Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Well the quail are getting much bigger and the chickens are too. Unfortunately, their smell inside the house is also unpleasant. I have them on thick pine bedding and will have to add more shavings before I go to bed tonight. They are just over a week old and I can tell that my patience will be running thin for their scent. In all the forums like backyardchickens.com or backyardquail, little is said about the smell. I have done a find job with feeders and waterers that maintain cleanliness, which has been a sought after goal of mine. Despite this, the smell lingers. Ideally chicks should be raised on wire so that their droppings fall through the wire, which can be cleaned on a daily basis. My brooders, which are the containers that chicks are kept in to maintain temperatures, do not allow for daily cleaning without a lot of time. So the reason I bring this all up... So perhaps another will learn from these trials. I assume that eventually I will have these little kinks worked out and my advice will turn from 2 cents to gold. So, there in lies the ultimate goal... to work out the problems so that I may contribute towards the societal movement towards sustainability, or more so the increased sustainability of the common-person. Maybe the average individual is puzzled about how raising quail or chickens contributes to sustainability, yet I must illiterate that all steps that are movements towards reclaiming our food sovereignty are leaps into the right direction. This past weekend I prepared tomatoes from the garden to can for the first time. They are not sitting in quart jars cooling down in the pressure canner. Even though I've had the canner and the ideas for this endeavor for some time, I've finally taken the steps to putting things good use. Even though I only filled four quart jars, I am relatively proud that I have accomplished something. More pictures and videos to come.

Sunday, January 27, 2013

I am busy working on building content and creating videos for youtube. I am able to see my passion and ideas unfold in a direction of expansion and creativity. Although my time is being swallowed by my professional career and educational aspirations, I am continuing to make strides towards defining preparedness and sustainability in my life.  Here in lies one of the greatest challenges, and that is defining the role a new task or a hobby will play in our lives. We all know that taking more control over our food sovereignty and reconnecting with that which produces the food that is put into our mouths, yet a wall exists between taking that step into responsibility and being blissfully ignorant.

In order to get more people to buy into the mentality of sustainability they must see how their efforts can make an impact, yet not be so much effort that their way of life changes too much. Not that total change would be unwanted, it's that the effort should not outweigh the change factor.

I have decided to try quail again, for egg and meat production. Yes, this is where I take that step into processing my own meat from the BackYard. This may be the hardest decision, but I feel that it is time, and I have reached that point mentally that I want to take the responsibility for the protein my family eats into my hands. Although it may not supply all of our needs, I want to be the one that raises and humanely dispatches our food. This way it can be done properly with respect and in the most sustainable way.

Here is a video of the quail and chickens just hatched:


Wednesday, January 23, 2013

It is time for an update. Even though it has been some time since one has been made, check out the video which shows the progression of the homestead!






It's time to get people fired up about gardening. I am looking into what it would take to create a weekly podcast show that would be produced and created by myself. A lot of updates coming down the line. Enjoy!