[Homesteadingfamily] Intro

Hello,

New to the group and wanted to introduce myself and see if I could get some help with some questions that I have. My name is Julie; I am married and have two boys (10yrs and 6 yrs old) that I homeschool. Our family has had it pretty rough the last couple of years. We bought an acre of land in NM after being homeless for almost 8 months. I have been doing so much reading about homesteading and living a self-sufficient life.

Our family is so ready to make the move and live life in a different way. We are new to all of this and could really use some advice. Right now we are working on paying off our debt and plan on buying a lot of land somewhere within the next year or so. I have no idea where to go yet. We are still looking for a place to call home. I am so thankful for groups like this. The amount of support and knowledge you all provide is beyond measure, thank you all!

Well, I figured I would just list some of my questions and see if anyone can answer them or lead me to information on the issues.

1.Chickens: We are planning on buying chickens for eggs and then eventually for meat. We want to build a chicken coop on the back ½ of our acre and let the chicken's free range. I am thinking about getting Rhode Island Reds. Does anyone have experience with these chickens? Do we need to provide a heat source in the coop? Do chickens eat/cost a lot to take care of?

2.Income: We have been trying to find a way to become more self-sufficient and find a way to "get away" from everything. I am so lost on how to support a family when living this way. Can you make a living off of just farming? How do you supplement the family income?

3.Goats: I have been told that goats are very hard to take care of; is this true? We mostly want a milking goat. I have heard that Nubians are good for milk? Do I need to have more than one goat?

I have so many questions; but I think this is a good start, LOL! Thank you all for your help and support. I look forward to getting to know all of you and hopefully, be able to help someone else in the future.

Julie