Ready for Self-Sufficient Gardening?

[ducks4you]

ALSO, if you keep indoor cats, consider cleaning out and storing foodstuffs in ziplock bags and placing them in cat litter plastic tubs. They close securely and have a handle. We KNOW how much weight they can hold, like 30 pounds worth of litter.
We normally throw these things in a landfill, so why not reuse them?

 

[AMKuska]

DD bought a bunch of flour, sugar, rice and other supplies. I already had a full storage jar, the kind with the plastic screw on top, of rice, so I pulled out one of my 1/2 gallon jars. These make excellent dry goods storage containers. No humidity, no bugs, and with metal lids, no mice. Just some fyi...

That's such a tiny amount of rice. How much do you get at one time?

 

[MinnesotaGardening]

from 4-18 i lived kitty-corner from a small dairy. had a lot of fun there and watched a lot of things happening. was too small to work but my brothers helped at times bailing hay and doing other things. that small farm is still there but not being run as a dairy from what i can tell. not sure who lives there now.

Sounds like fun memories! It is always busy, thats for sure! So many of the small dairies are closing up, it is difficult to be competitive with the big guys unless you can do all of the work yourself. Plus not everyone wants to be tied to their farm basically all day every day of the year.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Plus not everyone wants to be tied to their farm basically all day every day of the year.

I think that's something a lot of people just getting into keeping chickens is going to discover. You can't drop them off at the kennel when you want o take a vacation.

 

[MinnesotaGardening]

I think that's something a lot of people just getting into keeping chickens is going to discover. You can't drop them off at the kennel when you want o take a vacation.

True, but I can take care of a flock of chickens in 10 minutes a day (not every day, but on the days that you just need to check/feed/water). And I've been away from my birds for several days at a time easily since I have fantastic neighbors/friends who can be bought off by the promise of getting to keep whatever eggs they find when they are checking on the birds. But none of the neighbors can be coerced into helping milk...

Although, to be honest I worry about all of those poor chicks that were panic-bought this spring. Not that chickens are hard, but they do have certain requirements that are a little more precise than dog/cat care. I especially hate seeing all those tiny chicken tractors. They might work great in some parts of the country, but here in MN where the weather is COLD and the tractor would be stuck in a snowdrift for 5 months out of the year, they don't have nearly enough space and are a terrible height for drafts. I wonder how many full grown chickens people will be trying to get rid of come fall. Or next summer.

 

[so lucky]

@MinnesotaGardening , I agree with your stated worry about all the chicks that were bought this spring. Hopefully, the outcome will be that there are a lot of half-grown pullets for sale soon.
You mentioning the small dairies that are going out of business....I wish more farmers would think about converting to selling raw whole milk. I buy four half gallon jars of raw whole milk every two weeks. This is from A-2 Jersey (or Guernsey?) cows. So no dairy intolerance problems. The dairy people get $5.00 per half gallon, and we are happy to pay it. I know some states are sticklers for selling raw milk, but many farmers have found legal ways to get around the roadblocks.
It makes me ill to see traditional dairy farmers pouring their milk down the drain because of price issues.

 

[seedcorn]

A commercial dairy produces 80-100# of milk per day per cow. They would need 10 customers per cow per day. Do the math. Most people would expect to pay less, not more for milk not packaged, pasteurized milk. Great thought that I support but won’t work. I am hoping one of the good out comes of this event is the government will reduce the regulations on small, local meat lockers.

 

[MinnesotaGardening]

@MinnesotaGardening , I agree with your stated worry about all the chicks that were bought this spring. Hopefully, the outcome will be that there are a lot of half-grown pullets for sale soon.
You mentioning the small dairies that are going out of business....I wish more farmers would think about converting to selling raw whole milk. I buy four half gallon jars of raw whole milk every two weeks. This is from A-2 Jersey (or Guernsey?) cows. So no dairy intolerance problems. The dairy people get $5.00 per half gallon, and we are happy to pay it. I know some states are sticklers for selling raw milk, but many farmers have found legal ways to get around the roadblocks.
It makes me ill to see traditional dairy farmers pouring their milk down the drain because of price issues.

Dairy farmers are usually the biggest proponents of drinking raw milk. But most small dairies that I know would never consider selling it simply due to the risk of getting sued if someone got sick from their milk. And sickness can and does happen with raw ingredients, it is part of the nature of living food. There just isn't enough reward in it to make up for that risk in today's sue-happy society. I think its great that some farmers do it, but I completely understand why many wont.

There are so many important niche milk markets now. A-2 milk is an excellent option for people with intolerances. Any breed can have cows that produce it, as far as I know. We have Holsteins only, and there are bull options to breed to get that going in the herd if we wanted. Right now there isnt enough demand in our area for most farmers to start switching over, but a few are. Goat milk is another tasty option for people with intolerances to typical dairy. There are even people milking donkeys and camels - both of which have cult-like followers due to their proposed health benefits.

As far as dumping milk-thats a surefire way to make a farmer cry. All that hard work from us and our four-legged ladies just down the drain...

 

[MinnesotaGardening]

A commercial dairy produces 80-100# of milk per day per cow. They would need 10 customers per cow per day. Do the math. Most people would expect to pay less, not more for milk not packaged, pasteurized milk. Great thought that I support but won’t work. I am hoping one of the good out comes of this event is the government will reduce the regulations on small, local meat lockers.

And another concern is if raw milk will just be another trend. Small farmers can't quit their co-ops and change their business model on a whim, its too risky.

 

[flowerbug]

I think that's something a lot of people just getting into keeping chickens is going to discover. You can't drop them off at the kennel when you want o take a vacation.

soon to be a business opportunity!

"Cluckies Little Caretakers, we'll watch 'em for you on our prime free range estate..." of course what it will really be is a front to KFC and other fast food joints.