Gave me the boot

Warning: This post contains information regarding an unbelievably handy spouse. Don't be mad. I can lend him out for a small fee.

I've said it before and I'll say it again; the only negative about raising chickens is the unavoidable poop problems. It is everywhere and it is squishy. Did you know that every tenth chicken poop is liquidy? I know you can finally rest easy now that you have that little image in your head. This Power of Ten Juice shoots out and furthers the mess in the run. I guess I shouldn't complain too much because it does make for killer compost.
So the golden chicken rule at our house is that you can NOT go into the chicken run with shoes on that will ever step into my house. For poop wading we all have wellies and they stay outside or in the garage. Well, the garage is located on the opposite side of the house from the coop so we just take our boots off and leave them on the deck before we come in. It's a convenient place to get them on and off, except when it rains. Then you go to throw on your boots and get that extra little love of having your footwear be nasty inside and out.

So after watching me make a hideous face as I put my piggy toes into rainfilled shitboots for the umpteenth time the other day, David decided to take action. That night he brought home the best gift an ecocheapo woman could ever receive - an upside down boot holder made entirely out of repurposed materials! I know, you can't believe how lucky I am. I am getting choked up again.

So this little creative beauty has solved our problem. We had some PVC lying around from when we had to move the coop across the yard like ancient Egyptians rolling stones. The wood is all scrap left over from other projects. It took David's creative spark to put them together in order to conquer the wet boot crisis.

The thing that gets me, though, is that just a few, short years ago he would probably not have even kept these materials and he sure as hell wouldn't have been into getting chickens. I am rubbing off on him. I am molding him into a Repsycholer like myself. My evil plan is coming together. After 11 years of marriage, it's about damn time.

So I love Love LOVE my new boot rack. I am running around yelling at everyone who doesn't immediately put their boots on it. I don't even mind that every morning when I go to get chicken shoes on, I am smiled up at by a big squishy poop footprint.

A Quick Eco Oxymoron

Why are the organic bananas the ones that have to come wrapped in nasty plastic? So you want me to pay twice as much AND create more garbage? No thank you. Nature gave them their own little wrappers for a reason. I feel myself becoming more willing to phase these little tropical gems out of our diet altogether.             

You might be an ecocheapo...

...if you wouldn't even consider calling a bottle of something "used up" until it has spent two weeks turned upside down to get every last drop.
...if one of your child's first words was "rip-off".
...if you hoard frozen juice lids and egg cartons and occasionally find a use for them.
...if you have bought underwear at a yard sale.
...if you give someone a second hand gift and proudly tell them how little you paid for it.
...if you have ever hung your washed plastic baggies out to dry on your clothesline.
...if you even have a clothesline.
...if you wash your plastic baggies.
...if you have ever gone to a party, noticed their was no recycling bin, and offered to take all the cans and bottles home.
...if you have given someone something in a zip loc bag and asked "If you aren't going to reuse that can you give it back?"
...if you consider the word "disposable" to be offensive.
...if you have ever stood in a grocery aisle and engaged a four year old in a discussion about unit pricing.
...if your kids announce that you won't buy Cheese Sticks because "she can just cut the cheese!" to everyone within earshot.
...if you find any of the above only moderately embarrassing or unreasonable because your wallet and your world are worth it!

The Sharing Place

Use the comment option below to pass on ecocheapo ideas, recipes, tips, etc. This is a learning and growing forum and your input is so valuable to all of us. One humans daily routine is another's epiphany. I may also be featuring your shared stuff in the Idea Exchange or you may inspire a particular post. By submitting a comment here you acknowledge that your idea may be publicly viewed and may be used on this site. If used in the Idea Exchange I will give credit for the submission. Thanks for sharing!

What the cluck?

There are typically two reactions that we get when we tell people that we have chickens -  1) "Oh that is so cool! I have always wanted chickens." or 2)"Why???". The second is accompanied by a bewildered look of disgust. Those people will usually listen politely while we explain our poultry endeavor, but will never quite get why we would go to all this trouble when there are perfectly good eggs in the case at the supermarket. If you are a #1 then I hope that chronicling my eggventures may give you some Inspiraction (a phrase I coined many moons ago which means to inspire to action ) towards starting your own backyard flock. If you are a #2 I invite you to watch in semi-horror as we discuss some fowl things and who knows, you might just find yourself in the mood for a good cluck.

We first began to think about getting chickens last winter. We went and visited our neighbors flock, did a ton of research, daydreamed, planned and waited. When springtime came I was raring to go and David realized he was not getting out of this. So I became the researcher and David was to build the coop. He is VERY handy like that so I do have an advantage there. We brought home our eight, day old, New   Hampshire (that's the breed) chicks at the end of April and we were off. They started out in a plastic bin in Davids' office which they quickly outgrew and were moved to an old dog crate and ultimately into the garage in a refrigerator box. The most invaluable resource to us throughout all the chicken phases has been http://www.backyardchickens.com/  (BYC). Even if you don't want chickens, go there. You will learn some awesome stuff. They have a zillion examples of coops from tiny city dwellings to full scale barns. In fact, our coop won an Honorable Mention in the Summer Coop Design Contest. You can view our page here. The BYC Message Board has information on any poultry topic imaginable and if you can't find what you are looking for you can post a question and someone knowledgeable will give you info. So if you are even toying with the idea of getting chickens, start there. I also took a class on Chicken Husbandry from Yellow House Farm. That gave me a great overview and an up close look at a professional farm operation.

So all went well as the chicks were growing and we eventually decided to turn an old shed from our property into the coop. It now resides next to the garden and is a fixture of our everyday lives. Getting eggs is only one of the reasons why we chose to raise chickens. This is one instance where cost cutting was not a primary objective. These chickens would have to be dropping golden eggs to offset the cost of setting them up and keeping them fed. Our main motivation was to further our efforts at a sustainable lifestyle and to continue to connect our children with the origins of our food. Much like our garden, it gives us and them an opportunity to be involved in every stage of our food life. It is a chance to take on responsibility and to care for another living thing. The kids assist in almost all of the chicken chores, their favorite being egg collecting. Somehow I always get stuck with the poop jobs. This you should know - they don't have a phrase called "chicken shit" for nothing. These babies are poop MACHINES. They poop anywhere and everywhere and it is just part of life with chickens. However, it does not smell terribly and there are lots of ways to keep it under control. Just know that at some point you will come into contact with fowl feces. That's all I'm sayin'.

Other than the poo, I can't think of a downside. It is really easier than I thought it would be and chickens are great therapy. There's a way to save money. Skip the shrink and just get chickens. I don't care how good your psychiatrist is, he ain't gonna drop breakfast out his bum.

We are now nearly six months into this little project and about half our chickens are laying. We get three or four eggs per day and, hopefully, the others will start soon. If not, those will go the way of the crock pot next spring to make room for some more. Yes (gasp of horror), we are planning to eat our chickens at some point. We are not vegetarians and thus it is part of our life to eat animals. We have bought chicken from local farms, but unfortunately we can not afford to do this for 100% of our meat meals right now. In the not so distant future we would like to raise our own meat birds. In the meantime, the reality is that when our  chickens stop laying we will humanely kill them and they will feed us in a different way. These birds live a seriously sweet existence compared to their factory cousins so when it is time for lights out, I will know that they have had a great life. If you are going to consume meat then you need to accept that it comes from an animal. Our culture has been separated from this fact for far too long. Chicken keeping is making a comeback all over the country. Maybe it will make its way into your backyard.

You down wit DMP?

On our first night in our first apartment some 12 years ago, future hubby and I went to prepare dinner and it became clear that neither of us had a clue how to do anything related to running a household. My mother had bought us some groceries to get us started and among those was a boxed rice mix. I read the directions and, to my horror, they wanted me to let this mix simmer. "What the hell does simmer mean?" I called to the other end of the apartment ten feet away. David came up short so I called my mother and posed the question. She knew, but let us just say right now, and I will preface it by saying "I love you, Mom. You are perfect and amazing.", but my mother is NOT a domestic diva. She cooked, but didn't particularly like to. She cleaned, but it was not her forte. She was a lovah not a Martha. So I did not grow up under the tutelage of a culinary master. I had zero SKILLZ.
I did however, have the benefit of a cheapskate for a father. Seriously, a tried and true, argue over a 10 cent overcharge, return a hamburger to McDonalds, price haggling, use it till it wears out, no name brand EVER (think Joan Crawford sans hanger), tightwad. So this is the foundation for all my learning. This was the bag into which I would put all my tricks. That is where I am coming from and is where I will introduce one of  the backbones of our household success - Domestic Management Policies (henceforth known as DMP).  I'm a sucker for a good acronym. I'm cool like that. But really I use strategies rather than a strict set of rules to guide my routines and decisions. So I will, from time to time, post things under this category that go into some of these techniques and discoveries.
The first one I would like to do a post on is Keeping It Stocked. In my cupboards are things that will ALWAYS be there. As soon as I am running low or out it goes on the list. I keep backups of some of these things. These are the items from which I know I can make a plethora of meals without thinking about whether or not I have the right ingredients. When deciding if I want to try a new recipe, I really won't consider it if it needs more than one item that is not on the regular Stock list. So I will be working to get this inventory together which will include spices and perishables, as well as dry and canned goods. It will also be a reference so that when I post recipes they can be cross-referenced to see if all the ingredients are in the pantry.
We'll see how it goes. I have been wanting to compile this list for a long time. I am putting it out into the virtual world now so that I will feel compelled to get it done. Like Salt 'n Pepa, I work best under pressure. Stay tuned.

Good Night Eggplant

Today was one of those exhaustingly satisfying days where you feel like you did everything you were supposed to do. I started the day by getting up early (for a Sunday) and then fixed a supa dupa breakfast. On the menu was waffles with strawberries and whipped cream, scrambled eggs (from our hens with several double yolkers in the mix), sausage, hashbrowns and fried apples from the ones we picked a few weeks ago. After we had sufficiently stuffed ourselves, I posed the question "Imagine how much we could get done if we didn't turn the TV on all day?" oh, and "How about we all work outside all day and then this afternoon we will come in and watch a movie together?" Well, shocker, they all agreed. Hallelujah. Obviously some sort of body snatchers were here in the night, but I am not complaining.

So we got our acts together and headed outside. I hung laundry on the line while David finished up his last few punch list items on the chicken coop - got the timer on the light, buried the electrical line and put in some more vents. This meant that the chickens got let out to free range early since they are not happy ladies when Big Daddy is messing around in their house. I think they feel he is a bear. I might too if I were them. They couldn't have been too upset though because we still got 4 eggs today and hopefully the light will get the rest of their fowl butts in gear. I want to be drowning in eggs. I want to have egg nightmares and start saying "Dear God, make them stop!" David also mentioned that he wants to build another coop next spring and get more chickens. Maybe some meat birds. He may have just been trying to sweet talk me, but it's workin'.

On to the garden where we finally got all the dead tomato plants and the stakes taken out. We harvested my lone pumpkin, of which I am very proud, and cut back the strawberry bed. We also cut down the corn stalks and made them into a decorative bunch for the mailbox post, took out some of the eggplants and peppers that seem to be kaput, thinned some more carrots, tied up the peas a bit more and generally cleaned up all the beds. So now what we still have growing is:

carrots

green peppers

peas

yellow peppers

beets

jalapeno peppers

swiss chard

sage

spinach

oregano

bush beans

onions

radishes

Once everything is in I will take stock and give my summary on what worked and what didn't and what we would like to do for next year. Considering this is only our second season with the garden and it is HUGE and we have no clue what we are doing, I think we have fared pretty well. We have kept ourselves flush with produce all season and learned so much. Plus, we are so happy we decided to put in some fall crops this year. Our first season was long over by now so still having plenty to harvest is really exciting.

Even though I have a bit of a purple thumb (not black, but certainly not green) I love the garden. I love getting my hands in the dirt. I love seeing things progress. I LOVE like a crazy loon how into it the kids get. They loved picking up all the bad tomatoes today and squishing them. They will eat anything if I say it's from the garden. Here's a piece of dog doo. It's from the garden. Yummy! You're the best mom!

So after all the garden action was over, we set out the pallets to begin stacking our cord wood this week. We did a bit more tidying up around the yard and then David played some wiffle ball with the kids. Jesus, Josie kicks some serious butt. I felt bad because Noah only managed to make contact with a few and Jo hit every one. Caroline didn't quite get the concept of swinging the bat BEFORE the ball has passed you by and now rolled into the poopy mud in the chicken coop (swear to God it happened three times before we smartened up and shut the door to the run). Even though we have always told them that everyone has their strengths and challenges and all that, I could tell Noah was a bit distressed. I don't think it really makes a difference to him that when he was Josie's age he could read and she is just starting to learn the letter sounds. Someday it will make sense to him, though. What his purpose is; what his gifts are; what all of us are here to do and why things are the way they are. I suppose none of us knows that. I guess I don't know entirely what path I am on. But I know that when I am traveling on the one from my door to my garden I feel a sense of rightness and truth and connection and pride and that is what keeps me growing.


PS
The movie that everyone agreed upon as a reward for our hard work was "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown". TV, yes, but A) It's about a kid waiting in a garden and B) it's a throwback to simpler times and genuine human interaction; a rarity nowadays. Good grief.