Homesteading Archives - SelfSufficientPath

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

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

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

(Almost) Ready to Roll!

January 24, 2018 Joe SSP YouTube Channel Leave a comment

We began the process of obtaining our property and the home building process in March. Our expectation was that we would be moved into our new homestead by August, September, maybe October at the latest. It’s now January, and we haven’t yet broken ground. What caused the delays? Was it financing? No, we had that in hand. Delays with the builder? Nope, they were pretty much good to go from day one. No, the issue was the huge number of hoops we had to jump through. We split a piece of existing, undeveloped property. This, for some inexplicable reason requires the approval of multiple government agencies. One of these, which shall remain nameless (let’s just call them the Department of

2014 Mother Earth News Fair

September 15, 2014 Joe Quick Update

We just got back from the 2014 Mother Earth News Fair held at Seven Springs Mountain Resort, PA. Had a fantastic time learning and sharing with a bunch of (mostly) like-minded people. We got a lot of great content, but it will take us a few days to get it into a form we can share. In the meantime, here are a couple of pictures of the girls learning how to milk a goat. #MotherEarthNewsFair Check back later this/next week for some of the things we saw / learned / experienced!