Hey! I'm starting to get into homesteading (starting with just 3 chickens and a veggie garden, but I have an end goal of growing most of my own food) and was wondering if you had any advice? Also, idk if you're still having issues with rats getting your chicks, but I have pet rats and they HATE peppermint. It hurts their noses. If you put a bunch of fresh peppermint in the box with the chicks, it might help mask their scent and deter the rats

Helloooo 

Thanks for asking me, i feel so cool haha. I’m gonna publish this, I hope you don’t mind! (This is long lol)

Here are some basic tips: 

I’m very very poor, so a lot of what I do revolves around the cheapest and sturdiest options. I want to use what I have and make it last! Learning how to reuse literally everything is a big skill. And being unafraid to let things be ugly or to pick up “trash” and reuse it is priceless. My coop is JANKY af, but it works and it was free! 

Know your land! If you’ve been there for a while, A+. If not, try (if you can) to wait a full year and really get a feel for how your land functions on its own. Work WITH nature, not against it. (Don’t put your coop on the shady side of your workshop where it floods every winter PRO FUCKING TIP). 

Start from seed when possible! Getting a good system for starting from seed indoors saves SO MUCH MONEY. I always feel cheated when I see people with big luscious gardens at the start of May - then I remember a lot of them shelled out literal hundreds on started plants when my babies were only maybe 20$ cumulatively and I have triple the amount of plants. Just takes a little longer. 

Don’t get more animals until you have the infrastructure! Haha, this is something everyone’s done. I was up in my goat pen ripping up rotted floors in 95 degree weather cuz I knew my goats would be ready the next day and I was NOT ready. Very stressful. One of the most stressful days of having goats and I hadn’t even had them yet LOL. 

Enjoy your animals and your garden! Take photos! Post them online! The little feedback I get from here (including asks like this) totally fire me up. It’s important to have pretty things, they keep you going on muddy shitty days when all you want to do is sleep. There’s loads of edible flowers that will help your garden and attract pollinators! (Like nasturtiums, cone flowers, marigolds, thyme ETC). 

I learned everything I know pretty much from Youtube. Hopefully that doesn’t sound like a copout, but I want to be honest! 

I love the channels Roots and Refuge Farm , Justin Rhodes and Weed em and Reap.  (In that order haha. Jess from Roots and Refuge is the BEST. Everyone else is either kinda rich or trying to sell you something, but the information is useful). 

PS Thanks for the tip on mint! I planted a bunch of starts I splurged on (Some things are just impossible to start from seeds without a fancy setup, mint is one of them.......) all around my coop and they’re taking off. It’s super invasive, but in this area I’d be totally fine with it taking over. My goats don’t love them, which is ideal so they’re leaving them alone. In a few years the whole coop will smell minty fresh! My rat problem HAS gone down, but I think that has more to do with my brothers cat.... But the mint definitely threw them off! Totally if you’re going to have chickens get a head start on planting herbs and flowers for them to eat. I have a whole chicken flower garden going where they love to take dust baths and it’s such a joy. 

wow I’m so sorry this is an essay, I can talk about farming for hours.