Dave and Trish, thank you for the insight into your experiences with homesteading! I found it really interesting, and I appreciated the candid responses about the challenges involved in it. It was also really nice hearing you give permission to people to not do what isn't fun anymore...although there are responsibilities, sometimes people get so caught up in thinking of what they 'have to do' that they forget that they opted to do ____(fill in the blank)____ to begin with and that some responsibilities can be forgone or changed somehow.
I have to admit, when I read the email you quoted from the listener, I had a completely different take on what they were looking for. I interpreted it as more of a 'how many of what veggies should I grow and how do I make the soil work for those veggies?' sort of email. You guys launched into a very informative info-session on the basic livestock that will help a farm be self-sustaining...which helped me because I would ultimately LOVE to have a property where I could have chickens, goats, and beehives, personally; all of which you touched on....and all of which I think you could easily expand on, too! (And you could always tie it into plants by talking about what feed to grow for those animals, where to place bees in your garden so they pollinate most effectively, etc...
)
...I was hoping, though, that there had been time for you to discuss the vegetable aspect of homesteading and what you do. Did you have to till your soil? If so, how did you do it? (I still don't know how people 'work in' good soil into compacted clay soil...) How do you manage your time on your farm...what is the realistic expectation time-wise each day on various activities?
You started to go into how much of different types of food your kids consume--very useful!--and I would have loved to have found out more about the veggie consumption, too, and what that means for you and your gardens. You guys have a LOT of acreage...do you farm ALL of it, or just a portion? How do you manage it all? How much of it do you 'need' for your family?
Sorry, I'm beginning to ramble. Suffice to say, I would love to hear a follow-up podcast (next week, perhaps?
) that continues the discussion.
