The very essence of DIY is providing for yourselfHow do you live or aspire to succeed outside & away from the Normies, Zombies & Urbanites?what systems do you have in place? what methods are you studying? on a scale of 1-10 how would you rate your preparedness and/or your knowledge? what do you grow? what livestock do you choose? no one man can be an island, but do you produce/provide equal to, or more than you take/consume? where did you start? how far have you progressed and what are your goals?Planting season is nigh upon us. Birthing in full swing and in many cases coming to a close for the year. skies are sunny, days are growing longer and temperatures are rising.
>>2987214>self-sufficiant lol this is truly a community filled to the brim with retards
How much of a price difference for feed & seed for you to purchase at the local feed supply vs big box stores. For example 40lb sunflower seed is 30$ at the feed store vs 22$ at walmart
>>2987230OH NO! a spelling error surely invalidates all other contributions, accomplishments, skills, drive & success. better just go back to the HUD housing in the concrete jungle. is the apartment next to yours still available?>>2987233we did the price/lb calculations several years ago. Sneeds won by a mile. we buy very little pelletized 4-leg feed. 90% of their diet is lucerne hay. the remaining 10% is generally specialty feed such as mineral enriched, creep (starter) feed, medicated and/or fly guard.the sticker price was cheaper at The Mart, but they are 40lb bags whereas Sneeds is 50 to 55lb bags for just a few dollars more.
>>2987214>Self-Sufficiency, DIYmy good man this is the DIFM (Do It For Me) board we are not self sufficient.
>>2987214I am the urbanite normie and planting season is already here for the allotment. atm we have the following started or in-ground>greens: gailan, tatsoi, leaf lettuce, chard; and a shared community plot of arugula, mustard, mizuna, and whatever else folks want to plant>herbs & spices: a ton of winter-sown garlic, thai & genovese basil, chives; and a shared community plot of thyme, bay leaves, marjoram, rosemary, etc.>legumes: pole & bush beans, peas, hopniss>winter & summer squash: mini kabocha, baby butternut, & tri color pattypan>tomatoes: tomatillos, cherokee purple, sungold, a BHN slicing hybrid>peps: some superhots & sweet snack peppers>flowers: scabiosa, rudbeckia, amaranth, asters, goldenrod, golden alexander, nasturtiums, >misc: asparagus, beets, native strawberries, catmint, two types of scallions, & a small bonsai bench>to be planted very soon: lowbush blueberries, gold currant, blewit spawn for the pathingall the plants started by me, other than the currant, blueberries, asters, goldenrod and golden alexander. so far, we're harvesting some of the gailan and hoping for sideshoots. this is my first year growing it though so I don't know how it'll go. pea pods and beets are probably coming up next.my goals this year are to attend 3 local garden/agriculture/bonsai events, finish my 2nd squash trellis that I put off last season, and keep continuously filling gaps that pop up. I also want to make friends with a neighbor in a nearby house who recently got fluffy chickens, so I can give them plants to eat or some sunflower seeds later on
>>2987262Oops, didn't start the hopniss or native strawbs either. I got them from a native plant shop. the strawbs are from last year and the hopniss is new this year. cherokee purples are also from a neighbor who started too many
>>2987214One underrated aspect of self-sufficiency is medicine. You will need medical and first aid texts to read and study beforehand. You can get multiple books, but I think a low-wattage offline computer can be better, since you can have dozens of books. (Or a mix of both)My AutoDoctor (offline version) is an example of this, and it includes some medical texts you can use, though you should definitely get more texts.https://autodoctor.neocities.org/Obviously, you will also need basic supplies, bandages, stitches/wound closing devices, splints, disinfectant*, tweezers, scalpel, fever/painkiller meds, etcYou should also have another person living with you of sound mind and body that can provide aid. I broke my arm a few years ago, and it can make you into a useless cripple for several months. Depending on how self-sufficient you want/need to be, a satellite phone with a connection to a hospital is good too.*alcohol is a great simple disinfectant
>>2987262awsome, Anon. my nearest neighbors, who have 5 or 10 acre lots dont have 1/10 of what you have. you set the bar very high, not only as an urbanite, but you outperform most suburban and rural sloths.>>2987264we have a pretty solid medical library and supplies. wife does 98% of all of our veterinary care and she is capable of some pretty impressive intensive care and surgery when needed. we keep a truly impressive stock of surgical, antibiotic, sanitizers/cleaners/scrubs and gauze, bandages & general medicine. she owns several medical books on remedies & chemical alternatives as well as general holistic & obstetric approach. luckily she has not had to do much on me, aside from some stitches, debridement and general antibiotics, steroid, and muscle/skeletal pain/injury management. she set up our 3rd bedroom as a "prep room" with all her medical supply and library. it also doubles as out brooding and grow room for seed starting and spring hatch.
>>2987214>lardases that need to drive to get to the groccery store, where they need a mobility scooter to go around the isles>"self sufficient"lmao, have some self awareness, you fucking clowns
>>2987214do you have any idea how much farm animals shit everywhere and how much of a farmer/rancher's existence revolves around dealing with animal shit?are you ready to be up to your knees in liquid shit? in the winter so it's freezing on top but gooey underneath?
>>2987268Ty friend, it's my fourth year at the garden and it's become the light of my day. I started with no experience at all because I grew up in apartments. I'm impressed by how much one can learn even in a tiny space with a little bit of time and the help of a nice community + local coop extension resources. Hopefully, I can get a house nearby to upsize because I like the people and programs around here. I'd also like some chickens or ducks and bees one day.Pic related, most of our frost-sensitive sneedlings and a new balcony growbag with some veg. Sneedlings are now planted out in our ~28 m^2 plot, except for some extras that I'm sharing with folks. The growbag was a new idea to use up extra plants and has given us some good greens, despite being a bit scrawny cause it only gets about 4-5 hours of sun
>>2987296ummm... yes? im OP, also the sheeposter. so yes, familiar with shit. not a bad thing; we use it for compost to grow our gardens. our rabbits produce a "cold" fertilizer that can go straight onto plants & soil sans composing. sheep are not far behind, meaning their shit does need composting, but less so than chicken/duck/quail shit. sheep shit is not *as prone* to nitrogen burning crops. if used sparingly, it can be used without composting. all our kitchen waste gets composed as well. its the circle that feeds us, our animals and our soil.
Bought a house a some years back. First time I've had a yard in a long time. Great soil too. No need for garden beds. Went full tilt on it. Planted all sorts of shit, got some fruit trees, trellises, drip irrigation, paver boarders, the works. Even built a greenhouse out of windows I got from the ReStore for cheap.Harvested everything and, yeah, I ain't eating all that. Gave most of it away. Anyone need any tomatoes? Sure, I'll take a few. Great. Here's 6 pounds of them. Tell your friends. Colliflower the size of your head.Got a new girlfriend later and she saw the mostly disused garden. Oh, we can fix it up and just can everything! Oh, really (I canned shit as a kid and remembered how much of a PITA it was)? Yeah! Okay, sure, all you though. She did it once. Took her a fucking week and a half after work and full time on weekends to can everything. Complained the whole time. She didn't last anyway. Don't get in a relationship with a much younger chick even if the sex is good. They are just children in adult bodies and don't understand any of your references. Tried to educate her but she spent almost the entire run of the Goonies on her fucking phone. Don't need that tiny titty energy in my life. Still have some of the canned veggies. She didn't want to take any when she left.The fruit trees are doing well. The birds love the cherries, figs, and plums. I manage to save enough from them for my own needs. I'm up to my fucking nuts in lemons, grapefruit, and tangerines though. Problem is, everyone out here has a citrus tree. You can't give these things away. I don't even like grapefruit but it was a package deal from the nursery and it is a pretty tree in bloom. Bees love it too.I do grow a few good sized pumpkins for Halloween every year. No trick or treaters though. No kids in the area. Just old people. No one with kids can afford this neighborhood even though the houses are small. The lots are 'big' (½-¾ an acre) and the land is what makes buying expensive.
In addition to our food self-reliant production, we also farm 80%-115% of our own solar power. we have 6890w PV, 20.5kWh of LiFePO4 battery storage and a 12kW hybrid inverter. we are grid connected but DO NOT export surplus power back to the grid. we store it or throttle it if the batteries are full. I'm not subsidizing The Grid for 4¢ on the dollar. FUCK THAT, I'd rather just "dump it in the lake."Picrel: right side is full 24hr yesterday, left side is current today, so far. very cloudy outside. set to clear in the next hour or two.total cash investment up-front: ~$17.5kafter rebates: $11.5k actual cost.no loans, no interest. we dont do debt. when we save up enough, we will expand again. my primary focus is another 5kwh battery, secondary would be adding another 3k-4k panels. I will likely have to choose one or the other depending on how much we can save in the next 8 months.
How do I start switching from urban tech slave to self-sufficient sheep farmer? I'm sick of this industry and I like yarn. How much land do I need? Can I do it as one person or do I need to find someone to help out? How much money does it take to get started?
>>2987427do you live beside a data center or something because this seems like a terrible use of 10 grand+
>>2987440how: develop skills, buy tools, live debt free, buy land & livestock.how much land: for sheep i would reccomend 5acr min. you can do on less, but it gets cramped. flies, smell, wear on land, loss of *your* use of land vs sheep using it exclusive. can you do it alone: yes, but that depends. we have between 5 and 12 sheep (including lambs) throughout the year. Ours are dairy sheep, so that means milking, feeding, medical, moving, posturing, guarding, etc. i have a farmwife who does 90% of that. I build enclosures, fencing and repair shit they break. it would not be effective for me to try to do our version by myself while still earning income as a tradeworker away from farm 8+hrs/day. on top of sheep, she also does rabbits, quail, ducks, chickens, gardens, seed starting, veterinary, house cleaning, food prep, cooking, laundry etc. gotta look at the whole homestead picture, inside and out. it's a lot. we also have a trained guardian dog on duty 24hrs.cost: our 10 acres was $60k. house build was $188k. water well $15k. additional infrastructure we have built ~$15k in supplies but DIY labor. solar cost is above. then tools and consumables another $20k many of which is already had from my tradework background.for refrence single income household $65k/yr>>2987456no. I just like being able to flush my toilet, refrigerate my food and run HVAC when others cant. the $35/mo electric bill is a bonus.
imagine having no bills and slaughtering sheep in the dust bowl for sustenance and still having to work 40 hours a week lmao
>>2987463yeah, living in a crime ridden, concrete government housing complex is definitely superior to being 20 min from the mountains, living on my own terms, providing for myself.self respect, independence and personal drive is stupid.
>>2987468idk if shooping the patagonia mountains into your desert trailer tract while crying about low income housing is conveying the message you think it is
>>2987474>shopping photographummm no. its not shopped and anyone with eyes can tell. run it through whatever nerd software you want, all it will do is confirm.picrel of our brick and mortar house. your projection and misery have no effect on my real world. you should just try to improve yourself, rather than trying to put others down.
>>2987482>projection>putting others downironic in the thread about "everyone is beneath me and an apartment dwrlling criminal"
>>2987458Thanks for the reply. Is your farm completely self-sufficient as in even if you stopped the trade job you could still survive, or do you need that income? Do you sell the farm products or just use them yourself? What kinds of things does your wife need to do every day? My mom keeps chickens and they mostly take care of themselves, I don't know how much I'd want to bother with quail/ducks/rabbits. That sounds like a lot. I have a bunch of money saved up, but committing to this would mean I'd have to leave the job (or more realistically, I pick it up after I get laid off and start with a big garden and worry about livestock later) so I'm pretty concerned about the finances and ability to go at it alone. I don't really have anyone who'd go into this with me barring great depression-level inability to get a job, and that would probably mean moving home to help out my parents first. So the most rational thing to do is to stay in place...but with everything going to shit, being self-sufficient sounds like a really good hedge against the future.
>>2987548>>2987548we are not totally self-sustaining. we buy feed; chickens/ducks during the winter, sheep most of the year. rabbits are basically sneed-dependent. if we had complete pasture fencing the sheep could be 80% grass fed. we are woeking towards fencing the entire pasture, but our debt-free approach takes time. we only moved out here 3 years ago in June. we started in suburbia back in 2014ish with gardens and chickens. we did raise a berkshire hog to butcher at old house, but that was pushing it. my income is required. house/land is 70% paid off. our suburban house was totally paid off. we sold it and applied 100% to new homestead mortgage on year 1.this was/is a lifetime project. I lived extremely frugal since I was 21. bought suburban house in 2004. paid off in 2019. i/we did travel and vacay, but did so on budget with cash. once we are now married to the homestead. somone must always be here. if she visits family, I stay. my family is local. we have retirement savings ($106k) and emg fund, but we live lean, relying on our production. I am 45, wife is 39.you don't have to do it all. choose a level you are comfortable with. dont get overwhelmed. we do our version because it makes us happy. we sacrifice a lot in exchange. my truck is 26yrs old. we dont "go out" or eat at restaurants. we wear/use things longer than most. we repair, rather than replace lots of stuff. our house payment is $705/mo (built 2023) land is $558/mo. they should be paid off in about 15yrs. life will get a little easier, more relaxed then. our house is our main luxury. it was custom designed and is SHTF redundant. it is also very nice. NET worth is somewhere around $400k. we are NOT rich in money, but are rich in life. our estimated Retirement fund combined with gvt senior benefits will afford us a comfortable retirement. when we get to old and crippled to farm, we will stop the labor side. when we get too crippled to live on our own, we will sell it for end-of-life care.
>>2987587What job do you do that allows you to live out there while being able to actually afford anything? When I lived in the sticks there was fucking nothing for jobs. The local fast food places had stacks of applications every time a single job opened up. When they built a Tractor Supply they got something like four thousand applications. The whole county only has 15k people.
>>2987268That's pretty good, better than I thought. You clearly have put more thought into this than most
>>2987589>>2987590I work in construction and maintenance. our homestead is in BFE. I drive 30 miles to work in a medium-sized town. there is actually a larger sized city about 25 miles from our house, but we only go there occasionally. we rarely leave the farm except for when i go to work or Sneed's.
