Hi everyone! We are a small family farm. Since 2021 we have planted and cared for more than 1,000 blueberry bushes in containers, all by hand. Growing in pots lets us control the soil acidity, but it also means the plants depend completely on us for water, especially in hot summers.
Our biggest challenge now is irrigation and protecting the bushes from heat and hail. We are slowly working on it.
Happy to answer any questions about growing blueberries in containers: soil mix, pot size, watering, pruning. Ask away!
If anyone wants to follow or support our little farm, the link is in my profile.

Hey guys! So, I recently started a backyard garden to reduce my reliance on grocery stores, but I'm still undecided on what, in particular, I want to grow. Any tips would be highly appreciated!

I planted these carrot seeds in February. They were in a five by five raised bed filled with about six inches of fully processed compost on top of native soil in dappled sunlight. The compost is a combination of cardboard, garden and kitchen scraps, lawn clippings and partially composted straw from my chicken coop using the deep litter method. They were watered all season on a schedule. Why are they so tiny (large seed packet for scale). Any tips or tricks are appreciated.

I just wanted to share my experience of having free range chickens. This term gets thrown around often and i’m definitely not the free range sheriff. The difference to me is just stark comparing how this rooster turned out vs. how store bought chicken looks in my area. This rooster was ≈ 10 months old and not fed much feed at all, foraging its own food. Swedish flower hen derived but this specific rooster was a mix of SFH and Ancona, so a very flighty bird.

Ive raised chickens for a while and recently decided to start my flock from scratch using some new breeds i wanted to try. That left me with, at the moment, 8 older egg layers that are already past their time, ive already butchered 5 of them and 2 old roosters, and usually since all the meat is extremelly dark and tough i use it mostly for stocks, soups, ground meat paste/pâté or dog snacks, but i wanted to see if any of you guys have some tips of recipies to process the bulk of the meat in other ways that might make it edible without the need to shred/grind the meat. Thanks in advance!

Edit: currently tending to the garden, dont have the time yet to reply to the comments, but thank you!!! Already see a bunch of nice recipes and tips

I’m a business student at Cal Poly Pomona researching food waste for a class project. Our team is exploring a marketplace where farms could sell cosmetically imperfect or surplus produce directly to food processors and restaurants.

1. What do you currently do with produce that doesn’t meet grade standards (sell as seconds, donate, compost, till under)?
2. Roughly what share of your crop ends up off-grade or unsold in a typical season?
3. Have you tried selling it to processors or restaurants? What made that easy or hard?
4. What would a buyer need to pay to make harvesting and shipping it worth your time?
5. What would make you skeptical of a platform like this?

I work in a school cafeteria and help with our berry patch in North Carolina. Mom spent a morning picking with me, then had to walk uphill to the house while I pushed the berries back in a wheelbarrow. She was tired, and I started looking for a way to give her a ride back to the house and bring the trays along.

I borrowed a neighbor's cart and rented a small utility vehicle for a weekend. We tried both with Mom riding along and our usual load of trays. The utility vehicle had plenty of cargo space, but it needed more room at the turn beside the beds. The cart made that turn in one go.

The grassy shortcut was still soft after rain. We kept both vehicles off it and tried the longer gravel route around the end of the patch. That got us back to the house without crossing the wet ground, so I chose that as our regular route.

I eventually found a used golf cart that fit our needs. Luckily, the previous owner had already upgraded it with a Vatrer lithium battery and a compatible charger, so I didn't have to worry about replacing the batteries myself. I just added a rack for the berry trays and got it ready for use.

On its first morning in the patch, I still used the wheelbarrow between the rows. We loaded the cart where the rows met the gravel lane. The trays went on the rack, Mom took the passenger seat, and I drove us back to the house.

South eastern quarter is almost completely rotted, but the whole northern portion of the roof/barn is nearly perfect (aside from listing 1-3°) , and the south western side is still okay, tho it’s degrading fast. Is there any way to save it?? I’m a new market gardener and chicken farmer with almost no money I can sink into the project, just a tractor and plans to build a pto driven sawmill. I would love to have a few dairy cows someday and think it would be so cool to use the same barn as the last owner/operator used. His name was Perry Miller and he used it in the 60’s and 70’s, until he was gored by his own bull and had to shut it down.

Anybody have a recommendation for a heated hose that will last at least one season? It seems two months is the maximum life. We are able to get out of one. I follow the instructions and I’m assuming it’s just we’re not spending enough to get a quality hose? I need 50 feet. Otherwise, tell me what you all do? I can’t keep spending money on these.
Appreciate all recommendations.

Can anyone who has a smallholding, plus works full time plus has a kid give me some perspective?

My husband and I have been together 20 years married for 7, we moved to a small holding just after we got married away from family so it's just us two. We love our life, our marriage and manage well with everything both working full time from home, we have a dog a vizsla who fits into our lifestyle very well as we love hiking and camping. The time has come to discuss kids or no kids. I have very real concerns that it's just too much to ask and we will end up not being able to live this life and will have to sacrifice too much of our lifestyle to bring up a child.

Has anyone got a similar life and they've made it work and having kids actually adds to the fun and adventure rather than detracting from it considering we have no family support?

On the other side anyone choosen not to have kids for this very reason?

Believe it or not, New Jersey is more than what you see when you land at Newark airport. Our 140+ acres in beautiful Hunterdon county 💚🤠🐓

As per the title;

Property has a well. Considering getting 4-6 laying hens.

How far from the well would you want a coop?

Im setting up an enclosure with plans for keeping goats. My problem at the moment is grounding I believe. I have the 5 mile solar charger from tractor supply. The perimeter is about 350 feet. I have 3 8foot ground rods spaced about 12 feet apart. I do have dry sandy soil (mid west south Carolina). That's why I added so much extra grounding. But still even after meeting the charger sit in the sun for days before use I am only getting the lightest little tap. I decided to add additional wires and turn it into a earth return system. With that if you touch both wires you definitely get a solid zap, so I don't believe the charger is the issue. My question is, is there anyway to ground the system better so that I don't have to rely on both wires being touched to deliver a decent shock. Will the location of my grounding rods affect performance? Like is it better to drive the rods in going into the enclosure or does that matter? The area I have the ground rods is fairly close to my septic drain field. Would driving another rod into the drain field help as it may stay more moist or if the ground the goats will be standing on is so dry it won't really matter? With the earth return system could I add grounding rods around the perimeter connected to one of the negative wires to increase the shock of only love wire is touched or something to that affect? Or am I just chasing an impossible goal and should just stop wasting my money.

Oh and before it's suggested the ground rods were driven in a hole filled with bentonite clay and have tried leaving a leaky bucket on the rods. Neither seemed to have any significant effect

Hey folks! I’m having a hard time figuring out where to even ask this question, but this group might be close enough, and can hopefully point me in the right direction.

I don’t homestead in the traditional way, in that I live in a small city. We are however looking to increase our personal resiliency. Solar panels, batteries, canning, chicken coop in the backyard, part of a farm share, that sort of thing.

Next up is a Wood Burning insert. Where I live, access to wood is no problem. We already have a fireplace, but it’s an open design, not particularly efficient and must go completely out to clean out the ash. We’re hoping to be able to supplement our gas heat with wood heat, and have a backup in case of an outage. This is easy to find. The tricky part is, I’d like to have it be a bake oven with cook top as well. I don’t care that it won’t be at a standard height, I just want the ability to cook on the fire if we have to.

Do any of ya’ll know where I can find an item like a Wood burning fireplace insert with cooktop and bakeoven?

Thanks!

Long story short, my wife and I bought a property in WV through an estate sale situation and details and records are scarce/nonexistent. We are both city people and have grown up with public water supply so this is all new to us. We are wanting to just get a full picture of the utility situation as we begin to think about what we want this place to look like for us. Honestly the biggest priority right now is establishing if the water supplied to the house is drinkable or not.

The property was advertised as having a spring house and limestone-filtered spring water but that’s really the extent of what we know. I was out there today and found the spring box but I’m not sure where to go from here. Pictures of the spring box and inside are attached.

I followed the black supply from the box but between the rain, the leaves and the terrain it was hard to trace in its entirety. The outlet I did find is at a small barn with a trough and spigot.

The water has good water pressure, no notable staining on the faucets/showers/toilets, and doesn’t seem to have a strong sulfur smell. The spring box looked to only have 12” of depth and I was unable to locate a cistern but I feel like that is my next step? Is it safe to assume cisterns will have access points at ground level? Admittedly it wasn’t a thorough search.

I already plan to collect and send in a water sample but is this best done at the spring box, cistern (if I can find/access it, or faucet?

Regardless of test results, is it best practice to add a water and UV filtration system to all spring fed sources? Is this something that can be installed near the cistern or is it usually more internally to the house? The property has multiple houses so just trying to plan for whether we might need 2 systems vs 1.

Edit: I do plan on reaching out to the county tomorrow to see what info they can help me with but these are the questions occupying my brain as I try and wind down to sleep.

I’ve got about 100 acres in southwest Wisconsin, and roughly 65 acres is very hilly, black walnut-dominated woodland. We’re planning to break ground on our homestead in 3–4 years. For now, we’re working on land restoration and planning, planning, planning.

In addition to letting the walnuts grow for a potential timber harvest for future generations, I’ve been trying to figure out whether we could manage portions of the woods for food and other useful plants.

The main goal would be supplemental food for our family, with perhaps a small secondary income someday.

I’ve been geeking out lately about agroforestry and perennial food plants, especially their ecological benefits. Last weekend, our family visited the Savanna Institute’s demonstration farm in Spring Green, where they research tree and shrub crops and agroforestry practices suited to our region.

That visit got me excited about a few possibilities. I’d love to hear from people who have tried any of these—particularly in the Upper Midwest or in walnut-dominated woods. Also let me know if there are ideas I'm not considering yet but should.

Fruit and nut shrubs along the woodland edges

We’ve been removing invasive honeysuckle, which has me thinking about what we want growing in its place. In the sunnier woodland edges and openings, I’m interested in elderberries, black currants, aronia, hazelnuts, and other perennial food plants. Has anyone established productive berry or nut shrubs along a black walnut woodland edge? What has done well, and how much sun and ongoing maintenance did it need?

Managing patches for woodland food and useful plants

Edible mushrooms, walnuts, ramps, American ginseng, wild berries, maple trees, willow for basket weaving, and other edible, medicinal, and useful plants grow in our area. Some are already on our land, but not in abundance (well except for walnuts, LOL). I’m wondering about establishing or expanding a few managed patches that could eventually provide reliable supplemental harvests for our family. Have you successfully encouraged woodland food or useful plants this way? What was worth the effort?

Possible silvopasture for a family milk cow and companions

We’re considering a family milk cow with some company, probably 3-5 cows max. We have about 3–4 acres of open pasture field available (the rest we're converting to tall grass prairie, which is the centerpiece of our restoration efforts). Could thinning selected areas of woodland create additional rotational grazing space? I’m interested in whether that could fit with our woodland restoration goals and growing walnuts for future timber. Has anyone combined a small open pasture with managed woodland grazing on hilly ground? What would you assess before deciding whether it’s feasible—and what would make you rule it out?

We’ve got time to experiment before moving out there full time, so I’d appreciate advice on what to start now, what to learn more about, and what to leave as a daydream.

If you’re curious about the visit that sparked these ideas, I made a video of the Savanna Institute open house.

Do any of you deworm yourselves due to handling/caring for your farm animals?

We have chickens and mest rabbits, and a few kids.

One is my 2.5 yesr old son who is very feral and obsessed with his chickens.

He often runs, hides and takes his shoes off while around the chickens and inside the coop.

He also helps care for the neighbors birds snd he had turkeys, chickens, ducks ect.

I have noticed iver the last year his behavior kind of change, he has become much picker with foods, the dark circles under his eyes ect.

Im wondering if others who homestead with kids ever worry about deworming themselves? And if you do, what do yall use ?

Please no judgment, im just genuinely curious and it seems to be a very biased subject.

Hey everyone!

We will start building on our land in less than a year. This is the floorplan ive been working on. I will be the contractor, and we do concrete, so thay will save us a lot, which is also why we are doing a single rather than 2 story. I will have a draftsman look over it and finalize it. Theres no windows right now as im still moving walls around.

We are trying to keep it at 3500 or less. We are a family of 5 but want 1 or 2 more kids. We host at least once a week. I have think a work table for our kitchen island

We are in New Mexico, so desert climate, but we have water rights with a ditch running along the back. The house will be east facing

We plan to eventually have an orchard and garden. Id like to can. We will have some animals. My husband does capentry and welds on the side. I think there is a decent amount of storage space, and I was thinking of an outdoor kitchen under the back patio for processing.

I have been looking into the different zones to try to think where the house will go on the property

Do you all have any recommendations of what to change?

Had family over for breakfast this morning and they were so delighted to have milk from a glass bottle, especially my grandpa who grew up always having milk like this. I just think it's so much more satisfying.

Curious who would all leave a high paying job for a simple life if you had 1.3 million and early 30s

What would you do next

Apparently I should have been a part of this sub ages ago!

I raised tropical ornamental fish, although a house fire early this year really affected my interest (so many dead fish...). I decided to get rid of most of them and break down the tanks. The only one staying up inside is my 125G show tank.

BUT outside I have a 75G tank where I raise mosquito fish. I'm about to switch to using a 225G tote instead, so I can also soak driftwood for others. That tank also has a TON of aquatic plants. Most aquatic plants available in pet stores are grown ABOVE water, so they die back a lot when placed under water. I like growing them underwater, and the area where they are gets plenty of sun, so they really grow fast! Yes, it gets algae too, but that's fine. It's not a show tank.

I also do 3D printing, and I'm thinking about making a modular "basket" to raise plants through hydroponics out of the water tote. I've already used the printer to make *tons* of normal plant pots and seed trays. But I really want to raise watercress (great superfood - even better than spinach) and I'm hearing that stuff loves growing through hydroponics!

I've raised chickens in the past too. And the house we bought just last year has two raised garden plots with a cute little fence around it, where I raise vegetables.

IF and WHEN insurance finally finishes the claim on the burned-down house, I intend to get an enclosure for turkeys. My husband is really afraid of chickens after getting attacked by a rooster once. So those are out of the question. We also don't eat eggs very often. I also don't like people at my house a lot, so I don't want to keep offering excess chicken eggs to others. So I figured turkeys were best as they aren't prolific egg producers. I also want to go with a heritage breed that I have seen offered up less and less - royal palms!

The only other plans I have for any sort of "homesteading" are to possibly go with solar panels in the future. I want the entire roof covered, because I know it helps keep the attic cool, which helps keep the house cool (we're in Georgia). And I want to rely on the electric company as little as possible - although I'd prefer to stop relying on them at all. Our house is well insulated, and we keep it at 75 during the summer (although my medications make me sweat if it's over 72), and still got a fricking bill for $600 for July. I'm tired of their "summer prices" when there are data centers flying in here putting a *much* larger strain on the grid than our measly household AC units! I'll happily buy a bunch of batteries to store energy rather than pay them these inflated prices much longer!

ANYWAY, mostly just saying hello and introducing myself. I will probably be asking questions about various things related to these topics as they come up!