My goals in food production begin with the basics of self sustainability and move upward.

Of course this is one of the main topic items-being about farming that is- but it should be much more than the one topic allows for.  Farming is not just about producing food, it’s about living and enjoying the life while producing food for you and for market.  It’s about taking pride in your work because it was you who shepherded the crop or livestock to maturity.  Hunting and fishing can provide food, but they do not yield the same satisfaction, to me, as being there and working with it (Crops or Livestock) until it is mature; still its food and it’s a different enjoyment to hunt for it.

We visited my sister in Ohio and drove 3 hours north to visit the home of self-sustainable living, Lehman's.

In the previous post (Part 3 of ?) I wrote about my water plan and outlined the methods I hope to use on our 3.98 (might as well say 4) acres. The third most important thing to physical life that we must take into our body to keep us alive is food.  Growing your own food is therapeutic and can relieve stresses you didn’t know you had, if you have the right attitude that is. In other words I can weed the tomatoes time and time again but until I accept that lot I will begrudge the weeds for constantly growing up.  Instead I see it as a time to pray.  That doesn’t mean that I like weeds and that I will not try to come up with methods of preventing them such as laying a mulch down, no, I just accept that as part of the whole package and us it to continue in the enjoyment of life and work at making growing tomatoes more efficient.  Now if only I could do that at my job!  Yes, it does take practice to learn to be content and to learn to accept one’s “Lot in Life” and I will be the first to say I have a ways to go.

It’s easy to say, I am going to plant tomatoes and carrots and corn and…on and on.  However, it is a whole different ball game to do it on a larger scale that provides the total food ration which you will need for your only food - not only during the summer but also during the winter.  It’s easy to go get some tomatoes out of the garden but it’s yet another to get them out of a jar which you canned.  Tomatoes are easy to can as they have high acidity level, but take low acid foods like green beans they are different so canning them is different. But I guarantee if we try to live off green beans, carrots and corn all winter we’ll go hungry either out of disgust for the same thing day in and day out or just not enough nutrition to survive on.  We have to think about root crops that store well, meats to can with the vegetables and so on.  It’s nice to think of a garden as a luxury of having fresh vegetables so all we have to do is go out back and get them.  But when we want to live off them, we have to think differently.  A type of thinking that takes into consideration quantity versus variety.  If we need potatoes (because they are high in nutrition and are a filling food) for all summer and all winter, we need to plant enough and if that means we don’t have enough room for something less filling like lettuce then we will just have to plant less lettuce.

In order to have a completely independent system capable of running it’s self, we will not be able to use electricity unless it is provided by an alternate power source that does not require a fuel we must pay for (ie. Gas generators vs Solar). It just will cost and require an income source we will not have coming in.  Even as I write this I can just feel a whole bunch of you readers rolling your eyes.  Even though I currently am not free of grid tied electricity, I still have goals and plans to be free and that is the way I am working. It is important to understand the dependency on electricity when planning to plant, harvest, and store food for the winter.  If we don’t use a refrigerator (because solar is too costly and grid tie requires too much dependence) we can use a root cellar and I certainly plan to.  This is the first method we plan to use.  As money becomes available we will be investing in a solar system that can grow with us.  Though typically, root cellars do not freeze unless incorrectly built and they do not maintain a stable 45 degree temp except maybe closer towards winter, so it is not good to butcher your livestock in the fall to store all winter unless you plan to can the meat.  The best thing to do in this case is leave them live till your ready for them.  Fruits and some vegetables will stay good un-canned for a couple months in a root cellar (see the book:  Root Cellaring). Other vegetables and root crops will last all year.

It’s important when planning your garden in the spring to figure out what you plan to do in the winter and what you have available for storage. I myself plan to plant root crops (mostly potatoes) and good storing vegetables for a root cellar.  Rabbits and chickens will remain alive except a few for canning purposes.  It’s important to have good livestock that will replenish it’s self so you don’t have to go out and buy more.  We plan to have Rabbits, Chickens, and Goats for meat.  I also hope to have a draft horse or two for farming and do away completely with tilling and the walk behind tractor but that is still a ways out and I don’t see it happening here on 4 acres.

To House the Rabbits a Rabbitry will be built.  This is a 10×24′ building that has an elevated floor and cages along the two long walls.

To Feed the Rabbits we plan to grow oats and alfalfa or red clover. Both can be cut and dried on stem and given to rabbits to eat.  The one thing that is an extra to maintain their health would be a mineral block.  I would not be apposed to using money raised from sale of goods on farm to buy a mineral block that would last a couple years for the rabbits. If I couldn’t get it like that I could find sand stone rocks and throw in there for them to munch on to get minerals.

Now the cycle of raising rabbits would yield manure from the rabbit for fertilization and food from its meat.  Growing the oats and alfalfa provide nitrogen to the soil where they were growing, and the leftover of the stalks can be put back into the ground to improve the organic matter in the soil.  Plus if one needed he could sell the babies and make some money for something needed.

To House chickens is a touchy subject.  It is so much better to eat eggs and chicken meat from chickens that have been free ranging.  But there is a drawback; the wild animals can kill the chickens more easily.  This I have discovered is a big problem in our area.  I have lost about 14 chickens this year already (September 2009). Some ideas I have seen are portable chicken trucks.  These are cages that have wheels attached and a nesting coop.  These cages allow the chickens to forage but keeps them closed in all the time.  The draw back is that its not bad for a few chickens but get a lot and you will wont be able to keep up with moving all those trucks everyday.  The other that recently I have seen is a simple design of a large area built with landscaping timbers stuck in the ground for posts and bolted across the top to create a grid that chicken wire can be draped on the top and a more resilient (able to stand up to a dog trying to get in) wire on the sides. Ultimately, I think I would have to continue to take my chances with free ranging but set up the coop with timer on the door which is powered by solar that would turn on a motor to close and open the door of the coop at night and in the morning.  The biggest thing I am running into is being gone for a couple days and having to leave the coop open at night or I just outright forget to close it up.

To Feed I am growing sorghum and corn.  I am also researching other good grains for chicken.  This feed is mainly for winter time and occasionally throwing out some for the summer.  But for the most part I want the chickens to hunt bugs.  This year all of my sorghum was blown over and the chickens just helped themselves to the almost ready tops.

Now the cycle of raising chickens would yield manure which is high in nitrogen and will cover a lot of ground with little.  Chickens would also yield food and eggs for summer and even winter (get them before they freeze and crack open).  Growing the sorghum and corn does deplete the ground of nitrogen and minerals so it’s important to cover that plot with the chicken manure from the coop.  But a small amount of sorghum and corn can be used for human consumption too.  You can make Sorghum bread and have corn on the cob or make corn bread.  The chickens will also remove a lot of pesky grasshoppers but be careful they will also eat your beneficial insects.

To House a Goat or two, I just need a field that has a lot of under brush.  It doesn’t have to be too big and a short goat shed so they can get out of the wind in the winter and the rain and snow.

To Feed the goats, some of the oats that were grown for the rabbits will be used to give a ration to the goats.  The stalks of corn and sorghum from the summer can be dried and saved for fodder for the goats in the winter.  Depending on how big of property we end up with, we may need to hay goats in the winter.

Now the cycle of raising goats would yield meat and milk.  The droppings would replenish the soil to grow more forage for the goats.  It’s important to rotate them from pen to pen to allow the forge to re-grow and to prevent disease.  The hides from the goats processed can be used to make various items.  All in all, it would be good for children to grow up with goats as they provide a friendship (cant butcher the pet, I know) and a chance to learn responsibility and learn how to produce a product from one’s hard labor.

To House a Horse, you just need a shed for it to get out of the rain and wind.  Need hay, oats and a mineral block.  Maybe some corn for a treat.

Next I will be discussing Clothing and Shelter.  Its not finished yet so I don’t know when it will be up.