Most modern-day homesteaders have one foot on the farm….and the other foot still in the working world.
To keep the sustainable lifestyle going, many folks need to keep their “day jobs” in order to finance it, at least for now.
Being pulled between two worlds can be stressful, defeating and expensive. Routinely simplifying all parts of our lives can improve our health, family and overall effectiveness.
For us, we are still raising 7 children, ages 6-16 at home, with two out of the home. Some are in public school, others are homeschooled. We run two businesses as well as a farm. I also maintain and author this website. We’re busy.
This is the time of the year when I’m completely exhausted from gardening, canning, the duties involved in caring for farm animals (full-time job right there!), school related chores and activities, and running a home.
The schedule that I am currently keeping isn’t sustainable, and thankfully it’s temporary. Once fall sets in, the fall garden will be much smaller and manageable. Most of the harvesting and preserving will be complete. After just one more miniature donkey baby is delivered here in the next week or so, we’ll be finished with farm babies for the year. The last of the meat chickens will be dealt with this weekend. I cancelled the chicken order I had planned for October, I’m just tired.
Whew, I am ready for a break! As much of a break you can have with 7 kids at home. 
Quite frankly, I long for some time to read and sew again…perhaps even a little boredom would be enjoyable.
Yet, I am constantly scrutinizing our “systems”
* What could we do better? Faster? With less effort?
* Are we taking on too much? Where can we cut?
* How can we be more efficient with our time and dollars?
I’m sharing a few of the issues we’ve dealt with this year along with some suggestions about how to deal with them.
Errands off the Property
Every time I get in the van, I lose time on the farm. During harvest and canning season, an unexpected errand can completely throw my day off, rendering me ineffective.
Thinking ahead and combining errands, when they become unavoidable, is helpful. Better yet, look for ways to bring what you need to the farm.
Order Bulk Feed: I wish I had done this sooner, but I finally took the time to call the local feed store, set up an account and get a monthly feed order delivered. There was a 500# minimum and we can meet that, however, why not go in with a neighbor if you can’t meet the minimum?
The prices were cheaper as well and it saves me time and gas to go get feed.
Order on-line: Ordering on-line is a great way to get what you need on your homestead. Frankly, I find the prices on-line to be much more competitive.
If you must leave the property, ask your neighbors if they need anything: They’ll be sure to return the favor sometime.
Growing Your Own Food
Being overwhelmed with harvesting and preserving food is a tricky thing…..part of you wants to put up as much food as you can, yet another part of you is exhausted from all the work.
Be realistic about what you can do.
Grow a more manageable garden: I’m not good at this because I always plant for loss….yet, most of it comes in. I’m working on this myself.
Know When to Let Go: Call neighbors or friends to come over and pick what you have when you’ve just had enough. Your food won’t go to waste and you can let go to do other more pressing things.
Spread out the harvest: Plant in two week intervals so that the harvest doesn’t come in all at once. This will give you time to breath and catch up.
Remember there’s always next year: There are those who won’t agree with me, but I believe in ‘next year”. There’s going to be another opportunity to do better.
Meredith with Ziggy, one of our babies this summer
Husbandry and Raising Your Own Meat
For those of you with farm critters, you know that juggling high-production gardening along with husbandry can be quite a challenge.
That said, I believe in the importance of keeping your flocks at a manageable number. With the drought of 2012, most of us are feeling the pressure of rising feed prices.
Winter can be very long when we are dealing with animals that we can’t afford to feed and that serve little purpose.
Sell: Those that you really can’t use in the next 12 months. Those animals who don’t quite “fit” your farm, whether they be high maintenance or just a nuisance, let them move on.
Buy: Make sure you can keep the commitment, but lower prices make a better environment for acquiring critters.
Cull: This can be difficult, but if you can feed your family with healthy but otherwise useless animals on your farm, why not? I have a few unexpected roosters and two goat bucks that are under consideration. Once again, feed is expensive.
Keeping the simple life….simple.
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About kmorris
I notice you mentioned in your post that sometimes we need to rid ourselves of animals that serve no purpose. I was wondering what your family uses donkeys for. In no way am I saying they are useless, I am asking out of ignorance regarding donkeys. I really am curious. You don’t eat them do you? I would imagine they are great for fertilizer. Love to know…
Rachel,
Great question! Here’s what miniature donkeys do…
http://www.themorristribe.com/2011/07/24/miniature-donkeys-what-do-they-do/
Perhaps some cultures eat donkey, I’m not sure but I’m not interested in that.
Take care!
Love this post! I wrote about something similar last week because sometimes I think we get so caught up in living the simple life that we make it way more complicated than it should be!
I just cannot imagine raising an animal and looking at it as food. (As I have said before, do not take me wrong. It is fine for those who are meateaters. I just wish all potential meat was raised in a humane way and treated well up until it becomes whatever. Since we have no intention of doing this ourselves we just avoid meat and seafood.) And just as Rachel says, what is with the donkeys? They must use up a lot of food and resources. Do they serve a farming purpose? Do they pull plows? Haul wood?
Elizabeth,
At one time, I couldn’t imagine raising our our meat either. However, after 6 years of vegetarianism that made me sicker than I already was, I went back to meat.
I don’t feel good eating meat that was raised in poor conditions, so as difficult as it was at first, we decided that raising our own was the only way to know exactly what they ate and how they lived.
Our animals all play in the sunshine every day with each other. They graze and forage. They eat bugs and roam the property. They are pet and fed non-GMO food.
They are also processed humanely.
We do not eat the donkeys, never heard of that, perhaps some cultures do. Here’s the scoop on donkeys…
http://www.themorristribe.com/2011/07/24/miniature-donkeys-what-do-they-do/
Thanks for your question!
That was interesting about the donkeys. We don’t have coyotes here…I thinks the wolves keep them away.
So you raise the donkeys for?? To sell as guard donkeys? Work on farms? Be pets? Work in petting zoos?
I have had the same thoughts about eating meat. I have often wondered if I could be a vegatarian, but I like meat. I just do not want to love it & then kill it myself. Do you process it yourself or take it to a plant? I am very interested in how you draw the lines and live with eating critters you raised yourself.
Marla,
Look for a post addressing this soon….
What a helpful post. You are doing so much, no wonder you are tired! Maybe y’all need to start an intern program to teach others and get some help. I have much admiration for what you are doing and how you are doing it!
Hi Kelly – loved your post. Thank you for sharing your ideas!
We’re not homesteaders – YET – and we are working toward simplifying our lives as well. I think commenter Daisy had a great suggestion though: an intern program! That would be quite the neat opportunity. You would get extra hands, and the extra hands would get real experience and learn from you.
Have you ever heard of Farmlink [dot] org? We’re checking them out every now and then to learn what’s available in NY State (where we live).
We’re in an unusual position right now, yet maybe one full of opportunity: I’m self-employed and work from home, and my husband was let go from his corporate job this summer (thankfully, with severance). We’re exploring where to go next, but we know homesteading is the ultimate goal. When one door closes… another opens.
Always look forward to your posts even though I mostly lurk!
Best,
Tracy
I just love your life, lol. Seriously, your updates reconfirm the epitome of a ‘farm dream’. Baby donkeys are just icing on that cake.
I do have a question though- it looks like an old ‘counting house’ out there in your garden field photo. Pretty cool… but I would really like to know what purpose it serves being there – any chance of an explanation and interior photo shoot?
Thanks SO MUCH for sharing so much!
Hello Cherihuka,
I’m sorry to tell you that the picture with the “counting house” isn’t my property. Wish it was!
I enjoy your blogs. I dream of a day when we can have a sustainable farm. So far, we have 7 hens and 1 rooster, 3 cats, & 2 dogs (one was dropped off on our road right before hurricane Isaac). I would like to have milking goats, pigs, and maybe a horse one day. It is hard enough managing the house and the pets we have now. As of today only 2 hens are producing, so we are nowhere near breaking even yet. I have had a small garden for 3-4 years now and this years was the worst due to squash bugs that just would not die! I am temporarily working full time as a nursing instructor and will soon be back to part-time—it can’t come fast enough. Every day I feel like I have lost ground in my homesteading. My employment is has no relationship to my home life, so it profits me nothing except income. Before I ever go to an animal auction and dare to bring home a cute baby goat, I must not be working more than part-time. I just can’t do it. I only have 1 special needs child, maybe if I had more than 6 children, I would not feel so overwhelmed. I have searched the internet and tried so many squash bug remedies, but none have been successful. I am open to treatments that will “really work” if any of your readers know of any.
Marla,
I’m not sure exactly what bug you are referring to, however, one method I’ve heard about that is very effective is to take a handful of the bugs, squish them and put them in a spray bottle. Fill the bottle with water and spray your affected plants. Makes sense to me, it’s cheap and wouldn’t hurt to try.
Anyone else have recommendations?
The stink bugs with sucker mouths that suck the life out of my squash fruit. I will have to try the dead bug spray. I have heard of it, but was afraid it would clog my sprayer. I need some ducks, but really would not know how to house them:) I have tried Diatomaceous earth, 7dust, pennies for slugs, marigolds, & daily picking and smashing. I have used container and ground gardening and they still get to them hanging in the air. They are like cockroaches and just keep coming back.
I’ve been simplifying some of our animal systems here lately too. We’re just at the start of spring in Australia, so I want to make sure we don’t have too much going on before new chicks and ducklings get added to the mix!
I culled a particularly brutal drake last weekend, and he’s sitting in the fridge waiting for a fine dinner. I’m also setting up animal watering systems that won’t need so much maintenance and water-carrying on my part. Some much needed gates and fence repairs have been done too.
Simple systems can make all the difference, especially when we can get so busy and overwhelmed! So can neighbors and extended family during harvest time! Group canning and preserving makes lighter, more fun work, plus you can do easy trading!
I’d love it if you linked this post up at Small Footprint Fridays, a new sustainable living linkup! Or any other posts you’d like as well…
http://www.smallfootprintfamily.com/small-footprint-friday-sustainable-living-linkup-100512