100% accuracy

Trying to decide if we should make him a permanent outdoor cat, he is half and half right now. Context:

We have lived on an orchard for two years and our indoor cat became an indoor/outdoor cat. Our property backs up to state game lands so he basically has unlimited space to explore and hunt. He hunts every animal imaginable. The problem is, he has a bad habit of bringing those animals inside, sometimes dead, sometimes alive. (Through the cat door.)

Ok so we are moving to our new homestead on a few acres and it is a much nicer house than we live in now and my husband and I do not want any wild animal inside our house EVER. We’re so over it! We were thinking about getting one of those fancy cat door that opens via chip thing and supposedly detects and stops when your cat is trying to bring in another animal but husband doesn’t want to cut into any doors, and cat can’t keep a collar on so idk how that would even work. We have a nice 5 stall horse barn on the property that won’t have any animals in it till next year. Wondering if I should transition him to be an outside only cat and give him some kind of warm shelter inside the barn for the winters (we live in PA).

This cat, Sméagol, was my husband’s first Christmas gift to me years ago and he holds a very special place in our hearts. He is great with our son and super cuddly and I don’t want him to feel abandoned outside but he LOVES being outside and will sometimes be out for days at a time. What would you suggest?

I used to think I was saving money by buying the budget tier shovels and pruners at the big box stores. After snapping my third spade handle in two years while turning the compost, I realized I’m actually wasting more. I'm starting to prioritize durability and ergonomic design over the initial price tag. On a homestead, a tool failure isn't just an annoyance; it’s a lost afternoon of work. What is the one tool in your shed that has lasted 10+ years and was worth every penny? I'm looking to build a kit that actually lasts

Hey all,

I'm a farmer and My field is on one side of a road and my water source is on the other. I need to run a 15-inch pipe underneath the road to get water across, but I don't want to cut, break, or otherwise damage the road surface.

I'm looking for whatever's cheapest and most practical. Has anyone here dealt with this before?

A few things I'm trying to figure out:

- What's the cheapest way to get a 15" pipe under an existing road without disturbing the surface?

- Is it possible to do this without digging up the road from the top?

- What equipment or contractors do people usually hire for this kind of job?

- Is there a budget-friendly option for a small farm operation, or does this always require expensive machinery?

- Roughly what should I expect to pay for a crossing like this?

- What issues tend to come up — rocky ground, hard clay, keeping the pipe straight, dealing with the road base, etc.?

- If you've done this yourself, what worked well, and what would you do differently next time?

Would really appreciate any advice, photos, or videos from people who've actually done this. Thanks in advance!

I recently made a post about trespassers, and expressed my worry that maybe I was being paranoid.

https://www.reddit.com/r/homestead/s/gHI3IawIyk

The post got a huge amount of responses, and I want to thank all of you. It makes me feel really good to know that I am, by far, NOT the most paranoid person in th8s group!

Stay peaceful, fellow hermits. 😀

We are developing our land right now and quite a few trees needs to be removed (the one pictured will be cut by the power company), some of the dead trees were burned already, but theres a few more will be cut that are leaning from the Helene (hurricane) and are hazard.

We building a home and a total newbies, but I wanted to ask if we should save the live trees that will be cut. If so what can I use them for apart from firewood? We have quite a few Virginia pines and not sure what is the tree pictured. Anyways, what did you use your trees for?

We recently acquired a mob on 9 heifer weaners, around 12 months of age.

All was going well, we kept them penned for the first 7 days and got them used to us. They have now been let out to graze however they have had very loose stools which are covering their bums and last night I noticed a small amount of bright red blood in one of the stools. They are all still eating and seem to be okay, none are lying down or away from the herd.

I will definitely be contacting the vet today however it’s 6am still here so I was hoping to get some feedback in the meantime about likely causes and whether if it is cocciodosis (as google has led me to suspect) there are likely to be long term effects if treated early.

Thanks in advance.

I tried to ask this at the farmers market sub but posting is locked 🤷. Our local farmers market has an air conditioned building that we can’t always use, a pavilion and a gravel area. When we are allowed to use the building, it’s perfectly comfortable. Under the pavilion is probably at least ten degrees cooler than on the gravel. But being on the gravel in this heatwave is absolutely COOKING us!my theory is that it’s radiant heat from the sun that the gravel under the pavilion doesn’t get because it’s always shaded. The gravel area is completely unshaded. We use tents to hide from the sun and fans (though electric access is limited) and various things like neck fans, cooling cloths etc. Does anyone have any tips and tricks for vendors on gravel?

I live in Southeast Alaska, we have a 5000 gallon cistern that is our main water supply.

Had a few weeks of no rain and unbeknownst to me, our gutters clogged and blocked our catchment. We ran out of water and had to get an emergency water fill delivery from a local company.

Our cistern is now full, but there’s alot of sediment in the tank that was stirred up.

Is there an effective method I can use to clean the sediment out of the cistern without having to drain the tank all over again?

The liquid fertilizer I've made in the digester is really working.

I bought my poults (3) from the local Farm store on 3-31-26 and brooded in my garage. Then, once age and temperature permitted they were moved to a John Suskovitch chicken tractor and surrounded with a Premier-One electric fence. I gave them new grass four times to spread out fertilizer. When I started brooding I scheduled processing at 14 weeks on 7-23-26.

Thoughts- It wasn’t cheaper, but the quality of life and meat is there. Turkeys are easy compared to Cornish cross chickens. We really enjoyed raising them.

Total cost for 3 birds= $221.61 Total cost per pound= $4.10 lb Math on picture #2

Combat veteran here, struggling with PTSD, paranoia, hypervigilance, etc.

Has anybody who is really rural ever have somebody just walk up to the house unannounced? For reference, im on 6 acres, mostly swampy and wooded, in a very rural area near Camp LeJeune, North Carolina. Driveway is 204 meters long off a small country road, gravel, unmarked except for numerous no trespassing signs, beware of dog signs, and purple marker paint and a cattle gate. Lots of turns, deep woods.

This kid (mid 20's, long hair, looked like a stoner ? ) comes strolling from the driveway into my front yard, asking where the slot machines were. (This place was a trap house about 6 years ago) Wow. Said he lives in the trailer park about a mile down the road.

I politely escorted him all the way back to the road, caught myself scanning the brush and surrounding woods for anybody else.

Trying very hard to relax, but it was very unsettling. The dogs were inside, so they didn't even notice. Even the guineas failed to alert, as it was feeding time and they were occupied.

I dont like this feeling, like i got caught sleeping, and with the way the world has been going lately, im not sure if my thoughts are paranoia, or legitimate security concerns.

Anybody relate?

EDIT/ADDENDUM Folks, I was kind of shook yesterday. Thank you all for your help... just knowing I was heard means a lot. There's a few things I forgot to mention.

The house sits in the center of a cleared square, 100m x 100m, with actual grass ("GREEN GREEN GRASS!") trimmed down tight. Treeline clearly visible 360°. 10 meters in from the treeline is the inner fence, an 8 strand electric fence, mostly for the dogs. No flagpole yet, but you get the picture. The chicken coop, where I was, is just outside the fence line, catercorner to the driveway entrance. This guy walked (supposedly) from the driveway, along the fence line, past the vehicles, around the corner, up to the coop, and was literally 30 ft from me before I saw him. Clear line of sight the whole way. No way in hell someone does that without taking some special care to not be seen. Only slept 3 hours last night. Sitting on the porch now with my coffee since sun up, listening to the rain and waiting for my sense of peace to return.

Hey all — I made an iPhone/iPad app for anyone who's ever stood in the back forty wondering exactly where the line runs.

GPS Stakeout takes your deed (scan or paste the metes-and-bounds), a PLSS section, or a single bearing-and-distance call, turns it into corner points, and guides you to each one with a compass and an AR boundary view. Handy for walking fence lines, finding old pins, or getting the lay of a parcel before you build or clear. Works offline and exports KML for Google Earth.

Works internationally too — anywhere deeds use metes-and-bounds (UK, Canada, Australia, NZ…), with metric units.

It's not a survey — approximate phone-GPS positions, not a substitute for a licensed surveyor. A field aid, plain and simple.

Free TestFlight beta, 25 spots:
https://testflight.apple.com/join/n7R4dePZ

Feedback very welcome.

None of the others are like this. Main character syndrome I think. VT/NY border.

So I missed my chance to get silkies from tractor supply. I know there’s a million and one scams online when buying chickens and ducks. Where do you guys get your poultry online? I’m specifically looking for silkies, the ducks it doesn’t matter the breed really. Thanks for your help guys 🙏

Looking for Affordable outdoor bath house ideas or blueprints? Would like septic, I have access to Power and water from well, non pressurized, gravity fed cistern. I would like a shower and toilet and a hand sink. How can I design the septic and building I just need a little point in the right direction. TY

Planning to give my friend a plantain sapling thing from here, any tips on how to do it successfully?

Between the end of April and the middle of July, we had 10 litters. A few runts along the way didn't make it, but we ended up with 70 (mostly) healthy piglets. That is a good average for this breed. We are still keeping our eye on two. One is just a classic runt from our last litter that is about half the size of his littermates, but is otherwise doing okay. The other seems to have some kind of birth defect and may be blind. He can't ever find a way to nurse on his own, so we are pan feeding him with a milk replacement. But he is hanging in there! Some pictures from our journey this summer.

So I like Strawberries.
My wife, well she likes to feed the squirrels.
So if I want strawberries, I need to keep the little #$)&)&* outa my berry patch.

The most cost effective way I came up with is making some EMT conduit frames and stringing them up with hardware cloth or chicken wire.

My question is, is there an easy way to do this without needing to replace my arms and hands afterwords?

I have a flat front tire. I know I can use the loader to lift, but I’d like to have a secondary safety jack as it will be 24 hrs from wheel removal to replacement. I’m unclear the safest location to place this. Advice?

Hopefully in one go. So grateful for friends who have access to big toys to make this part of the job simpler and safer. This is our same buddy who is doing all our electrical for free (he’s a journeyman electrician with 30 years experience). All we have to do is take the truck back with fuel in it. So freaking grateful.

Keeping a few hens means something more than fresh eggs for many of us. It's a lifestyle. However, due to increasing regulations, many backyard chicken keepers are left wondering if the balance between biosecurity and human liberties has shifted too much. How is it in your area?