…… Homesteading/Gardening with Mobility Issues?

[Freeholder]

I think we've talked about this here before, but need to revisit the issue. I may be using a walker at least part of the time, depending on what happens with my back -- my left leg is partially numb and keeps trying to go out from under me. I don't know if it can be fixed or not, or, if so, when. (I turn 65 in April, so hopefully anything that needs to be done can wait that long.) In the meantime, in addition to the house and my handicapped daughter, I've got animals to take care of. And soon it will be time to start the garden. We should have some help here in a few weeks, when my brother and his wife move here, though they are also both disabled. So I'm looking for tips to make life easier and more functional. Things like, best way to carry water and feed when you are using a walker? Things like that. I may have to build raised beds for the garden, which I was not planning on doing. But I do have one of those 4-wheeled garden seats that you can scoot down the rows in.

We have just a handful of chickens right now, so they aren't too hard to take care of. But I had already ordered 25 chicks to come in early March. And I am really wanting to get the rabbit cages set up and get some meat rabbit breeding stock. I have the parts for an automatic watering system (which won't work in the winter). I feed the barn cats on the porch (and they get their water from the pond); the outside dog gets fed right outside the front door. So those guys are pretty easy. About half of our place is mostly fairly level, and there's not much need for me to go on the steep part right now.

I do need to have someone build stoops at both doors to the house. As it is right now, we have to open the doors (swinging out) while standing on or at the bottom of steps, often with hands full. It's very awkward. And I may get someone to help move my bed downstairs, if I can make room for it in the dining room (the space under the dining table is full of heavy boxes of vinyl plank flooring -- not sure where to put those, sigh). Going up and down the stairs feels a bit awkward with this numb leg.

Anyway, open for tips and advice.

Thanks!

Kathleen

 

[kyrsyan]

I can't help you with feed and water.
But raised beds - I'm working on the plans for waist height ones, with wicking, made from IBC totes. Because while my spine is relatively calm nowadays, it really doesn't like it when I spend a lot of time bending over and squatting.

 

[WanderLore]

I've read that you put a few pop bottles filled with heavily salted water, in the water buckets, that is supposed to keep it from freezing. I haven't tried it but plan to.
For some reason, our tank heaters (new) always short out and the horses won't drink as they get a small shock. So hubs has to chop ice out, and it builds up.
Right now, I carry water in jugs. Dump pans, a little of the hot water thaws the pan and knocks out the frozen, then fill it back up. Twice a day in bad winter. Daughter and SIL help with this when needed. I take feed out in a scoop.

 

[WanderLore]

We have a half acre garden. Its on a slight slope and points south. We dump the manure in the fall on the garden, Hubs uses tractor and spreads it. Thats it. It sits over winter. Don't till it. Its prime in the spring, ready to plant though I have been turning it a bit in the spring before I pull a hoe over for a farrow to plant.
Typically in late spring, I sit and scoot around the garden and pull the weeds. Not hard at that point. Straw goes around the plants when they are up a bit. Its mulch and helps with water and weeds.
Daughter has taken over the garden so hat is a great help. I also will throw down an old tire, put chicken feed bag in, fill with compost manure and plant. That works great. The soil warms faster hold water and heat and no weeds. Leave the tire and the soil is richer each passing year.

 

[Cardinal]

Would it be feasible to offer someone (maybe who has an RV or a tiny home) to stay on your land in exchange for some help?

 

[summerthyme]

Would it be feasible to offer someone (maybe who has an RV or a tiny home) to stay on your land in exchange for some help?

Her brother and his wife are planning on buying a piece and moving next to her. But they aren't real spry, either...

Summerthyme

 

[Cardinal]

Her brother and his wife are planning on buying a piece and moving next to her. But they aren't real spry, either...

Summerthyme

Yeah, I meant someone who is not disabled.

 

[Freeholder]

Yeah, I meant someone who is not disabled.

Might be a possibility, but we will have to see how things go with my brother and sil here. He can actually do quite a bit as long as he's got his pain meds. I was thinking earlier that them moving here now is good timing. I've been really limited by my back for quite a while, but wasn't expecting this sudden turn for the worse.

Kathleen

 

[Cardinal]

Might be a possibility, but we will have to see how things go with my brother and sil here. He can actually do quite a bit as long as he's got his pain meds. I was thinking earlier that them moving here now is good timing. I've been really limited by my back for quite a while, but wasn't expecting this sudden turn for the worse.

Kathleen

We never do, it usually hits us when we aren't looking.
The only reason I made my suggestion was that I have been watching a lot of those tiny home vids, and in one of them, a retired gent found a spot for his on a farm, in exchange for helping with farm chores. Win-win.

 

[Freeholder]

We never do, it usually hits us when we aren't looking.
The only reason I made my suggestion was that I have been watching a lot of those tiny home vids, and in one of them, a retired gent found a spot for his on a farm, in exchange for helping with farm chores. Win-win.

I think it's a very good idea, but am leery about getting strangers in on the property. Was just thinking, though, that my brother might know someone. They have been living in their motor home for several years, wintering in Quartzite, Arizona.

Maybe as we get their house set up, we could add a pad with hookups for an RV.

Kathleen

 

[Cardinal]

I think it's a very good idea, but am leery about getting strangers in on the property. Was just thinking, though, that my brother might know someone. They have been living in their motor home for several years, wintering in Quartzite, Arizona.

Maybe as we get their house set up, we could add a pad with hookups for an RV.

Kathleen

There ya go! Might work, you just make sure you have an ironclad lease type agreement and you should be Ok.

 

[Freeholder]

There ya go! Might work, you just make sure you have an ironclad lease type agreement and you should be Ok.

I just sent my brother an e-mail and mentioned your suggestion -- I figured, if they do know someone who would be a good fit, at this time of year that person would probably be in Quartzite, so they could talk to them while they are still there. We'll see what happens.

Kathleen

 

[ioujc]

Several suggestions:

Don't see how you can use a walker and transport food and water to the animals>>>
Could you put a garbage can in the chicken house with the feed in there>> and then you'd only have to fill it maybe once a month or so. You can put the garbage can on a creeper like they use in auto shops or get a mover's creeper and move the stuff around by pushing or pulling it on the creeper. This can move really heavy stuff easily.

Could you use your car or truck to transport things?? If you have a truck, you can mount a fold-able crane in the back of it and lift anything and then put it back down on the ground when you have moved it to where you are going to put it>>>>>this would work for animal feed or anything. As long as you can put it into a strap or some type of container, the crane can lift it into the truck and then move it out of the truck and onto the ground or into a container where ever you are moving it to. You can also lift bales of hay with this.

As far as water, could you just buy enough garden hose to reach out to where ever you are going with a spray attachment on the end?? To me that would be MUCH easier than trying to carry water on a walker.

For garden beds, I have concrete block beds. They are two blocks high, which is high enough to sit on while you work on weeding or picking vegetables. If that is too expensive, there are often ads for used blocks in the paper or on line at some of the market type places>>>>like Craig's List or Swap Shop on the radio or in community swap set ups.

Just a couple of ideas for you to think about. The crane is a necessity to prevent further damage to your back. I had one, and allowed someone to barrow it and it never came home and the person no longer lives around here.

 

[Cardinal]

Excellent suggestions! I do the trash can thing myself. I use a wheel barrow to get the feed to the pen, then mix my own in the can.
Obviously, I am not disabled, but I make things as easy as possible.
When I set up my grow garden in the basement, it will be on tables so no bending over.

 

[Freeholder]

Several suggestions:

Don't see how you can use a walker and transport food and water to the animals>>>
Could you put a garbage can in the chicken house with the feed in there>> and then you'd only have to fill it maybe once a month or so. You can put the garbage can on a creeper like they use in auto shops or get a mover's creeper and move the stuff around by pushing or pulling it on the creeper. This can move really heavy stuff easily.

Could you use your car or truck to transport things?? If you have a truck, you can mount a fold-able crane in the back of it and lift anything and then put it back down on the ground when you have moved it to where you are going to put it>>>>>this would work for animal feed or anything. As long as you can put it into a strap or some type of container, the crane can lift it into the truck and then move it out of the truck and onto the ground or into a container where ever you are moving it to. You can also lift bales of hay with this.

As far as water, could you just buy enough garden hose to reach out to where ever you are going with a spray attachment on the end?? To me that would be MUCH easier than trying to carry water on a walker.

For garden beds, I have concrete block beds. They are two blocks high, which is high enough to sit on while you work on weeding or picking vegetables. If that is too expensive, there are often ads for used blocks in the paper or on line at some of the market type places>>>>like Craig's List or Swap Shop on the radio or in community swap set ups.

Just a couple of ideas for you to think about. The crane is a necessity to prevent further damage to your back. I had one, and allowed someone to barrow it and it never came home and the person no longer lives around here.

I just pushed the button to order a walker. It's expensive, but has big pneumatic tires so it will work over the ground outside (as long as it isn't *too* rough!). I should be able to put stuff in a bucket on the seat and push it around that way, even if I have to use bungee cords to keep the bucket in place.

I think I'm going to get a small shed for feed storage, to put right next to where I park my truck -- I can't drive to the chicken house -- I would either have to drive across the (old) septic tank (which I REALLY do not want to do!), or across my best garden spot. I do also have a garden wagon to haul stuff in, but if my leg is going to give out enough to need the walker, I think I can manage with a bucket on the seat. The shed would be a good place to store my tools and stuff closer to the house than the two barns, too.

I do use hoses for water most of the year. It's just for a while in the winter that I have to carry water, and as long as I don't have too many animals, I don't need to carry a lot at one time. Right now, my handful of bantams only go through a quart or less in a day.

The crane sounds like an excellent idea for getting stuff out of the truck, if it would work with a cap on the truck bed? I'll have to look into that. Otherwise, I'll just have to open the bags in the back of the truck and empty them a little at a time. I can get someone at the feed store to load bags into the truck for me, so it's not a problem at that end.

We probably will build tall raised garden beds. I like the IBC totes idea, though those things are not cheap. I do have four black plastic barrels that could be cut in half and turned into growing beds by putting two end to end (the barrels don't have tops on them). That would give me four small beds to start with (though I had intended to use at least one for a rain barrel -- might need to find a few more of them). It would be easier for my SIL to garden with those, too, I think, and she loves to grow things. Hmm. I just remembered, too -- there's a small shed in the back yard that has fallen down. The metal roofing from that could be used as sides on a raised bed or two. I think we'll be able to figure out a few ways to do things, it will just take some time and maybe some scavenging, LOL! We've also talked about maybe taking down the big barn (it's old, not getting used, and will block the best view from the new house). Could get a lot of materials out of that.

Well, there are all kinds of possibilities. We'll just have to take it one thing at a time, and see how much we can get done.

Kathleen

 

[ioujc]

OH!! You mean a MOBILITY CHAIR!!! When you said "walker" I thought you meant a hand held thingy that you roll in front of you with bars to hold onto!!

Well, yeah, you could easily transport any number of things with a motorized chair!! Sorry, I had a totally different idea!!

 

[Cardinal]

Yeah, mobility chair is next best thing to golf cart. Long as you can drive something you can probably tow a wagon behind it.

 

[JMG91]

Kathleen,

Have you considered something like gutter gardens rather than raised bed--or perhaps in addition to? That's how I'll be doing some of my strawberries. They're the perfect height so that I don't have to bend down at all; in fact, the strawberries just hang over the edge so that you can reach up and pick them.

With regards to carrying water, perhaps you could put a holder--cloth or otherwise--on the front of your walker, and carry the water in it, inside of a watering can or other similar implement. I have an old back injury that I don't want to aggravate by carrying my 5 gallon waterer back and forth, so I fill up my watering can and carry the water to the waterer. Much lighter load.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Excellent suggestions! I do the trash can thing myself. I use a wheel barrow to get the feed to the pen, then mix my own in the can.
Obviously, I am not disabled, but I make things as easy as possible.
When I set up my grow garden in the basement, it will be on tables so no bending over.

The whole point is to work smarter, not harder.

My mom has one of those wheeled come-a-long things that she sits on and piddles in her plants. She also has rigged up a walker - which she uses quite often - so that the sit is stable that she can sit on it in the yard. And when she isn’t sitting in it she uses bungi cords to “tie” a laundry basket on it so she can more easily get things from point a to point b.

 

[Freeholder]

OH!! You mean a MOBILITY CHAIR!!! When you said "walker" I thought you meant a hand held thingy that you roll in front of you with bars to hold onto!!

Well, yeah, you could easily transport any number of things with a motorized chair!! Sorry, I had a totally different idea!!

Not a motorized chair -- it really is a walker. Here -- I'll put the link: Amazon.com

Expensive, but the walkers with small wheels just would not work for me.

Kathleen

 

[Freeholder]

The whole point is to work smarter, not harder.

My mom has one of those wheeled come-a-long things that she sits on and piddles in her plants. She also has rigged up a walker - which she uses quite often - so that the sit is stable that she can sit on it in the yard. And when she isn’t sitting in it she uses bungi cords to “tie” a laundry basket on it so she can more easily get things from point a to point b.

A laundry basket is another good idea. I really need the seat in the walker, because, while I can walk, if my hip and leg start hurting, I'll need to sit down for a few minutes. Preferably ASAP.

I like the gutter garden idea -- that would work for a lot of plants that don't make huge root systems. Lettuce, green onions, parsley, among others.

Kathleen

 

[ioujc]

HOPEFULLY, when you get Medicare you can get a motorized one!!

I haven't gotten quite that bad yet, but there are days>>>>>uh, yeah.

What I have found is doing the yoga exercise called "The Plow." The longer you hold it, the better it works.
But yes a TENS unit is GREAT! Just DON'T use it when you are hot and sweaty!!!! Did that once and could not get it off, because it shocked my fingers so bad trying to remove it, I couldn't grab it. Meanwhile it is shocking the POOP out of my back, because the sweat was just rolling off of me from working in the heat!!
I pray your pain is eased>>>>it is no fun. Have had sciatica on and off for 20+ years.

A BIG part of the solution is getting really good shoes that correct any posture or scoliosis issues you have AND ALWAYS use your legs to lift>>>>>NOT your back!!!

I have severe scoliosis of the type known as Lordosis and also two ruptured discs, with other discs pressing on the root nerves. There was a period of time when my whole leg went numb, but was able to get this under control via weight loss and weekly visits to a chiropractor for about 7 months. He was NOT the kind who "popped" your back>>>>>one of those ruptured my mom's disc years and years ago. I would NEVER go to a DC who did that. My DC use heat and deep massage as well as ice packs.

 

[skwentnaflyer]

We bought a deer feeder for the chickens, when we had to go out of town for a week. Filling it might be the only hard part, but you can go a couple weeks on one fill. Ours holds 3 bags of scratch. Wind and sparrows are an issue, but you can buy a part to keep the wind from stripping it empty. We now have a resident Merlin that enjoys fat sparrows. He doesn’t bother the chickens and they don’t pay any attention to him.

 

[Cardinal]

We bought a deer feeder for the chickens, when we had to go out of town for a week. Filling it might be the only hard part, but you can go a couple weeks on one fill. Ours holds 3 bags of scratch. Wind and sparrows are an issue, but you can buy a part to keep the wind from stripping it empty. We now have a resident Merlin that enjoys fat sparrows. He doesn’t bother the chickens and they don’t pay any attention to him.

I throw a handful of scratch on the ground for the free range Roo, and the wild birds help themselves to it, until he chases them off.

 

[Freeholder]

HOPEFULLY, when you get Medicare you can get a motorized one!!

I haven't gotten quite that bad yet, but there are days>>>>>uh, yeah.

What I have found is doing the yoga exercise called "The Plow." The longer you hold it, the better it works.
But yes a TENS unit is GREAT! Just DON'T use it when you are hot and sweaty!!!! Did that once and could not get it off, because it shocked my fingers so bad trying to remove it, I couldn't grab it. Meanwhile it is shocking the POOP out of my back, because the sweat was just rolling off of me from working in the heat!!
I pray your pain is eased>>>>it is no fun. Have had sciatica on and off for 20+ years.

A BIG part of the solution is getting really good shoes that correct any posture or scoliosis issues you have AND ALWAYS use your legs to lift>>>>>NOT your back!!!

I have severe scoliosis of the type known as Lordosis and also two ruptured discs, with other discs pressing on the root nerves. There was a period of time when my whole leg went numb, but was able to get this under control via weight loss and weekly visits to a chiropractor for about 7 months. He was NOT the kind who "popped" your back>>>>>one of those ruptured my mom's disc years and years ago. I would NEVER go to a DC who did that. My DC use heat and deep massage as well as ice packs.

That's a good warning about not using the TENS unit when I'm sweating -- I put it on earlier right after I got out of the shower, and got a tingle from the electrode pads! But I don't know how I'm going to avoid using it while I'm sweaty this summer, because we don't have AC, and I sweat all summer, even just sitting in a chair! And right now, I can't go without the TENs unit for more than a few minutes. I hope and pray that by summer I won't need it so much, or we can figure out some way to cool the house better!

Kathleen

 

[JasmineAndLace]

Kathleen, I have to use a walker all the time. The one I have is similar to the one you posted from Amazon. I have a square laundry basket that fits perfectly on the seat and I "haul" a lot of things in that--have even hauled fire wood on occasion.

You might want to consider container gardening. I use grow bags and other containers on my back porch. You can't grow huge amounts of produce but even a little helps. Here is a video on a grow system that I plan to try this year. Run time is a little under 9 minutes. You can take these bags and put pieces of small limbs, bark, leaves, etc. in the bottom so you don't have to buy so much soil mix. It will all compost down.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VP9N9Ve2h4M