With chickens you need to grow something. It doesn't have to be veggies. That poop helps make a great compost for veggies or flowers. And they do poop a lot.
Thanks for the warm welcome I live in western Maryland not too far from the West Virginia line. We are definitely rural, but live in a small neigborhood (not in town limits). So far the winter here has been mild.
My hubby & I have decided to start raising laying hens & keep honeybees this year. We are super excited to get started this spring!
As far back as I can remember my parents had a garden. My sisters & I grew up planting & tending to lots of different plants. Potato, broccoli, tomato, strawberry, zucchini, pumpkin, blueberry....we also helped with canning all of the goodies from the garden I still can a good bit, but this will be the first year my family & I will have a garden at our house. So far we are planning on planting 5 blueberry bushes, 4 apple trees and some carrots and maybe asparagus. last year, In a patch of woods next to our property, I found a bunch of wild blackberry bushes! A friend of ours traded me fresh green beans (that I canned) for some of my homemade blackberry jelly
That is a good plan. Don't take on too much at one time but get your fruit, berry, and asparagus going. You have to wait a bit on them so get them started. Then just add as you go.
We can get into some good discussions on preserving foods including canning versus freezing. With your experience please jump in on those threads especially. We sometimes need help convincing certain friends canning is actually safe.
I wish! I did however take this picture years ago while attending a photography class The locals around here call it the 'swayback' barn & it actually collapsed this past week I really wish the owners would have tried to restore it.
I love old barns. That was on my list of prerequisites for buying a new place when we were house hunting. But I guess sometimes you just have to be practical.