Knowledge for starting a homestead and being more self reliant.
Thor Haven Farm is a 13 acre homestead north of Quebec City, Canada
We are working towards becoming as self reliant as possible. Being able to provide all our own meat and vegetables is one of the main goals. We have now been providing our own meat for over 4yrs and veggies for about 6 months of the year.
We are currently developing a couple “food forest” locations on the property to help provide our fruits, veggies and herbs.
We are also working on building our small fold of Highland Cows. Other animals we have include chickens, pigs, rabbits and bees.
Brigitte also produces a number of woven products, cloths, art with more products to follow soon! These are available to purchase on our website. thorhavenfarm.com/
The answer to the question posed in the title of the video is a resounding 'NO'.... not least because Highland cattle are slow to mature. Most breeds of beef cattle are ready for slaughter at about two years old. Highland cattle take at least thirty months. This adds 25% to the feed and care costs of raising the animal to slaughter. Moreover, the beef, although it is low in cholesterol and thus relatively healthy, is not of as good quality (ie, not as tasty) as, for instance, Aberdeen Angus. Further, as a relatively small breed of cattle, there isn't so much edible beef on the carcase in the first place.... and their milk is, to all intents and purposes, worthless. Their real value is that they are hardy, easy to handle, can be raised outdoors on marginal land and require less care than other breeds... or, at least, that's the rational reasoning behind keeping them. The truth is that we keep them because they're lovely.
We've had a 2032R on our 10 acre homestead for over 2 years now. It is not nearly enough tractor for what we do. At first I was loving it compared to hand tools. But after 2 years I've learned that it can't lift what we need like IBC totes filled with firewood or large buckets of gravel. It can't plow. Etc. Not enough weight or HP. Basically the 2, 3 and 4 series "tractors" are glorified riding mowers with buckets built for light work on a developed property. Like carrying mulch to trees, maintaining the gravel driveway, moving compost, basically lawn and garden work. Now if that is all you do on your homestead, then stick with a 1-4 series. But if you need to lift anywhere near 2,000 lbs with the loader, break up soil, build roads, cultivate land, etc on your homestead get a utility tractor like a 5 series.
the equivalent tractor as a Kubota is 4-5 grand cheaper (MSRP) and has a whopping... 1 more horsepower. It's also a Kubota, made by Kubota, with a Kubota engine, instead of a John Deere, using Yanmar parts. Without licensing other companies equipment, JD would be NOTHING.
This was my first year with a three sisters garden. I can definitely relate to the jungle of plants that results. However, it’s not a problem if you grow the right varieties: Winter squash instead of summer squash Flour corn instead of sweet corn Dry beans instead of green beans That way you can let it grow as one beautiful tangled mess, and harvest it all at once at the end of the season. And if you look into the history, that’s exactly what native Americans used to do
I just discovered your channel. I LOVE Anise Hyssop! Also, I saw that you are just North of Quebec City. We used to live in Shannon, near Val-Cartier. Now we’re in New Brunswick near Moncton. We just bought a homestead with 26 acres. We’ve got a lot of learning to get to where you are in our homesteading adventure!
These Chinese chamber sealers, really are life changing. More satisfying to work with, and using smooth bags you are saving >50%, and you can get bags with different characteristics, some for high temperature cooking or low temperature sous vide cooking or just cold storage/freezing. Ready made dishes, just reheat in warm water (chicken 65-70C moist and tender). Pasteurized chicken will keep for 4 weeks in the fridge at less than 3C (Dr.Douglas Baldwin on food safety) this technique is probably energy saving and definitely a production/cost optimizer in a commercial kitchen. I'd recommend going for the larger model for commercial use, 30% more expensive and twice as effective.
