chicken rescue

I had been thinking. It might be time for more chickens. Previously we only had 3, so there was an inconsistent and small amount of eggs. I decided to check craigslist, of course, where else would you go for chickens?  Sure enough we found 500 free organic chickens nearby. When a company or family produces commercially they get rid of the chickens as they get older and production slows. We picked up last year's chickens, egg production had dropped to 50% and it was no longer worth it for the farmer to keep supporting these chickens.

The sad thing is that, what do you do with them? These "hy-line" layers have a small amount of meat on them. We were told about 3lbs, which is not enough pay back to process them. Mark and Katherine made the comment that it is still meat . . .if you process them yourself.  My thought is we get a largish number of chickens, and then before winter (when we can no longer support them all to move inside) we invite uber rough-it-man backwoodsman grandpa to show us how to clean a chicken.

Hmmm, to clean a chicken. I have never killed an animal. I was vegetarian for two years and decided morally, ethically, and spiritually that life was about balance and eating "happy meat" (as my friend Jess calls it --grass fed, antibiotic free, hormone free etc.) actually seemed the better choice. This was a big decision for me. In a way I wanted to actually hunt or kill the first animal that I ate after being a vegetarian so that I could fully appreciate the life I was taking, but I was busy and didn't get to go out bow-hunting with anyone at that time. . . anyway, chickens. I think that, though I would not be excited to kill and clean a chicken, it would be an interesting experience if I am going to be eating some meat. In a way I feel, what right do I have to eat meat if I can't appreciate the balance and appreciate this life as life, which is a beautiful thing.  No really, back to chickens. I'll get off of my meat soap box.

So we got chickens. I asked what would happen to the chickens that didn't get picked up . . .the option then was that they would have to be killed and composted. The farmer genuinely felt bad about this, which is why he posted them on craigslist. I really enjoyed this family, but as the farmer said, with producing eggs commercially sometimes you just have to make that choice.

I know that in this economy people have to make money, I am glad that someone is trying to use organic feed and that the chickens have the option to go outside. . .but is there a better option? Maybe if we all had our own chickens (those that can, which many backyards are allowed) and scaled down and the tough choices of commercial scale weren't as necessary.

If I could find a group of people in the area interested I would teach them how to build chicken tractors for their back yards, go pick up another truckload of free chickens, and watch local backyards become populated with chickens and children dive into oology.  Here is a great recording on how backyard chickens can fuel a food revolution, from Sustainable World Radio. With the Urban Chicken Movement having opened many doors I think we should take advantage of it and step into a more local, sustainable economy. . .beside that, if you have your own chickens you can eliminate the hormones and antibiotics which are creating their own cycle of problems on mass scales that they are being used and going into our bodies, and the earth, and the water . . .and . . .and . . .well, it is one place to start.

The good news is we have 27 new chickens that we are starting out getting used to our place. Soon we are going to see how free ranging will work with them, despite cats and critters. Animals are an integral part of a permaculture system, and it would be nice to have them walk through the garden and eat the cut-worms off of the tomatoes.

CSA June

 I snapped a few pictures this week before the CSA boxes went out. The veggies are turning out beautiful. Last week we got a comment that one of the CSA members didn't want to eat her lettuce because it was so pretty.  The only editing done to the pictures is cropping. We scaled down the number of shares this year, so it is a small number to assist in gaining experience without adding that overwhelmed we-are-trying-to-do-everything-sustainable-in-one-year feeling . . .

Radishes and beets. Zoe put a lot of hard work into weeding the lambs quarters out of the beets so that they could get their sunlight.

Basil, one of my favorites. The Basil is companion planted next to the tomatoes to help keep insects away.  The basil is picked before it flowers, because flowering can change the taste.




Chives

We have a few varieties of lettuce going.  I only snapped pictures of two.

Green onions

Flower bouquets are part of the CSA as well.  The sunflowers have really taken off this year. There were a lot of herbs this week. We included mint and spearmint too. Mint is very self-sufficient as a plant and is very happily spreading this year. We planned a mojito night last week to use up a bunch of the mint. I also enjoy adding mint leaves to ice-cube trays before freezing. Zoe made watermelon mint granita . . . m m m m mmmm

earthship TN, aquaponics, and occupy chicago

Phoenix and I recently got back from some travels and are digging back in on the land back here at mooncatlife. A friend that I met at the Earthship build in Guatemala, Marcus, went to the new Earthship Academy and is starting a simple Survival Model Earthship.  I wanted to see how he was going about it, help get it started, and be around other Earthshippers and Earthshipper wannabees.

At Marcus' build in Tennessee we got to help level, help with some of the layout, lay down plastic, and start pounding some tires. I picked up a number of little tips from Marcus and decided that the Earthship Academy seems like a good idea. I will be looking to see if I can make that happen some time in the future. The Academy is pretty new, previously there had been internships, but with the academy classes  more in-depth information is offered. Marcus recommended the Earthship Academy, he says that one will get out what one puts in, and there is a lot to learn.

On our drive back from Marcus' build I drove past a hydroponics store. I decided to stop through because Carlisle had told me that he thought the closest hydroponics store to our home location is Rockford, which I believe is a few hours drive. In the hydroponics store I asked a few questions and learned that supplemental nutrients are, as one might assume, mined. However to avoid supplemental nutrients one can include fish in the system (aquaponics) and the waste and bacteria that are formed feed plants. I am new to all of this and wanted a reference. The man at the store handed me a book that he said is so good that he re-reads it every year. The book is Aquaponic Gardening by Sylvia Bernstein. I love this book so far! It is easy and fun to read as well as very thorough.

After Tennessee I had planned to go to Chicago a bit to put out some flyers and promote the upcoming Touch For Health Kinesiology conference. In putting flyers around I learned that having a price on flyers can limit options as far as where you are allowed to place them. Phoenix and I made a visit to Reba Place Intentional Community, where we were staying when she was born, and had a chance to catch up and connect with a few people. I would like to teach TFH kinesiology to this community and we are going to set up a time to come back so that I can work on some people there.

 Our third night in Chicago we met up with a friend who is involved in the Occupy Chicago movement. I got to attend one of the meetings and see what is going on with the movement. I will not go into a lot on here right now but was told first-hand stories of violence toward protesters (one woman got pulled away by her hair and thrown in jail, others were targeted . . .  )
anyway, it seems that the call for change and empowerment that the Occupy movement is calling for is something that many people are feeling right now. There are many ways to express this and I identified with one person who wanted to take the movement into urban gardening. I am excited to watch where that goes.


 I searched for a Permaculture documentary to watch online while washing the dishes a couple of days ago. I had an odd assortment pop up by association and ran across a documentary called The 1 Percent, produced in 2006.  I was fascinated with the premise especially since my recent introduction to Occupy Chicago.  There are so many questions right now about the wealth gap and empowered people. I think that perhaps we are beginning to see that capitalism breeds certain extremes. I am not calling for a full on movement to some stereotypical failed communism but an openness toward cooperation, movement away from the fear mindset. Muhammad Yunus tried to salvage capitalism (because, he says, non-profits are limited in structure) and has some very interesting ideas that have produced amazing results.

people and frogs

I am very much in a place of appreciating the people who have come to be a part of the land here with us lately. I am reminded about how the native americans believed that no man/woman could own land, but as I watch people here I see that nature owns a place in all of our hearts.  I really needed the encouragement that I am receiving lately in all of these people that are passionate about veggies, dirt, and caring for the earth.

This past week we released the tadpoles/tiny frogs into a pond nearby. Zoe and Bill have come from Chicago to play here, dig in some dirt, engage with some plants, help with the gray water planter, watch the Venus transit, help put gutters on an outbuilding connected to used poly-tanks for water for the plants, finish the chicken enclosure, jam out around the campfire, oh, and so much more.  Zoe made vegan banana peanut-butter "ice-cream" that we ate as a break last night from our bottle and cement planter. I have recently learned that it takes way too long to try to harvest my own sand . . .there is a quarry in a local town that I bought some sand from and things are moving so quickly now!

We have had other interesting visitors as well lately including Carlisle who, along with a friend, got a hydroponics project going at his college nearby. He sketched this out for me and I have all sorts of plans running through my head now . . .

Billy has some experience with bikes and has been fixing up one that we found on the curb. It has also been interesting to hear about his explorations into some of the grasses that are around the property.

We are getting ready to take off to Tennessee tomorrow to help a friend of mine to build his survival model Earthship. Taura is driving with Phoenix and I. I met Taura at Independent Scholars in Moline when I talked about Earthships. She said that she was surprised that someone around here was interested in them and I am now trying to convince her that she and her boyfriend don't need to move to California to live in a co-op/alternative community and explore Earthships and permaculture . . .

 Beautiful thistle at mooncatlife with a red-winged black bird behind. I love the sound that red-winged black birds make. We live close to the river, as well as the fact that there is a lot of clay in the north-west corner of our property, causing water retention that these marsh birds like.

  Flowers, peppers, chives, mulch, and free river rock

We officially have the double-hammock up. Siesta and a good place for watching the sunset.

 Releasing the tadpoles with Bill and Zoe.

 If you look closely you can see a frog who has made this broken jar his home. We are reading The Borrowers to Phoenix right now. I can just see a tiny Arriety peeping into this frog's home.

 Ducklings and momma. This is at the nearby pond we dropped off the tadpoles at. Phoenix thought it was adorable to watch the ducklings speed across the water.