HOW WE AFFORD TO HOMESTEAD. Part One

Life on a homestead can be very expensive at times. But I don't want that to hinder your sight of how possible homesteading with minimal funds really is.

The money was never a worry to me, I know that sounds cliche, that I don't need money for happiness or we don't need money to feel secure. But honestly, I knew I wanted to expand my homesteading dreams and I was not going to let a trivial thing like money stop me. 

Frequently I am asked, "How the heck can you afford that?!" I just want you all to keep in mind that this lifestyle is possible on a budget, and I'm here to show you how. Here's a two-part peak into our homestead life and how we make it work.

Before I begin let me preface this by saying when we first began this venture last fall I was boarding 6 horses, not including my own mare. This was our start up (though we already had 6 laying hens). That money paid to feed my horse and all the other animals including our dogs, so we could then invest in other necessities.

I'm not saying to need to go out and find some horses or go gambling, I am simply setting the scene of our transformation. Don't mistake, we love this life and we chose it again everyday. That being said, what I am about to share with you is just a few things we do in our day to day life to live with a smaller foot print and afford to supervise the growth of our food. 

1. Don't let the money scare you!!!

Never let it stop you either, work hard, and your dream will be attainable. DON'T focus on what you can't afford, start with something sustainable that you CAN afford. I am confident that with time and determination, anyone can be a homesteader. 

Maybe your first sustainable act as a homesteader is a savings account, or starting your own sourdough. If you already have a garden save seeds from your harvest for next year. Go berry picking and preserve your loot. Maybe you do have a pasture and are entertaining the thought of boarders.

I know I know, not everyone can board horses. 

And that's ok. This is just one example of how we make extra money.

2. Create new streams of income wherever you can.

It doesn't matter what it is. The possibilities are endless. Here are a few things we do to make extra money on the homestead:

- We sell chicken and duck eggs

- Boarding horses 

- Spencer has numerous professional skills that he uses often for side jobs when we need extra income. Some include painting, landscaping, wood cutting, manual labor, auto mechanics and small engine repair etc..

- I sell Certified Therapeutic Grade Essential oils through my DoTERRA business for supplementary income. More about that to follow. Learn more or join my team here!

3. Don't spend unnecessary cash! 

If you don't absolutely need it, don't bother. Minimize purchases. Cut down clutter.

Personally I would rather dig through a thousand thrift stores and goodwills to find a hidden treasure, but I'm just a nerd like that. We also don't buy anything on credit. All large purchases are made in cash. Yes, it may take longer to save the money but the piece of mind is worth every minute in the long run. 

Never buy things brand new unless ABSOLUTELY necessary. And believe me there are necessary times, but when you save for it you can prepare to buy something of QUALITY. 

Try Craigslist.. there's always a plethora of farm essential and people with tons of it! Animals, tractors, tools, vehicles, you name it.

But Quincy I really have no money but want to do anything possible to change our diet, lifestyle, anything!? Help?

Yes I hear you. I to was in panic mode when we began and there was no way in sight to afford this life!!! 

But peeps... There totally is, which brings me to this...

4. Barter when ever possible! 

I love the barter system, countless exchanges with no paper green anywhere in sight. Its a beautiful thing people. Trading someone for something I already have? Heck yes I will! Like eggs, organic free-range chicken, organic pork, organic vegetable starts, babysitting, a hen and a rooster, or even beer... no really. 

I am a big supporter of giving something when you get something in the farm community. It just feels like the homestead way, and that fills my cup. So, occasionally I provide beer and food for garden/weeding help. Maybe you'll get some cuts of our homegrown pork for manual labor. When a friend brings me a plant for my garden, I send them with a dozen eggs.  

I even got my hanging rabbit cage and 2 nest boxes from a friend's landlord, left behind by previous tenants! And for free? Score!! Just because you have no money doesn't mean you can't find it for free or maybe find something of yours you can trade. Its totally Dancing the Wolves, you should try it sometime. You can even come barter with me, I would love to help your farm ventures.

You can even become members of bartering groups that are looking to expand their contacts. This is a great way to find things you need on the homestead. I know some folks that trade fresh produce for farm fresh eggs. If you think long enough I bet there is a skill or something that you can create from within the home to barter with. 


We came to own our riding lawn mower, weed whacker, leaf blower, and chain saw from bartering auto mechanics and small engine repair. Even a free mower rental to cut our field. Boom. Barter baby! Everyone has some thing they can barter with. What is yours? 

When it's all said and don't we do this because this is how the homestead life calls to us. This is how I feel the Lord would want us to live. Of our own hand and of our own heart. And just because we don't make 6 figures in a year does not mean we don't deserve this life. 

We want more than anything to provide a healthy wholesome lifestyle and attitude for our children. To respect and feel secure in where their food came from. After all, this is why we do what we do, for the love of the food. 

I know I'm throwing a lot of words around. Like minimize, barter... sustainable...healthy 

I'm not asking you to change your life, unless you want to. Food for thought. 

Stay tuned for Part Two

Peace, Q

OUR ACCIDENTAL PUPPY MIRACLE. AND WHAT I WOULD HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY

As many of you know our dog had puppies on the homestead a few weeks ago. As many of you don't know, this was not planned.

I had wanted to breed her in the future, coincidentally the dog who performed the act was in fact the sire I already had in mind! Lucky me huh? 

 Miss Panda

Or not. At least they are full breed so they can be sold to help pay for mama to be spayed. And hopeful;;y begin the savings for an ACL surgery our other dod badly needs. Here are my girls.. Mama is Dollie (left) and my older girl, Dixie Mae (right) who is the one needing surgery.

Don't get me wrong I love puppies, but since my female dog is quite young to be having a litter, I was scared for her. And she is proving to be a realitely attentive mother. Although she does sit on them from time to time.... I can only imagine what's it's like to have seven babies.. Yeesh. 

Anyway, as this wasn't planned and I hadn't much time to think ahead. It was hard to tell if she was pregnant originally. Taking her to a vet for an X-ray seemed an unnecessary intervention for something she can instinctually handle. Nonetheless the last few days of her pregnancy were slightly stressful.

She was bred twice. I know you're probably wondering how the heck this was an accident, and I'll touch on that story later. But I will say this, if you've ever had to wrangle two, prime aged pit bulls, you are in for a chore my friend. 

The first time the two were found stuck together was June 30th. Shortly after, I believe only 5 days later it happened again. Since the average gestation for this size dog is 63 days, I assumed we would see puppies by August 31st. They came on the 29th. Seven fat and noisy puppies. 

Unfortunately the last puppy to arrive, number eight, didn't make it. She got stuck with what remained of the after birth, and mama being so tired couldn't gather anymore strength to push. 

Dogs are very intuitive, being so I, believe Dollie knew the pup had already passed away. She didn't show much interest in her or our attempts to revive her. She simply went on tending to the other seven. 

At least next time I'll have already done this. I'll have already learned how to help birth a pup and felt their first breaths. Next time a puppy gets stuck, I'll have a more direct route to a resolution, instead of a shot in the dark. 

If we ever breed dogs on purpose.. There are a few things I would do differently.

First I would create a birthing kit. Being equipped with some medical essentials to help mama throughout birth was very helpful. Granted, I had the things I needed, they just weren't properly organized... so yes there was a little scrambling after I had noticed she'd already dropped the first pup.

Second, creating a better whelping box may have helped. She had just enough room in her oversized kennel (with the top removed) but as more puppies came it started to seem cramped. After all the mess was cleaned she was happy in there for a bit. Now it is even more cramped than before, since these puppies are growing like weeds, we have to either make mama get in or just bring the puppies out on a blanket to her. Its simply too hot to nurse 7 pups all confined like that.

Thirdly.... babies stink. Especially puppies. We have a relatively small house, luckily its still warm enough to have windows open. But they need a better place to grow...that is not in my house. At almost 3 weeks old they are beginning to go everywhere! I am in the process of buying a large round play pen for them to have outside. Having the luxury of planning your litters is better in regards to weather since its far too cold to have them in our separated garage at night. For now they are fine, as some have already found their forever homes, so I won't have tons of puppies for much longer.

I'm cherishing their fat, adorable yet stinky butts while I can. I love babies, what can I say? And watching them nurse with mama? Gah, my heart melts every time. I'm in love.


Savoring the puppy breath..

Q

RABBIT MANURE TEA.

Sounds gross don't it?

Yeah yeah, well it is pure gold around this homestead!

Finding a fertilizer or composting agent that won't burn our plants but will also provide a good food source for them is key during these preparation months.

One great attribute of rabbit manure is that is is a cold manure. So, you can put it directly into your garden beds or onto your plants or via manure tea. The best part is, the process of obtaining manure is thoughtless. And better yet, the manure doesn't have much of an odor once its let to air dry, it can then easily be applied to indoor plants and not produce an odor.

Our rabbit hutches will soon hand a few feet off the ground so we simply situate Rubbermaid bins or a similar container below the hutches to catch the manure. At this point we simply move the cages out clean under and then replace them. New updated to the hutches coming very soon!!! It is fairly light weight manure when dry so we can let them fill and empty them maybe once a month. Conveniently our rabbits are situated quite close to  the compost and then the garden, so transporting the manure is virtually labor-less.

And this manure tea? Even easier!

Simply find an old milk jug or some other similar container. Transfer a couple tablespoons of manure into the container and fill it with water. You'll let this mixture sit for a couple weeks, agitating or shaking the container every couple days to breakdown the manure. And there you GO! Strain the water so the particles can be added back to the jug from there the mixture can be diluted farther if necessary or poured directly into the garden or onto your container plants.

Extra manure should be transferred into your compost or spread on your garden or fields. Rabbit manure is simply great! Especially since my fuzzy friends are fed an organic and non GMO diet, consisting mainly of sprouted fodder and feed pellets. I also gather them weeds and grass clippings as often as possible to incorporate some roughage into their diets.

Preparing our main garden and other garden beds is key this time of year. Trays and trays of starts are sitting under lights waiting for appropriate planting conditions. We have a great deal of work that still needs to be done so this week I plan to make 3 gallons of rabbits manure tea, some of which will be fed to my indoor plants.

Don't have any rabbit manure??? Worry no more, all you Central Oregon peeps yearning for some of this wonderful poo look no further! Head my way, I am more than willing to share. Heck! Take some horse manure for your compost pile while you're at it. For all you long distance folks, I doubt you want a pile of poo from yours truly gracing your mailbox. Take a look on Craigslist for your area or simply make a wanted add, easy peasy right? I'm sure you'll find a more than generous rabbit farmer to help you out.

In other news! I believe I have finally successfully bred Chester to our American cross doe, Snow. She displayed proper behavior leaning forward and pronouncing her vulva by lifting her tail, and after all was said, Chester fell off!!!!

Cool Q.... sounds like your rabbit STILL has no clue! 

No seriously though, I have read articles and books that all say that its easy to spot a successful breed if the buck freezes and falls off at the end. Is this true? Is it fiction? Who knows but it happened! Which is more than I can say for the last few breeds. After much praying I hope for Snow to kindle sometime the end of April.

Chester did perform in this same manner with our doe New Zealand doe, Belle, at this beginning of this month. She was not so intrigued but he performed as though he had made success, so if he did, then hopefully I will have a litter born this week. Here's hoping! I have yet to notice any signs of Belle's pregnancy or nesting for birthing. So we shall see, oh yes.

And finally coming end of April the other two girls, Rosie and Ginger, will be matured enough to start breeding! I cannot wait to see the babies Chester and Rosie will kindle, as they are both beautiful broken red New Zealands. It's safe to say I have baby fever, of all shapes and sizes. Did you see our new kittens? GAH, I almost die from their cuteness.... blah blah blah ha ha have a good day ya'll!

Considering rabbit stew.... Okay, maybe I'll give the ole girls a few more tries.


Q

KICKING OFF 2015: PART II

In 2015 I want to learn.

I want to try things I have never tried before.

This year I want to begin slowly expanding our homestead.

So this January I will take you through our 2015 Homestead plan. This plan will show all of current projects with their tasks and any updates or additions they need. As well as new tasks or skills we want to incorporate on the farm. This month is one of brainststorming, planning, and preparing, for there is much to be done before spring!

Lets get started!

So If it isn't already obvious I love animals. Spencer, my fiance, refers to it as my animal addiction.... He might be right! I'm not sure when/if I'll ever hit that point where I feel I have too many. My poor parents painstakinly endured many many of my animal experiments and projects, praise the Lord for their patience. I look at my little managerie as a privelage that I am so grateful for. My animals rely on me for all of their basic needs, somehting any animal enthusiast, or horder ;, never takes lightly. For ifI were to see anyone mistreating my fur babies, girlfriend would be one amgry mama. For one, ok, two main reasons I feel this way. 1) my animals all serve some purpose or provide some service, from my bull dog Dixie to my horse Sweet Pea, every breathing animal serves their divine purpose in the grand scheme of our stead. And we could not be more blessed to receive the gifts they give us of all sahpes, sizes, and forms. Spencer would say he is most grateful for those animals whose purpose is so feed our family. Currently these animals consist of our laying hens, laying ducks, 2 pigs, and our meat rabbits.

In the spirit of prepping and my anxious excite about animals I jumped the gun when a little extra money came in and invested in our rabbit program, this is where our intro to 2015 begins..... rabbits. Following the reccommendtaion of a fellow blogger, Shaye, at The Elliot Homestead, we decided to begin our breeding program with 5 rabbits. So, mid December 4 does and 1 buck came home to the farm. Though I may jump head first into my projects and sometimes a bit hap hazardly, I always do my research.

(A side note to anyone looking to trade urban for rural: Be ready for a lot of reading, the wealth of information available to the modern homesteader via book or internet is limitless, and is the easiest and quickest way to learn a new skill or research one you want to learn, which at the end of the day is the whole point of our endeavor... To learn to cultivate and preserve a humble healthy lifestyle to pass onto our children in the the spirit of getting back to basics and living a wholesome life.)

So, I spent weeks and weeks fawning over homestead magazines with nest box blueprints and webiste after website of how to's and facts for the meat rabbit raiser....have I said this is my first time over seeing an animal husbandry project? Holy cow I've only dreamed of baby animals my whole life and what better to start with than fuzzy kits! Gah! This mama is so ready for babies!

Firstly, I had no idea where to begin... So when in doubt sister simply typed meat rabbit into Pinterest... watch out! You'll be enthralled for hourss just like I was... Eventually I found so much great information that I setttled on 5 breeds that seemed to be the best for meat breeding. New Zealand, Californian, Silver Fox, Satins, and Standard Rex are the most commonly bred meat rabbits. Alas I knew what to look for as my plans began to come together, so I set a budget according to what I thought I needed for housing them and how much it would be per rabbit. When looking for my rabbits I did not bother to care about pedigree and registered status as these rabbits will never be shown, they're simply our little farm bunnes.... Although wouldnt it be fun to start a rabbitry for farm baby when she is a little older? I'm entertaining the idea, this would be a great way to incorporate her into the farm as she grows and teach her some valuable lessons along the way.

Secondly, we at The High Desert Homestead are working on a conrnerstone of homesteading and micro farming, frugality.... Not that I ever spend money unneccessarily on myself or material things, I just tend to over anticiape additions to the homestead and at times may jump the gun when money might be better spent somewhere else. Granted it usually works out in our favor. Becoming more frugal and saving more is a serious goal for this farm mama this year! So... when it comes to purchasing animals, equipment, or farm materials I rarely have to look past another of my daily addictions.... Craigslist. I dont care who you are or where you are, there are always a plethora of animals and equipment floading this oh so wonderful black market network.

Back to the drawing board....

Where will the rabbits be housed..... Next to the chickens underneath the eve of our barn....

And in what.... A homemade rabbit hutch that cost... wait for it.... Nothing! We were able to build it completly costless from recycled materials and some gifted supplies from my unlce... Who by the way gave me the courage to start this rabbit endeavor after he told me about all of his rabbit experiences, and he even said he would help show Spencer and I the whole butchering process! Another homestead lesson in the bag... in about 11 weeks...more on that later!

How much will each rabbit cost..... In central Oregon rabbits prices vary but here's a breakdown of our rabbits cost:

Chester - New Zealand buck (6 mos): $20
Ariel - New Zealand doe (9 wks): $10
Fiona - New Zealand doe (9 wks): $10
Snow - California cross doe (2 yrs): $15
Belle - New Zealand cross doe (1.5 yrs): $15 (with these two does I also recieved 1 rabbit transport cage, 2 water bottle, 2 feeders absolutely free from the breeder who was liquidating his commerical breeding program, homestead win!!!)

As you can see rabbits aren't initially very expensive as far as start up goes and its free to breed them to your hearts content as long as you are prepared for a lot of babies and are sensitive to the mamas' needs throughout gestation, nursing, and weaning. Aside from the cost of the rabbits ($70... Which I might add I won in a game at Spencer's company christmas party!), one large water bottle ($10), and one large feeder ($12) our start up was virtually free. The costs associated with feed are recuring at $11.75/ bag/ month from our local feed company, HayStack Naturals, (20 miles from our house!!! Making Local Habit!) which is sold throughout the county.

Ok, ok wanna see the fur babies???

Pretty dang cute huh?!? The top picture is my main man Chester! He is a broken red New Zealand and boy is he frisky. He always thumps his feet at me when I'm trying to catch him. The second picture shows Snow on the left with the Californian black ears/ nose and Belle on the right with black spots, she is a broken black New Zealand. Last but not least little Ariel the broken red and Fiona the chesnut. As you can see from the picture the two little girls are living in a temporary home until the finishing touches are put on their side of the hutch that the other older girls are sharing. More about out choice to colonize our rabbits instead of individually house them latet!!!

So there you have it!

This is my first step toward a more sustainable food source.

AND... my first new homesteading task to master this year! With the help of Spencer who built my amzing huthces (pics to come later) and always completes my ridiculous requests, and my unle who has experience with meat rabbit raising( and who also happend to be a custom knife maker.... oh ya he said he would make me some of my own processing knives!) we will be well on the road to baby rabbits without stress...

By the way... Snow is expecting her first litter by Chester at the end of this month! Soon we shall seperate her from Belle and give her a nest box this weekend to begin making her nest.

Follow here and the other girls progress her at The High Desert Homestead

Overly excited!
QB