[Raymond]

Great question, I will be following your post carefully. I often feel as if I should be doing more. Just not sure what to be doing.

[Pukalani-Farm]

I would say seed saving and cuttings from established food bearing trees and plants. 1 piece of fruit or a single vegetable has many seeds that can be planted to grow many plants and trees. Start as many edible plants that you can right now from seeds or cuttings. Focus on perennial edibles (fruit trees asparagus, berries, or even dried beans and peas) It will take awhile but it is free. And you can turn your whole place into edible landscape eventually.

[JerseyGiantChick]

That is one of the things we do to, also for gene seed banks. For Kindergarten and school, saving for all to come available and especially for the next generations.

[AiNt-RiTe-Acres]

Find a local saw mill that you can get free or cheap wood chips or saw dust from. If that doesn’t pan out look at getting a small electric wood chipper and chip up the branches around your place. Check with anyone and everyone nearby that frets over raking leaves or dealing with clippings. All those things can be gathered cheaply to make mulch, bedding etc. The answer really depends on your plans, what you have now ie land, buildings, critters, gardens, orchards etc.

Along with your needs like perhaps firewood, lumber or those things.

There’s options beyond money. Depending on your future goals you may be able to do some bartering for some of those wanted items. You’d be surprised at how readily some folks are willing to trade and what they’ll trade for. We have a German Shepherd and I’ve got a guy who told me if we’ll breed her he’ll trade me to ewes and a ram for pick of the pups. Back in GA we had a small yard and chickens. The neighbor had a garden. We swapped eggs for veggies and he’d even give us the rotten veggies and scraps for the birds. My wife had the neighbors boys cut our grass for years simply by trading baked goods for their labor, homemade cookies and good cornbread is like gold to some folks. So my suggestions are gather free mulch materials, take stock in what you have to trade ie items you don’t use, skills, tools you could loan perhaps, knowledge even. I personally would pledge a whole hog to someone if they could teach me what’s safe to forage. (Gotta get a hog first) point is I’d barter and most people will as well. The trick is to find out what they want. Sometimes you have to barter up. Sometimes you have to barter with Joe because he has what John wants and John has what you want. Sometimes you gotta get creative. One thing you can do that’s inexpensive is smile, shake a hand and connect with others. They might help you get where you want to go. Contacts always come in handy if you take the time to make them.

[Annie]

And David the Good has a great video on making biochar to add to garden or compost.

[MulberryGardens-Christina]

Yes!!!! I’ve been wanting to try it!! Looking forward to starting some as soon as everything isn’t so dry. 🙂

[CarolinaCarefree]

I agree with AiNTRiteAcres. Homages a lot of good.points. I would add take a look at your area. Make a “map” of it. Place your buildings, garden, access point(s), etc. Then ask,, what needs worked on, is there a “fence” line doesn’t have to be a wire or fixed fence this time. Natural barriers make great fence lines, thickets, brush piles (compost piles), anything that can be used to sure up security or give a place to observe from. These can also be used to direct traffic to a specific path or area to help you know they are there.

Also ask what are our weaknesses? Is the barn too fat from the pasture. Is the garden too far from the house. Am I making extra trips or rounds to cover the same area. If I am walking past the garden to feed the animals and the garden needs water, can I turn it on, go feed the animals, then turn it off when coming back. Instead of going to feed the animals, the turning on the water and having to go back later to turn it back off. Mapping things out cam help with how my day goes. You may learn to change your routine, move things around a bit, or find an area you completely over looked while focusing one the task at hand. Do this once in a while as you grow. Priorities tend to focus on one task at a time (which is good) but mapping out the bigger picture helps with those priorities.

[MulberryGardens-Christina]

Thanks! I need to figure our zones out better. I’m hoping to understand this a lot better when we build our own house and can set all the zones up around it.

The only benefit for security to our location is that one corner of the house points toward a river that has no bridges withing 10 miles of us… but our property has roads on 3 sides of it and a 400 meter stretch of it is an open pasture. Not sure the best way to add security to that section. We are adding a barb wire fence on that section this fall, but maybe it would be better to make one strand be electric….

[CarolinaCarefree]

Do you have blackberry or grapes? You can grow these on a fence line. Nobody wants to climb over blackberries. Security is not just keeping people.out but rather channeling them to a better position for your advantage. I would.like to keep them out, but if not, place them in the open pasture with nothing to hide behind. This will give you the advantage. A river is a great advantage. Again an opening they would have to get across. What ever you use, make sure it’s something someone could not use against you. If it is a heugal mound that they ahave to get around, plant cactus, yucca, or whatever plant would cause them to say, I am not laying on that to hide. This would be on the outside perimeter. On the inside plant you crops that will provide food. Check out the YT video by PermaPasture and others on Don’t defend you home,, but defend your homestead. Or something like that. It’s an eye opener for security. Just remember, don’t let presser or hype get to you. Soldiers march miles, one step at a time. You have started and are farther than when you started.

[CarolinaCarefree]

As for zones, a map will help with that. What do you need daily? That’s most likely in zone one. What’s maybe daily, but you don’t necessarily want next to the house (animals), then zine two, hunting or land for firewood, then father out. Things that may not need tended would be the farthest.

[MulberryGardens-Christina]

When we build our house, I’m bring the garden right up next to it, and probably will attach a greenhouse to the Southside. The gardens I tend now are only 50-150 feet from the house, but going out to it a dozen or more times a day that adds up in wasted time. Currently our animals are 100-200 yards from the house, but we’ve been rotating them. If we want to get to the pond, it’s 1/4 mile walk… one goal is to build at least 1 more pond closer to the houses.

[FaintlyArtistic]

I have been chopping leaves with my leaf vac and spreading them in the chicken coop and on garden beds. A little every day after work and all weekend and it will be done soon. Dehydrate or can some of what you grew or have in the freezer. Take inventory of you preps and come up with a daily/weekly estimate of what you will need and fill those gaps.

After everyone is done with their seasonal straw bale decor, I will collect them for free and use them in the garden and as deep litter in the coop.

I am also bartering a couple of excess chickens to a local kid for him helping me with yard work.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by  FaintlyArtistic.

[Beachchic]

Just be careful with that straw that it wasnt sprayed with something that will wreck havoc on your garden. Lots have made that mistake unknowingly and it ruins the dirt for years!

[FaintlyArtistic]

I get it locally from farmers who don’t spray.

[Beachchic]

Thats good, I know of a few people that have had a ton of trouble and then Ive also seen a few youtubers having problems as well. Terrible thing to happenat any time but especially now when it is so essential to grow all that we can.