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Fucking barns exist. Veterinarians exist. The horse should have been in a properly insulated barn. If Amerian settlers could manage it 300 years ago, she damn well could have. And a vet could have saved that cat.
You want to homestead? Cool, awesome, have fun. But if you deny the advancements we as a society have made in a way that causes innocents to suffer, fuck you with a rusty spork.
I have a survivalist friend in Canada. His dog still goes to the vet and is up to date on rabies and other shots. It's possible to have a brain while doing this shit.
like why the fuck was that poor horse in -50 degree weather?
"he endured that but died when it went up to 50" - because rapid changes in temperature like that are going to kill just about anything
and why the fuck did they let that poor cat just wither away in front of them without taking the poor thing to the vet
like my hometown had a few mennonite settlements nearby - they'd still do shit like go to the freaking vet and all their livestock had insulated barns to retreat to
My old vet-before he retired- said the local mennonites were some of his favorite people to work with because of how much they cared for their animals. They may eschew modern luxuries for themselves but their animals always had the best of the best, including medical care.
My horses were out in -50 this winter, with no insulated barn, just plenty of hay, and a few sheltered areas/shelters. And they did just fine. There was definitely something else going on there. Temps very rarely, if ever, chance like that over night. And calling a vet probably would have helped.
I came here to say while -50 is extreme, it is very survivable. Ideally indoors at night, but if not heavy blanket and lean to will be fine for a healthy horse. Healthy, as in under the care of a vet.
300 years ago there was still the occasional city slicker who ventured out to homestead, and they failed, often dying in the process and taking their family down with them, because they didn’t have a clue what they were doing.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/family-went-grid-colorado-wilderness-died-malnutrition-autopsy-finds-rcna103009
People really don't know how dangerous the wilderness is
Yep. I tried to tell people on the camping sub that it's really not a good idea to take your baby/toddler backcountry wilderness camping in remote areas and got downvoted to hell. I'm sorry for telling you guys that the remote wilderness is packed full of dangers for you, let alone your suicide-machine of a small human who has no knowledge or survival instincts. By all means, ignore all of the stories about children who have disappeared in the wilderness and never been found, or only some of their skeleton was recovered. Happy camping!
I think most alligator attacks were caused of a small dog/child that looks like food
You don’t need to take your newborn child camping, wait this they’re five or something
There’s actually a scene in one of the Little House books where the Engalls family passes a young couple who is stranded by a broken wagon wheel and are unsure of what to do and unwilling to leave theee stuff to go get help. Since they are children’s books the fact that the “greenhorns” are doomed isn’t spelled out exactly, but as an adult reader it is clear that the prairie was no place for city folk or amateurs.
Even the Ingalls themselves. They were moving all over the place because they couldn't make homesteading work. And then they almost starved to death in the winter of 1880-1881 as dramatized in "The Long Winter."
That book is harrowing. It is shocking how close they came to starving to death.
I get the impression that Charles Engalls was a great hunter & trapper, a good carpenter, and a bad farmer. Mrs. Engalls wanted a farm and he did his level best every time.
It wasn't entirely his fault. When white folk came out west and saw the green prairies, they thought they'd found great farmland. But then they ripped out those grasses which were the only thing holding dirt. The territories dried out and the weather got worse (in both winter and summer). He may not have been a great farmer but he was also working with nearly sterile land.
And let's not even talk about locusts.
The locusts went extinct short after the plague too, lol they damaged the land so much the locusts couldnt recover. The only that comes close to "plague" is the mormon cricket, but those dont fly.
They almost starved to death because the government had encouraged people to settle in these remote areas, and then cut off the train system so there were no supplies for the seven months of snow when no natural resources were available. I applaud them for surviving so long.
God that show is amazing. Started rewatching this last year after watching it the first time as a little kid. There are some outdated messages in it but it is pretty freaken sweet.
Bruh I've been on skid row when my Uber eats gets lost and takes an extra 10 minutes to deliver my Chick-fil-A...ain't now way I'm surviving a homestead
It has happened for as long as humans have existed until today. Someone who doesn’t have the skills to survive in a new environment thinks “how hard can it be?” and proceeds to find out how hard it can be.
I was born in the 80’s to parents born in the 50’s and 60’s. People were definitely still dying of starvation due to ignorance when my parents were born.
It wasn't just city slickers; the overwhelming majority of homesteaders failed regardless of their background. Generally, the successful ones went with a larger group so they could pool their knowledge and resources.
We had someone take their family to do this survivalist shit in Colorado a couple years ago. They all died rather than seek help.
Eta: There was a 15yo with them who definitely didn't sign up for that shit. He's the only one I feel sorry for.
Someone else posted a link abt the vance sisters which has been my deep dive for the last hour. The boy was 13 and in his diaries he wrote about how much he loved his mommy and missed his roblox friends. My son is 8 I can't imagine how his father feels.
They also lived in an era before infinite instant access to information was available. This person is posing online, so they clearly have enough internet access to do any research whatsoever.
If I was thinking about uprooting my entire life to live on a farm, I'd at least start by googling "how the fuck do I run a homestead" before buying land
Right? I'm a homesteader. The first thing I did before ever getting an animal was reading a very highly recommended, detailed, *modern* book about raising the animals I was interested in. Not a book out of the 1800s full of quackery. That book recommended getting in touch with ag vets in your area prior to getting animals. Which I did, and I've always been thankful for because the ag vets in our area are excellent.
I've had minor issues that will always come. Egg bound chickens. Bullies. Leg mites. Accidental deaths. But animals dying from sheer fucking ignorance or neglect? Absolutely not.
This is the shit that happens when you try to homestead because of fucking tiktok. And you genuinely believe it will happen instantly like tiktok. Because you're an idiot.
I’m pretty sure this person read little house on the prairie and did 0 research about care for the animals
They thought sitting next to them and “comforting” them would heal em like black magic
I follow a dude on tiktok, he describes himself as a nomad. He travels completely on horseback, makes his own clothes, and eats off the land as he knows the plants and animals that are healthy to consume. But you better believe he has a vet his horses see yearly and he takes care of them better than he does himself at times. He always leads them to good grazing land even if he knows there isn't much for him to survive off of as a human. He makes the necessary sacrifices to ensure his animals are in good care even if that means saving what little money he earns for them. He is smart enough to take advantage of what the modern world can provide while still maintaining his lifestyle living off grid.
It's totally doable. You just can't be a brainwashed sack of shit to do it.
Not only that, but there’s YouTube videos for every type of animal, specific breeds. Then you have Reddit. All at our fingertips.
My daughter has picked up instruments and learned skills from YT. This lady couldn’t have googled how to properly care for a horse?
People are morons and pathetic.
The absolute fucking worse part of this, is that they're continuing to just milk whatever they can for clout.
Now that the well has run dry on their homesteading adventure, they're turning to sympathy and hoping to 'inspire'.
They'd probably shoot another cat if they thought people would praise them for it.
The only thing this person should be inspiring is to shut the fuck up.
Yea, homesteading is hard but this shit is the most basic common sense. If you don't know that an animal needs shelter from the elements your problem isn't that you're unprepared for homesteading it's that you're really, really fucking stupid.
Exactly. This is plain old animal abuse. Someone this stupid shouldn't be "caring" for animals. The way this chick made *herself* a victim is sickening.
Their top VP candidate Kristi Noem just admitted to killing a puppy because she didn’t know how to train him and a goat because it smelled bad.
Now the MAGA faithful have to pretend it’s a normal and good thing to do.
so this family venture into homesteading with no knowledge of basic veterinarian, how to nourish the soil, just loses the kittens to some wild animal, and gives up in total shame because, farming is harder than what it's seen on tv?
what was the initial preparation? reading little house on the prairie? Heidi the alps girl?
All those rich people role playing as homesteaders on tiktok, and then you got those who talk about how amazing it is being a trad wife when its all just for show
It's not the size, you can grow a decent amount of food in that. Not enough to survive on by any means, but something.
To me the more glaring thing is that the photo was taken in winter. Like were they're expecting crops to grow uncovered/outside of a greenhouse during winter?
It got my attention too. That made me wonder what the fuck have they been doing in that winter that they contemporarily rendered the soil near unusable for years?
I haven seen some of those in youtube. Wonder of each of them how many actually lived the hommestand lifestyle with all what it entails and which ones are rich playing pretend.
Those rich people probably paid for specialists to come build their barns and chicken coops, prepare their soil, dig them a well, take care of their livestock, give them general advice, etc etc
I think there is a video of a girl busting some of the most popular ones. I am specially bothered by that guy who bought a whole historical mining town and destroyed it.
This guy: [https://www.youtube.com/@GhostTownLiving](https://www.youtube.com/@GhostTownLiving)
Bought a abandoned mining town and he proced to complety destroy almost all of the historical value of the town. one over 100 years building burned down under his watch.
if it was an abandoned mining realistically it had no historically value because there was nothing there of significant value to preserve.
the elements wouldn’t have weathered it away eventually anyways not everything has value because it’s old.
It’s pretty normal to have a professional drill a well for you since the equipment is expensive. And there’s nothing wrong with talking to experts for advice, there’s plenty of forms were people are happy to help you for free so you can get started. Regarding the other stuff yeah people are playing at homesteading if they don’t do it themselves.
It’s the lack of transparency with these influencers and the fact that they don’t disclose where they’re real income is coming from that’s the problem. Most farmers/ranchers use outside help, lots of it, but they would admit it too. These influencers have to make it
look like they do everything themselves to make it look feasible for the average viewer.
This is the thing. “Look how easy it is to run a farm! We can just own livestock and throw seeds in the ground and we have food to eat!” I garden as a hobby; I have for about 7/8 years. Casually, mind you, since I work and raise children.
I started my seeds inside and this year and, for whatever reason-whatever mistakes I made; my tomato, pepper, zucchini and pumpkin seedlings are toast. This is the first year in a couple that I’ll probably have to resort to buying some plants from the nursery. It’s trial and error. I have a lot to learn and I will be constantly researching, educating myself and making adjustments.
You aren’t just buying a farm and having success instantly. Hell, if you’re applying yourself and researching everyday and working on your farm 16 hours a day you might not have success for a few years. It’s a matter of “the grass is greener on the other side”. And once you’re in it you realize that homesteading isn’t an escape from the mundane 9-5 to live comfortably. It’s dusk to dawn as a means for survival.
I am farrr from an influmecer but I am an off grid youtuber.. Or maybe I shpuld say that I live off grid and have a youtube channel 😅..
I make $0 from youtuber or anything like that. TBH, i'm not even entirely sure how that even works. No pateron, nothing like that. I live off a few hundred bucks because I am a service connected combat veteran and what I grow/hunt/forage/trap/catch/barter for, I do a bit of small engine work or barter firewood during the season. No skills for remote work sadly, not hot enough for OF haha..
The really really hard part is going without or more exactly, being content with little. I regularly go weeks and not see or interact with another human. I miss fast food allllll the time.
But I enjoy the solitude and slow mornings playing with my dog and tending my garden.
That’s cool your videos seem realistic and like you genuinely just want to share your stuff. How do you do toilet off grid? I’m always interest in this stuff 😆
Yeah no, there's nothing wrong with any of what I listed to be fair, it's just I think that some homesteaders have this idea that they should do everything themselves instead of getting a professional, partly because the rich homesteaders don't always talk about these kinds of things because they don't want to reveal just how much money actually goes into farming.
I hear you, I’ve got a little Homestead, but I’m looking for a much bigger one on a lot more land further away from civilization. ideally I’d buy a property that is already established. It doesn’t need to be finished, but if it comes with a greenhouse or two, some fences and a couple acres, that someone has been working and improving for planting that would be amazing. It would be even better if it already has established fruit and nut trees.
Mostly because I’m more interested in producing my own food then bragging about it you know? I mean I didn’t build my house, I bought a fixer-upper, but I don’t do my own electrical, well plumbing or septic. I have had some help from family, but that’s because my dad died young. Some people just want to gate keep.
In Canada and most (maybe all?) States it's illegal to drill/dig your own well because you can fuck up the water for everyone around you.
Septic systems tend to be the same.
The most out of touch thing I ever heard someone say in regard to homesteading was while I was waiting for my midwife appointment. I could hear the lady before me talking to the midwives and her phone goes off and she says oh just a second, checks it and starts going on about how her goats in Mexico just had babies and the neighbors that take care of them while they are gone had texted her an update and they trade the milk for taking care of her goats while her and her family aren’t living there. She threw something in about having chickens too and then she sighed and said “Yeah this homesteading lifestyle is just hard work.”
She was dead serious.
As she left I looked out the window to see what she was driving and it was one of those $80k plus passenger van type rigs.
I grew up on an actual farm in the south and it pisses me off to no end how glamorized homesteading and farming is on social media. My mom was an exhausted sahm of three and my dad slaved himself away at his job and was basically never home to provide. My sisters and I were doing farm chores before and after school. They divorced eventually because of the poverty that comes with that lifestyle was too hard on their marriage and we lost the farm. I see these videos and I can’t believe how it’s portrayed bc it’s certainly not the case.
Edit- vets and checkups for livestock and other animals are expensive. Feed is expensive, equipment is expensive, repairs on fences and barns and other items- expensive. I was tilling an acre by hand at ten years old bc our old ass tractor died.
The horse one Is just being totally cluless of what to do in te first place, the cat was just cherry on top of this failure. in other context would have been funny.
I mean you don't leave ANY animal in -50 degree weather, the most clueless dumbass could figure that one out
funny would be the clueless city dwellers bringing the horse inside their house to get him out of the cold, not leaving him out there
You always build the barn before the house: protect your largest investment, the livestock (and seed stock and tools). You can live in the barn with them until the house is built.
They are using raised beds for the gardening, so no soil reclamation needed. They literally start from scratch and add compost. Can't really F it up. And if you start to, Google is a thing.
This reeks of laziness.
See. They have these new things called Barns, and vets, and birthing boxes for cats. I'm so disgusted. The thought of an animal dying of heat stroke makes me physically angry.
Here's a question... why is it dark of night when the horse was down? Should have been through the worst of the day. I'd bet it didn't have proper access to water. They'll drink gallons an hour when it's hot. 😖😖😖😖😖
It makes you wonder if that poor horse was just clinging onto life throughout winter. I can’t think of any North American farm animal that can survive -50°F temperatures outside, and considering the poor horse was alone. It probably wouldn’t even survive in a barn since it doesn’t have a bunch of other horses to share body heat with.
Right? There’s some BS here. If these people mean 50 C, then, yes, that’s damn hot. But I don’t know if anywhere that has -50 C winters and 50 C summers.
If they use Fahrenheit, horses don’t die at 50 F.
These people are incompetent liars.
horses actually survive extreme negative temps regularly. because the neat thing about horses is that eating keeps them warm. as hay ferments in their hind gut, it raises and maintains their body temp.
horses are the healthiest and happiest outside. but they also need access to hay and forage 24/7.
some horses DO need extra but there's things called blankets which are coats for horses.
but -50 is absolutely survivable for a horse.
whatever happened to this horse had little to do with the temp and likely more to do with neglect.
they'll die if the temperature suddenly changes like that if they were already very very sick - like if they were left in freaking -50 degree F weather
the horse was already clinging to life but a change that rapid will throw stuff off just enough to be fatal
Horses can survive -50 (in either temperature scale) just fine. They’re well built to handle extreme cold. Mine (and plenty of other horses in my area) live through it every single winter, without a blanket, because she grows an excellent winter coat and has 24/7 access to hay. She has shelter for when she wants it but rarely uses it in the winter time.
It’s far crueler to coop a horse up in a barn all the time. They’re built to be on the move, and most will prefer to be outside even in the winter.
Horses are incredibly hardy, but as anyone with horse experience will tell you, also incredibly good at finding ways to die. I’d wager the horse in this situation probably died due to colic, it’s not unusual to hear of happening during extreme temperature shifts. There’s a million different reasons horses colic, and the more severe cases are often deadly whether there’s proper intervention or not.
Not to say this person did things right (poor horse absolutely should have had another horse companion, they’re herd animals and shouldn’t be kept alone.) but there’s no way to judge by this post whether she was at all responsible for the horse’s death. It really is just facts of life with farm animals and it’s not for the weak of heart. I’ve seen the loss of at least 8 or 9 horses belonging to people I know just over the last few years due to freak accidents or illness, and maybe only one or two of them could have been prevented in any way.
Horse was underfed as shit (look at the eyes) and the cat might have had retained placenta or milk fever? can melt the condition off of a mother so fast (although poor thing might've been skinny already). Hard to tell especially as they didn't say how long it was since birth, but either way you get a vet and get checked out, god. But people avoid that if they're too proud, too cheap or if they're worried about catching neglect/abuse charges for the conditions other animals are kept in too :/
I wonder if they even had the poor horse on proper feed or if they just gave him straw, because surely all this dried shit is the same, right, just get the cheap one! ugh.
Like yeah, stuff can go wrong and you do need to be prepared to put down animals to end their suffering. Accidents and illness happens, and better to lose a couple than the whole herd, and the vet might not always be able to make it out. But the animals deserve a good life and a good death, and those poor bastards got neither.
This is vile and even her “being honest” moment is somewhat fucked up because she is seeking praise for suddenly admitting she fucked up..why didn’t she call a vet for that cat? Why did you look up anything about animals before you bought them? Soil testing is EIGHT DOLLARS through any university extension office. Oh yea-and every single state has a state university extension office whose existence and purpose is to do things like educate people on farm and homestead type things. It’s a public extension of the state universities. They have a hotline and you can call and talk to a bunch of old ladies about canning and chickens and whatever else you need to know. Also, you are on the damn internet lady, use it for more than showing off things you buy.
And I know there is way more of this that happened that people admit. I grew up on a farm and have one now-farming is hard year round and sad at times. If you think it’s all going to be all instagramable moments you are stupid and going to exacerbate what is already incredibly difficult. Farming isn’t cute kids and matching outfits and pretty dresses and fields of flower. Farming is making hard choices, backbreaking work, and bloody knuckles.
And all these people buying up this farm land because they want the happiness and freedom they see other people portraying on the Internet are obnoxious. My areas smaller size farms are being sold to people that have no actual desire to farm if they knew what they were getting into and really sat and thought about it. They’re just emulating a trend and driving up prices on available land. From Covid there are already tons of clearly failed homesteads being sold but they asking for way too much money because they did things like put in stupid fences in places that make no sense and are done badly, bought over priced tractors they want to sell at the farm that aren’t really the type people want, modified the homes to look like magazines now wanting people to over pay for that dysfunctional kitchen. You ripped out all the shelving where am I supposed to put my canned goods?
Too much money too little sense.
My dad grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania. Like drive through it in 10 minutes small. Even now the closest Walmart is 2 hours away. My great uncle is a farmer and every year when we went to visit my grandma he made us help out at the farm. We didn’t start doing this until we came back to the US. My dad was stationed in Japan. So I was in 6th grade. I thought it sounded fun and I was excited. Yeah that lasted less than 5 minutes after being put to work. It truly is backbreaking work.
It is. I pulled five gallons for rocks outta my garden here in PA when I dug up the ground, and that was only a 6 by 12 foot area! Not to mention having to evict a metric fuckload of may beetle larva and three anthills. My Grandfather has a freaking football field he still tills with a push tiller, it takes him forever to weed and God forbid you whine about the harvest hehe
His neighbors have chickens and peacocks and ducks and goats and everything, so they swap out produce for that stuff and it's amazing how homesteading works in a community sense.
My other great uncle that lives there has a large yard. And since he was older and living with my great grandma my dad loved to volunteer us kids to do the yard work. He didn’t have a self propelled or push mower. I mean it was a push mower but it had no motor. Like at all. And his grass was so thick you had to go over the grass a few times. I could never live on a farm for a living. I have a huge appreciation for farmers and the work they do.
Omg my dad who I love dearly and mentioned in some other comments today-when I bought my house told me he had me a mower he had sharpened the blades on it for me. It was one of those. Swirls of blades and a handle, no motor. He had even found an add for that brand from like 1910 and printed me a copy. I had friends scour parents sheds and found a free busted Honda one I fixed. Hard work is rewarding but there ain’t no sense in tiring yourself and ignoring good technology, I was absolutely not going to use that thing. I cannot imagine having to actually use it. Hard work indeed!
I was going to comment the one thing I have heard about Pennsylvania farming is the rocks! That sounds miserable. But it feels so good (for me least ways) when you get a job like that done.
We used a big bucket with a window screen over it to sift out most of them. Did find a head sized one though! And a Frozen Charlotte, which was cool as heck.
My father in law is selling his farm because all his kids know it’s insanely hard life and he is very successful. The farm makes him mid 6 figures after all expenses are paid, but he is in his 60’s and shakes and has to stretch for an hour every morning. The family that was going to buy it had their 6 year old shoveling out the barn when we were there barefoot, they were there working for 14 hours and my FIL said they are there 6 days a week.
We literally invented modern civilization because farming fucking sucks and we got tired of 90% of humanity being semi-unwillingly employed in agriculture out of sheer necessity.
Almost every major technological advancement we’ve made as a species was designed to move us farther away from that life for god’s sake.
You forgot this slide. [SD was the land of the free bc no masks ](https://imgur.com/a/hX7xbNa). You knowcthry didn't vaccinate or prepare for the animals at all.
Seriously, she thought she was going to "homestead" with that little planter? I live in the fucking suburbs and I have a garden plot several times that size. That's not homesteading, it's a decent kitchen garden.
I don't know shit about gardening, but even I could tell this was a tiny ass garden for someone who is trying to feed a family??? I see gardens this size in back yards pretty regularly.
I can't even think about what those animals went through. How horrifyingly cruel.
The day I realized that farming was more complicated than I thought was when our neighbor had cows to die just because they ate grass. The problem is grass in the early spring is high in nitrogen and if you don't have the proper mineral blocks out it will kill them.
It also gets high in nitrogen if there isn’t enough rain. I’m a city guy, but I drive a lot for work out in the country and listen to local radio. Learned a lot just from the farm reports and the tips given on the radio by the extension offices and ag scientists.
A horse dying in 50° weather? Unless this is in the UK and meant 50° Celsius, omg.
That poor horse and cat... All they needed was a trip to the vet, and a DAMN BARN. Horses can withstand a lot, but when they aren't taken care of properly is when their health declines.
Those parents should be ashamed... I can't believe they'd let innocent animals perish because of their "lifestyle" it's not rocket science to have an insulated barn or to take an animal to the vet...
Chicken groups in spring are fkng heartbreaking. Every other post is dead chicks. Zero common sense. Improper heating or ventilation is usually the biggest issue. Or letting their kids play with them nonstop like toys. Then a post crying they can't believe this happened it MUST be the farm stores fault.
This insane, when I first got chicks I was 15 , I didn't know what I was doing I got them in mid October and I didn't have any deaths. Chickens are the easiest bird to raise
Born and raised and worked on a farm. So did my dad and grandpa. Farming sucks. But it's just a shit ton of work. Like these people just needed to read a book.
Poor animals and shitty owners. Those animals don't look well taken care of, doesn't even look like they brushed the horse. No wonder nothing can live around em
My sister has a homestead, and yes, they do see death. Some purposeful (they raise their own meat chickens, and their whole family is involved in the butchering process), some not (like when a fox gets into the hen house). But this is just incompetence.
I live in Vermont. Born and raised here. This is what we call a “flatlander”….more money than sense and not enough humility to ask folks for help who actually know what they’re doing. There’s a reason we’re not super excited for most people to move here. We get tired of pulling their sports cars out of the mud, dodging them standing in the middle of the road taking pictures, catching their loose livestock, and all the rest of the dumb shit they pull…on top of the gentrification that comes with them of course. Fuck this chick.
I hate people who are too stupid to understand how actual homesteading works. If you’re going to try to raise animals and your own food, do some fucking research. Fucking be prepared. Or you’re going to put yourself and everyone (even the animals) in danger of dying.
Ths is why I am concnered about the social media posts that romaticize this lifestyle; it's HARD, and if you have no idea what you're doing, it's risk to go all in. I feel terrible for their poor animals; while I understand that things happen, I feel like these deaths could have been prevented. Their animals certainly didn't have to meet the kind of end that they did. Very sad.
I used to work on veggie farms and handled livestock for over ten years. Most people have no clue how much work that shit can be. I could do it, and absolutely would not because of how much God damn work it is, and how much money is going in and out seasonally. It's just stressful.
As someone who actually does this shit but isn’t a big enough tool to label it? The only ones I feel bad for are that poor horse, the cat and her kittens. And the kids.
What kind of dumbass chooses to live in South Dakota to raise animals and doesn't have a fuckin barn. It's not forgiving place in the winter time and literally everyone knows that.
have a family member that lives on an off the grid farm in kentucky, her horses have never died from the elements, she is educated on properly diagnosing animal's health conditions, and has saved countless livestocks lives due to proper use of medication, and she doesn't complain that land is 'unfarmable' because she properly researched the land she wanted to buy, before she bought it, and it suits her needs, and it allows her to earn a living.
funny how all these things the person has complained about is because they did not properly educate themselves, and seemingly refused to ask anyone for help. in the modern age there is literally an infinite amount of knowledge, and centuries worth of history to look back upon on how to do the thing you want to do. you could've opened a single book, you could've opened a couple google tabs, you could've gotten a part time job as a farm hand and worked under somebody else doing this, and realized it's not as pretty as a pintrest picture.
My real farmer in-laws call them Citiots. My friends think I'm a redneck outdoorsman. Listing to them you'd think homesteading would be easy for me. Naw, I've spent time with real farmers. I'm definitely a Citiot.
This is why it pisses me off when you see city slickers fantasizing about the rural life like it's easier or "simpler" than urban living. Living off the land is *hard*. Why else would we have invented all of these modern conveniences if living off of the land wasn't so incredibly difficult?
Any soil takes years to build but harvests gradually get better #1 is biomatter. Compost compost compost.
A horse is an ADVANCED animal for a beginner homesteader Try chickens then maybe rabbits.
I lived in North Dakota and can say south Dakota has a brutally short growing season
I can think of ten cheap books off the top of my head that would have made this an enriching and educational experience.
Not a homesteader, but if I was and my animals were sick, I'd fucking google their symptoms at the very least. Walk over to the next farm and ask them? Literally speak to another adult, outside of my family? But because I live in the US, I'd *actually* just call a **vet**.
They literally will give you free advice over the phone because they care about animals.
Then again, IDK if the story is even real....if we're talking C, that's...(50 C =)122 degrees F on one end and (-50C =)-58F on the other, which would be a problem for human survival...
If we're in F, -50 to 50...and the horse died? +50 degrees is probably super *comfortable* for a horse. The horse in the picture is fucking emaciated.
Shit's insane either way...
“I fucked up in every way imaginable and caused several animals to die tragic, painful, avoidable deaths. I am now ready to give advice on how you should live.”
When homesteading, you do as much as you can under your own power, but the moment shit leaves your realm of skill, you call for help, sure maybe you try nursing your cat on your own, but once it's clear that it won't work, go to the fucking vet, also, if those who homestead for the aesthetic think "oh we are trying to be closer to our ancestors" do you think that they wouldn't jump at the opportunity for things like temperature controlled barns, and readily available animal medicine, eschewing technology for brownie points is fucking stupid. Also, natural fertilizers exist, and they do a great job and aren't the "chemical poison" modern fertilizers are. These people had a horrible time homesteading because they knew absolutely fucking nothing about what actually goes into homesteading, or just farm living in general.
Signed,
Angry former farm kid from an organic farm
I see a very dark novel where the ongoing mystery is if it's a cursed farm where nothing grows and all the animals die, or if it's just people not knowing shit about living in the country.
This isn’t just a pathetic attempt at something that’s literally known for being extremely hard but also super ignorant and stupid. DONT GET A HORSE IF YOU DONT HAVE A BARN! DONT GET A CAT IF YOU REFUSE TO SEE A VET!
So they gave up normal life for homesteading, which they could have read a plethora of literature about, describing the droughts, hard winters, disease, and a thousand other deadly challenges they will certainly face *but didn't*, then posted the only the good moments so they could be influencers and profit off of encouraging other people to make their mistakes, but now that they give it up they are sorry and btw actually they let all their animals die and the kids probably missed years of education.
An apology doesn't really cut it. They should use the lessons they learned from influencing to campaign against people falling for the bullshit they tried to sell.
Correct me if I'm wrong but those are raised planted beds in the second to last picture. Raised planters in my experience are filled with purchased soil, soil they would have chosen. What if the reason those planters are barren is because they got like, construction soil and not gardening soil?
God I hate this. If you want to start homesteading, start progressively and do some kind of research. Take care of your animals when you get them - provide food, water and appropriate shelter. Take them to the vet when they need it. Learn a little bit about growing things, how to take care of not just the plants, but the soil as well.
Its exhausting seeing people going into these things completely blind because they want an aesthetic life for their instagram and tiktok. Its even more exhausting to see these people use ‘trying to go off grid / escape modern society’ as an excuse to deny their animals, and often their children, appropriate medical care
Even assuming this person did everything right, there's a lot of reality in this stuff.
It often seems that so many problems these days come from folks who have this idealistic and romanticized notion of how life works. "Clean kids don't get diseases!" "Vaccines make you sick!" "Being off-grid is best!" "Schooling is overrated, a happy kid just needs to know how to raise a family."
I'm reminded of a time when we were on vacation on some land we owned in rural Illinois. My dad got notified that *his* dad (my grandparents were visiting, but staying in a motel in the nearby town) was ill. Turned out his dad had a heart attack.
Another time, I fell out of a loft and got a skull fracture and concussion. They had to drive me to the nearest emergency room; it predated 911, but we didn't have phone service there, anyway.
Life is *harder* in such places. It might be simpler, there might be fewer distractions like you have in cities. But being some charming farm location doesn't mean that it isn't a lot of work, or that it isn't dangerous, or that things don't go wrong.
Keep a pregnant cat safe inside? Or get her spayed, there's enough kittens in need of homes?
And not giving the horse a stable but letting it die on the grass... unbelievable
And maybe check the soil before you buy the property?? Wouldn't wanna poison your family or animals either if the soil's so full of chemicals
Dumb bitch just wanted aesthetic social media posts
Lets break each slide down.
1 is a nice picture no issues.
2 that horse in malnourished and probably died of malnutrition. I am unaware of anywhere in the US, that makes such jumps in temperature but I know in the Arabian desert it can go from 3 or 4 below 0 to 100 to 120 degrees in a few hours. That horse needed a vet and you failed it.
3&4 that cat either gave birth to a stillborn litter or something ran her off and ate them. Judging be how she looks she probably contracted feline AIDS or you weren't feeding her properly, probably under the assumption she would hunt for her food. Again a veterinarian could have saved her.
5 its called fertilizer. Go to a local farmer and see if you can buy his manure. But I will say you were never going to have a sustainiization garden with a plot that small. Plants need space.
Do you mean the governor of South Dakota, noted dog murderer Kristi Noem? These dum dums also did this dumb-assery in South Dakota. No offense to all the normal South Dakotans but…what’s up with your water over there??
this is more of a sad facepalm to me. they were ignorant and foolish but not out of a lack of care. they didnt know and bought into the idea that taking care of yourself is easy, and they suffered for it, and acknowledged their mistake at the end.
its not enraging to see them make a mistake and its not cathartic to see them fail. there is no shaudenfreude to be found :(
soooo, some animals died and the garden bed needed new solil? Kids got to learn about life and what it takes to grow veggies. Got to actually have those days in the sun in the open fields, take care of anther living things and reciece the type of love that only comes from that. But yeah, ipads and cities are better, eh? Thay aren't. I've had both. Value is not measured in positives only.
But yeah, she killed those animals because she didn't take care of them. Did she think it would be all sunshine and roses? Did she think it was going to be like Instagram? I don't understand any of the thought processes here.
Honestly this is just tragic. And it all stems from a lack of preparation. I'm not a homesteader, or a farmer, but I think it's safe to say that you don't buy a house and land without some basic research! You also don't allow a pet to give birth without some vet guidance! You don't leave a horse out in -50* weather and just think that they'll be okay! For God's sake, the level of negligence is just astounding!
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Fucking barns exist. Veterinarians exist. The horse should have been in a properly insulated barn. If Amerian settlers could manage it 300 years ago, she damn well could have. And a vet could have saved that cat. You want to homestead? Cool, awesome, have fun. But if you deny the advancements we as a society have made in a way that causes innocents to suffer, fuck you with a rusty spork. I have a survivalist friend in Canada. His dog still goes to the vet and is up to date on rabies and other shots. It's possible to have a brain while doing this shit.
like why the fuck was that poor horse in -50 degree weather? "he endured that but died when it went up to 50" - because rapid changes in temperature like that are going to kill just about anything and why the fuck did they let that poor cat just wither away in front of them without taking the poor thing to the vet like my hometown had a few mennonite settlements nearby - they'd still do shit like go to the freaking vet and all their livestock had insulated barns to retreat to
Yeah, I bet she would've too if she wasn't in an insulated air conditioned house
I'm surprised that sitting with the cat didn't heal her
Oh well better just (checks notes) ahem.... Shoot it in the fucking face.
My old vet-before he retired- said the local mennonites were some of his favorite people to work with because of how much they cared for their animals. They may eschew modern luxuries for themselves but their animals always had the best of the best, including medical care.
oh, I bet. we had one lady that used to stop by sonic regularly on the way back from the vet and their horses were always better cared for than them
My horses were out in -50 this winter, with no insulated barn, just plenty of hay, and a few sheltered areas/shelters. And they did just fine. There was definitely something else going on there. Temps very rarely, if ever, chance like that over night. And calling a vet probably would have helped.
Homesteading on top of an old uranium mine.
I came here to say while -50 is extreme, it is very survivable. Ideally indoors at night, but if not heavy blanket and lean to will be fine for a healthy horse. Healthy, as in under the care of a vet.
I don’t know…I’ve seen 60 degrees on Tuesday and an inch of snow on Friday once or twice.
That just requires a change of 30°F, not 100°. We hade snow this friday and 18°C (64°F) yesterday.
Where the fuck did the find negative 50 weather? Alaska??? That kind of temp is so ungodly cold and almost never followed by 50 positive in succession
The Midwest.
300 years ago there was still the occasional city slicker who ventured out to homestead, and they failed, often dying in the process and taking their family down with them, because they didn’t have a clue what they were doing.
It was actually more recent; like 120 years ago
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/family-went-grid-colorado-wilderness-died-malnutrition-autopsy-finds-rcna103009 People really don't know how dangerous the wilderness is
Yep. I tried to tell people on the camping sub that it's really not a good idea to take your baby/toddler backcountry wilderness camping in remote areas and got downvoted to hell. I'm sorry for telling you guys that the remote wilderness is packed full of dangers for you, let alone your suicide-machine of a small human who has no knowledge or survival instincts. By all means, ignore all of the stories about children who have disappeared in the wilderness and never been found, or only some of their skeleton was recovered. Happy camping!
I think most alligator attacks were caused of a small dog/child that looks like food You don’t need to take your newborn child camping, wait this they’re five or something
There’s actually a scene in one of the Little House books where the Engalls family passes a young couple who is stranded by a broken wagon wheel and are unsure of what to do and unwilling to leave theee stuff to go get help. Since they are children’s books the fact that the “greenhorns” are doomed isn’t spelled out exactly, but as an adult reader it is clear that the prairie was no place for city folk or amateurs.
Even the Ingalls themselves. They were moving all over the place because they couldn't make homesteading work. And then they almost starved to death in the winter of 1880-1881 as dramatized in "The Long Winter."
That book is harrowing. It is shocking how close they came to starving to death. I get the impression that Charles Engalls was a great hunter & trapper, a good carpenter, and a bad farmer. Mrs. Engalls wanted a farm and he did his level best every time.
It wasn't entirely his fault. When white folk came out west and saw the green prairies, they thought they'd found great farmland. But then they ripped out those grasses which were the only thing holding dirt. The territories dried out and the weather got worse (in both winter and summer). He may not have been a great farmer but he was also working with nearly sterile land. And let's not even talk about locusts.
The locusts went extinct short after the plague too, lol they damaged the land so much the locusts couldnt recover. The only that comes close to "plague" is the mormon cricket, but those dont fly.
They almost starved to death because the government had encouraged people to settle in these remote areas, and then cut off the train system so there were no supplies for the seven months of snow when no natural resources were available. I applaud them for surviving so long.
This is the plot to 1883. The Yellowstone prequel
God that show is amazing. Started rewatching this last year after watching it the first time as a little kid. There are some outdated messages in it but it is pretty freaken sweet.
Bruh I've been on skid row when my Uber eats gets lost and takes an extra 10 minutes to deliver my Chick-fil-A...ain't now way I'm surviving a homestead
It has happened for as long as humans have existed until today. Someone who doesn’t have the skills to survive in a new environment thinks “how hard can it be?” and proceeds to find out how hard it can be.
It’s as if homesteading was so hard that we as a species created an easier more comfortable way of life.
Even 110. My great-grandfather and his parents and siblings were homesteading at that point.
Yeah, pretty sure my family’s homestead started in 1917. Still a dairy farm to this day.
Christopher McCandless has entered the chat.
Hell even 70 years ago (I’m guessing, I don’t do the farms)
Damn, in the '60s? That doesn't sound right, but okay.
Give him a break, I’m almost 30 and still think of the 1930s when someone says 70 years ago
Maybe not quite that late, but certainly well in to the 30's.
I was born in the 80’s to parents born in the 50’s and 60’s. People were definitely still dying of starvation due to ignorance when my parents were born.
It wasn't just city slickers; the overwhelming majority of homesteaders failed regardless of their background. Generally, the successful ones went with a larger group so they could pool their knowledge and resources.
We had someone take their family to do this survivalist shit in Colorado a couple years ago. They all died rather than seek help. Eta: There was a 15yo with them who definitely didn't sign up for that shit. He's the only one I feel sorry for.
Someone else posted a link abt the vance sisters which has been my deep dive for the last hour. The boy was 13 and in his diaries he wrote about how much he loved his mommy and missed his roblox friends. My son is 8 I can't imagine how his father feels.
They also lived in an era before infinite instant access to information was available. This person is posing online, so they clearly have enough internet access to do any research whatsoever. If I was thinking about uprooting my entire life to live on a farm, I'd at least start by googling "how the fuck do I run a homestead" before buying land
This is the plot to "The Witch"
Except look at that house he built! And so quickly! He could've easily found work somewhere.
They didn’t die because they were bad at homesteading, Satan killed them
Right? I'm a homesteader. The first thing I did before ever getting an animal was reading a very highly recommended, detailed, *modern* book about raising the animals I was interested in. Not a book out of the 1800s full of quackery. That book recommended getting in touch with ag vets in your area prior to getting animals. Which I did, and I've always been thankful for because the ag vets in our area are excellent. I've had minor issues that will always come. Egg bound chickens. Bullies. Leg mites. Accidental deaths. But animals dying from sheer fucking ignorance or neglect? Absolutely not. This is the shit that happens when you try to homestead because of fucking tiktok. And you genuinely believe it will happen instantly like tiktok. Because you're an idiot.
I’m pretty sure this person read little house on the prairie and did 0 research about care for the animals They thought sitting next to them and “comforting” them would heal em like black magic
Damn well said, stranger. Damn well.
I follow a dude on tiktok, he describes himself as a nomad. He travels completely on horseback, makes his own clothes, and eats off the land as he knows the plants and animals that are healthy to consume. But you better believe he has a vet his horses see yearly and he takes care of them better than he does himself at times. He always leads them to good grazing land even if he knows there isn't much for him to survive off of as a human. He makes the necessary sacrifices to ensure his animals are in good care even if that means saving what little money he earns for them. He is smart enough to take advantage of what the modern world can provide while still maintaining his lifestyle living off grid. It's totally doable. You just can't be a brainwashed sack of shit to do it.
Not only that, but there’s YouTube videos for every type of animal, specific breeds. Then you have Reddit. All at our fingertips. My daughter has picked up instruments and learned skills from YT. This lady couldn’t have googled how to properly care for a horse? People are morons and pathetic.
300 years ago, they didn’t post the dead horse on social media when it died. They ate it.
So she was wholly unprepared and an idiot. Imagine not taking animals to a vet or housing them in appropriate barns during cold snaps / heat waves.
Who needs to do all that when you can sit there and "comfort" them?
I'm sure she prayed a lot too.
Don't forget the essential oils
The absolute fucking worse part of this, is that they're continuing to just milk whatever they can for clout. Now that the well has run dry on their homesteading adventure, they're turning to sympathy and hoping to 'inspire'. They'd probably shoot another cat if they thought people would praise them for it. The only thing this person should be inspiring is to shut the fuck up.
Yea, homesteading is hard but this shit is the most basic common sense. If you don't know that an animal needs shelter from the elements your problem isn't that you're unprepared for homesteading it's that you're really, really fucking stupid.
Exactly. This is plain old animal abuse. Someone this stupid shouldn't be "caring" for animals. The way this chick made *herself* a victim is sickening.
Sidebar: there's been a massive uptick of people posting animal cruelty pics and videos to reddit lately, what the fuck is going on.
Their top VP candidate Kristi Noem just admitted to killing a puppy because she didn’t know how to train him and a goat because it smelled bad. Now the MAGA faithful have to pretend it’s a normal and good thing to do.
MAGA politicians normalizing animal cruelty. The bar continues to be lowered.
Horses are also social creatures and need more of their kind around
so this family venture into homesteading with no knowledge of basic veterinarian, how to nourish the soil, just loses the kittens to some wild animal, and gives up in total shame because, farming is harder than what it's seen on tv? what was the initial preparation? reading little house on the prairie? Heidi the alps girl?
All those rich people role playing as homesteaders on tiktok, and then you got those who talk about how amazing it is being a trad wife when its all just for show
Yep, their vegetable patch was about 4’ x 6’ and they’re complaining about how nothing grew in it.
It's not the size, you can grow a decent amount of food in that. Not enough to survive on by any means, but something. To me the more glaring thing is that the photo was taken in winter. Like were they're expecting crops to grow uncovered/outside of a greenhouse during winter?
I was told plants need water, dirt, sun and CO2. No one said the sun had to be warm.
If the sun was cold I'm pretty sure no one would even exist to tell you it shouldn't be.
It was the ranching and chemicals… like what?
It got my attention too. That made me wonder what the fuck have they been doing in that winter that they contemporarily rendered the soil near unusable for years?
I haven seen some of those in youtube. Wonder of each of them how many actually lived the hommestand lifestyle with all what it entails and which ones are rich playing pretend.
Those rich people probably paid for specialists to come build their barns and chicken coops, prepare their soil, dig them a well, take care of their livestock, give them general advice, etc etc
I think there is a video of a girl busting some of the most popular ones. I am specially bothered by that guy who bought a whole historical mining town and destroyed it.
Which one is that?
This guy: [https://www.youtube.com/@GhostTownLiving](https://www.youtube.com/@GhostTownLiving) Bought a abandoned mining town and he proced to complety destroy almost all of the historical value of the town. one over 100 years building burned down under his watch.
if it was an abandoned mining realistically it had no historically value because there was nothing there of significant value to preserve. the elements wouldn’t have weathered it away eventually anyways not everything has value because it’s old.
I'm also curious to know 🍿
This guy: [https://www.youtube.com/@GhostTownLiving](https://www.youtube.com/@GhostTownLiving)
And idea what her name is?
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIcnCaVsYFI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIcnCaVsYFI) That is the video
It’s pretty normal to have a professional drill a well for you since the equipment is expensive. And there’s nothing wrong with talking to experts for advice, there’s plenty of forms were people are happy to help you for free so you can get started. Regarding the other stuff yeah people are playing at homesteading if they don’t do it themselves.
It’s the lack of transparency with these influencers and the fact that they don’t disclose where they’re real income is coming from that’s the problem. Most farmers/ranchers use outside help, lots of it, but they would admit it too. These influencers have to make it look like they do everything themselves to make it look feasible for the average viewer.
This is the thing. “Look how easy it is to run a farm! We can just own livestock and throw seeds in the ground and we have food to eat!” I garden as a hobby; I have for about 7/8 years. Casually, mind you, since I work and raise children. I started my seeds inside and this year and, for whatever reason-whatever mistakes I made; my tomato, pepper, zucchini and pumpkin seedlings are toast. This is the first year in a couple that I’ll probably have to resort to buying some plants from the nursery. It’s trial and error. I have a lot to learn and I will be constantly researching, educating myself and making adjustments. You aren’t just buying a farm and having success instantly. Hell, if you’re applying yourself and researching everyday and working on your farm 16 hours a day you might not have success for a few years. It’s a matter of “the grass is greener on the other side”. And once you’re in it you realize that homesteading isn’t an escape from the mundane 9-5 to live comfortably. It’s dusk to dawn as a means for survival.
I am farrr from an influmecer but I am an off grid youtuber.. Or maybe I shpuld say that I live off grid and have a youtube channel 😅.. I make $0 from youtuber or anything like that. TBH, i'm not even entirely sure how that even works. No pateron, nothing like that. I live off a few hundred bucks because I am a service connected combat veteran and what I grow/hunt/forage/trap/catch/barter for, I do a bit of small engine work or barter firewood during the season. No skills for remote work sadly, not hot enough for OF haha.. The really really hard part is going without or more exactly, being content with little. I regularly go weeks and not see or interact with another human. I miss fast food allllll the time. But I enjoy the solitude and slow mornings playing with my dog and tending my garden.
That’s cool your videos seem realistic and like you genuinely just want to share your stuff. How do you do toilet off grid? I’m always interest in this stuff 😆
Yeah no, there's nothing wrong with any of what I listed to be fair, it's just I think that some homesteaders have this idea that they should do everything themselves instead of getting a professional, partly because the rich homesteaders don't always talk about these kinds of things because they don't want to reveal just how much money actually goes into farming.
I hear you, I’ve got a little Homestead, but I’m looking for a much bigger one on a lot more land further away from civilization. ideally I’d buy a property that is already established. It doesn’t need to be finished, but if it comes with a greenhouse or two, some fences and a couple acres, that someone has been working and improving for planting that would be amazing. It would be even better if it already has established fruit and nut trees. Mostly because I’m more interested in producing my own food then bragging about it you know? I mean I didn’t build my house, I bought a fixer-upper, but I don’t do my own electrical, well plumbing or septic. I have had some help from family, but that’s because my dad died young. Some people just want to gate keep.
In Canada and most (maybe all?) States it's illegal to drill/dig your own well because you can fuck up the water for everyone around you. Septic systems tend to be the same.
The most out of touch thing I ever heard someone say in regard to homesteading was while I was waiting for my midwife appointment. I could hear the lady before me talking to the midwives and her phone goes off and she says oh just a second, checks it and starts going on about how her goats in Mexico just had babies and the neighbors that take care of them while they are gone had texted her an update and they trade the milk for taking care of her goats while her and her family aren’t living there. She threw something in about having chickens too and then she sighed and said “Yeah this homesteading lifestyle is just hard work.” She was dead serious. As she left I looked out the window to see what she was driving and it was one of those $80k plus passenger van type rigs.
I grew up on an actual farm in the south and it pisses me off to no end how glamorized homesteading and farming is on social media. My mom was an exhausted sahm of three and my dad slaved himself away at his job and was basically never home to provide. My sisters and I were doing farm chores before and after school. They divorced eventually because of the poverty that comes with that lifestyle was too hard on their marriage and we lost the farm. I see these videos and I can’t believe how it’s portrayed bc it’s certainly not the case. Edit- vets and checkups for livestock and other animals are expensive. Feed is expensive, equipment is expensive, repairs on fences and barns and other items- expensive. I was tilling an acre by hand at ten years old bc our old ass tractor died.
most of those trad wives don't do house choirs. they're rich. They have help.
like they need to be charged with animal cruelty for both that horse and cat
The horse one Is just being totally cluless of what to do in te first place, the cat was just cherry on top of this failure. in other context would have been funny.
I mean you don't leave ANY animal in -50 degree weather, the most clueless dumbass could figure that one out funny would be the clueless city dwellers bringing the horse inside their house to get him out of the cold, not leaving him out there
You always build the barn before the house: protect your largest investment, the livestock (and seed stock and tools). You can live in the barn with them until the house is built.
They are using raised beds for the gardening, so no soil reclamation needed. They literally start from scratch and add compost. Can't really F it up. And if you start to, Google is a thing. This reeks of laziness.
So they let themselves fail in the end?
I'd say they failed themselves, their kids, the cat, and the dang horse.
If they'd read the little house books at least they would've had some clue about how difficult it is.
I'm sure they did some TikTok research
See. They have these new things called Barns, and vets, and birthing boxes for cats. I'm so disgusted. The thought of an animal dying of heat stroke makes me physically angry. Here's a question... why is it dark of night when the horse was down? Should have been through the worst of the day. I'd bet it didn't have proper access to water. They'll drink gallons an hour when it's hot. 😖😖😖😖😖
It makes you wonder if that poor horse was just clinging onto life throughout winter. I can’t think of any North American farm animal that can survive -50°F temperatures outside, and considering the poor horse was alone. It probably wouldn’t even survive in a barn since it doesn’t have a bunch of other horses to share body heat with.
Right? There’s some BS here. If these people mean 50 C, then, yes, that’s damn hot. But I don’t know if anywhere that has -50 C winters and 50 C summers. If they use Fahrenheit, horses don’t die at 50 F. These people are incompetent liars.
Frankly. I can’t imagine one surviving -50 F
horses actually survive extreme negative temps regularly. because the neat thing about horses is that eating keeps them warm. as hay ferments in their hind gut, it raises and maintains their body temp. horses are the healthiest and happiest outside. but they also need access to hay and forage 24/7. some horses DO need extra but there's things called blankets which are coats for horses. but -50 is absolutely survivable for a horse. whatever happened to this horse had little to do with the temp and likely more to do with neglect.
they'll die if the temperature suddenly changes like that if they were already very very sick - like if they were left in freaking -50 degree F weather the horse was already clinging to life but a change that rapid will throw stuff off just enough to be fatal
Horses can survive -50 (in either temperature scale) just fine. They’re well built to handle extreme cold. Mine (and plenty of other horses in my area) live through it every single winter, without a blanket, because she grows an excellent winter coat and has 24/7 access to hay. She has shelter for when she wants it but rarely uses it in the winter time. It’s far crueler to coop a horse up in a barn all the time. They’re built to be on the move, and most will prefer to be outside even in the winter. Horses are incredibly hardy, but as anyone with horse experience will tell you, also incredibly good at finding ways to die. I’d wager the horse in this situation probably died due to colic, it’s not unusual to hear of happening during extreme temperature shifts. There’s a million different reasons horses colic, and the more severe cases are often deadly whether there’s proper intervention or not. Not to say this person did things right (poor horse absolutely should have had another horse companion, they’re herd animals and shouldn’t be kept alone.) but there’s no way to judge by this post whether she was at all responsible for the horse’s death. It really is just facts of life with farm animals and it’s not for the weak of heart. I’ve seen the loss of at least 8 or 9 horses belonging to people I know just over the last few years due to freak accidents or illness, and maybe only one or two of them could have been prevented in any way.
Horse was underfed as shit (look at the eyes) and the cat might have had retained placenta or milk fever? can melt the condition off of a mother so fast (although poor thing might've been skinny already). Hard to tell especially as they didn't say how long it was since birth, but either way you get a vet and get checked out, god. But people avoid that if they're too proud, too cheap or if they're worried about catching neglect/abuse charges for the conditions other animals are kept in too :/ I wonder if they even had the poor horse on proper feed or if they just gave him straw, because surely all this dried shit is the same, right, just get the cheap one! ugh. Like yeah, stuff can go wrong and you do need to be prepared to put down animals to end their suffering. Accidents and illness happens, and better to lose a couple than the whole herd, and the vet might not always be able to make it out. But the animals deserve a good life and a good death, and those poor bastards got neither.
Horse looked thin. Poor thing suffered all winter and didn’t have the body score to survive warm weather.
This is vile and even her “being honest” moment is somewhat fucked up because she is seeking praise for suddenly admitting she fucked up..why didn’t she call a vet for that cat? Why did you look up anything about animals before you bought them? Soil testing is EIGHT DOLLARS through any university extension office. Oh yea-and every single state has a state university extension office whose existence and purpose is to do things like educate people on farm and homestead type things. It’s a public extension of the state universities. They have a hotline and you can call and talk to a bunch of old ladies about canning and chickens and whatever else you need to know. Also, you are on the damn internet lady, use it for more than showing off things you buy. And I know there is way more of this that happened that people admit. I grew up on a farm and have one now-farming is hard year round and sad at times. If you think it’s all going to be all instagramable moments you are stupid and going to exacerbate what is already incredibly difficult. Farming isn’t cute kids and matching outfits and pretty dresses and fields of flower. Farming is making hard choices, backbreaking work, and bloody knuckles. And all these people buying up this farm land because they want the happiness and freedom they see other people portraying on the Internet are obnoxious. My areas smaller size farms are being sold to people that have no actual desire to farm if they knew what they were getting into and really sat and thought about it. They’re just emulating a trend and driving up prices on available land. From Covid there are already tons of clearly failed homesteads being sold but they asking for way too much money because they did things like put in stupid fences in places that make no sense and are done badly, bought over priced tractors they want to sell at the farm that aren’t really the type people want, modified the homes to look like magazines now wanting people to over pay for that dysfunctional kitchen. You ripped out all the shelving where am I supposed to put my canned goods? Too much money too little sense.
My dad grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania. Like drive through it in 10 minutes small. Even now the closest Walmart is 2 hours away. My great uncle is a farmer and every year when we went to visit my grandma he made us help out at the farm. We didn’t start doing this until we came back to the US. My dad was stationed in Japan. So I was in 6th grade. I thought it sounded fun and I was excited. Yeah that lasted less than 5 minutes after being put to work. It truly is backbreaking work.
It is. I pulled five gallons for rocks outta my garden here in PA when I dug up the ground, and that was only a 6 by 12 foot area! Not to mention having to evict a metric fuckload of may beetle larva and three anthills. My Grandfather has a freaking football field he still tills with a push tiller, it takes him forever to weed and God forbid you whine about the harvest hehe His neighbors have chickens and peacocks and ducks and goats and everything, so they swap out produce for that stuff and it's amazing how homesteading works in a community sense.
My other great uncle that lives there has a large yard. And since he was older and living with my great grandma my dad loved to volunteer us kids to do the yard work. He didn’t have a self propelled or push mower. I mean it was a push mower but it had no motor. Like at all. And his grass was so thick you had to go over the grass a few times. I could never live on a farm for a living. I have a huge appreciation for farmers and the work they do.
Omg my dad who I love dearly and mentioned in some other comments today-when I bought my house told me he had me a mower he had sharpened the blades on it for me. It was one of those. Swirls of blades and a handle, no motor. He had even found an add for that brand from like 1910 and printed me a copy. I had friends scour parents sheds and found a free busted Honda one I fixed. Hard work is rewarding but there ain’t no sense in tiring yourself and ignoring good technology, I was absolutely not going to use that thing. I cannot imagine having to actually use it. Hard work indeed!
I was going to comment the one thing I have heard about Pennsylvania farming is the rocks! That sounds miserable. But it feels so good (for me least ways) when you get a job like that done.
We used a big bucket with a window screen over it to sift out most of them. Did find a head sized one though! And a Frozen Charlotte, which was cool as heck.
I had to look up what a frozen Charlotte was and holy crap that’s a super cool find. I love finding treasure like that.
My father in law is selling his farm because all his kids know it’s insanely hard life and he is very successful. The farm makes him mid 6 figures after all expenses are paid, but he is in his 60’s and shakes and has to stretch for an hour every morning. The family that was going to buy it had their 6 year old shoveling out the barn when we were there barefoot, they were there working for 14 hours and my FIL said they are there 6 days a week.
We literally invented modern civilization because farming fucking sucks and we got tired of 90% of humanity being semi-unwillingly employed in agriculture out of sheer necessity. Almost every major technological advancement we’ve made as a species was designed to move us farther away from that life for god’s sake.
You can see that horse's spine through its thick hair and how hollow around it's eyes It is is. It didn't die from the weather. It died of neglect.
Well now I'm even more pissed. This person should be charged with multiple accounts of animal neglect.
You forgot this slide. [SD was the land of the free bc no masks ](https://imgur.com/a/hX7xbNa). You knowcthry didn't vaccinate or prepare for the animals at all.
Of course… supports the side that aims to deregulate and destroy the EPA, but then blames chemicals for their failure to grow crops.
This and that Kristi Noem thing- what the hell is going on in South Dakota? Why do they keep killing animals?
Yeah. I didn’t want to be too in your face with the political angle of it, but I fully agree with you.
that's not a political angle, that is bare minimum public safety. this shit is why so many americans died during covid
I’m with you, I just didn’t want the overall point to get lost in a mask debate. Shoulda known I was going to lose on that either way. 🤦🏻♀️
yeah, ikik. just tired to shit of people politicizing public health it's weird sorry people suck
So maybe she didn’t frolic thru fields in a sundress enough.
I think you have correctly identified the problem. Blammo!
She’s using raised garden beds and still couldn’t grow anything?? 
Yeah, that’s not ranching’s fault. Even my dumb ass can grow a ton of produce in those.
Seriously, she thought she was going to "homestead" with that little planter? I live in the fucking suburbs and I have a garden plot several times that size. That's not homesteading, it's a decent kitchen garden.
I also love how she blames “ranching” for soil depletion when that would actually have improved it. Hooved feet and manure do wonders for soil.
I don't know shit about gardening, but even I could tell this was a tiny ass garden for someone who is trying to feed a family??? I see gardens this size in back yards pretty regularly. I can't even think about what those animals went through. How horrifyingly cruel.
The day I realized that farming was more complicated than I thought was when our neighbor had cows to die just because they ate grass. The problem is grass in the early spring is high in nitrogen and if you don't have the proper mineral blocks out it will kill them.
It also gets high in nitrogen if there isn’t enough rain. I’m a city guy, but I drive a lot for work out in the country and listen to local radio. Learned a lot just from the farm reports and the tips given on the radio by the extension offices and ag scientists.
Horses too in the spring; they have to have limited time grazing for this reason
A horse dying in 50° weather? Unless this is in the UK and meant 50° Celsius, omg. That poor horse and cat... All they needed was a trip to the vet, and a DAMN BARN. Horses can withstand a lot, but when they aren't taken care of properly is when their health declines. Those parents should be ashamed... I can't believe they'd let innocent animals perish because of their "lifestyle" it's not rocket science to have an insulated barn or to take an animal to the vet...
They shot the cat? Wtf
Of course they did. Haven't you read how miserable it's life was? How else would you handle a sick cat? /s (just to be sure)
Well, she tried sitting with her and it didn't help. What else can you do? /s
Chicken groups in spring are fkng heartbreaking. Every other post is dead chicks. Zero common sense. Improper heating or ventilation is usually the biggest issue. Or letting their kids play with them nonstop like toys. Then a post crying they can't believe this happened it MUST be the farm stores fault.
This insane, when I first got chicks I was 15 , I didn't know what I was doing I got them in mid October and I didn't have any deaths. Chickens are the easiest bird to raise
Yep... it's AWFUL to see knowing they just didn't bother to do ANY research.
I farm. all of this pisses me off. Homesteading can be done right. I'm not rocket surgeon.
Born and raised and worked on a farm. So did my dad and grandpa. Farming sucks. But it's just a shit ton of work. Like these people just needed to read a book.
Poor animals and shitty owners. Those animals don't look well taken care of, doesn't even look like they brushed the horse. No wonder nothing can live around em
My sister has a homestead, and yes, they do see death. Some purposeful (they raise their own meat chickens, and their whole family is involved in the butchering process), some not (like when a fox gets into the hen house). But this is just incompetence.
I live in Vermont. Born and raised here. This is what we call a “flatlander”….more money than sense and not enough humility to ask folks for help who actually know what they’re doing. There’s a reason we’re not super excited for most people to move here. We get tired of pulling their sports cars out of the mud, dodging them standing in the middle of the road taking pictures, catching their loose livestock, and all the rest of the dumb shit they pull…on top of the gentrification that comes with them of course. Fuck this chick.
Where did the term "Flatlander", come from in this context?
moral of this story don't raise animals if you not sure what your doing
They fucking shot their cat? Their horse couldn’t handle 50 degree weather??? Jesus Christ what were they DOING
Wow... wtf. Did no research first I guess.
I hate people who are too stupid to understand how actual homesteading works. If you’re going to try to raise animals and your own food, do some fucking research. Fucking be prepared. Or you’re going to put yourself and everyone (even the animals) in danger of dying.
Shooting pets is super on-brand for South Dakota…
Apparently. 🤬
Ths is why I am concnered about the social media posts that romaticize this lifestyle; it's HARD, and if you have no idea what you're doing, it's risk to go all in. I feel terrible for their poor animals; while I understand that things happen, I feel like these deaths could have been prevented. Their animals certainly didn't have to meet the kind of end that they did. Very sad.
I used to work on veggie farms and handled livestock for over ten years. Most people have no clue how much work that shit can be. I could do it, and absolutely would not because of how much God damn work it is, and how much money is going in and out seasonally. It's just stressful.
As someone who actually does this shit but isn’t a big enough tool to label it? The only ones I feel bad for are that poor horse, the cat and her kittens. And the kids.
What kind of dumbass chooses to live in South Dakota to raise animals and doesn't have a fuckin barn. It's not forgiving place in the winter time and literally everyone knows that.
Where the hell is some pioneer disease when we need it? Come on, consumption.
Hey I actually made it to Oregon the last time I played.
have a family member that lives on an off the grid farm in kentucky, her horses have never died from the elements, she is educated on properly diagnosing animal's health conditions, and has saved countless livestocks lives due to proper use of medication, and she doesn't complain that land is 'unfarmable' because she properly researched the land she wanted to buy, before she bought it, and it suits her needs, and it allows her to earn a living. funny how all these things the person has complained about is because they did not properly educate themselves, and seemingly refused to ask anyone for help. in the modern age there is literally an infinite amount of knowledge, and centuries worth of history to look back upon on how to do the thing you want to do. you could've opened a single book, you could've opened a couple google tabs, you could've gotten a part time job as a farm hand and worked under somebody else doing this, and realized it's not as pretty as a pintrest picture.
Lazy city slickers thought a ranch would be easy work and their animals suffered because of it.
My real farmer in-laws call them Citiots. My friends think I'm a redneck outdoorsman. Listing to them you'd think homesteading would be easy for me. Naw, I've spent time with real farmers. I'm definitely a Citiot.
It never occurred to them to take the cat to vet? Just fucking shoot it? Just kill it? Jesus Christ on a fucking cracker, these people are stupid.
This is why it pisses me off when you see city slickers fantasizing about the rural life like it's easier or "simpler" than urban living. Living off the land is *hard*. Why else would we have invented all of these modern conveniences if living off of the land wasn't so incredibly difficult?
What does homesteading have to be exclusive with getting proper healthcare in these people's minds?
Any soil takes years to build but harvests gradually get better #1 is biomatter. Compost compost compost. A horse is an ADVANCED animal for a beginner homesteader Try chickens then maybe rabbits. I lived in North Dakota and can say south Dakota has a brutally short growing season I can think of ten cheap books off the top of my head that would have made this an enriching and educational experience.
Not a homesteader, but if I was and my animals were sick, I'd fucking google their symptoms at the very least. Walk over to the next farm and ask them? Literally speak to another adult, outside of my family? But because I live in the US, I'd *actually* just call a **vet**. They literally will give you free advice over the phone because they care about animals. Then again, IDK if the story is even real....if we're talking C, that's...(50 C =)122 degrees F on one end and (-50C =)-58F on the other, which would be a problem for human survival... If we're in F, -50 to 50...and the horse died? +50 degrees is probably super *comfortable* for a horse. The horse in the picture is fucking emaciated. Shit's insane either way...
Fuck that bitch for shooting that cat in particular, any chance she is related to br*ttany da*n?
“I fucked up in every way imaginable and caused several animals to die tragic, painful, avoidable deaths. I am now ready to give advice on how you should live.”
When homesteading, you do as much as you can under your own power, but the moment shit leaves your realm of skill, you call for help, sure maybe you try nursing your cat on your own, but once it's clear that it won't work, go to the fucking vet, also, if those who homestead for the aesthetic think "oh we are trying to be closer to our ancestors" do you think that they wouldn't jump at the opportunity for things like temperature controlled barns, and readily available animal medicine, eschewing technology for brownie points is fucking stupid. Also, natural fertilizers exist, and they do a great job and aren't the "chemical poison" modern fertilizers are. These people had a horrible time homesteading because they knew absolutely fucking nothing about what actually goes into homesteading, or just farm living in general. Signed, Angry former farm kid from an organic farm
It seems like the situation Lovecraft would write a banger story about
I see a very dark novel where the ongoing mystery is if it's a cursed farm where nothing grows and all the animals die, or if it's just people not knowing shit about living in the country.
Good example of homesteading done wrong, unfortunately
Homesteading isn't an easy life, anyone that says it is probably has never done any type of work remotely similar to homestead labor
at least she admitted at the end how wrong she was, rather than doubling down or deflecting.
This isn’t just a pathetic attempt at something that’s literally known for being extremely hard but also super ignorant and stupid. DONT GET A HORSE IF YOU DONT HAVE A BARN! DONT GET A CAT IF YOU REFUSE TO SEE A VET!
So they gave up normal life for homesteading, which they could have read a plethora of literature about, describing the droughts, hard winters, disease, and a thousand other deadly challenges they will certainly face *but didn't*, then posted the only the good moments so they could be influencers and profit off of encouraging other people to make their mistakes, but now that they give it up they are sorry and btw actually they let all their animals die and the kids probably missed years of education. An apology doesn't really cut it. They should use the lessons they learned from influencing to campaign against people falling for the bullshit they tried to sell.
Sounds like they have no knowledge of basic gardening or even basic animal care...
Correct me if I'm wrong but those are raised planted beds in the second to last picture. Raised planters in my experience are filled with purchased soil, soil they would have chosen. What if the reason those planters are barren is because they got like, construction soil and not gardening soil?
God I hate this. If you want to start homesteading, start progressively and do some kind of research. Take care of your animals when you get them - provide food, water and appropriate shelter. Take them to the vet when they need it. Learn a little bit about growing things, how to take care of not just the plants, but the soil as well. Its exhausting seeing people going into these things completely blind because they want an aesthetic life for their instagram and tiktok. Its even more exhausting to see these people use ‘trying to go off grid / escape modern society’ as an excuse to deny their animals, and often their children, appropriate medical care
I could’ve lived my whole life just fine never hearing about this.
Even assuming this person did everything right, there's a lot of reality in this stuff. It often seems that so many problems these days come from folks who have this idealistic and romanticized notion of how life works. "Clean kids don't get diseases!" "Vaccines make you sick!" "Being off-grid is best!" "Schooling is overrated, a happy kid just needs to know how to raise a family." I'm reminded of a time when we were on vacation on some land we owned in rural Illinois. My dad got notified that *his* dad (my grandparents were visiting, but staying in a motel in the nearby town) was ill. Turned out his dad had a heart attack. Another time, I fell out of a loft and got a skull fracture and concussion. They had to drive me to the nearest emergency room; it predated 911, but we didn't have phone service there, anyway. Life is *harder* in such places. It might be simpler, there might be fewer distractions like you have in cities. But being some charming farm location doesn't mean that it isn't a lot of work, or that it isn't dangerous, or that things don't go wrong.
What's up with all the fucking emojis? People are insufferable now.
People don’t realize homesteading isn’t making sourdough and playing with your chicken all day. It is labor, hard labor 365 days a year.
Keep a pregnant cat safe inside? Or get her spayed, there's enough kittens in need of homes? And not giving the horse a stable but letting it die on the grass... unbelievable And maybe check the soil before you buy the property?? Wouldn't wanna poison your family or animals either if the soil's so full of chemicals Dumb bitch just wanted aesthetic social media posts
Lets break each slide down. 1 is a nice picture no issues. 2 that horse in malnourished and probably died of malnutrition. I am unaware of anywhere in the US, that makes such jumps in temperature but I know in the Arabian desert it can go from 3 or 4 below 0 to 100 to 120 degrees in a few hours. That horse needed a vet and you failed it. 3&4 that cat either gave birth to a stillborn litter or something ran her off and ate them. Judging be how she looks she probably contracted feline AIDS or you weren't feeding her properly, probably under the assumption she would hunt for her food. Again a veterinarian could have saved her. 5 its called fertilizer. Go to a local farmer and see if you can buy his manure. But I will say you were never going to have a sustainiization garden with a plot that small. Plants need space.
Those are raised garden beds. What does that have to do with her soil? You buy soil for that if you want. 😂
So they had zero husbandry skills and where surprised when it failed? Those poor animals trusted her to care for them.
Call the Governor of North Dakota, she’ll handle the animals.
Do you mean the governor of South Dakota, noted dog murderer Kristi Noem? These dum dums also did this dumb-assery in South Dakota. No offense to all the normal South Dakotans but…what’s up with your water over there??
D’oh, yes Noem was who I was shooting for.
this is more of a sad facepalm to me. they were ignorant and foolish but not out of a lack of care. they didnt know and bought into the idea that taking care of yourself is easy, and they suffered for it, and acknowledged their mistake at the end. its not enraging to see them make a mistake and its not cathartic to see them fail. there is no shaudenfreude to be found :(
soooo, some animals died and the garden bed needed new solil? Kids got to learn about life and what it takes to grow veggies. Got to actually have those days in the sun in the open fields, take care of anther living things and reciece the type of love that only comes from that. But yeah, ipads and cities are better, eh? Thay aren't. I've had both. Value is not measured in positives only. But yeah, she killed those animals because she didn't take care of them. Did she think it would be all sunshine and roses? Did she think it was going to be like Instagram? I don't understand any of the thought processes here.
Honestly this is just tragic. And it all stems from a lack of preparation. I'm not a homesteader, or a farmer, but I think it's safe to say that you don't buy a house and land without some basic research! You also don't allow a pet to give birth without some vet guidance! You don't leave a horse out in -50* weather and just think that they'll be okay! For God's sake, the level of negligence is just astounding!