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Hello everyone. I'm currently in CT. Planning to move to northern AL in the next year. I'm an avid vegetable gardener, fermenter, pickler, canning, and future homesteader. I grew up in SD ranching and raising animals for food, hunting and fishing. I am currently studying herbalism and natural home remedies. I look forward to discussing and learning from all of you.

I'm from Alabama. We are currently on a rental property owned by my mother-in-law. We are able to do more on this property than other rentals. We started a wood chip garden this year that's 1300 sq ft. It's slow going since the wood chips haven't decomposed to soil yet. I just add some compost to where I'm planting. We are starting on our second garden that's slightly bigger. We have added 5 silver fox meat rabbits, 2 nigerian dwarf goats for milk, and 5 chickens. One being a rooster that we just added about a week ago. All of this is new for us so I'm relying heavily on experienced growers like those at TGN. Thanks for all you shared knowledge. It makes all the difference!

It says "You don't have permission to do that."

Oops, I commented before introducing myself:

Hi, I live in Ontario, Canada on a 3 acre property. A bit over half is wetland, and on higher ground we have a 4500 sq ft garden, a small orchard, and nut trees that the squirrels and jays harvest for us. We have had chickens (both meat and layers) in the past but that doesn’t work for us right now. Two of our children have been involved with beekeeping in the past, but currently other people have a few hives near our place, which is a real blessing. 

Just before the covid lockdown, our daughter was refused medical care because my she had a cold as well as the issue we wanted to consult the doctor about, and I realized I need to learn more about home medicine (although I already do a lot with vitamins and minerals, having learned from Adele Davis and the big Balch nutritional medicine book). I have had very low energy for the past decade, have gone through the medical wringer to no avail, and am hoping to learn gain energy. Fermenting, culturing, sourdoughing and other traditional food prep are things I am learning about, although I’ve made yoghurt and sauerkraut for years. And we are starting to learn about essential oils as well.

Yay @judsoncarroll4! Lots of homeschoolers are into growing and making things for themselves. Where would one find the homeschooling group?

Hi @MelissaLynne that sounds amazing. We have only coyotes, bears and wolves here (with some reports of 'dog-sized cats with long tails') so we got some big, protective dogs so the children were able to roam freely. But such small children and frequent cougars sounds like supervising your kids is a very important part of your homesteading lifestyle. How do you keep your chickens safe amidst all that?

@AnnieKate we have an Australian Shepherd and a noisy blue heeler that generally discourage wild animals from hanging around. It took me a couple years to reliably train them to not kill the chickens, especially the Broody hens and their chicks. 😠 They are on a electric collar that keeps them within 90’ of the house though. The game department will fine us if they are not confined in some way. The chickens roam considerably further. The chickens are secured at night but range freely during the day. Generally I just try to keep plenty around and hatch more every year. Periodically one or two disappear, but I have enough that it isn’t a noticeable loss. If I notice a predator hanging around I will call them back in and most the chickens will come running expecting treats and linger in the area. Maybe fire a couple shots if the predator is still hanging about. If it becomes an ongoing problem coming right up to our main yard and house area we will kill it.

with the cougar issue and small children it can be frustratingly hard to get much done as far as developing the property and garden. Once I get the garden under some sort of managed state I will focus on building a safe play area for the girls next to our main veggie garden. Hopefully this should help.

when our two current dogs pass I will invest in a couple of trained LGDs. I don’t want to try to raise any now while we still have such bad examples around. Our current dogs have been known to nap in front of the house while a cougar was staring down our goats just around the corner. The dogs more often seem to think our other animals are for their entertainment rather than being protective of them.