If you are like me you spend your Winter months pouring over seed catalogs and dreaming about Spring. There are a few projects that I am dreaming about this Winter. I would love to hear about the projects you are dreaming about adding to your homestead, come Spring. Maybe you are dreaming about your first chicken coop, or maybe your first garden, or maybe like me you are dreaming about goats!
First dream:
Instead of counting sheep when I lay down, I am counting goats and it is really NOT sleep inducing! I am really wanting some goats. Dwarf Nigerian goats to be specific. However, I have some stumbling blocks to overcome. The fence that separates my neighbor and I is, well, to put in bluntly, bending in two different directions. For those of you who do yoga, one fence post is stretching for the down dog position and the other is competing with the lotus position. I think you are getting the picture. Any hoo, while I think this is a situation that deserves priority of fund distribution, sadly my husband does NOT agree .
I really think my husband knows, that if he fixes the fence situation, I will be one step closer to getting goats. Strangely, he is not so on board with the goat idea. His very words were; “If you get goats, I will move from the bottom of the priority list, right off the list altogether!”
The reality is, when you have animals, that you have to take care of, they do come first, and then the children(just kidding) children come first. However, to put it into perspective; the kids are all at the age that they can kind of make some headway into fending for themselves. In contrast I have animals in cages that are totally dependent on my care! So after God, the animals, kids(in whatever order) is the house(cooking mostly, although cleanliness is somewhere in this muddled mess) then comes, you guessed it, my husband. So while I can kind of understand the reluctance to get goats, I still stubbornly want them. Who me, headstrong? No, not me! Perhaps I should pray about this goat addition. Happy marriage vs goats, hmm. I do have to say at this point, that he was not so on board with chickens, but now loves them. Well he likes them, loves their eggs for sure. He was not so on board with a big, bold stand- out- in- the- neighborhood front yard garden. Now he likes it, or at least enjoys the produce. So maybe it will be the same with goats? Could be risky. Marriage vs goats? Maybe I should go with the marriage?!
Second dream:
Bees! My son has just received a bee keeping scholarship so I feel like we are making progress toward this goal.Read about our new bee keeping adventure here! If all works as planned we will be keeping the bee hives down by the creek behind the Creekside Community Garden. Can’t wait to have my first bee post. I will record it every step/sting of the way!
Third dream:
Fruit trees! While my shady backyard is dedicated to my animals and part of my front yard is a huge garden, there is a part of my homestead that is very nonproductive. One side of my front yard is covered with vines(vinca minor) which is pretty cool because it does not have to be mowed, but unfortunately is not good to eat.
This area is where I would love to put fruit trees. It is the west side of my property so gets LOTS of afternoon sun. I have one VERY daunting obstacle, however; my elm tree. I have a huge elm tree that is on the edge of my property. Elm trees have surface roots and a lot of them. They pretty much choke out anything within 100 yards. It costs A LOT to have a tree removed. I am so tempted to just attack it with an saw, but again, my headstrong charge ahead has not always worked out so well. I can just picture a HUGE tree trunk right in the middle of the busy street I live on the corner of, blocking traffic, people honking, major discontent going on there. That could be tricky. At the present time I feel rather backed into a corner on this situation. It is me vs the tree. The tree IS bigger, but who has the stronger will, I ask you?
Anyway these are my dreams. What are yours? Answer in the comments if you have a homestead dream in the making. I love to hear from you! Blessings, Dash
Well, I am impressed with your story that I just read on Urban farm – well done girl!!
Just to let you know: when we moved into our new house, workers still busy on the outside, no gate installed – a goat walked in our yard..It was really pretty goat, shivered in cold November air and made sad sounds. It stayed ‘with us’ for almost a week while we were trying to find out who it belonged to. While, at first, we had a wish to have a goat or two ourselves, that dream changed. We couldn’t tie this one or touch at all, so she wandered around nibbling on on tree branches and destroying few young, just planted trees. Goats eat no grass. She pooped and peed on our doorstep and would walk all over it before we get up in the morning – it was pretty messy thing to clean and very, very smelly . So we crossed ‘have a goat or two’ off our wish list. In your urban environment you might consider this seriously…
And if you wandered, this one belonged to a herd of 5 that got attacked by coyotes and only one that was returned to the owner. She was with the kid at the time and we learned that she successfully delivered it – so this man’s herd started growing again. Also, his colleagues (he is guard in agricultural secondary school) donated money and bought him male goat…
And something that you need to check about trees: I learned that if canopy is heavily trimmed – but not more than 30% of it, tree will survive. However, roots that are just below parts of canopy that has been chopped are going to die, too (there is no need for their existence so to speak). By heavily trimming that tree in front of your garden every year you might reduce amount of roots that it spreads around and still keep it. And, that will free space for your fruit trees…
Good luck with your urban garden! Our is 4km outside small city and we only started last year in May – so this will be the first year with proper start in early spring…
Thank you for your goat advice. When I got chickens, even though I had read a lot about them, I was surprised at the poop on the stoop as they pressed against the cool sliding back door. So I can so relate to your poop on the stoop story. I have heard that they are escape artists and that a STURDY pen MUST be part of the homestead.
I loved your tree trimming idea, Thank you. I am going to ask a friend of mine in the nursery business to look at mine and see if this will work.
So excited for your new “first Spring” beginning! Please keep me up to date and let me know where you are?
Blessings, Dash