Hello beautiful homesteaders! I have a question for people slaughtering chickens and using a spinning feather plucking machine for chickens.

We usually slaughter our chickens in the day time, not bothering to close up the chickens to be closed up the day before so they have empty intestines. After killing, they sometimes have poop leak out that we carefully clean up so it does not come in contact with the meat.

Until now, we have always skinned the birds and then butchered and frozen the meat. We are considering getting a plucking machine to possibly reduce processing time. Is the poop a concern when using the plucking machine? What are ways to make sure that that doesn't happen?

Thank you in advance for your input 🙏🏽❤️

Hey everyone!

My husband and I are in the market to buy our first house. We are based on southern Ontario and have only lived in cities as renters.

I have come across an affordable property about 40 minutes away from the city where we currently live (and about 2 hours away from my home city that I love a lot but am priced out of) that has a hobby farm: it currently has vegetable gardens, fruit trees, greenhouses and a barn. We are both artists, and this property also has a beautiful workshop that can easily become an art studio.

I am very into gardening (have only had small city gardens up until now), both food and flowers. I would very much enjoy growing our own food. I also love animals, but probably wouldn't raise any right away. Maybe something to consider for the future, especially chickens for eggs.

We have a 19-month-old and another baby on the way. I am very attracted to a dreamy life of raising my kids among nature, seeing them roam the gardens and eat tons of fresh produce. I am a stay-at-home-mom for now, and love the idea of spending a lot of time in the gardens with them. When they go to school, I love the idea of doing gardening chores and working away in my art studio. My husband works remotely and therefore location is flexible.

BUT. I am worried about the potential isolation, especially because I am a stay-at-home-mom. We are used to living in walkable communities with friends nearby. I'm concerned that my dreamy visions of a rural life are ignoring some realities.

I would love to hear from redditors here who have moved to rural homesteads from cities. Do you miss your city life? What questions should I be asking myself? Is it a good life for kids? Do you miss having community nearby? Do you feel isolated? Do you miss a walkable community?

Thanks in advance!

My grandma's cucumbers are legendary in our family, she grows so many every year she's constantly giving them away. Decided it was time I tried it myself, picked up some seeds from Organo Republic and got them in the soil this weekend. Not expecting miracles but excited to see what happens

I’m not sure if that’s a right place to ask. We are a family of 4 with 2 young children. From the beginning we knew we would prefer our kids to grow up away from the „traditional society” where they are thought to be 9-5 workers from the very young age and would rather have them learn life skills surrounded by nature/ outdoors. We don’t know any like minded people unfortunately and I guess are scared to start alone. We have good jobs/ carriers. But we are tired and growing more tired and scared with everything going on in the world.

I’m not even sure if what I’m asking for exists :) are there communities/ groups of homesteaders that let people join/ learn/ work together?

This spring we found a dead rat. We’ve always had mice but never rats. Fast forward to July, we were SEEING the rats trying to eat our pigs food, in broad daylight. We’ve caught maybe 10 of them now. I thought they were gone but I just checked our traps and had two more. I’m at my wits end and so grossed out. What can I do?
I love my chickens but maybe I need to get rid of them?
I already secure the feed in metal tins, etc.
please help?!

Who among you knows what this machine is used for?

So im not entirely sure if this is the right place for this or not but ive been given the opuurtunity to be a farmhand with my wife’s family, my pay would be the home im staying in on the property plus my meals through the day and all, where having a meet befire anything goes down to talk logistics but I’m just wondering if i deserve payment beyond a place to stay, food, etc.
Its not a very large homestead their is a garden thats about 2500 sq ft, a chicken coop, a separate chicken coop for meat chickens, some bees and trees to check as well as any kind of future projects to expand the homestead, a duck pond and turkey coop are the current future plans with more to come

Edit 1: thank you for all the reply’s every bit has been helpful, me my wife and her parents are going to sit down and discuss our plans for this to see if it would even work out for all of us, i will update again after the fact

Hi I just wanted to share my grandpas homestead in ny he sadly passed away in september 2001 from a heart attack. My biggest regret is not knowing him better he had a pond dug and everything my goal is to have a piece like this of my own one day he was so happy there just cutting wood. The house burned down a couple years ago sadly. R.I.P grandpa🪦☮️

Put in four raised beds this spring and the deer found them within two weeks. Tried the usual stuff, Irish Spring soap hanging around the perimeter, a motion light I had lying around from another project. Worked maybe three weeks, then they stopped caring. Lost most of a row of beans and they hit the lettuce pretty hard.

Now I'm trying to figure out what actually holds up across multiple seasons, not just something that wears off once they get used to it. I've been reading about the double fence setup where the spacing confuses them more than the height does, and that seems more promising to me than just going taller with a single fence. We're on a suburban quarter acre in Ohio so I can't do a full farm perimeter without the HOA getting involved.

The beds are in the back corner with decent tree coverage on two sides. I want to protect them without it looking like a construction zone back there. We've got a wedding coming up and the backyard actually gets used.

Curious what's held up for people past the first year. Repellents, physical barriers, some combination, whatever. What actually stuck.

Alt titles: Deer got into the raised beds two weeks in, what actually works long term | Anyone found a deer barrier that holds up past the first season | Lost half my beans to deer already, what finally worked for you

Two families in my area do it. I don't think I'll get into it myself but I'm curious about this community's views

I’m doing some genuine market research and would really appreciate some honest opinions from people who keep livestock/smallholdings.
My husband has spent his entire working life as a shepherd and has extensive hands-on experience with sheep, particularly pedigree sheep. He has learned everything from the practical side of keeping and breeding sheep over many years — breeding lines and selection, lambing, flock management, feeding, health, vaccination, disease prevention, handling, and all the little practical things you tend to learn through years of actually being on the ground rather than from a book.
We’ve been wondering whether there would be a market for a practical consultancy service for people starting out with sheep or developing a smallholding flock.
The idea wouldn’t be veterinary advice or anything replacing a vet. It would be more along the lines of having an experienced shepherd you could speak to when you’re trying to work something out or want a knowledgeable second opinion.
For example:
You’re thinking about getting your first sheep and don’t know where to start
Choosing a suitable breed for your situation
Understanding what to look for when buying sheep
Starting or improving a breeding flock
Understanding pedigrees and bloodlines
Choosing breeding stock
General flock management
Preparing for lambing
Feeding and day-to-day management
Avoiding common mistakes when starting out
Talking through a situation with someone who has spent decades working with sheep
Potentially it could be a video/phone consultation, perhaps £50–£75 for an hour, depending on what people actually found useful.
I’m really interested in whether this is something people would genuinely pay for, rather than just something that sounds like a nice idea.
If you keep sheep/smallholdings:
Would having access to someone with decades of practical, hands-on shepherding experience be useful to you?
And if so, what would you actually want help with?
Would you pay something like £50–£75 for an hour of that kind of advice, or would you see it as something you could get for free elsewhere?
I’d genuinely appreciate honest answers — including “No, I wouldn’t pay for this because…” as that’s exactly the sort of feedback I’m looking for.

any tips on protecting young fruit trees from wind? Mainly to stop damage and to not loose every single flower. We have planted a wind break/ shelter belt along the back but will be a few years until it’s useful.

Heavy clay soil. I’ve tried a triangle of heavy duty wooden stakes with shade cloth but it all keeps moving and i’m worried stakes will snap and therefore snap the tree. orchard area is about 1/4 acre with 20 trees so far.

where we live is 70kms gusts most days in september with occasional 100kms wind days. We are quite open with farmland around so no protection. Happy to build something if simple enough.

Pic is the protection we put in yesterday and what it is like today 50kms gusts. I’ve taken it down as i was worried the whole thing would go.

I’ve always been fascinated by getting a fruit salad tree. It’s a single tree with grafted branches of other fruit varieties. They must be the same type of fruit, such as 5 different types of apples, or 3 citrus, or stone fruit.

Has anyone grown one/many? Any reputable dealers? Thank you!