Firewood Hoarding/Homesteading/etc....

This might come across as gay(not to hurt people's sensibilities.) Just couldn't think of another way to put it. However; here it goes. The older I get the more inclined I am to fall back to a homesteader life style. I'd truly like to get back to a simpler way of life. Knowing where products come from is becoming more and more important to me.

Pieces I am slowing moving towards:

• Gardening/canning.
• Heating with wood.
• Chickens - eggs.
• Homemade cleaning products.
• Reusable products instead of throw away.
• Brewing my own beer or purchasing growlers.
• Learning woodworking and want to make furniture instead of buying.
• Overall self-sufficiency.
• Maybe a pig down the road for pork.

Some call this a hard way of life, and I get it. The original pioneers had a hard life and while technology simplifies some of homesteading, it's still to this day remains a day in and day out grind. Yes it comes across as romantic.

There are plenty of books and websites out there to support even a simple one acre homestead. Many of the one acre homesteading talks about a milking cow. A milking cow producing 4-7 gallons of milk per day is way more than I'd ever be able to use. No thank you to goat milk. Yet there are pieces of homesteading we can all use in our lives. Most of the people on this forum already practice some if not many of the components of homesteading.

My ideal homestead would get me away from the suburbs of RI (which were more rural growing up) to a place in Maine or NH where I could have several acres to build a homestead. Unfortunately now that I am in my mid 40's, I fear I do not have enough time to accomplish all of what I want. However; I will give it the old college try.

 

You've probably seen videos about duck Proenneke. He started his adventure at 59. If you really want to do it, it can happen. Not saying you oughta go for it like he did, but there is much to learn from his decades of experience that he video taped.



Just as a reference on burning wood for heat... I've heard many times that 10 acres in Maine (on average) should yield enough firewood for a lifetime.

 

i agree ,i feel the same way it is a nice dream but many of those things you could do now,chickens, gardening ,canning etc ,several years ago a friend ( who is doing most of what you want to do ) turned me on to Backwoods home magazine you should check it out i think you will enjoy it

 

I'm pushing 40, and have begun similar moves. First time wood burner this year and the wife just made up a year's worth of laundry soap for about $25 bucks. For us, it's about becoming more efficient with what we have, and wanting to depend less on the grid, grocery stores, and the government for sustainability.

 

Well we are trying to make small steps in that direction, homemade apple sauce canning. my BIL, has beef farm 8 miles down road that's all natural. can't be organic because he likes to corn,grain cows last few weeks for marbling and organic corn is crazy money.. But trying to be more self sustaining.. Waiting til solar panels make economic sense...

 

O no!! Boettg33 you have become your father.

 

You are never too old, until you are too old. We started down a similar path, 2 years ago, at 50. You won't ever be able to it all, but you can do some. We decided not to build, instead bought a pole barn on 10 acres, which we are slowly making into a home. Tried chickens, failed miserably, but the coyotes were happy. We will probably not try animals again for a while. We grow lots of our food, cut enough firewood for ourselves and to give some away, and are able to provide occasional work for college students. Our fixed living expenses are very low, and we are living a very sustainable life.

Good luck to you, you can make steps if you wish to.

Greg

 

Going off grid doesn't merely mean going off the power grid either.
It also means letting go of a lot of the trappings and stangleholds that modern living has on us.
Downsizing isn't just for companies.
We don't really need a lot of the things we think we need.
This is coming from a guy (and his wife) who had a lot of that stuff. We each had a vehicle, and so did all the kids.....on dad and mom's dime.
Pretty much did what we wanted whenever we wanted, and now we don't so much once we realized that we were working our butts off just to maintain all that.
Don't need the Albatross anymore, so I cut him loose.
We have chickens, tried goats and a sheep for a while, and bunnies. Have a garden that we can't make enough time for, but we try.
I'd like to have a fusion reactor(or some kind of power generation) in the yard somewhere...sometime, but I doubt that'll happen in my lifetime.
Might have to settle for a small house mounted windmill or something.
You're starting into this much younger than we did. You don't have to do the full bore thing right away, but do whatever you're comfy with and ease into it. Think long term.
You'll get to wherever your comfort level is.
Take pics along the way and narrate. We like good stories....with pics.
I'm rambling, so I'll stop, but millions of people have done this. Lots of reasons for it. Man, we could write a book.

 

It is all a great thing and hard.In the past people had few choices had to do for themselves.Then died at earlier ages.Living long lives with smaller families makes it more difficult but not impossible.

 

I'm headed in that direction. Less is more, simpler is better.

 

I lived out at "deer camp" for more then 10 yrs. It was not a matter of wanting to live a good N simple life it was just the way it had to be.Young and not having lots of cash didn't give it much thought.Bought a house in the village and life for me changed.Can't say it was for the better,in fact the house came with an evil neighbor on 1 side,and"the good witch on the other".

The evil neighbor is politically connected here and the local government self serving.
The evil 1 and her son has vandalized my house repeatedly,sworn false statements against me,
Repeatedly threatened to burn my house down,and in fact an assault by the boy led to my disability.
If it were not for the good witch I would not have been able to show the restraint that has kept me out of jail,the newspaper,and I am sure the morge.
The property line between the evil 1 and I supposedly runs right thru my house.After having words with a local" leader" I was cited for a property code violation and forced to remove things from my front yard.Things that harken back to a simpler way of life,were deemed debri.A maytag
washer from 1931,a grinding wheel, and other things that I sold or gave away I hope will be enjoyed by those that received them.I didn't let just anyone have them.The people that truly appreciated the things for what they are and represent got em.
I am afraid that I must abandoned my home this year because I will not be allowed to get firewood into my home.
Wish me luck.

 

Love this thread.

I can't wait to get off the corporate hamster wheel but I look around and all my colleagues just want to run even faster on it. I'd rather invest that time and effort working for myself and my family than for a big company that doesnt care about me...or even worse a bunch of "stuff" that is supposed to make me happy.

It all comes down to who do you want to work for and what makes you happy. Once you figure that out the path becomes pretty clear. It could be the arduous task of a homestead or a carefree living in a shack on the beach.

 

I just read the original ( first volume ) there was a lot of interesting info in it ,the foxfire series is available from backwoods home magazine and they also have anthologies of the magazine by year ,they are a great resource and i think they are currently on sale.

 

Yeah.
This was a good straighforward post lukem.
I tend to get a little carried away re:being on the hampster wheel. BTDT, as have BILLIONS of others.

 

Economy of words.

 

Every year I get a little closer to wanting to move in the sticks and quit working. I work for myself already. People these days drive me to want to get the heck outta town for good.
I've got the land purchased. I've got the equipment needed to homestead bought for the most part. I just need to put a house (cabin) out there, well, and septic, and I'm set.

 

A noble quest. If I was a younger man and had the initial funds to go completely off grid I would be there in a heart beat. My advise, baby steps. Start with your food source. My wife and I have gardened and canned all our lives and now have 7000 Sq. feet of garden. It don't take that much to sustain your needs but that's what we do. Lotta work but whatever. Wood is going to be king if you live in a cold climate and will need sustainable heat. What Backwoods Savage said in the above post is most true. One other thing to remember is that as nice as it may seem if you are watching some of the You tube vids about homesteading is that if you do a little digging into the fine folks putting up the vids you will find out that they have decided to simplify their lives after years of making a 6 figure income. That's a pretty good cushion for failure compared to a newbe that has a wife and children and has never made more than 35 to 60 K a year and decides to trek off into the wilderness in this day and age. I am not a smart man by any means and am no X-pert on homesteading but I am a realist. Some years ago when I first started poking around the internet I ran across a group of "Preppers". Well, low and behold I realized that my wife and I and all of our fore fathers here in Podunk Ioway have been preppers since we settled here in the late 1800's. The only difference was that all of my new found prepper friends on the interweb all lived in a climate that never got below 30°F but maybe once in a blue moon. Pretty easy when you consider we get 30° below zero wind chills on a regular basis in the winter where I'm at. I am by no means trying to throw mud on any ones dreams but just trying to let you know, know your limitations and be prepared. Mother Earth News and guys like Wranglerstar are all fine and dandy but being self sufficient is a real hard row to hoe.
Sorry, I will get off my soap box now.