Homesteading without a dog
We didn't realize how
much a homestead depends on a dog until Lucy was gone. For example, the
groundhogs are so brave they're starting to scamper up onto the porch
to gnaw on curing butternuts!
Will we get another dog
at our new place? I'm starting to lean in that direction, although
there are also positives to having so few animals we can be footloose
and fancy free. I suspect we'll wait and see what our new life style is
like before making any far-reaching decisions like choosing a canine
companion.
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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Yikes! Worse than any shape-shifter yet!
Please borrow a critter-gitter...so it doesn't move in when you are gone (which they do). I can get you one...
We have had one to three dogs as long as we have been here, and I can't imagine not having a dog. We took them on a ten state tour of the mid west with us. Yes, we did board them for two days in one place, yes finding hotels that allow dogs is more work, but we wanted them along so they came!
I can't imagine a homestead with out dogs. Or several un finished projects!
My neighbor is a cat person, but he finally broke down and got a dog when his chickens started being eaten by raccoons.
You'll want to get a dog to avoid visits from critters you really don't want eating your food or giving you Lyme disease etc.
Goats maybe no so much.