Archive for May 2022

I've always had a garden of my own, even when I just grew potted cherry tomatoes on my small porch in our apartment back when my kids were small (and the apartment complex's kids all stole them). As we moved to bigger places, my garden grew with the size of the yard. When we moved into the house where we live now, my garden was super tiny, even though we had the room to make it huge. But it was during the beginning of the lockdown, and I was too scared to think about buying seeds or plants. But last year, I bought a plastic green house and my tomatoes overfloweth. This year, we are doubling the size of our garden, and we expanded the types of food we're growing, as well as designing a whole new way for us to garden.

Each year, I learn from the mistakes from the previous year and use what I learn to make each garden better. Last year, I put both my kale and my Brussel sprouts in my greenhouse. Oops. I had no idea that cruciferous vegetables were cold lovers. No wonder my kale was spindly and my Brussels never came to fruition. They were too hot! So this year, I will direct sow them in the middle of July, so that way they will be ready in the fall, when they will actually grow properly. We live in zone 5, so we get hot summers and harsh winters, which only gives us a growing season of 3-4 months (although I start my seeds indoors in March or April).

So what I'm doing different this year, compared to previous years, are few things:

I created a garden journal. I designed one on Canva to have printed on Amazon, but for my personal one, I'm going to hand write it all in. I numbered my seeds and put the matching number on the seedlings so I know which plant is what. And I will record information about each seed and plant in my journal so that way next year's garden will be even better with the information I record from this year. I'll show you some pics below.
I'm strictly doing container gardening. We have a horrible burdock problem in our yard, so we'll be covering up the entire ground in the garden with cardboard to kill it, and cover that in mulch. Then we'll be using Rubbermaid bins with holes drilled in the bottom, filled with rocks, then sticks, then compost, and then dirt (and topped with mulch).
I'm creating trellises to grow my luffas on, as well as my squash. I'm taking metal fence pieces and bending them overhead and attaching them to posts for all of my climbing plants.

Eventually, we will be living on a bigger piece of land and expanding our garden to something more farmette sized. Although, I want to make money off of my garden, that's not the main reason I grow food. I grow food to live more sustainably and to save money on produce. But some may ask, is it worth it?

Because I will say the amount of time you put into a garden may not pay off if you do not choose crops that produce a lot food. In the summertime, most produce goes so far down in price that it could end up costing you more in time, water, mulch, etc. than it would be just to buy the food at the store. And so that's why you need large producing plants, and lots of them. And if you overproduce, to the point it's too much for you, you can choose to freeze it, can it, or sells it. You can also makes things like tomato sauce or hot sauce or other items with your produce to either can, freeze, or sell.

Though I prefer to grow too many plants to sell, rather than selling an over production of produce. It's so much less work, and I am all about doing the least about of work that produces the most amount of yield. And while you may be able to make more money selling the produce itself, in order to actually be sustainable, you need that overproduction of produce to last you longer than a single season. And right now, my garden is only sized for my family, so my overproduction is only for us (and maybe a little for the neighbors). So for me, the most amount of yield is to have the most amount of actual plants, so I can keep several and sell the rest. And, I make sure I buy overproducers, so that I can get the most bang for my buck when my plant produces fruit, as well as being able to sell my plants at better price, as the customer will be happy to get an overproducing plant.

Which is why I have my garden journal. I need to remember which plant has what properties and the journal keeps all that information in a single place.

What an easy way to make some extra money, to grow plants, even if we only intend on selling the plants themselves, rather than the fruit they produce. And the Dollar Tree sells seeds for 25 cents, so you could get started for sooooo cheap. So anyone could save some used mushroom containers (the little plastic trays mushrooms come in) or something of the sort, get some potting mix from the dollar store, and plant their seeds (and keep them wet). And once they grow bigger, you can separate them into bigger containers to get them ready to sell. I get my bigger containers on Amazon (I buy these-though there are smaller and cheaper ones you can find on there, too). And you can sell the plants on Facebook Marketplace, or even on Craigslist, or have a plant sale like a garage sale.

Plus, you'd be able to grow your own food. And if you're poor? You really need to be growing your own food. And food stamps cover seeds in most, if not all, states. I should know, we didn't get off food stamps until 2021, after being on them for my entire adult life. And even though I always had a garden, I never really took gardening seriously until last year, when I realized I could do so much more than I had in the past.

And it's not even that hard to do. Not even the stuff that sounds hard, like composting. Here is an easy step-by-step plan to get you started with growing you own food:

Get your containers or prepare your space. I am using Rubbermaid bins I found at a resale shop this year. I drilled holes in the bottom and filled them with rocks, then sticks, then compost, then dirt and will top them with mulch after the plants are planted. Here is the video on how I learned how to do this. If you're going to prepare your planting space on the ground, don't till it. Instead, cover it with cardboard (save those Amazon boxes!), and then top with straw (if you can afford it), and then mulch (you can get it free through your city or even through a tree cutting company). Here is a video on how to do that.
Figure out what seeds you want to grow. You can go to the Dollar Tree and pick up seeds for 25 cents, or go where I went this year, which is RareSeeds.com.
Get your seed starting containers, if it's early in the year (red cups work well!). Start them indoors, 6-8 weeks before the last frost. Here is a great video on growing seedlings.
Get your bigger plant pots so they grow into hardy plants before planting them outdoors. Again, red cups work well for this.
Plant them outdoors either in the containers or in your garden space. Remember, tomatoes love calcium, so make sure you're not using old used dirt, otherwise all the nutrients will be gone (which is what compost helps with).
Create a compost bin for next year. Get yourself a big 'ol garbage can with a lid and two bungee cords that can be hooked into the little holes in the handles across the top of the lid. Like this. Keep all your weekly newspaper ads that come in the mail (or if you get the paper, keep those) and shred them. Don't use the glossy ads though. Just the papery ones. I keep my shreds in a garbage bag. When you compost, you do equal parts green and brown. Green=food scraps, lawn waste. Brown=dead leaves, sticks, shredded paper or cardboard, etc. So when you put food in it, throw some paper or dead leaves in. Sticks should be really broken really small. Use the bungee cords to criss-cross across the top and secure in the handle holes. Give it a good roll around the yard once a week or more. Gotta aerate it! This will be mixed into your dirt for next year's garden. Even if you don't use it in a garden (you can give it away when it's ready, or throw it in a dirt area), it's a great way to get rid of food scraps (though no meat or fat, or citrus--check out this list here on what's acceptable food to compost). And if you find a worm in your yard? Throw it into your compost!
Here is a great video on watering (though not just for watering, but it includes that and this video is for tomato plants, but you can do some research on other plants, too). You can always water small amounts every single day if you like, after the sun goes down. But if you want the best bang for your buck, watch that video, and other great videos on the subject on YouTube.
Make a plan of what to do with your overages of produce. Will you freeze it? Can it? Give it away? Sell it?
Be patient, because once they start producing, they won't stop. Check your garden every day so you don't miss anything.
Consider creating a community garden in your front yard. Less mowing, and you get to get to know your neighbors. Also, consider buying fruit trees to either share fruit with neighbors or family or to freeze or can yourself. Fruit trees (or nut trees), especially the dwarf varieties, are very low maintenance.
Save your seeds! Dry them, then label them. This is very important, otherwise, you'll have to buy new seeds next year. You can even sell your seeds if you like.
Enjoy your own home grown food!

If you live in the middle to upper states, consider investing in a greenhouse to help protect against sudden frosts.

Growing food to eat only one season out of the year isn't all that sustainable, as you can get cheap produce in the summer and fall easily at the grocery store. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. Start small, and let your garden grow with the knowledge you accumulate as you go (and as your yard gets bigger). Or, consider indoor hydroponics if you don't have the outdoor space. But if you grow food so that you have an overabundance each year that lasts well into winter? Then you're living a more sustainable life. This is the type of gardening that will help you and your family in times of inflation on groceries (as we're seeing right now in 2022), as well as if we ever have a lockdown again. Or, even if none of those things happen, you won't have to pay for food at the grocery store as much. Saving money is always a good thing.

This year, we're adding egg-laying hens to our sustainable homestead, so eventually, we won't have to pay for eggs, which are also going up in price. Is having your own eggs worth the price of the chickens, as well as the feed and everything else? I really don't know yet. I hope so. But we'll see. But remember, there is no such thing as failure. Everything in life is an experiment to see what works and what doesn't. Your garden is, too. So don't get discouraged if things don't work the first or the seventh time around. You learn from what didn't work and try again in a different way. Just keep on experimenting to find what works for you.

Good luck and happy gardening!!

Getting chickens may sound like something fun to do, as well as something that may save you money in the long run, especially with today's rising food prices in 2022. But I am here to tell you something: not all sustainable lifestyle choices will save you any money. And some, may cost you more in the long run. So, you have to ask yourself, are you becoming more sustainable to save money? Or are you doing it to actually life more sustainably?

To answer this question, let's dive into what living sustainably really is.

Sustainability allows you to be less dependent on others for your needs. Whether that's food, kitchen items, cleaning items, clothes, beauty items, and other things. Which means if these items ever stop getting produced or there is a shortage, you will still have access to them.
Sustainability means it's better for the environment. Which means that instead of being mass-produced, the item(s) are produced by you, a single person or your family. Which means less pollution, less garbage and waste, and most likely, produced in such a way with reusable items.
And lastly, sustainability can mean something is cheaper. Creating your own beeswax lip balm is mostly cheaper than buying it. Or making your own clothes or buying them used is way cheaper than buying new. But price should not be the only reason you are doing it. The first two should be just as, if not more, important than this one. Even though this one is true in many cases.

So, is having backyard chickens cheaper than buying eggs at the store? The answer is simply, no. Not if you're just raising enough hens for your family's egg consumption. The only time they start paying off is when you have enough to a) sell their eggs or b) sell their meat. Egg laying hens can be more expensive to buy as chicks than buying chicks for their meat. Especially if you buy easter eggers, meaning hens that lay different colored eggs (like blue and green--who knew those existed, I didn't!). For fifteen baby chicks (the minimum where we got them) cost us around $100. We did get the special colored egg-layers, along with five Rhode Island Reds. And we had to buy a heat lamp (actually we got a heat plate, but it didn't work out for us, so I returned it), a container to use as a brooder, bedding, food, a feeder, and a waterer. The container we already had (a large Rubbermaid bin). The food is cheap, as is the bedding, and the waterer and feeder were around $5 each. So the initial investment was less than $150.

But now they are bigger. And we live in an area where bird flu is going around due to migrating birds, so we have to keep them indoors. So now we had to go buy them 5 tarps (from Family Dollar at $5 each), 12 bags of sand at some odd price I don't know each, a full-size waterer and feeder at $10 each, and a mirror (a full-length mirror from Family Dollar because chickens LOVE mirrors to play with--for real, they love to look at themselves like all day long LOL). Still, that's not a huge investment, but we have to add in the time it takes to clean up after them, build them stuff, as well as feeding them and having a heater on in our basement for them to keep warmer (though that may go off soon as they grow bigger).

And they still will not produce eggs until another three months (they start at around sixteen weeks old). Then we have to switch their feed to egg-laying feed, and then also provide them with nesting boxes.

Oh, and I forgot the cost and time investment for the chicken run. For us, we had a fenced in garden that we turned into our chicken run. So we had to buy chicken wire to line the entire thing, because the fencing is too big and would let predators in and chicks out. Plus, we had to expand it to go to the front of our chicken coop. And if you don't already have a coop, you have to add in that cost, too (we already had one, as the house came with one).

And I'm telling you, the cost of buying eggs at the store is WAY cheaper than all the work we're putting into these chickens. Which was starting to wear on me when I really thought about it. But then I shifted my thinking. What if the reasons we have these chickens has nothing to do with the cost of a dozen eggs? What if the reasons we're doing all this goes far beyond how much it costs? So, we came up a list of reasons we want to raise chickens:

We're stopping any type of animal abuse that comes along with how we get our eggs. Our chickens will be mostly free-range (when the bird flu is gone and they can go outside) and will be treated like family, rather than being stuck in a cage popping out eggs without getting any exercise at all.
We know what we're feeding our chickens. We can choose whatever we like to feed them, as well as know the ingredients of the feed we purchase for them. If they can be free range in the spring, summer, and fall, then we know they are getting the most nutrition possible. So we know the eggs the produce will be better quality.
We will have eggs even if the bird flu decimates much of the chickens in the commercial industry. Let's hope that doesn't happen, but if it does, we will have access to eggs (eventually).
If we get meat chickens later on (which was our plan), then we will have access to chicken. Whereas right now, we haven't had chicken in months. Now, we'll have to invest more money into building them a larger indoor coop if the bird flu keeps up, but eventually, it'll pay off. Though, as long as the bird flu is an issue, I don't think we'll end up doing this.
We can grow our own baby chicks if we ever get a rooster (though we live in a neighborhood right now and I refuse to get a rooster until we live on much bigger land) and have an endless supply of chicks to either sell or have more hens to lay for us. Which means more eggs, which we can either sell or give away if we have too many.
We are learning how to have a homestead. We're starting with chickens and eventually, we'll expand to much bigger things. But this is our start. Eventually, we'd like to have bees, pigs, a fruit orchard, a nut orchard, a large garden, etc. Essentially, we want to have a farm. But we're starting with chickens.
And lastly, we may never have to pay for eggs again.

So, for us, having chickens isn't about the cost of eggs. That's the least of what's on our minds for this venture. It's a starting point for something much bigger, and more sustainable. My goal? Is creating a food forest, as well as a veggie farm. My boys' goal, is to grow their own meat. And for all of us, eventually, living off grid, if at all possible. One thing at a time, though. And we chose to start with chickens. It's not as easy as we thought it was going to be, but nothing ever is. Especially if it's worthwhile.

So, if you're thinking about getting backyard chickens, ask yourself these questions:

Am I ready for the cost of raising chickens? Do I have the cash to begin this venture?
Am I ready for the work of raising chickens? Do I have the time to begin and sustain this venture?
Am I in it for the price of eggs, or is this about something more? Or does any of that extra stuff even matter to me?
And, do I have the patience for this venture?

Raising chickens isn't as easy as you think, but it's also not terribly hard, either. And I do feel it's wonderful watching your chickie babies turn into big birds (not Big Bird!) and seeing each of their personalities develop. But again, it's a lot of work. So do your research before getting them. Also, call the Dept. of Agriculture in your county or state to see what their recommendations are if the avian flu is still an issue. Because you don't want to expose your chickens to that and possibly lose your entire flock.

To reiterate, sustainability isn't always about lowering your daily costs. It's also about not depending on others for your needs, as well as doing right by the environment. So, strongly consider your reasons for getting chickens if you're thinking about it. Because a backyard flock isn't going to save you any money on eggs. At least not for a long time. But in the long run, it can give you so much more.

Good luck and share your chicken pictures below if you have any!

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