TheBar1 Homestead- From a sword to a plowshare

Sorry for the delay in posting but I have been on the road quite a bit since my last post!  Since then I have been in DC for a couple weeks for some training, flew to MN (it took longer to go from DC to MN then it did from Amman Jordan to DC!).  Spent one day in Mn then flew down to Corpus Christi, Texas, picked up the new truck, drove to Shepherd AFB (Wichita Falls) for Chris's (my son) graduation from Air Force Tech school, then drove to Parker, Kansas to visit Synergistic Acres, on  to Fountain Mn to visit Root Prairie Galloways!  So pretty busy! Over the last couple days during the farm visits I was able to meet some really awesome people and learned quite a bit from from both my own observations and from all that Laura (Synergistic) and the Hodgsons(Root Prairie) were able to tell me!  As is always the case in a situation like this sometimes we get as many questions as we do answers.  I was very impressed with the different avenues used for fencing b...

Well tomorrow I get on a plane for the long flight back to the states for a little rest, and recuperation and while I am there I will be doing quite  bit of traveling and taking advantage of the opportunity to visit a couple farms that are raising Galloway cattle as well as seeing some operations with a similar set up to what I am planning to do.  While running around the country I will also pick up what will eventually be our farm truck and on top of it all get to see my son graduate from Air Force Tech school.  Over all will be a very busy month (including some time in DC for training). The truck we are getting is a 2007 Chevrolet 2500HD crew cab 4X4.  Due to the Mn winters we really needed the 4X4 and I wanted a truck big enough to handle the biggest hauling chores as well as have the option to put a plow on it if needed.  . The crew cab was a nice option, originally I was looking for a reg cab but they are almost impossible to find.  When this truck c...

Because we have decided to go with an organic and non-GMO crops we are faced with the challenge of  how to control pests that can decimate our crops and garden.  The only way I can figure on how to do this is a multi-layers approach of breaking up the pests life cycle, beneficial insects that will prey on pest larva and predators that feed directly on the pest along with some old fashioned manual picking the pests off of the garden plants!! The first step will be crop rotations, granted that will not help with many of the more mobile pest that feed on crops it will help to minimize the damage from those that are focuses on one particular crop like some of the corn worms and potato beetles.  The next step is to encourage beneficial insects by providing good habitat for them and then purchasing a starting supply.  Beneficial insects include Lady Bugs, ground beetles and different kind of wasps and spiders.  We will provide a good natural habitat for the benefici...

I have gone back and forth on if I wanted goats or not, there were many pluses and a few minus I had to figure either a way around or a way to accept it, basically this is what I came up with.  On the plus side goats produce more milk then cattle for what the ingest, basically you get more output for less input.  Goats are also very forage friendly, in other words they will get most of their substance from foraging, in most cases they prefer it.  Goats also eat though underbrush and can help clear it, basically getting usage out of land that would not be used other wise for their substance.  Goats are another multipurpose animal both producing meat and dairy.  Unlike cattle goats also typically produce multiple births and the mature faster.  An a interesting side note which I did not realize until I started doing more research, goat milk also has kind of a niche market due to it being more tolerable to digest for those with stomach issues. Now for the dow...

Thoughts, Motivations, Mission and Vision This post is a little different then any of my others and maybe it should have been the post that started it all.  I am very driven, when I set my mind to something I go all in, the longer the odds the more I like it and to more people tell me I am in over my head the more determined I get to prove them wrong.   I know this endeavor will be no different.  This could not be any further out of my "comfort zone" to what I am used to doing but at the same time I find myself researching it every free moment I get and the desire to do it gets stronger and stronger the more challenges I run into. While I would not consider myself ultra-green, I do think we should do what we can to maintain natures balance and do what we can to have as little impact as is practical.  To me this means balancing the impact to the land with the needs to provide sustenance while at the same time getting as much out of the land as it can efficiently p...

Nut Trees Black Walnut Well for Nut Trees I do not have near as many options as with the fruit trees but I really want some nut tress as they are a valuable source of healthy fats as well as a different source of protein.  The most common nut in the portion of Minnesota we will be in appears to be black walnut.  Black Walnut can be a difficult tree as the tree gives off a chemical that can be poisonous to various other plants and forages such as alfalfa, apple trees and pear trees. This toxicity can extent up to 80 feet from the tree when it is full grown.  With this in mind we will probably plant the trees on the property line along one of the pastures, we will probably plant about 6 of these trees.  The nuts will be mostly for human consumption and some for the pigs and chickens.  Pigs seem to love them and they do give the pork a little nuttier flavor however if you give them too much it can change the composition of the fat in the animal....

The Barn.. There is probably no part of the homestead that has taken as much of my time and thoughts as the barn, I have sketched numerous ideas, went back and forth over a prefabbed steel barn versus a Pole type barn went form one to two story to one again and if I wanted earthen floors or cement, finally I just had to sit down and figure out what exactly did I want this barn to accomplish? I came up with the following. 1.  Want a large central area where I can put machinery for storage, so need about a 12x12 sliding or swing type door on one end. 2, Want an area on the east side that will serve as the main chicken coop area, the nesting boxes will open into the main hall of the barn. 3.  Want another  area on the east side that will serve as a cold weather/farrowing area for the hogs, this area will be able to be spit into two pens. 4.  Want a area on the west side that will serve as a work area/Butcher area- Want a concrete floor in this area. 5.  A...