{"id":69,"date":"2017-09-14T18:39:17","date_gmt":"2017-09-14T18:39:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thecannycouple.com\/?p=69"},"modified":"2019-09-14T22:15:10","modified_gmt":"2019-09-14T22:15:10","slug":"69","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecannycouple.com\/index.php\/2017\/09\/14\/69\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Road to building a Homestead \u2013 Year 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

This year we decided to embark on the road to sustainability and self-sufficiency.\u00a0 <\/span>It is becoming a popular goal among households trying to make it in world <\/span>that promotes dependence on technology and economics.\u00a0 Our goal is not to go to the extreme of off the grid living that is not a practical solution for our family.\u00a0 We want to be able to rely on no one but ourse<\/span>lves for our most basic needs.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The first thing we did was write out a plan.\u00a0 Aaron and I answered important questions that needed answered for any chance of true success.\u00a0 What do we want, what are our goals, and why do we even want to do this, and are we doing it for the right reasons?\u00a0 We made list of what we want to accomplish this year, the next, and what we would like accomplished in the next 5 years.\u00a0 By going through these steps, we determine what is most important to us and keeps us on track to succeed.\u00a0<\/span> For our first year, we are beginning our journey by focusing on <\/span>the most basic of needs, food.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For year one, we have planted a garden and planted a whole orchard.<\/span>\u00a0 Both of us have some experience with gardening from when were <\/span>children<\/span>, so this was one area where we had some experience.\u00a0 We looked at our needs, our wants, and what we could practically grow in our area with nothing more than dirt, fertilizer, and sunshine.\u00a0 Wildlife in our area is a huge issue.\u00a0 Deer, does in particular, <\/span>are overrunning<\/span> our <\/span>area<\/span> and we have to be aware that anything we plant above ground will be enjoyed by the deer before we ever get to it<\/span>. <\/span>We are doing a mostly root garden, with food that will keep for long periods of time.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We are lucky to have inherited the beginnings of our orchard.\u00a0 We have several fully grown mature apple trees that are great producers (just ask the herd of deer that enjoy them).\u00a0 There are several wild blackberry, raspberry and a few wild black raspberry bushes growing on our property.\u00a0 There are several blue berry bushes on the property, some great producers, some not so great as well.\u00a0 Expanding on our orchard is where we went overboard, I openly admit.\u00a0 Aaron has planted approximately 90 trees\/ bushes this spring.\u00a0 And most of them are flourishing.\u00a0 We prefer fruit and nuts, so this was only a practical step for us.\u00a0 Yes, we should have probably planted these in stages, but most of them are <\/span>bareroots<\/span> (barely twigs, really).\u00a0 They are not going to produce for several years.\u00a0 Thi<\/span>s is a long term investment that will pay off over time.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There have been setbacks and we are just getting started.\u00a0 Despite all our preplanning and organization, our first year still has not went as smoothly as we would have preferred.\u00a0 We had trees shipped that we weren\u2019t told about and it was a r<\/span>ush to get them in the ground.\u00a0 Potatoes that were supposed to be shipped didn\u2019t get in the ground until the first week of May.\u00a0 The weather wreaked havoc on our garden, switching from freezing temperatures to blazing beach weather for 3 months.\u00a0 Then we had a flood and our garden was overrun by grass in a matter of days.\u00a0 This is not even taking into account our own inexperience.\u00a0 Our first year homesteading is really just getting started and we have already learned so much.\u00a0\u00a0 This isn\u2019t an easy road, we knew that walking into this adventure, but we feel like we are one baby step closer to our goal of sustainability.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This year we decided to embark on the road to sustainability and self-sufficiency.\u00a0 It is becoming a popular goal among households trying to make it in world that promotes dependence on technology and economics.\u00a0 Our goal is not to go to the extreme of off the grid living that is not a practical solution for…
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