Book Info
John Moody: The Frugal Homesteader: Living the good life on less
A really good book with lots of hints, knowledge and experience on how to run a homestead. Their homestead is a 35 acre one in Kentucky.
Some of the take away:
- Homesteading is a hard, messy but fruitful experience.
- To be self-sufficient, one has to have a good community life for lent, barter and exchange tools, products or experience.
Some knowledge worth noting:
- Good and durable tools and last for generations
- Make good use of simple tools is better than owning a lot of fancy tools
- Start small first, gain knowledge before expanding the scale
- Find good alternative ways of cheap or recycled materials to built the stuff
- Chicken wire is too weak for chicken coop, but preferable concrete reinforcing wire (CRW)
- Beware of antibiotic, herbicide or pesticide pollution from manure, compost, straws, bales, pallets or even from drift from nearby farm
- Use cage, trellising to plant upwards to increase the yield
- IBC totes are perfect tools for firewood storgae, rain water storage, composting bin or even chicken breading field
- A coolbot can turn a conventional window AC into a walkin fridge
- Barn with electricity can be dangerous as rodents might chew the wire and cost fire
- Replace ridge cover with a transparent one to create a bright barn
- Unproperly stored or dried bales, can create some heat inside and could self initiate fire
- Try to standarize the screws and tools you opt for in your homestead
- Save on bulk buying