Larsen Poultry Ranch - homesteading journey

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Hello all, I finally decided to create a journal. I currently live in Placer County, CA in a house on .31 acres with my significant other. I am an accountant and he is an electrician. Together we have 2 cats, 7 rabbits, turkeys, chickens, coturnix quail, button quail, and a dog. The cats currently live with us but the other animals have been moved to our folks' places while we work on the house to get it ready to sell.

We want to buy a property with 10 or more acres so we have space for all the animals and hobbies we dream of having. We have been searching for a while but finally found a property that looks great, the only catch is the seller doesn't want any contingencies, so we need to sell before we can offer. If that falls through, there are a few other properties we have looked at, but this is the only one (MAJOR fixer) with all utilities and a house in our price range.

My goal is to eventually be mostly self sufficient. I can raise and butcher poultry and rabbits, and have helped butcher a pig (BF raised them for 4H). I like to garden but previously did not have a
dedicated space for a vegetable garden. If we get our acreage I will be planting an orchard too.

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

Miss @Larsen Poultry Ranch,

Glad to see you start a journal! Now all of us can easily follow along in your adventures.

I hope you are able to sell your house easily and get the place you want.

Have you been affected by the electrical outages in CA? I thought of you and Miss @babsbag and wondering if you two were affected?

I look forward to reading about your adventures!

Senile Texas Aggie

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Yes, we lost power between 1-4 am Wednesday, but it was restored last night about 4 hours after my BF had installed a generator. It's uncertain if they will turn the power off again. There are still areas that haven't had power since Wednesday.

I am going to try to do some research and planning to use passive methods (and maybe off-grid methods too) to heat/cool/illuminate the new place. The current way of living seems to be totally reliant on electricity and that just seems absurd when you think about how electricity hasn't been around that long. And there are folks, like Amish or off grid, who get by without electricity at all. I think maybe we are starting to cripple ourselves by relying on the convenience of electricity.

 

[Baymule]

You can heat a home but cooling takes a lot of energy. An attic fan pulls air from outside and is cool at night, but is still hot by day. Just get prepared to sweat-a lot. LOL I have lived without AC in old houses before. It is hot, fans just blow hot air around.

Lehmans has lots of things that you might like.

https://www.lehmans.com/

You can buy a refrigerator that runs on propane, I've had one. They are small, but if you need a lot of room you can get two.

Google cordwood homes. You can build a home with thick walls, well insulated, will stay warm or cool.

https://daycreek.com/

There are a lot of things that you can do to make your dreams come true.

 

[AmberLops]

Yay! So glad you decided to start a journal!
I hope you find your dream place soon. What do you plan on growing in your orchard?

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Yay! So glad you decided to start a journal!
I hope you find your dream place soon. What do you plan on growing in your orchard?

Peaches, plums, cherries, pears, apples, avocados, figs, mangoes, as many fruits as I can grow. I have some small trees started in pots now, about 7-8 avocados, a mango, a walnut, and some figs. The mango I started last year from a seed and managed to keep alive; I will probably need a greenhouse or high tunnel to keep it warm enough through the winter. The avocados I also started from seed. Figs I took cuttings from the mature tree at my house, I think they are some variety of Kadota? They start ripening mid July and don't turn color, just stay green/barely yellow.

I bought some coffee trees (came in a 4" pot, it's going to take a while to grow) online and they are probably going to be house plants until we get a greenhouse. I tried to germinate Camellia Sinesis (commercial tea) seeds but I don't think I did it right, or they need more time. If you like seeds, Trade Winds Fruits has a ton of different fruits to try and grow.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

You can heat a home but cooling takes a lot of energy. An attic fan pulls air from outside and is cool at night, but is still hot by day. Just get prepared to sweat-a lot. LOL I have lived without AC in old houses before. It is hot, fans just blow hot air around.

Lehmans has lots of things that you might like.

https://www.lehmans.com/

You can buy a refrigerator that runs on propane, I've had one. They are small, but if you need a lot of room you can get two.

Google cordwood homes. You can build a home with thick walls, well insulated, will stay warm or cool.

https://daycreek.com/

There are a lot of things that you can do to make your dreams come true.

Thanks! I will take a look at those links.

 

[Pastor Dave]

I would like to develop a solar generator to not have to rely on a fossil fuel generator, or maybe a small windmill. I agree with you entirely on dependence on electricity and I do not like it either.

 

[AmberLops]

Peaches, plums, cherries, pears, apples, avocados, figs, mangoes, as many fruits as I can grow. I have some small trees started in pots now, about 7-8 avocados, a mango, a walnut, and some figs. The mango I started last year from a seed and managed to keep alive; I will probably need a greenhouse or high tunnel to keep it warm enough through the winter. The avocados I also started from seed. Figs I took cuttings from the mature tree at my house, I think they are some variety of Kadota? They start ripening mid July and don't turn color, just stay green/barely yellow.

I bought some coffee trees (came in a 4" pot, it's going to take a while to grow) online and they are probably going to be house plants until we get a greenhouse. I tried to germinate Camellia Sinesis (commercial tea) seeds but I don't think I did it right, or they need more time. If you like seeds, Trade Winds Fruits has a ton of different fruits to try and grow.

Sounds like you'll have to best orchard around!! You could make and sell pretty much any kind of jam or jelly. The only thing you're missing is Guava. Nothing better than Guava jelly!
And thank you, i'll definitely check out Trade Winds Fruits...I've been looking for some 'hard to find' fruits and they might just have the ones i'm looking for
It would amazing to grow coffee...you might have to send me a bag of fresh roasted coffee beans

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Sounds like you'll have to best orchard around!! You could make and sell pretty much any kind of jam or jelly. The only thing you're missing is Guava. Nothing better than Guava jelly!
And thank you, i'll definitely check out Trade Winds Fruits...I've been looking for some 'hard to find' fruits and they might just have the ones i'm looking for
It would amazing to grow coffee...you might have to send me a bag of fresh roasted coffee beans

I would like to have a guava too, I love guava juice. I don't know how the more tropical types will do with the cold. I'm currently in zone 9, and I think the properties we are looking at are also zone 9. I will have to see how big a greenhouse my BF can build...

Tomorrow we get to drive up to Reno to pick up a new Rex buck. He won't be ready to breed until December, but he should expand my options for my Rex.