Last
week I had the opportunity to speak, at great length, with my parents about
homesteading. They have purchased a few
books on the subject and nicely lent me two of them to read. I am completely hooked on the concept. It has always intrigued me.
My
father came over the other day to take a look and help me decide if I had the
room for a chicken coop. It turns out I
do and as a result we have already moved forward on that. We are allowed to keep up to three chickens
within city limits and they are currently working on raising it to six. Two of my neighbors have coops right
now. Growing up my parents kept a large
coop and I always enjoyed the chickens.
My brother couldn’t stand them and hated everything about them,
especially cleaning the coop. We only
raised them for eggs. As a family we
couldn’t get into the whole butchering scene which was weird since we all hunt
and fish. Chicken butchering just really
grossed us out.
We also
looked at ways to make my garden area more efficient and ways to expand it and
make it better. I know I can plant more
than I did this year and put some things a little closer together. Also I am looking into going vertical and
making additional space that way.
Another thing on my list is to construct a greenhouse on the lower
portion of our deck.
My
parents own acreage and are seriously looking at putting in a much larger
garden and raising chickens next year; far more than my three, I suspect. My lot is 1/8th of an acre and is
long, narrow and has a lot of angles which makes the whole urban gardening a
little more of a challenge, but not impossible.
I also have a lot of large shade trees on my property. Still, I am serious about making it happen.
We also
talked about going elk hunting this fall and fishing more this summer. I need to get a license and a new pole if I
am to get serious about this. The last
time I went hunting I was in my early twenties so it has been awhile. I haven’t fished in the last five years and
that is unfortunate because I really do enjoy it.
I think
anytime we can take the opportunity to become more self sufficient and
sustainable we owe it to ourselves to do so.
Not everyone is a hunter or a fisherman (person) and I recognize that,
but I do think there is a multitude of different ways to be more sufficient and
gardening is definitely one of them. Carefully
choosing what we plant in our yard and tending to it so it produces well is key
to that. It does take time so in order
for us to make it work we all have to be involved and make it a family affair.
We are
learning a lot and learning a lot about ourselves and each other in the process
too. My girls are having a great time
and, as a result, we are spending more quality time together. That in itself makes it all worth it.
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