Saturday, October 15, 2011

Scenes from the Homestead

I thought I would show you a little scenery from our home. The first two photos are of views from our front deck. It is hard to tell in the pictures, but Fall has finally arrived with great weather and leaves changing colors.

Here we have our strawberry patch that we transferred from the big garden down the rode. If they all survive the Winter Scott feels like we will have around 90 plants. A month or so ago he cut all the runners into separate plants. We had a good bit of rain this past week which has helped. When the weather turns colder we will put a hoop house on the patch.

It is hard to tell but this will be our fish pond (aqua farming). Our version anyway. Scott started digging this week and hopes to go as far down as possible, at least 4-5 feet. Our problem is our property is plagued with rocks. Some quite big. Once the pond is dug we hope to put in fingerling catfish. From what we understand after a season they will be ready to eat. I know for some this may sound crazy, but we do feel at some point an economic and possibly social meltdown will occur. No clue when or how long it will last. But with the chickens, garden and fish we have a head start of being able to feed ourselves. Matter of fact, yesterday I stocked up some to fill the pantry and hope to continue doing this every week when I visit the grocery store. That way it is not costing alot of money at one time and it will make me feel less anxiety knowing that if the price of food continues to sky rocket I will have food to feed my family. Most of the items I purchased were ingredients to make meals from scratch: flour, sugar, pasta, yeast, brown sugar, etc. I know that God is always in control and will ultimately take care of us. I am curious with my readers in other parts of the world if you are feeling the same type of anxieties. Would love to hear your thoughts and maybe the preparations that you are making, if any.

The last two photos are two views from our back door. The big shed in the back is actually my husband's art studio. We have three chicken coops with attached runs. Right now it looks pretty messy because of all the leaves falling. I have to sweep everything because the blower sends them into a terrible fright.















2 comments:

Free Spirit Beth said...

I love the idea of the fish. My pond is plagued with snapping turtles and duck weed that I have been totally unsuccessful killing. The duck weed is so thick I can no longer fish my pond. I believe it is beacause of high nitrate levels as our airiation system empties there as well. Maybe I should get a different small area and dig it deep enough for my catfish farming.
I have been trying to convience Roger that we could farm catfish but to make sure we have it for ourselves is idea. Sure I live on the river but fish are not certain there and we do believe that preparing for a long failure is needed as well.

Fran said...

Over here we are certainly feeling the pinch of rising prices, which is why we are trying to drop slowly out of the 'consumer' market. I would also like to think that there is a definite move away from the selfish years of the last few decades xxx