Everything We Did In Our First Year on a 2.5 ACRE HOMESTEAD 

lol Michiganders are the most wholesome people on Earth

Start your fruit canes, berries, and trees right away! once those get comfortable in your garden theyll produce on their own so easy!

I went from a small 1 acre homestead like yours, and now we are up to 38acres. Watch out, its addicting

It is very easy to retrain an aggressive rooster. Just pick it up and hold it gently like a football under your arm until they are calm and set them down. Do it repeatedly every time they act up. This has worked for every rooster I have used this method on.

THe easiest to grow are cucumbers, squash and zucchini !! Plant the seeds is dried cow poo from Lowes. Get free expired greens from supermarkets. The egg yokes will be orange. Thanks

I also have 2.5 acres, it's a good size for a little homestead. I got a 12 tree orchard planted still waiting for fruits, a huge garden area, pumpkin and berry patch, a few chickens, compost area... my ultimate goal is to get a few sheep and the kids want a pig. Looks like you guys are getting a lot done there! 👍

Still learning and expanding 20 years in

This is my first time on your channel, and I love your attitude and philosophy so much! I find that a lot of people pursuing homesteading do so out of a sort of paranoia, but you seem to be pursuing it just out of joy and a desire for self-sufficiency for its own sake, which is awesome. Super inspiring to see other people do what I aspire to do within the next five years or so! Thanks for the great video!

It took us 10 years to get to our homestead! So I gathered as much information as I could studying about as many things I wanted to do! Even making soap and cheese from our goat's milk! When we finally landed I was able to put my book knowledge to the test!! Great video!! ~jc

My husband and I live in New Zealand and haven’t grown up in farming families but we are seriously keen to change our lifestyles and move to the country to create our own homestead. It’s nice to see someone who also didn’t come from that background making it work and enjoying it - it’s a scary prospect leaving conventional urban life behind…

Your going in the right direction , great job

For anyone considering building such an amazing homestead - I would recommend Bulgaria🇧🇬 as a possible location! It is amazing, affordable and it offers so much personal freedom!

We all make mistakes and that’s why we watch others and learn 😊. Great job and enjoy your farm and family.

Great job and lots accomplished in year 1 - it's crazy what someone can accomplish when they put their mind (and body) into it! Well done on the homestead and video

You are doing a great job 👏 Thank you for all of your great videos ❤God bless 🙏🏻

down to earth life lessons, thank you for inspiring me to raise chickens.

Good video, thanks so much for sharing it with us .

Thanks for sharing. My wife and I purchased a 2.4 acre home and going thru some of the same adventures. We are building everything ourselves so we agree about enjoying the process.

This was a great video. We all have had the ups and downs of our first year. Your doing a great job and your kids are learning valuable knowledge.

This is awesome thanks for sharing!

I've got a flock of 30 on 8 acres...mostly copper morans and Saphire Gems ...I have 3 good broody hens so I sometimes raise my chicks But if I find a breed of interest I will buy or hatch. After about the 3rd day of hatch. I go out at night and just put them under a hen up to 12 or 15 chick's per hen... makes the job a hole lot easier and the hens take excellent care of my chicks..so I've never been one to complain about a good broody hen !

Nice Video. We just got our first chickens ourselves. And we've got another 100 on the way. Very exciting.

Good for you. What a fantastic life you’re building out on your homestead.

I've used those greenhouse-shelf things a lot. What I do is put them against a structure facing South, and I use the bottom shelf for ballast and to make them very heavy. An old canning pot with a transparent lid is my favorite, because water is heavy and the transparent lid allows the sun to heat up the water which then releases the heat at night. I've also used logs and cinder blocks, anything really heavy to make them very bottom-heavy. Then they don't tip over.

You should watch "self sufficient me" this guy has helped me tremendously

Love seeing your sweet family working together. I grew up on a ranch/farm out west and growing up like that was a tremendous blessing.

Excellent job…..your work is paying off plus great for your family

Hi I live in Grand Rapids and on just a small 70x100 lot. I have a garden and getting chickens in March. Im even adding blueberry bushes this year. So yes you can do it on a small lot. Thanks for this great video, gives motivation to us who are stuck in the city. 💚🌿🐥🌿

Learn what plants you can winter indoors and replant outside the next growing season. Pepper plants are one that we are trying.

Yes! I'm right there with you guys! So fun to see all that you have done in 1 year! Great job!

Thanks for sharing, really love your experience on homesteading

Kin's domain a family homestead!

Thanks for all the info and encouragement. Congratulations too on your first year.

It's so great to see fencing around your garden 😀 Way to go!

I can't stop laughing at the rooster story! I've never been on this channel before but I'm loving this video 😂

You're doing GREAT WORK 👍❣️

Great job guys! Keep it up.

This was so helpful! Thank you for sharing your story. I can't wait to watch more videos.

Goats 🐐 and sheep 🐑 and ducks 🦆 as well as my beloved chooks ❤️🐓🐔

I love this video!! It was so inspiring 🙌🏻🙌🏻

I just finished year one too! Thanks for sharing your journey.... you're right - it's all about what mistakes you're willing to make!!

You’ve made great progress over the past year ! I really enjoy watching you guys grow as homesteaders 💕

Small steps big gains! 🎉😊😊 Merry Christmas!

Very encouraging! Thnks for sharing!!

Yes! This was amazing! I’m so excited for you guys to get pigs.

Great video. We hope to jump into this lifestyle too. Completely new. But this is so motivating to see and confirmation that it’s possible

You are great presenter at honest and intelligent manner. Your charisma make me stay and watch this channel to the end. The way you speak and talk is just inspiration immediately . Thank you for doing what you do. Congratulation !!!!

I liked what you had to say, thanks for taking the time to make the content. We hope to be in your shoes in ~2 years.

Looking very good, trying to success That's the way to go forward

I definitely like the hoop coop idea that's very movable. About to fence in about 2/3 of an acre and then I want to give the chickens a run of the backyard!

Have fun good luck for starting its great fo a family I raised 6 children farming and canning food for family and I still garden for us 2

Thank you so much for sharing

We have so many predators. We have a huge coop and probably went overboard. My husband built it! No break ins. But I do want a chicken tractor. I have a new gardening and some homesteading channel. Watching a ton of others. So glad I found you. Subscribed 🎉

I remember back when I was little I helped my grandparents with their garden it was about 60 feet wide and about 100 feet Long

Love your channel and the positivity you bring, even on difficult or hard days. Always appreciate your honesty as well. Thanks for what you do and for taking the time to share it with us here!✌️🌱🌿🌾🍎🥦🍉🍏🍒🥒🍓🧅🍅🍆🥬🍐🌶🫑🥕🌽🧄

Love this so much! We are also homesteading on 2.5 acres! We're within the city so it's a little bit of city and a little bit of country all in one.This year we added a big garden, an orchard, and backyard chickens. I'm excited to follow along and get ideas for our property because it is he exact same size!

So inspiring 😍

Glad to have stumbled across your channel. We have started our homesteading journey. Have had some serious set backs but not the end. Back at it, doing what we can. We hope to move away from FL soon. Keep up the awesome work.

You have made so much progress guys! Well done! We hope to get to your stage one day soon…we are still transitioning:)

Great video! Glad I found your channel.

look at you guys go! good for you guys! keep up the hard work! -danielle&zach ramaci!

Well done Peter Cape town South Africa take care

Loved this video! I started this year with a small garden & 6 chickens, definitely lots of errors along the way but I’m feeling more confident and more at peace every day. Hoping to eventually be fully self sufficient for my family. ❤

Same here LOL learned most from RU-vid on being a homesteader I live in Michigan too.

Great job guys! We are still learning and expanding 5 years in. Its great to see more Michigan families doing this. You are making me want to make a channel of my own!

When I moved out of Houston I was still with simple mindset since I was alone so I got .68 of a acre coming from a apt and older I thought plenty of yard lol 15 years later and first year of gardening I realize yeah I need more land but not willing to start over I built a 10x28 leanto to raise my meat chicks and layers have their own coup and run , I learned fast that I should have put my coup outside of run where boxs could be reached without walking inside run… we learn as we go. Rest of back yard is my garden and that’s a big learning curve lol your place is just awesome Josh, don’t be suprised if in a few years you don’t choose to get more land lol loving life with growing, raising your food source is so rewarding

Always great to come across a video like this showing someone new giving this a try. If we could convince all the families in the country with an acre or more of land to start composting, plant at least a small garden, and do a few things to be better stewards of the land it'd make such a huge difference for our environment. Sometimes we forget that we are part of an ecosystem, not separate from it. Dirty air and water, lost topsoil, bad waste management, and all those other problems can all be drastically impacted by everyone who is able making a few small changes. Since we got a one acre property in our 40s we've cut our trash at the curb down by more than half by composting, constantly expanded our chicken keeping and gardening efforts, added swales and other water management ideas, and last year added a high tunnel that produced an amazing amount more for us and our families, and have been showing how using sunken hugel beds, added compost, and drip irrigation works even in sandy, rocky soil to create a food producing soil and diverse and healthy ecology. It's an amazing journey as you find new things to try, wishing you all the best with it!

Wow that wind gave me so much life. My dream is to have freedom period.. I would just lay there and look at the sun for a while I love wind.. it gives me calming energy.. can’t wait to experience this type of freedom 🇺🇸

This is so inspiring 😇🥰

Love what y’all were able to do on 2.5 acres! We are on a 2 acre homestead and trying to use as much as we can in the future!

You guys are doing great and thair are so many ways to use chickens as a resource

Great video! keep it up!

Youre doing so great!! Kudoes to your daughter! I have a suggestion on your box gardens. If you read up on it you'll find that if you support you climbers with stakes they will grow so wonderful. Also, consider trimming some of your tomatoes so they get plenty of air and more sun. Keep up the great work!

Just found your chanel today. My wife & I made the jump this past September to a 3.15acre rural property in SE Missouri. It has been a major change with as you well know a lot of challenges. We are completely off grid & spent our first 3 months living in a tent while we cleared an area to get a building so we wouldnt freeze our first winter. I love seeing other people doing the same & will be putting some content together to document our progress going forward. Keep up the great work & thanks for the inspiration.

Luv it! Been tryin to talk my husband into gettin chickens for a long time..he says no no...

Good luck, My wife and I are hoping to start soon.

Looking good!! We just got started 3 months ago!!

Great job brother 👍

Well done you

Good video dude!

good video. keep um coming.

God Bless 🙏 teachable moment 💯 Kosher still chickens 🐔 only. ❤️

We have 14 chickens we want more so we need to expand buy land! You’re doing great keep learning

If I ever buy a house with an large open backyard someday, I am definitely starting a chicken homestead.

Park seeds is one of my favorite organic seed growers, but appreciate the other source. Thank you

You and your family are doing awesome. Slow and steady and learning as you go. Have you started a compost area to help make your own soil using kitchen scraps, chicken manure, shredded paper, shredded card board, wood chips, leaves and grass clipping and spent plants.

Got yourself a new subscriber!! Just started a few months ago, now have chickens, starting a garden, learning how to make bread, learning how to forage for mushrooms. We are in the same boat, no one has taught us this way of living so we are excited to learn it for ourselves and my little ones too! It’s a learning process and I’m ready!

I started with two 5’ raised beds that were not very deep and a square bed with a trellis made from a pallet for pumpkins. It worked great for learning. Last year I expanded to 5 3x4’ raised beds, 4 beds about 5x2’ with cattle panel trellises as well as one for pumpkins that I chose to put 3x4’ beds so the vine can root along the ground longer to strengthen the plant. I have 3 whiskey barrels for blueberries and a raspberry plant I found on clearance I couldn’t pass up,a blackberry bush I’m regretting it’s placement so I’ll add more barrels to move that. I’m adding 5 more 3x4’ beds for veg and herbs and 5 more whiskey barrels so I can plant potatoes, elderberries and move the blackberry bush. I half built a greenhouse from recycled windows but their integrity was compromised so I have to take them down and start that over with plastic it’s been a lot of work but I love it and love what I’m able to do.

This is my first video I’ve seen of yours! Loved the content! Do you plan on making any videos on “how to” purchase a homestead? Like the buying process, why you picked the area you did? And how to get financing. I want to do something similar but I have no idea how to logistically make it happen! Would live to see tips from you guys

Hello From Northern Virginia, just Subscribed 👍🏼🚜🪵🇺🇸

Love from Pakistan ❤️

I just found your channel while scrolling RU-vid. I really enjoyed this video!! Good for you...they say take baby steps, learn and master something and move on to the next thing. I know this video is kinda old but if you ever need guidance on raising HEALTHY Cornish cross chickens (they die pretty easy), I highly recommend watching Kevin from Living Traditions homestead. He has a whole playlist on how to raise them to perfection 👍 You got another subscriber today!! I can't wait to go watch more

Raising your own meat is weird at first but extremely rewarding! You two will be great at it!

The only thing I've been able to grow this year was potatoes,,,,WE had a lot of green just no fruit. GOD BLESS

That's what I did last year too, I just started. I did three 4x5 garden beds and we got 8 chickens. We lost several chickens to predators and sickness, do we are leasing what we need to do. I also had an abundance of cucumbers for pickling. I got an electric canner for Christmas and we just purchased a chest freezer to help us get local meat.

I’m new to your channel I watch a lot of homesteading videos. I just turned 40 in August and I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life and at 40 in the last five years to be exact. I made a lot of changes working towards being a better person and having a better life I daily dream of having a small home. It doesn’t have to be perfect livable it’s fine on a couple of acres with my chickens running around and whatever else is living on the farm the Homestead I pray on it and I dream about it and I tell myself and everyone else that I’m gonna have this one day. I want my Boys to be able to run around and be free my oldest she’s 21 and then I have a 12 year old boy with autism and I have a soon to be eight-year-old son that has some issues here and there and then I have a daughter that would’ve been 13 she passed away at birth due to DV and I lost myself when that happened but I’m trying to get back to me you know I literally dream of what you guys have and although I’m new to your channel I’m proud of you guys. You have a beautiful home and a beautiful family❤

Lithuania prety cheap and good for this stuff

The first thing we did was build a coop and got chickens!!

The chooks need a bigger/longer feed dish so they all have a chance to get some food.

There is a homestead channel in VA that needs help named Off Grid Challenge; they also have chickens. Not sure if you can do a collab or a zoom live together- but I hope you would be willing to try. Wishing only the best for your family no matter what you decide. 😊😊😊