Recently we’ve acquired some poultry to keep at the barn. 4 six week old turkeys and 3 eight week old chickens. The turkeys are very strange looking but have quite a personality and the chickens are very cute.
My son’s, Oliver (5) and Freddie (3) have both loved helping to feed them, water them and help with the cleaning and general care of them. I’ve seen them both grow with confidence with the birds and can see them growing attached.
Whilst the chickens are for eggs and are family pets, the turkeys are for Christmas dinner. Two are for our family meals and two are for sale to help raise potential profit for the spring.
I have tried to be clear to my sons that the turkeys shouldn’t be named and are not pets. I’ve never hidden the fact animals are slaughtered for food and have always encouraged them knowing the truth in the hope they respect the food they are given and respect the animals in return. Oliver understands this to a degree and Freddie plays along. I’ve told the boys that the turkey’s are for dinner. Which they’ve accepted. Well so i thought.
Today my wife heard whispering after us all cleaning the girls out and the boys were in discussion about the birds. Oliver came forward and announced that Freddie didn’t want the turkey’s to be killed.
I don’t know what to do to be honest, i have felt a growing attachment to the turkey’s. They’re funny looking, shy and strange but they are quite funny. There’s going to be a hard lesson coming. Maybe they may have to “go live on a farm” or maybe i should stick to the truth. Whatever happens in four months time I will be helping slaughter these turkeys and prepare them for the table.
I think it will be emotional and hopefully tasty!
New birds just arrived! 6 week old Turkeys. Getting ready for Christmas dinner already! #turkeys #permaculture
I’ve just had the “fun” experience of filling up a paddling pool for my two boys. The hose wasn’t long enough so i had to trudge buckets of water to and from a filling station I setup which consisted of my short hose and a water butt which was kindly donated by my fathers partner Barbara.
I estimate that pool must of took about 16 gallons of water which is at least a weeks worth of showers! All through the filling process i was thinking “this is not self-sufficient, this is a nightmare”. So I wasn’t too happy!
My boys are due home from a visit to the farm (hopefully with a home-brew cider for their dad as a present). I know when they get in there’s likely to be incredible laughter, fights, crying and more laughter but they will be happy!!
Now this got me thinking about what The Five Year Plan is all about. Happiness. So I can forget about how much this water cost, i can also also forget how it’s possibly wasted and could be put to better “more sensible” use because in a few hours the garden is going to filled with laughter!
I also had a great idea! I’m going to cover the pool with a tarp tonight after fishing out bugs and grass with one of the boys seaside fishing nets. This makes sure it’ll be good tomorrow for them and so forth. When it’s done and full of kids wee and moths and what-have-you i’ll poor it back into the water butt or onto the garden so it’s not going to be such a waste after all.
The lesson
“Be obsessive and always consider your actions but don’t loose sight of the end-game.” - Rik Barwick
BIG THANKS to my mother-in-law for giving us 18 assorted raspberry canes. Just finished putting them in their new home along our fence which will give us a bit more privacy and hopefully for years to come a bountiful crop of lovely raspberries! That’s pretty much free raspberries for future summers which is great as they cost quite a bit and often are bashed about the time you get them home from the shops!
I suppose there is a lesson here to just get talking to people who are on similar paths. These canes were destined for the compost bin and have made it into the beginnings of my new plot and will hopefully supply us plenty more to give away or replant.
To swap produce is also a great way of getting rid of a glut especially when you can exchange it for something you need. This goes with skills as well. If you’re good at a certain thing teach it to someone else. We’re in this together after all!
I think to return the favour i’ll get the sourdough starter out and make my in-laws some rye/white sourdough as a thank-you!
The family are planning to use one of our horse boxes as a coup for keeping four Turkey’s for Christmas.
Anyone keep turkey’s, are they safe around children?
(Taken from thehomesteadingboards.com)
1. Plant a garden : This is the basic building block for anyone looking to walk a simpler path in life in the modern world. Especially with rising fuel costs and resulting food costs increases it is imperative to minimize the impact on a families financial situation. More and more of the average families monthly income is slowly being eroded by the cost of just putting food on the table. I understand a lot of people do not have a lot of land to totally grow their own food but there are many options available to grow in small footprint and help at least offset the cost of groceries. Besides it also helps develop ones skills for any future plans.
2. Learn how to can your own food : This goes hand in hand with planting a garden, a garden will produce way to much food at one time for any family to consume it all before it goes to waste. Having the skills to be able to preserve what you produce is imperative for a families long term self sufficiency. If your garden is to small at the moment to produce enough food to put away in the pantry there are other options available. Search out and visit farmers markets, talk to the farmers about buying in bulk which can save you some money. Ask the farmers about gleaning the fields after harvest time. A lot of farmers will allow people to harvest produce that has been leftover and missed after the commercial harvesting is done. Look into a local produce supplier for restaurants. Most of them have a walk in window where people can go in and buy bulk produce. You can buy a 25 pound case of tomatoes for about 18 dollars right now which is a huge cost savings over the grocery store and that would make quite a few jars of spaghetti sauce.
3. Plant a herb garden : Have you seen how much both fresh and dried herbs are at the grocery store are? It’s insane. The amount of space needed to raise a small herb garden is minimal and there is nothing like fresh herbs.
4. Get a dehydrator : Dehydrating Food and Canning go hand in hand. The options you have with a dehydrator is only limited by your imagination. You can make jerky, fruit roll ups, dehydrate eggs, etc. Fruits make a tasty healthy snack for young and old. Most locations in the country have local orchards that are a great place to buy fruits cheaply and dehydrated apple slices sprinkled with cinnamon last a long time on the pantry shelf and are delicious.
5. Plant Perennials you can eat : Growing up as a child in a small city in western New York we did not have a very large yard, but we did have a garden space and perennials that supplied a food source each year with no work on our part. Asparagus, Rhubarb, Strawberries, Jerusalem Artichokes. etc.
6. Plant soft fruits : Along with strawberries also plant raspberries, blackberries, blueberries etc.. They do no take up a lot of space and will produce fresh and tasty fruits year after year
7. Plant a few fruit trees : with modern day dwarf varieties that are available on the market today you can plant a few fruit trees that with pruning and training will be bountiful in several years without taking up much room at all.
8. Learn to save seeds : Buy heirloom open-pollinated seeds and learn to save the seeds from this years produce to be able to plant next year. I know of families that have been passing their seed stock down through the family for over 100 years and haven’t had to buy a seed ever.
9. Raise a few small backyard animals : The amount of space required by a small flock of chickens or rabbit hutch is minimal and is a great source for nutrients for you and your backyard farm. There is nothing better than making breakfast or a cake with eggs fresh from the source. Plus they are a great asset with help keeping bugs and insects in check and will gladly take care of any extra vegetables or fruit from the garden for you.
10. Compost everything : People think compost is smelly and disgusting. If your compost is creating a nuisance smell, you are doing it wrong. It is estimated that 30 to 40 percent of food Americans buy ends up in the trash heap. Any waste from leftovers either goes into to the compost pile by either being fed to the chickens and after working its way through the chickens ends up in the compost bin or we will put it directly in the piles. All raked leaves, newspaper, cardboard, weeds, grass clippings etc goes directly into our compost pile.
11. Waste not want not : Touching on the estimate of amount of food thrown out, learn to cook only what someone is able to eat. Unless you are making a big pot of chili to can and put in the pantry, why use all the time, energy and money to make something that you will end up throwing away.
12. Cook from scratch : The average American has lost touch with what food actually is. Most people think that food comes out of a box and sadly it usually does for a large percentage of Americans in today’s world. Pick up several basic cookbooks and experiment with turning your backyard bounty into healthy, nutritious and tasty meals for your family.
This is now my bible…
I felt really touched today when I checked my emails and found an email from a guy called Jeff who is going through a similar journey as I am!
Jeff took it upon himself to drop me a line to give me encouragement to keep going and share some of his experiences which was really great!
Thanks for your email Jeff, I’ve been busy today but I’ll endeavour to email you back tomorrow afternoon.
It’s given me a bit of a boost with this blog, I’m looking forward to doing more video stuff and sharing other things so watch this space!
Things have certainly changed and the plan has not “gone to plan”.
Here’s my first video blog explaining what’s happened recently and an introduction to our new home and bit of land where we hope to grow, raise and learn.
It’s been far too long Tumblr my old friend!
The quest for being more self-sufficient is well underway but it’s been a struggle! I really hate the word “Money” so from now one it’s going to be called “The M Word”!
There’s so much to tell you with my plans and things have certainly kicked off recently to these plans so give me a little time and i’ll fill you in on the details!
Chat soon!
Thanks so much for your message! I need to start blogging more but life keeps throwing up obstacles that affect the 5-year plan!
The first harvest from the allotment is sadly going to be the last as I’m having to give it up due to relocating but I do have some exciting news ahead. I better write a blog post lol!
Take care!