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Welcome
We’re building a collection of practical guides about raising livestock, gaining homesteading skills, and managing the realities of rural life all from our firsthand experience. These are guides we wish we’d had access to when starting out homesteading. Whether you’re researching your first chickens or looking for better ways to manage a homestead budget, here’s where to begin.
Choose what you’re interested in below.
All About Our Guides
Want to learn about chickens?
Chickens are the gateway drug for homesteading. They can be a great, easy way to dip your toes in owning livestock while also managing living creatures that provide you with delicious eggs.
Start with: Raising Backyard Chickens: The Complete Beginner’s Guide (Egg to Adult)
Understanding Svarthöna
Read more about our favorite chicken landrace here.
Mobile Chicken Coop
Interested in hearing about our experience with the Justin Rhodes’ chicken tractor? Read more here.
Fermented Chicken Feed
Curious about the easy process of fermenting chicken feed for flock? Read all about it here.
Explore more:
Check out all of our posts about chickens here.
Want to learn about goats?
Our fainting goats were the first animals to grace Arda Acres and they’ve been a mainstay ever since. While fainting goats are a particular breed, our guides can apply to all types of goats.
Start with: Raising Fainting Goats: The Complete Beginner’s Guide (For More Than Just Fainters) – COMING SOON!
Castrating Goats
Do you have a buckling that needs to be castrated soon? I explain our process in this guide along with progress pictures of the healing process.
Explore more:
Check out all of our posts about goats here.
Want to learn about livestock guardian dogs?
We wouldn’t be a safe and secure homestead without our Maremma Sheepdogs, our livestock guardian dogs. They make sure all our animals are protected from all kinds of predators.
Start with: Raising Livestock Guardian Dogs: The Complete Beginner’s Guide From Puppy to Adult – COMING SOON!
Explore more:
Check out all of our posts about LGDs here.
Building a homestead?
Check out all of our homesteading guides here.
Want to get better at the money side?
Check out all of our money and budgeting guides here.
Just exploring?
Not sure where to start? Browse the latest guides or explore all of our resources here.
Latest Posts
Want to follow the farm itself?
We’re not just faceless blog posts on the internet…we’re real people working towards more self-sufficiency with our food and way of living.
Meet our goats.
Meet our chickens.
Meet our livestock guardian dogs.
See what’s in the shop.
Come join us over on Instagram or Facebook where we’re most active in sharing what’s going on in our day-to-day.
About Us
Happy to make your acquaintance!
“It’s the job that’s never started as takes longest to finish.” – Samwise Gamgee
Hi, I’m Jamie! I live with my family on a small farmstead in northwest Tennessee where we raise Svarthöna chickens, guinea fowl, fainting goats, and Maremma Sheepdogs.
What started as a love for homegrown food and a simpler life has grown into a bustling little homestead—and a blog where I share what we’re learning along the way.
Here you’ll find hatching eggs, farm-raised chicks, and goat kids for sale, plus blog posts on homesteading, homemaking, and budgeting tips. With a background in accounting and finance, I love helping others make both their homes and their budgets run a little smoother.
I’m so glad you’re here!
Our homestead is situated on acreage in Northwest Tennessee. We’re in USDA growing zone 7b.
On average our first fall frost occurs on October 25th. Our last spring frost is on April 13th.
We are members of the Maremma Sheepdog Club of America (MSCA).
We raise fainting (myotonic) goats, chickens, Maremma Sheepdogs for livestock protection, a couple cats, and we tend a garden to reduce our trips to the grocery store.
Contact
Feel free to drop us an email or a text. We’re lookin’ forward to hearing from you!
We respond to inquiries within 24 hours so if you haven’t heard from us, please reach out in a different way using the options below.
731-540-9220 ~ Jamie@ArdaAcres.com
Newsletter
Keep learning with us!
Learn practical homesteading skills and see what’s happening on the ‘stead in ONE helpful email each month.
Never Spammy, Sometimes Helpful, Always Entertaining