I have always wondered how effective a compost pile would be for heating water, as many people know compost piles can generate some serious heat, some have even been recorded creating a lot of smoke. Would you not be able to sit a large waterproof tank connected to a water pump in the middle of the pile and create hot water with effectively?

I've been homeless and I've been trying to save up money to buy what I would need to homestead or start a life, but I have no reliable source of income. What money I was supposed to saving went towards natural meds for stomach ulcers and sometimes food. I made what I could from busking and trying to clean houses but of course that doesn't work much. I want to get bushcraft, wilderness survival, and army manual books so I want to put money to the side for that. I also am I gonna try to find someone to teach me abt construction type stuff, gardening, and how to drive.

I don't have family because I am working on bettering my life and avoiding risky evil ppl☠️. I honesty don't have any other options but my pockets and health aren't good enough for vagabond as much as I want to travel. I met this lady (who I don't like that much because she says toxic stuff and we aren't like minded/compatible) and she is trying to get out of homelessness and is saying if I cared abt her I'd try to help her get a place and split rent. I can't even get a job and as nice as it would be I can't help her and she knows this.

Then she asked me if I was old enough to pay rent and switched up and said I can live with her for a while and take a break because I'm a kid and it's not fair I'm not being taken care of. But now she's talking abt fixing my resume and helping me get a job under the table at an art gallery. Thing is I want to help her but I don't want to live with her because she has no respect for me due to ageism and her own trauma and we aren't compatible. Plus if she helps me get a job somehow and I throw my money helping her pay rent (because she won't leave this expensive city with a housing shortage because "everything I do is in santa cruz") it will take away from savings I need for my future plans especially for transportation and trying to find a way out this country.

Hey fellow homesteaders, I’ve had goats for about two years now. I got them from a place at which they would usually just roam the property and be fed twice a day but rarely saw their owners. I want for them to be more social and come when they see more of even when called. How do I go about that? I want to use them to clear brushes but I’m afraid I won’t be able to recover them after I release them in that enclosed area. Thank you for your advice in advance.

Title. Without going into my self-inflicted quarter life crisis, I believe I've settled on homesteading or farming as my "career." However, from what little I know about it, it's expensive to get a point of self-sufficiency.

What do you guys and gals do for income? Did homesteading start as a hobby apart from a regular full time job? Do you still work full time jobs to support your lifestyle? Do you make a living from your homestead?

Any recommended books that would more thoroughly answer my question?

Hi! My bf's dad died yesterday and he had a small farm. While we try to figure out the mess he left us we still need to keep his animals healthy. Luckily he had someone who worked on the farm and fed the animals so that's getting done, but we looked at the chicken area today and it didn't look great. Not sure how many there are. Likely less than 20 including the rooster(s?). I think I saw around 10 but it was raining so it was just a quick check on them.

We want to make their area a decent place for them to live. It's currently just mud and their coops don't look like there's enough space for them all to get out of the rain. First priority is just making it a safe place for them that meets their needs.

Any resources you guys have on chickens or just general advice for a beginner would be so helpful. Talk to me like I'm an idiot. We know nothing about chickens.

I need some advice. I’m a Canner beginner. I’m planning on making a big batch of beef stew. I only use homemade bouillon, roots vegetables, and beef. No flour. Can I can the leftover?

Any avocado sprouting experts out there?? Still no sprout, and why is it so brown on top?

Hi everyone! I’m on the lookout for land In which to build a homestead. I found some land that is within my budget but the 2 websites for these companies who sell the land d advertise a “guaranteed financing for everyone” etc. this is something I’ve never seen before, and it made me think to ask for some advice before I proceed. The two companies are

https://mustangland.com/ And

https://hollyoaksland.com

I’m not from the us so I have little knowledge about the terms that are common to offer land owners

In any case I don’t need financing myself, it was just something that caught my attention and I would love to have some clarity on. Any tips?

Kubota is running it's orange days again. Zero percent interest for 84 months. Best homestead purchase I've ever made. Got mine 6 years ago.

Hey y’all. There’s a calf whose legs are stuck in the creek sediment and I’m not sure what the best course of action is.

There’s multiple other cows and calf’s as well as a bull in the field where the creek runs.

Would it be safe for me just to head out and pull it out of the creek? Or would mama become hostile? Should I be worried about the bull becoming aggressive? Any and all help is appreciated.

EDIT: I’d like to thank all of you who took the time to share your wisdom with me. 🙏❤️

I should’ve included that these animals do belong to my family and the herd is one that I am quite familiar with.

I’ve managed to cross the creek and push the calf out from the other side while keeping an eye (as well as good distance) on any animals that might’ve gotten aggressive.

After the calf got out it ran off and I was able to wait out the herd from the other side of the creek until it was safe to cross the pasture.

My partner and I just looked at our first property. It's only been on the market a couple of weeks. It's a nice piece of heavily treed land but the cabin is right on the road. The terrain is rocky and I think building something more permanent further in off the road would be too expensive and beyond our budget. It has streams and ponds, but no clear land to garden and even if we clear space, there's so much rock, raised beds would be the only way to go. There's nowhere to pasture our chickens and ducks. For every good thing, I can name a big negative. We don't want to grab the first thing that comes along, but we don't want to miss out on a good opportunity. How did you decide "this one is the right one"?

I’m thinking about getting 2 piglets this spring because they are so cute and I have some land I wanna use as a garden and would love if they could help me prep it for next year. So the issue is I work in the office 2 days a week and my office is quite far so it wouldn’t make sense to drive home everyday, I crash at a friends place for one night. I leave at 5:30 on Monday and come home at 5pm on Tuesday. I don’t really have someone that could help me while I’m away, so I was wondering if the pigs could be left to themselves for that period alone or not. I do actually have a very old pig barn (for commercial pig production, my farm was a pig farm decades ago) that have been basically abandoned for over 20 years but is still in ok condition. However it’s gonna be hard to move the pig all the way to the barn since the plot of land I plan to raise them on is about 500ft from the entrance of the barn.

Camper? Small “cabin”?

It will be awhile before I can afford to build a house but I want to get out onto property and start with animals and a garden as soon as possible.

Build your dream homestead on this land.

My parents are selling a beautiful parcel of land located in Upstate New York. It is located in Afton, NY which is in Chenango County.

Are you in search of a peaceful sanctuary away from the hustle and bustle of the city? This property offers an idyllic setting for building your dream home or vacation getaway.

📍 Beautiful 35.01 Acres of Mostly Wooded Land + Two Flat Fields for Building.

🏡 Build Your Private Haven: Embrace the luxury of privacy by constructing your home set back from the road. With ample space and two expansive flat fields, this property provides the perfect canvas for creating your secluded oasis. Imagine the tranquility of waking up to the harmonious sounds of nature, views of the mountains all surrounded by the beauty of your own land.

I have attached the listing to this post, please delete if not allowed.

https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/249-Hall-Rd-22_Afton_NY_13730_M92931-95507

I have about 25 acres and a few km of trails. The trails go through some meadows and forest. The forest trails were cleared a few years ago so all the trees etc have been taken care of. The challenge now is maintenance of those trails in the forest. I’ve got a Kubota subcompact with a bush cut mower and a regular mower deck too. The trails have some uneven areas and I’ve had some close calls with the tractor. I’ve got a weed whacker and a husqvarna clearing saw. What’s the best way to deal with the brush that grows back onto the trails. Some grasses, some saplings etc. I don’t want to do this more than a few times a year. Thanks in advance.

Howdy yall! Got a quick question. Just started raising ducks and geese and soon rabbits for meat. Do you guys feed them anything special to get a better taste for meat? For beef the taste can change depending on feed so I'm wondering like if I feed my ducks/geese/rabbits certain vegetables it will make the meat taste better or worse. Thanks!

https://youtu.be/uFv_IMvKd3Q?si=wFqO9wwtFUi6zBoM

⬆️ what it is looking like in Maine right now 🙃 I have so been looking forward to warmer weather and sunshine, especially since the goats have been cooped up in the barn basically all winter!

Instead we got over a foot of snow and lost power! Monday is supposed to be close to 60 degrees and sunny though so hopefully we (animals included) can all spend some much needed time outside

Hello!

Just got new muscadines in the ground in early March. Now I'm seeking safe to use grass and weed control on the vineyard floor.

I'd ideally prefer to stay clear of harmful chemicals (glyphosates and others), but want to get ahead of weeds outcompeting my vines.

I've looked into the weed fabrics, but I'm concerned on how to ensure the fertilizers get through the fabric.

I'm by no means seeking organic only advice, just limiting the exposure to environmentally harmful products!

Please share any knowledge!

Thanks for any help!

Hey everyone after reading through a rather heated post from earlier... It got me thinking, a lot of times when you think of homesteading you think of growing food and animals, however if we are being honest with ourselves true homesteading is a lot more than that. What do you guys think about raising kids on a homestead? What does your faith community look like in regards to being somewhat secluded as a homesteader? Do any of you guys homeschool like the og homesteaders of old would have done? I'm just curious what the community is like?

I have a very shady backyard covered by a canopy of oak trees. Tall fescue does okay in some spots but still dies off in others. Those spots get may be 1.5 to 3 hours of sunlight. In addition to that, the backyard is very wet. Therefore, as a last resort, I have decided to give POA Supina a try as it seems to do well in very shady wet areas as well as high traffic areas, which is a big plus.

I have used the Outsidepride POA Supina seeds. From my research, it looks like it takes up to 21 days for it to germinate. That is a lot of water to use to water twice daily. Which comes with being way too expensive to pay for that water, as well as those damn seeds being so expensive. To combat that, I have decided to try pre-germination. However, I was afraid I was going to mess it up, and those $50 per lb seeds would go to waste. Therefore, I have done a small experiment and decided to share it with you guys in case someone else would be interested.

On day 0 (March 26th), I put soil into the seed tray and labeled the sections into 0, 1, 3, and 5 days. Those are the number of days that I would pre-germinate them (soak them in water). So on day 0 in section 0 days, I planted seeds without any pre-germination. At the same time, I've placed another 4 mesh bags with seeds in room temperature water. Then, on day one, I planted seeds in section labeled Day 1 from a mesh bag that was soaking for 24 hours, and so on. Every 12 to 24 hours, I would replace the water.

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Here are the results:

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And this is what they look like on day 10

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Germination day is defined as the first time I saw any green in there. It could have been one strand of grass or more.

1. Soaking seeds for at least 24 hours will make it germinate faster than not soaking at all. The never pre-germinated (0 day section) came out the latest out of all of them, with the germination rate remaining low on day 10.
2. If you are looking for the fastest germination in the soil, regardless of how much you have to water, then it doesnt seem to matter how long you pre-germinate, they will all come out at around the same time as long as the seeds spend at least 24 hours in water. So if you want it to come out the fastest and have a sprinkler system on a timer and don't care about how much water you use, then do at least 24 hours and you will be good.
3. If you are looking to save the most water by not watering the lawn, then 5 day pre-germination will be your best bet. However, the germination rate was way lower than 1 and 3 days in the water.
4. There does not appear to be a difference between 1 and 3 days in the germination rate and how long it took to come out of the soil. However, the Day 1 section I had to water for an extra 2 days compared to section Day 3 after being planted even though they ended up germinating on the same day. Therefore, it looks like the sweet spot of pre-germination for POA Supina is 3 days.

Just thought to share if anyone else had the same question as me.

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Does anyone have any ideas of how I can move this 55 gallon drum of concrete? We inherited it with our new property and I don’t have any heavy equipment. The only heavy lifters I have are some car jacks and a high-lift jack.

Also, any idea what the previous owner could have used it for?

The eye bolt isn’t the welded type. I don’t know if it could support the weight of this barrel without opening up. I calculated it to weigh about a 1000lbs.

I only want to move this barrel about a dozen yards, out of the way of this loading dock.

Out of the blue, an Arborist truck pulled up today and dude asked me if I wanted a load of chips. Guess he saw me moving dirt with my wheel barrow and figured I was one of those "homesteader" types.

Wound up getting TWO loads of pure OAK chips, sent through their chipper with brand new blades attached today. The stuff is so nicely chopped, I could swim in it.

When processing chickens today, one of them had this yellow stuff inside him. It was the consistency of jello. I have never seen this before. Anyone have an idea what it is and why it was in him?