A Homestead Update As Fall Is Upon Us

It’s been quite a while since I’ve had time to share what sort of wonders we have on our homestead.  It’s been a lot of hard work over the last 6 years, but this year I felt like we finally found our groove, finally able to increase our self-sufficiency.

We planted so many fruit trees, and berry bushes over the last 6 years and this year I prayed over each and every tree, and our harvests have been beyond bountiful!

I think when we started I naively thought that we’d be self-sufficient in no time, living on our own little homestead, free from the slavery of government, but that wasn’t realistic as time has proven.  It takes a lot of effort, and patience to shake yourself from the system.

Anyways, come along, to the Bent Barbell Ranch.

Imagine yourself driving up our gate, greeted by our Great Pyrenees Boone.  I hope you feel inspired to continue your self-sufficiency goals!

Harvesting and Harvesting Some More

This year I might possibly have gone overboard with our planting.  I love how something starts as a tiny seed and emerges into an enormous plant, offering it’s bountiful blessings. 

Each fall we cover our ground with goat poop and their hay waste to over winter and a topping of my husbands golden compost, resulting in a nutrient rich soil perfect for the plants needs.  It’s pretty amazing to think a few years back our soil was sand, void of life.

We’ve harvested over 500 pounds of zucchini, squash and pumpkins alone.  Our trees have offered us never ending pounds of fruit.  Everywhere we turn it seems the homestead has something to offer us.

With two goats in milk we’ve been able to make so much cheese, yogurt, goat soap, you name it I’ve tried it with the goats milk.  If you are looking for an animal that will absolutely increase your self-sufficiency I’d encourage some sort of dairy animal, in our case it’s the goats and they are such an asset to our self-sufficiency goals.

New Goats, the Oberhasli

Next update, our addition of Oberhasli goats to our homestead.  After some time I’ve realized the screaming banshee that is the Nubian goat isn’t for us.  As adorable as they are, their screams are not for me, I’m highly sensitive to noise and that just won’t suffice. 

In a few short weeks we will be picking up our new breed of goat to me, the Oberhasli, known as the quietest goat breed, mild-mannered, hoping this will be the goat breed for us, as to find them was quite a challenge and an expense.

Turkey Poults For Meat Production

We didn’t have success hatching fertile turkey eggs this year, but I stumbled upon a clutch of them at our local feed store.  We added 4 of the heritage breed, standard bronze turkeys to our homestead!  Only poults right now, I’m excited to see what comes of this adventure.  They seem much more friendly than any of our chicks have been and the kids adore them!

Marty the Rooster

We did successfully hatch Marty the Rooster to increase our meat self-sufficiency.  Has anyone bought chicken meat lately?  When browsing the grocery store not too long ago I was blown away at the price of chicken.  Yikes.  

Marty seems cool so far, I’m really hopeful he will be a successful rooster for us.  I personally am not a fan of roosters they seem to always turn into a nightmare, and they don’t last long around here.  However in order to have a successful chicken meat operation despite what mainstream media tells you, a male is vital to producing chicks.

Harvest Right Freeze Dryer

By far one of our greatest assets to our homestead this year has been the Harvest Right Freeze Dryer.  The price tag is a bit shocking, as well as the increase in our energy bill, however being able to make our own storable food from our harvests makes the price tag minimal to the benefits we’ve reaped from our own freeze dryer.

I find there is something beautiful, and aesthetically pleasing to the eye to line each tray with all the things we’ve harvested.  If we didn’t purchase the harvest right freeze dryer this year I think we’d unfortunately have wasted so much of harvests.  The fact that the food will store for over 30 years is pretty fascinating.  A step up from our dehydrating days.

Water Bath Canning and Drying Herbs

I have been water bath canning almost daily, I personally love the look of all the beauts in the mason jars.  Being able to walk into my pantry and find food we’ve grown perfectly stored for long term use in jars is a wonder.

This year the apples just wouldn’t quit, a girl can only make so much applesauce, and apple butter.  We harvested in all the ways we could think of, but a fun endeavor we tried this year was making our own apple cider vinegar with all the peels and core scraps from our canning adventures.

Goat Soap For Sale

I ran into a neighbor who works at the ranch next door to us, and she asked if she could sell our goat soap in the office of their ranch.  So my hobby soap making efforts have begun to make a profit for our little homestead adventures.

I hope that people love the gentle all natural ingredients we include in each and every batch of soap!

Hops aplenty!

Last Fall I purchased some hops plants to add to our homestead for home brewing efforts as well as for medicinal uses.  

I think the hops plant might be one of my favorites around the homestead.  The smell is delicious and fun for the kids to harvest.  Can’t wait to use the dried hops in some home apothecary recipes this winter.

The Pond 

The pond has been an experience for us, no sooner would we get the water sorted out and it would rain, and create a nuclear waste bowl of algae.  After creating a cheap pond filter we’ve been able to keep our fish healthy and thriving seeing clear to the bottom.

The waste from the fish is an amazing addition to our gardening efforts.  Our plans are ultimately to have fish to eat in our pond, but for now we have a handful of koi, minnows, and goldfish pooping away creating garden gold.

The pond has been an excellent addition to our homestead, and it’s therapeutic to watch them swimming around each day.

Two Kids in 5th Grade!

Summer has flown by at an alarming pace, we’ve started 5th grade this year and that’s been fun!  Having the kids in the same grade makes teaching them a breeze. I’m blown away by their love of learning this year as well as their independence.

We went with the Masterbooks Curriculum this year, and I find it to be the perfect curriculum for our needs.

Book Nerd Alert

I’ve read an endless amount of books this summer and will share my list of my favorite reads soon!  Despite my seemingly never ending tasks around here, I can always find time to stuff my nose in a book and get lost!

Anyways, the ramble is over, the homestead has been bountiful and it’s been a blessing that I’m so grateful for. I look back at photos of my hands filled with two raspberries, or two tomatoes, and think back to the effort it’s been over the years to get to where we’re at now. The homesteading life is a lot of hard work and a lot of hard things, but it’s so fruitful and a joy to live this way.

How did your summer go?  Tell me what sort of successes you had in your garden and on your homestead.

What was a favorite from your garden this year?

May your week be filled with peace.

Happy Fall!

Danielle