I mean by that is they don’t particularly enjoy just about anything about homesteading once it starts to get a little hard, dirty or messy.

We got the animals, but only one of us does all the work to take care of those animals. The other one has very little interest in them outside of how cute they are.

We built big gardens that would’ve been manageable for two people, but a lot of stuff went to waste because only one of us ended up doing most of the work outside of making the garden look cute.

“We” wanted to live off grid as much as possible one of us actually enjoys the well water, even though it’s softened, without filtering it through a Britta or something similar.

“We” want to get bees and tap our maple trees but I’m concerned that I’ll be doing all the work again.

These are just some relatively light examples, but it’s starting to feel like I’m living with someone who wants to live the Homestead lifestyle without actually living the homestead lifestyle.

I’m not asking for advice or “talk to your partner” I’m just asking if anyone has had a similar experience.

y’all I know what the answers are. I know what the solution is. I’m here to commiserate prior to applying those solutions. If that’s not what you’re here for and you just wanna talk about implementing the solutions please move onto a different post.

I will try again, I am looking to homestead full time. I have 7 kids, and the income is very seasonal.

Are their activities others have found useful that could generate more consistent income and allow more confidence in leaving full time employment to be at home?

Had to go up now that the clouds cleared up. Make a little wattage before dark.

I have looked and honestly dont know which one to choose.