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    #16
    Re: Homesteading, Living Off Grid, and Other Alternative Living

    Whoops... by the time I got around to answering the thread (it's been open all day) there are three new replies. I'll handle this first, though.

    I want chickens for meat AND eggs - I plan on taking the chicken to a butcher to slaughter. But I primarily want to focus on eggs. What I'm thinking of doing is getting breeds that are dual-purpose ... although I kind of dread the idea of getting used to them, raising them, feeding them, and then eating them. I mean, that's the whole point of this change, to get connected to my food a little more, but still, I'm wary.

    I'm thinking we might have a building we can use as a coop, otherwise we'll have to build one. Still working on what we're going to do with them! The person I'm going to see sometime soon has a pretty interesting set up, I'm hoping to kind of imitate what she's got going on (a coop and fenced in area) but make it more secure because we live in the woods - plenty of predators around. My mother's guinea fowl wanders around, but they're down to six from about twenty last Fall.

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      #17
      Re: Homesteading, Living Off Grid, and Other Alternative Living

      Rafe...I'll have to check...I might have ditched it in the Great Book Purge for the band fundraiser...but I have a book on raising animals
      Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of HistoryPagan Devotionals, because the wind and the rain is our Bible
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        #18
        Re: Homesteading, Living Off Grid, and Other Alternative Living

        I have chickens and a garden. Im still trying to get a milk cow.

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          #19
          Re: Homesteading, Living Off Grid, and Other Alternative Living

          [quote author=B. de Corbin link=topic=256.msg2767#msg2767 date=1287098416]
          They do it for a dollar per bird (apparently, Amish people have a lot of repressed hostilities and enjoy killing chickens).
          [/quote]

          That just made me laugh so. hard.

          The local CAL Ranch store was selling chicks at Easter for 50 cents each, so I know there have to be some people who know how to do it...I'll just have to find the right people to ask
          Great Grandmother's Kitchen

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            #20
            Re: Homesteading, Living Off Grid, and Other Alternative Living

            [quote author=Raphaeline link=topic=256.msg2792#msg2792 date=1287103191]
            I want chickens for meat AND eggs - I plan on taking the chicken to a butcher to slaughter. But I primarily want to focus on eggs. What I'm thinking of doing is getting breeds that are dual-purpose ... although I kind of dread the idea of getting used to them, raising them, feeding them, and then eating them. I mean, that's the whole point of this change, to get connected to my food a little more, but still, I'm wary.[/quote]

            That's my problem. We treat them more like pets than livestock. Fortunately, we're not farmers, so it isn't a problem. My dad's advice is "Don't give them names."

            [quote author=catsraven link=topic=256.msg2797#msg2797 date=1287103562]
            I have chickens and a garden. Im still trying to get a milk cow.
            [/quote]

            How about a goat? They give more milk than cows, and are very easy to take care of.

            [quote author=Raphaeline link=topic=256.msg2792#msg2792 date=1287103191]
            I'm thinking we might have a building we can use as a coop, otherwise we'll have to build one. Still working on what we're going to do with them! The person I'm going to see sometime soon has a pretty interesting set up, I'm hoping to kind of imitate what she's got going on (a coop and fenced in area) but make it more secure because we live in the woods - plenty of predators around. My mother's guinea fowl wanders around, but they're down to six from about twenty last Fall.[/quote]
            Every moment of a life is a horrible tragedy, a slapstick comedy, dark nihilism, golden illumination, or nothing at all; depending on how we write the story we tell ourselves.

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              #21
              Re: Homesteading, Living Off Grid, and Other Alternative Living

              Oh - P.S. Deseret - when the kids are old enough, consider getting them into a 4H group. It's a great program, the kids will have fun and learn stuff, and you'll be able to meet good people who can teach you how to do pretty much any farm chore you might need to learn.
              Every moment of a life is a horrible tragedy, a slapstick comedy, dark nihilism, golden illumination, or nothing at all; depending on how we write the story we tell ourselves.

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                #22
                Re: Homesteading, Living Off Grid, and Other Alternative Living

                This is something I've always been interested in but living in the city I'm not sure if I can even have chickens :'(

                We will be renting my grandmas house in a couple months (She passed away this summer) and hopefully will be able to buy it in a few years. While renting I KNOW I can't have chickens (had to beg to keep my cat) but I might when we buy it because A. chicken prices in the stores are REDICULOUS and B. I feel better knowing what has and hasn't gone into my food.

                Then tho there is the coon and possom problem in the city as well

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                  #23
                  Re: Homesteading, Living Off Grid, and Other Alternative Living

                  [quote author=B. de Corbin link=topic=256.msg3006#msg3006 date=1287141992]
                  Oh - P.S. Deseret - when the kids are old enough, consider getting them into a 4H group. It's a great program, the kids will have fun and learn stuff, and you'll be able to meet good people who can teach you how to do pretty much any farm chore you might need to learn.
                  [/quote]

                  I've been looking at 4H out here, and you're right, it's excellent. Girl scouts, too, which you can't find anywhere in Utah.
                  Great Grandmother's Kitchen

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                    #24
                    Re: Homesteading, Living Off Grid, and Other Alternative Living

                    B. de Corbin I like goats milk, but no one else dose. Its also very difficult to make butter with it.

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                      #25
                      Re: Homesteading, Living Off Grid, and Other Alternative Living

                      Recycled storage shed container homes are probably the most innovative thing I have seen in awhile. Not only are they cheap but durable and the design is only limited by your imagination. At around a 1000 USD a storage container the sky is the limit for possibilities. http://green.yahoo.com/blog/daily_gr...er-houses.html

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                        #26
                        Re: Homesteading, Living Off Grid, and Other Alternative Living

                        [quote author=catsraven link=topic=256.msg3252#msg3252 date=1287186673]
                        B. de Corbin I like goats milk, but no one else dose. Its also very difficult to make butter with it.

                        [/quote]

                        That's because the chemical makeup of goat's milk is very different from that of cow's, with a smaller fat globule structure. This article might be helpful, if you haven't seen it before.
                        Great Grandmother's Kitchen

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                          #27
                          Re: Homesteading, Living Off Grid, and Other Alternative Living

                          We have chickens, ducks, guineas, goats, sheep, and a donkey.

                          For eggs and meat, look into getting hatching eggs or straight run chicks. When you can start to tell the difference between cockerels (males) and pullets (females), butcher the cockerels except one. Then let the roo fertilize eggs and hatch out another batch. That way you don't get too attached to them - and if you do, just wait until you have 10 roosters and trust me, you will be wringing necks yourself. Wyandottes are a good dual purpose breed (originally called Winnebagos which is what I still refer to mine as - they are HUGE).

                          We have some Indian runners. While absolutely hilarious to watch run around, the Khaki Campbells lay more eggs. But runners eggs are slightly bluish/greenish which is cool.

                          We make goat milk butter. You can either get a cream separator or let the milk sit undisturbed in a shallow vessel for 3 days - then you can skim the cream. There's also another way to do it with a sun tea jar but I haven't tried it yet.

                          Er, what else? Can't think of anything else to add right now!
                          The Pagan Porch - a Pagan Homesteading forum

                          Sand Holler Farm Blog - aren't you just dying to know what I do all day?

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                            #28
                            Re: Alternative Building Ideas

                            I'm a big fan of earth lodges and viking pit houses. Yet, dirt floors are hard to keep clean though...



                            The viking pit house stays naturally cool as it is basically a pit with the upper half of a house built over it. The vikings used some of these in the summer, though it might be pretty cold in the winter...



                            Also quite nice, the Mandan earth lodges were a little bigger than the pit houses, but needed to be re-built every six or so years.

                            I wonder how difficult it would be to build one now. If the Mandan could do it with no heavy machinery, maybe I can build one in my backyard...?

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                              #29
                              Re: Alternative Building Ideas

                              [quote author=Sparrowings link=topic=86.msg7902#msg7902 date=1288322763]
                              I'm a big fan of earth lodges and viking pit houses. Yet, dirt floors are hard to keep clean though...

                              [/quote]

                              This is really the kind of thing I want to build for my studio. I'll have to open up some skylights for lighting, but it's just the kind of thing I've been thinking about. I'm thinking that if you lay down heavy sheets of plastic on the roofboards before you cover it with soil and sod it'll prevent rot over the long term. The dirt floor's not a problem. If you nail a cleat to he inside near the dirt floor, you can lay joists across it and put in a raised floor.

                              Soil is a good insulator, so as long as you have a heat source inside (like a wood stove) it should be easy to heat.

                              I have two sites picked out on the back acres... all I need now is the energy.
                              Every moment of a life is a horrible tragedy, a slapstick comedy, dark nihilism, golden illumination, or nothing at all; depending on how we write the story we tell ourselves.

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                                #30
                                Re: Alternative Building Ideas

                                Dirt floors might be ideal for a studio, if you make a mess you can jusr sweep it away!

                                The only problem I forsee with this is when it rains you might get an indoor pool if it's not built on high enough ground. I wonder if putting in a cement wall lining around the pit would help prevent that, or if the cement would also break down eventually too... None of the articles I've read so far describe how the vikings kept their pit houses from becoming waterlogged, so maybe it just wasn't a problem for them.

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