Results 1 to 9 of 9

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

  1. #1
    AE
    AE is offline

    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    3507+ ALIPAC Super Hero since 07/2005
    Posts
    2,311

    Becoming self-sufficient in these times...

    Could not find it, but thought we had started a "garden" thread?...

    Oh well. Just wondering, with all of the food scares, and economic woes, what we have all had time to do and, maybe share some tips too.

    Oregon now has the highest unemployment rate, I do think in the nation, right behind Michigan, or maybe we have surpassed them....So far no one I know has lost a job, one brother is yet unemployed, but has some good prospects.

    So far in our household, we have simply had to forgo a big raise till things improve for the business. We are in a holding pattern, but employed.

    My son (who is 15, almost 16) got a job at a local feed store in town. He works weekends, and in summer some weekdays too. He loves that job, and he has begun to gain a huge interest in agriculture and farming.

    He had a desire to raise a few chickens for eggs. We have an ok sized backyard, and a good deal of autonomy for renters, so we said ok to it (versus video games and hanging around other teens late at night? It was a no-brainer). He brought home four chicks, raised them for the past two months, which are now pullets. Found one to be a rooster, who will be relocated VERY soon. Replaced him with another hen.

    He spent his own cash to build a nice sized hen house and enclosure. They are likely the best cared for chickens around. He cleans their area daily, clean water and food daily, greens and other "goodies" daily too.

    We had gone on to get three Ring Necked pheasants to raise, but it is not working out so well, the little buggers are slippery and hard to keep under wraps. They have a new smaller "hen house" built just for them, but they too are going out, and we will replace them with a few more hens. Plenty of our own fresh eggs for the next two to three years.

    Overall we will have about 7-9 hens, which will produce around 2 eggs, or more, a day, plenty to go around to family (likely all extras, my son will gladly sell to neighbors for some $$$).

    I made a raised garden bed in our yard, 8 foot by 5 foot, 12 inches deep. Planted all manner of useful veggie plants, adding to the 7 tomato, 6 pepper, and 8 cilantro plants we already had. So to the side of us, one yard away, is a strip of land owned by the local power company, where there lines are. they maintain the tall grass and tree's, but it is open space. So.....we took up the thick native sod, found incredible soil, cut open a swath about 5 foot by 16 feet and planted corn (36), lettuce (10) and spinach seed. We, of course surrounded that with a lightweight fence to keep out animals.

    We are yet done with our spring projects, but felt really good, knowing we were doing our own, being self-sufficient, and not giving our money to either out of country farmers, or farming corporations who use NAFTA to farm cheaply (and unsafely) in Mexico.

    We have an abundance of wild foods here, which we will again take advantage of, as well as doing some apple picking when the season comes, a HUGE savings from buying apples in the store. Might can....but will need my mother for that one.

    I feel this is aiding in putting at least one more illegal alien out of work on a large farm, picking produce I might have bought. Great for us too, and the kids have loved doing it.

    I will attempt to post some pictures here. I would love the see anyone else's gardens too. Also understand, not everyone has had time, the means, or the space for such, even if it is just a few pots of tomatoes, share it anyways (or just share you dreams of what you would love to be able to do).
    “In the beginning of a change, the Patriot is a scarce man, Brave, Hated, and Scorned. When his cause succeeds however,the timid join him, For then it costs nothing to be a Patriot.â€

  2. #2
    Senior Member USPatriot's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    SW Florida
    Posts
    3,827
    Good post AE,chickens are fun ! I grew up on a farm and we were pretty much self sufficient.

    Our cellar was gorgeous with rows and rows of beautiful canned food and we had a potato bin too which lasted all through the winter.Our cellar stayed at 40 degrees year round.

    I lived in Beaverton,OR for several mths and oh how I loved all the fresh fruit,flower fields available there and the wild black berries were huge.I made alot of freezer jam too.
    Oregan is like The Garden Of Eden to me.

    The chicken manure will make excellent fertilizer but it must set awhile before using or it will burn the plants.We would put manure on our acre + garden in the fall and it would be ready to plant in the spring.
    "A Government big enough to give you everything you want,is strong enough to take everything you have"* Thomas Jefferson

  3. #3
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    NC
    Posts
    11,242
    You are very lucky as the neighborhood I live in does not allow any chickens, of course I would not be surprised that the huge apartment complex across the main road doesn't have them, as it is mostly non-English speakers who will probably use the roosters in cock fights.
    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)

  4. #4
    AE
    AE is offline

    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    3507+ ALIPAC Super Hero since 07/2005
    Posts
    2,311
    USPatriot, Beaverton? I had no idea. Wow, we are on the opposite side of town, outskirts (East Gresham) going towards Mt. Hood. Not sure when that was, but it is no longer farmland there, all housing and malls now.

    The blackberries are weeds here, most people hate them. I love the smell when they are ripe, and it is warm out. Sort of a winey smell. To make jam, boy you have to strain a lot of seeds out of those things though. Our native blackberries (no the ones you'd see along the roads and in open areas in large bushes were not native, they were "oops" transplants by settlers, now invasive, Himalayan Blackberries) grow low to the ground, are small and powerful tasting. We also have wild strawberries in the mountains, wild raspberries and another one we call "salmon berries" theyare a fragile, small version of raspberries, sweet, but hard to get before they drop or birds get them.

    We also have what are my favorites, mountain huckleberries. They are a wild cousin to the domestic blueberry, and are ALL over the higher elevations in the cascades. They are tangier than the hybridized ones you buy, much better tasting, and of course, FREE!

    We are hoping to make friends with someone to get a large amount of apples in Hood River this year and I will can those too. Will not can veggies, too much risk of botulism. I have a freezer and we'll just fill that with the excess vegetables.

    Vortex, too bad you can't have them, it is one more step to being independent of the corporate farmers that employ illegals. But maybe you can find a lot of good local farmers markets. Unfortunately, with a lot of them, they too might use some illegal labor too, I have seen that.

    I am going to try to make a post here with the photos.
    “In the beginning of a change, the Patriot is a scarce man, Brave, Hated, and Scorned. When his cause succeeds however,the timid join him, For then it costs nothing to be a Patriot.â€

  5. #5
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    NC
    Posts
    11,242
    I do go to farmer's markets quite a bit but you cannot really challenge the person running the stand about the status of their crop pickers.
    I do have a chicken story. My mom, at about age six, saw her favorite chicken grabbed by a hawk but the chicken escaped and fell to the ground with a torn wing. My mom, always wise, decided the best thing was put the chicken out of its misery. Her four-year-old sister had to hold the chicken on a block of wood while she tried to chop it in the neck, while her sister is screaming and crying and the chicken was yelling as well. She finally managed to kill the chicken, but when their mom got home, they were informed that it is so easy to sew the torn skin so it would eventually heal.
    I am deprived as I have never personally known a chicken. I did meet a cow or two when I was a kid.
    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)

  6. #6
    AE
    AE is offline

    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    3507+ ALIPAC Super Hero since 07/2005
    Posts
    2,311
    Chickens are funny to watch. They can be pretty cantankerous. We found out something interesting about the chickens we have. We have four Rhode Island Reds, and then our replacement hen (for the rooster that is going) is a Rhode Island Red/Wyandotte mix. They took a bit to accept her, and now all is ok, however, Rhode Island Reds will NOT accept any other breed that is remarkably different in color than themselves, they will peck at it till they kill it or it is saved by humans. We saw this today at the feed store. They had two hens brought in, one was a fast growing broiler (the white ones) and a Rhode Island Red in the same cage, and the Rhode Island was dominant and kept the other in a corner and kept pecking at it.

    Cows, STUPID and smelly, especially in summer. Ugh, a cow in the heat, at close range, will knock you over.

    My barnyard favorites are the horses. Smart animals. My friends horse loves sweets, as they all do, but he knows we keep stuff in pockets and he will grab your jeans pockets with his teeth and pull and attempt to get in to find candy. I have seen them find ways to get between barbed wire meant to keep them away from apple tree's, just to get to the apples.

    My friends horse knows when she puts kids on his back, and he gets very concerned and will strain to look back and take his face to hold them on his back ( that usually means his nose and some snot!LOL). I have seen him want out and try, with his mouth, to open the gate latch.

    Chickens are smart enough to know how to survive, but I am not convinced they actually have personalities like horses or household pets do. Funny to watch, some breeds are also interesting or gentle in nature, but nothing more than that.
    “In the beginning of a change, the Patriot is a scarce man, Brave, Hated, and Scorned. When his cause succeeds however,the timid join him, For then it costs nothing to be a Patriot.â€

  7. #7
    AE
    AE is offline

    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    3507+ ALIPAC Super Hero since 07/2005
    Posts
    2,311
    Finally got my pictures done and decided to post them. We keep adding on, and planting things....we already have next years planned out, including more area to clear in the field, where we hope to try planting seed potatoes....we'll see how that goes.

    As one can see, our squash in general have taken off (pumkins, acorn, zuchinni, cucumbers, pickling cukes....). Corn is doing ok, not as tall as I think it should be, but it still has plenty of time, although it has small "baby" ears. I pruned back duplicates that were growing next to more successful stalks. A friend said leaving two together is ok, but no more. I wondered if I had done this too late, or would the stalks gain in strength? I can only hope.

    Here's the lot of our attempt at self-sufficiency (besides our forays into the wilds of Oregon to find wild berries to use):







    Truthfully, since I took the photos, it has all grown even more and that was only about one week ago, so it is taking off. So far my carrots and radish sprouts have not done much, and the peas and green beans started too late, may not produce much, or at all, next time I think I will have to start them earlier and in their own spots. My son is the blur, moving at the speed of light to clear his last plot that is now filled with pickling cukes and zuchinni. In this process, he has caught 12 possums which we have relocated just east of us in the woodlands. They kept going into the chicken yards, although ours are secured at night, what if they started coming around while they hens were out?

    We have been calling it "possum chucking", it has become a strange late night event that has our illegal neighbors oddly curious, and a little weirded out. They can hear my son chase down the unlucky possum, corner it and hold it down with his boot, then holler for me to grab his gloves and container, he then grabs the tail (when they are held by their tails they cannot do anything to you) and deposits it into the container and we take it out beyond the city limits.

    No, we're not doing some weird rednecked ritual, just getting rid of vermin around our hens and garden. Sure we have raccoons, but nowhere in the numbers of possums, maybe only one or two around.
    “In the beginning of a change, the Patriot is a scarce man, Brave, Hated, and Scorned. When his cause succeeds however,the timid join him, For then it costs nothing to be a Patriot.â€

  8. #8
    Senior Member roundabout's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Posts
    3,445
    AE wrote,

    To make jam, boy you have to strain a lot of seeds out of those things though.
    You take all of the seeds and pulp from the straining process and put all into a crock or simular container add water and stir, let sit, then strain again, add sugar (if you wish) then you have Blackberry juice for the table.

    If you can eat what you raise, then perhaps some rabbits. Two does and a buck and you will have plenty of very tasty protein and plenty of fertilizer for the garden. Some people think they are too cute to eat. I always thought they were more tasty than they were cute. Very prolific also.

    Your rooster should be tasty.

  9. #9
    AE
    AE is offline

    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    3507+ ALIPAC Super Hero since 07/2005
    Posts
    2,311
    The rooster went to a little poultry farm outside of town to breed more Rhode Island Reds. We just have the hens ( for eggs right now. Will be getting some broilers soon, about 10, and there is a processor nearby that will do it for $3.00 each. My son gets the broilers from the feed store he works at for .90 cents each, and they are ready in just two months. Easy and cheaper than store bought, as well, better tasting as we can control their diet and corn feed them for their final two weeks.

    I have had rabbit, did not feel bad over it, they are prolific. Hear they are less fattening than chicken, but do not know anyone who raises them, or butchers them, and I am not up to the process myself, and also since I live in a rental in the suburbs (on the outskirts of the suburbs to rural area, we cannot be doing that in town). I like venison, but do not know anyone who hunts, and have never myself. Although if I ever took it up, the meat market just across the street from us does process large game, and as well will package it for you and smoke some of it too.

    Recently we have thought about putting together a portable smoke house. Something that could be moved around if needed (we have access to a lot of alder and cedar for the smoking process).

    One of our main problems is that our space is highly limited, we have a two bedroom duplex, and although there is a garage, our son uses that most of the time as his living space (except for in extreme weather, such as this week, right now it is aiming towards 105 degrees). We can add another freezer to our place, we already have one upright we own.
    “In the beginning of a change, the Patriot is a scarce man, Brave, Hated, and Scorned. When his cause succeeds however,the timid join him, For then it costs nothing to be a Patriot.â€

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •