You may be surprised as to what the #1 product a homesteader should produce! This product, if managed carefully, can triple your homesteads production! This product is also connect to everything you can grow on your homestead. Want to learn what this #1 product should be? Let's get growing!
Quick Links
Show Notes
Romans 8:5-8
Time Stamps
Intro 00:43
What Should the #1 Product Be? 00:58
Who is a Homesteader 01:37
Tips and Tricks 05:47
Different Products 09:42
#1 Product is.... 16:27
Story of the #1 Product 18:46
Growing with God 22:19
What We Are Doing 32:34
How to Grow the #1 Product 34:20
Recap 37:57
Show Notes
Homesteaders can grow many different products from chickens, eggs, pork, veggies, and even entertainment or knowledge. But, what is one product that all of these and almost any product homesteader can produce depends on?
I'm sure you can probably already guess at what I'm talking about, but first what distinguishes a homesteader from a farmer or even a rancher?
A Modern Homesteader
In the past, a Homestead was a home with adjoining land and other buildings used by one family as its principal residence. This definition comes from the many American Homesteads that were established by the Homestead Acts, when public land was granted to US citizens willing to settle on and farm the land.
Today, I think the definition of a homestead or even a homesteader has changed. countryhomesteadliving.com says “a modern homesteader is defined as a place where: homesteaders grow a garden; raise chickens or in other animals; reduce their dependence upon the commercial food supply chain; some even do not depend on public utilities for water and electricity.” They also say that a homestead can be broken up into three categories; urban, suburban, and country.
I think the definition of a homestead can be very individual as it is more of a lifestyle than an object.
For me, our goal for our Homestead is to produce and preserve as much of our own food as we can to last at least a year for preparation of any emergency!
What are some different products a homesteader can produce?
I thought before I share the #1 product I could share some other products that depend on this product.
Layer chickens: eggs, fertilization, tilling, meat
Ducks: eggs, pest control, meat
Geese: eggs, meat, protection
Meat chickens: meat, fertilization
Turkeys: eggs, meat, fertilization, pest control
Pigs: meat, lard, tilling
Herd protectors: dogs, donkeys, alpacas
Barn cats: rodent control
Horses: entertainment, fertilization
Cows: milk, meat, fertilization
Goats: milk, weed control, fertilization, disease control
Sheep: wool, meat, milk, fertilization
Rabbit: meat, entertainment
Veggies in a garden
Orchard fruits
Herbs
Compost
and the list goes on
A homestead's #1 product should be grass!
All animals depend on grass in some way as they are all herbivores. Grass is the #1 component in compost and in turn produces veggies and any other produce from a garden or orchard.
Here at Red Ridge Farm Homestead, we are in the business of growing and cultivating grass. The result of making grass our #1 product is that it naturally gives us an abundance of meat, eggs, milk, and produce. Every animal eats grass so it just makes sense! God created a system that works why try to change it. How do we develop our grass? With animals of course just like God intended!
If you have ever read any old diaries of the first pioneers to cross the Prairie of Central America, you'll find stories of grass taller than 5.5 feet. Why? To feed millions of buffalo. Those prairies produced millions of Buffalo. (They are sadly gone today) It was a perfect environment, with no help from human hands! In fact the maintainer or producer were actually the buffalo themselves, here's how.
The grass would grow tall and the herds of Buffalo would travel all together, creating a mob, and graze. In this process the buffalo would compete for what was available and all the grass was eaten quickly and what was not eaten was trodden underfoot. Oh, and of course the Buffalo added their fertilizer as they grazed. They would then move on to greener pastures leaving the grass to regrow. The trodding, grazing, and fertilization didn’t harm the grass in any way. Grass is designed to love this treatment and it grows back full and more nutritious!
But, the system did not just stop there, now it is time for the birds to contribute. The Prairie houses three types of birds. Those that lived with the Buffalo eating bugs that live on them and added their fertilizer to the buffalos. The Prey Birds that followed the buffalo and ate the mice, snakes, and small rabbits the buffalo would eat out of house and home, and thirdly the birds that helped the Prairies regrow. Birds like prairie chicken and grouse would follow the buffalo spreading all the buffalo paddies out, eating bugs, scratching up the grass and spreading the grass seeds. It was a beautiful system, and we use the same system on our Homestead. We just use slightly different animals.
1. We mob graze our goats! We move them daily with an electric fence. It allows them to eat and trod only the area we have fenced for them.
2. We follow in the same area and fence with our meat chickens. They eat bugs and leftover grass and add their fertilization!
3. Then follow more slowly with our layer hens. They spend their time scratching up the new seeds, bugs and spreading the goat manure.
This has allowed us to increase the production of our property and also control weeds from our years of only raising horses and not following this system!
Pray, just plant!
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