Wednesday, May 8, 2019

Looking Back & Looking Ahead

 EDIT

I read over a couple previous posts. 

I still don’t have any solid answers. I’m just running on faith that one day it will all pay off and we’ll have the resources to sustain this lifestyle.
The greenhouse didn’t get built in time for spring gardening and so I had to set up my seeds indoors. Resulting in fewer starts and not enough to sell anything. But the greenhouse plan has been modified since the original plan of having a freestanding greenhouse and now I intend to build it onto the front of our house. Which will act as an added living space. As such the build is going to be much more expensive than previously planned. I hope to get it framed in and roofed this fall and ready for plants by spring 2020. Ya know, unless plans change again.

Still waiting on goat kids, 5 more weeks to go. I think Belle is carrying twins, though she may just be extra plump, that’s not unlike her.

Our second litter of rabbits are due this week. I’m definitely interested in selling them rather than butchering for meat for ourselves. “You buy ’em or we eat ’em”… that might be a bit harsh. But in all reality rabbit is an incredibly sustainable source of meat and the quality is top notch for protein and is very low in fat. Look in any old recipe books and I bet you’ll find recipes for rabbit. In other countries you can walk into the supermarket and buy rabbit meat and you’d be shocked at how expensive it is!

We’re still tossing around the idea of raising some chickens for meat for ourselves. But if we’re going to do it we need to plan for a good butcher date that isn’t blistering hot outside. We seriously lack shade on our property and while we planted 20 trees this year, they won’t be much help for at least 6 years when it comes to shade haha.

We got our garden beds built, filled, fenced, mulched, totaling about $560 so far, including seeds. That was a big money drain but it was an important one. I’m struggling however to get my herbs to grow. I think that directly sowing them into the garden is going to be the best option. I’m never going to break even when it comes to gardening.

Our chickens are laying so many eggs that I’ve started using eggs as currency. Haha

I need to buy some egg cartons in bulk and start officially selling eggs. It’s almost time to put up a sign or two EGGS & RABBITS. I never thought we’d get to this point to be honest. I am going to have to get a separate mini fridge for eggs though. We’re collecting so many that there is no way to keep them all in our fridge now. And we keep them on the counter for ourselves a lot of the time depending on the weather and temperature in the house but in order to sell here they have to be washed and refrigerated and marked with the date collected.

Sometimes when I write I feel like it comes out as a jumbled mess of thoughts coupled with to do lists.
I hope that it doesn’t read that way… lol I apologize if it does.

Also, we would still like to get some pigs this year but I’m struggling to find any listings in our Area Shopper Ad, so I’m going to have to start looking elsewhere for them. I really should set up a craigslist account anyway. Also… I need to remember that site that is “like craigslist for farmers” …. because apparently that’s a great way to sell and buy what we need.

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