Hi from Central Texas with Dexters! (and still getting my setup in place)

fuzzi · 2025-03-12T21:26:48-0500

thatannagirl said:
YES! I mean, we actually intend to pay them... because apparently Roth IRAs are age-agnostic. Any kid can have one. But only with actually earned income doing work you would pay someone to do. And if they don't earn enough to have to pay taxes, then it's all going in as post-tax, and will be tax-free retirement income that has grown for forever. It's usable for them for things like college and first house and such.
So the plan is to "pay them", dump all their wages into the Roth IRA, and then give them an allowance. Their first job has been collecting cow-pies and putting them in the raised bed gardens. Then I'm getting them gloves and they're pulling all the deadly nightshade before it fruits.
There are friends in the area that do 4H. They've shown us their set-ups for turkeys, rabbits, and couple sheep and goats. Looks good. I was just wondering last night if the money from selling their animals counts as earned wages that can get dropped in the retirement account for them. research time.

oh absolutely used all the way. We lurk on equipment auction sites and browse through facebook marketplace. It's not usually difficult to see which things are rust-buckets poorly covered in new paint vs something honestly used and still usable.

Great to know that Jersey meat is excellent.

Yes! we love fruit trees and want some. We have some surviving peach trees we put in ourselves. Haven't really gotten good fruit off them yet. And we have to get some protective fencing around them so the cows don't go to town. But our attempt at putting in the citrus trees was poorly timed before the heavy late freeze of '22 and us all going down for a week or so with the 'rona and not really able to do anything to protect them.
back in a treed area on our property, if you brave the poison ivy, we found some previously planted peach trees. Thanks for reminding me about fruit trees because I think I need a haz-mat suit (I'm just crazy allergic to poison ivy) and some loppers and get all up in that to make sure they have good sunlight - before the wasps get their nests well established in anything I might be messing with.
We're also super lucky to have some well established squirrel populations in our lovely mature pecan trees. (J/K, I'm going to war this year and learning to cook squirrel. I hear it's delicious.)

Welcome to BYH! I currently have chickens but a couple goats are in my plans...mainly for the poison ivy, honeysuckle, and other invasive growth in my yard.

About PI: I am allergic, too, but about 20 years ago a PA told me to try taking an antihistamine when I realize I have been exposed to PI, or when it starts to itch. Works every time.