I Chickened Out!
They will be here in less than an hour to pick up the last of my chickens. Nineteen hens and one rooster, off to a new home. These ones were spared the freezer, but I just can't find my "want to" for chickens this year. Or a garden. After ten years of learning about permaculture and aquaponics and sprouting and fodder feeding and worm bins and microgreens and making my own dry feeds and, on and on and on...
I QUIT.
At least for now. We kept finding new ways to grow food and "experimenting." Rather than pour a ton of money into a new project, we would do things on the cheap, just to see if it worked for us. We learned a lot, the knowledge is the big prize we gained. However, after ten years we have no infrastructure. My chicken coops are falling apart, my greenhouse did fall apart last year.
My dome grow area never got finished, the fish died so the AP system sits idle, the backhoe won't stay running long enough to even try my permaculture design for our place.
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Ten years ago I had the excitement of brand new ideas to carry me through. Now I have ten more years of aches, pains and things that don't work like they used to. Eleven years ago, I used to kayak, scuba, ski... Now I don't have time, (have to get home to feed!) or money (have to buy more feed!) and I worry that some of these aches and pains mean I could not even do some of those activities if I had the time and money. So I am stepping back.
I have been there, done that, I have enough T-shirts. A sampling:
Aquaponics
Tilapia Breeding
Fodder Feeding
Serious Fodder Set Up
Rocket Mass Heater Build
Lots of Chickens
Our trouble is not that we don't have any ideas, our trouble is we did not focus and tried all the good ideas we found. I am not doing a garden this year. Last year I fed grasshoppers, the year before that I fed voles. My cows and chickens have to break in there at some point and raid the goodies too. For the last several years, I wind up filling my freezer with produce I bought, because something besides me got to harvest my garden. That wears on you after a while. I am going to cut to the chase and plan on buying my produce this year.
🥚🧀🥔🍎🍒🍋🍐🍉🍓🌽🌶🥕🥒🥑🍌🍈
I live in a postcard, but it is not an easy life. The wind howls.. The grow season is short. The winters are long, dark, and it can snow several feet. The rain is non-existent and for our 30 acres we have irrigation rights for 3/4 acre. (Was hearing another vegan this morning say meat is not "sustainable." It depends on where you live. Around here, unless you want to eat sagebrush, you'd better be ready to eat beef if SHTF.) This place makes a lovely photograph but a crappy garden. I am not putting one more plant in the ground until I have climate control, year-round. Even then, the plants won't go in the ground. I am also tired of bending over, my back hurts.
🙇
Ten years ago when I "woke up" the first thing I realized is that I needed to be able to feed myself, my family, and as many neighbors as I could if SHTF. I no longer feel any obligation to try to feed my neighbors, around here most of the people are way ahead of me. I got into chickens and did eggs and meat birds. At this point, I still have 2 year old chickens in my freezer; we just don't eat as much meat as we used to and I don't have as many mouths to feed. I could keep a couple layers around, but then I am married to twice a day care all summer when I can buy organic, free range eggs grown across the street for $2 a dozen. We eat about a dozen eggs a week. I cannot hire anyone to come gather my eggs that cheap. Except me... screw that, I am buying HIS eggs! They honestly come out cheaper than mine, if you value my time at ANYTHING remotely reasonable, even half minimum wage.
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OK, it is a little sad. I do love chickens, they are amazing creatures. Know what I don't love? Stepping in chicken poop, chicken poop on EVERY pair of shoes I own, chicken poop on my doormat where I wish I could wipe chicken poop off my shoes, chicken poop on my eggs, chicken poop in the nest boxes, cleaning the coop, injured chickens, dead chickens, taking chickens in to get whacked, listening to people treat me like I am "wrong" because I do not do chickens the way they do, dogs getting into my chicken flock and killing half the flock, dogs getting in the chicken flock and having to be shot, badgers getting in the coop and having to be shot, sprouting stuff all over my kitchen, sprouts all over in my shower, buying feed, buying more feed, buying more feed... and having ZERO profit margin on eggs or meat. It has NEVER been financially viable to sell the eggs or the birds, and I do everything I can think of to keep costs down. Everyone around here has chickens, they just don't pay "organic" prices and I can't label mine "organic" anyway. And... I can't grow a chicken and have it processed at the local USDA approved place as cheap as Tyson can ship them to China and back.
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So, they are going away soon. It has been quite the adventure. We have eaten very well. My animals were well loved, well cared for - they had a good life and these ones are not even going to have THAT bad of a day today, just a little stress. I am a little giddy, to be honest. We still have the cows, but through the summer they are just a lot less work. And I do have plenty of other work lined up for this summer... like getting ready to get back into chickens next year. Maybe the year after... @longsilver and I have to catch up on PLAYING!
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You are definitely allowed to learn and grow and change! That is what life is about!
And frankly, everyone who acts like the ONLY thing for "woke" people to do is farm, are crazy. Not everyone is a farmer. I'm not. I want to live in a tiny house in a forest. I want to caretake land for mama Danu and all life upon her. I don't want to farm and stash supplies. Ancestrally, if we're talking since the advent of agriculture, sure, MOST people were involved in food production, but not everyone was. There were artisans and bards and priests and warriors and so on. And also, at that time, the Earth was not POISONED like she is today, and species weren't going extinct en masse. I think my purpose has a lot more to do with cleaning up our mess than food production.
Tl;dr we all have different paths! You do you. :)
Thank you! Seriously, I think it was important that we learn HOW to do these things, but yeah... We still have grocery stores, and it is legal to use them.
And stewarding land is much different than homesteading, yet so amazingly important.
Well, I'll admit. Your post did make me a little sad. It's a story of doing what you love and what you believe in, then after some time realizing it makes you tired and you don't love it as much anymore. And (partly) quiting. I have a similar story. Of something I believed in 100% and then after some time decided to change, because it got me too tired. Doesn't mean I don't believe it anymore. It's still a big part of things most valuable. But still I also wouldn't want to go back to investing all the time and energy the way I did. It's an interesting part of affairs, quitting things. Not all bad, not all good, perhaps. Hope you find back some of the energy and inspiration of before, sooner than you'd expect :)
Thank you! They picked them up now, and I really do feel relieved. Two got away so I have to find a home for them still lol! That will be easy enough, I just needed to do something different for a while. Burned out!
Unless someone has lived with chickens they won't understand this LOL Hats off to you for doing as long as you did, that is how grew up and would like to do it again but your story reminded me how it really was, maybe we will take the fully sustainable slow for now, Thanks for sharing now go have some fun! and buy some new shoes that won't have chicken poo on them! -DixiesilverGirl
Lol! The people who picked them up asked why I was getting rid of them. I said much of what is in the post... They were like "Yeah, we just got married and could not even take a honeymoon..." I felt a little bad, like I made them think they might should be getting rid of chickens not getting more... but they are young and full of energy, they'll be fine! For a while... ;)
And they might have a bunch of egg eating kids. My kids would eat dozens a week if I let them.
That may be in the works, but they are newlywed, no kids yet!
People in the city have a hard time comprehending that the further out you are the more vermin you have to fight against. My aunt was a avid gardener for years in a country setting. They had their area fenced in whereas in the city I never had to go to those lengths to protect my garden when I had one. Then I stopped because they just didn't produce like they use to and it took me years later when I had the same thing with growing flowers, they just wouldn't grow, and it was in my opinion this lady who lived two doors down who moved and for years had her lawn sprayed for insects which killed most the bees off. Her and another lady down on the corner, she must have passed away and the lady two doors down finally moved. The bees are making a come back. Last year we had one set of bees with a hive under our porch roof on top of a pillar. After discussing it with my son who rents from me next door we decided to teach the grand kids the value having the bees, how important they were and to be cautious not to stick anything like a stick at them. They are afraid of bees but we told them if left alone a bee will be busy being a bee. It worked out really well. My flowers did exceptionally well!
I remember as a kid chasing the grasshoppers and catching them and it's something that I miss. I also miss the crickets so last year I went to a pet store and bought me a bunch of crickets, it was great listening to them again after years of not hearing them chirp. I actually have a funny story to about this one particular cricket when I first bought my house that drove me crazy at night he was so loud. I'd actually get out of bed and try to hunt him down but as soon as I opened my door he'd stop. lol. Never did get him. I guess the lady two doors down did with her nasty chemicals. I'd love to have some grasshoppers but like you said they are so devastating to crops it's actually illegal to mail order them in the United States. Our life styles are so polar opposite and I think that's why I like to read your blogs, you don't have to listen to fire trucks, ambulance and, so far only, occasional gun shots that have nothing to do with killing vermin eating your vegetables if you get my drift almost every night particularly in the summer when all the hood rats are out and about. As a matter of fact it was after a house got shot up last year about a block away when a neighbor said to the news that twenty years ago when he first moved hear he said all you could hear at night were the crickets. I said to myself you know he's right, you never hear crickets anymore. Then I started missing the sound and decided to act. I'd love to live a little further out but I hardly doubt it will transpire at this point. The closest I am going to get is reading your blogs...lol.
Lol! I have had a cricket in the house, it is CRAZY how loud they are! That is awesome about the bees. A well-aged friend told my husband that bees are most mellow at dusk. We used to go down and check the boxes with no hood or smoke or anything, just wait till it was sleepy time for them and we never got stung. We did NOT try to harvest honey, would have hooded up for that! But they are very chill at dusk, if the grandkids want to just go watch them fly home it is sort of cool. Thanks for your kindness and support, and it was fun to hear you say why you read my blog. I confess, I often wonder "Why does ANYONE follow me...?" At least I know why one person does now lol!
I've often believed that if there was some sort of reincarnation that my happiest life was lived in the old wild, wild west...at least that's what I am most attracted to, old western towns, open land and antiques. To me it's interesting to see the buildings and information you guys post about the things around you. I guess maybe we aren't meant to go backwards in time or I am just plain cursed...but it's not as bad here yet as some big cities so it could be worse.
I don't know if the bees will return to the same spot this year, in a way I am hoping they do because it was such a educational experience for the grand kids. We will have to observe them one night coming in from their busy day....thanks for the tip!
If mailing crickets is illegal, then that might be a animal rights violation, right? Yes, bees are busy being bees. I've lived in a 20K population city about 40 miles from Portland, OR, a big city, and I was living between city life and farm life, born 1985, and I love it so much. I have gardens now and am trying to get back to all of it. What you are writing here is very valuable for many people to remember for so many reasons. Thanks for sharing, hehe. You are awesome. I'm Oatmeal Joey Arnold. You can call me Joey.
You can order crickets by mail legally, it's the grasshoppers you can get in trouble for transporting through the mail. Since there are a couple places that will ship them I don't know how well they enforce that law. It would be my luck that as soon as I ordered some the place would get busted and my name found on a mail order list! lol. I think I'd rather spend hours out in the country trying to catch some than have that hanging over my head.
That is a bad law. We got to stop bad law.
I guess you have to look at it from the angle of a farmer whose whole crops could be wiped out by a massive explosion of locust....then again this isn't 1874-75 when they had the great locust plague, we are more equipped in this modern world to deal with situations like that.
Let the free market decide. Let each person fend for themselves. Unless if we just want big brother to babysit us and keep us safe like Facebook says they do to help us know what is safe and not safe or maybe like bots that are saying my comments, like this one, is bad.
It would be pretty hard to live in a world where everyone fended for himself. There'd be mass starvation on the horizon. Though a lot of people hate that the government regulates so many things food production is to keep low cost products on the market so people don't starve like wheat, corn and soybeans. One or the other is usually a basic staple in people's diets all across the world and can be flown in and dropped from planes in area's where there's feminine at a reasonably low cost. There's billions of people in the world most wouldn't know the first thing about how to garden for survival. With so many controls in place though they should release the regulations on grasshoppers
We can totally forget what North Korea does as they regulate. We can pretend Mao didn't do anything. We may forget about Stalin, Hitler, Cuba, Venezuela. Look at what happened in the Roman Empire centuries ago as they moved people to the big cities and then Rome fell. History repeats again and again. Here are the examples of how starvation increases because of the empires as absolute power corrupts absolutely and government, corporatism, plutocracy, grows and grows more and more. People can learn how to garden, farm.
Sometimes a change is needed to refresh yourself and get revitalized
I take this as a pause and not a stop to your adventures
Not really even a pause in adventures... just narrowing it down to a handful at a time lol! Truly, we bought a sailboat and got scuba certified so we could sail and dive away our retirement. Then we woke up. We got REAL serious REAL fast about being able to feed ourselves and our neighbors. So now we have all these new skills that are great to have... but we still have a sailboat and dreams...
Never let the dreams go they make life special
Ah we are taking a play year too! I mean some projects thrown in. But after 2 years (can’t imagine how u must feel after 10!), we need the play focus :) hope you enjoy your year, rest and the neighbors eggs :)
Thanks! It is lovely to see so much understanding from other homesteaders. Part of self reliance is keeping your chin up... but part of it is knowing when to say "UNCLE!!!" too lol!
Sorry to read you are having a tough go at it. Does sound like you have some harsh conditions to over-come. I'm still impressed with all the work and that you are trying. Good to step back sometimes, for sure, and especially can't lose all the fun nature adventures!! Thank you for the foresight here, and it makes me think maybe specializing in certain crops and processes, then trading for the others might be best. Guess that's why the large scale folks do that, right? Haha. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the extra time, and no judgement here. Cheers!
Yeah, monocropping is an agricultural disaster. Specializing is NOT, and people really need to cooperated rather than have every one of us try to be 100% self-sustaining!
How very brave and adventurous of you to make this change. Like you said, the knowledge that you can do the self sufficiency thing is priceless and you can go back to it any time you want or need to. Happy you now have a little more freedom with this reduction of responsibility. I know how you feel and think you will enjoy this change. We are at Boyer Park on the Snake River for the summer, if you feel like spending some of your newfound time doing a little traveling, we would love to share a few beers with you two and talk freedom. Adventure on my friends!
Oh, we can definitely work that in! We have family up in Lewiston / Clarkston we will be coming to visit anyway, would be a blast to hang out a while! Thanks for your kind words!
Does it feel GOOD yet?
How much more time and energy did you just gift yourself?
Now you have time to collect wild sage and sell it for steem 😂😂😂
I worked really hard to build a business for years. When I finally let myself quit because the time/effort/payoff wasn’t adding up - steemit landed in my lap.
When I got tired of steemit and stopped writing for some weeks ... nothing happened. And when I came back my precious efforts were still there.
Perhaps it’s time to become a sage drinking yogi 🧘♀️ Whatever is coming your way is sure to be amazing ❤️❤️
Oh, yeah. I felt 100 pounds lighter when they drove off yesterday. The real payoff is over the next three months. Usually, this time of year I do the meat birds. That is insanely intensive, at least the way I did it (pasture penning.) I will be free to go camp, hike, pick sage, hunt mushrooms, things I have hardly done for years now. Thanks for your kind words and support!
They say change is as good as a rest. But to me, a rest is really good too. Take the time off to regroup. You may decide to do things differently or change direction and do something entirely different. And that's okay too. I'd say that ten years is a pretty good run at trying things out. Now you know what works and what doesn't. Let it sit and sew a while. The flavours will get better...
Yep, time to cogitate a bit lol!