Anyone into growing crops or raising poultry in their backyard?
Micro-Farming & Backyard Homesteading
- Thread starter Left Coast DJ
- Start date
We've got the chicken coop all set up, just need to find some pullets. I'm surprized at how hard it is to find some - all the breeders insist on selling a rooster as part of the deal, but city bylaws prohibit roosters.
What have you got?
What have you got?
OldSaw
The wife's investment
So the rooster is first in the stew pot then.
I have 8 orange trees, a fig tree, almond tree, pomegranates, a tangerine tree, 3 different lemon trees, and grow my own chillies, tomatoes, onions, potatoes, garlic etc.. this is on a half acre lot. It's a lot of fun plus they're organically grown.
I've generally got tomatoes, various peppers and basil on my balcony, but our planting date up in the frozen tundra of Montreal is the 3rd weekend of May.
This is an interesting thread. Micro farming is essentially what people three or four generations ago did. It was callled sustenance farming/gardening. I don't know about the coastal areas but here in cattle country many of the ideas mentioned were being used easily into the 1970's. And yes, roosters in town caused a lot grief then as well! If you buy from a hatchery you can order pullets only. You don't need a rooster for eggs. Not unless you want little chickens and a lot ticked off neighbours. Happily, our local cities and towns are coming around to the idea of micro chicken coop operations in town limits. My mother has a half dozen heavy breed hens and their large brown eggs are a delicacy. I had two of them this morning, fried lightly in olive oil. Delicious. And micro farming works well here too. We live close by the river and the top soil is black as coal and over a foot deep. However, many have learned to do the square foot gardening thing by Mel Bartholomew. You don't dig up and improve your soil anymore. You make your soil. 33/33/33 mix of peat moss, vermiculite, and compost. You can grow anythying in it and it doesn't have weed seeds to deal with. We are going to make two four by four foot boxes this spring and get some planting done. We are late for some things but since you don't have to wait for the soil to warm, it works faster. Has anyone here done this square foot thing before? Care to comment?
Regards, Todd
Regards, Todd
We have an apartment porch herb garden. Basil, Cilantro, Oregano, Chives etc...
Would love to raise poultry some day for eggs and meat
Would love to raise poultry some day for eggs and meat
It's in the plans. When we get out of this apartment and into our own place, we're planning on a big garden, various fruit trees and bushes, chickens, bees, and eventually a small goat dairy.
You can successfully garden anywhere that you have a few square feet with decent sunlight. Take a look at the EarthBox system. It's basically a container with a water reservoir, you lay in a few bags of potting soil, some fertilizer, and whatever plants you want to grow. Veggies in the EarthBox grew twice as fast as the same stuff planted in the ground.
It's a closed system, the nutrients you give your plants can't leach away into the ground, and you have a plastic sheet covering the top of the box (except where your veggies are sticking up).
No weeding, top off the water daily, and you can move the boxes to take advantage of sunlight. I don't sell them, but we have been using them for about 10 years. Corn doesn't do well in them, but they are great for tomatoes and peppers, onions, spinach, leaf lettuce, and kitchen herbs.
We have a small greenhouse, and raise chickens too.
The reason we raise a lot of our own food is this:
We know that there will be no hepatitis in our strawberries, no harmful bacteria in our spinach, no hormones, steroids or antibiotics in our chickens or eggs.
And, once you have gone out into your garden, picked a salad, taken it into the house, washed and eaten it while it is at it's freshest, you will not be happy with that kind of stuff from the grocery store!
It's a closed system, the nutrients you give your plants can't leach away into the ground, and you have a plastic sheet covering the top of the box (except where your veggies are sticking up).
No weeding, top off the water daily, and you can move the boxes to take advantage of sunlight. I don't sell them, but we have been using them for about 10 years. Corn doesn't do well in them, but they are great for tomatoes and peppers, onions, spinach, leaf lettuce, and kitchen herbs.
We have a small greenhouse, and raise chickens too.
The reason we raise a lot of our own food is this:
We know that there will be no hepatitis in our strawberries, no harmful bacteria in our spinach, no hormones, steroids or antibiotics in our chickens or eggs.
And, once you have gone out into your garden, picked a salad, taken it into the house, washed and eaten it while it is at it's freshest, you will not be happy with that kind of stuff from the grocery store!
the wife and I have a garden so yes, we like to grow our own crops. a neighbor that lives 3 houses down from us has a chicken coop with a few hens - pretty neat.
Lots of container gardening - garlic, potatoes, onions, shallots, and some herbs for now. Got to get some tomatoes in the ground ASAP.
I've seen some recent articles suggesting that rabbits are the better choice for urban meat growing. A buck rabbit attends to business, and does not waste time crowing, so does not wake your neighbors. Also, chickens stink. That is okay if your neighbors are far away or have their own chickens. Not okay in a neighborhood.
Growing your own food is almost pure wealth creation. Herbs are easy (grow like weeds), and are marvelous when fresh.
Growing your own food is almost pure wealth creation. Herbs are easy (grow like weeds), and are marvelous when fresh.
For years my Dad had a bunch of chickens in the back yard; we had few neighbours and the ones we did have we got along with, so the City didn't care. (Plus we were friends with the lady down the street who was a long-serving Alderman ...
)Yes, real eggs are fantastic ... they're what I grew up on, and FYI everyone, egg yolks are supposed to be orange, not yellow.
I've got the land and I live in a farm town, but I've not yet had the time to prepare a REAL garden plot. I have a small 10'X15' area that I grow some veggies in, but I would really like to do a sizable garden once the kids are old enough to romp around in it with me.
I grew up with a nice garden and some chickens/fowl. I've eaten duck eggs from time to time, too. They had greenish yolks, and those chicken eggs had the most brilliant orange-red yolks. Delish!
I always wished we had had a bacon tree, though.
I grew up with a nice garden and some chickens/fowl. I've eaten duck eggs from time to time, too. They had greenish yolks, and those chicken eggs had the most brilliant orange-red yolks. Delish!
I always wished we had had a bacon tree, though.
And most assuredly a rabbit hutch. You have to experience it to know it. Saying that, it is easier to keep rabbit droppings cleaned up than chicken manure. A chicken tractor (google it) helps to keep down stench. And no, rabbits themselves do not stink. If you have ever butchered chickens then you know what gut turning stench awaits when you dunk fresly despatched chicken carcass into a big pot of boiling water to burn the pin feathers off. Just believe me, it is not fun. Rabbit meat is good eating as well.
For years my Dad had a bunch of chickens in the back yard; we had few neighbours and the ones we did have we got along with, so the City didn't care. (Plus we were friends with the lady down the street who was a long-serving Alderman ...
Yes, real eggs are fantastic ... they're what I grew up on, and FYI everyone, egg yolks are supposed to be orange, not yellow.
You get no argument from me! Mom's are like the sunset on a clear fall evening.
Regards, Todd
Last edited:
Technically, no you can't. Hatch chiles are grown in Hatch NM only. However New Mexico chiles and Anaheim chiles should grow fine for you.
Rabbits are an awesome meat producing vehicle for the home penny pincher. and talk about the delicious meat produced, very dense protein-- only problem I have ever had is the women folk getting attached to the baby bunnies (cute little buggers
).The fertilizer is much better then chicken as well.
Similar threads
