Just starting out

“Just starting out”

Late last April 2006, my wife and I purchased a "hobby farm" in middle Tennessee.

A life long ambition of mine, (I am in my mid 40’s, my wife is in her early 30’s), my purpose in doing so was to raise livestock and grow fruits and vegetables in an attempt to see just how self-sufficient we could be. My wife is still not too sure about all of this, but I will get to that later…

We are not going completely “off grid”… or anything quite so dramatic. Nor do we intend to draw or sole means (or even an important means) of income from the farm – but we hope to make enough to pay for seeds, animal feed, equipment and tools, and to provide an honest summer job for our 13 year old son (our younger son is an infant), and we hope to leave less of an environmental impact by driving as little as possible and lowering our electricity usage as much as possible.

Our other goal is to produce most of our meats and vegetables, all of our eggs and milk, and most of our wheat consumption. Fruits, we knew, would take time just to supply a small portion of our needs.

I plan to keep a journal and post our experiences in this endeavor on this Blog, and I sincerely hope that people interested in a more self-sufficient, sustainable lifestyle would be willing to check in on this project and share ideas on everything from growing and preserving foods to maintaining sustainable heating methods. I have lived in the “city” my entire life as has my wife, and we are true neophytes.

To give you an idea of what we are working with, our farm is 14 acres, with most of it in pasture. I have a ½ acre vegetable garden presently, and am in the process of developing another 3/4 acre crop area to be split: ½ acre for feed corn for the chickens and goats, and ¼ acre for wheat for bread. I hope to have corn/wheat area producing for the 2007 growing season. We have a 5 stall poll barn with a 3 bay shed attached for stacking round bales, and a 30 by 50 metal outbuilding for storage. Our house is small and functional, with 1450 sqft of living space above a comfortably finished 800 sqft grade level basement where I work at my “real job”. It is quite enough for a family of 4. We do not have a woodstove yet, but plan to install one before Winter 2008. We do not have a wood lot but am looking for one nearby.

I should say that we made some small progress last year. Our vegitable garden was productive in that for 2 months we had all of the tomatoes, sweet corn, bell peppers, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, spinach, cucumbers, watermelon, and cantaloupe we could eat. We did not preserve anything, as we started small because we were deep into the growing season when we closed on the property. I hope the garden is much more productive this year as I have been adding a great deal of manure and other organic matter.

Our chickens (15 Rhode Island Reds) produced enough eggs but the goats (2 Nubian crosses) were less than cooperative when it came to milking. These were allowed to forage in the pasture with our 4 horses.

Unfortunately, in early winter our goats and chickens were killed by 2 dogs that had been abandoned in the countryside, something the animal control officers said was common in our county. We were devastated, as the goats, and even the chickens, had become family pets. We have ordered chicks from a hatchery and some layers from a local farm. This year, our animals will have a little less freedom than last year.

We plan to grow a much wider variety of vegetables this year and have purchased a variety of heirloom seeds. We hope to be able to preserve much of our produce for consumption over the winter and spring.

Last year our bean crop was a complete failure, and training a goat to let us milk her remained a “riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma”. This year we plan to grow potatoes for the first time as well as raise a pig and/or a beef calf for slaughter and others to sell.

Any tips, suggestions, or advice on ANY matter having to do with self-sufficient living would be greatly appreciated. You can post a comment here or email me at:

Almostselfsufficient (at) yahoo (dot) com.

Thanks!