My greatest inspiration in my own backyard farming adventure has been to
hear the experiences of others. I invite you to read along here as
Homesteaders share their adventures and experiences from their own
farms, backyards, and homes.
Want to be featured as a Homestead Highlight? I would love to hear about your experience. For more information follow the link to the information page and share your own homestead here at the Backyard Farming Connection!
Want to be featured as a Homestead Highlight? I would love to hear about your experience. For more information follow the link to the information page and share your own homestead here at the Backyard Farming Connection!
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Today I welcome Krystyna to this space.
You can connect with Spring Mountain Living on the blog, find us on Facebook follow us on Twitter or find us on Pinterest.
How long have you been backyard farming? What got you started?
My husband has been
doing some variation of backyard farming his entire life. I'm lucky in
that sense - he already had some experience when we started venturing
in this direction, because I had zero experience with farming or
gardening before getting married. We started years ago, when we first
got hitched and were living in Japan. We both worked full-time in the
Marine Corps and had a small apartment, on the top floor, of an
apartment in town. The produce available to us at the local grocery
store was extremely expensive and the options at our military base
were very poor quality, due to being shipped from the U.S. We dove into
container gardening and set up pots of tomatoes and peppers. That was
over a decade ago, and since then we've continued in our progression
over time. Our first home was a comfortable acre, and we were able to
till up a garden and supplement our food purchases. As the years
passed, we moved regularly, due to the military, but always tried to
have a small space for herbs, tomatoes or other items easy-to-grow food
plants. It's all paid off, allowing us to learn slowly and improve from
our (many) failures. We are in the middle of a move to a 50+ acre
homestead now, to become our "forever" home.
What does your backyard farm look like? Where is it?
Right
now, our backyard is in (way) upstate New York, nestled on the Canadian
border. We have just over a handful of acres, some wooded and some
clear. When I look outside, I can see a large barn that my husband
built, our livestock guardian dog (LGD), Athena and our goats peering
out at us. I can hear roosters crowing and hens singing as they lay an
egg. A short walk through the woods would let me see the place our pigs
spent many months growing before they filled our freezer. I can see
the snow dusted over our old veggie garden, tucked in for the winter.
If all that doesn't sound (& look) beautiful enough, our forever homestead is in Spring Mountain, Ohio, sandwiched between Columbus and Cleveland. It's a dreamy 55 acres, perched at the top of a little mountain. There are lucsious woods for forraging and hiking, a small pond for fishing, a spring and lots of open space for farming and livestock to range. There are barns and buildings, built my my husband's family, and in just a few months, the rest of our animals will travel to their new home. And we'll begin building our "forever" home, and continue to cultivate the land.
What has been your biggest success and biggest mistake?
I
believe our biggest success has been a combination of setting
reasonable goals combined with self education. Setting goals that you
can reach is important. Instead of deciding, "I'm going to homestead,"
one day and going out to purchase a large plot of land, try starting
slowly, taking things one step a time. It's a better way to set
yourself up for success and avoid the aggravation of trying to do too
much at once. Education is a key factor in our success as well; we
research, research, research. And when we're done researching, we do
some reading (to research). Reading can similar books or articles can
feel redundant when you're trying to learn, but one of the best ways to
be prepared is to be educated. Knowing as much as you can on a subject
will help you be more prepared, make less mistakes and be able to react
faster. For example, before we decided to raise goats, we made sure we
knew what they required to survive, as well as how to care for them when
sick, kidding, etc. When we had a goat that became ill, we were
already prepared to treat her, vice running around frantically trying to
figure out what to do.
I think our biggest failure, initially, is not working together as a team. For a long time, my husband handled the firewood, I was the seamstress and cook, the children had simple chores and schoolwork to work on. Having separate (and stereotypical) jobs caused us to butt a lot of heads, feel unappreciated and generally didn't accomplish all that was needed. Recently, we've taken on homesteading as a family experience and it has drastically improved things. Everyone in our house is now responsible for participating in the daily demands of life. We can all help with the firewood, even the children can help with cooking, my husband can stitch a ripped seam in a pinch.
What plans do you have for the future?

Thank you so much for featuring me (despite my gramatical errors! lol). This was a fun experience & I hope it helps others who are just getting started.
ReplyDeleteI love all your photos! How exciting that you are moving to your "forever homestead!" I'm sure you will do amazing things on your acreage :)
ReplyDeleteI loved reading and learning about you, Krystyna! Thanks for sharing this series, Gretchen, it's awesome! :)
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks so much for sharing this at Farm Girl Blog Fest #21!
~Kristi@Let This Mind Be in You
Great interview! I love hearing about other homesteaders. :) Thanks for sharing this on The HomeAcre Hop!!! Can't wait to see what you share this coming Thursday :) Here's the super easy link to the next hop!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theselfsufficienthomeacre.com/2013/02/the-homeacre-hop-8.html
If you haven't checked out Wildcrafing Wednesday yet, please do! :) It's a hop I co-host for herbal remedies, natural living, real food recipes, and self sufficient living. Here's the link for tomorrow's hop:
http://www.theselfsufficienthomeacre.com/2013/02/wildcrafting-wednesday-10.html