Twelve Homesteader Live Gifts that Keep on Giving

In the spirit of the season, I offer a “Twelve Days of Christmas” list of LIVE gifts that keep on giving to us here, at a remote homestead. 

1  Gallon of red wiggler worms, divided among my food gardens.  They eat the kitchen scraps I toss there and rapidly improve the soil.   

2 Years' worth of seeds (many degrade after that: check with a float/sink test each year).

3 Rabbits (1 buck and 2 does).  They can be mated at about five months and over the year, fill our larder.

See all 3 rabbits?

4 Months of summer (yes, we have a short but glorious growing season).

5 Hens  (Dominiques and Jersey giants are very reliable egg layers for us - almost one per hen per day except in the darkest and coldest weather).  Since ours free-range in summer, they are terrific at reducing flies and other pests.

6 Types of fruit bushes, canes, trees.  (Wild berries grow well in our boreal forest setting, so, in addition to those that we harvest, we also planted domesticated cherries, haskaps, saskatoons, currants (red, white, and black), strawberries, and raspberries.  Other than strawberries, these plants can produce fruit for decades and some plants leaves are tasty in teas (I favor raspberry and strawberry).

7 bee hives (only 4 shown here)

7  Beehives when they overwinter.  Fewer when they die.  (We raise Buckfast.  We use honey instead of sugar in all food, including beer, which, FYI, is called a braggot when made with honey, and in medicines and for facials and hair treatments).

9 cords of wood

8  Raised bed 

gardens (about 8x4) for food production.

9 Cords of year-old dried wood to heat our home and hot tub for 12 months. 

10 Foot deep lake.  Our lake is shallow, but a daily gift.  In the summer, we kayak and fish on it and land our float plane.  It reflects the mountains and clouds and gently slaps the shore.  In winter, we can travel across it by walking, cross country skiing, snowmachining, and landing the ski plane.  As it freezes, we hear "gun shots" and gurgles, and as it thaws we hear "snap, crackle, pop."  Its beauty and sounds in both warm and cold seasons give it a personality that we notice every single day.

3 rabbits (before these little ones)

11: Gallons of water per day was the least I could get by with for drinking, cooking, washing, and caring for minimum number of animals. 

12: Edible and medicinal wild plants for which I forage in my yard.  Among them,  plantain, yarrow, dandelion, birch, alder, spruce, rose, chamomile, cleavers,  shepherd's purse, fireweed, devil's club.