EllieMay's journey towards self-sufficiency.

EllieMay

Loving the herd life
Joined
May 15, 2011
Messages
498
Reaction score
26
Points
138
Location
Central Kentucky
What state/province/country are you in and what is your climate like?
I'm in South Central Kentucky smack dab in the middle of nowhere. I'm originally from California, so it was difficult for me to understand the 'hillbilly' accent spoken here. But I love it here and the climate is milder than I expected. We get no real snow; just some dusting that melts by noon. Summers are hot as can be expected, but I lived in Arizona for a year so I know the meaning of real heat.


How many people are in your family? Marital status?
We have five kids all grown and living their wonderful lives. So its just me and hubby here on the farm.
I'm the farmer and hubby sometimes helps with the 'manly' stuff.



How would you define your farm?
I have 15 acres of pasture, some trees, and ponds.
Goal is to have a self-sustaining hobby farm.
Also, want to buy the surrounding 25 acres so I can buy more sheep.



What would you do with your spare time if you had any resources you needed?
I enjoy traveling and have traveled and lived overseas. Having a farm makes it difficult to leave unless I can find someone I TRUST with the care of my livestock for weeks at a time. But if I had the resource of a good and trusted farmer who knows what to do and can live on my farm while Im away, Id definitely continue my traveling adventures.


Have you ever built a house, barn , or other types of building? Do you want to?
Hubby and I built two chicken coops. We knew nothing about building so were quite pleased with our efforts. Now we build all of our own coops and pens. Would love to one day fix up our barn; but were hiring people for that job and help out where we can.

visit086.jpg



farm054.jpg




Who or what inspired you to be a farmer/rancher, hobby farmer?
Ive always wanted to live on a farm. Having grown up in the suburbs in California, I never set foot on a farm, but would always watch the old shows like Green Acres and wish I could live like that (just without all the self-inflicted problems).


Is it a hobby or an occupation?
I work on my farm full-time since I do not have a job. So its a hobby that Id like to earn a living at.


In what types of farming will you never choose to do?
Dont think I would ever want to get into the large commercial operations.


Are you interested in providing more of your own food supply?
So far we grow most of our own fruits and veggies. We basically go to the store to buy staples like salt, sugar, flour, etc.


Can you legally have all forms of livestock where you are at? Do you have any? What kinds?
This was one of the reasons I moved to KY, so that I could do whatever I please with my own land. Right now Im only raising Katahdin sheep and will have one annual Duroc pig for meat, and we have chickens.


If you could live any place you chose, where would it be?
Outside the US I would like to live in a place with mild climate year round. I lived in the jungle of Costa Rica for a few years; however, farming didnt work well there since there are way too many predatory creatures to make farming comfortable. I love the beautiful hills in Romania; however, I dont like the cold winters. Ive thought about moving to New Zealand, but thats still on my list of places to visit first.
Within the US I would love to live in the northern part of North Carolina (if it werent so expensive) and I also love the Shenandoah Valley region of Virginia (but, again, its too expensive).



Do you use a wood stove for heating or cooking?
Nah. Way too primitive for my taste.


Do you process your own meat? Can or preserve?
Yep! So far I've only processed my own chickens and canned veggies and fruit. I don't much like the canning of it all. Way too time consuming! Throwing things in the freezer is easy enough; just don't like the canning. I guess I am not fond of spending too much time cooped up in the kitchen.


Do you use alternative energy sources on your farm? Would you like to?
Were currently working on our own source of energy so we dont have to depend on any corporation for our basic needs.


What is on your to do list?
Buy a tractor!

:thumbsup
 

Four Winds Ranch

Loving the herd life
Joined
Apr 13, 2012
Messages
1,134
Reaction score
95
Points
133
Location
Alberta, Canada
Nice!!! :thumbsup
I am looking forward to reading about you self-sufficiancy experiences and ideas!!!!
My goal is to be self-sufficiant as well!!
 

EllieMay

Loving the herd life
Joined
May 15, 2011
Messages
498
Reaction score
26
Points
138
Location
Central Kentucky
This is ALL new to me . . . like I said, I grew up in CA, so I know NOTHING!
But I'm learning as I go.
And I ask a LOT of questions.

Last year I planted a veggie garden that was about 50x70 feet.
That plus the meat from my chickens brought my grocery bill from $250 down to about $60.
So this year I want to do better.

Last year I pretty much grew a lot of everything.
This year I am growing a lot of what we eat most of and what is easier to preserve and store.

I also make my own homemade dog food and hatch out barnyard chickens (Easter Eggers) for the dogs.
I enjoy seeing what colors the EE's turn out to be, but since they don't necessarily have enough meat on 'em for my needs, they become dog food.
I hatch out my large barnyard mixes for myself (I have a Black Copper Marans rooster with Black Australorp hens and some Barred Rock hens).
I use my Silkies to pay for all of the expense of raising chickens.
Right now I'm culling my Silkies real hard to keep only the top 1% show-quality and breeder-quality chickens.
I'm hatching those eggs to see what I will get.
I sell hatching eggs when I'm satisfied with the quality I'm getting from my hatches.

We also eat a lot of bacon and I make a really good quiche with pork sausage, so we'll enjoy butchering our pig in the fall.


For me, self-sufficiency comes with small manageable steps, so it's a pleasure along the way. :D
 

Symphony

Overrun with beasties
Joined
May 19, 2012
Messages
1,132
Reaction score
4
Points
79
Can't wait to read your future journal entries.

You may also like Western Oregon. As long as its west of the cascades it will be very pleasant weather and good rainfall without the Tornadoes.
 

EllieMay

Loving the herd life
Joined
May 15, 2011
Messages
498
Reaction score
26
Points
138
Location
Central Kentucky
So one thing we figured we'd try this year is growing blueberries. There's a huge demand for blueberries here where we live, and a lot of farmers are beginning to grow them.
We already had about 6 plants here, and we just purchased 150 more. So that meant digging 150 holes!
Fortunately, we had a friend with an auger that we could pay to dig the holes for us. Didn't take much time.


Blueberryholes008.jpg




Hubby carefully marked where all the holes should go, and we were hoping we'd miss that water line.
Of course, he hit a water line, so that meant calling the plumber out to fix it.
Oh, the joys of farming.
waiting2.gif


`````````````````````````````````````````````
So last weekend I picked up 76 blueberry plants (made two trips in my little pickup).
These are 4-yr-old plants. I'll pick up the rest next week after they bring in a new shipment.
They'll probably only be 2 or 3 year old plants, but that's fine with me.

We have several different varieties: Elliott, Blue Ray, Blue Crop, and Sharp Blue. We're also getting some Rubel blueberries.

The Rubel blueberry is one of the few true wild blueberries. They are known for their very high anti-oxidant properties.
I'm only getting a few of these plants since the berries are very small (but tasty); I'll probably use these for my own jams and fresh fruit.

The Elliotts are also high in anti-oxidants (not as high as the Rubels) and they're a nice large berry; we have 51 of these plants.
I got the Sharp Blues because they are an early grower, but I only got a couple of those plants since they can be susceptible to frost.
The two plants I bought are loaded with buds, so the yield this year will pay for all the plants we just bought. The Blue Rays are a mid to late bloomer to extend the blueberry season.

We belong to the Blueberry Grower's Association and they'll send out a picker to help with the picking when the time comes.
They also keep a list of the places that need blueberries delivered, which saves me the time and effort of marketing.

We haven't planted the plants yet; just set them in the holes. We're just examining them to see if there are plants we want to return.
And, besides, my back is happy to put off the planting for a while. :)


photos002.jpg
 

Four Winds Ranch

Loving the herd life
Joined
Apr 13, 2012
Messages
1,134
Reaction score
95
Points
133
Location
Alberta, Canada
Good luck with your up and coming Blueberry Buisness!!!!! I love blueberries, but unfortunatly I can't get them to grow worth anything here! :/
We do have a few wild ones growing in the bush behind the house!
 

Symphony

Overrun with beasties
Joined
May 19, 2012
Messages
1,132
Reaction score
4
Points
79
Thats great that the Association will send out a picker to help y'all and they tell you where the need is. I just have a couple semi wild ones that need heavy weeding and trimming.
 

EllieMay

Loving the herd life
Joined
May 15, 2011
Messages
498
Reaction score
26
Points
138
Location
Central Kentucky
Four Winds Ranch said:
Good luck with your up and coming Blueberry Buisness!!!!! I love blueberries, but unfortunatly I can't get them to grow worth anything here! :/
We do have a few wild ones growing in the bush behind the house!
Yeah, I don't think they grow very well on your side of the country.
I was in Ontario and had the 2nd BEST blueberries I had ever tasted (the best were the ones I ate in Romania).
I think it's the cold weather.
 

EllieMay

Loving the herd life
Joined
May 15, 2011
Messages
498
Reaction score
26
Points
138
Location
Central Kentucky
Symphony said:
Thats great that the Association will send out a picker to help y'all and they tell you where the need is. I just have a couple semi wild ones that need heavy weeding and trimming.
Yeah, uh huh.
I'm sure they'll send someone right over!
:D
 

Latest posts

Top