How many of you sit around and think about..?

[Day Dreamer]

thats so funny. I just told my wife today that I want a new house with some land so I can get a cow and chickens and grow a huge garden. So yes, I sit and DAYDREAM about that. I just wish my queen would like deer meat like I do, and then she said "straight cow milk is bitter". I'll keep working on her.

[Tyler2045]

I know that girls are maturing at a much younger age because of the hormones in food. My wife and I are hoping to not have to buy any meat but chicken after deer season this year. Tyler

[Tim Hoeck]

if anyone wants to see the movie listed above let me know and i can send it someone as long as you only have it for no more than a week and pass it on to the next guy.

[ksbowman]

I think you're right on the money. We freeze and can what we can from the garden as well as eat fresh veggies all growing season. We also grow our own beef and avoid all vacines,hormones and antibiotics we can.This year I am going to change my habit of shooting a buck before I shoot a doe. Usually I don't end up with a doe due to this habit.  Ben

[swampdrummer]

We are getting there.
 Moved onto 20 acres with a little 750 sf cabin last year. I killed 2 deer last season and have killed 10 or 12 wild hogs on the property since we moved out here. Its provided close to 90% of our meat.
Not much in the way of a garden yet. Not enough hours in the day. If we didn't have to work for a living it sure would be easier!Part of the trade off of living in this paradise is a 120 mile commute every day...... Rough but worth every mile.

[K.S.TRAPPER]

SveinD, I have the movie and the book about Dick. What a life he lead and it's not as hard as we all think to eat clean the info is out there.

Get rid of the processed foods also.

Tracy

[koger]

Been doing it most of my life. I fill the freezer with garden goods and about 6 deer a year between the wife and I , several turkey, fish out of  the lake. We can a lot  out of our garden, make homade jellys and jam. We doulbe and triple crop a small garden plot in the backyard, have 40 + acres we farm in corn, soybeans in our spare time.Just made some rhubarb/strawberry jam last week, mmmm, mmmm good!I also can deer, tast like good beefstew when you open it! Not that I have to do this to make ends meet, just like to, less expense for groceries, way I was raised. Last week I picked some young polk salad greens, green onions out of the garden, stir fried them with crumbled up sausage from a hog we processed last fall and then dropped 4 eggs in an scrambled on this for some redneck scramble up for supper w/sourdoug bread and that homeade jam, coffee for desert. Wife figured we had about$2 in our meal.

[ethan]

My wife and I pretty much only eat wild game and keep a few chickens for eggs, and keep a small garden.  Just a few little things like this go a long way.  We have two young daughters and they very much enjoy messing with the chickens and garden chores.  Check out "mother earth news" magazine.  They have some pretty interesting articles along these lines.

[Bonebuster]

With a wife, three kids, and the "gathering place" after school, feeding lots of people "off the land" would be/IS a full time occupation.

We have our own chickens, grow a big garden, and only kill the legal game that comes within range.
No wonder the old time photo`s never show fat people.

Five deer fell to our arrows at our house, and we were out of venisen by early March.

Do your best to limit what you buy. Nothing tastes as good as a meal EARNED. As of yet, I am far from providing enough with what is caught, killed, or grown. I fear I am not man enough.

[mookie]

Mudd hit it on the head! I have some friends that garden and I trade venison and rabbits for some of the vegetables also have a friend that ranches and sometimes trade for rib eye steaks.

[Tyler2045]

I am thinking about starting to raise rabbits and to also tan the skins.

[coaster500]

I lived on our 80 acres in northern California for 26 years. We had a great garden plot every year. We also had 3 1/2 acres of fruit trees. We canned and dried. We had a root cellar. We could not shoot enough game to feed ourselves 100% so a neighbor and I would go in on a beef when we needed it. One of the ranchers in our area raised grass fed beef. These animals never saw a feed lot. We would pay him market and it saved him the money to transport to a sale. We tried to raise chickens and turkeys but the coyotes would feast not us so we traded our rabbits for poultry and eggs. We raised our own hogs and timed butchering around the fall so we could turn the hogs out to glean our 20 acres of walnuts after harvest.

That was then and this is now. I'm off the farm and live in a small beach house (the ranch is leased out) ... My wife and I go to the farmers market on Thursdays, buy free range turkey and chicken locally. I catch lots of fish as we live on the ocean. We still go in with two other couples on a grass fed beef. Last year I was lucky and got a freezer full of elk and pork.  Life was good then and it's just as good now... It's just a lot less work  

[pronghorn23]

Interesting thread. I think of this all the time too. If you check out some of the hobby farm magazines and such it really get's your mind stirring.

We have a big garden and grow all sorts of vegetables.  Every year I plan to can alot of it but we usually give alot away just because we didn't have time to can it. Finally planned to can alot of tomatoes and peppers last year and they didn't do well at all because of the cold summer.

This year I plan to stick with the canning plans.

For me the harder part is keeping the freezer full of wild meat.

Also, work get's in the way too. I always say if I won the lottery that's how I would live.  Be nice to not have neighbors around for a couple miles too.

For those that don't have time or space for a garden (cause it can be alot of work), try some planters with peppers, tomatoes, herbs and such.

Hard to beat a bowl of venison chili made from a deer you killed and with veggies you grew yourself! A nice cup of tea from home grown herbs is good too.

[OkKeith]

This is a great idea, implementing it 100% is next to impossible if you have a day job.

Trying to live completely off the grid, nothing store bought or pre-manufactured is a daylight to dark (and then some) prospect. I know that's not really what is being suggested, but that's the dream, right?

I've been to places where the existence is nearly on a subsistence level. It's a hard, rough and life shortening way to live. You have one less than optimum growing season or a too dry (or too wet, or too cold, or too hot, or too whatever) period and its pretty much game over.

I think finding a balance between self-sufficiency and making good use of the modern marvels we have available to us is the way to go. I’m not giving up on antibiotics (or even Tylenol!) for a mojo bag of mixed herbs. I have a fair-sized backyard garden and of course eat what I kill when I hunt, but there is no way to grow, catch or kill enough food to feed me and my family. Farmer's Markets are a great way to go. Locally grown, fresh and you can shake the hand of the gal or fellow who grew it (usually, be skeptical of the “farmer” who didn’t grow the produce they are selling). Here in the neighborhood we have a pretty good trade system. I have extra tomatoes, the guy next door has extra strawberries, and we trade. Everybody has extra squash. You leave your truck unlocked and it shows up in the front seat.

As wonderful as it is, venison every day gets old for me. I like a steak or a chop once in a while. I have a buddy that has some pasture available. We buy a couple of calves every spring and butcher in the fall. Some we sell for money in the bank to buy next year’s calves, pay the process fee and foot the feed bill. It is a no loss/no gain system that provides the best beef you can get. No access to pasture? Get in contact with your local FFA chapter; lots of calves don’t go on to premium sales and students need to unload livestock for next year. That’s how I get my pork. I have a local kid that sells cash hogs. I buy them for whatever the going per pound price is and have it custom processed to my specifications. Ham like you wouldn’t believe!

All my meat comes to me at a lower cost (8-10%) and at much higher quality and I know the name of the guy/gal that grows some of my vegetables. I still buy things at the grocery. I am picky though; if a pineapple doesn’t SMELL like a pineapple I don’t buy it. It’s tough to find some things out of season. Good apples in March? Not likely.

Cool to think and dream about, much harder to do. I think I have reached a good compromise.

OkKeith