While talking to my neighbor a few days ago, she mentioned that she had been to our local grocery store and that strawberries were on sale for $4 a flat! (6 lbs are on a flat). Christmas in July for me!! Yummy… strawberry freezer jam… All day I thought ‘I need to get down to the store… I need to get down to the store…’ but with my 3 month and 19 month old babies, things don’t always go according to my plan. Finally when Steve got home we headed over. My plan was to get 2 or 3 flats. I know … [Read more...]
How to Raise Meat Chickens Follow Up
7 Weeks Later I want to report on how raising my meat chickens went, and also what I learned. We butchered our fat chickens seven weeks from the day we purchased them. They were at least 4 to 5 weeks old when I purchased them from the store. That means in only 11 to 12 weeks from hatching they were ready to harvest. My 12-year-old brother was in charge of feeding and watering the chickens. After completing his job he’d come in the house and holler, those chickens look … [Read more...]
How to Free Range your Chickens in the City
My original purpose of building a chicken tractor was to move my chickens around my yard to eat food. However, I have found that they have not been able to find all the food and bugs they need in just a 10 square foot area. The chicken tractor is nice to have, but it's not worth losing all the benefits of having them free range. I have now resorted to letting them free range every day to forage for their own food. Benefits of Letting your Chickens Free Range No feed costs. I provide … [Read more...]
Urban Garden Challenge
City life makes gardening seem out of the question. If you live in an apartment and don’t have access to a yard you might think you can’t grow a garden this summer. However, there are actually many ways to grow a garden in your house or on a back patio. Here are a bunch of ideas that I have wanted to try that might work for you. In fact, I challenge you to take one or two of these ideas and try them yourself. Help others learn from your experience by sharing in the comments below which one … [Read more...]
How to raise meat chickens
I have recently become the proud owner of 36 Rock Cornish Game Hens. You may be thinking, why bother raising my own chickens for meat? $1.99/lb. at the grocery store is easier, right? The reason we are growing our own meat chickens is I want to know what’s going into my chickens so I know what is going in to my family. After all, we are what we eat. We want to live sustainably. We don’t want to be dependent on getting meat at the store. Best Breed Rock Cornish Game Hens are the … [Read more...]
My Garden Experiment
I grew up on a farm. Every year my family would grow a garden. Boy, I dreaded gardening. My dad would get the tractor and plow up the garden spot. We would plow in a bunch of horse manure and leaves from the previous year. Then, we would spend one day and plant everything we wanted. Everything was fine at first. Then about June would hit and we would have to spend hours in the garden weeding and weeding. The ground was so hard that we would water the whole garden the day before so the weeds … [Read more...]
Behold, the symbol of SUSTAINABILITY!
The “S” symbolizes what sustainability means to me. The top part of the “S” represents going back to the basics—meaning, focusing on the period of time when folks lived off the land, grew their own food and had simple lifestyles. They worked hard and had to survive without the luxuries of electricity and many other comforts that we use today. Frequently you will hear me refer to those skills that people have been using for thousands of years before modern conveniences. The bottom part of … [Read more...]
The Secret of Garden Boxes for FREE
As I’ve been contemplating how to grow my garden the most efficient way, I came across a book called “Square Food Gardening Method” (SFG). The method revolves around garden boxes. Like you, I want an awesome garden with little maintenance and SFG with garden boxes seemed like the perfect solution. The problem is the cost in buying the lumber and the time in making the boxes. When discussing it with my wife and researching the cost of lumber right now, it almost didn’t seem worth it. In the SFG … [Read more...]
How to utilize your garbage
When you eat an apple, what do you do with your core? When your baby only eats half of their food, what do you do with the leftovers? When the spinach in the back of your fridge is found and slimy, what do you do with it? If you grew up like me, then you are thinking of animals and compost. Growing up, it was a sin to throw away food. Why throw it away, if it can feed your animals and give you a beautiful garden? Here is the simplest way to do it: Collecting your trash Even in an … [Read more...]
How Do I Get My Chickens To Lay Eggs
Today I was so excited to open up my chicken tractor and find four eggs. With three chickens and 24 hours of laying, I got four fresh eggs. With just a few minor changes I have had a 400 percent increase in my chickens laying eggs. I started feeding my chickens feed my dad made for his chickens and pigs. It was a ground up mixture of corn, wheat, and hay. On this diet of homemade chicken feed I would get about two to three eggs a week. I knew something wasn’t right and this is what I … [Read more...]