• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Site Index
  • Fall Homesteading
  • Shop
    • Profitable Homesteading System
    • Jumpstart Your Homestead
    • Organized Chicken Keeper
    • G.O.A.T. Herd Management System
    • The Ultimate Planner for Breeding Goats
    • Couponing for Beginners Planner
  • Nigerian Dwarf Goats for Sale
    • Nigerian Dwarf Goats
  • About

Mranimal Farm

All About Silkies, Nigerian Dwarf Goats & More

menu icon
go to homepage
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • Site Index
  • Fall Homesteading
  • Shop
  • About
  • Contact
  • ร—
    Home ยป Small Scale Farming

    Jun 30, 2019 ยท Modified: Jul 2, 2023 by MrAnimal Farm This post may contain affiliate links. ยท As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

    How To Use Everything on Your Homestead - 6 Ideas to Get Started

    17.5K shares

    So, you've made the decision to be more self-sufficient.  Perhaps you have one or more of the following:  a garden, backyard chickens for eggs, meat birds, dairy goats or cows, pigs.  Of course as these ventures start to produce, you will want to learn how to use everything on your homestead so none of it goes to waste.

    As you start to cultivate these ventures, it is likely you will face decisions on how to feed the animals, how to grow the garden and what to do with extras.

    When we first started, as much as I don't want to admit, we did let things go to waste because we just didn't know how to use everything on our homestead effectively.

    Now, our goal for our homestead is to use everything that we make in some way.

    Use everything on your homestead

    You may also be interested to know that by using everything on our homestead, we save at least $2500 a year by homesteading!

    Want to take it a step further and make a profitable homestead?  We currently make a profit on our homestead and manage it with these profitable homesteading tips.

    So, how can you use everything on your homestead?

    You may be thinking you won't be able to use everything on your homestead if you are getting into several different areas.  However, in reality, most homesteading adventures actually integrate really well together.

    Many of our homesteading activities actually lead to value adds to our other homesteading activities.  It's almost as if being more self-sufficient was meant to be ๐Ÿ˜‰

    Here are some of the ways we manage to use everything we produce:

    Broken eggs

    If you have chickens and they have started to lay eggs then you know sometimes their eggs will get broken. ย Instead of throwing it out, we either put it in the compost or scramble it up and give it back to them for breakfast (you can break the shell up for them too for extra calcium!).ย  You can also feed the eggs to your Livestock Guard Dogs if you have some.

    stack of used eggshells

    Even if your egg isn't broken, don't forget to use the egg shells in additional ways.

    If you aren't sure how to get started raising chickens, check out this raising chickens ecourse!

    Extra milk

    We have 2 goats in milk currently and sometimes we either have more milk than we can use or run out of time to do stuff with the milk.

    You can always freeze milk and use it for later (soap, cheese, cooking).

    frozen goat milk

    When we have a really large surplus we feed it to our chickens in their fermented chicken feed.

    Not sure how to make soap?  This is our favorite soapmaking book!

    If you have pigs, they would also LOVE some extra milk.

    Want to know more about raising dairy goats?  Join us in our Raising Goats eCourse!

    You can make your own homestead profitable with these Profitable Homesteading Worksheets.

    Garden scraps

    If you went overboard with your garden planning and have extra stuff from the garden, maybe a bumper crop of different types of peppers.  Or perhaps, you did some processing of your harvest and you have the ends of the green beans left, pumpkin seeds or other goodies.  We toss them to the chickens and goats (also pigs if you have them) for an extra special treat!

    goats and chickens eating garden scraps

    Cleaning out the Garden

    Once your plants are done producing and you are pulling them up toss them in the compost or out to the animals for a tasty treat (make sure not to give anything poisonous to the animals you have).

    Extra food from the kitchen

    Again this can all go to the compost pile or to your animals.  For instance, we eat apples every morning with breakfast and since chickens can eat apples, we always give them the core when we finish.

    apple core

    Chicken Coop & Goat Stall clean up

    When you are cleaning all the straw and poop out of your coops and stalls, don't let it go to waste!  We put all of the waste into our compost pile which we then put on our garden each year.

    stall clean out pile

    These are just a few of our ideas we try to use everything on our homestead.  And, as I mentioned, using everything on our homestead has allowed us to save over $2500 a year!

    The super awesome thing? We not only save money but we have also turned our venture into a profitable homestead!  And you can too, check out our profitable homesteading worksheets.

    What are some ways you re-purpose things so you can use everything on your homestead?

    More Small Scale Farming Tips & Tutorials

    • Spring Farm Activities - We Are Doing & So Should You!
      Spring Farm Activities - We Are Doing & So Should You!
    • female brindle and white Karakachan
      Karakachan Livestock Guard Dogs: The Ultimate Guide
    • Winter Farm Activities
      Winter Farm Activities You Should Consider Trying
    • Prevent Frozen Water
      Prevent Frozen Waterers - How to Keep Waterers From Freezing

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Melinda Goodick says

      January 19, 2021 at 8:44 pm

      We put eggshells in the oven on a pie plate to dry as we bake things We take out one each morning to grind with our coffee beans. The used beans and shell go to the worm farm, along with banana peels and some torn cardboard. In the summer we add the coffe grounds directly to the soil around potatoes.

    2. Rochelle Aldridge says

      January 13, 2019 at 8:58 am

      We put most food waste on the compost feed to the chooks and goats, but always save a little bit for our worm farm. A little each week gives back a few hundred dollars worth of fertiliser which we use in our garden instead of buying at the garden centre, and also makes a great fundraiser for the kids to bottle and sell at school fair or pet day!

    3. CHRISTINE CUSICK says

      May 22, 2017 at 12:18 pm

      Hey you forgot about collecting rain water. We re-cycle old trash barrels and use them to collect as much rain as possible. This saves our well, our animals like fresh water and it's great in the garden. Thanks for all of the great tips.

      • MrAnimal Farm says

        May 22, 2017 at 12:58 pm

        Hi Christine,

        That's a great tip! Thanks for sharing. ๐Ÿ™‚

        Best,
        Kristin

    Primary Sidebar

    kristin, justin and goat

    Hey, we are Justin & Kristin! Welcome to MrAnimal Farm where we share our knowledge on homesteading, livestock and poultry, gardening and food preservation

    More about us โ†’

    Popular Posts

    • Differences Between Ameraucana, Aracana and Easter Egger Chickens
      The Araucana Vs Ameraucana Vs Easter Egger Chicken
    • Chickens That Lay Green Eggs - What Chickens Lay Green Eggs
      Chickens That Lay Green Eggs - What Chickens Lay Green Eggs?
    • brooder box for chicks
      Chick Brooder Plans - How to Build a Brooder in 3 Steps!
    • Curled toes in Chickens
      Curled Toes in Chickens - Causes and Treatment
    • Goat Toys
      DIY Goat Toys: Cheap Toys to Keep Your Goats Busy
    • hen or roo
      How To Sex A Chicken & Tell A Hen From A Rooster

    Fall Homesteading

    • Fresh carrots and beets being held over a wooden table.
      15+ Fall Garden Crops For a Longer Harvest
    • Molting Chickens
      Molting Chickens - What, Why & How to help!
    • two butternut squash on a wood board
      Can You Freeze Butternut Squash ?
    • Goat Breeding Planning - Using ADGA to Make the Right Matches
      Goat Breeding Planning - Using ADGA to Make the Right Matches

    Footer

    Amazon Affiliate Disclosure

    We are a participant in the Amazon Services, LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising and linking to Amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

    Privacy Policy

    For details on our privacy policy click here.

    Copyright © 2025 ยท MrAnimal Farm