Deep South Homestead
Deep South Homestead community with Danny and Wanda.
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Starting Out
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Starting Out
Danny and Wanda, do you have any tips for folks just starting out in homesteading?
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16 Replies
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It depends on what you are already doing. If you are already gardening, great, if not, start a small garden with veggies you like. Learn to grow 5 veggies well. Then add 1 or 2 more next year. Get your infrastructure in place. Fencing, animal pens before you get animals. Prep while you learn.
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Good advice sir. Something I have learned is to be patient when considering your plan taking shape: study all aspects of the project before you put the shovel to the ground or the hammer to the nail.
A sure foundation is most beneficial: stay balanced as you approach the next phase: be realistic, a dream could become a nightmare if not carried out in the right order with well thought out steps.
Take counsel from your chosen community, a wealth of experience at your disposal.
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Hey all, I’m not a homesteader, just a suburban gardener in So Cal with terrible soil. Granny to many kiddos, and I provide childcare to the youngest. Hope its okay to join you. I’ve learned much watching Danny and Wanda’s videos, and I’m a patriot, so I enjoy the open discussions.
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First year planting a small garden and growing sheeps…
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May I suggest seriously considering a wood burning stove for anyone living in a colder climate. My wife and I just installed one this last winter. The way energy dependency is becoming scary now gives me great pleasure knowing we won’t freeze or starve this fall. We just loooove the cozy feeling we get just having it in the house.
Lucky for us the home is only 725sft. Won’t take much to heat it 🙏👍
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This reply was modified 2 years, 3 months ago by Chefdeb.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 3 months ago by
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Learn how to grow sprouts and/or microgreens. These are sprouts or small seedlings that are started in either water or in a special growing medium. Microgreens/sprouts can provide you with food within a few days to a week. They are powerhouses of nutrition and are grown indoors rather than outdoors so you have more control over the environment..
Be warned, though. The seeds are not cheap. But when bought in bulk they are cheaper. I buy from True Leaf Market and have found them to be reputable. If you already have an outlet for bulk seeds, would you let me know what it is? I’m always looking to save where I can.
PS Only buy seeds that the greens themselves are edible. For instance, you wouldn’t want to sprout tomato seeds and eat the greens as they are not good for you. And the seeds must be free of pesticides. Your research will tell you all about what is good to grow. There’s a ton of info on the subject.
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May I offer a perspective to consider? While I love that microgreens offer awesome nutrient-dense flavor and health value, during a crisis, this may not be the best use of seeds overall. If these seeds were grown out, they would provide more food and calories, with a comparable nutrition to feed more. However, this is just a consideration, if things get thin regarding seed availability.
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I have thought the same thing on microgreens..”fabs” are not sustainable. Sta away from fabs🤣
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Yes I certainly agree with you that planting them will provide more food in the long run. But if there’s no other food available (if crops fail, floods, droughts) you may not be able to wait the 6-8 weeks for nutrition. With sprouts/microgreens you can have some nutrition in 3-7 days. I hope it doesn’t come down to that!
A good alternative would be to save some seeds aside for planting and use the rest for microgreens if needed. That way you can harvest your own seeds next time and avoid the cost. Thanks for the reply!🙂
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I think chickens are a really nice way to start with livestock. They’re a lot of fun, pretty easy to care for, and their manure is great for the compost pile. When they’re doing their best laying, we can fill all the trays in the freeze dryer, and still have fresh eggs. My husband says we have a retirement home for chickens, because I keep them until they die of old age, but it seems only fair to me after they’ve given us so much. As you can probably guess, I haven’t been able to make the move to meat chickens, but hope maybe some day……
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Def make a game plan, and like Danny said, have everything in order before you get animals. I jumped from wanting a park like garden to suddenly having chickens and kept rearranging several times with a growing willow in the middle of it. 🤪
One advice though, I wanted to get as much onto .33acre as I could and got all of my fruit trees as semi dwarf trees and let my chickens free range underneath them, though I have the roots protected so the chicks can’t harm them.
Good luck!
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I just listened to a podcast called Plans and Provisions where Danny was the guest. He was interviewed by the host on this exact subject. Very informative.
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