Uncle Levi

From time to time I have mentioned my Uncle Levi, and I have no doubt I will mention him again . That being the case I thought I'd share some of his wisdom here on it's own thread, filed under " for what it's worth.
I guarantee it will be applicable.
My Uncle Levi was the primary male figure in my life as a child and young man. He taught me how to hunt, how to respect, use, and care for my firearms. He taught me how to fish, trap, make a camp ( hot and cold) and generaly how to use the wilderness but also to respect it.
Maybe one of the most important things he taught me, was unintentional, and he couldn't have spelled it, nor probably pronounced it. He inadvertantly taught me how to establish and maintain an ecosphere, although in his day it was called a homested.
He lived for most of his life on 10 acres of land. On his 10 acres he raised a garden for his home,a little livestock and enough grain and corn to feed his stock.
This doesn't sound too remarkable on the surface, but the pragmatic wisdom of his methods is what is pertinent here.
Every year he bought 2 beef calves and two young hogs. he raised the calves and hogs all year until they were grown, using grain, corn and houshold " slop". At the end of the year he would sell one calf for cash and butchering on the second calf. The cash he put aside to buy the next years calves. Same thing for the hogs, he sold one for butchering, and cash. In this way he always had a freezer full of beef and pork.
The surpluse grain and corn he would sell for next years seed stock.
He had 12 chickens and one old ornery rooster. They were free to roam the yard and scavenge, but primarily were fed from the garden or grain he grew.
His reasoning on the chickens was 6-8 for eggs,4-6 for the kitchen.
The only livestock he owned with a guranteed life expectancy was one dairy cow, that he kept for fresh milk and butter.
Many have asked and discussed how much land or how much stock to set up a sustainable homested.
Thats what caused me to tell ya'll about my Uncle Levi
Mods feel free to move this thread if you think there's a better spot for it.
Ps. My Uncle Levi never seen a computer in his life. I think he would have a good laugh about his nephew sharing his thinking with people scattered all over the world. If ya have any questions feel free to ask.

People are always talking about "going green", "reducing their carbon footprint", etc.

I think your uncle had it just about perfect. He probably didn't have more than 1/2 a bag of garbage per week... if anyone even came to pick it up. Truely living in a sustainable manner in harmony with nature. If everyone lived a little bit more like your uncle, I think this world would be a lot better off.

reply to post by Yarcofin

LOL yes my uncle would have been amused by people just now figuring out the " waste not want not" psychology.
Your right, he detested throwing anything away.
I remember one summer he offerd me a " job" helping him put a new roof on his chicken coop.
He took me out to a shed he had and when he opened the door it was stacked floor to cieling with cans.
My task was to cut the bottom out of the cans, then cut them up one side and flatten them out.
He then took the cans i had flattened and shingled the roof of his chicken coop. He also had me save all the can bottoms i had cut out in a box. These he had othe uses for. Some he would bend into a V shape and use to make a spout when tapping maple trees for sap to make maple syrup.
Others he would punch a hole in, and tie a short piece of string to, which were then strung on a much longer piece of string. He would then tie two or three of these long strings above his garden so that the danggling can tops would catch the breeze and scare away birds from his garden.
My uncle and I never had any deep philosophical talks about these things. For him it was just simple logic to use what he had before wishing for things that he didn't have.