My Biggest Risk As A Homesteader

Life is filled with different experiences. Sometimes we make good decisions, and other times we make poor decisions that we will forever regret. The thing about these experiences is that they help improve our skills and make us a better version of ourselves.

Image designed by me using canva

Do you like taking risks? When was the last time you risked doing something? Sometimes in life, we have to take risks. To achieve some important things in life we have to take risks.

Besides crypto traders, another set of people that take risks is homesteaders. I'm sure you all agree with me when I say homesteaders are risk takers. Have you ever taken a risk as a homesteader? What was the result? If you had the opportunity to go back in time, would you take the risk again?

There are two sides to a coin. You either choose to take the risk and hope for the best, or play it safe and never try it out. What would you go for? I recently wrote an article about which one I prefer (taking a risk or playing it safe). In this article, I’ll share my greatest risk as a homesteader.

My life before the “big risk”
My homesteading journey started about ⅚ years ago. A friend of my mom introduced us to a big farm and that was how my mom and I fell in love with homesteading. We had a nice garden at our backyard. At first the garden was not all fancy and all; there were not many plants there. But as time went on, we started growing different beautiful and nutritional crops.

We also reared some poultry animals. The first animal we reared were 10 broiler chicks. I can't remember the exact number, but I think it is around 10 to 15 broiler chicks. Sadly, these chicks didn't last. They all died. It was then we decided to start rearing local chickens (because they are stronger and less stressful to rear).

We also started working on a large piece of land. And in no time, it turned to our farm; a very big one indeed. We planted different crops; cassava, palm kernels, cocoyam, maize, bitter leaf and so on.

After a few years of handling the farmland with my mom and cousins, I became an experienced homesteader and I could do a lot of things on my own.

The Big Risk

I grew up in a catholic church. My church had a very big space (very big to occupy lots of houses). The land was used by church members to play football and other sports. Everything changed when the church priest decided to build a big barn. The church spent a lot of money on the barn and stocking it up with livestock.

We started with goats. We bought about 30 goats. After a few months, we added some other animals; chickens, pigs, and so on.

The barn was so big that only one person couldn't work on it. The Church youths joined hands to work on barn. After a few months, most of the youths gained admission into different universities. Only my friend and I were left to look after the barn. Although we weren't getting paid for the job we do on the barn. But we received our shared on everything we sold in the barn (which is much better than receiving salaries).

My friend also gained admission into the university and he had to leave immediately to sort things out. Now I was left alone to take care of things on the barn. I wasn't even scared because I knew I could handle it all by myself. But my courage flew off when the priest (the owner of the barn) brought in 50 day-old broiler chicks.

Yes! I knew a lot about taking care of chickens! But raising day old broiler chickens? My biggest fear. Before that time I had lost 10 broiler chickens and I even vowed never to raise them again. Which is why I opted in for local chickens.

I told the owner of the barb that I wouldn't be able to take care of the 50 chicks because of my past. He sat me down and gave me two choices; to risk it and take care of the chicks (give it my everything) or leave the barn so he'd employ another person to take care of it.

I didn't want to lose 50 chicks and at the same time, I didn't want to let go of the barn. After deliberating for a long time, I decided to risk it and take care of the chicks.

I went online and read a lot about day-old broiler chicks. I also asked my cousin who was also an experienced farmer about broilers. He told me all I needed to know and also promised to assist me on the barn.

I raised the chicks for 8 weeks and only 1 of them died! I was happy I took the risk. And if I had the opportunity again, I’d do the same.