There are lots of things to know about homesteading, like how to store that bumper crop of parsnips that you grew, or how to deal with wasps in your tool shed, naturally, without a toxic biocide, or how to find where the ducks have been laying, and the list changes day to day, in order to meet each new unexpected, and unforeseen situation as it arises, how about that tree that fell on your fence, or the storm that washed away part of your gravel driveway, or that fuel line that needs replaced..
but that's just day to day stuff, what about the Golden Rule?
Well, here's the biggest baddest homesteading rule that i can never seem to get right...
Don't get animals, not ever, until you've prepared in every foreseeable way..
because even if you think you're ready , there's still more to be done..
If you say, "i'll fix the chicken coop over the summer while they're busy growing";
you'll inevitably have unexpected situations to deal with, and it may get put on the back burner, in which case, you will end up like me;
where every day's an Easter egg hunt, and i dread the day (usually in late winter) when a Fox will happen upon my blissful little flock
(anything else gets caught in the live trap => anchovy paste;)
but in the meantime Free range Birds are simply the happiest,
healthiest bug hunters,
and they get about half their food from roaming around the yard..
and let me tell you something, don't get a turkey peep for shits and giggles, just to let it roam around with your free range chickens;
the damn thing shits 5 times as much as my German shepherd!!!
I'm not even kidding..
That works out to about one ton of shit / 2 pounds of giggles
Most folks don't know that Chickens can act as weed whackers; if you move the feed can around the yard, and if you're as patient, and as lazy as me...
You gotta make those chickens work for that feed, sprinkle it around them weeds..
Having a turkey helps too, you should see the feet on it; right out of Jurassic Park!!
(pros and cons to everything, i reckon; )
Freya is a good "pup" she can't use her back legs anymore; but that doesn't stop her..
She likes to lay where she can keep an eye on the kids..
I noticed all the poultry seem to feel safe around her, even the wild bunny wabbits get within a few feet of her.. Wild deer often rest with their fawns in the tall weeds nearby, they have long since lost their spots, but are not quite yearlings yet..
Coop or no coop, that trap has to always be set, to protect those birds...
and if the Fox comes late in the Winter, just before Spring,
we'll say, "Oh well, the foxes mate for life, and they got kids to feed this time of year!"
i figure, if he's smart enough to never set foot in my trap, then we'll let him do his thing;
(they don't leave a mess like other varmits; )
and if i don't finish the chicken coop, it's no one's fault but my own..
Those birds live a good life and they'll go to a good cause, one way or the other..
but that's just day to day stuff, what about the Golden Rule?
Well, here's the biggest baddest homesteading rule that i can never seem to get right...
Don't get animals, not ever, until you've prepared in every foreseeable way..
because even if you think you're ready , there's still more to be done..
If you say, "i'll fix the chicken coop over the summer while they're busy growing";
you'll inevitably have unexpected situations to deal with, and it may get put on the back burner, in which case, you will end up like me;
where every day's an Easter egg hunt, and i dread the day (usually in late winter) when a Fox will happen upon my blissful little flock
(anything else gets caught in the live trap => anchovy paste;)
but in the meantime Free range Birds are simply the happiest,
healthiest bug hunters,
and they get about half their food from roaming around the yard..
and let me tell you something, don't get a turkey peep for shits and giggles, just to let it roam around with your free range chickens;
the damn thing shits 5 times as much as my German shepherd!!!
I'm not even kidding..
That works out to about one ton of shit / 2 pounds of giggles
Most folks don't know that Chickens can act as weed whackers; if you move the feed can around the yard, and if you're as patient, and as lazy as me...
You gotta make those chickens work for that feed, sprinkle it around them weeds..
Having a turkey helps too, you should see the feet on it; right out of Jurassic Park!!
(pros and cons to everything, i reckon; )
Freya is a good "pup" she can't use her back legs anymore; but that doesn't stop her..
She likes to lay where she can keep an eye on the kids..
I noticed all the poultry seem to feel safe around her, even the wild bunny wabbits get within a few feet of her.. Wild deer often rest with their fawns in the tall weeds nearby, they have long since lost their spots, but are not quite yearlings yet..
Coop or no coop, that trap has to always be set, to protect those birds...
and if the Fox comes late in the Winter, just before Spring,
we'll say, "Oh well, the foxes mate for life, and they got kids to feed this time of year!"
i figure, if he's smart enough to never set foot in my trap, then we'll let him do his thing;
(they don't leave a mess like other varmits; )
and if i don't finish the chicken coop, it's no one's fault but my own..
Those birds live a good life and they'll go to a good cause, one way or the other..