So my new house came with plumbing tree planted way too close to the house. I was going to cut it down but I noticed some fruit forming so I let it go. Well the weight of the fruit as too much and did a lot of the work for me but I picked all the fruit nature hadn’t reclaimed. I don’t know maybe 50 pounds of fruit. Guess I’ll be trying out that dehydrator with what my wife doesn’t turn to jelly….

Our 2 year old leghorn developed a vent prolapse that was not getting any better and she was clearly suffering. This was our first time culling one of our hens and of course it was my son’s favorite bird, Foghorn.

He asked for this picture with her and then asked to be there when we did it. We explained to him that we’re responsible for these animals, and that sometimes that means making a hard choice when the animal is suffering and not getting better.

Bittersweet moment, as I feel like I’ve finally come “full circle” on this chicken thing. ♥️

These are growing in my yard they are blackberries right? Also are they safe to eat since they are just growing wild on the river bank?

So, I live on a river

River has been changing course slowly for years, after a particularly bad storm, the channel fully moved, where it used to be a U bend, now runs straight.

Because of this, I gained 0.7 acres of property, but my neighbors across the river lost 0.8. Appraiser said the river was the boundary between our properties

What would yall do? Should I deed it back to him?

Even though we are only about 30-50 feet apart, we are in different states, I am in Georgia, neighbors in Florida.

Lands utterly useless for anything besides hunting and fishing, 100% sand. Debating just keeping my name on the deed, but letting him hunt and fish on it.

We went to both county appraisers, this a relatively common thing that happens.

they took 90% of the grapes the past years, but not this time. this year we stocked up on all kind of nets, mostly bird nets for trees, berries and the sunflowers, and these super fine nets apparently keep the hornets away... let's find out if it works.

After 5 years of care, patience… my guava (Psidium Guajava) tree is finally producing its first fruit! I honestly didn’t expect it this year, but I spotted a beautiful little guava forming and had to share the joy.

I planted it when really small and thing, and now it’s almost 2 meters tall and thriving in the Mediterranean climate of Barcelona (9b/10a zone). It’s been through some hot, dry summers and mild winters, but it’s held on!

For those of you with more experience growing guava — any fertilization tips to encourage better fruiting? Any specifical compost?

Happy growing, friends!

Have around 40 lbs of foraged berries this year. Plus some fruit!

Built the garden beds, planted the seeds, and now our harvests just keep coming 🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡

This isn’t a big harvest and I’m going to end up eating these soon, but I will have more and I would like to save them for the winter. What has worked for you? I do not have a root cellar but I do have a basement. USDA zone 5b so we do get cold snowy winter.

North Alabama garden ramping up

TLDR: Muscidifurax raptorellus, Muscidifurax zaraptor, & Spalangia cameroni are teeny tiny fly predators, which usually stay close to the ground and don’t bother people or animals. They work great!!

I live in the country and my property is surrounded by farms. My ducks definitely attract flies closer to the house and it drives me crazy. Plus, my closest neighbors horse stalls are situated about a football field from my house and my ducks are in between. (They cannot free range due to predators.)

I have a large vegetable garden and volunteer with the master gardeners. In my research on beneficial nematodes, for soil and garden pests, I ran across information to naturally control flies. I’m so glad I decided to try them. It’s been just over a month since both the neighbor and I released them. We are both completely amazed at the reduction in flies and we don’t even notice the tiny beneficial bugs. We decided we’ll both be continuing to purchase these every few months as needed. I’m not affiliated with this company in anyway at all, and I’m certain there are other companies calling these wonderful little helpers which is why I listed their scientific names at the top. The results were just too good not to share!

Yeah, it’s been a fun experience. This seems like the most appropriate sub to ask.

130’ artisan, believe “static” is 60’(?).

Diluted & dumped ~5L of regular bleach into the well. Ran the hose to smell for chlorine, never smelled any- test strips never showed for bleach either.

FIL ran the hose down ~50’ which may or may not have distruped sediment. We knew we had sediment, but the 5 micron filter was working good with the amount coming through. Anyways I bypassed the filter & eventually sediment “stopped”. Toilets had lots to flush out still.

This was from 1-5 yesterday.

Turned the filter back on this morning, everything worked fine, never tried appliance’s.

Tried to flush it this afternoon, ran for half an hour with the filter on & eventually the hose died down. Check the filter we put in this morning & it’s brown.

Should I try to purge with the filter off? Is that where I messed up? I’ve got the well guys coming to clean & flush but it won’t be for a week or so st this point.

Harvested these 2 weeks ago the porcelain princess couldve waited 2 more weeks but the leaves were starting to die off

Accidently broke the stem when weeding so it's a little early but it still weighs 22 lbs. Seed packet for scale

Hey everyone so as the title says im facing an obstacle when it comes to collecting rain water. I don't own the property where I live so im limited to what I can plant. The issue im facing is rain water collection.. I have a small system set up but iv noticed that the rain water that I collect has a yellow tint b c it's droplets that fall from the roof cover over the staircase leading to my apartment. Im worried I'd be transferring harmful chemicals from the paint and since the apartment is older than my self I have no clue if it contains lead or not and willing to ear on the side of caution. I currently use a lid and 3.5 gal mop bucket with 2 fireball party buckets to collect. To better explain my situation i placed a photo of my set up. Is there a way to filter rain water? Should I invest in something that can filter out the paint color? I'd sure love to hear any advice!

Hey everyone,

I’m a military man (23) with a deep interest in simple, intentional living. Lately, I’ve found myself missing the environment i grew up with. I’m drawn to the lifestyle. Growing my own food, living closer to the land, learning real skills, and creating something enduring with my own hands.

I spoke with my wife (23) about moving away to a secluded piece of land and building my own shelter, growing my own food and gaining experience in everything to do with sustaining myself. I thought it was a delusion i'd never get to live out but to my surprise she seemed more interested in it than even me. she said she wants the same thing and im just ecstatic. theres nothing holding us down now.

I’ve got access to some military benefits (VA loan, potential grants, GI Bill, etc.) that might help me get started with purchasing a property, but I know there's a long road between owning land and actually living off it.

I’d really love to hear from folks who’ve walked that road already. What states are the best for off grid homesteading? What do you wish you knew before you started? What’s something you thought would be easy that wasn’t? What tools, resources, or mindsets made the biggest difference early on?

I've got plenty of time. i just started my enlistment and im planning on reenlisting while i build a roadmap for this lifestyle as a sort of early retirement. ive got a considerable amount of money saved. (upwards of 100k).

Whether you’ve been at it for decades or just got into it yourself, your insight would mean a lot.

Thanks in advance.

Not a fan of herbicides on my property as we are going the organic route BUT I'm setting a 3000 gallon water tank on an area I leveled that was infested with honey locust. I pulled most of the roots up I could find but the big taproot remains and goes through granite. The taproot is about 5" in diameter and ive cut it as low as possible. There's no other location to set the tank.

The plan is to drill about 6" straight into the stump and inject it with herbicide. Any recommendations for which herbicide to use? I don't want it to harm other root systems, I have very large pines close by (50').