There was no prouder moment for me when my 4 year old explained to my friends 9 year old why we raise chickens and explained that just because the birds had one bad day, it didn’t mean that they weren’t cared for. They were let to live life to the fullest unlike commercial animals. We let our children watch very tame commercial factory animal videos so that they understand where their food is being treated differently
For anyone wondering if they can do it with kids, my mom was a single parent in the 90s with a garden every year, chickens, and a goat. It was hard for her but she managed to instill in me a desire to keep that going and a knowledge on how to do these things, how to compassionately dispatch animals when needed, that some could be food, what the ground should be like to plant, what seasons to plant what, etc. Now I work in IT and have my own small homestead with sheep, rabbits(instead of chicken), and a huge pack of dogs. I now do it all solo because I know it is possible.
Born and raised in the city for 55 years. We raised 12 meat chickens this past spring and butcher day for me, my husband and daughter-n-law was very emotional for me. We have egg layers and all three of our family units have lost some girls and me and my granddaughter and a daughter-n-law have cried over them. So needless to say we are learning to not be so emotional. Gonna try 25-50 meat birds next spring :)
Meat chickens are addictive. The meat is so good! Their capacity to eat bugs is helpful. We get cx. Keeping them longer would be cruel as they are such giants at the last week! We are so grateful all year for the joy we gave them and the nourishment they have given us!
Advice for homeschooling, and I hope it helps. There are seasons when homeschooling goes better. Try to get School done in the winter. All the other seasons are too busy. And I found a four day work week for school worked better. Mainly because there is a day for shopping and a day for cleaning. Mix subjects together. For example have the child write out full sentences as they answer questions in history or Social studies as part of English. Having to think about the process of order in answering a question using the question as part of your sentence really develops the mind.
I wish we had done this sooner. I'm 64 now and bought our homestead eight years ago. We did have an opportunity to do this when our oldest kids were one and two, but at the time we weren't prepared for that kind of commitment. My two granddaughters on the other hand are being exposed to this life style. They've helped me in the garden, with chickens and helped bottle feed baby goats.
FYI, you have us beat. We're 58, and are currently living a fully mobile (RV) lifestyle. We know at some point we'll want to settle down again, have a fixed location, and we want to again grow at least *some* of our food, preferably more than we've done in the past. So maybe we'll be 60, or maybe 65, when we "start" our retirement homestead. Congratulations on getting yours operational, and especially on getting your children to help. I'm pretty sure ours (just one daughter) will have zero interest in helping us grow food.
Love this video!!! I started watching your channel almost 4 years ago while pregnant with my daughter. You guys are totally right! Starting small and building up is the way to go. We started out with a flock of chickens the first spring and slowly built up from there! Today we have 2 children ages 2 and 3! We milk 2 goats a day and raise turkeys, geese, chickens, and meat rabbits. All combined we are sitting at 109 animals. My husband works outside the home, and my little farm helpers and I do it all! My daughter (3) can milk, throw feed, fill waters, and gather eggs. Her little brother (2) tries his best to keep up and do all the things as well haha Love your channel and all the knowledge you freely share. You have a beautiful family and are such a wonderful channel to follow.
I don't think I was crying, just that eye surgery. You were talking about the turkey and I remember that episode when you buchered It, he's spread eagle, no spread turkey. I realized then that you guy's had a great sense of humor, which is why I watch this channel. Thanks so much, you've done such a great job raising your family.
As a momma about to have her third baby, this video warmed my heart. I also got a little misty eyed at the “our littlest, actually or oldest” part. As mommas they will always be our little babies in our minds eye❤
As far as homeschooling use the homesteading as part of school.. Count chickens and eggs and make charts and graphs. (Math) keep a journal about your animal(s) responsibility. (Writing/English) any part of growing something can be used for school time.
We also school year round with Thanksgiving to Christmas off for volunteering. Our town spends those 3 weekends putting on a Dickens Festival. We help serve food and cleanup at the end of they day.
We had 4 kids, no animals other than rescue animals, living amid wildlife and the garden and home chores. They learned to lawn tractor, garden, hunt, fish, butcher, see, knit, first aid, backpacking, camping, flood clean up and the list goes on, all things related to homesteading, church life, scouting and all aspects of outdoor life and yes they tried many foods and learned about human and animal health. They also taught each other. Praying for you and yours and a good journey 🙏
Super video‼️I’m busy thinking back to the 1950s and think about this! I was about 8 when we hit the farm after my father died a couple of years earlier. When I “slopped” the hogs…did I know about the electric fence? It grabbed me and didn’t let go. I just felt this same thing on December 1, 10 days ago at 82. It was a first shock from my pacemaker. Did I know this was from the pacemaker..NO. I thought it was from something at the bathroom sink that was turned on…but investigating there was nothing. I choose this as teaching but the medical field should have prepared me 16 years ago.
My siblings and I were the only city kids among all my first cousins. My mother doled us all out to my grandparents, aunt and uncles during any time off from school. Even now I have wonderful memories on the different farms. Whether it was milking, collecting eggs, feeding and watering the chickens, or feeding calves. Then there was the many hours spent in fields or orchards picking whatever was in season. We learned what hard work was, we learned about where our food came from. But most all we spent time with family. Working hard even made it fun!
One thing to consider with kids is 4H. They can start in 4H at 9 years of age. They learn how to feed, handle, and show livestock. If you are not familiar with that particular animal, you can learn alongside them. To raise broilers for 4H, you start out with about 20-25 chicks and pick the best 3. So, the rest can go in the freezer.
This is so true! We've had chickens nearly our daughter's entire life and she has joined us in hunting. Recently, she has requested that we add meat rabbits to our Homestead. I asked if she understood that they would not be pets but food and she confirmed without issue.
I'm not even on a homestead (yet!!!) but I have a young toddler and I have a lot of fears/reservations about changing our lifestyle for these reasons alone. Your video helped ease my fears. Thank you for this! New Subscriber here. :)
The first time I watched this video I missed the end of the kids growing up 😭😭😭 I AM CRYING I have one one year old, This is crazy to see and soooo beautiful y’all are the bomb!!!!! 😭😭😭
OH my goodness, when K turned away to cry I started crying!!! Wow that was a moment. Yes our little ones becoming big ones. Why can't they stay little but then we are so proud when they get big! Ours is now a Dad himself!!! And they do remember and let you know "hey, you were right". A note on the question from nerdyhusbandry about molding their minds: that is an ongoing job. Not just while you are homeschooling but in everything they take part in, around the homestead and in books. In these cases I can't help but feel they have an advantage over those children in what has become "normal" schooling.
I have always Used a Hiking Backpack for baby!!! And also an expired Car seat with a winter sleeping bag that’s meant for a car seat. My 10 almost 11 year old feeds all the larger animals (set up as an external feed bunk) and poultry/waterfowl and we have a hose that reaches and Bulk Feeders that Just need Checked on to be sure they are Full. My 8 year old Feeds and waters the Rabbits and any Baby Birds. And apprentices my older ones chores! My 5 year old apprentices the Rabbit and Chick Chores and feeds and waters pets. My 2 Year Old apprentices the pets. Responsibilities have had to be overseen of course. I am so thankful for them, my husband works full time/away for a week at a time, and I have a Spinal Injury from an incident working on a dairy farm. Offering the kids some control and including them in the plan Of how many/what we Keep has been an excellent way to build their confidence and keep everything manageable. we also homeschool ❤
just found your channel. loved it, especially the: your kids are your best investment and making sure to ENJOY the time/process. we all need to hear that on the daily! thanks!
I absolutely love this! We have a 3 year old, an 11 month old, and I’m pregnant with our third kid. Our 3 year old collects eggs, feeds the turkeys, and the goats (all while supervised by my husband and I) and our 11 month old tags along and watches everything we do. I won’t lie, I’m nervous as heck to have ANOTHER baby around the time we will be (hopefully) halfway through our first heifer’s first pregnancy. I’m scared to milk while caring for a baby, but I’m hoping I can make it work.
Wonderful episode! I love how your daughter knows her job so well that she knows exactly what steps to do and when to do them. You can tell that they take pride in helping out.
Yes! It’s how I (Aust) got introduced to the whole where your meat comes from thing. I was 6 years old helping my uncle fillet a pile of bluegill we caught and I was FASCINATED!
I loved all of the points you both made! You always have such a balanced perspective, and you both have been a big inspiration for us to get our channel up and going, and we finally have! Thank you for all of your videos!
On when to start teaching children about butchering, some of my mother's earliest pictures of me are of me sitting on the end of the outdoor table where she was cutting up salmon or caribou (we lived in Alaska). My children started actually helping with butchering when they were five or six (they started helping milk goats when they were about seven, when their hands were big enough). I think if they are brought up with stuff being normal, they shouldn't have any problem with it later.
Adding, I've milked a lot of goats, but have never milked a cow; I think it's a little harder to milk cows than goats, so if you have cows, your kids may need to be older before they start helping. But my grandmother was milking five cows morning and evening when she was eleven.
Hey Aust! Thank you so very much for answering my question! My wife and I absolutely loved hearing your responses to everyone's questions. My wife will likely never let me live it down how much I geeked out seeing my question on here.
I never comment but I have been watching you guys for many many years, maybe even your first year YouTubing. Thanks for this video. We also have 6 kids but they are a bit older with our oldest being 15. It is really easy to fall into that routine of doing, producing, getting stuff done and forgetting WHY we are doing this! “Our most important crop is our children.” Gosh I really needed that, so thank you. Keep up the good work, we love watching you guys.
Living in small town in rural Kansas surrounded by farm land with crops and cows. All we have are chickens. Love watching your videos over the last three or so years. I understand the name Freddie now and keeping the "F" to keep track of the family line. Good idea! Yes, I cried. I'm a mom of 4 boys now ages 26, 23, 21 and 18. Love the videos of the kids when they were little and seeing how much they have grown up. Can't wait to see you all on your new homestead on top of Sunny Mountain.
We do something a little different with our “Pets” my Kids have Safety cards they can use for breeding stock, they understand that it may come up for discussion. After that discussion they decide direction and are allowed to choose a new one to protect
I raised my kids with chickens, ducks, turkeys, rabbits, goats, and pigs. Out of 8 only one who doesn't eat meat. Once in a while she will eat pork for tacos but that is all. All the others raise and butcher some of their meat animals and one raises cows for milk and meat. They were all raised on goats milk and cheese.
My grandparents were farmers. It seemed very normal to know for a child that farm animals were from hoof to table. We watched grandma a step out the backdoor grab a chicken to dinner.
"He" is correct. The easiest way to tell is trust your ear. Temporarily leave the other person out. Just as you would say, "He wants to homestead," so you also say, "He and his wife want to homestead" or "His wife and he want to homestead."
Such a WELL DONE VIDEO!! #askhomesteady I recently watched one of your videos where your animals were in the process of making babies and your cow was very “humpy.” I was honestly surprised by how openly it was handled and that it didn’t phase your kids! I would like to know how you deal with all the sexuality of animals and the natural facts of life. How do you balance that with human sexuality / maintaining a healthy attitude towards it without it getting out of hand. It seems a LOT more present than where I am in a pretty conservative part of the world!
We didnt raise our daughter on a homestead but a lot of her relatives lived in the country and on farms. It was just a given the farm animals were for eating! Her relatives hunted . It was just a given dogs and cats were PETS everything else was open for debate. Kids can do more then people give them credit for!
The most challenging has to be the laundry(8 kids) It’s what was the hardest for me to keep up with working shift work and on a homestead it’s got to be harder since they get more dirty😂
I grew up on farm as child and it just was way things were with one exception that was cow named Noot was upset at first but when he was served up on table got over it enjoyed eating Noot and grandma was great cook I also participated in all stages from birth to harvest we raised chickens turkeys duck geese pigeon rabbits sheep pigs beef and goat also have st from wild grouse ground hogs porky pines deer and bear and friends provide elk and moose at times
Austin - love your content, would love to switch to that country lifestyle. I’m a lawyer in suburban Minneapolis. Four questions for you, and if you answer, I’ll subscribe! 1) I love my job. Would it be possible to work full time while doing what you do? 2) When you’re switching from urban to rural, how do you pay for all your infrastructure? You have so many cool things (the water tub you use to scald carcasses, your tractor, fencing, barns, etc.). 3) Do you take vacations? If so, how do you keep the farm running? 4) What will you do with your homestead when you’re too old to run it?
Nicholas, I don't answer questions as a trade for subs. I answer questions to help people. Sub or don't, but DO start homesteading! And don't forget the #askhomesteady if you are looking to have a question answered on the show. 1) YES but not at our scale. Go back in our library and you will see I did this with a full time job at a smaller scale. 2) You grow slow, and start with basics and expand. A little fenced paddock and a hydrant with a lean to and a couple [insert animals here]. 3) Yes, good farm sitters 4)My grandmother is 85 and still gardens every year. If i'm too old to do ANYTHING hopefully i'm dead.
@@Homesteadyshow thanks, Austin. Sorry for the incentivizing, I didn’t think you would actually care enough to take time and answer. I subscribed anyhow, and I will be purchasing a pioneer subscription as well. You’re a good man with a great family, and I want to help support you. I’d love to see a video on some of these topics that folks like me fret over when planning to make the switch. Risk planning seems super important, though. If one of you gets hurt or seriously ill (i.e. cancer), there has to be some sort of plan or insurance product to keep everything rolling. Curious to know more about what people do to plan for it. Keep doing your thing, man! Thanks again for answering.
I started out really enthusiastic about harvesting chickens but over time I lost the will to slaughter them. I never had pets as a child and had no idea I would begin to see the chickens as pets. I've had some who followed me around like a puppy would and have distinct personalities. They can be a lot smarter than I would have ever expected, especially when they are raised by a hen rather than a brooder box. My children were grown before I moved to the country but I have many relatives who were raised on farms and it was hard and dangerous for the parents and children both. Many of them were expected to do an adult days work by the time they were 12. I think it makes a difference if the farm is the only family income. It seems like that puts a lot more pressure on everyone to push beyond what we would now consider to be a reasonable level of effort and risk. I agree with you about starting out with some chickens and see how it goes before investing in all that's needed to care for a menagerie.
I was 16 before I was introduced to butchering. I had move to the country and had a friend near by, which butchered. I loved visiting (learnt how to can there). When it came to butchering I could not watch. In order to be a help, I packaged the meat inside of the house away from the other stuff.
A great idea for any who don't want to be involved in the early part of the process. Packaging is a lot of work too, so it's not like its not an important or necessary job!
I've never yet seen a rope a determined or bored animal wouldn't chew through eventually. Have you considered a good galvanised chain for your pig bowls?
my uncle glen trusted his teen to take care of chickens and they didn't due so well.....as in they all died. but he trusted me (having never done any of it before) to ride his horses, bail hay, build fence, and drive back hoe as a early teen.
"He and his wife are going to..." You wouldn't say, "Him is going to..." so you wouldn't say, "Him and his wife are going to..." Good trick to check that particular grammatical rule.
My Brother in law had a pig call Honeydew. Honeydew was 400 lbs of mad pig. I liked her but she could be mean. He loved that pig and couldn't bring himself to turn her into bacon. So he sold her. I'm sure Honeydew ended up as Christmas dinner but she was a lovely pig. We sure miss her! She loved to eat flowers!
We have never had trouble with dogs biting kids. 2 big bits of advice. Buy a puppy from a really reputable breeder (MAKE SURE it's from a line of dogs that are NOT aggressive). I know that isn't a popular opinion right now, but when you are buying a homestead dog AND you have kids, that dog needs proper exposure to ALL your stuff very early and often. Bring the puppy home and have it spend as much time as it can with you and your kids, AND animals, and from day one do not allow it to chase or bite the animals or kids. DO let it chase balls, or bumpers. When you feed it, we like to feed and play with its ears, pet it, etc while it eats, getting it used to that so if a kid ever pet the dog while it was eating it would not snap at it. Good genetics and good training and you will not have any problems.
I ❤ german shepherds but my family is scared of big dogs because my sister had a smaller dog, a golden retriver mixed with a golden doodle, who was very aggressive and once attacked a 13 year old kid. ,
There is a family that builds their building out of EARTH BAGS. Over the years they have changed their Fillings in these bags, for more efficiency. You might want to just check them out. They are on YOU TUBE....MY LITTLE HOMESTEAD. I wish your family good luck in the search for how you will build your forever home! 🥰💚 Take care, stay safe, and "Keep on keeping on" !
My 12yo will go out and collect road kill and dead animals all day for the bones, but she absolutely doesn't want anything to do with dispatching animals. She's fine with eating the meat after the fact, though. My 6yo is more interested in learning about it all and more willing to be around for the butchering part.
#askhomesteady sometimes I feel like there is a general misconception that homesteaders do “homesteading” as their job. Like taking care of their homestead is what they wake up to do every day, like y’all. Is this true with most homesteaders? Because if it is I feel like most people need to know how you are able to afford to make this work if it’s something you are trying to get started. Or do most people have day jobs and they just don’t talk about how good of money they make and can afford to build sheds and fences and stalls??
I'm not Homesteady, but I have a small homestead with chickens, milk cow, raised a couple pigs this year, garden, etc. While I wish this was our full time job, my husband works a day job (usually from home, thankfully, but he's in his office here most of the day, just no commute). I know quite a few people who have a few acres and a few animals and one or both partners work full time. We are working towards one day having our own business, but that takes money to start!
@@kalilafischer2915 I feel like that’s how it is usually. I work and my wife is a stay at home mom. It’s just hard when you see most you tubers buying this and buying that and sometimes to me it just looks like “ I quit my job and became a RUclipsr and and life is great and we bought this and that and are now building a house” I’m just like dang where does the money come from?? But I’m not downing homesteady. I know good things come from hard work. It’s probably just a misconception that only I have for some reason. Lol
@@codybush2582 nope, I get that impression sometimes too! They make a lot of their income from RUclips and podcasts and their Homesteady pioneer subscriptions. I don't think I'll ever be a RUclipsr though, so that means trying to find a way to make money and homestead without being internet famous.. Haha
I think the one good thing that came from the draconian Covid lockdowns was that working remotely from home (for those jobs which can be done remotely) became much more commonplace. This benefits those who want to be able to homestead but still need outside income. I appreciate and greatly enjoy channels like this where people are willing to share their knowledge and experiences. But personally I could not see myself revealing much of my private life to the world, simply for the benefit of making online income. However I am grateful for those who do. There are many excellent channels that I follow for homesteading, such as this one; but I believe that most have counted the cost ahead of time, and do it for more than just the money.
That would be, "He and his wife...." or, "His wife and he...." When in doubt, leave the other words off and try the sentence again. For example, if you said, "Him wants to homestead," your ear would not like it. So now you know that you don't want, "Him and his wife...." and you also don't want, "His wife and him....."
Trepidation and fear are synonymous 🫶🏼 great video , get the whole family involved in the homestead 🎊 make it fun , educational , and entertaining. Kudos
Развлечения
There was no prouder moment for me when my 4 year old explained to my friends 9 year old why we raise chickens and explained that just because the birds had one bad day, it didn’t mean that they weren’t cared for. They were let to live life to the fullest unlike commercial animals. We let our children watch very tame commercial factory animal videos so that they understand where their food is being treated differently
For anyone wondering if they can do it with kids, my mom was a single parent in the 90s with a garden every year, chickens, and a goat. It was hard for her but she managed to instill in me a desire to keep that going and a knowledge on how to do these things, how to compassionately dispatch animals when needed, that some could be food, what the ground should be like to plant, what seasons to plant what, etc. Now I work in IT and have my own small homestead with sheep, rabbits(instead of chicken), and a huge pack of dogs. I now do it all solo because I know it is possible.
That is an awesome success story! Not only did she have the homestead, but she successfully passed on the love of it to you! Your mom did great!
Born and raised in the city for 55 years. We raised 12 meat chickens this past spring and butcher day for me, my husband and daughter-n-law was very emotional for me. We have egg layers and all three of our family units have lost some girls and me and my granddaughter and a daughter-n-law have cried over them. So needless to say we are learning to not be so emotional. Gonna try 25-50 meat birds next spring :)
Yep, it get's less emotional over time for sure, you keep the respect and gratitude.
Meat chickens are addictive. The meat is so good! Their capacity to eat bugs is helpful. We get cx. Keeping them longer would be cruel as they are such giants at the last week! We are so grateful all year for the joy we gave them and the nourishment they have given us!
Advice for homeschooling, and I hope it helps. There are seasons when homeschooling goes better. Try to get School done in the winter. All the other seasons are too busy. And I found a four day work week for school worked better. Mainly because there is a day for shopping and a day for cleaning. Mix subjects together. For example have the child write out full sentences as they answer questions in history or Social studies as part of English. Having to think about the process of order in answering a question using the question as part of your sentence really develops the mind.
I wish we had done this sooner. I'm 64 now and bought our homestead eight years ago. We did have an opportunity to do this when our oldest kids were one and two, but at the time we weren't prepared for that kind of commitment. My two granddaughters on the other hand are being exposed to this life style. They've helped me in the garden, with chickens and helped bottle feed baby goats.
FYI, you have us beat. We're 58, and are currently living a fully mobile (RV) lifestyle. We know at some point we'll want to settle down again, have a fixed location, and we want to again grow at least *some* of our food, preferably more than we've done in the past. So maybe we'll be 60, or maybe 65, when we "start" our retirement homestead. Congratulations on getting yours operational, and especially on getting your children to help. I'm pretty sure ours (just one daughter) will have zero interest in helping us grow food.
Love this video!!! I started watching your channel almost 4 years ago while pregnant with my daughter. You guys are totally right! Starting small and building up is the way to go. We started out with a flock of chickens the first spring and slowly built up from there! Today we have 2 children ages 2 and 3! We milk 2 goats a day and raise turkeys, geese, chickens, and meat rabbits. All combined we are sitting at 109 animals. My husband works outside the home, and my little farm helpers and I do it all! My daughter (3) can milk, throw feed, fill waters, and gather eggs. Her little brother (2) tries his best to keep up and do all the things as well haha Love your channel and all the knowledge you freely share. You have a beautiful family and are such a wonderful channel to follow.
There is a solid reason for choosing this as a number 1 family to follow‼️ Stable and considerate and loving family‼️
I don't think I was crying, just that eye surgery. You were talking about the turkey and I remember that episode when you buchered It, he's spread eagle, no spread turkey. I realized then that you guy's had a great sense of humor, which is why I watch this channel. Thanks so much, you've done such a great job raising your family.
As a momma about to have her third baby, this video warmed my heart. I also got a little misty eyed at the “our littlest, actually or oldest” part. As mommas they will always be our little babies in our minds eye❤
As far as homeschooling use the homesteading as part of school.. Count chickens and eggs and make charts and graphs. (Math) keep a journal about your animal(s) responsibility. (Writing/English) any part of growing something can be used for school time.
We also school year round with Thanksgiving to Christmas off for volunteering. Our town spends those 3 weekends putting on a Dickens Festival. We help serve food and cleanup at the end of they day.
We had 4 kids, no animals other than rescue animals, living amid wildlife and the garden and home chores. They learned to lawn tractor, garden, hunt, fish, butcher, see, knit, first aid, backpacking, camping, flood clean up and the list goes on, all things related to homesteading, church life, scouting and all aspects of outdoor life and yes they tried many foods and learned about human and animal health. They also taught each other. Praying for you and yours and a good journey 🙏
Super video‼️I’m busy thinking back to the 1950s and think about this! I was about 8 when we hit the farm after my father died a couple of years earlier. When I “slopped” the hogs…did I know about the electric fence? It grabbed me and didn’t let go. I just felt this same thing on December 1, 10 days ago at 82. It was a first shock from my pacemaker. Did I know this was from the pacemaker..NO. I thought it was from something at the bathroom sink that was turned on…but investigating there was nothing. I choose this as teaching but the medical field should have prepared me 16 years ago.
My siblings and I were the only city kids among all my first cousins. My mother doled us all out to my grandparents, aunt and uncles during any time off from school. Even now I have wonderful memories on the different farms. Whether it was milking, collecting eggs, feeding and watering the chickens, or feeding calves. Then there was the many hours spent in fields or orchards picking whatever was in season. We learned what hard work was, we learned about where our food came from. But most all we spent time with family. Working hard even made it fun!
That is AWESOME, and a good example of what to do if you can't start homesteading right away
@@Homesteadyshow lol those years taught me, I never wanted to be a farmer, or marry a farmer! But I have high respect that chose that road!
One thing to consider with kids is 4H. They can start in 4H at 9 years of age. They learn how to feed, handle, and show livestock. If you are not familiar with that particular animal, you can learn alongside them. To raise broilers for 4H, you start out with about 20-25 chicks and pick the best 3. So, the rest can go in the freezer.
This is so true! We've had chickens nearly our daughter's entire life and she has joined us in hunting. Recently, she has requested that we add meat rabbits to our Homestead. I asked if she understood that they would not be pets but food and she confirmed without issue.
I'm not even on a homestead (yet!!!) but I have a young toddler and I have a lot of fears/reservations about changing our lifestyle for these reasons alone. Your video helped ease my fears. Thank you for this! New Subscriber here. :)
The first time I watched this video I missed the end of the kids growing up 😭😭😭 I AM CRYING I have one one year old, This is crazy to see and soooo beautiful y’all are the bomb!!!!! 😭😭😭
I wish I had a farm like u guysssssss😩😩 God bless you guysss🙏
OH my goodness, when K turned away to cry I started crying!!! Wow that was a moment. Yes our little ones becoming big ones. Why can't they stay little but then we are so proud when they get big! Ours is now a Dad himself!!! And they do remember and let you know "hey, you were right". A note on the question from nerdyhusbandry about molding their minds: that is an ongoing job. Not just while you are homeschooling but in everything they take part in, around the homestead and in books. In these cases I can't help but feel they have an advantage over those children in what has become "normal" schooling.
I have always Used a Hiking Backpack for baby!!! And also an expired Car seat with a winter sleeping bag that’s meant for a car seat.
My 10 almost 11 year old feeds all the larger animals (set up as an external feed bunk) and poultry/waterfowl and we have a hose that reaches and Bulk Feeders that Just need Checked on to be sure they are Full.
My 8 year old Feeds and waters the Rabbits and any Baby Birds. And apprentices my older ones chores! My 5 year old apprentices the Rabbit and Chick Chores and feeds and waters pets. My 2 Year Old apprentices the pets.
Responsibilities have had to be overseen of course.
I am so thankful for them, my husband works full time/away for a week at a time, and I have a Spinal Injury from an incident working on a dairy farm.
Offering the kids some control and including them in the plan Of how many/what we Keep has been an excellent way to build their confidence and keep everything manageable.
we also homeschool ❤
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer! *shared*! You guys rock 🙌
YAY thanks for Sharing Aleck and great question :)
just found your channel. loved it, especially the: your kids are your best investment and making sure to ENJOY the time/process. we all need to hear that on the daily! thanks!
You guys have a great family ❤ keep following your dreams.
I absolutely love this! We have a 3 year old, an 11 month old, and I’m pregnant with our third kid. Our 3 year old collects eggs, feeds the turkeys, and the goats (all while supervised by my husband and I) and our 11 month old tags along and watches everything we do. I won’t lie, I’m nervous as heck to have ANOTHER baby around the time we will be (hopefully) halfway through our first heifer’s first pregnancy. I’m scared to milk while caring for a baby, but I’m hoping I can make it work.
You can, it will have it's own unique challenges but you can do it! Teamwork makes the dream work!
Wonderful episode! I love how your daughter knows her job so well that she knows exactly what steps to do and when to do them. You can tell that they take pride in helping out.
We found fishing a good way to introduce the whole process. Love your dad on the no meat kitty and K's background dance, lol.Bless her and y'all.
Yes! It’s how I (Aust) got introduced to the whole where your meat comes from thing. I was 6 years old helping my uncle fillet a pile of bluegill we caught and I was FASCINATED!
Great episode! You got me all choked up by the end! You have a wonderful family.
I loved all of the points you both made! You always have such a balanced perspective, and you both have been a big inspiration for us to get our channel up and going, and we finally have!
Thank you for all of your videos!
Thanks for another awesome show ..... You guys are great!
First time video and your channel has so much info. Thanks for posting.
Great video, Great family. God bless.
On when to start teaching children about butchering, some of my mother's earliest pictures of me are of me sitting on the end of the outdoor table where she was cutting up salmon or caribou (we lived in Alaska). My children started actually helping with butchering when they were five or six (they started helping milk goats when they were about seven, when their hands were big enough). I think if they are brought up with stuff being normal, they shouldn't have any problem with it later.
Adding, I've milked a lot of goats, but have never milked a cow; I think it's a little harder to milk cows than goats, so if you have cows, your kids may need to be older before they start helping. But my grandmother was milking five cows morning and evening when she was eleven.
Good episode. By the way, they say that money can't buy love, but it can buy goats, and that's the next best thing....... ; )
Excellent, excellent video, very informative I value the information that you all share with us .
Great analogy to grow and prune. Homesteading homeschooling here too 🥰
Hey Aust! Thank you so very much for answering my question! My wife and I absolutely loved hearing your responses to everyone's questions. My wife will likely never let me live it down how much I geeked out seeing my question on here.
Awesome video, great tips
Guys, great video! I grew up homesteading and am now doing it with my husband and three children. Can't agree with you more!
I never comment but I have been watching you guys for many many years, maybe even your first year YouTubing. Thanks for this video. We also have 6 kids but they are a bit older with our oldest being 15. It is really easy to fall into that routine of doing, producing, getting stuff done and forgetting WHY we are doing this! “Our most important crop is our children.” Gosh I really needed that, so thank you. Keep up the good work, we love watching you guys.
😊 thanks for watching for so many years!
Awesome video! You guys really are amazing! ♥️
I enjoyed this one. It made a lot of sense 🙂
Living in small town in rural Kansas surrounded by farm land with crops and cows. All we have are chickens. Love watching your videos over the last three or so years. I understand the name Freddie now and keeping the "F" to keep track of the family line. Good idea! Yes, I cried. I'm a mom of 4 boys now ages 26, 23, 21 and 18. Love the videos of the kids when they were little and seeing how much they have grown up. Can't wait to see you all on your new homestead on top of Sunny Mountain.
YAY I MISS #ASKHOMESTEADY, and this was a great one.
Great topic talking about raising children on a homestead or farm.
This was fantastic!
I LOVED this episode!
We do something a little different with our “Pets” my Kids have Safety cards they can use for breeding stock, they understand that it may come up for discussion. After that discussion they decide direction and are allowed to choose a new one to protect
I raised my kids with chickens, ducks, turkeys, rabbits, goats, and pigs. Out of 8 only one who doesn't eat meat. Once in a while she will eat pork for tacos but that is all. All the others raise and butcher some of their meat animals and one raises cows for milk and meat. They were all raised on goats milk and cheese.
My grandparents were farmers. It seemed very normal to know for a child that farm animals were from hoof to table. We watched grandma a step out the backdoor grab a chicken to dinner.
"He" is correct. The easiest way to tell is trust your ear. Temporarily leave the other person out. Just as you would say, "He wants to homestead," so you also say, "He and his wife want to homestead" or "His wife and he want to homestead."
Such a WELL DONE VIDEO!! #askhomesteady I recently watched one of your videos where your animals were in the process of making babies and your cow was very “humpy.” I was honestly surprised by how openly it was handled and that it didn’t phase your kids! I would like to know how you deal with all the sexuality of animals and the natural facts of life. How do you balance that with human sexuality / maintaining a healthy attitude towards it without it getting out of hand. It seems a LOT more present than where I am in a pretty conservative part of the world!
Bless you
I'm 63 years ole and I still make pocket omelets!
We use code names. All terminals are named “taco” our keepers get regular names. For us it helps avoid attachments
Good Show today you Two 💗
JO JO IN VT 💞💨❄️
We didnt raise our daughter on a homestead but a lot of her relatives lived in the country and on farms. It was just a given the farm animals were for eating! Her relatives hunted . It was just a given dogs and cats were PETS everything else was open for debate.
Kids can do more then people give them credit for!
The most challenging has to be the laundry(8 kids) It’s what was the hardest for me to keep up with working shift work and on a homestead it’s got to be harder since they get more dirty😂
SAME. 💯
I grew up on farm as child and it just was way things were with one exception that was cow named Noot was upset at first but when he was served up on table got over it enjoyed eating Noot and grandma was great cook
I also participated in all stages from birth to harvest we raised chickens turkeys duck geese pigeon rabbits sheep pigs beef and goat also have st from wild grouse ground hogs porky pines deer and bear and friends provide elk and moose at times
My oldest son learned where eggs came from on my parents farm. He couldn't eat eggs for several years! lol
Austin - love your content, would love to switch to that country lifestyle. I’m a lawyer in suburban Minneapolis. Four questions for you, and if you answer, I’ll subscribe!
1) I love my job. Would it be possible to work full time while doing what you do?
2) When you’re switching from urban to rural, how do you pay for all your infrastructure? You have so many cool things (the water tub you use to scald carcasses, your tractor, fencing, barns, etc.).
3) Do you take vacations? If so, how do you keep the farm running?
4) What will you do with your homestead when you’re too old to run it?
Nicholas, I don't answer questions as a trade for subs. I answer questions to help people. Sub or don't, but DO start homesteading! And don't forget the #askhomesteady if you are looking to have a question answered on the show.
1) YES but not at our scale. Go back in our library and you will see I did this with a full time job at a smaller scale.
2) You grow slow, and start with basics and expand. A little fenced paddock and a hydrant with a lean to and a couple [insert animals here].
3) Yes, good farm sitters
4)My grandmother is 85 and still gardens every year. If i'm too old to do ANYTHING hopefully i'm dead.
@@Homesteadyshow thanks, Austin. Sorry for the incentivizing, I didn’t think you would actually care enough to take time and answer. I subscribed anyhow, and I will be purchasing a pioneer subscription as well. You’re a good man with a great family, and I want to help support you.
I’d love to see a video on some of these topics that folks like me fret over when planning to make the switch. Risk planning seems super important, though. If one of you gets hurt or seriously ill (i.e. cancer), there has to be some sort of plan or insurance product to keep everything rolling. Curious to know more about what people do to plan for it.
Keep doing your thing, man! Thanks again for answering.
I would like to know what this course is about, how do I get the info, thank you guys for the great videos I'm a big fan.
I started out really enthusiastic about harvesting chickens but over time I lost the will to slaughter them. I never had pets as a child and had no idea I would begin to see the chickens as pets. I've had some who followed me around like a puppy would and have distinct personalities. They can be a lot smarter than I would have ever expected, especially when they are raised by a hen rather than a brooder box. My children were grown before I moved to the country but I have many relatives who were raised on farms and it was hard and dangerous for the parents and children both. Many of them were expected to do an adult days work by the time they were 12. I think it makes a difference if the farm is the only family income. It seems like that puts a lot more pressure on everyone to push beyond what we would now consider to be a reasonable level of effort and risk. I agree with you about starting out with some chickens and see how it goes before investing in all that's needed to care for a menagerie.
I felt that way about butchering ducks. For some reason over time just decided no more ducks. They have so much personality.
hello im your biggest fannnnnnnnnnn❤❤❤❤❤❤
I love my farm families.
I was 16 before I was introduced to butchering. I had move to the country and had a friend near by, which butchered. I loved visiting (learnt how to can there). When it came to butchering I could not watch. In order to be a help, I packaged the meat inside of the house away from the other stuff.
A great idea for any who don't want to be involved in the early part of the process. Packaging is a lot of work too, so it's not like its not an important or necessary job!
I've never yet seen a rope a determined or bored animal wouldn't chew through eventually. Have you considered a good galvanised chain for your pig bowls?
my uncle glen trusted his teen to take care of chickens and they didn't due so well.....as in they all died. but he trusted me (having never done any of it before) to ride his horses, bail hay, build fence, and drive back hoe as a early teen.
"He and his wife are going to..." You wouldn't say, "Him is going to..." so you wouldn't say, "Him and his wife are going to..." Good trick to check that particular grammatical rule.
Good for you guys because I want no part of it. All I see is stress lol. (Not from you, you handle it like champs. I would be a stressed out maniac.)
24:55 give it a 7/10 for a Dad yoke (
My Brother in law had a pig call Honeydew. Honeydew was 400 lbs of mad pig. I liked her but she could be mean. He loved that pig and couldn't bring himself to turn her into bacon. So he sold her. I'm sure Honeydew ended up as Christmas dinner but she was a lovely pig. We sure miss her! She loved to eat flowers!
I used a play pen.
I have a question how or what did you guys do or trained your dogs to not bite your children
We have never had trouble with dogs biting kids. 2 big bits of advice. Buy a puppy from a really reputable breeder (MAKE SURE it's from a line of dogs that are NOT aggressive). I know that isn't a popular opinion right now, but when you are buying a homestead dog AND you have kids, that dog needs proper exposure to ALL your stuff very early and often. Bring the puppy home and have it spend as much time as it can with you and your kids, AND animals, and from day one do not allow it to chase or bite the animals or kids. DO let it chase balls, or bumpers. When you feed it, we like to feed and play with its ears, pet it, etc while it eats, getting it used to that so if a kid ever pet the dog while it was eating it would not snap at it. Good genetics and good training and you will not have any problems.
thank you
I ❤ german shepherds but my family is scared of big dogs because my sister had a smaller dog, a golden retriver mixed with a golden doodle, who was very aggressive and once attacked a 13 year old kid. ,
we dont know if we should get a dog for our new farm😢
There is a family that builds their building out of EARTH BAGS. Over the years they have changed their Fillings in these bags, for more efficiency. You might want to just check them out. They are on YOU TUBE....MY LITTLE HOMESTEAD. I wish your family good luck in the search for how you will build your forever home! 🥰💚 Take care, stay safe, and "Keep on keeping on" !
I would venture to say child with milk allergies and allergies in general
I was 7 or 8 when I first started killing chickens an cooking them
My 12yo will go out and collect road kill and dead animals all day for the bones, but she absolutely doesn't want anything to do with dispatching animals. She's fine with eating the meat after the fact, though. My 6yo is more interested in learning about it all and more willing to be around for the butchering part.
#askhomesteady sometimes I feel like there is a general misconception that homesteaders do “homesteading” as their job. Like taking care of their homestead is what they wake up to do every day, like y’all. Is this true with most homesteaders? Because if it is I feel like most people need to know how you are able to afford to make this work if it’s something you are trying to get started. Or do most people have day jobs and they just don’t talk about how good of money they make and can afford to build sheds and fences and stalls??
I'm not Homesteady, but I have a small homestead with chickens, milk cow, raised a couple pigs this year, garden, etc. While I wish this was our full time job, my husband works a day job (usually from home, thankfully, but he's in his office here most of the day, just no commute). I know quite a few people who have a few acres and a few animals and one or both partners work full time. We are working towards one day having our own business, but that takes money to start!
@@kalilafischer2915 I feel like that’s how it is usually. I work and my wife is a stay at home mom. It’s just hard when you see most you tubers buying this and buying that and sometimes to me it just looks like “ I quit my job and became a RUclipsr and and life is great and we bought this and that and are now building a house” I’m just like dang where does the money come from?? But I’m not downing homesteady. I know good things come from hard work. It’s probably just a misconception that only I have for some reason. Lol
@@codybush2582 nope, I get that impression sometimes too! They make a lot of their income from RUclips and podcasts and their Homesteady pioneer subscriptions. I don't think I'll ever be a RUclipsr though, so that means trying to find a way to make money and homestead without being internet famous.. Haha
I think the one good thing that came from the draconian Covid lockdowns was that working remotely from home (for those jobs which can be done remotely) became much more commonplace. This benefits those who want to be able to homestead but still need outside income.
I appreciate and greatly enjoy channels like this where people are willing to share their knowledge and experiences. But personally I could not see myself revealing much of my private life to the world, simply for the benefit of making online income. However I am grateful for those who do. There are many excellent channels that I follow for homesteading, such as this one; but I believe that most have counted the cost ahead of time, and do it for more than just the money.
That would be, "He and his wife...." or, "His wife and he...." When in doubt, leave the other words off and try the sentence again. For example, if you said, "Him wants to homestead," your ear would not like it. So now you know that you don't want, "Him and his wife...." and you also don't want, "His wife and him....."
This episode was brought to you by our partner Grammarly. In all seriousness, I worried I was the one who goofed and made him fumble.
💖♾
And don't forget to teach your children to check for snakes first when collecting eggs. 😉
Cool
Don't eat your omelette children
I thought you were going to say the hardest thing was to keep their fingers out of their mouth and nose after they got dirty with the animals.
Meat kittens...the solution to so many problems.
Over the years with lots of different kids…….. I take they must have been meat kids 😮
Forgive, I do not have the attention span for 30 minute videos.
Trepidation and fear are synonymous 🫶🏼 great video , get the whole family involved in the homestead 🎊 make it fun , educational , and entertaining. Kudos