/diy/ - Do It Yourself

Obligatory

Levels of growing your own food difficulty/yield, feel free to debate this.
1-Window sill herbs, homemade mulch
2-Backyard garden, raised bed or vertical growing
3-Chickens, pheasants or ducks
4-Year round greenhouse, Hydroponics
5-Aquaponics and growing basement Mushrooms
6-Pigs, Goats and Cattle

Also anyone have any experience with raising piglets for slaughter? I was thinking about adding some pigs, feed'em up fat and then trade them to the butcher in exchange for some pork chops.

>>528732

This help?

>>518414
Unfortunately this will (almost) always be the case. I've heard of extreme cases where guys hiked into open wilderness, built cabins and lived unnoticed for decades - but most anywhere ESPECIALLY in the US you'll be subject to at the very least taxes on the land. This could be overcome without an income, but it would mean saving and budgeting for retirement. It seems like a fools dream, but I share in it and I can imagine there are those in power that would prefer it be seen as simply that - a fools dream. I'm no hardcore tinfoil conspiracy guy, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that encouraging homesteading would be damaging to the powers that be.

I have a few infographics to spare. This what you're looking for OP?

How labor intensive is it to maintain a farm plot for a family of four?

I would like to grow enough food to support a family; and I would leave that work to my wife and kids while I go off and work, however if the work is intense and would leave them unable to do anything else like study for school etc. then it seems it'd be best for me to just hire someone to do the labor.

What say you?

This seems interesting and all to me, but can't land me over used?

Is this practical?

>>371035
Here is a comparable pic for you anon.
I'm not sure about the quality of the information on it, but I've been looking into it and it seems reasonable so far.

23/?

>>333916
from what little I've looked into tumbleweed homes, a good chunk of money is in the goddamn trailer itself...and funny enough, the priceline breakdown they list for the size of the trailers is nowhere near what I've seen when hunting in GA. It could be a regional thing, but fuck if I can find 'em cheap. Another big price adjustment is in the roofing and structural reinforcement...they're built to take hurricane like winds due to the portability of em. Every beam in one of those homes has hurricane brackets, and beams. The siding isn't really skimped on either. They're a fantastic design to mimic, but yer, expensive for that kinda footage...Id say if you have a sedentary lifestyle and know where you're putting down roots, you'd be much better off using either one of their permanent floor plans, or using them as a guideline, and tailoring the materials to your budget/climate.

>>333914
I'm right there with you. The area is horribly misused in that pic, and I don't see anything that's a necessity such as a kitchen...it gets pretty testy making every meal over a campfire, even if it is from a dutch oven. I think everything in a small home needs to have a dual purpose. your shelving must be deep enough to double as a desk/table. A pullout side table with a leg build into the shelving is great too. chairs must be able to be folded and stored between the gaps between shelves...most everything else is completely dependent on your lifestyle/family size/availability of technology and society. Got a couple of things I'll upload here pertaining to small homes once my phone bandwidth finally gets them up.

>>315960

>budget of 10k

OK, you need at least 2-3 times that amount to homestead. As another anon said, rural acreage is often sold in larger plots. I've seen some small 8-10 acre plots for 20-30k, but those are far from civilization. I've seen land with mature trees and water go for $800/acre, but that is usually in a plot of several hundred acres. Generally, the smaller the plot the more expensive.

You need to garden at least a half acre to produce enough produce feed yourself for a year. If you keep some animals you can get by with a lot less land though.

There's really too much knowledge that you need and don't have. I'd strongly recommend getting a part time job as a farm hand on the weekends or whatever. Offer to work cheap or even volunteer if you have to. That's probably the best way to learn the skills that you will need and you may also meet people and make connections that will help you later.

I've come to the point where I need to make a life decision - TL;DR at the bottom.

I currently study with a distance learning institution here in the UK and my accumulated credits now afford me entry to a brick-and-mortar university starting next term, and I'm seriously considering whether I should or not.

My life at the moment allows me to complete my daily academic workload by about 9am, freeing up the rest of my day to the pursuit of my other interests, mostly DIY related (organic gardening, woodwork, forging, general crafts, computer repair, camping, hiking etc, misc. other study/reading in other subjects, some of which I'm really passionate about) and I could possibly scrape a living from some of these with a bit more time and honing of my ability.

The drawbacks of this life are lack of regular social interaction and just general lack of exposure to the opportunities that come with student/city life, since I also live on a farmhouse.

In the case that I do decide to go to uni, most of my time will consumed by lectures and studying, coupled with the inevitable minimum wage job I'll have to take up to pay rent. But I'll be able to interact with others of similar age and interests, as well as top lecturers and scientists in their fields.

A career is really a non-issue, as I'm in it for the knowledge. It's really a question of personal development, and which option would allow me to do so more than the other.

TL;DR
Since I've found /diy/ to be the most clearheaded and helpful board, I'd hoped you all might help me weigh the pros and cons of a traditional university education compared to a life of semi-self-teaching and pursuit of 'alternative' means of living.