5 Year Homesteading Review {Brutally Honest!}
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SHOW NOTES:
We are a better together family of 6 living in an 800sqft Shed to House Conversion and currently converting a 336sqft shed into a tiny house for our new studio! Oh yea, we are doing our best to build a sustainable homestead in central Texas raising pigs, chickens, and rabbits…. and hopefully more!!!!!
#familycow #buildingahomestead #chickens
Good lord people! You shouldn’t have even thought about getting a cow without buying a good book on raising a milk cow first! I don’t know ANYONE who advocates for keeping cows in milk while being pregnant. You’re supposed to wean any babies, dry them off, fed them high quality feed until they are in peak condition BEFORE attempting to get them pregnant. You two should move back to the city, get normal jobs and pay real farmers for top quality food. This lifestyle absolutely is not for you because what you did was animal cruelty.
Who are you? In fact....I'll go ahead and pin your post up to the top. Let's see all of the following comments! haha!
@@BetterTogetherLife -I was a follower for three years, but not anymore. I found your channel through the shed to house conversation. I enjoy the videos that feature the husband but the screechy wife needs to go! Women who whine are pathetic. Grow up lady.
Why so nasty? Animal cruelty? It’s absurd to imply that it’s animal cruelty after they consulted with vets who were left scratching their heads. That kind of thinking is what leads to massive oversight by governments who want to dictate every single move a farmer/rancher/homesteader makes. Good grief. I hope your friends, family, and neighbors are acutely aware of your thinking. If they’re not, it may come to haunt them if the watermelon ever actually hits the fan in this nation.
She is a bot...maybe PETA. They just want to start trouble...
???
It has been such a hard two years. It does feel like the list just keeps getting longer but feels daunting in the Texas heat. Today we had a huge live oak fall. In our first few years of homesteading. We have gone thru the pandemic, a hurricane, a flood, the hard Texas freeze, and then the drought...I have to remind myself of this when I feel defeated.
It’s been tough, yes. I somehow didn’t think last summer was too bad for us. But this summer, yikes!!! Thank you so much for your comment!!!!! 😁😁😁
Well after nearly 30 yrs of similar living yes there has been challenges especially since I did not have YT/internet back in 1995 with how to's ect and had to read books and talk with others directly. BUT THAT SAID ! I would not trade being rent/mortgage debt free and the freedom and empowerment of having done it all myself free of the extortion. When I see the climate change effects, increased homelessness and the increased cannibalistic capitalism and as I age and sometimes find my homestead too demanding I AM MORE GRATEFUL I HAVE SUCH A SANCTUARY ! Thank you for your story it makes me so happy to see more people and with children freeing themselves from our zombie consumer CULTure. Whereby debt and lifelong servitude to the 1% like being shackled to a modern day BC grind wheel is what so many settle for. All for so called CONvenience. Which just makes them more unhealthy and dependent on consuming more costly remedies. I remind myself when I am complacent that when shtf, I have already been living in a way that it will not have nearly the impact on us off gridders, as those so dependent on paying someone for everything.
Howdy from Magnolia! 4th gen Texan here and am having a chuckle because the weather has finally dropped into the 90s. Go figure. Hang in there y'all.
Haha, yea I am a 5th gen Texan, but a 1st gen farmer. The summer droughts never affected me when I grew up in suburbia with a pool. 🤣🤣 But trying to keep animals alive in this heat is a different struggle all together!
Your energy and happiness and definitely sense of humor is keeping you going! Miss seeing your videos.
Oh no, why do you miss seeing them? We’ve actually been fairly consistent….except the last couple of weeks. But I think we will be doing some more of these Brutally Honest videos to get us through the end of summer. Thank you Diane!!!!
Something I heard in my spirit a few years ago changed my life. What I heard was, "Be led, not driven". I realized that the enemy is always trying to push us beyond our limits, but the Holy Spirit leads us and paces us to allow things to unfold in due time. Being led is to be in a place of rest, right where the Lord wants us to be. Whenever we feel a pressure to act or to do, we should always step back, pray, and seek God in all our ways. Our culture can be so overstimulated and dreadfully busy. It's so easy to do. The true discipline in life is to learn to be still and know that He is God. May we be quickened in this area according to His loving-kindness!!!❤❤❤
Amen!!!! Love this!!! Thank you!!
Hey everyone, I have been a farmer since I was kid. I am 54 now and I have to tell you no matter what, homesteading/farming is really hard!!! Even for me at my age and working my homestead I thought I have been thru everything and it's still a ton of work. But I LOVE WHAT I DO...I think you all seem love it too...that's where the magic is...👍👍👍 Good luck...
We REALLY do!!!!!!!!! Wow we love this life. Even through the hardest times.
Yes it is a lot of work period, but what is the alternative ? Some of us just prefer to not be enslaved to buying everything at any costs. Hat off 2 u !
You guys are adorable! I giggled through the entire thing! The facial expressions though every time Kelly jumped in on your well thought out outline. Thanks so much for sharing about your experiences. Seeing the realities is extremely important for those of us who are still contemplating that type of life. It just reinforced my loose strategy to not be afraid to experiment but to start small!
LOVE THAT Michelle......Start small! Excellent plan for sure!
Enjoying your raw review of homesteading. I think what has helped you guys, #1 your faith #2 your relationship is strong, #3 your kids. I’ve been watching from your beginning and see the growth and care you put into your homestead. But guys wow kuddos for making it through this summer. I’m in Waco and feel like we just walked through the depth of hell. I can wash dishes with my cold water. It’s been so hot the cold water comes out warm. Crazy that 90’s is yes it’s a cool day today. My continued prayers to your family. I love seeing the kids thriving. ❤
“Wash dishes with your cold water”….. YEEEESSSSSSS!!!!!!! Holy moly, people up north do not understand this!!! Eva, so well said. THANK YOU!!!!!
Great video y’all! Yes, we are 7 years in, and over 2 years here in Texas. The freeze, the consecutive droughts and heat, building the house, no trees… has been brutal. But God has been good, provided amazing friends, amazing church, who all keep encouraging. Besides, what else would we do? We love this life and nothing is better than having our kids excited to go out and be apart of this life with us. Keep it up y’all, love the honest vids, don’t worry about not sticking to the outline. y’all’s conversations are why you’re real and we love you!
Oh thank you guys!!!!! Y'all are so awesome as well!! How them piggies??? haha!
Doing great! Kids love ‘em! Wish we could have met Kelly! Maybe some other time! We’ll bring y’all some of millKings $7 a gallon raw milk ;)
I don’t know where you live but it has been miserable here and San Angelo. We don’t have forest here. I don’t even know how many days of over 100 we had this year. BUT….Praise God we were blessed with 2 inches of rain over night. ❤️❤️❤️
We are in central Texas, it’s been rough but finally getting some rain now!!!
My Great Grandfather had 53 acres of prime land outside of Richmond VA. He was 1000% self sufficient. He really only "went to town" just to get "50lbs of flour, salt, sugar, tobacco for his pipe and coffee. I used to spend a week in the summer down there every year so my parents wouldn't murder me in my sleep😜 I had ADHD before it was even a thing. He used to talk to me a lot about "the old ways" of farming that he was taught from his father. Basically he lived as people did in the pioneer days. Right up until he was called home. I asked him how come he moves so slow doing things? Me the city kid. He laughed and said "This kind of life there's no need in rushin' & runnin' about like a chicken with it's head cut off. You just gotta have the proper mindset that there's always gonna be something needs be done. Make your peace with it. Livestock (meat sources) come 1st always. After you tend to them. Eat your breakfast, then take care of what needs be done 1 thing at a time til completely finished. You don't run around tryin' to do 5 things at once. You do that you're goin' too fast and WILL make mistakes, which you're gonna wish you took your time 1st time around. After breakfast, you take care of things in priority, meaning whats the one thing that must be completely finished before moving on to the next. I asked what do you do if you get that 1 thing finished early like 1-2pm do you do something else while you still got daylight? He said "No, you just get the livestock evening feed & waterin' prepared. Then you go in the house, take a shower, eat a light lunch, and relax til feeding time. Get that done, make dinner, then relax until next day, THEN start on project 2 and work til completely finished. He said working a large farm like his, like his daddy taught him, is how a man, his dogs. & Work animals WORK THE FARM. Rushin'around all fast frettin' about you getting as much done in your day isn't the way. It'll rob you of your inner peace, the love you have for what you're doing, but most of all, YOU aren't working the farm wit all that fast pace and worryin', the farm is working you😉🤠😎👍🏾🙏🏾❤️
Love it! Great great advise and story!!!
I live in Cedar Park. We haven’t had a real rain since Memorial Day weekend. My grass looks like straw. I can only imagine how much of a challenge it is for you guys! Love watching your channel. Thanks for sharing your honest thoughts.
Thank you so much Chidiya!!!!! Yup, everything here is just grass. 😕
You guys are not alone! It’s is so worth it to be in the country and have land. We bought the black and white gilt from your first litter. She is a lot like Missy so we are in the same situation. You don’t know what you don’t know and we are all learning! All of what you guys said is spot on. Y’all are doing a great job. Thanks for always sharing so candidly. The pineywoods in East Texas has trees, land, farmland, and sandy soil good for farming so think about that for a different location. 😊
Thank you!!!! You should check out our latest video….it’ll hopefully brighten your Texas mood with the ending!! 🤣🤣 At least it did ours!!
We've been on our north Texas 11 acres for 3 years now and this summer has been the hardest. Our outside thermometer has said 110 almost every day. Its been exhausting. Too freakin hot to do anything. My only goal has been to keep the chickens alive. Almost lost 2 of them. Had to run a hose out there, attached to a mister system with a box fan just to keep things tolerable for them. I've never been so ready for summer to be over!!! 😢
YYYYYYYup! Trisa, you hit the nail on the head! 🥵
I am in East Texas from FortBend county. I think I agree, you need to flip our thinking here. Our summer is the winter up north. We decided ourselves to flip things. We grow in fall to spring and take our breaks for indoor projects in the summer July and August.
This summer after last summer 🤦🏼♀️ I feel like Texas is trying to kill us. Maybe…just maybe rain and cooler temps are coming…but I’ve heard that before. Now they are saying this winter is going to be cold. What the heck was Snovid and our Christmas freeze last year? All Texas homesteaders are slogging through. We’re Texans! We’ll get through but wow!
I agree Katie!!!! You gotta be tough to homestead here for sure! And it’s a different kind of tough too.
I am 4 years in up here in Maine with 34 acres. Big change from California. A lot of adjusting. Had to pretty much start all over learning how and what grows in Maine. Never heard of short seasons 😂. Also, we have so much water 1 week, and bone dry the next. Currently working on how to revert some of our water as we get a lot of marshy ground and a lot of bugs.
Yup, we all have to deal with weather no matter where we are homesteading. Its just part of the life for sure!
Thank you for posting this. I am not too far from you, but we are more URBAN HOMESTEADERS because we can not do what you do. We grow about 1/3 of our groceries and teach others to do the same. We believe in A MORE SELF SUFFICIENT life, but we also believe in having an obligation to our neighbors and giving our surplus to food banks We also feel attending city/ town / HOA Council meetings to advocate for one another when it comes to backyard chickens and growing balcony/ backyard gardens. We ALL are in support of your family' s journey, even if we decide differently for our own.
I LOVE THIS!!!! You are amazing and doing such a great thing for not only your community, but for OUR COUNTRY!!!! Thank you!! Yes yes yes!!!!
My husband's grandfather had a raw milk dairy. He would stop milking for the last several months before the calf was due.
Yea that’s what we did also.
The weather has been the toughest this summer and not just for the homesteaders but for the backyard gardner, and even the folks that enjoy filling their yards with flowers and rose bushes. It’s sad to see all the local facebook pages, people asking about the health of their trees. Parts of town are not allowed to water, those folks aren’t happy campers, and even if you can just water once a week, it doesn’t help much….I water every other week and that just to keep our huge shade pecan tree from stressing out. We’ve also got land out north of your area, and so many ponds have dried out or are barley holding water, it’s sad and we just keep hoping that as it get cooler that we get rain, our well seems to be pumping slower and we need that water for horses. By the way, have you made it to the new Costco in, Georgetown? Continued blessings for your family and your homestead. As people of faith, all we can do is trust in God, pray and adapt to the circumstances that the weather dishes on us. God Bless.
You are so so right, and thank you for your kind words! It means a lot.
Kelly, I’m allergic too! I had a milk cow, calves, goats, sheep…..it just got so bad but the hives and asthma got too bad. And I’m allergic to milk…she gave 8 gallons a day and I sold her to a Mennonite family. We retired 7 yrs ago and I don’t miss the livestock. We’re in East Texas and it was the most brutal summer yet! Who ever thought 90’s would be pleasant! It was an all day job just keeping the birds alive! Keep it up!
Oh bummer I am so sorry that you are allergic too!!! It is the worst! 😕
Dang I was going to suggest sheep for her but didn't imagine she'd be allergic to them too
In the summer we make "Hay." Meaning a drink from the 1800's called Haymakers punch. The drink is suppose to quench your thirst. Really, cut the Hay, let the sun dry the freshly mowed hay, then when not moist bale the hay. Therefore you make hay when the sun dries.
Haha, I’ve never heard of that! Learn something new everyday, right?!?!!!! 😁
I grew up on a farm in Missouri at the house it was small we had i mini petting zoo but the only things we really used was beef chicken meat or eggs and pork. We had a dairy cow but never milked her. I wish we did though. Right now I live in a 2 bedroom Apt in Baytown and dream of moving to the country again.
Accurate conversation with family farm couple in late summer. Homesteader in Florida here and I know the heat will get to you, the humidity will get to you. Remember that in hot climates, you break in the summer the way cold climates break in the winter. Give yourselves time to acclimate and time to find a rhythm. Droughts happen and floods happen. Old saying goes, “If it ain’t chickens, it’s feathers.” The thing is, though, is that you ARE doing it. You’re doing it. Awesome work! Woman, let your husband finish a sentence 😆.
hahahaha, Noel and I thought that I was the one interrupting Kelly!!!! haha. That's ok, Kelly gets to talk all she wants.....she spends her entire day being interrupted by 5 kiddos! She NEEDS a catharsis!!!! lol
Yeah I'm way north Colorado at 8,200 and climate change has made winters less ft of snow but things are changing that is for sure when you live like we do close to nature, it is very real. However getting much more moisture and more water than ever in my cisterns. Grasses growing like never before this past 2 yrs and never had snakes in 30 yrs till very recent their coming up too. Saw 200 Elk on my property the other day and that too is many more than ever.
I didn't realize you guys were from Katy. That is where we are. If you are still in driving distance, where do you get your raw milk? The ones I have found are charging $12-14 a gallon. Trying to find a better deal even if it means a little bit of a drive.
Hi y’all!!! Nice to meet you! We would always go to Stryk Jersey Farm in Schulenburg. They have great milk there!!!
I laughed when he said "I have an outline" :)
Haha, gotta keep it silly right?!!! 🤣
Ok, finished watching all of it. 😉 I also love learning new things so I doubt I'll ever get bored out in the country. 2020/Covid was a real wake up call for how much we depend on others to provide everything for us. And that really bothered me. I've been in a quest since then to be more self-sufficient so that I don't have to feel so impacted by what's happening in the world. I feel like I will never stop learning in that regard. And yes, we also realized last year how bad an idea it is to let the chickens free range everywhere. 🤢 Our back patio was so covered with their poop that we couldn't do anything out there. 😂 So they now have their own fenced yard next to their coop. Everyone is happy. 😊
Free range chickens = POOP EVERYWHERE!!!!!!
Wait until you have sheep that get loose and leave their little coco puff turds all over your porch 😆
She talks over him the entire time. Then when he does it, she says ‘are you going to let me answer the question?’ She clearly views herself as superior to him.
Yea….you certainly do not understand who we are. My wife sold EVERYTHING we owned to live all of the comforts and conveniences in suburbia…..to follow my dream of living in a shed in the woods to homestead and grow our own food. We banter. It’s how we like to speak to each other. Kelly is also a WAYYYYY better speaker than I am. And we discuss this and she is able to know what I want to say and be able to say it my eloquently. All the best!
@@BetterTogetherLife I love this. Congrats on finding a great mate. Me and wife banter a lot and I think it’s one of the most underrated qualities to a healthy relationship.
Awesome!!!!
As long as you're family is together it's worth it Romans 10 :9-13😅
Don't ignore Rom 6:1-9.
Absolutely Brent!!!! You are so right!
It's make hay when the sun is shining (DON'T WAIST TIME) It's hard to make hay with 4 feet of snow, the opportunity isn't always there!
Amen
Haha, I’ve never seen 4 feet of snow! 🤣
Are you doing IPP? mine are ready in 10 - 10.5 months.
Yea, ours are a little smaller I think. What hanging weight are you able to get in 10 months?
Matthew 13:44 King James Version 44 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Gods blessings over you .
Thank you so much!!!!!
Why do you think animal don’t have eternal soul?
According to our faith, if they did, we wouldn’t be permitted to kill them.
Get the allergy shots.
Oh man, well we wouldn’t be against it. But hopefully she can cure it naturally. Kelly wasn’t allergic to Goldie for 2 years, and then BAM!!! Out of nowhere.