The Goshen Exchange

Your land can provide.

We help landowners turn property into a working homestead, with plain guides, reliable goods, and neighbors who trade.

Explore the homestead. Hover over any part of it.

Farmhouse and workshop: Shelter and WorkshopBuild, repair and heat the structures, and keep a workshop that can fix anything on the place.
Solar array: EnergyMake and store your own power so an outage down the road never reaches your kitchen.
Pond and rain cistern: WaterRain catchment, wells, ponds and filtration, so water comes from your own land.
Cattle pasture and barn: AgricultureCattle, goats, sheep and pigs, with pasture, fencing and hay that hold up year round.
Garden beds and orchard: HorticultureVegetables, orchard, berries and herbs, planted on a calendar that fits your zone.
Beehives: ApicultureKeep hives that pollinate the orchard and pay you back in honey and wax.
Kitchen and medicine garden: Health and PreparednessFirst aid, a stocked medical kit, and the herbs that have always grown by the porch.
Root cellar and pantry: PreservationCan, dry, ferment, cure and store the harvest so it lasts until the next one.
Compost bays: SustainabilityTurn kitchen scraps, manure and leaves into the soil that feeds everything else.
Chicken tractor and coop: PoultryChickens, ducks and turkeys for eggs and meat, starting with a coop you can move.
Farm stand and ledger: Homestead EconomicsWhat a homestead actually costs, how to finance it, and how the land pays you back.
The lane to your neighbors: Community and TradeTrade eggs for honey with verified homesteaders nearby, on your terms and at your pace.

Tap a part of the homestead to see what it covers.

A note from the porch

Hey guys, thanks for checking us out! Thought I’d share a sweet video of our honey bee setup. Let me know if you have any suggestions or additions you’d like to see. I hope you enjoy The Goshen Exchange!

— The Goshen Exchange Team

Write to us anytime at thegoshenexchange@gmail.com

Our bees at sundown

A day on the place

Four parts to the Exchange, and where each one fits between sunrise and supper.

6:40 a.m.
Coffee first. Then the day’s page.
The Knowledge Library tells you what this week needs, in plain steps, for your growing zone. Beekeeping to canning to what it all really costs.
Open the Knowledge Library
Mid-morning
Roll the chickens to fresh grass.
The Marketplace sells simple, sturdy goods you can set up yourself. A chicken tractor, a composter, a rain tank. Each one comes with its guide.
See the MarketplaceComing soon
Noon
A dozen eggs for a jar of honey.
The Trade Map shows verified homesteads near you. Trade at the gate, at your own pace, with your address kept private.
How the Trade Map worksComing soon
Dusk
What worked this year, and what didn’t.
The Forums are where homesteaders from different regions compare notes. The best answers become new guides for new growing zones.
About the ForumsComing soon

A North Carolina farm in late October: rust and gold trees, pumpkins in a bed, frost on the shaded grass.

The Almanac

October 2026 · Zone 7bExamples

Sunrise about 7:13 to 7:39 Sunset about 7:05, getting earlier to 6:30 by month’s end

Poultry
Apiculture
Horticulture
Preservation
Energy
Water
Homestead Economics

Sat3
PoultryDeep-clean the coopBirds spend more time inside from here on, so start the cold months with clean bedding. About 2 hoursPoultry guides
Mon5
ApicultureMite check and treatThe bees that carry the hive through winter are being raised now, and mites hurt them most. About 30 minutes a hiveApiculture guides
Tue6
HorticultureSow cover cropsRoots hold empty beds together through winter rain and feed the soil for spring. About 1 hourHorticulture guides
Mon12
PreservationCure winter squashTwo warm, dry weeks harden the skin so squash keeps into spring. About 10 minutes, then waitPreservation guides
Thu15
HorticultureDig sweet potatoesVines die back at first frost, and cold soil starts to rot the roots. About half a dayHorticulture guides
ApicultureNarrow hive entrancesA smaller door is easier to guard against robbing bees and mice. About 10 minutesApiculture guides
Sat17
EnergyStack and cover cordwoodWood has to be dry before the cold comes, not after. About an afternoonEnergy guides
Tue20
PoultryCoop light, or fewer eggsHens lay by day length. Add a timed light now or expect a slow winter. About 1 hourPoultry guides
First frost likely from here on
Thu22
HorticulturePlant garlicCloves need a few weeks to root before the ground cools. About 1 hourHorticulture guides
Sat24
WaterDrain drip linesWater left in the lines splits them when it freezes. About 1 hourWater guides
Mon26
PreservationRoot cellar inventoryKnow what you stored and what's turning before you need it. About 1 hourPreservation guides
Sat31
EnergyTest the generatorThe first ice storm is a bad time to find out it won't start. About 20 minutesEnergy guides
Homestead EconomicsClose the garden ledgerTally what the garden replaced at the store this year. About 1 hourHomestead Economics guides

These tasks are examples for the North Carolina Piedmont while the guides are written and checked. Other zones grow through the Forums.

Eggs and a jar of honey left on a farm gate for a neighbor.

Coming soon

The Trade Map

Eggs for honey. Milk for fish.

Soon you’ll see the verified homesteads near you, and trade what you have for what you need. Everyone’s standing comes from trades that actually happened. Your address stays private, and you can stay off the map entirely.

Tell me when it opens

Three empty chairs around a fire ring at dusk.

Around the fire

Coming soon

The Forums will be where homesteaders from different regions compare notes: what grew, what failed, and what it cost. The best answers become new guides.

“Frost hit the mountains two weeks before it got to us.”
Dale, Watauga County · example
“Rolled the chicken tractor downhill once. Never again.”
Marie, Chatham County · example
“A family cow costs about what a car payment costs.”
Tom, Union County · example