People often ask us, "how do you name your animals?" Well, here's our secret... for the bulls and steer, we call them what they will be in the future or their slaughter month (Barbecue & November), we use flowers for our dairy cows, cute cuddly names for our ewes (female sheep), variations of the word ram for our rams, and the chickens are a toss up! Our livestock guardian dogs are named Snow and Ice. They are pure white Great Pyrenees.
Presently, we have Youngbul, Barbecue, November. On the dairy end we have Daisy and Azalea (the youngest). The sheep's names are Honey, Honeycup, Sweetie Pie, Honeydew, and Rambunctious.
The chickens are: Amak (rooster), Huffy, Smallie, Truck, Uduf-wuduf, Wanlinda, Daty-Daty, and many more.
As'salaamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Lol. I did wonder that. Can I ask... I'm making an assumption you guys are not country folk by upbringing. If that is correct, how has the transition been to raising animals? I heard chickens are a good start, but stink? I'm interested in living a more self sufficient life. Insha'allah could you all possibly do a post about land management. You guys have a lot of acreage. I'm a city girl, but tired of it. My dad says if I were to take something like this on (at an older age, none the less) an acre would be sufficient. In my mind i'd like at least 10. But being from the city I have no clue of daily land management activities. And i understand what animals you keep makes a world of difference too. I know you all are busy, so insha'allah whenever you have time. Also Insha'allah please let us know how your harvest made out this year and your fall plans.
ReplyDeleteWa alaykum ussalaam wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh dear Rumaysa.
ReplyDeleteHopefully the next three posts will fill in some gaps about our harvest and other happenings.
I was a city/suburbs girl but my husband was raised in the country and is used to growing and outdoor life. We followed the Islamic code, knowledge before action, in our homestead planning and preparation.
We would love to do a post or ten on homestead planning, land requirements, etc. While the most important factor is what you want to do on and with your land, 10 acres is more realistic than one.
Chickens may stink if not managed properly. We keep their coop bedded in straw, turn it regularly,and change it when needed. With plenty of space for them to run around (in their run, not free) we don't have much odor issue.
Think about what you want to include in your life/homestead. Do you want eggs, dairy,meat, produce, honey, a park, pond, etc. Do you want to have your family (children) involved do they grow up living off the land? What investment of time and effort on a daily basis do you want to put into it?
Think about what you like. There's no point raising goats if you don't like goat milk or meat. No point raising sheep if you don't like lamb.
As you can tell, we wanted the best quality dairy, eggs, beef, lamb, chicken, and produce and our homesteading choices reflect that.
Land requirements will be far more realistic once you get your goals established.
Baarak Allahu feekee!
Mai
Jazakallahu khirin uhkti Mai for sharing the background. It's so many skills you all possess thst we city folk take for granted and don't know the value of.
DeleteAlso as simple as it sounds, I never thought to take the approach of planning around what I/my family likes. Rather I tend to plan based of what I know I can do and what we should do based of what others are doing.
Alhamdulillah that's an excellent start.
Also I always love how you tie Islamic principals into all that you do masha'allah. I definitely need to expand my knowledge base on the deen front first as well as the homesteading front. We currently have a small garden of fruits a veggies that I need to learn how to maximize yield, proper long term storage techniques, like canning and dehydration, insha'allah.
I look forward to reading you next post. Jazakallahu khirin for sharing your journey and helping us who are interested in the homestead life.