The Walden Effect: Farming, simple living, permaculture, and invention.

Homesteading without a dog

Groundhog eating squash

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...

Comment by adrianne Tue Sep 26 08:29:13 2017

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! :)

Comment by Eric Tue Sep 26 12:34:42 2017

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.

Comment by Nayan Tue Sep 26 16:18:22 2017
You cannot imagine how many critters will want to take up residence when you don't have a dog on the place. We've lived on our 5 acres for 30 years. We've had a dog all those years except for one summer after our German Shepherd died. We were trapping and disposing of coons, possums, a stray cat etc. all summer long. A ground hog tunneled under our house and made a den under the car port. That was it! we got another dog as soon as we found a suitable one for us.
Comment by Nancy Wed Sep 27 16:08:11 2017





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