Homesteading as you age? What are the hacks?

[Alaskajohn]

I grew cucumbers over the winter in the basement and got a few, but the plants grew well in small (3 gallon) buckets. So I planted 4 hanging flower containers with Cucumbers, they are hanging above my tomatoes and are loaded with tiny fruit. I also grew some tomatoes in the house and we got a about a dozen, I think I chose the wrong tomato. I will try again with starting indoor tomatoes and cucumbers between now and August.

What kind of light did you use? How would you think cucumbers would do in a room about 52-54 degrees? A lamp might raise the temps a few degrees. With my expansion project, this idea has potential. I could potentially start them in the basement about the first of May and then move tomatoes and cucumbers to an outdoor greenhouse in early June after the last freeze. Then they would have 18 plus hours a day of sunlight, and in a greenhouse, the temps should be above 80 most days.

 

[angie_nrs]

The golf cart and 4 wheeler have made it much easier to haul wood, brush, tools, etc. from one place to the other. We use them ALL the time. Hubs has also accumulated a lot of 'man' toys along the way. I joke with him that his mom clearly took away his tonka toys too early in his life, which explains his need to get them all back. He loves his toys and uses them often to do many projects around the property.

We are relatively young so we are hitting projects hard this year to try and get a bunch of stuff done before our economy takes a dump. It actually helps with the topic at hand. If we can get things done while we are still heatlhy, we can do a bit more coasting as we age. Hubs put in a raised garden this year and we have plans to put in more. The next project is adding more power options to some buildings on the property.

I think this topic is the reason that there used to be very large families back in the day when everyone was a homesteader. The extra hands were needed to keep things ticking along. We use the kids when we have to, but thus far we've actually depeneded more on friends and neighbors, whom we then help in return. We know a lot of people who specialize in lots of different things. So, hubs can help a guy dig a trench and that guy can come over and help wire up our shed. It's a win-win.

At this point we are purchasing things that aren't as heavy and tend to be more maintenance free. We are looking at things we may struggle with now and are trying to figure out a way around those things. For example, hubs just bought a flo fast system to help him move fuel via a cart and pump it into equipment as opposed to lifting a 5 gallon container high off the ground to fill a piece of equipment. It was pricey, but we feel that it will pay for itself as we get older and potentially prevent a back injury before it happens. He's a bull and pushes himself too hard sometimes. One of these days his body is going to fight back. So, I'm all for anything that can cut down on strenuous or dangerous activities.

We also use a hand truck to move our generator around. Once that genie gets too old to be dependable, we will be buying the smaller units and using them in parallel so that we can move them more easily.

On this flip side of it all, I think the chores have kept us young. We don't sit and watch the 'screen' often, which means we don't graze in the kitchen all day either. It's a balance.....just like everything else in life.

 

[UrbanHunter]

What kind of light did you use? How would you think cucumbers would do in a room about 52-54 degrees? A lamp might raise the temps a few degrees. With my expansion project, this idea has potential. I could potentially start them in the basement about the first of May and then move tomatoes and cucumbers to an outdoor greenhouse in early June after the last freeze. Then they would have 18 plus hours a day of sunlight, and in a greenhouse, the temps should be above 80 most days.

Our basement is about 5 degrees cooler than the main floor and the wife needs it at about 69 in winter and 73 in summer, so I would guess my tomatoes were growing at 64F. I grew most of my plants using LED grow light bars (white light), I moved my Cucumbers to where they had a 18"X3' window above them + a line of grow lights and they grew to the lights. I think the bigger issue growing indoors is pollination, tomatoes are self pollinating and a rotating fan worked well, cucumbers need the help of a pollinator (imagine walking from flower to flower with a paint brush saying Buzz Buzz).

 

[joel]

I use Hydraulics to dig holes & dig stumps, move dirt.
I drink a lot of water, even when I do not feel that I need to, it flushes the pipes & keeps me hydrated.
I get eight hours of sleep & take breaks when it is hot out, work early & late in the day, in shade sitting down when I can.

 

[viking]

Working at the times the temperature suits my body. If I try and work at times when it's to hot or cold the cost in added pain is just to high. Sometimes I work an hour and rest an hour sometimes it's 5 minutes and rest, occasionally I have a day or two where everything hits just right and I might manage 4-5 hours in a stretch. I have to listen to my body last year taught me to listen and not push to hard.

I don't have any bad pains but I don't like being too hot or too cold, trouble we're having is unseasonable cold weather presently, so I spend time either with a heating pad on my back or leaning against the side of our wood stove, if it gets too warm out, I wait until just before the sun goes down, thankfully at 78+, I have very little pain problems

 

[LadyLocust]

@Alaskajohn I was thinking more on this and thought of another "answer." It's not a hack, but a thought really. As you move through your days and weeks and seasons, try thinking (or if you're me, write it down so you don't forget) about what tasks need doing. Then in the evenings and/or down time, reflect and see what really needs doing, what you are doing just because, what you should do and if there is a way to either not do a thing or do it an easier or more efficient way. Really think about what you will want as you age and prioritize then figure out how to make it work.
The "hacks" are great, but I think we each have our own priorities and lifestyles that makes it difficult to say do this don't do that - if that makes sense.

 

[Alaskajohn]

@Alaskajohn I was thinking more on this and thought of another "answer." It's not a hack, but a thought really. As you move through your days and weeks and seasons, try thinking (or if you're me, write it down so you don't forget) about what tasks need doing. Then in the evenings and/or down time, reflect and see what really needs doing, what you are doing just because, what you should do and if there is a way to either not do a thing or do it an easier or more efficient way. Really think about what you will want as you age and prioritize then figure out how to make it work.
The "hacks" are great, but I think we each have our own priorities and lifestyles that makes it difficult to say do this don't do that - if that makes sense.

That makes perfect sense. I have always believed that truly being able to critically think and establish well thought out priorities is what makes the difference in life.

 

[Terri9630]

Greenhouses are all the rage up here as it allows you to grow tomatoes, cucumbers, etc very well by extending the season. It’s rare to be above 80 on the hottest of days, and the temperature this time of year still will dip into the mid 30s at night. The low for the past four nights has been 37 degrees.

They wife is trying to grow cucumbers this year for the first time since moving to Alaska over a decade ago.

It was 35° yesterday morning. 37°this morning. Without the high tunnels my plants wouldn't be doing well.

 

[Aklogcabin]

Good luck man. For me keeping a positive attitude helps the most. I'm also just over 60 n feeling the pain. Realizing that I can't do what I did one time kinda sucks. Kinda seems like. Lots of what I do takes more time to get ready to do whatever than it takes to do the actual job. But admitted to myself I can't, well I'm having trouble there. Gotta stay positive though.
For me , my hands have been my life. I've always made my living with my hands. Only now they can hurt sooooo bad it shuts me down.
But I have family near , so even as world may be slowing down i have support.
Not letting my head get to me is probably my biggest asset. Stay positive n live on your wins man.
And even with all the aches n pains, I always feel very blessed

 

[Alaskajohn]

Good luck man. For me keeping a positive attitude helps the most. I'm also just over 60 n feeling the pain. Realizing that I can't do what I did one time kinda sucks. Kinda seems like. Lots of what I do takes more time to get ready to do whatever than it takes to do the actual job. But admitted to myself I can't, well I'm having trouble there. Gotta stay positive though.
For me , my hands have been my life. I've always made my living with my hands. Only now they can hurt sooooo bad it shuts me down.
But I have family near , so even as world may be slowing down i have support.
Not letting my head get to me is probably my biggest asset. Stay positive n live on your wins man.
And even with all the aches n pains, I always feel very blessed

I hear you! I just need to think smarter and think things through before doing them. As we age we need to realize our bodies have less room for error. And to err is human, so I need to learn to be careful. Fortunately I have two very strong sons who are now men, and one came out yesterday and helped me with a 2 hour long project involving heavy labor that would have taken the wife and I all day and would have resulted in very sore backs this morning.

 

[ellie]

Good luck man. For me keeping a positive attitude helps the most. I'm also just over 60 n feeling the pain. Realizing that I can't do what I did one time kinda sucks. Kinda seems like. Lots of what I do takes more time to get ready to do whatever than it takes to do the actual job. But admitted to myself I can't, well I'm having trouble there. Gotta stay positive though.
For me , my hands have been my life. I've always made my living with my hands. Only now they can hurt sooooo bad it shuts me down.
But I have family near , so even as world may be slowing down i have support.
Not letting my head get to me is probably my biggest asset. Stay positive n live on your wins man.
And even with all the aches n pains, I always feel very blessed

AKLogcabin, try a handful (a bunch, anyway) of fish oil or krill oil for those hands. You'll think it's magic.

 

[Aklogcabin]

Thanks ellie I will get some. And hopefully remember to report back how great it works.
And Akjohn. Man I'm envious of your place n consider you an inspiration. Your doing it. Living the dream takes work, it's obvious you're not afraid of hard work .
I brought a small air conditioner to put in the insulated generator shed so I can use it as a walk in cooler. At our remote cabin. I figure I can go moose hunting myself then. I've got 3 rigs there now with winches and a bunch of pulleys. And now looking for a small chest freezer. So I can process it and the cabin.
Now when we harvest a critter that weights over a thousand pounds, last one was near 1400 pounds, the clock starts ticking. And we have to transport all the meat from cabin to the lake 2 miles away. 2 trips to fly out then drive home hang meat while you take a minute to clean up n get ready to spend a day processing. Cutting n wrapping. Hopefully can get back out again.
I'm hoping to be able to process the whole moose there n take my time.
Probably mostly trying to figure out how I can work smarter n have more fun too

 

[Alaskajohn]

Thanks ellie I will get some. And hopefully remember to report back how great it works.
And Akjohn. Man I'm envious of your place n consider you an inspiration. Your doing it. Living the dream takes work, it's obvious you're not afraid of hard work .
I brought a small air conditioner to put in the insulated generator shed so I can use it as a walk in cooler. At our remote cabin. I figure I can go moose hunting myself then. I've got 3 rigs there now with winches and a bunch of pulleys. And now looking for a small chest freezer. So I can process it and the cabin.
Now when we harvest a critter that weights over a thousand pounds, last one was near 1400 pounds, the clock starts ticking. And we have to transport all the meat from cabin to the lake 2 miles away. 2 trips to fly out then drive home hang meat while you take a minute to clean up n get ready to spend a day processing. Cutting n wrapping. Hopefully can get back out again.
I'm hoping to be able to process the whole moose there n take my time.
Probably mostly trying to figure out how I can work smarter n have more fun too

Thanks for the kind words, but there are others on here who have a lifetime of achievement whose knowledge and experience dwarf mine. I do feel blessed that I am still learning and doing, with some mistakes and body aches to show for it!

 

[Tirediron]

Machines, and as others have mentioned the hand truck and a wagon,
I have learned to pay attention to when my body starts to hurt and move on to something else. I have learned to use the hydraulic log splitter a lot more, yellow aspen is hard to split unless it is fairly small and it's cold out At least 0 F, when I was younger I split it all by hand, spruce I still prefer axe. another really helpfull thing axe splitting is to find an old fairly wide tire that just fits on top of your chopping block, that way you don't have to bend over between swings to re set the wood.
One of the handiest tools I have is a bucher TM800 "tractor" , it is like a super duty side by side, except the engine sits beside you, I use it a lot , for all manner of chores, the big bonus is it is really easy to get in and out of, not like a conventional tractor.

 

[Alaskajohn]

Machines, and as others have mentioned the hand truck and a wagon,
I have learned to pay attention to when my body starts to hurt and move on to something else. I have learned to use the hydraulic log splitter a lot more, yellow aspen is hard to split unless it is fairly small and it's cold out At least 0 F, when I was younger I split it all by hand, spruce I still prefer axe. another really helpfull thing axe splitting is to find an old fairly wide tire that just fits on top of your chopping block, that way you don't have to bend over between swings to re set the wood.
One of the handiest tools I have is a bucher TM800 "tractor" , it is like a super duty side by side, except the engine sits beside you, I use it a lot , for all manner of chores, the big bonus is it is really easy to get in and out of, not like a conventional tractor.

I had to DuckDuckGo the Bucher TM800. Interesting machine!

I do love splitting spruce by hand. It’s such a nice wood!

 

[LadyLocust]

I have come to realize that I am no longer a "spring chicken" and I need to be aware of my age. I am very healthy and in great shape for my age, but at 60, I need to start taking care of my body.

For those of you who live the life of what some call "homesteading," you know that it is hard and constant work. You must harvest your wood and practice subsistence, which means constantly building new trails and maintaining existing trails. Often trees are still a good distance from the trails you build, so you need to carry the wood a good distance. Same thing for any wildlife you harvest. Often the weights can be over 100lbs that you need to carry over unforgiving terrains. During summer months, you spend many hundreds of hours doing these harvesting and gathering activities.

Farming activities require constant bending, digging, lifting, and carrying things. Again, during the summer months, you spend many hundreds of hours doing these activities.

Equipment breaks, which are often heavy and bulky. And if they break (as they tend to do) in the middle of the winter, you deal with subzero weather and winds.

Old homesteads often lack modern amenities, which for us mean no running water during winter months meaning you need to collect well water into buckets, and bath and clean out of buckets.

I can go on, but you homesteaders get the picture. We are the third family that have lived this lifestyle on this property, and the previous two families that lived and labored here ended their time here due to advanced age. While age would at some point might get us, we want to do this as long as our bodies allow.

What are your "hacks" that allow you to live this lifestyle?

We are finally going to invest in improvements to our home to allow for year-round water. That project was 3 years in the making and will be completed this summer. This will really make life easier!

I have always had winches to pull things such a big log, but often you can't get your vehicles close enough to the action. I have augmented our ATV/Side by Side winches with come-along, pullies and such to help pull logs close enough to not have to carry things so far.

We've invested in farm equipment to help with the heavy labor to make agricultural activities easier.

What are you doing to make this lifestyle easier while you age?

I was just thinking of something - are you already off grid?

 

[viking]

As I come closer to 79, I look back at what we have accomplished and wonder how we did it, all that comes to mind is that I must have been much stronger than I thought I was, in 2019 when I built the solar array frame, I couldn't believe how much the 90 pound sacks of Ready-Mix weighed and yet it didn't seem all that long ago that I slung 94 pound sacks of cement on my shoulder and climbed to the top of our property to prepare for pouring concrete for the water cistern, I was probably near 40 but it didn't seem all that long ago. All I can say is, do things while you're still young. That being said, I have a pile of oak firewood to be split, sitting in the driveway, thankfully I have a neighbor that has a 25 ton log splitter that's coming over to help me do that. I've already split one round in half, dang oak is tough, especially being two years old, hate to think of doing it all by hand. Oh yeah, a lot of those rounds are over 100 pounds, seems like I just can't get away from heavy stuff I have to deal with at any age.

 

[Alaskajohn]

I was just thinking of something - are you already off grid?

No, I am on grid when the grid works. I am a long long way from where the power is generated. It was originally an off grid homestead and power to the area is a very recent development sometime in the 90s.

 

[LadyLocust]

No, I am on grid when the grid works. I am a long long way from where the power is generated. It was originally an off grid homestead and power to the area is a very recent development sometime in the 90s.

I was talking to someone today and mentioned when we were up the mountain, we were grid tied, but our power seemed to go out semifrequently. We wired it so that when the power went out, we flipped the main & started the generator. If you don't have something of the sort, it was pretty cheap, took Hubby and FIL a couple hours and we had the generator. It ran everything but the dryer and the oven. We were still able to shower, cook, have lights, etc. As we age, dealing with that situation might be a little more trying. Having such a set up might be helpful.

 

[Alaskajohn]

I was talking to someone today and mentioned when we were up the mountain, we were grid tied, but our power seemed to go out semifrequently. We wired it so that when the power went out, we flipped the main & started the generator. If you don't have something of the sort, it was pretty cheap, took Hubby and FIL a couple hours and we had the generator. It ran everything but the dryer and the oven. We were still able to shower, cook, have lights, etc. As we age, dealing with that situation might be a little more trying. Having such a set up might be helpful.

We have always tended to enjoy it when the power goes out. Kind of like date night.

 

[Aklogcabin]

I don't split anything I don't have to. If it will go threw the door of a old blaze king, it's good. I usually just keep it burning. When starting a fire I keep a bit of diesel fuel around.
I loaded up the blaze king one night with birch.
iBig dry pieces. Well the whole completely packed full stove box caught fire together it must have gotten kinda hot. Cracked the top of the stove. Right down the collar n 8" across the top.
This has happened at the cabin too. Wake up n its a hundred degrees. But I know my chimney is clean n working well n safe.
Not the kind of stress test I'd recommend but thorough.
I think I spent as much time fixing machines so I don't need help, probably could have just done it slow. But I like my old machines. Just seems like there's a lot more of them now

 

[Tirediron]

Blaze kings are their own worst enemy, yes they make a lot of heat but they burn a ridiculous amount of wood doing it, a lot of them have the collar crack, My theory on this is the damper closes and builds up tar, as the fire smolders, then when the damper opens (it must stick closed sometimes ) the tars flash off creating really high shell temperatures, just a hypothesis, and the ability to be loaded with big rounds is nice.

 

[Aklogcabin]

Yeah well that could be it. I do have the oil fired furnace going into the same stack near 4' above the stove. So it has a barometric damper. This may have some kinda small effect

 

[joel]

" I don't split anything I don't have to. If it will go threw the door of a old blaze king, it's good. "
We had a wood stove that was top feed/load, like a washing machine.
It was Sooo big that a large man could squat in it, if you removed the top.
Anyways, Dad would put the largest log that would fit in the stove just before we went to bed, so there would be hot coals the next mourning.
So times he would have to turn the wood so the knots from limbs would not hang up on the side of the rim of the stove opening.
Aklogcabin, thanks for the memory.

 

[Aklogcabin]

" I don't split anything I don't have to. If it will go threw the door of a old blaze king, it's good. "
We had a wood stove that was top feed/load, like a washing machine.
It was Sooo big that a large man could squat in it, if you removed the top.
Anyways, Dad would put the largest log that would fit in the stove just before we went to bed, so there would be hot coals the next mourning.
So times he would have to turn the wood so the knots from limbs would not hang up on the side of the rim of the stove opening.
Aklogcabin, thanks for the memory.

Yeppers save the biggest densest pieces for the coldest nights. And make sure you have a spark in the morning. With the 2 stoves I now have all you need is an ember. And it will take off with a bit of draft.
Glad I could help out

 

[Tirediron]

Perhaps one of the bigger hacks is to have multiple ways to do things, and multiple helper machines, not just one, ie 2 older machines rather than one newer machine,

 

[Tirediron]

I am going to have to figure out a way that I don't have to look over my shoulder to see behind my wood gathering machines, forklift etc, my neck doesn't like it.

 

[joel]

I am going to have to figure out a way that I don't have to look over my shoulder to see behind my wood gathering machines, forklift etc, my neck doesn't like it.

Mirrors on front to look back, another to reflect the back side so you do not have to turn around. the two mirrors should do it. Could use a video camera, like a back up camera on a truck.

 

[Alaskajohn]

One of my best “hacks” is having sons who on occasion can be convinced to come out and help me with projects. Yesterday one son came out and helped me with a project that required mechanical skills and physical strength to complete. We often “butt heads” on such projects like we did yesterday, but in the end, we got it done.

 

[Tirediron]

Mirrors on front to look back, another to reflect the back side so you do not have to turn around. the two mirrors should do it. Could use a video camera, like a back up camera on a truck.

mirrors work except when they get a thick layer of frost, perhaps i will have to modernize a bit and go with heated mirrors