Sustainable homesteading

>>970241
People have been farming wheat since forever without machinery. It really isn't that hard. I have a flour mill for instance though I mostly use it for corn and non-wheat things.

In that image, it is a square 1-acre plot of farm. That's 208.7 by 208.7 feet (43,560 square feet). The wheat field is about half the length (104.35 feet) by 1/5th of the other length (41.74 feet).

That's a wheat field 104.35 x 41.74 feet = 4355.569 square feet. That's 1/10th of an acre.

That's 468 to 492 pounds of wheat or 1872 to 1968 cups of flour. 4 cups per loaf of bread = 468 to 492 loaves of bread. 1.28 to 1.34 loaves of bread for every day in a year.

So yeah, that's a fuck ton of bread. I guess it depends on how many people you have in a family and how much bread you eat. Or, how much flour you need to use for whatever.

Wild flowers are good to plant it brings bees to your land. Rasberries are good to plant as well, You get a good yield and can preserve them.

>>970255
>People have been farming wheat since forever without machinery. It really isn't that hard.

Good info. Keep in mind, though, that in this situation, if you're living there, you also have to tend to the rest of your menagerie, and depending on your family size, you may not have enough help to get that 500 pounds of wheat harvested in any decent amount of time. In countries where small scale grain farming is still common, for example Japan with rice, they will typically recruit a dozen or so friends or neighbors to help with the harvest. It's very labor intensive.

Then there's the processing. You may have a flour mill that fits in your kitchen, but we're talking about 500 pounds of grain. Yes, "people have been doing it since forever," but milling wheat is such a specialized, labor-intensive activity that it used to be its own occupation. On this homestead, we're assuming that the head of the household, and maybe his sons when they get old enough, are basically doing everything.

>>970259
I already own a farm. It is the laziest job ever even when I have all manual tools.

Milling does take a long time, but you only mill what you need on the spot. It stays fresher that way.

Why do people think it is hard work? Because they don't know how to do it easily. They make more work for themselves by using terribly inefficient methods.

>>970262
You own a farm with all the variety illustrated in the OP image? With vegetables, wheat, cows, pigs, chickens, and a bear?

>>970264

That's a horse for milking, not a brown bear.

>>970264
Mostly, but with different proportions and crops/animals. However, I stopped raising animals except chickens. We didn't eat enough of them and it would go frost bite bad being in the freezer forever. I also don't really eat dairy or wheat anymore. I replaced that stuff with more raised bed garden space/orchards. Chickens really are the best. Plenty of eggs, no fuss, they pay for their upkeep and I make a profit since everyone buys eggs and we only need a few.

Goats are fun, until they walk all over the top of your vehicles if they get out.

tubers > grain

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>>970269
Mmmmm.... horse milk!

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>>970271

Can you have a crayfish pond on your homestead?

>>970241
Doesn't look to be enough grain to meet the demands of animals.

>>970241

Read an article debunking everything in this meme pic.
Pic isnt meant to be taken seriously.

>>970241
It's illegal to grow your own wheat in the U.S.

>>970500
link?
Also the OP pic was taken from "The Complete Book of Self Sufficiency" by John Seymour

>>970241
At a glance, there is not enough pasture for grazing cattle and that pig lot will be turned into a mud pit within a week or 2. With proper rotation and multiple pens, this setup could be done on 4-6 acres minimum.

>>970549
No it isn't. lol

>>970557
>>970549
It relies on bringing in hay and feed for the animals from off the farm.

And desert like land

>>970262
What do you do differently that saves you labor? What are your harvesting techniques?

>>970549
I'm genuinely curious what led you to believe this.

>>970684
He's right. You need a permit to grow wheat at home.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wickard_v._Filburn

Last time someone got in trouble with homegrown wheat was in 1995.

>>971170
>>970684
http://www.naturalnews.com/030799_food_freedom_Wickard_vs_Filburn.html

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>>970241
The grass/grain crop is to feed livestock. It doesn't have to be wheat.

Cows are not exactly as easy to raise as you think they are. Unless you have a dozen
acres for grazing land (and no even then in most cases) you will need to supplement their food source.

The same crop can help feed the pigs/goat (better because you can milk and eat them) along with all waist from the garden and orchard.

My source is that I grew up on a 42 acre ranch.

>>970551

Unfortunately the website no longer exists. But a follow up article on what a proper 1acre homestead would look like still exists.

http://polyculturefarming.com/index.php/integrated-farming/8-real-self-sufficiency-on-1-acre

>>970241
I was thinking of making a massive greenhouse with hydroponics and shit out in the country when I get the money.

I kinda live like this to a degree.

I have about 90 acres, wind turbine, own water supply, solar electric, solar heating, green house, poly tunnel, out door beds, fruit trees + bushes, chickens, ducks, rabbits, wild hares, sheep, river with trout + salmon in it, and surrounded by forest with deer.

>>970270
Agree with this anon - chickens are the best.

Tubers are also easier than grains.

What you need to remember is that when you live like this, you dont really do much else. I get maybe 1 hour a day free time to shit post on the internet

>>970241
>>970438
Anyone have more pictures like these?

>>971337
>What you need to remember is that when you live like this, you dont really do much else. I get maybe 1 hour a day free time to shit post on the internet

This is completely untrue. You only need to work at most 2 hours a day, IF you can find anything worthwhile to do. Mostly it is just 30-45 mins of animal time if you have anything more than chickens to let out and feed.

All I can do right now is watch seedlings sprout and eat salad greens. Most of the year is watching things grow. Only during planting and harvest is there tons of work in a short amount of time, but that's only a few hours a day at most if you've planned it correctly.

Farming is the laziest profession. This isn't the 1800s.

>>971347
T. Someone who has never farmed more then an acre.

>>971361
I farm 3 acres.

Pond, orchard, chickens, vegetable gardens, berry patches, grapes, etc. See: >>970255 >>970262 >>970270 & >>967708

>>971377
>>971377
Tell us more about your techniques, what do you do differently?

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>tfw you raised a pig but couldn't go through with the slaughtering

nobody told me about their little personalities :(

>>971383
I plant, grow, harvest, rotate, no-till, companion plant, living mulch, compost, etc. I use raised beds, hand tools, and no machinery. I can jam my arm up to the elbow in the soil without much resistance since it is never compacted. I freeze, water bath can, pressure can, and dehydrate. The hardest job is harvesting honey because the supers are heavy, decapping sucks (need to invest in a hot knife), and the bees always find a way under or through the backs of the gloves. The hardest work for veggies/fruit is for blackberries due to thorns (my thornless varieties are not yet up to snuff,) and when there's a bumper crop of apples or pumpkins canning/dehydrating can be pretty monotonous. The chickens take care of themselves for the most part since they are free range and stay in the orchard and berry patches where they fertilize stuff. Cleaning the coop only happens like every 2 months since they are outside most of the time.

>>971394
Even the stupidest pigs can be smarter than most dogs. You can even teach them to play video games if the interface is right.

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>>971337

You're a liar. Pics or you're a liar trying to make me jelly.

>>970241
Where the hell is the bull pen? Cows just don't bleed milk, they need to be pregnant or nursing. Also that "wheat" is actually a grass crop (oats, alfalfa, etc) too feed the livestock, not your own fat ass.

... you city retard.

>>971535
>he didn't read the book the image is from

pleb

>>970551
Just got this book
Are there any other good resources on agriculture/horticulture and self sufficiency in general?

>>970241
I believe the primary appeal of the wheat is that it stores easily without external preservation. Grains were mankind's first crop for that very reason.

If it were me, I'd probably have a couple apple and/or peach trees, berries, tomatoes, potatoes and various greens, as well as a 'three sisters' plot to use as chicken and rabbit feed, and then just buy things like flour and sugar that are cheaper to purchase than to grow. You can actually sustain a few people off what can be grown in the typical suburban backyard, and in most municipalities, you're allowed to have a certain number of animals that would typically be considered livestock; in Spokane where I live, you can have up to four chickens (but no roosters), four rabbits (and unlimited kits), a beehive (as long as you have a six-foot solid fence) and as many fish as you have space for, and that's in the city.

>>971394
Animals taste better when you know their names.

Just wait until you bottle raise something.

>>971535
Bulls are a pain in the ass, if you don't have at least 10 heifers, just buy AI straws when one of your girls dries up.

>>973601
>>971394
This is why you maintain large herds. It is more difficult to empathize with a bunch of something that pretty much take care of themselves.

How much more labor-intensive would it be to have sheep instead of goats?

Hair sheep, mind you. Raised primarily for meat/milk.

How big would a flock need to be to be self-sufficient? IE, never need to get new blood from outside source.

>>970255

I did these bread calculations a while ago and didn't do them this time, but consider a few things. First, you won't get anywhere near the yields a commercial farming operation gets without using their methods. Most homesteaders go at least partially organic to keep costs down even if they don't have ideological reasons.

Second, flour isn't just for bread. Will you be making pasta or noodles? Will you be making a malt and fermenting it?

A third reason is if you're using a variety that you plan on reseeding. My understanding is that those varieties tend also to have lower yields.

Also like most of these maps, I seriously question if they've ever actually been tried. There's no room for crop rotation, for example. If you're using a method like square foot gardening, that's no big deal because you are replenishing the soil and switching between crops anyway. But that wheat field certainly needs it.

You need to rotate the forage for your livestock, too, if you want to avoid major disease and pest problems. From that graphic, it looks like you're buying all your feed. Where's the money coming for that? I'm not making six figures in government grants, and odds are neither are you.

>>970270
>Goats are fun, until they walk all over the top of your vehicles if they get out.

And then there's that great goat smell...

That musk in the males at breeding time is no joke. Sheep have a little of it, but goats are a whole new level of suck.

>>971170

The Roberts court has been chipping away at that decision for years. There's a whole body of commerce clause law that came from the New Deal that was upheld because the courts were intimidated by FDR. That Obamacare decision that pissed everyone off on both sides also reduced the scope of the commerce clause drastically, and most observers think it'll get pruned back still further.

If you're worried, go check your local agricultural extension office or the USDA website. This isn't a major problem except for tinfoil hat wearers.

One thing that is an issue is genetic contamination from neighbors, which has legal implications that while wildly overblown do have a kernel of truth to them once you get past the Monsanto hysterics.

>>973875
>tfw can't eat wheat products anyway

I'm glad I moved away from eating grains. Most grazing livestock doesn't need it either. They just need a few good hay fields for winter supplies and good grazing.

>>973606
>>973606
Sure, easy fix. But that's not very sustainable now is it? Unless the off chance that your neighbor is a bull seman harvester.

>>971202
Milk the pig he says

>>973949
That obviously means milk the goat. As in goats are better to rsise than pigs because you can milk, eat, and use goats as lawn mowers.

if someone were to try and start a self sustaining farm (produce all electricity, food, water etc. on site and as much water as possible and only buying clothing and gasoline out), what books would they read to go about doing this? I have an opportunity to buy 20 acres of land in Washington for about $100 grand and I have the money for it. I would need to build a small house on sight (I imagine that would cost about 100k to build a foundation, framing, and wiring/plumbing. I have the skills to do the rest) and I dont know about solar panels, but from the looks of it 30 panels would be about 6k and another few grand to have installed). I would end up with about 6-10 people living on the farm, and if >>970438 is accurate, then that would be more than enough money. To supplement income, we would raise more goats and chickens to sell organic eggs and goat milk, along with veggies, to farmers markets to help pay for the minimal costs that I realistically(?) expect (specialized labor for upkeep that we dont know how to do, water prices depending on how much water we need after saving our own, buying alcohol and marijuana, extra electricity in case the solar isnt enough, internet, phone bills, etc). if that infographic is correct and we wanted to grow more so we could sell, I would estimate we would need about 6 acres of land, maybe 8 goats, and 30-40 birds, which would likely be chickens.

Am i thinking of everything? what other costs would you imagine? I work as a contractor and know how to do a lot of work on homes to assist in building, but I am not an expert and would need to hire out some jobs.

>>973973
Plus goats just funnier.

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>>973895
>But that's not very sustainable now is it?

It is more sustainable than everyone owning their own bull. Especially if you pay for the service using your crops/milk/whatever.

>>974007
>Am i thinking of everything?

Even with 10+ years of experience, I've still not thought of everything. If you want to be 100% self-sustaining, you will need to change you diet and philosophy. You don't necessarily need to change your quality of life though. You will need to research and learn various energy/resource cycles. Like in this image.

Keep in mind that the instant you raise animals that require grazing/hay you will need land to pasture them and a supply of hay for the winter while still being able to rotate their pasture and hay fields. Goats, luckily are not really grass eaters to the extent of say cattle. You can pasture goats on scrub land, forests, and hills. If they start eating the grass, it normally means they've exhausted their other tastier options and need to be rotated.

Remember, don't go into debt. That's the wrong way to do something. Make sure you can pay the debt off 100% in 5 years or you may find things to be very difficult later on.

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>>974084
Here's a more detailed/sloppier version of that chart.

>>970551
thank you

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>>970241
>Year 2017
>Still not raising a brown bear in your shed.
What's wrong with you?

>>974120
tfw want shed bear in back yard.

>>974122
lets go play with the shed bear kids!

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>>974124
why does he have a bear in a shed again?

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We had a gypsy problem on our property some years ago, but problems all went away ever since we got our Shed Bear. Having a Shed Bear is the shit.

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Wish I had 2 shedbears.

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>>974042
>goats are just funnier
Tell me more.

>>974007
>$5k/acre
ouch

>>974288
I've been looking and calling since that post, and I found 10 acres of land for $25k. The owner says he has more available, but he hasnt responded to my email yet so I dont know how much and if its part of the same lot. The ONLY reason I got excited when I heard about the $100k lot I first talked about is because it already had some buildings on it that just needed to be refurbished, but this is ultimately a much better deal as, depending on the licesning and zoning, I can build a nice house for ~20 grand if the land is good.

Do any of you guys have any links or books to where I can read more in-depth about crop rotation? It seems like a complicated topic and I want to make sure I wont fuck up the land in 4 seasons by being an idiot.

>>974304
I guess it depends on what you want to grow. figure that out then read up on that. I want to grow blackberries and the want me to build trelises and grow beans the year before our something. lol

>>974007
Lmao i bought 160 acres for 50,000

>>974313
and then all we got is clay soil, and I got to get rid of that.

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>>974140
>>974130
>>974127
>>974124
>>974122
>>974120

>>974316
Where?

>>974304
"The Market Gardener" by Jean-Martin Fortier

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>>974327
lol.

>>971422

pls tell me you are in europe so you can teach me your wisdom senpai

>>974327
>>974120

Is this the birth of new /out meme?? Its Glorious!

>>974007
It pisses me off to no end that current WA law says you can grow everything except your own marijuana. Hell, you can even grow poppies here.

>>974007
Living on a few acres is pretty good. I know the info is a bit dated but its still a great read. I'd try to find the hardbound if possible. Here's the e-book

https://archive.org/details/yoa1978

>>970264
>Not using a bear to drive your plough

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>>974692
Whaaaa? I could grow a field of opium poppies in WA? Surely the act of harvesting opium is illegal though.

Tfw my county in CA has no limit to the amount Marijuana I can grow. I'm not going to be greedy though. 6 plants treated right will give you 6 pounds. That's enough to use throughout the year to give as gifts or barter.

>pro tip. Marijuana is GREAT for bartering.

>>974689
I hope so! We need to start posting shed bears in other threads to secure its place in the /out/ pantheon alongside body slamming wolves and batonny chop-chop.

>>974288
>>974316
where the fuck are you guys finding land this cheap?

i haven't seen any land worth having for less than 15k$ an acre. all the "cheap" stuff is uninhabitable desert or wind ravaged steppe.

>>970241
Where is the septic tank and drain field?

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>>974892
They may use a methane biogas digester instead. No waste at all them. Lots of methane for heat and electric plus lots of high nitrogen fertilizer from it. You can use any organic matter, human waste, manure, etc. Lots of farms are not converting their equipment to run off the biogas methane and making the biogas methane on the farm.

https://www.google.com/search?q=methane+biogas+digester

>>974913
But how does the decomposed fertilizer travel against gravity back up to the surface?

>>974924
See the two arrows from the outhouse and the animals? That pressure is what push it up from the bottom. The system relies on the fact that the sludge extraction area is lower than the incoming stuff. It doesn't need to be lower than the digester tank.

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>>974689
>>974870

>>974937
Hummmm. I suppose the pmgas pressure in the tank would help too.

>>974913
You really don't need to build this shit under your property where the gas pressure may build up if any link in your loop suffers performance issues. Methanogens (the bacteria that produce the methane you're trying to obtain) can be cultured in any anaerobic environment of sufficient moisture and biomass. A big enough compost pile will invariably form an anaerobic layer underneath the surface. You just need to trap and store the methane produced.

>>975188
There are 100s of designs for biogas digesters. Most are above ground.

>>974976
Yees. More Shed Bears please.

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>>975363
Aye aye, cap'n.

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>>975363

>>975514
>>975498
Awsome. Its not a cuckshed if theres a bear in there.

>>975518
Exactly.

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>>970269
Who are you to tell that a Bear can not be milked?
Its a mammal isnt it?

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>>975518
Here's another. Does anybody else have ideas for shedbears?

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>>975522

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>>975523
I tryed.

>>975528
Your contribution is greatly appreciated!

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>>975528

I like how the thread went from self sustained house to shed bears lmao

>>975549

/out/

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>>975549
To be fair. I don't think OP fully appreciated awesome animalistic power that is An Eurasian brown Bear in a tool shed. I believe he deserved this coming.

>>975564
Agreed. We must concentrate our efforts on further flooding the thread with shedbears.

>>975630
Aaaa Lmao!

>>972084
What book is it from then?

>>975687
It's from mother earth news.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/self-reliance/self-sufficient-homestead-zm0z11zkon

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>>976038
>>975687
>The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It, written by the late John Seymour and first published by Dorling Kindersley in Britain in 1976
https://www.amazon.com/Self-Sufficient-Life-How-Live/dp/0756654505

>>976347
Glorious

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>>976347

>>976367
Also glorious

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I'm obviously bored...

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>>976385
Me too.

>>976347
Haaaaa! Very good!

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>>976353
>>976378
>>976460
Thanks!

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>>975564
Had to caption it...

I fucking hate forced memes. This shit is unbearable.

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>>976525
Un-BEAR-able?

>>976519
I kek'd.

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>>976525
>>976530

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>>976530

>>970241
I lived off the grid on the Big Island for a bit over 8 years on 3 acres of virgin forest. I stepped off the plane in Hilo at the age of 24, and stayed until I was 33.
I was not entirely self sustainable as i had originally planned to be, I worked odd jobs but managed to only work a few times a month.
I managed to live off what most would consider beyond poverty. Besides the small amount of income I received from odd jobs, I made most of my money from my own farm, which I grew mostly native vegetables such as Taros and other root vegetables, as they proved to grow quite vigorously in my area, as well as many different citrus, nuts though, did not do so well in my region, sadly.
For starters, sustainability is not about consumption, its about contribution, I would not have made it out there without the tight knit community that helped me survive, I traded eggs, fruits and vegetables, and other produce for things like home-made soaps and other necessities. I bring this up because I've spoken to many who wish to attempt what I have, and they talk as if they think they can live 100% on their own, which if you do attempt such a thing, you wont find much luck, but instead never ending obstacles.
>Cont...

>>970241
Drinking water, mostly came from the county water spigots and through a filtration system, water for bathing, cleaning, etc came from rain collection which also ran through a bit filtration.. Hot water came from a solar water heater that eventually got busted after a couple years, then I ended up using a home built water heater (many different designs are available online) that was not quite as easily usable, but it got the job done as I learned to use much less hot water. I had a 12v water pump connected to a small solar system which also provided electricity for lighting and other small things. I used a Rocket Stove for cooking, but I also did use propane tanks as using a rocket stove just to heat up some coffee proved to be a real bother.
I hand cleared most of my lot, chopping away at the strawberry guava and other invasive species, but leaving the native trees such as Ohia. In fact, I didn't kill a single native tree during my stay, not one.
>Cont...

>>970241
I'll say it, self sustainability was nearly impossible, because I required the assistance and trade from the community to survive and live a decent life. Sure, I grew way more food than needed, and I didn't even farm all 3 acres, more like 1 1/2, but unless I want to live off roots, oranges and bananas, and the occasional hog and fish, I'd have a pretty boring diet (which isn't that big of problem of course). Plus, collecting rain water safe to drink would require constant purchasing of filtration equipment, as well as shelling out a butt-load of cash for a large enough water tank, which just isn't practical when I could fill a couple 15 gallon tanks at the county spigot every couple weeks. The risk of getting sick was just too dangerous for me, as I had no money to afford doctors and I had no healthcare, I was pretty much living on the edge in many ways, not to mention the risk of catching Rat Lung, which was common enough in the area to be concerned.
Others might have better luck than I had, but of course, you cant really escape the need of community, self sufficiency for me was a total failure in some ways, but also a success in others, and a huge learning experience.
The only livestock I had was chickens, as they generally found their own food and I trained them to eat mint which I grew a lot of. Pigs or cows, not sustainable. They require too much effort to make the end return any sort of profitable unless they have enough room to graze, which of course, the photo in OP. they absolutely do not.
Of course I'm willing to answer a few questions if anybody is interested.
Just thought it might prove useful to the thread posting a small piece of my unique personal experience.

I have more then 200 acre just sitting idonno wat to do

>>977056
Start a tribe and let me join it

>>977056
declare independence and form your own country.

>>977056
where?

>>977248
Standing right behind you.

>>977248
In morocco lol

>>970241
Not enough bee hives

I don't see the jacuzi to relax in after a hard days self sustaining, but it might be behind the house.

>>977571
This is true. You can have several and they don't require much by way of feeding, unless the winter is mild.

>>977615
You mean a hard days shitposting. Farming isn't hard. That's a myth. Unless that is you are using all the wrong methods and like S&M.

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>>970549
ur confusing weed m8

>>972950
check out back to basics homesteading. can get it for like 3 bucks on amazon


>>973202
Hows spokane? are the winters bad? i was thinking of moving to post falls/spokane valley when I get out of the navy with my wife and doing the whole homestead thing and going to Gonzaga on the GI bill but Im not catholic and idk how expensive it is there or what the weather and stuff is like.

>>979556
I think Gonzaga mandates church service, but you'd have to look into that to be sure. The winters here kinda suck, sometimes we get 4'+ of snow, summers are really pleasant though, tends to hover around 85 and top out right around 100. Valley is cheaper, and it pays to do your shopping in Idaho if you're that close. You can buy and smoke weed here, buy you can't grow it, even with a med card anymore; if you're trying to move to a legal state, Oregon or California would be better.

>>979621
good to know. 4' of snow means I wont be moving there :/ i knew the winters were ruff but thats too much for this arizona boy. I liked PNW when I did a vacation to marysville near seattle in July 2012, we drove up on i5 and took 90 through spokane and down through idaho and utah and that trip like changed my outlook on life lol. Since then I really wanted to move to the northwest. Ive also considered going to UW in Seattle, but i want a more rural house and Seattle is super metro. Your comment might be enough for me not to move to east WA/ID just cause of snow.

Also I get out of navy 2019 so im not too worried about weed because I cant smoke untill then anyways and anticipate more states being legal by then, plus i dont mind breaking the law if I have to

>>979633
It's not always that bad, but southern Oregon / Northern California has much milder winters and is still in the Cascades. That'd be my recommendation.

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>>977613
Wot is this even.

>>981695
I believe its rare Norwegian shedbear.

New to this, hard to sift through the clickbait meant for boomers

How viable would it be to buy an acre somewhere rural and build a shitty one room cob shack to live out of?

>>974007
The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery is a good resource.

As far as producing electricity, look into building a gasifer to make generator fuel. Google FEMA gasifer to give you a starting point.

It shouldn't cost $100K to build a basic house, especially if you're doing some of the work yourself.

Look into pre-cut building packages. The advantage there is, you can expand later if you're so inclined.

>>974318
Amend it. Meanwhile, raised bed planters.

>>974844
>pro tip. Marijuana is GREAT for bartering.

Depends on location. Here in Humboldt, you see a lot of Craigslist ads that specify "no 420". Once an area gets saturated with pot culture, people start getting tired of it. It takes more from an area than it gives back.

But, hey, things'll be different once we're done shifting to a heroin based black economy...

>>974873
Learn how to raise and eat cactus and scorpions. Problem solved

>>970241
Grass grows everywhere. Crickets eat grass. How many crickets would I need to have to live off of them in the woods. What's the best way to farm crickets? A pound a day seems like it could be enough

>>982549
get some hot sauce our something if your gonna be eating crickets every day.

Sheep would be a good alternative to cows because they are extremely low maintenance than cows and much more managable. Not only would they provide milk and meat, but also wool to provide clothes for your family (unless you intend on being nudists). You can keep the milk flowing by having a few females and one male and just start having lamb whenever one of them gives birth and milk them yourself.

>>982549
>What's the best way to farm crickets?

http://www.wikihow.com/Raise-Your-Own-Crickets

It is really easy. Just don't get suckered into buying commercial cricket food when there are many other free or cheap sources of food to feed crickets. Like cheap dog food for instance.

>>970241
Hey, I have that book! Its pretty good, I need to read it again.

I can't comment on much but the pig front, soley from a 'how much meat do they provide', and two pigs will provide more than enough meat to feed a family, let alone a single person. Two pigs would definetly last all year, possibly even two- and if you were on a block that small, you wouldn't be breeding, you'd be buying.
Piglets are pretty fucking cheap to buy, so it would be easy to keep up two per year.

Their section of the paddock would be fucking destroyed tho.

>>973699
Im going to say its easier to raise sheep than goats. Sheep aren't as crafty or prone to escaping as sheep (in my experience), but I've never owned hair sheep so their temperments could be different. Sheep are certainly no harder than goats.

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>>982549
Yup, that'd be about 2100 calories if you eat 'em dry roasted; frying would probably be better, so you could get by with less since you'll get calories from the oil. You'll probably want to have some salad to round out the vitamin requirements though. Let me know how that works out for you.

>>971394
That's why you take them to the slaughterhouse anon. Pay someone else to do it

>>971535
>not impregnating cows yourself
Looks like you're the city retard here.

>>971535
>>984686
All mammals, including males will lactate given adequate stimulation to the teat, independent of birthing cycle. Bovine in particular are bred to have larger volumes of milk production during non-birthing cycles.

Where do you jackasses get your information?

>>982986

Sheep are good but you need to be realistic about them.

They don't produce a whole lot of milk. Their lactation periods are short. Lambing is seasonal, so unless you're very careful about timing (eg impregnating half in November and half in March) you'll have long periods of the year without production at all. Even if you're careful, month+ gaps are inevitable. You don't just eat newborns, typically you want to raise them to a weight that's worth it.

Shearing is a pita unless you're experienced and so you have to ask yourself if you'll actually use that wool or if you're just larping.

Breed is another question. There are breeds that bypass any of the problems above, but none that avoid all of them and often they add new problems. East frisians are great for dairy... but not for meat and they have delicate health and need expensive care. Hybridizing helps. (dairy yews mated to meat breed rams).

Goats are harder to take care of, but milk production is much higher and more importantly they have long lactation periods. The smell from a billie is disgusting and gets everywhere in mating season. Including the milk. They do protect themselves a little better from predators than most sheep.

There are more milk sheep in the world than cows. So it's doable but you need to know what you're getting into and be realistic about what you want to be getting out of it.

>>985967
>ask yourself if you'll actually use that wool or if you're just larping.

Another option is selling/trading it for services and goods. I'd love for there to be a local wool seller in my area. There are people who raise sheep here, but they don't sell the wool for some very odd reason.

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>>971394
>>971422
>You can even teach them to play video games if the interface is right.
*Oink, oink!*
>"Y-you're having a good Pong game Winny, you might even finally win..."
*happily oinks, wiggling snout on controller*
>open barrel trying to stifle the click with your sleeve
>"Ha, *snif* you love this game eh?"
*Snuffles in agreement*
>slips shell in
"We- *sobs* We've had some great times haven't we?"
*Little cheerful grunts as wins another point*
>raises gun
"Heh, imagine... Imagine if you got to play vidya all the time, plenty of cosy afternoons with your friends..."
*Small squeel-squeek as her tail wags*
>with shaking hands, aims
"... You'd like to play with your friends again wouldn't you Winny?"
*Cute sneeze of agreement*
"You'll see them soon, I promise-"
*Joyously boops controller*
*Pong Winner noise as her eyes light up with her piggy smile, she'd finally won*
"I love you Winny-"
>Outside wide shot of farmhouse on a warm Summer's dusk
>pan upwards towards the beautiful night sky
>the stars shining

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>>986016
>>971394
>>971422
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOJJf_zoPDs

>>970438

>13 chickens for a family of 4

Sheeeeeeit. That's major overkill. My sister had 4 chickens and she was begging people to take her excess. Eggs were literally piling up in kitchen containers.

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>>986052
It really depends on how many eggs you eat, anon.

1 person; only foods involving eggs are listed:

----
Breakfast:
1 fried egg for breakfast (I know people who eat 4 fried eggs a day for breakfast!)
1 egg in waffle/pancake

Lunch:
3 eggs for cupcakes or yellow cake for desert

Dinner:
1 hard boiled egg sliced over salad
remaining cupcakes or yellow cake for desert from Lunch
----

That's 6 eggs for 1 person. Chickens at best lay 1 egg per day.

For 4 people, that would be 24 eggs per day, but only 13 eggs at max from their chickens.
13 eggs / 4 people = 3.25 eggs per person per day at max.

I have 11 hens and get about 8-10 eggs a day (56-70 eggs a week). I use about 4-5 eggs a day (28-35 eggs a week) in cooking for making pudding to breads to meatloaf; at max. I still sell a few dozen eggs per week to friends, family, and neighbors. The chicken pay for themselves and then some.

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>>975522
>mfw i want bear milk now to maximize my gainz

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>>986016
What have you done

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>>986016
Heh, d-didn't feel a thing.

>>986062

You have to eat all the eggs.

Also did I really just see a solid homestead thread devolve into a fucking shed bear thread?

>>986514
I was going to reply with an image of bears fucking in front of a shed, but Googling "bear sex" didn't return the results I wanted.

I should have known better.

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>>971342

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>>986608

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>>986610

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>>986611

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>>986613

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>>986615

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>>986619

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>>986621

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>>986624
Pics collected on /pol/

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>>986611
you have one with raised bed gardens

also if anyone has good source(especially brick ones) ill appreciate it

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>>986627
Here is a massive dump of all things diy. Lots of agricultural stuff. Ignore the tinfoil in it though
http://www.pssurvival.com/index_complete.htm
http://www.fastonline.org/CD3WD_40/CD3WD/INDEX.HTM
Also don't open both at the same time or your browser will explode

>>986514
>You have to eat all the eggs.

Why?

official compost bin worth it? our big pile of refuse at edge of woods?

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>>986647

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>>986658
Oh, never found that funny, just stupid. It is rarely used and thus never thought of it as a maymay. Congrats on trying to force it into being a maymay, kid.

>>986661

Uhhh, thanks I guess.

Also I'm 33. Honestly I don't know if that makes it better or worse.

>>986676
Worse.

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>>986658
>>986676
I think your egg meme is funny, anon.

>>973973
Has anyone ever tried milking a pig? The only difficulty I could see is that they have around 12 tits to milk

>>986736
Volume would be low and the taste would be reminiscent of bad bacon.

>>986693

I was afraid of that.

>>986716

Thanks, friend.

This is a great example of how the newfags that flow into /pol/ from all over the world shit up every board they touch. They take every "MEME" that they can find on kym's CDN and adapt every new phrase to it.
It devolves an actual discussion into nothing but a member-wine tasting circlejerk.
>the board that whines about COINTELPRO is the real insurgent
Big fucking surprise, there.

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thanks, just flipped through but you can tell it's a good book.

>>970241
A moron made this image, as I've said before. You would NEVER have pigs on a plot that small if you valued your sanity. And you can't keep cows on a plot like that if there are any animal enforcement around because it's LITERALLY cruelty to animals. That paddock would be a mud hole. It's far too small.

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>>970241
>and the machinery is so expensive that with the meager harvest you'll get from that size plot, you couldn't hope to pay it off if you sold the flour
???
1/2

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>>991353
2/2

>>973202
> Fence
> Bees

Anyone else seeing a problem here?

>>991566
It's not about keeping the bees on your property, it's about keeping other people's precious little retard crotch droppings from getting lit up by a couple hundred angry drones when Billy decides to fuck with your hive...

Then YOU get sued (and lose because "MAH BAYBEEE!!!!")for their stupidity...