I used to spend $50-60 a week for groceries when I was working. I was buying package meals or frozen meals as I was working 10-12 hours a day/6-7 days a week. Since retiring I shop once a month and I have a hard time spending more than $150-175 a month. I have changed to making almost everything from scratch. I’m even starting to can fresh vegetables and making my own jams. The food tastes so much better!! I started doing this because of watching your channel. So thank you! Thank you!! Thank you!!!
I originally got chickens for their “litter” for fertilizer. It is also nice to have eggs. When there was an egg recall a few years ago, I knew eggs from my girls were safe. Besides saving $ you get peace of mind knowing where your food is coming from.
Gosh....I’m 70 years old and have no intent of homesteading, but I find your videos so enjoyable and informative!!!! I learn so much from these videos. I look so forward to every new video.....keep them coming!!!!
The biggest thing about "saving money " is that many people will start gardening and home cooking and they think they have to buy every tool advertised! They waste a lot of money on useless stuff. There's a calculation normally missing from the value of homesteading. Homesteading takes up your time. It's something you have to love. That being said, homesteading takes up your time. If you are not doing homesteading activities, you will be doing something else with that time. And chances are, you will be paying for what you are doing. So homesteading saves you money by preventing you from wasting money elsewhere. Manure/bedding mix is the most valuable product from your egg layers. They make a lot of compost!
We just bought a (future) homestead -20 acres. Your videos have been so incredibly helpful! Thank you both for taking time to teach the "next generation."
I live in Ontario Canada. Winter, cold weather are the norm. As another option (what I use) for meat production, I buy (extremely cheap - $10 cdn) newborn male calf from milk farms, usually 3 of them. I have a farmer nearby that will put those calf on a cow for their nursing period then they are out to pasture. At slaughter time, he keeps 2 and I get one. This way I have minimal costs, very good meat and definitely no pellets or booster of any kind used. It worked for me for the last 15 yrs or so and I just wish that I could find a local hog farmer for similar arrangement. Maybe some day.
It's still very winter here in Vermont but I have an attached greenhouse that I have started many things in. Nothing lifts my spirits like seeing seedlings and eventually plants in late winter, early spring. It is also the only way I can grow things like tomatoes without buying in all of the seedlings.
I have started some seeds, but we have been hit with a curve ball. We have to move in about a week. The rental we are in needs a complete renovation, so i have no idea if i will have a growing area that has sun.😰 God knows i am a gardener, so hopfully it works out.
My mother grew up on a farm with a very large family were money was scarce. I grew up in Niagara Falls Canada and we lived in a beautiful home and people asked all the time how my family could afford to live in this neighborhood on my dad's salary. The answer was simple my mother recycled everything long before it was ever fashionable. There were 7 kids and 6 were boys, the clothes were mended and handed down. When they finally could not be worn anymore, she removed all buttons, zippers and elastics from the clothes. The good portion of material was cut up into shapes and stored in her quilt box or ripped into long strips for use later in braided rugs. Anything knitted of crocheted was unravelled and re used for sox, mittens, scarves or hats. My father was a chef in a fancy restaurant but he also knew how to butcher, so he always bought the whole pig or cow and butchered it the way my mother wanted. Nothing on these animals was wasted. The organs, the bones, the heads, tongues, everything was used. She made her own hamburger, head cheese, lard, pates, soups, stews and most of all she bought fruit and vegetables by the bushel when in season and canned everything. It was not homesteading in the true sense but we ate well and it does save +++ money in the long run. I don't ever remember my mother watching tv without sewing, knitting, crocheting, embroidering or sewing. She taught me everything she knew and I am forever grateful to her and to people like your family for educating others and passing on these skills to a new generation
Regarding canning: the first time I canned, I used my mother's canner. At that time, the canner was at least 60 years old. (I am now 60 and it's at least 15 years older than I am.) I had replaced the gasket, but everything else was original. In my inexperience, I had used too little water. The pressure release button blew. It didn't explode. It didn't damage anything. Really, it was the best thing. It showed me what a canner failure looks like and took away my fear. We replaced the pressure release button and it's still good. I still use that canner today.😄
I just want to thank you so much for all the canning an cooking video's. I'm 51 an never had anyone to teach me anything about any of these thing, But from watching you for the last couple of months an learning from you i have canned over 60 jars meats an veggies and making bread. again thank you so very much.
First, you guys are adorable. Love your videos! We garden and have chickens, turkey, ducks and rabbits for eggs and meat. The rabbits are by far the least investment as far as time/feed/infrastructure. When you figure 1 doe will have 6-11 kits in a litter and a 30 day gestation, that's a lot of meat at little cost. Our older boys (11 & 13) are learning about tanning hides and will be doing that with our rabbit pelts to earn money.
What kills me about homesteading, is the cost to get on a piece of decent land & get it started. Something I've been working towards for almost a decade now. As far as spring gardening goes. Yes, I could have started back in Jan in So Cal this yr. Unfortunately my free compost isn't done braking down. I refuse to buy any this yr. So, I will be starting probably closer to your time. With that said, bc it was unseasonably warm this winter. I couldn't get a decent winter crop, either. 🤞 the harvest will still be plentiful. 🙏🙏🙏
I’ve just decided to get the land as soon as I can. If I live in my car for a year while I’m getting everything set up then that’s what happens but at least I’ll be able to cut down on food/rent/utilities costs while I’m waiting to build my tiny house.
Glad you mentioned the manure. A cubic foot of cow manure is $5.28 at Lowe's. Chickens also eat bugs and provide a very valuable fertilizer. If you add the eggs and eventually the meat value, there is a cost reduction.
Even boxed food from the grocery store is cheaper than eating out! Cooking at home saves so much money, especially from scratch. My meals average $1-3 per serving which is many times less expensive than from a restaurant. As far as animals and gardening goes, I agree that it depends, but I also think it's important to not be perfectionistic. We don't have to start with free range, organic, fermented foods chickens. It is still better quality to start with, say, non-gmo feed (not organic) and will still save you money. We don't have to start our gardens with the most pristine soil and build giant raised beds. The startup infrastructure is going to be the biggest investment, so I recommend starting small and trying to be thrifty. It cannot be perfect right out of the gate. One example of this in our home is with chickens. I started chickens and they started laying well before I thought they would, and we did not have any nest boxes ready. I could have run to the store and spent lots of money on premade nest boxes. I agree that the metal nest boxes would be a great investment in the long run. However, I don't know if I'll even have chickens in 10 years. I'm just getting my feet wet, so I decided to see if I could rig a large diaper box into a nest box and it worked perfectly. I even separated it into two nests using a cardboard piece as a divider.
I'm in South Carolina and have planted my potatoes, I have collards and turnips ready for harvest and new ones that are growing. I have radish, garlic and onions up as well.
I live in a moderate climate with very mild winters in the Southern Hemisphere in South Africa. Today I planted some winter veggies and my summer garden is still quite lush
Good morning Homesteading Family. Your comments regarding saving money in the foods you consume was excellent advice. We relay on our gardens to can veggies for the winter months. Yes, "some labor required". Getting physical in the garden keeps me healthy and I have my canning down to a good system. Yes, we also glean from neighbors fruit trees or extra garden produce. Your advice about doing your homework is the KEY. Plan out your strategy and budget and look for the hidden costs. Keeping a yearly journal will show you how you did the prior year and what needs tweaking. Great topic! Also pay attention to any friends/neighbors who are doing this kind of thing. I just LOVE laying hens, but they usually don't save me money...
I live in Arizona and have garlic about a foot tall that I planted last fall. My husband just made me some raised beds and I have several items coming up in them already. We have a couple more beds to make for a total of 6 and am looking forward to a productive garden and hope to do a lot of canning from it this year.
From Virginia Beach Va, startled some romaine and carrots in trays last week, some cherry tomatoes this week. I have a new slogan for you... Homesteading Family, The Most Trusted Name in Everything Homesteading
Im in Western Australia, we are coming to the tail end of summer, so its still too hot to plant anything. We are backwards here, too hot in summer to grow, but we can grow all through winter. I even grow eggplant, zucchini’s, even capsicum and tomatoes in winter 😂 it hard to fathom the kind of winters some places in the world get, our lowest temp we might get is around 4 degrees Celsius, and i feel i might freeze to death when its that cold 😂
I'm in northern Maine, we're still under about three feet of snow where I'm at...but I couldn't help starting some greens in little pots watching everyone getting started down south. :P I did start sterilizing supplies and cold stratifying some seeds though. Sooooon. Can't 'wait for Spring. One thing that any food grown and preserved at home has on store bought is climate impact. It's not shipped anywhere. It's not being wrapped up in plastics. You can knock down the carbon footprint of your meat animals and be sure they're being raised humanely. If it's only about money you can probably at least break even if you keep the quality comparable, but it's definitely about lot more for us here.
Our garden is brimming with cabbage, tomatoes, strawberries, pumpkin, onions, zucchini right now here in New Zealand, have planted peach trees and raspberry plants hope they will start to produce next spring (summer here) we save money doing this because we use what we have, buy second hand, make do or do without, just canned several relishes/pickles this morning cost me nothing but time, make great gifts. getting chickens in the spring, we had them afew years ago so I'm looking forward to getting back into it
I am in West Tennessee. Just got my carrot seeds and English sweet peas in the ground. Hard to determine the best time to plant because as you know, it'll be 60 one day and 30 the next. Trial and error! Lol I'm waiting for plants to become available for head lettuce, cabbage, and cauliflower. I did start some organic cabbage, carrots, and tomatoes fermenting, so I'm super excited to get those ready to eat to help my MIL with a newly diagnosis of auto-immune problem. Super excited!!! Thanks for all the information!! Homestead still growing and flourishing 😁
I set up my grow light station in the house for starting seeds. I washed my seed trays and inserts so I am ready to start seeds. I will be starting some seed in a couple weeks. I am in Zone 4 in Wisconsin. The snow is melting so I am hopeful for an early spring. We bought a 6x8 greenhouse to help grow even more things from seed.
Since starting to watch your channel, I have developed many different strategies to save money/have better quality. I don't have a "homestead" per se, but I do follow some of the practices that make sense for me. Time and money are often somewhat mutually exclusive. If you want to save money you often have to invest time. Making bread instead of buying, buying in bulk and canning, growing your own vegetables from seed. All of these take more time, but its time I enjoy so it's more than just saving money for me. Plus the quality is better. I hand make many gifts instead of buying them. Some things I have tried to make are not better quality so I will continue to buy them, but most are. For those things I buy, I buy in bulk or on sale and preserve by canning, freezing or dehydrating. I am still in the process of adding more and more to my skill and am very thankful for your channel, for instruction and inspiration. Thanks!
Putting starts into the sunroom grow-tent we build last week! We have a special black tent for a growlight to get starts going early. I'm actually working on planting while I watch this video! I'm in southern Missouri but our weather is more like northern Missouri because we're in the mountain foothills.
In Ontario Canada zone 5a colder than 5b, still a lot of snow! Just tapped the maples, and am starting my peppers and flowers now indoors. Xo great info love your videos God Bless ☕💕
I have some flower seeds started under grow lights in my dinning room. Will be planting more as spring comes. It is so up lifting to see green things growing in this grey cold weather in Wisconsin. My chickens are laying more eggs lately so I know spring is coming!
It was just watermelon harvest season here in Vietnam. I'm from Missouri so just here for a bit. The watermelon is delicious! The only bad thing is that they cannot export to China like they normally do so many fruit farmers are suffering Dragonfruit and watermelon are the current ones. The gardens here are amazing.
Expat to Vietnam? Countryside? Is the general vibe in your region, more or less okay or is there quite a bit of concern because of the Wuhan thing? How are people generally behaving there?
@@simplehealthyliving4681 Other than an excess of some produce that can't be exported, life isn't much different. I've lived here almost a year. The schools have been on an extended holiday but will likely resume at the beginning of March. There has been increased marketing for hand washing but masks have always been prevalent. The tourism sector is struggling too. But, honestly, it has been nice not having as many lines/crowds at some of the landmarks and it has given the crews a chance to play catch-up with the community clean up. Oh, and I'm in Da Nang in central Vietnam.
@@SaharaMom25 Thank you for answering. So life is continuing as per usual in that region? Which means young and old age love, marriages, babies, family gatherings are more or less continuing in families that are more or less traditional? And in your case, it's a retiree couple I presume. Regardless of your situation, I wish you good homesteading. It's pretty much the dream life that has actual value, not the cosmopolitan city life that is misguidedly revered by unaware people.
@@simplehealthyliving4681 We've had a farm in Northwest Arkansas before but wanted to travel while the kids were still young. No, we are in our thirties. :). And yep, pretty much normal here, just more cautious.
@@SaharaMom25 Thank you so much for answering. I apologize for the delay in answering. The fact that you guys are a whole nuclear family is even more amazing. I'm sending my warm regards to the whole family. You have joy and fulfillment right in your very home because of such a traditional life (focused on home, homestead, love, family). Wish more people realized the same. Quick question - so, is the relocation to your current region for maybe 4-5 years or so or longer? And your husband has a job in that region's branch of an American multinational company? It's soooooooo nice to see real-world examples of such non-city life. It gives me hope, for those people who wisely reject modern cosmopolitan "glam" consumerist life. Thank you. Do spread these much needed values to people who communicate with you - American or other.
Such gorgeous scenery you live in! I am in a suburb of Los Angeles in a tract house on a modest lot. I desire to expand to my skills but am starting small by taming the neglected yard. I'm trying to dig out shamrocks (never, never plant them - one plant will multiply into millions and their seeds are in every handful of dirt) to make it a garden bed. Peas are coming up and some red lettuce is planted in the cleared out area.
Central California here. We have about 300 days of growing season in between last and first frost, so there are things that grow year round. We have some cold weather leafy greens growing right now and potatoes are in the ground. Strawberry fields are being prepped and should be planted shortly with fresh berries expected by Easter! We are so blessed and spoiled!
Totally agree with you. We live in Manteca, Ca & we can grow a variety of crops year round. It's wonderful. We may have to put up a frost covering now & then but overall we are so blessed.
I'm in eastern Idaho and I haven't seen my yard since probably late November. The first thing I'm planting is radishes, which might be able to go out now in a low tunnel (especially a 2 layer one), but since I won't be able to buy the materials for that yet I get to wait till April.
I am so happy I found your channel. Its always great to learn from others. My favorite tip is the water glass eggs to preserve. We had the opp to expand our flock with 1yo egg layers, and now I know what to do with all the extra eggs! The time to sell would not be worth it, and we can only give away so much.
Composting in barns.. I can see that happen, but it's more likely to happen outside, where the pile is exposed to the elements (air, water, worms, etc). Those piles can put off a lot of heat, so I can see the benefit of having it in the barn in winter, helping keep things warm as it cooks away.
Oklahoma here. Feb. 29 and we are 72. So not our norm. Yes, pea and greens went in today. Honey bees out of the hives. Trees beginning to bloom. Spring has arrived early.
We have mostly mild winters here in NC. This year expanding our homestead has been put on hold as I have been diagnosed with primary liver cancer. Not sure yet what this year holds for me. I really enjoy your videos. Thank you so much for sharing.
Praying for a full recovery for you!! Dear Lord, Please be with this lady, Lord, help her in this fight and give her strength and faith to fight this terrible disease. Lord, stand by her and hold her hand through this time of trouble. Amen. I am in NC also and have the root crops in and ready to start others in a couple weeks. God Bless you and your family.
What a gorgeous gift,,,,I was talking to someone, I always push, grow your own, you grow grass in your yard,,,why not grow something to eat in that yard
For years we had a big grease stain on the kitchen ceiling for the pressure cooker knob getting knocked off on accident and the only thing left in the pot were the bones.
Excellent chat...great tips! Really appreciate it. We are in Juneau, Alaska and are just starting to get our seeds together and think about garden layout. But we can’t wait to get to it! 😃 Really enjoy all your videos. We’ve been eating Cortido for a few months now (thanks to you) and we love it!
Looking forward to those canning horror stories where a friend of a friends aunts neighbour blew up her kitchen and there were carrots were stuck into the ceiling. I found that I am saving money with buying or growing my own food and preserving it. My canners I bought on sale and my jars are all used and found off of Kijiji for a fraction of the cost. I scan for sales on bulk veggies and meat weekly.
Amen to doing accurate cost comparisons of commercial products versus your home-produced goods. When I consider the value of my canned tomatoes, for example, which is heirloom and organic, I compare them to high end organic tomatoes at the store, not generic canned tomatoes. My fruit leather I compare to sugar-free all-fruit organic fruit roll-ups, not the cheap stuff. XOXOX Great pantry chat, you two! ~Michele
Y'all (Yes I'm in Texas) are soooo amazing. I love how you put this all in perspective. Yes, I dream of a dairy cow, but just can't justify it for my husband and I. Love the video, it is full of factual analysis and information. Learning every day and I appreciate all you put out there. Thanks, keep it up!!! Please!!!
Hi Guy's hello from sunny South Africa, yes you read correctly South Africa, we are in our summer but where i live we don't get much of a winter the lowest our temp gets is 9 degrees Celsius that's about 48.2 Fahrenheit so pretty warm and our gardens almost never sleep. Enjoy the rest with your family as i am sure you will be busy, busy soon. regards Kerry
Homesteading is a money saver as people like to compare the value of the high nutritional home grown food to that of the cheapest least nutritional food in the grocery store. Before we really started growing and raising our own food we was spend atleast 800-1000 a week at the grocery; now we may spend 100 a month plus we dont have to cook or eat as much food that we have raised to get the same nutritional value and substance. Its alot of work which we classify as our gym membership and eat alot healthier.
Always enjoy watching you and learning. Sometimes just hearing you talk about things is conformation to my heart that we're moving in the right direction or doing and going about things correctly. It just feels good to be encouraged and to learn from others who have a familiar heart and mindset. Thank you and God bless 🙂🙏👍
Started my Tomatoes this week to go out in April. Cold season starts were two weeks ago so they can go out the first week of march. I prefer mini goats for milk. It costs me $80 a year per doe to keep. And they take up way less space while being easy to vet.
DFW Texas. All starts are started. Potatoes, Onions, Carrots and Radishes in the ground. Our last "official" frost date is April 1st but we usually put tomatoes and peppers in the ground on first day of spring..
I can't believe people would give you guys a hard time about talking over each other and what not. I personally just found you guys a few days ago and have noticed how amazing you are at listening and letting each other speak. There's a lovely respect there that I actually thought would be a great learning lesson for some to watch. Some people have seek out negative.. especially if they are jealous. You guys are magical. Don't change a thing. Unless it's because you want to for you. Also remember alot of people who are satisfied don't say much. It's the complainers that have all the input. Don't change for that small loud minority. You guys inspire many. Keep up the amazing work!
I'm wishy- washy about chickens. Straddling the line on whether to get them or not. One plus,they will turn compost while popping in it. Electric fence around my garden end of season kinda cleared cleared by chickens. Wonder if they would eat field bind weed. If they would keep this weed under control it would be enough fir me to get chickens. Eggs are a plus
We live in Indiana and I’m starting my seeds for this summer’s garden inside and trying to get in some homestead reading and research. I love y’all videos!
I live way up in the northern Adirondack mountains and I am pretty sure we have a never ending winter or at least it seems that way. This will be my first year growing a garden, we did things a bit backwards. We brought in cows and chickens first but this year I want to try to make my black thumb green or a little less black. I learned about 2nds last year by going to an Amish farm or a group of Amish farms to buy my produce for canning. One of the reason why I pressure canned for the first time last season was because of the great deals I received on potatoes and carrots, we don’t have a root cellar so I canned my potatoes, carrots and a few things of stew meat. I was so excited this winter when we got home from hockey practice and all I had to do was pop open the jars and dump it in a pot, thickin and serve. So glad I watched your video on self meals. Whenever someone asks about how I learned how to can or water glass eggs I always tell them about your channel. Thanks again looking forward to next time.
I'm in NM mountains and I started growing in a gardenstalk early February and will be planting some vegetable seeds to keep in the sunroom until mid May. I am able to grow somethings over winter in the sunroom, such a tomatoes, broccoli, potatoes and zucchini. I'm really looking forward to your herbal webinar1
OMG I'm in NYS And I have a lots growing in my basement...collards, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers squashes, cucumber, egg plant...OMG got a bit carried away, hope I can keep it all alive till my growhouse is up and ready .. going to record a video and post what all I been doing since end if Jan.on my channel: meghanshomestead...hope you guys get started soon...I had to do something so I stop feeling like I wanna hang myself...lol
Hey I just love you guys I am from Kimberley South Africa so winter is coming quickly now I just wanted to say how amazing you are the cleaning and seasoning of the skillets is something I have been looking to do and your video really helped me see where I've gone wrong all there years thank you
We have broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, navy beans, pinto beans, potatoes, onions, garlic, yams, pansy, nasturtiums and luffa up and doing well in zone 9. Starting many more seeds this week. Enjoy your trips to sunshine. I'm headed to see grandkids in Sand Point for some cooling off
We reduce the labor cost by using reusable plastic mulch, organic mulch and chickens to eat weeds. Chickens are moved into various garden spots just by opening a door from our centrally located henhouse. We isolate the chickens from other gardens with portable electric fence. I like the 6’ fence that is made for alpacas because the birds don’t jump out as readily. If there is plenty to eat in the area they are working they will generally stay inside. We don’t keep a rooster anymore because the girls will jump the fence to get away from him. We are using the chickens for their destructive behavior. What we want is to have the birds eat all of the bugs, all of the weeds all of the crop residue and ,of course,to manure the garden. Chix are in gardens before planting and after harvest when they won’t destroy the crops. I have gardens separated out as : early/late garden in one plot, main season garden in another, herbaceous perennials in another, raspberries in yet another. You can use them any way you like but the key is to put you chickens in the middle of your production area so all you have to do is move the fence once in a while and open the door.
It's 2 years later, but it is February. Here on the coast, I'm getting ready to begin the first round of serious seed starting. But I've been planting out six packs of cruciferous veggies and of greens every six weeks all winter long. We almost got a freeze, (31.75555°F) but everything I've got out handled it. Now it's time to sprout seeds for the spring production Peas, carrots, Napa cabbage, and the cruciferous gang etc. In the winter we just do some support veggies because we do have an occasional killer freeze so I don't put too much out.
Local farmers with quality whole foods delivered to your door from Market Wagon, my favorite grocery "store." Also, it has let me build a relationship with the local farmers through the web site messaging.
Just a couple days ago I planted herbs seeds to start them growing. I plan on starting pepper seeds and tomato seeds soon. I live about 30 miles south of Seattle
I don't think my chickens save me any money compared to regular store bought eggs but they are cheaper than buying the high quality eggs. There is also the added benefit of the chickens eating insects. My chickens get in their carrier and will take a day trip to the other house with the other gardens and then go home before bedtime. We have it set up so that the chickens can not get to the plants when they are still small but after a certain amount of growing, the barriers are removed and the chickens are free to eat anything they can reach. Keeps the plants trimmed away from the soil, insect damage is next to nothing, and my undamaged yields are much higher.
I'm in the southern most tip of Illinois. We're starting seeds now. I'm so excited but I have no lights and my windows in the house are fogged so we'll see how it goes
Hello Josh and Carolyn! Love watching your videos! I signed up for your live program that is coming soon. After I signed up it said something about a link coming in the email. Unfortunately I can’t get into my emails since I bought a new phone. When I transferred my information from the old phone to the new phone, none of my passwords work for the email addresses I have. So if you can send me that link in private message on Facebook, I’ll be able to participate. If that’s not possible, please remove me so that someone else can sign up in my place. Thank you. P.S. If anyone knows how to help me with this..... (I’m computer illiterate basically. So keep any help very simple. 😁)
The way we make things cheaper or free we sell some, we sell eggs to pay for our feed for all of our chickens.. we sell meat chickens to pay for our own meat in the freezer, we sell egg layer to make money and we hatch chicks to make money.. we plan on selling extra produce this year and starting more plants to sell..
I'm in Cape Town, South Africa with temperature in the 49 degrees C. Sweltering hot. My only safe happy place is my growing runner near our trees. I love your programme, thank you both so much.
