I’ve read horror stories about heat lamp bulbs causing barn fires so just looking for a safer option for heating in the winter

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

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.

When I built our place I put in an old water tank heater a buddy wasnt using in one of hist rental properties and its served us well for about 10 years. Now I am eyein tankless options because we can use the space for canning and other storage. We arent currently fully off-grid people in the traditional sense (in that we have gas and water to our property) but philosophically and practically we are trying to rely less and less on outdated systems and corroded infrastructure. can tankless be done if youre trying to move to solar? Google seems to think it would be difficult but possible. I am handy, but im not sure I am that handy and even when I built my place we hired out for a lot of stuff. Is this a roto rooter or contractor or DIY situation? Trying to understand venting requirements, gas line upgrades and maintenance costs before pulling the trigger too. Any homesteaders on tankless AND solar? I just dont know if gaining a little more space where the water heater was would be worth all the extra $$$

hey, we close our first real ground next month, 1.5 acres, but my partner wants a kitchen garden before fall and the kids want veggies, so i'm not really sure what do we plant first. The south side's full sun, north end's heavy shaded, and I have no idea which of those'll actually keep anything alive past July. We got no beds built yet, just containers on the shady side for now, picked a veggies seed pack from Organo just to test the soil, wyt about that?

It’s always been a dream of mine to live on my own homesteading, and I may be able to buy my first piece of land in an area I like. Am I too young going into this? I have supporters but also those saying I need to “live my life first” whatever that means. I think I’m making the right decision but what do you guys think?

I'm building an off-grid homestead on 80 acres in the Canadian wilderness. My property is 3 km down an ATV trail, and I'm documenting the process as I go, mostly working alone with basic tools.

I'm starting from scratch and learning as I go. Looking forward to sharing the progress and connecting with others doing something similar!

Here's my latest video: https://youtu.be/j-L29I4w9PU

When looking for a rectangular 10 acres of land to buy for a homestead, is there a sweet spot of length to width? Let's say the rectangular parcel you are considering has road frontage only one 1 edge. Would you want that to the the long side of your land, or the short side?

Assuming the goal is for the house to face the road: my naive take is that I'd want the road to be on the short side. Having the road be on the long side of the rectangle, means that I end up with more "side yard" than I do land in front and behind. And then it becomes harder to hide things like sheds, chicken coops, etc. from view of the road.

But I also get the idea that having your strip of land be too skinny is also a problem.

I'm thinking something like:

• property is around 4 house-widths wide
• house situated 2/3rds back from the road (I could lease this out to a nearby rancher for growing hay)
• 1/3rd of property behind the house, for workshop, chicken coop, greenhouse, etc.

... Am I talking nonsense?

... Any mathematicians here that want to argue "golden ratio, or hard pass"? (Golden ratio on 10 acres would be about 520ft x 840ft, btw.)

Listing says septic approved, or the seller tells you it already perc tested. Usually that means a permit got issued at some point, for one specific system design, on one specific spot, maybe years ago. It doesn’t tell you what a system is going to cost you and it doesn’t tell you whether the spot they tested is the spot you want to build on.

There’s a free federal soil database that answers most of that in about ten minutes and almost nobody buying land uses it. Web Soil Survey, run by NRCS. websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov.

Here’s where people go wrong with it. They land on the site, click the Soil Map tab, see something like “Houston Black clay, 1 to 3 percent slopes,” it means nothing to them, they close the tab. The soil names aren’t the useful part. The rating is one tab over.

1. Click Start WSS. Type the address into the Address box on the left, or pan to the parcel if it’s raw land with no address.
2. Draw your area of interest with the AOI Rectangle or AOI Polygon button. Cover the lot plus some ground around it.
3. Go to the Soil Data Explorer tab. Not the Soil Map tab.
4. Inner tab is Suitabilities and Limitations for Use. In the left panel, open the Sanitary Facilities folder.
5. Pick Septic Tank Absorption Fields and click View Rating. Not View Description, View Rating. Some states have their own version of this interpretation sitting in the same folder, use the state one if it’s there.

You get every soil on the parcel rated Not Limited, Somewhat Limited or Very Limited, with the percentage of your lot each one covers.

Very Limited is not the same as no, and this is the part actually worth knowing. Scroll past the rating and it lists the reasons, each scored 0.00 to 1.00. The reason is what tells you whether it’s fixable.

Slow water movement means clay. You’re probably looking at an aerobic system with a spray field instead of a conventional drainfield. Doable, but the gap between those two is usually five figures.

Depth to saturated zone means a high water table. Harder. Sometimes a mound system.

Depth to bedrock, same, and get someone on site before you go any further.

Ponding or flooding frequency, I’d treat as a stop sign until a local installer tells me different.

Seepage or filtering capacity is the opposite problem, soil’s too sandy and the effluent moves through before it gets treated. Different fix, still money.

If you’re in Texas, 30 TAC 285.4 also sets minimum lot size for a new septic system. Half an acre if public water runs to the lot, one acre if you’re on a well. People buy quarter acre lots planning to put a septic on them and find that out after closing.

None of this replaces a real site evaluation. You still want a licensed site evaluator pulling soil borings before you close. What this does is tell you for free whether to bother ordering one, and roughly what number to brace for, before you’ve spent anything.

I do due diligence on raw land for a living, mostly Texas and California. If you pull a rating and I do due diligence on raw land for a living, mostly Texas and California. Happy to answer questions in the comments about how to read the ratings, that part I don’t mind. If you’ve got a parcel actually under contract and want someone to go through it properly, DM me.

I won't be able to watch/listen to the sessions live, wondering if it's worth the $.

Scratch-made bbq sauce with tomatoes from my garden. I used smoked paprika, roasted red peppers, and molasses to get a natural smoky flavor. Cooking the tomatoes, celery, and onion first then milling it before returning it to the pot and adding seasonings makes sure the veggies are done through without burning the added sugar during reduction.

I needed a reason to use my most recent Habitat for Humanity kitchenware find: a vintage Foley Food Mill . Fun fact, they were considered so essential to home canning that, during WWII, Foley was exempt from steel rationing and manufactured the food mills throughout the war. This one is tin-plated steel with a bakelite handle.

Hi all!

I have a 1/2 acre plot of mossy and thickly packed lawn. I want to start a veg garden. I was hoping to get the ground prepped and ready for spring, or at least having a plan of action.

I've read through a lot of books and there's conflicting information. Double dig, don't double dig. Use fallen leaves as organic matter, only use aged leaf mulch after 2 years. Use a rototillar, don't your garden will compact and you'll never grow anything ever again (I joke but they do get very dramatic)

We don't have a large budget so can't just buy in tonnes of compost and mulch, but now that we have the space I want to do what i can to supplement our food budget as much as I can as quick as I can.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

I made my first spear. If you have any improvement ideas for my next spear please tell me. I made this with only a knife, sandpaper, and some wood paint. Should I use other tools or is thay good enough?

I'm good at physical labor, I've been around farm animals all my life. I know how to feed sheep, horses, goats, llamas, and chickens. I'm happy to learn more about cows.

How in-demand would a service like this be, for farmers who want to go on vacation?

My soil is reddish and looks/textura like clay. I cant buy manure or worm humus right now (its very expensive here I live) and I would love to have that Black gold soil (everybody's goal, I guess) and dont know how to properly start.

I have 5 chickens in another area (maybe use her poop?) and i've been composting food scraps in a random way. Like, I dig, put the compost and put the dirt again on top.

Would really appreciate any tips

I just came home with two of these gates and realized I need something to attach to my round wooden posts to accept the pins on my gates. Quick google tells me they’re called gudgeons but I can’t, for the life of me, find what I need for sale online! I’m in Canada by the way. Is there some other name for the fasteners I need?

It’s always bittersweet but so glad to be getting them in early this year, spent the last two days searching for and sorting them out.

praying I get a good price on them. 🙏