Planing.... setting an order to everything

Some projects have a higher priority due to them having to get done before we can do a diffrent project, thers because they take time to get established, and some get pushed further away purely because of expense.   So whole this list is always up for being rearranged here are our original thoughts.

Our pintrest page was a great help in compiling and organizing articles and information online that helped in setting our original order of priorities. https://pin.it/5QweUPrx0

1st priority was to push the treeline away from the house.  This was a saftey thing as much as anything else.... when we moved in there were several 80ft oaks and pines 20ft from the house. The risk of a tree falling on the house during a storm... or a fire getting to close to the house wasn't something I wanted to worry about now, or when I'm 80. 

It also had the bonus of giving us room for our garden, and orchard.  

2nd was the orchard and garden- we knew it would take several years for fruit trees to get established abd producing after being planted...  so once the area was cleared we bought 4 apple trees, 2 pears, two plums, 2 peaches, 2 plums, and two cherry trees (wr have since added a 5th apple tree and lost the cherry's soully because the dent loved them so much they nawed them to the ground... between each fruit tree is a bush of some sort... either blueberry, raspberry. Blackelberry, or current.  And a red and green geap vine is over there as well. 

For the garden we took logs from the trees we cleared and made fence posts. The ground had been hard packed and a forrest floor for as long as the dirt could remember... so even if we wanted to do no till type gardening we preformed an initial till to break up the soil and mix the thick leaf layer in as a fertilizer.

3rd the chicken coop-  chickens are open seen as the gateway animal or the gateway to homesteading...     they are easily the simplest animal to raise.

We figured that for our family 6 hens would give us plenty of eggs.  So we designed the coop and outdoor run large enough to hold 12...   then somehow got 14...      

This is the easiest thing we could set up to run with as little interaction from us as possible. And as allowed us to sell excess eggs to the point that *most* months they pay for their own feed.  

We picked heritage dual purpous birds so that when they begin to age out of laying they provide meat for the table.

4th was the bees- bees can be maintained with a little bit of time on the weekend for inspections and maintenance.  And a little bit of as needed work such as mite treatments.    They have the benefits of providing pollination for our garden and orchard, as well as after the first year or two (dependent on the health of each hive) gives us items to sell.... honey, wax, propolis, ect.

5th- or rather another 4 because it kinda happened at rhe same time... the bakery- to this point the home bakery is easily the best income producer we have. Every state has difrent laws about what home kitchens can make with or without an inspection. While over time we have bought some specialty equipment to help with efficancy and to increase  profits, it was very easy to start a sourdough bakery with stuff we already owned... the first thing we needed (I made) was a warming/proofing box for the dough...     it was cheap woth items from Home depot and Amazon, and we have since moved from a small box to an entire cabinet.  

6th. This is where we currently are. Livestock- This is delayed because it is waiting on the completion of the ever delayed logging operation. Not clear cut, but thinning out thr trees to allow undergrowth to  flourish and promote the health of the trees. 

Our first plan is for hogs... to sell by the share, the bual purpose meat meat/dairy goats and sheep to sell the meat. There isn't a huge local market for raw Wool near me, but if we can find a way to sell it... we will lol

These are furthest down the list amd take the longest to get to because the time commitment, they need the most amount of interaction and right now we aren't able to provide that... however we are slowly aquireing things we need and preparing, that way when we are ready we won't be starting from scratch. 

Pre-planning how will we aford this?

That sign hangs beside the register at one of the mechanics shops near my work.

Early on, litterally when it was just a thought, we realized this would take significant funding....   yes you can do it on a budget if you try hard... and you can get used, recycled, or discarded materials for some things for cheap or free....  but I rarely have that kind if luck. 

We knew we did not want to go into debt in order to start this endeavor...

1- To start with I have to admit that we "cheated"   while I already owned a home with a *very* little bit of land at the time we started seriously mapping out this journey it wasn't in a great place to do what we wanted...   as we where planning my grandmother became ill and we ended up inheriting her house and a little more than 18 acers of the original family land.  We sold the original house for more than I paid for it and used that money to place solar pannels on the new house.

2- We both already worked...alot.  My wife works 40hrs a week at one job, while I work 40 hours and my 1st job and 36hrs a week at my secound.  This gave us a little bit of money to start but there is far from enough to build what we wanted. 

3. Inline with the quote in the beginning of this post I was once told.. when I was of college age to "never buy or sell anything when you have to." Doing so puts you at a disadvantages you have to accept the price you can get

We began setting aside a small amount of money each check, any overtime, shift-diferenratals, holiday pay, ect... it adds up.  And we made a wish list of things we know we would need.   With this ever evolving list we stalked facebook marketplace and craigslist and slowly acquired items  like stock tanks, barrels, troughs, specialty tools, bee box's, solar electric femce chargers, ext when we found people getting rid of them for cheap....  even 990ft of woven wire fence for $100. We also watched certain items on Rual King's website and even Amazon  for them to go on sale. 

4. We settled on the idea of letting the land, and our endeavors help fund itself and the next endeavors down the line.

After we made the LLC we opened three bank accounts, every dollar made gets divided equally into accounts designated for Operations, Profit, and Taxes. 

One of the first things we built was the chicken coop... it will take a very long time to make back the money spent on the building but during most months the sale of their extra eggs covers the cost of their feed plus a little extra. 

The sourdough bakery was the next main endeavor, and to this point the most successful. It has become my wifes secound job. 

Honey-last year I started with one hive, cutrently we have two strong healty hives and hope to sell some honey, propolis, and wax products from them next year in addition to increasing the number of hives. 

Meat chickens.- This was out first year raising a test batch and it went really well. A few of them came through the butchering process pretty enough to chance selling.  Next year we will increase the number of birds we raise and maybe add turkeys. 

Logging-  our name is Lazywoods Homestead... of our 18+ acers 17 of it is woods. We have zero desire to log the land into fields, but to thin the forrest,  to allow sunlight to hit the forrest floor so the understood can grow and pro ide food for the evental sheep and goats.    We pass around the idea of a family cow... and would live to have horses but any if those are WAY down the line.  But the harvesting of timber will provide a little extra funding as well. 

Hogs- I almost have all the stuff to raise them...I still need to make a large feeder and asymble the waterer for them, but next year we will start that process (incidently that's what I said last year as well. 

Goats and sheep. There is a fair local market for the meat of both... and dual breed goats provide more than enough milk for our needs plus a little extra to sell, cutrently waiting on the logging project. 

Dog sitting.  We discovered that there is a shortage of boarding kennels around us.   But this project will have to wait untillbwe are in a place that allows my wife to quit work and be hone full time. Then we will build a 4 or 5 bay kennel and watch doggies for people on vacations or whatever they need. 

As you can tell we picked "Good and Cheep"  it's taking a while but honestly it's a good thing... we would be truely over welmed if we took all this on at once. 

Pre-planning; setting our goals

 Setting up goals is supposedly an exciting and fun process when starting a business…at least according to every book and overly optimistic YouTube Video.

1.  Define Your Vision: Start by defining your vision for your farm. What do you want to achieve? What are your values and priorities when it comes to farming?

Answer: The end goal is provide a supplemental Income for later stages in life. We want to be like the old family farms of Appalachia where they supplied the majority of their needs…. Food, lumber, fiber, and daily essentials. All the while selling any excess off to help fund our growth.  

I have long been in love with the way the old homestead around me used to be set up…. I grew up playing in the ruins of a farm that on a small scale had the ability to provide for itself at its height… and when I was younger provided a sizable portion of its own food.  A two hour drive from us is a state ran site on the Blue Ridge Parkway called Mabry Mill (pictured above)… the original family made this site everything I want to be.    The original mill is still functional and used to grind grain (at least as of my last visit some years ago) but that one wheel didn’t only operate the grist mill, the other side if the mill has a saw mill, and a wood shop where all the “power” tools are powered by that same water wheel. They diversified further into growing their own grains to sale, as flour, feed, or as liquor made it there still, they raised their own food crops and live stock and processed fiber for clothing.  While I am unable to capitalize on a still I want to branch out amd provide as many different products as I can.

2.  Set Specific Goals: Identify specific and measurable goals that will help you achieve your vision. These could include goals related to the size of your farm, the types of crops or animals you want to raise, or the level of self-sufficiency you aim to reach.

Answer- the main goal is to take this project on in a manner that allows us to avoid taking on any unnecessary debt.  We will tackle one project at a time as well as putting a certain amount of money aside for “marketplace buys” I developed a wishlist of higher cost, or hard to locate items and constantly stalk places like craigslist and Facebook marketplace for prices on these items to good to be true. We also focused first on easy projects with potential to have a return first.

Another goal is to be as healthy as possible. We won’t treat an animal with medications it doesn’t need, however of it needs treatment we will certainly provide for it as best we can. Ingredients for baked goods that we can’t harvest from the farm will be sourced

3.  Break Down Goals into Smaller Tasks: Once you have your main goals, break them down into smaller, actionable tasks. This will make it easier to track your progress and stay motivated.

Answer- every project gets mapped out as completely as possible before hand…  before I start building anything or tearing anything apart I have a drawn out diagram, a cut list, and written plan along with a budget….   

4.  Prioritize Your Goals: Prioritize your goals based on what is most important to you and what will have the biggest impact on your homestead/farm.

5.  Set Deadlines: Assign deadlines to your goals to create a sense of urgency and accountability.

Answer- I currently have the next 10..ish “large” projects mapped out and sorted into the order I’m most likely to do them.   Some of them have to happen before I can work on another project, others will be relatively quick and just wait for the next free day I have.  Supplies are purchased in batches as I find the best prices

6.  Review and Adjust: Regularly review your goals and progress. Be open to adjusting your goals as needed based on changing circumstances or new opportunities.

Answer- some goals have had to be adjusted along the way… a few emergently, a few to make my wife happy. We have been blessed with the ability to be flexible enough to meet these evolving needs.

7.  Seek Support: Consider seeking support from other homesteaders/farmers, joining online forums or local farming groups, or attending workshops to learn from others and stay motivated.

Answer- the Ag. Extention office is a wealth of knowlage and information, hosting classess and making many resources available for free online.  We also have a “local” (hour away) co-op the Rockingham Cooperative  and they host a ton of classes, some free and some for a fee just big enough to cover their expenses.

8.  Figure out your cost and charge appropriately.

Answer- we arent paying a staff…it’s just us and moderately forced child labor from our kids. Occasionally we have something we need help with and a contractor has to be paid… but it is far from a regular expense.  I keep very detailed records on an excel speed sheet, and in general we charge 2 to 2.5 times our cost when we sell something. For some items this may seem expensive but when you break it down to how much you make per hour it really isn’t that much. I shutter to think how much time my wofe spends on her sourdough bakery, just maintaining her starter…  much less all the work involved the week before we go to market.

Using this basic outline we pushed forward into our new business.

Emergency Chainsaw Go Kit.

 (This article contains affiliate links through which I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you)

Even prior to getting our property we still lived in the same county where it is common for storms to cause downed trees and chainsaw ownership is common even for people living in the one apartment complex just so they could drive to the next town to get to work.

So even though we didn’t use wood aside from the occasional outdoor fire pit, it was very important to have a quick, easy to use “chainsaw kit” that could be quickly grabbed and tossed in my truck if a storm came through or if family or friends said they needed help.

This is not a all the stuff we have to process trees... or even to drop them of we need to... this is purely the saw kit... to give me what we need to get a tree out of the way when we have to.

I watched every YouTube video and read every blog post I could find on the subject.. and there really wasn’t a lot that was what I wanted.

There was one youtube video from Wranglerstar that was close, he custom made a box from wood, the difference with me is I wanted it light and easy. So I did my research and put together the kit in the picture above.

The biggest thing was I needed a chainsaw and a container to fit it, the rest I knew I could make to fit.

The Chainsaw- due to our location in Appalachia 18-20 inch bars are very common, people that work a lot of wood have a larger and at some point I’ll add one but my 18inch bar does 85% of what I need, and I phone a friend for the rest. I know at some point I’ll be forced to change to electric but for now I settled on a Stihl 025 (now called the 250) it has an 18inch bar and the motor is plenty strong enough for regular use by a homeowner. I looked around and actually ended up trading for one, but the pawn shops in the towns around me regularly have used saws if new isn’t in your budget. With the saw, even if you buy used, buy a good brand…. I have no experience with battery (though at work we have started to carry stihl battery saws on some of the trucks so ill develop an opinion in time) but for gas names like Stihl, Echo, and Husqvarna are certainly some of the ones worth looking at.

The Chainsaw blade is protected woth a section of 3.5 inch firehose that we retired at work. 

The Case https://amzn.to/3VP1iQg. - The case needed to be light, strong, and able to hold everything I need to take for storm clean up so I could get to work in the morning. I went with the Pelican 108qt trunk. The saw fits perfectly, with plenty of room for all the extra stuff. The box is strong enough that I can stand on it..or more frequently sit on it. It even had one corner ran over by the tractor and even though it broke off one of the 4 latches I was able to pop the dent out and I’m still using it just fine. I do keep a piece of thick cardboard cut to fit in the bottom of the box to collect the fluids that continually seep out of the saw. The cardboard gets changed whenever I get a new bit of cardboard that’s big enough and makes a great way to start the burn barrel fire.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) – having been a paramedic I’m doing to best I can to avoid having to be a patient.

This Equipment sits in the very top of the box so I have to put it on to get to the actual saw.

Chainsaw PPE kit-

Husqvarna ppe kit- if I was going to do it again this is what I would get… it gets you a full set of ppe from a trusted brand while saving a few bucks. https://amzn.to/3zqicgK

Helmet – that has head, ear, and eye protection all in one. The one I have is no longer made. But even in the realm of trusted name brands there is a ton of room in price points

Oregon affordable price point -https://amzn.to/3XPuxoL

Forestry Saftey, an entry arborist style helmet https://amzn.to/3XKcj84

Husqvarna https://amzn.to/3zqicgK

Chaps- many people don’t wear them.. but they aren’t a bad idea, they work by being made of material that gets caught up in and stops the blade.

Oregon brand, an affordable option from a trusted name https://amzn.to/3zjstuY

Husqvarna - see how the ppe kit above starts to save some money? https://amzn.to/4cInO4h

Gloves- work the same way as the Chaps to stop the saw and hopefully save your hand

Oregon- https://amzn.to/4cKCH5Y

Husqvarna- https://amzn.to/3W8CcNW

OIL AND GAS

For bar oil I buy it buy the gallon and keep a small quart bottle in the kit filled up. For gas I have a plastic 1 gallon jug https://amzn.to/3W52MHD and some of the oils to make more mix https://amzn.to/3W644Cf . I usually keep one can of store bought premixed gas as an emergency and I reuse the empties because they fit very well into a water bottle pouch on my belt if I’m having to do a lot of work. My gas mix and oil cans are slowly being replaced with these bottles that hold 750ml and are the most cost effective option I’ve found. https://amzn.to/3XOkz74 They fit in Nalgene pouches that go on. Belt for if I’m going to be walking a while to do tree work. I wear three bottles in the belt pouches, one with bar oil and two with gas.

The ones being used for bar oil get sprayed with black paint near the top so I know which ones are different.

As I’m starting to do more saw work I am considering adding a combination can to my kit… it won’t fit in the go box, but would be a great add on for longer days of working. https://amzn.to/45QfMnS

Sharpening and tools.

Accessory kit- I wanted a basic accessory kit to start with so I picked up an accessory kit that is no longer available. So I’ll build one for you with the stuff I wish I had gotten the first time.

Files- I purposefully buy my chains to all use the same size file and the same angle. I buy extra of the correct size and keep one extra in this kit, and one in the pouch on my belt. I leave the other two sizes of file incase I’m cutting with someone else that may need one. https://amzn.to/3W4s74f

Squench- the special wrench for working on your saw in the field. You will notice both of these links are to three packs… One wrench lives in my saw box with the sharpening kit, a secound stays in a belt pouch in the box, the third lives in my trucks tool kit as an emergency spare and gets used a fair amount.

https://amzn.to/45LXhRg

Or

https://amzn.to/3VF3gTa

I have the forester brand and while the wrench itself works perfectly. The color makes it hard to find if you drop it and it goes to the forest floor, that’s why both of the ones I linked are bright and shiny.

Stump vise to hold the saw still while you’re sharpening it. It’s intended to drive into a tree stump, but I usually sit it on top of the pelican box.

https://amzn.to/3WfLVlD

A 1 inch putty knife that I use as a scraper for cleaning the saw https://amzn.to/3VOuiHP

Other accessories- I’ve added some small screw drivers to adjust the carburetor and a 1inch paint brush to help with cleaning

Wedges used to keep the tree from binding up your saw , plastic protects the chain and you, yes you can make them from wood on site, but they just make life easier https://amzn.to/3VEKBHi

Spare parts. That live in a small metal toolbox with the sharpening supplies. You want to keep them in something rigid to protect them. I got my box from harbor fright but they stoped making it… this is the closest thing at a similar price. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BJV86FWY/ref=cm_sw_r_as_gl_apa_gl_i_A68FNMDVKFAVH3Y67HKJ?linkCode=ml2&tag=lazywoodshome-20

Chains I normally keep two chains, one brand new and one either new or used but sharpened.

Plugs and filters I keep at least a Spark plug and air filter in the box sometimes an entire tune up kit. Amazon carries an assortment of these to fit different saws.

Small axe. For pounding in Wedges and general delimbing. I picked up

Learning before we could start.

(This article contains affiliate links) 

In the beginning we didn’t have land…at least not enough.  However we did know that we wanted to live as self sufficiently as possible.    So what did we do?

 

We studied.

I spent down time absorbing every YouTube video I could. I became enamored with  people like Justin Rhodes at  https://youtube.com/@thejustinrhodesshow?si=sCpr2ES2Eio9djkj, Homesteady at https://youtube.com/@homesteadyshow?si=eOpmK0dAzxDih7ug, David Burns at https://youtube.com/@beek?si=Yroa3gbao6FpEFI6, and Delci at https://youtube.com/@delcifromalifeofheritage?si=JPzieSa1PrD3M5aw. Plus many…many others. I tried to find a mix of people who did very well at the exact thing we are trying to accomplish sonwe could get decent broad lessons on a lot of topics as well a few that focused very heavily on one certain topic so I could get more detailed information

 

I also developed a reference library, some of which is pictured above.  I know almost everyrhing we have in a physical book is on the internet, but having a physical book that you can write notes in, highlight. And go to refeence wothout needing internet is just nice.  I’ll post amazon affiliate links below to as many of these books as I can find.

 

The Backyard Homestead https://amzn.to/3XGa6dK - This is I believe the first book in this line and I’ve loved all of them. It was written in very broad terms and as such gives the basic information on almost every major topic in homesteading.  It also has sample layouts to turn different sized properties into a functional homestead. If you have a short attention span and learn from short “bullet point” type lessons this book is laid out perfectly.

 

The Backyard Homestead Guide to Raising Farm Animals https://amzn.to/3xBzsis - While the first book very breifly covers some small animals this book begins to focus more on difrent animals and their specific needs.

 

The Backyard Homestead Planner https://amzn.to/3xB2miC - I got this early in the planning phase to give me an idea about chores that I had no idea I know I would have to plan for.    It’s a great for people who need written reminders to take care of tasks…like me.

 

The Woodland Homestead https://amzn.to/4cWP1jZ - we have a little over 18 acers, all but about 3 acers is mature forest.  I bought this book to help give ideas for forest management and how to integrate silvopasture and food forests into out homestead.

 

The Merek Veterinary Manual (current addition as of 6/27/24 https://amzn.to/3XHRpqe   or to save a little bit of money the 10^th edition https://amzn.to/4bs7JhT. – these books are literally filled with information on nearly everything that can effect nearly any animal you are likely to have.   I only have two complaints… the print is small, and the paper they used is thin… I understand why, if they used thicker paper and big print this book would be huge, or likely a several book set.  But it is definitely not a field guide and should stay safely inside the house.

 

Natural Disease and Pest Control https://amzn.to/3L34rHm - I got this at recommendation of a coworker. It’s been amazing in getting slugs and beatles out of our garden.  The best thing is a lot of the remedies aren’t  expensive.

 

The Fox Fire series… aparently now there are 17 books…  I thought there where only 6. All the books Ive read are great, the 1^st one has the most “how to” stuff in it.. the rest have a little bit “how to” mixed with lore and lessons.  https://amzn.to/45HtE3u

Number 1 https://amzn.to/4ciXDBh

1-12 https://amzn.to/3W0wXje

 

Self Sufficiency in the 21^st Century https://amzn.to/4cFF1Ly is another great book that gives a lot of basic information on a lot of different topics. It also has a lot of idea and projects to make things more efficient or to accomplish things on a budget with supplies you may have on hand.

 

The Complete book to Self Sufficiency by John Seymour https://amzn.to/4cpaCSg - I have and love this book, it didn’t make the picture because I left it in my truck. The name Seymour is one of the greats in homesteading. Again it’s one of those great reference books that gives you a starter lesson on almost everything and goes more in depth than the Backyard Homestead book. 

Introduction

 Hello, this is Rob from Lazywoods homestead. the point of this blog is to record our growth and lessons learned as we build up our small homestead snuggled into the Appalachian Mountains. 

We chose the name Lazywoods because our lives are hectic. My wife works 40hrs a week at her job, and I work 40 hours a week at one job, and usually 36hours a week at another. Because of this anything we start, or do we have to research ways to do as efficiently as possible, to the point that if we need to, we can walk away for a week, and everything still be functional when we return. Our property is overwhelmingly forest...these two together = Lazywoods

We started the lifestyle in short because it was how I was raised when I was younger. but as the Great parents and Grandparents aged and passed on the family as a whole cut back and stopped participating in this lifestyle.  So we have to relearn all the things I kind of paid attention to as I was a child "helping" Some things have gone well, others have had a steep learning curve. 

Our Longterm goal is to slowly build the infrastructure we need without going into debt so that as we grow older, we can work or jobs less and enjoy life more as well as enjoy a overall healthier and more sustainable lifestyle.

Our short-term goal is as we grow and learn our lessons, we are using the fruits of those lessons to earn some money to put towards the homestead and a little extra to spend on our four children.  We got to the point at the 1st of the year that we believed we should get our LLC to continue to grow correctly. 

In the first couple posts that follow this we will cover in short, the activities that got us to the point we are now, with a handful of lessons learned, a bakery running and making us money, the apiary, and equipment rentals all contributing to what we are trying to accomplish.