SSP YouTube Channel Archives - SelfSufficientPath

The Chicks Have Arrived!

July 3, 2019 Joe SSP YouTube Channel Leave a comment

Raising a laying flock was something we’ve wanted for a long time. Naturally, it was one of the first enterprises we wanted to start on our new homestead. Well, we’ve started. The chicks arrived today, and we’re ready to go. We’re putting together a mixed flock of Buff Orpington, Speckled Sussex, Dominques, White Cochin, Blue Orpington and Easter Egger chickens. We had them shipped from the hatchery, and today they arrived via the U.S. Mail (yes, you can get mail order chickens). Today we’ll introduce you to our chicks, get them into the brooder, show you we’ve got our brooder set up, and show the care required to get your poultry flock started right (or at least how we’re doing

Setting Up the Bee Yard (Apiary)

June 5, 2019 Joe SSP YouTube Channel, Uncategorized Leave a comment

Today we’re setting up the bee yard (apiary). Okay, apiary might be a bit of an overstatement, given that we’re putting one nuc into one hive. But this is the start of a bigger effort for us. We hope for beekeeping, and bee-related products, to be a key element in our homestead’s productivity. I’ll start by saying that I over-engineered our apiary (big surprise). What I’ve done here is not in any way necessary to get good results with your bees. But I really wanted this to be an effective, efficient, low-maintenance place to put my first four or five hives. And I think I’ve succeeded. Doing the Work to Establish Our Hive I started by marking out the boundaries

Cutting Firewood in the Wild and Wonderful

May 6, 2019 Joe SSP YouTube Channel Leave a comment

A couple of my buddies have been extremely helpful as we moved into our new home. Many hands make light work. And I can tell you from experience, without those hands we’d have been in real trouble moving my machinery. One of my buddies has a cabin down in north central West Virginia (Wild & Wonderful), my home state. It’s right on the river, and it’s drop dead gorgeous. We, most frequently I, visit that cabin several times a year. So when he called me to ask for help clearing some downed trees and putting up firewood for the year, well, I don’t need a lot of convincing to go run a chainsaw in one of my favorite places on

The Truth about homesteading

April 18, 2019 Joe SSP YouTube Channel Leave a comment

Homesteading is hot right now. There’s no denying it. YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and all if their social media brethren are flooded with the glamour that is homesteading. RIght? Online homesteaders are always smiling, wearing clean clothes, and undertaking smooth projects that always turn out right. Oh, and the projects are always cool, interesting, and life changing. Right? C’mon! That’s all good and well. But it’s not reality. Homesteading is exhausting. It’s often dirty work. And believe me when I tell you things don’t always go right. In today’s video we’ll give you a glimpse in a typical (hahahahahahaaaa!) day of real homesteading. Bringing in some firewood rounds from the field to the splitting area, installing a range hood in the

The Best Way to Cut Firewood to Length

March 18, 2019 Joe SSP YouTube Channel Leave a comment

Reviewing the Mingo Ultimate Firewood Marker As much as I love cutting firewood, I hate measuring and marking firewood. Yet, I’m obsessed about a neat, orderly stack of firewood. Isn’t it ironic? Don’t ya think? So I started searching for the easiest, quickest, most efficient way to mark firewood. My goal was to put away my measuring tape and chalk and get on with the cutting. What I found was the Mingo Ultimate Firewood Marker. This plastic tool uses a can of inverted, landscape paint to accurately mark your cut points at 14″, 16″, 18″, and 20″-24″. It really is handy. Here’s the scoop: PROS: Fast Accurate Works in snowy / wet conditions No measuring tape CONS: A little pricey

We’re Back!!!

March 18, 2019 Joe SSP YouTube Channel Leave a comment

We’ve been getting a lot of questions lately. “Are you quitting Self Sufficient Path?” “Is your channel closing?” “Why have you stopped posting?” Fact is, we haven’t stopped. In fact, we’re doubling down. We’ve spent the last four months moving from our suburban home of twenty years in the western suburbs of Pittsburgh, to a 22 acre farmstead in the far southwest corner of Pennsylvania. It’s only about sixty miles as the crow flies. But it may as well be on the other side of the world. What this means for the channel is that you’ll be getting more content more often. We’ve only been here for about four months, and we’re already into wiring our shop, taking care of

It’s Almost Time

September 1, 2018 Joe SSP YouTube Channel Leave a comment

It’s almost time, and I couldn’t be more excited. Pennsylvania’s archery season is less than a month away. And, we have the most deer, the most bucks, and the biggest bucks of any year I can remember. Most years, if I’m lucky, I have one three year old eight point to target. This year I have at least three legal bucks on the property, and two that could qualify as the biggest buck I’ve taken on this property. We’ve really upped our buck-to-doe ratio, and even have a great bullpen for next year. If it sound like I’m excited, you’re right. The only downside is that I’m still recovering from shoulder surgery a couple of months ago, and I’m just

Why We’re Pulling the Trigger

August 17, 2018 Joe SSP YouTube Channel Leave a comment

We’ve been working towards the goal of moving to our new homestead for over five years now. But though we were laying soft plans for that long, we really got serious a couple of years ago. There were lots of reasons, but the straw that broke the camel’s back is an interesting (and infuriating) story. I got home one night from my father’s property and found a piece of paper stuck in my door. I at first thought it was some kind of advertisement. But it wasn’t. It was a letter from our local code enforcement officer. No, it wasn’t a thank you note. Or an invitation to a birthday party. Or a solicitation to the code enforcement officers’ ball.

Best Chipper Shredder for the Homestead 2018

June 3, 2018 Joe SSP YouTube Channel Leave a comment

A Chipper / Shredder can be an invaluable asset on a small homestead. Not only does it help you clear unwanted brush and yard waste, it lets you do so in a way that produces mulch and compost. Up to this point we’ve used ours mostly to create mulch for our paths, our firewood area, and a couple of recreational areas. But we’re looking forward to using the shredder to produce finely chopped carbon for our composting. Chipping won’t really produce the type of material you need. But the chipper breaks wood, bark, and leaves down to small enough pieces to get good surface contact with the greens in your compost piles. It’s a win / win / win. After

Making a Family Heirloom (and Memories to Boot)

March 17, 2018 Joe SSP YouTube Channel Leave a comment

My family likes old things. Antiques is too grand a word for it. The word “antique” calls to mind things to be put on a shelf and looked at. Not to be touched. Certainly not to be used. But our prized finds are things that are old and beautiful, but also useful. A few months ago we found an old Eskimo wooden toboggan at a church yard sale. The price was $5.00. But I waited too long to buy it. I was being too clever for my own good; trying to look less interested than I was to try to get the price down. When I went back to the table to pick it up, it had already been sold.