A Self Sufficient Cottage - The Plan pt 1

Fauna ...

We're going to start eating only our poultry starting this year. And we may be starting a new breed, Buffucanas :) I'm getting 10 Buff Orpington pullets next month and an Ameraucana rooster soon from a friend. They plus 6 assorted hens of laying age we have now will be the start of our continuing flock. I will need another non-related rooster tho.

I hope to get a feeder pig soon to turn into meat next fall (keep half and sell half to buy another pig).

I want to get 4 turkeys so we can have a few for food and a few to keep going.

Very hopefully, a milk cow to add to our milk, cheese and butter and, possibly, beef. I would very much like a Dexter but likely cannot afford one. We'll be very happy with any sweet dairy cow tho. I'm hoping one of the local farmers might allow her in with his bull once a year or so if we do want beef or, trade half the beef each year for a bottle calf to raise on our cow.

I would also like to get a buck for our goats, I only want a few for milk and meat but I've had a hard time finding them a date. I wish I had kept all our other goats but, psychic as I am, I did not foresee this and didn't want to take a chance of not having time to find them all homes.

We also need a new LGD. Same story as the goats, I wish I had kept Herc but he does have a most excellent home with a great family. We have been very lucky so far but I have seen raccoon tracks around our pond and canine tracks in the cattle field behind us. The canine tracks may just be farm dogs but they were big enough to be coyote as well.


Flora ...

My gardening spaces have more than tripled in size for both medicinals and foods. I haven't canned much yet (canned a bit on the wood stove and canned some chicken in the PC) but I intend to have a larger bounty and plan to spend many hours canning this year.

There also appears to be quite a few berries on the property, just red canes at the moment so I'm not sure what kind but being the Ozarks they are likely blackberries (my favorites). Whatever kind they are I hope to have all we need for ourselves.

There are at least two large black walnut trees out back that are producing. We pick a few buckets of walnuts every year but having the trees right here will make it much easier to gather and use more.

And that's not even close to how much wild food and medicinals there is left to be found on the property :)

There is also space to plant some type of grain or feed crop. Maybe an alfalfa-clover-grain mix. I don't know yet.

All these things will also help in trade and barter for other things we need.

Then there's also the space for storage of all this. The Cottage is tiny by most standards but much larger than the Burrow. In fact it's around 400 sq ft larger. Plus having the barn and the Stone House.

Speaking of Stone House. I'm also planning on fixing it up and renting it out as a small cabin. That would help out a great deal financially.

So, that's the beginning of The Plan and I look forward to every part of it :)