I was reading some old posts over on Stephanie's blog at Keeper of the Home and came across this one which included a link to this video.
What an amazing, inspirational video. If this family can grow 6000 lbs of produce on only 1/5 of an acre I can only dream about what we can do with 15!!! I am so excited to get my garden going again! We already put in our new strawberry bed and the asparagus just started to peek through in the last few days. Yum...asparagus quiche...that's what I want to make first!
And here is an excellent book about growing on small acerage. I definitely want to get a copy of this!
And one of my favorite things about where we are is that we can have chickens. I definitely think that raising our own food, whether vegetable or animal, is much more frugal in the long run than buying it from others. I have not actually figured out what my cost per a dozen eggs is to raise my chickens but when organic eggs are between $4-5 a dozen I must be doing OK. Plus I know my chickens are getting all kinds of things that those chickens probably are not like lots of green grass and sunshine!
Our chickens also help us with reducing our waste. Chickens are omnivores so they will eat pretty much anything. They get all of out leftovers. The only things we need to put into our compost are peels (and even some of those they will eat). All of the scraps of meat & dairy that they recommend you not put in compost we feed to our chickens. And they LOVE it. Whenever we head out that way they all come running to see what goodies we have today.
Where we live we do have problems with foxes, fishers & skunks (yes skunks! I never knew skunks like to kill chickens!) so we use some electric net fencing to keep our girls safe. We just rotate their pasture around the hen house every few weeks. We do also keep a rooster now as we have heard that fertilized eggs are great for you also (and I am hopeful one of my hens will go broody one of these days! And maybe get a few baby chicks).
I found this video from the same people that talks about raising chickens in the City! You can do it too!
There are tons more video's and websites out there about raising chickens in a small space and as long as your city ordances allow why the heck not!! Here are a few great websites to get you started.
The City Chicken
Mad City Chickens
An Article in The City Farmer about raising chickens in the city.
And here are a couple of books you could check out also!
Does anyone else out there raise chickens? Would you consider it? Do you have a garden? More Frugal Friday tips!
Blessings!
Friday, May 9, 2008
Urban Homesteading
Labels:
Frugal Fridays,
Homesteading
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2 comments:
We are raising chickens for butchering. This is our 1st yr. I was raised on a farm so it has been a long time. Ds is getting into them. He makes sure they are fed. Even though chickens aren't a profitable thing but when you buy them in the store they are to me. We are getting a better bird for the table.
Oh, I would love to raise chickens in my backyard! Thanks for leaving me the links last week! My hubby is definitely not ready to take a step like that (I'm not sure if he'll ever want to!). But perhaps when/if we're able to buy a few acres one day... Right now we're in a rental house in a quiet subdivision and I'm not sure how well the chickens would go over. :) It'd be interesting to know, though, whether it's legal here. I might check it out...
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