I’m knitting some new dish clothes out of left over cotton and crocheting an afghan for a friend who’s house burnted down over the winter. I’m trying to use up my yarn stash and scraps to make room for some new stuff. I will also be ordering some plain yarn that the kids will be dying with kool aid.
What are you working on?
Lately I have been doing a lot of research on homesteading and self sufficent living. I think that it is a great idea and can see the benefits of it. I can do a lot of things but I totally suck and gardening. We have tried many times over the years but have never been able to get anything to grow. Though I do think that last year we might have gotten one small pumpkin if a horse hadn’t eaten it. Most of the time our starts never even live long enough to make it out to the garden! lol.
One of the things that has been keeping us from making more of our land is the work. If we have more animals then we must always be home to take care of them. It is easy to find someone to feed the chickens but not so easy to find someone willing to milk a goat. We have also thought about getting Alpacas. We have enough land for a small heard. The cost of getting a heard is high. Then I worry if the money we would get from their fiber would be enough to cover the cost of thier feed and care.
I have heard both great things and bad things about owning alpacas. These things have nothing to do with the animals themselves, just the costs. Some alpacas down the road from us have sold for over $200,000.00. No that is not a typo. It was an award winning alpaca. There are many much more affordable and beautiful alpacas around too.
I have also thought about having pygmy goats. They are so cute. For a family with children not having to buy milk from the store would be wonderful. I could also use the milk to make cheese and soap. I love soap making! I don’t know if I could pull of cheese, but I would love to try. I worry thought that if we had these animals we would have a hard time feeding them.
I would love to hear from anyone that is or is thinking about homesteading or becoming more self suffient.