Home Farming

I believe that the content of this post more accurately reflects "Hobbies and Interests" than "Home Improvements," so I will post it here instead of on my Home and Bar Improvement blog.
Within the last few years I have been steadily developing an interest in agriculture; both in the growing of crops and animal husbandry. To this end I have decided to make an attempt at at least some level of homesteading (the practice of growing and/or raising that that one needs to survive).
First and foremost I plan on planting a garden to grow those vegetables that I love the most: Tomatoes, carrots, sweet corn and asparagus. The last of these requires special care and growing conditions, which I have the means to provide... In addition to my planned vegetable garden I plan to plant at least two asparagus rows; one planted with a "local" variety of asparagus from my family homestead of Grelton, and the other with a commercial "High Production" variety.
As for my garden I plan on planting a variety of vegetables I enjoy, including but not limited to carrots, lettuce, string beans and sweet corn. I also have a desire to grow dent corn, but that desire more reflects my desire to make my own beer than that of growing my own food...
In addition to the usual garden vegetables I also would like to grow dent corn (as I already mentioned), grapes (which I would like to aquire from clones of family grape vines) and my own hops (which can be purchased from home-brewing suppliers, however it is too late this year to aquire the hop roots). I have the land and growing conditions to accomidate all of this, and though I am in preference of natural farming practice I am certainly not opposed to the use of commercially-available chemical fertilizers (from my decidedly limited experiance I like TSC-branded 12-12-12 fertilizer).
As far as pesticides go I tend to prefer the deterrance route (electric fencing), however I am an advocate of an old, effective and totally human-safe insecticide. It is made at home by boiling one full-size pouch of chewing tobacco in one quart of water. After boiling the tobacco is strained out and discarded, and the resulting "tea" is sprayed on the desired plants. Cigarette tobacco (which is considerably cheaper) can also be used, however suger will need to be added to make the mixture "sticky." Since the tobacco is prepared for human consumpion it is completely safe to eat, even without washing. However the nicotine contained therein is lethal to most insects. It is notable that this mixture is water-soluable, and will need to be reapplied after watering or rainfall.
As I said I am also interested in keeping livestock. I had originally planned to have more land than I do, and to live in the country. As such I had wanted to keep 5-10 head of cattle, and pasture then over a "rotated range" of 3-10 acres in three "zones." By moving the cattle between these zones it ia supposedly possible to raise saleable cattle without the use of commercial animal feed or feed corn. However with my property it is doubtful that I would be able to grass-feed more than one or two steers, and I don't have either the housing for those steers nor the money to build one.
As such I am considering raising chickens, which are considerably smaller (and thusly easier to feed). I belive that by fencing off a fifth of my property and fabricating a henhouse I could easily house at least a dozen hens.
I have read that by raising a kitten alongside the baby chicks is the best way to deter rodents (as the resulting adult cat will be accustomed to the chickens, and vice versa, yet the cat will remain agressive to any intruding vermin), and if I decide to erect a henhouse this is what I plan on doing, in additon to the double protection of both chicken wire and low-level electric fencing.
Thouch I would like to keep cattle I doubt that it would be possible given the limited amount of land that I own. However a gerden and mini-farm are dreams that I have not given up on...