Farm Mission 101

[ahavah]

x-posted to mission101For those who don't know, my family uprooted ourselves from Western North Carolina at the end of last year and moved onto 40 acres in Southeast Missouri. We are trying to realize our dream of owning a self-sufficient farm. It's mostly trial and error, since we have never farmed before, but we're moving along slowly but surely. Our first

Comments

[aimingforpeace]

Very impressive! I'm working on my list right now.

How did you figure out the exact end date? Did you just count it out or is there a calculator somewhere?

[ahavah]

Thank you! I look forward to seeing your list. I'm pretty sure that there's a calculator listed on the Mission 101 community's profile. I think that's where I got it from, anyway.

[thepheenixeyri]

This is awesome.

I mean...seriously, this is one of the more focused lists I've seen and I like that. :)

Good luck.

[ahavah]

Thank you so much! I'm just glad that Josh agreed to do it with me. Now we know we're both on the same page with our goals & hard work here!

[stasia]

I think this is a very sensible and balanced list. I'm an over-organizer, so I'd have set up two lists; one as this is, organized by due-date, but the second I'd have organized by area or task, so all the sewing/quilting/handwork things would be in one list, all the kids stuff in a second, the poultry and new animals would be another...

Yes, I can make a million lists, why?

*grin*

Stasia

[ahavah]

Stasia, have you tried Mission 101? If you are a list maker, this could be an awesome project for you! I really love it, even if I didn't manage to finish my first list. It really helps to plot out what I want to bring to fruition in my life. My first list was organized by separate categories, but since this is one list mainly for our farm, I just tried to do it in order of importance.

[allyra]

Wow, sounds like a lot of fun! A lot of work, too, of course!

Might I suggest that y'all consider adding llamas to your farm? From what I understand, they make good guard animals and can help defend other livestock from coyotes, etc.

If you lived closer to me, I'd donate my canning equipment to you. I got all set up and used it for one summer. I just don't have the stamina it takes to make it worthwhile. :(

[ahavah]

We've considered llamas. Maybe one day. Most of our land, sadly, is wooded. We need to create more pasture area to have room for bigger livestock. I'm hesitant to take on too many fiber animals until we know what we're doing a bit better. Our main focus is on meat and milk for now.

I wish we were closer! I'd love some canning equipment. I tried canning once back in high school, but my jam came out more like hard candy. :/ I think I need a person to show me, rather than trying to learn from a book. I learn better being shown. But, for now, I've bought the blue book or whatever it's called, and I'm going to give it a shot whenever we have enough harvest to try it out!

[allyra]

Ahhh, yeah...that would make having llamas difficult! Good luck with everything you're trying!

Canning is somewhat about trial-and-error, I think. Some of the things I made came out amazingly, others not so much. It's EXTREMELY time-intensive. If I were growing more of my own produce, I think I'd give it another shot, but buying to can just doesn't make much sense. I wish my current house allowed for a size of garden that my old one did. :(

[ahavah]

I know a lot of people who but from the farmer's market to can, or who own a share of a CSA (which I would love to be able to offer folks one day!). It's healthier than store canned foods, but those are so inexpensive that it's just not worth it to some people. Me, I just really want to have the skill!

Whoops, and thank you so very much for the well wishes! ♥

[celestialgldfsh]

Wow. I'm impressed that you made such specific long term goals. That's awesome.

[ahavah]

Thanks so much! Well, our farm has been something we have dreamed of and talked about for many years now, so sitting down and listing all the things we hope to accomplish wasn't too hard! My first list took ages for me to make. This took us about ten minutes. lol