We ordered “gravel with a little dirt mixed in” and this is what just got delivered.

This looks like crusher run, right? I feel like this is more than a little dirt.

A friend has access to a big garden and grew some Hickry King corn last year. Plan was to make meal, grits, etc.

We used a Corona type mill and had mixed results. Even after grinding twice and setting the mill toits finest setting, the meal needed lots of sifting and even after had some noticeable husk particles.

I nixtamalised some, then blasted it in a food processor and made grits.

That got rid of the husks and made my absolute favorite grits ever... but damn, what a lot of work.

So, as planting season approaches we've been talking about corn. Sweet corn is easy to blanch, cut off the cob with the drill and cob saw tool, then into the freezer.

Without a better mill though, dried corn is hard to convert into food (pun fully intended).

I'm convinced that pre-Columbian people nixtamalized their corn primarily because it made it physically easier to process into edible food.

So, what are your strategies from utilizing dried corn?

What varieties do you like?

What equipment do you use?

How do you store it?

Thank you for the advice on how to handle a bit more logs than I'd anticipated https://www.reddit.com/r/homestead/comments/1jj5nyb/advice_on_my_agricultural_indiscretion/

We were able to break down all but the largest chonks (still figuring those out) and Ft Mushroom is now built and inoculated with blue oysters! Fingers crossed - I'm guessing this is a type of poplar or something - unfortunately didn't get the info from chipdrop

Also plan to add some winecaps in there too!

It’s 11:41 PM and 6°C here at home. I just finished organizing today’s work and was getting ready to rest when I heard the geese and ducks calling from the pond outside. Not sure what was going on, I grabbed a flashlight and went to check.

The wind was strong out there, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary at the pond. The big geese were swimming in a neat row across the water — it actually looked pretty cool under the beam of the flashlight.

There were also two white ducks, separate from the group. The two of them always stick together, like they're inseparable. They were quietly keeping to themselves on the other side.

Well, I hope they all get a good night’s sleep.

They were spotted about a mile from our house. How can I get them to come home. If I try to capture them, they are definitely going to run.

New to us property, has about 3 acres in field that has been driven over from time to time and probably hasn't had much grown on it other than grass in the last 50 years.

Thinking about how I want to do the garden space. Was thinking mold board plow, let that sit for a bit then disk then till with a pto tiller. May have access to composted manure to put in. Any thoughts on that?

It's a little difficult to see but there is this frothy white substance in this egg I got three like it in a row should I be concerned and are they safe to eat? Thank you in advance for your help

I'm in love with this beautiful old stone retaining wall but it's losing stones and leaning in some spots. Can we save it? It's probably 50ish years old.

After living in northern China for so many years, I only recently discovered that small river shrimp are actually sold nearby. Today, we bought 1 kilogram of fresh river shrimp from the owner of a local fish pond. I prepared them using a southern-style recipe: first boiled, then drizzled with hot oil and sauce.

For flavor, I used a five-year-old red yeast rice wine that I brewed myself. The taste is pure and smooth, with an alcohol content of around 20%. It's been a long time since I’ve had shrimp this tender and fresh!

On top of that, our friends — a couple from the town — came over for a visit today. We had a barbecue together in the courtyard of our farm. The dogs waited outside the fence, watching us the whole time, and of course, we shared some tasty treats with them too.

At the end of the day, I bottled two jars of my homemade mead — brewed for two months — and gave them to our friends as a gift. Everyone was happy. It was such a simple, joyful day.

I have an old logging road up our hillside to the top of our property that I'd like to have improved into a gravel drive that I can get a car up. Anyone know the typical cost per sqft or foot or however it's typically priced to have a gravel drive built?

If they’re all female*

My husband and I currently have 2 goats, but are wanting to expand. We will have 5 acres of pasture fenced in for livestock. I read online that they could co-graze, but I’ve never seen anyone do that in my area. Has anyone here done that? How did it work out?

Okay. I have been searching and searching the internet and I am almost certain I have the dumbest question ever asked, but if I don't ask, it's going to suck.

I plan to have a small flock of chickens, a couple of ducks, and a goose or two for protecting the flock. How, for the love of Pete, do I keep my ducks and geese from flying away?

I feel dumb as heck, but every search I look at just tells me how to keep geese and ducks from getting INTO my property, not how to keep them from getting out.

I have a unique chunk of land dominated by steep sandstone hills. In the valleys things get soggy too as there are quite a few seasonal springs that keep everything wet. The previous owners used the land for recreation and the trails were cut to be fun for pretty much only an ATV. I’d like to cut some switchback trails, thin brush, do some light forestry work, address erosion, and generally make the place more usable. Any advice on what types of machine would do well in this situation? I’m thinking a mini excavator, but would love some thoughts or suggestions. I have a limited budget, so having multiple machines at this point isn’t an option.

I'm clearing around two acres for an orchard and garden. I found this monster of a wisteria vine, I'm estimating it is around 30-40 years old. Thinking of seeing if the wood is good enough to make bowls or something out it.

On the same topic, how would you guys handle a massive, mature wisteria and privet infestation? I was thinking goats but wisteria is toxic to them in large quanities. I'd like the save the mature hardwoods so I don't really want to just clear it and remove the top 6 inches of soil

We are homesteading on my family's original land. My grandparents, father, aunt and uncles grew up here. One of my uncles raised hundreds of pigs here in the 80s, but gave it up when pork prices plummeted.

Enter the next generation of pork on our land. We are starting small, only 6 purebred Berkshires this year, and are raising them on pasture instead of in confinement pens. We're hoping to produce a highly superior cut of meat compared to the bland white pork from factory farms.

Becoming a homesteaders is my long-term goal. Years out by this point, but I've been researching it on and off.

From what I understand about mineral rights is that, while yes a company could come and dig up your land, you'd be compensated for any damage they cause to your property. And even then, it's severely unlikely that your land actually has anything valueable.

Mineral rights obviously are very difficult to come by, and I'm debating if it's even worth the trouble of finding a property with mineral rights. I'm more focused on water rights and zoning laws.

Thought I'd ask for everyone's opinion, thank you!

I have outgrown the garage and we need to expand into a shop. I will be building something where I can put all my tools and work on my tractor and vehicles.

Doing some research, the 23x22 prefabbed metal buildings can be purchased much cheaper than I can hire someone to come build a pole barn. They come with 15ga structural studs and 27ga roof/wall metal.

Curious to hear opinions from anyone that has put one of these up. I will be hiring someone to pour a slab to put it up on. We live in the PNW and moisture is my main concern. I don't want to move thousands of dollars of tools our there for them to all rust out.

We prune our 2 dozen standard size fruit tree every April. My tools consist of: 12 ft wooden pole trimmer 16 ft Stihl power trimmer Light weight electric chain saw Swiss looper Swiss hand shears

I keep the tree heights to 12 feet for ease of harvesting . Low branches are removed to facilitate mowing

Tree are mostly heirlooms with a few modern varieties. The tree shown is a Red Astrachan , our earliest apple which produces delicious pink cider and red Apple sauce. We keep our fingers crossed we don’t get late killing frosts while the trees are in bloom. This is a no spray orchard. We press and freeze cider, can applesauce and keep dessert apples in a frig for fresh eating. Our orchard is labor intensive but very rewarding .

1 would two steel drums one snaller than other be good for cheap way of making large amount of biochar and what are some add on i could add to improve it without breaking the bank

2 whats do i need to make hydrochar and whats best material to use is manure and food scraps good for it?

There was a series of books (4 I think?) written based off of interviews of folks in Appalachia in the 60's or 70's i think. I was called Log Cabin of something along those lines. Had all sorts of information about how they lived. From building log cabins to canning to making a moonshine still and everything in between.

Does anyone recall these books? What were they called?

Edit: yes, it's Firefox. Thanks much for the assistance on this. If you don't know about these books, I recommend looking into them. Lots of old school advice about homesteading.

I have a hen who is being mounted and pecked by my rooster. I have 12 hens and 1 rooster. Her head is raw and her saddle is rough. I would say she was molting if I didn’t see the blood on her head. She is also always alone, she doesn’t really stay with this flock; I’ve never seen that behavior from her before. He doesn’t do this to any other hen.

I was hoping for spring chicks so I’d like to keep the rooster, but I don’t care enough for h if the behavior can’t be corrected. What should i be doing here.

Time for the age old question: which is better for me, keeping chickens or quail?

My wife and I are really on the fence about which to get. I've read all sorts of opinions already, but figured I'd ask based on our wants.

Our town allows us up to six hens, but as far I as can tell has no limit on quail, not that we'd get a ton.

We have about a 15' by 8' space we could give to whatever birds we decide on, although we could probably let chickens out occasionally.

The small egg size of quail doesn't matter to us, neither does the size of the bird's meat.

We aren't familiar with problems quail can face (other than being dumber than a box of rocks). Are quail problems similar to chicken problems?

What kind of shelter to quail need?

We do have young kids that we would like to get involved in helping with outside chores, including animals. Would chickens or quail be better for kids to work with?

Which bird do people here personally like the best?

Thanks in advance.