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Post by jonathco on Dec 16, 2020 12:26:03 GMT -6
Howdy Folks!
My name is Jon and I'm a long time follower of Dirt Diva's (aka CQ's) blog. When the blog went quiet in 2015, I was sad but certainly understood. After that, I would check back from time to time, just to see if anything new was posted, but there was a long hiatus. Fast-forward to 2020 and life got crazy with everything going on in the world and I didn't check for new posts for a while. Lo and behold, she's back, posting and has started a forum!
A little about me:
I'm a born and raised Michigander, home-school dad, raising 4 young children with my wife, who is the love of my life. We just recently moved and downsized from 10 acres to 2.4 acres in order to establish a more sustainable and maintainable homestead that doesn't require 24/7 upkeep and allows us more time as a family as well as freeing up time to serve in our church. Currently, we have two dozen egg laying hens, plans to put up a barn in the spring, and then assemble the 20' x 96' hoop house we recently purchased used.
This forum looks like a small community of like-minded folks; glad to be here.
Cheers,
Jon
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Post by handmaid on Dec 16, 2020 21:05:17 GMT -6
Howdy Folks!
My name is Jon and I'm a long time follower of Dirt Diva's (aka CQ's) blog. When the blog went quiet in 2015, I was sad but certainly understood. After that, I would check back from time to time, just to see if anything new was posted, but there was a long hiatus. Fast-forward to 2020 and life got crazy with everything going on in the world and I didn't check for new posts for a while. Lo and behold, she's back, posting and has started a forum!
A little about me:
I'm a born and raised Michigander, home-school dad, raising 4 young children with my wife, who is the love of my life. We just recently moved and downsized from 10 acres to 2.4 acres in order to establish a more sustainable and maintainable homestead that doesn't require 24/7 upkeep and allows us more time as a family as well as freeing up time to serve in our church. Currently, we have two dozen egg laying hens, plans to put up a barn in the spring, and then assemble the 20' x 96' hoop house we recently purchased used.
This forum looks like a small community of like-minded folks; glad to be here.
Cheers,
Jon
Welcome, Jon! I really appreciated your comment that you downsized to a more manageable plot of land! My husband and I have always wanted a lot of acreage, but are currently confined to a small city lot. This years garden told me how much work it is to tend and put up food, and it has made us more realistically evaluate what we can handle and not handle. Looking forward to reading your posts and learning from your experiences.
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Post by jonathco on Dec 17, 2020 11:04:43 GMT -6
Welcome, Jon! I really appreciated your comment that you downsized to a more manageable plot of land! My husband and I have always wanted a lot of acreage, but are currently confined to a small city lot. This years garden told me how much work it is to tend and put up food, and it has made us more realistically evaluate what we can handle and not handle. Looking forward to reading your posts and learning from your experiences. Thanks handmaid! Downsizing from 10 acres was right for us. We used to mow about 5 acres, had a large egg laying chicken operation, and a 1+ acre garden that consumed nearly every waking moment of my my wife, older children, and I's spare time. We had 80 tomato plants, 300' of potato hills, 20 rhubarb plants, a large raspberry patch, 75 strawberry plants, numerous pumpkins and squash (probably a 1/2 acre), a 50' row of cukes, 100' of peppers, 50' of Okra, raised beds full of greens, etc...
We managed it, but found there was little time left for anything else. Now, at our new place, as I wait out the winter, I plot and plan what spring will look like on only a little over 2 acres. The new theme for me is all about how to grow what we need with minimal maintenance, guarding family and church time faithfully.
A few things we aim to try in 2021 and see if they help us:
- Weed fabric to reduce weeding time - something like this from Johnny's.
- Buried drip tape to cut down on time spent dragging soaker hoses and moving sprinklers all summer.
- A second stove hooked up in the basement to double time utilization during canning season and double the number of canners going at a time.
We're excited to see what next year looks like. I am convinced (and hope not to be proven wrong), that you can homestead and still be an involved husband, father, and churchmen. I guess only time will tell.
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Post by DirtDiva Admin on Jan 10, 2021 16:45:49 GMT -6
Hello Jon and welcome. I pop in and out as time and health allows but am glad to see you here with all my folks. Hope you will visit awhile with us.
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