Making Mistakes...... AND learning from them

Rosie and I where having a conversation about our trials and tribulations on the homestead and we wanted to shatter some ideas people have about how awesome we are.

Rosie and I learn a lot by trial and error, OK mostly by error. While we may give the impression to the unenlightened that we are akin to homesteading gods and we need merely wave our dirt stained hands to cause mead and cider to flow from the rocks and manna to fall from heaven in the form of delicious goat and pig meat. In reality we screw up just about every project attempt. But in doing so we learn what works and what does not work, our success are built on the smoking ruins of our failures. If you are thinking about starting a little homestead or just trying to take more control of your food source I hope you are able to learn from our mistakes and emulate our victories. There is nothing wrong with making a mistake, even a really big one, as long as you are willing to learn from that experience and keep working at the tasks ahead.

Here are some of the lessons we have learned:

1) Goats are bastards, they would rather eat your new trees than all the weeds in the world.

2) Build the fence THEN bring home the animals. Lest the animals smash threw the temporary housing and lay waste Visigoth style to your homestead before you are able to build them a cute little chicken/goat/pig/sheep/duck house.

3) If it may go bad, it WILL go bad. Plan accordingly.

4) You will never know what can or can not grown on your land until you dig a hole and plant the seeds yourself and see what happens.

5) The best lazy garden is made by pigs; they do all the digging, composting, ferilizing, and planting themselves.

6) It is NEVER too late in the season or in life to start a garden.

7) Rack off your home brew at least twice before bottling.

8) Rabbits are jerks and eat your garden but are delicious breaded and fried along side mashed potatoes and collared greens.

9) No matter how abused your trees or shrubs are, with a little care they can be brought back

10) There will ALWAYS be more to do, take a little time out to relax.

There is nothing wrong with making a mistake or doing something badly at first, the only way to never fail is to never try.