How to start a homestead AND work full time! Without DYING
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- čas přidán 10. 02. 2023
- Jumping into a homestead while working full time could be very intimidating and exhausting. I've been on this journey for nearly a decade and have advice on how to avoid mistakes and overwhelm.
Welcome to our Plan Bee! After 20 years of successful careers in the Los Angeles area we moved to rural Missouri and are taking steps to become more self-sustaining on our homestead. I break down all the farmy things into small manageable steps so you can start homesteading wherever you are.
We homestead on 2.5 acres in the Missouri Ozarks, and our garden hardiness zone is 6B.
Our weekly videos break down farming and gardening into small manageable steps so you can make the transition towards self sufficiency and food sustainability without being overwhelmed!
I garden in the Missouri Ozarks and am in hardiness zone 6B.
-How to contact us and other info:
Email: lorella.crews@mac.com
Mailing address:
Lorella Crews
HC 71 Box 300
Ava, MO 65608
-Amazon Wishlist: a.co/avpWYQM
-Facebook: / planbeeorchardandfarm
-Instagram: @lorella_planneeorchardandfarm
Excellent advice! Homesteading is not a race and is a process for sure. You have come so far in your skills just since I met you! 💜
Thank you, Rose!
We don't have animals now but we used to farrow to finish hogs, raised our beef, had sheep and goats and chickens. Now I spend most of my time on my garden in the summer. I do a lot of canning and cook from scratch. It's just my husband and I now. I still work full time but hopefully will be retiring within a year. Life is short and we need to enjoy the things we love if we can. Everything you said was spot on as usual.
Yes! Life is short. We should enjoy it.
That's exactly how I've gotten started. 1st a garden in 2007-prensent 2nd chickens in 2019 and now I'm getting Tamworth pigs in October 2023.... next will be a beef cow..
This is really helpful!! Thank you! Just getting into gardening/homesteading this year. This is my first year having a small garden and we own a townhouse but are very limited on space. Our goal is to move somewhere bigger in the next 5 years but for now we’re taking it one step at a time in the home we’re in!
Good on you for starting now!
Yes!! I totally felt it when you said at first you resented for you hubby for saying only one new thing per year... but then grew to be thankful for it!
Exactly!!
I appreciate this. I love being a Montessori teacher, but I also have these aspirations. My feeling of racing against time is that I want my kids to experience it. luckily they are young, but I have that feeling I am running out of time
Start small! One thing at a time. You’ll get there. :)
Wonderful advice! Thank you! I am already homesteading quite a bit but need to start working part time in town. This is helpful that I can still do what I need to do on the homestead!
You can do it!
Great ideas Lorella! Thanks!
You are so welcome!
New subscriber. Coming over from Liz Zorab's channel. I love your positive outlook and relaxed tone. I also find joy in the garden. Best wishes for the upcoming season.
Thank you so much, I've worked to be a peaceful channel in a world that can seem very aggressive, so thank you for that comment, it means a lot to me!
Such great info Lorella!!! We started our journey with a small garden and 6 chickens while we were renting in 2015 and have since moved onto 10 acres in 2019. We brought our chickens, a few potted plants and a WHOLE lot of knowledge. Starting small really is the key! Peck away at it little by little! 😁
Yes!!
Great advice💥
Glad it was helpful!
Amazing advice! Honestly, you could change the subject several times and this would still be great life coaching advice. For example... "Only take on one new animal or one major project at a time. Like, per year". Just draw some analogies, change some words, great advice for anyone.
But I will be forwarding this one to a family of aspiring homesteaders I know.
So true! Thanks for sharing my video with your friend. I hope they find it helpful.
We have a similar story! Our homestead has been a decade in the making and still in progress! I think every year is a new opportunity to learn another thing about gardening! That's what happens when you grow something new. Agree on the perennials and trees first. Our new land has fruit trees already but we will be adding to them. Thank you for sharing!
I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
Nice video, good advice.
Glad you liked it!
Howdy, neighbor. Glad you are succeeding out here in the green trees and rolling hills, but I''m wondering how you grow your garden considering all of the rocks, pebbles, and boulders buried right below the soil. Glad you are here in Ava, MO.
I have been adding compost and cardboard to the top of the soil and have brought in some garden soil. And I grow about 1/2 in containers and raised beds. It is tough though! I’m constantly picking rocks. 😂😂
@@LorellaPlanBeeOrchardandFarm I have the boxes, all I need is the garden soil. I've been waiting for the soil in my composter to be ready for 3 years, but I keep on adding to it instead of starting a new one. Thank you kindly for responding. Cool thing to find neighbors with similar interest this way.
@@omearica-rc6fp I do the same thing with my compost. 😂 I’m going to fill my new raised beds with lots of stuff, like branches I’ve pruned from my fruit trees, shredded paper I get from an office in town, the cardboard part of toilet paper rolls that I’ve been saving, straw bales that’s around my chicken coop… manure…. Etc. So basically they are compost bins, then I’ll put cardboard boxes on top of that and put soil in the cardboard box and plant in those. Eventually I’ll have nice soil in the beds.
I agree with other comments that this video contains wise applicable advice. However, it didn't contain the advice I was hoping for. I was hoping for some info in detail as to how you all juggle full time jobs off farm and homesteading at the same time. As a small simple example, how do you do time management so that in winter, when people who work 9-5 are driving home in twilight, you can still get enough daily chores done to make it to the weekend?
Ah! Yes, Deanna, I’m sorry I did not fully explain that, did I?
I use headlamps and sometimes car headlights when it’s dark.
We also have systems set up that make chores easier, like large feeders for the chickens so we are only filling them weekly, and heaters under our waterers, so they don’t freeze. Extra waterers so they don’t have to be filled as often.
Limiting other hobbies and activities that would suck our time.
This would make a good video! Maybe I’ll do that soon.
Also, I’ve started a series “one year on our farm” where I’m taking you month by month along with me on the farm. You might find it helpful. :) I’ll get the link to the first one here in a minute.
Lorella.
Missouri Homestead : One Year on Our Farm : January
czcams.com/video/d-8kfyc7_eQ/video.html
I have just published a new video, with my time management strategies that goes more into detail about how we manage the farm while working full time. Thanks for the comment! I hope this is helpful.
Yes, YOU can homestead AND work a full-time job!
czcams.com/video/K1fb0Wba7Qk/video.html
The biggest thing to starting that is scary for me is buying a good house with enough acres.
Yeah, and that’s so hard, because “what is enough?” There are very successful urban homesteads on 1/4 acre- or LESS. But you are limited in what size animals you can have. And I also think about how much CAN I manage as I get older. We were lucky in that my parents retired to this farm, and we built on their land, so the decision was made for us.
I think for a simple homestead probably 5-10 acres is sufficient. But finding it where you want and in your price range. Ugh. That part is hard.
@@LorellaPlanBeeOrchardandFarm I’m hoping I can find around 10 acres without zoning laws or whatever blocking the animals I’d like in a few years. Till then I’m doing research and gardening where I can while I rent