So You're Thinking About Homesteading?

5 Pieces of Advice I Wish I Had When I Started Cold Antler Farm

20 years ago I started a backyard homestead on a rented Idaho farm. Since then I have raised vegetables, poultry, and livestock in three states on three different properties. I have authored five books related to homesteading, spoken at festivals and workshops, and have managed to keep my farm since 2010 (as a single woman working on her homestead full time).

I’ve gained a lot of experience with the lifestyle, people, and practices… and in all these years I can honestly say there aren’t a lot of regrets when it comes to my choices, but there are a few things I wish I understood better. It would have made the last couple decades a lot easier.

Fences Should Be Your Biggest Investment

“Good fences make good neighbors” is true, because until you know what it is like to have a house half a mile down the mountain message to tell you your sheep are on their lawn, you don’t really get it.

There is nothing I wish I could have done better than fencing. Nothing. A good fence is the closest thing a livestock farmer (on any scale) has to peace of mind. The cost of installing one professionally always hindered me. So over the years I pounded t-posts and strung woven wire or learned to use electric fencing, but I wish more than anything I had a loan or some luck and had a real permitter fence.

If I started over today I’d budget for better fences, the kind that you “buy once, cry once” over and then have a dependable system for the foreseeable future. I can’t stress how much time, energy, and tears it would have saved here.

On a diverse small farm like this, fencing is the same as sanity. You need to be able to know you can go to sleep and rest without worrying a pig will get into the road and take out a teen texting in his civic. You need to be able to leave, even just for a few errands, without your goats getting into your garden or eating something poisonous you were growing as decoration. You need to know there’s a place animals can’t leave and predators can’t get into. And it’s better to have one really-well fenced raised bed than an acre of poorly fenced chickens, goats, and gardens because the first one practically guarantees salad on your plate. The second is a frustrating disaster waiting to happen that will destroy your property and make you wish you never walked into a feed store again.

If you think a quote to drive posts and stretch wire around your entire acre is astronomical, and you think T-posts and some plastic insulators will get you by just fine on an 1/8th of the cost, you’re probably right. For now.