5 Homestead Must Haves -

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Let’s go beyond the regular list of handy things to keep on your small farm. These are my top 5 homestead must haves.

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Handy Tool for the Homestead in General

Walkie Talkies

I’m sure many homesteaders out there struggle like we do to deal with crappy cell service. As a matter of fact, I had to switch cell companies when we moved here because my phone was completely useless.

Throw in some metal farm buildings to interfere with reception, and cells can be a problem.

About a year into our homestead life, my husband got us a pair of walkie-talkies.

They are nothing fancy, but they get good range and have a call button. I think these are standard features on most walkie-talkies.

If I need to fix fencing I can have him at the charger, plugging and unplugging the electric.

Say there is a weird noise outside that needs investigating at 2:00 a.m. I can send him out with one and I can sit safely in bed, me keeping warm and him comforted that he’s not alone out in the dark with some mystery creature.

It also comes in handy when my mom visits and babysits the toddler. I can cruise around getting farm work done and she can reach me easily.

If you have a larger family, you can get several walkie talkies and even your youngsters an carry them around during farm chores or play time.

The only con of a walkie-talkie is the size. They are bulky and a little obnoxious but they come in very handy.

walkie talkies for farms rough and tumble farmhouse

Homestead Kitchen

Let’s move our top 5 homestead must haves into the true heart of any homestead, the kitchen.

Silicone Coated Oven Mitts

I got a pair of silicone-coated oven mitts as a wedding present and I LOVE these things. They fit well and block heat much better than a standard cloth mitt.

Additionally, they are so nice to have when canning.

When it comes time to fish the rack handles of a hot water bath canner out of the boiling water, you can put on the mitts and reach right in. Heck, if the jars are regular mouth you can even lift the jars out with the mitts.

Silicone-coated oven mitts are also very easy to clean. Any gunk that gets on them can just be washed off in the sink. The inside cloth portion stays perfectly clean.

Steam Juicer

I recently had a blog post all about how to use a steam juicer. I had never seen one of these things before now and it is slick. If you make a lot of jelly, juice for your family, or wine, this is an investment you’ll want to make.

Basically you put water in a pot, on top of that goes a juice collector with a spigot, on top of that is a type of collander that you put the fruit in. The whole thing goes on thes tove, the steam heats the fruit and the flows out of the spigot. No pitting or peeling required.

The only con of the steam juicer is that it is kind of bulky and is one more kitchen tool you’ll have to store when not in use.

how to use a steam canner rough and tumble farmhouse

In the Chicken Coop

Fishing Net

This may sound like an odd tool to keep in your chicken coop, but there is no better device for catching a stray chicken.

I learned this trick when living at a diversified dairy farm. They had chickens out on pasture and when we’d move them every few days there were always a few strays that went back to the old coop location.

Herding chickens is about as productive as herding cats. It’s very hard if not impossible to do in open spaces.

A fishing net gives you a great arm extension and an easy way to catch a bird with out hurting them.

I typically will get the net over them, then grab their legs from underneath and haul them around that way.

My husband scoops them up like a fish and carries them, but I’m always worried that could result in a broken neck or twisted leg.

Still, as a general chicken catcher they work great.

broken chicken leg rough and tumble farmhouse

The Farmhouse

Fly Gun

When my husband bought this thing I was annoyed. It’s not exactly cheap, it’s ugly, and it takes up space.

Now I have to eat my hat because I use our bug-a-salt gun daily.

When you have a farm or homestad, flies in the house are almost a sure thing.

Now flies outside are annoying enough as it is, but flies in the house enter another dimension of annoying for me. Especially in the kitchen when I’m trying to cook.

Fly guns like this one use basic table salt as a type of buckshot to destroy flies. They work very well because the flies see no movement to alert them like a fly swatter might provide.

Instead you get within a foot or two of the fly, and blamo. Done and gone.

The biggest cons of the fly guns are that yes, you end up with table salt (though just small amounts) scattered places. Second, you sometimes end up with flies blown to bits on your countertop.

Still, I’d rather deal with that then a fly constantly landing on my food, buzzing around my ears, or crawling on my daughter’s face.

Bonus: House Halter

Before I wrap up my list of top 5 homestead must haves, I need to throw in one bonus item.

This was a recent addition to our homestad and is useful mostly to those with animals who escape often enough it’s an issue

Our fencing is solid in a few places and down right crap in others. This has resulted in more than once my looking out the window to see a cow taking a stroll down the road.

Rather than running down to the barn, holding up my boobs and pregnant belly as I sprint down there in crocs, I grab the spare cow halter that hangs in the garage and walk straight out and get them.

For you it might not mean a halter works best. Instead it might be an old ice cream bucket filled with feed you keep handy to lure them back where they are supposed to be. Just having an emergency aid for wrangling up loose animals close at hand is my point.

Or, just get some damn fences that work well.