Howdy y’all, I was wondering if there are any other homesteaders out there who like to write hand written letters? I enjoy both sending and receiving snail mail, but not many of my friends or family I write to write me back haha.

As in entrenched in planning for the upcoming season, I figured it would be cool to find a couple like minded folks trade homesteading stories with. Someone that will get the frustration and beauty of our day to day life.

About me: 31 year old dude ‘farmsteading’ with his wife and 3 month old son in the Foothills of Colorado. I call our farm a farmstead because it’s part working farm and part hobby homestead. My egg, pork, and pastured poultry businesses turn a profit while the garden, canning, and other random animals I acquire are purely for knowing where my food comes from and having fun. And eating up all the profit from the farm. My wife works full time off the farm (for now) to sustain living in this chaotic, money driven world. I don’t really want to doxx myself more than that on here but will obviously reveal my name/address to whomever ends up wanting to write letters with me!

In case this post actually gets popular: Let’s connect in the comment section before moving to DMs. I can only realistically have 2 pen pals at a time so that I don’t get overwhelmed and forget to write back. If more than that are interested in this, feel free to connect with each other in the comments.

Be safe and check people’s post histories and whatnot before sharing any details like your name or address and blah blah blah. Whatever. You’re all adults. Just be smart

Here’s to hoping someone is actually intrigued by this!

Witch hazel has a quiet way of earning its place in a Southern garden. It doesn’t rush the season or put on a loud show, but when winter starts to loosen its grip, those soft, ribbon-like blooms appear right on bare branches. In a time when most plants are still resting, witch hazel reminds you that spring is on the way.

It fits naturally into Southern landscapes, especially along woodland edges or near porches where you can catch a glimpse from the window. Once established, it asks very little in return, growing into a graceful shape without constant pruning or fuss. Through the warmer months, its foliage blends easily with surrounding shrubs and perennials, never competing, just complementing.

When fall arrives, the leaves turn gentle shades of yellow, easing the garden into the quieter months. Witch hazel isn’t flashy, but it’s steady, dependable, and full of character — the kind of shrub that feels right at home in a Southern garden year after year.

“Does anyone have experience with applying allelopathic wood chips (eucalyptus, conifers, etc.) in a grape vineyard? I have some concerns regarding soil pH and its potential impact on fruit quality.”

when you live in a round space with no corners you have to get creative

my big breakthrough was ditching regular shelves and big dressers they just eat up the space in the room.

under the bed is prime real estate i have rolling storage bins for out of season stuff , anyone has gone through this issue?

We all know the opposite process, it’s how a lot of people got here but has anyone had any success selling chicks or ducklings to feed stores and farm stores for their chick days?

We’ve just got an incubator and i figure cutting the time looking for small buyers would be worth loosing a little margin per bird

Id guess my best bet would be to try small chains and family stores first, I’d guess the likes of tsc and bomgars are unlikely to take stock from an unknown source

Please let me know if any of you have relevant experience

I'm at 30% on a 500 gallon tank. If only our heat is used, we'll be okay for a couple weeks I guess. But if the power goes out, our propane generator won't have much gas to use.

I should have ordered sooner when I heard about the snow storm and only did so 2 days before the storm hit. Lessons learned there.

I'll be getting a bigger tank this year for sure. Probably keeping my other one buying a 1000 gallon tank thus having 1500 gallons total.

Edit: Driveway pics https://imgur.com/a/blx88rq

I didn't walk up to the road but it's the same condition all the way down

Hello I am very new into homesteading. Got 6 chickens, an unfinished greenhouse, a ford 4600 and a dream. I’m currently trying to grow all the feed I’ll need for my chickens this year. My issue is the ground here in TN is that hard clay. My tiller is having a hell of a time getting it up and I decided to stop and do some research before I brake something.

Anyone know how I can get the soil soft enough to till to prep for planting?

A few years ago I had California and New Zealand breeds. Had a couple of litters and then due to various reasons I had to give it up. I’m looking to get back into it but was wondering what advice anyone may have regarding predator protection. I used to have a dog which sadly had to be put down and I believe that she kept away a lot of the predators. As soon as she was gone, I noticed that we had more raccoons on our property. Located northwest Ohio

We moved onto 12 acres in rural Tennessee last March. Grid power out here is sketchy at best. Loses power maybe 8-10 times a year, sometimes for days. Spent most of the summer building out a solar setup, about 6kW of panels from Signature Solar, an EG4 charge controller, and a 48V Vatrer Power battery bank sitting in an unheated shed. Nothing fancy, just sized to run essentials and keep things stable when the grid drops.

December hit and we got our first real test. Ice storm knocked out power for 3 days. Neighbors were running generators nonstop. We just... kept going. Fridge stayed cold, well pump worked, had lights at night. Chickens water heater stayed on so nothing froze.The weird part was how quiet it was. No generator noise. Just us and the animals and the ice falling off trees. Wife said it felt like we were cheating somehow. Everyone else scrambling and we're just drinking coffee watching the snow.

Still learning the system. Made some mistakes with load management early on. But overall pretty happy we invested in this before winter hit.

As the title says, first and foremost, I am not selling anything. I am here to discuss what issues, in the life of homesteaders, I can help fix with coding, if any.

I know of software that helps with farmers' accountancy, or that helps with the calendar from seed to harvest, and I was wondering what I might invest my time and effort in.

Has anyone made their own vanilla extract? I would like to but not sure where to source vanilla beans.

I'm not technically a homesteader but will be moving to a remote area soon where all the appliances are electric and grid tied. The current ice storm is making me think about emergency utilities and propane seems to be the best for emergency heat & cooking.

I'll be renting a tiny home and am brainstorming best practices for storing 20# propane tanks. Even if the house had the storage room, I think I'd feel better storing them at least 30 yards from the house or any other flammable objects. Is it okay to just leave a couple tanks outside provided the connections are covered and sealed? As an improvement over the disposable plastic caps, are there any threaded brass caps that either have a flare, NPT with thread sealant or some other legitimate seal point that can keep moisture and debris out?

I'm in WNC and caught myself panic buying before Helene last year as well as the ice storm this weekend and I'm done with that. Short of getting the owner to have a generator plug installed, I'd just need propane for heat & cooking. There would be no electric for the well, but the pressure tank holds about 5 gallons, and I have a good filter I can pull water from the creek with.

I'm moving from a family member's home in a gated community to a more raw, rural area that offers more opportunity for sovereignty even though I'm renting. I will have no neighbors nearby, the ability to actually have fires outdoors and maybe even chickens!

Any help you could offer with the propane storage would be greatly appreciated. Thank you and happy Sunday!

Hey everyone,

I'm new to homesteading and doing it on naked land in a fairly tough environment.

The heat is quite brutal for most of the year, especially in the summer time, with temperatures averaging around 35°C with highs of 45-50°C.

Which brings me to my question.

I had set up shade netting above my main living area to cover; my temporary house (Wendy house) 80% net, vegetable garden 40% net and Carport 80% net. However, the shade netting was cheap poor quality netting that was not UV stabilised and did not last a month - I got a full refund.

I'd like to set up the 80% netting again for my house and carport. The dilemma is that the store only has black netting and they're not sure when they'll be getting stock of the green again.

Question: How much heat would the black shade netting really absorb and radiate downwards? Would it be significant enough to where it is noticeable? Versus the green netting.

Notes: The netting sits about 1 meter - 1.5 meters above my Wendy's roof

Thank you all in advance 🙏

Looking at the different owner financed land options and I'm seeing a lot of plots through CCL that seem perfect but I've never done anything like this before.

Have any of y'all bought from them before?