I've been intrigued by the idea of gardening with chickens for a while so was excited to attend a presentation about this at The Livestock Conservancy conference by Jim Edrington. Though Jim has worked at The Seed Savers Exchange for many years, he focused on sharing his experiences incorporating chickens in his gardens at home. As you might guess, there are some challenges … [Read more...]
Stall cleaning: A necessary part of homesteading
It's not fun or sexy or exciting, but it is necessary -- cleaning or mucking out stalls. If you asked ten people how they do this, you'd probably get ten different answers, and our answer has changed over the years. The answer may also vary based upon the animals occupying the stalls. When my daughter had a horse years ago, it was easy to simply scoop out the poop each day … [Read more...]
Learn to Speak Chicken
Did you know that chickens are not really bird brains? They have a complex system of communication that uses both body language and vocalizations. It's all described in Melissa Caughey's new book -- How to Speak Chicken: Why Your Chickens Do What They Do and Say What They Say. She starts out giving you advice on how you can better learn to listen to your own chickens. She … [Read more...]
9 Reasons Your Hens Are Not Laying
When chicken keepers are suddenly unable to find any eggs or they're finding a lot less than normal, they usually start to worry. Are the hens sick? Or if they realize it is only one hen, is she egg bound? What can you do? First thing I want to say is that egg binding is not that common. We've only had one hen have that problem in 15 years, and we usually have 50 or more hens. … [Read more...]
Want to go pro as a sustainable farmer? Meet Joel Salatin
When people think about sustainable or organic agriculture, many simply think that we are trying to replicate what our grandparents or great grandparents did. In fact, I remember visiting an organic farm years ago whose motto was "Grandpa knew best," and at the time I heartily agreed. I also hear conventional farmers say things like, "Why would we want to go backwards when we … [Read more...]
Old-time farm remedies best forgotten
If you know me at all, you know I'm a huge fan of home remedies. I remember my mother using baking soda for indigestion, and at the end of a long day, I love taking a bath with epsom salt and essential oils. But not all old-time remedies are better than modern alternatives. In fact, I'm downright shocked that I continue to see the following remedies suggested by people on … [Read more...]
Book review: Plowing with Pigs
I was originally drawn to Plowing with Pigs and Other Creative, Low-Budget Homesteading Solutions because I am planning to raise pigs, but it turns out you really can't judge a book by its cover! While there is a chapter about pigs and the many ways they can help you around your homestead, this book is actually a collection of many different affordable homestead solutions. The … [Read more...]
Hatching & Brooding Your Own Chicks
To continue “Chicken Week” on the blog, I wanted to write about Hatching & Brooding Your Own Chicks by Gail Damerow. I read this book last spring as part of a Pastured Poultry course I took through the UMass Amherst Stockbridge School of Agriculture. For the class, we also read Harvey Ussery's The Small-Scale Poultry Flock and Joel Salatin’s Pastured Poultry Profit$, both … [Read more...]
What happens when you have too many roosters?
We were naively ecstatic when our first chicks were hatched in 2003. Not only were the chicks adorable, but it also meant that we were self-sufficient when it came to providing eggs for ourselves. Our hens were providing us with eggs, and they were providing us with their replacements so that when they slowed down and eventually stopped laying, there would be younger hens to … [Read more...]
The confusing world of meat labels
If you don't grow 100% of your own meat like we do, then how do you know what meat is the best? What does grass-fed beef mean? What about pastured pork? What is free-range chicken? What do meat labels mean? The first thing you need to know about labels is that anyone can put almost anything on a label. "Organic" is about the only word that has governmental … [Read more...]