Focus for 2012

The focus of this blog for 2012 will be self-reliance. I'm going to concentrate on becoming less dependent on the grocery store with their dubious produce and meat sources and more reliant on my own efforts to grow fruits and vegetables, and doing more toward producing my own meat and eggs. And as I learn, I'll share my successes and failures with you so that you can do it, too, if you've a mind to.

As you may remember, we have a small flock of chickens for producing eggs. They are now beyond their peak laying age and we'll be replacing them with a mixed flock of peeps in the spring. And we'll butcher the hens and the rooster for stewing meat. When the weather moderates, we'll be adding rabbits to the meat mix.

The blueberries should begin to produce this year, and the strawberries will be plentiful now that the deer can't eat them. We'll have more grapes, and we'll add more raspberry bushes. Come along for the ride... Oh, the places we will go!

Got Eggs?

Have you ever tasted an egg fresh from the hen that laid it? I'm lucky to have some friends who raise chickens, and now and then I get some fresh eggs, usually in trade for something that I have that they want-- like a bottle of homemade wine, or some venison trail bologna. (Don't knock it if you haven't tried it!)

But this fall I'll begin to have my own eggs from my own chickens. I've ordered a chicken coop to be delivered soon. (My DH is good at building, but short on time and patience, so I thought a ready-made coop was the way to go. Obviously, I'm not raising chickens for the money savings, but rather for the healthy eggs and the sense of independence, in some small way, from the grocery store/factory egg farms.)

I'll be raising Buff Orpingtons, a docile breed that is friendly and lays well in the wintertime.