dilligaf
10-29-2007, 04:20 PM
I was born on a small homestead in upstate NY. we had approximately 5 acres and raised goats, cows, horses, sheep, chickens and a whole lotta garden. The homestead was moms idea ,as she was coming of age during the summer of love she came to the realization city life was not for her and moved out to the small town where i was born. Knowing nothing about any pets other than dogs n cats, everything was cute to her and she needed it. Needless to say, i was born right in the beginning stage of her farming days on what was known as the "funny farm". (yes it was a rather funny little farm). Growing up I learned the basics of animals, raising for fun n profit , for food and product. I saw the life and death cycles and the hard work and joy it brought. I did the 4H thing and fairs, suffered in the freezin cold and sweated bringin in the hay . I decided it was too tough a life. As most teenagers do, I ran from the farm life .
I found myself going to nursing school, had a couple kids, married , divorced and quickly realized that animals were more my forte. Circumstances led me back to a small family run farm. Over the years i worked my way up through the ranks, went to more schooling and seminars and got to see govt testing on animals. (joy joy) Over time the farm grew into more of a factory type farm and after 12 years and differing views on farming , I left.
In 2002 , i came to the mountains of north GA and began homesteading here. We have about 15 acres nestled into the northern part of the ga mtns and needless to say the terrain and soil are an issue and always will be.
Currently we have a pig ,11 goats and about 40 chickens and roosters. We also employ two dogs in the protection of both animals and ourselves. All of our animals are raised here for a purpose, none of them are raised for just the fun of having a pet.They either have a job, produce something we use or will become meat.
In addition to the animals we also have a couple acres of veggie gardens and several herb beds. We grow and change and learn with each season and will keep on doing so in order to diversify and make improvements upon what we are doing here. When you raise your own animals in addition to gardens it makes a nice rounded life in my estimation. You not only grow your food and products but you incorporate them all in way that makes a nice balanced circle if done properly.
The biggest lesson I personally have learned through the years is that everything ties in together in some way, shape or form. Animals, gardens , living on the earth , environmentalism, you name it . It is all a very precise balancing act that can not be taught in books or otherwise. It is something you truly have to live n learn. That being said,This, isn't going to be the easiest class to get through without actually having the animals in front of us to work with and walk us through hands on . Thankfully the internet has produced some pretty informative, almost hands on things that we can work with in order to demonstrate pretty well. If any one has any sort of question at all during this please ask. If i do not bring something up over the course of this feel free to bring it up for discussion. I hope we all enjoy the lil farm adventure we are about to embark upon and that we can all learn and benefit from it .
For today ,lets just give an introduction to one another.Perhaps, why you are interested in barnyards friends and what it is you would like to see during the class... your situation at present,rural or city etc,,, and what land if any you have as well as goals for the future. This way i can hopefully tailor some parts more to those of us that are specifically here now in order to make it a bit more personal for all of us. i will be compiling a reference thread here in the next day or two . If anyone has a favorite website or book that they refer to when needing a bit of help , feel free to add to it as well.
I look forward to sharing my knowledge with everyone here. I know i will be learning as we go along too.
I found myself going to nursing school, had a couple kids, married , divorced and quickly realized that animals were more my forte. Circumstances led me back to a small family run farm. Over the years i worked my way up through the ranks, went to more schooling and seminars and got to see govt testing on animals. (joy joy) Over time the farm grew into more of a factory type farm and after 12 years and differing views on farming , I left.
In 2002 , i came to the mountains of north GA and began homesteading here. We have about 15 acres nestled into the northern part of the ga mtns and needless to say the terrain and soil are an issue and always will be.
Currently we have a pig ,11 goats and about 40 chickens and roosters. We also employ two dogs in the protection of both animals and ourselves. All of our animals are raised here for a purpose, none of them are raised for just the fun of having a pet.They either have a job, produce something we use or will become meat.
In addition to the animals we also have a couple acres of veggie gardens and several herb beds. We grow and change and learn with each season and will keep on doing so in order to diversify and make improvements upon what we are doing here. When you raise your own animals in addition to gardens it makes a nice rounded life in my estimation. You not only grow your food and products but you incorporate them all in way that makes a nice balanced circle if done properly.
The biggest lesson I personally have learned through the years is that everything ties in together in some way, shape or form. Animals, gardens , living on the earth , environmentalism, you name it . It is all a very precise balancing act that can not be taught in books or otherwise. It is something you truly have to live n learn. That being said,This, isn't going to be the easiest class to get through without actually having the animals in front of us to work with and walk us through hands on . Thankfully the internet has produced some pretty informative, almost hands on things that we can work with in order to demonstrate pretty well. If any one has any sort of question at all during this please ask. If i do not bring something up over the course of this feel free to bring it up for discussion. I hope we all enjoy the lil farm adventure we are about to embark upon and that we can all learn and benefit from it .
For today ,lets just give an introduction to one another.Perhaps, why you are interested in barnyards friends and what it is you would like to see during the class... your situation at present,rural or city etc,,, and what land if any you have as well as goals for the future. This way i can hopefully tailor some parts more to those of us that are specifically here now in order to make it a bit more personal for all of us. i will be compiling a reference thread here in the next day or two . If anyone has a favorite website or book that they refer to when needing a bit of help , feel free to add to it as well.
I look forward to sharing my knowledge with everyone here. I know i will be learning as we go along too.