A Bielefelder Thread !

[Faraday40]

Chicken people rule!!! Woohoo!

Seriously though...chicken people get me. Non-chicken people...they wrinkle up their noses at me and say, "You own chickens?" like I just said I eat live maggots or something.

It's so true! DD brought a chicken representative to a church function. One of the other mothers was so interested and kept asking questions. The conversation went something like this:

"Don't you need a rooster for eggs?"
"Nope."
"Does she lay eggs?'
"Yes. They're greenish-blue." (talking about our EE.)
"Do you actually eat them?!"
"Of course! They're delicious."

"You actually eat green eggs?...after they came out of your hen?!!"

I ended up teaching a mini egg science unit for the children at the school. Now we have a waiting list for our eggs.

Chickens are addictive. Once you can see that behind your breakfast egg is a little person that loves life, has friends and is able to communicat joy and sadness, everything changes and you begin to think about the bacon, milk, cheese and suddenly the car you drive is less importen than the food you eat and where it comes from. You begin to think about the earthworm population in your garden and discover that everytime you walk into your yard you stand on top of a hidden world full of creatures that secretly talk to your plants, negotiate the terms for supply contracts, building homes and habitats.
For non-chicken people the day you talk about your hens getting bored b/c of the rain, you get weird. How on earth can such a bird brain complain about the weather? And when you mention that you think about a plan to make your worm population happy, most people stop talking to you.
And yes I confess to live in a fairytail only that the wizzards are eathworms, the pixies are beatles and the fairys are hens.

"When I bought my farm I did not know what a bargain I had in the bluebirds, daffodils and thrushes, as little did I know what sublime mornings and sunsets I was buying." Ralph Waldo Emerson

Baking bread, canning and making jelly and jam, eating a breakfast of your own harvest and work. These activities are amazing eye openers. Eating food you produced is a grateful, rewarding experience.

Most of us are standing knee deep in a river and dying of thirst.

I tramp thru the woods, enjoy the company of my chickens, feed my friends and wonder why it took me so long to come home. I have a little shop and I am gradually selling all the things that I used to think were important. The good china and dust collectors have to go, I need another coop!

Yes Bine.....I know exactly what you mean.

To all of you, very well said!

My husband's family grew up in the city. His family will only eat store eggs. (more for us!) His mom freaked out when he once ate a "buggy"pear from their new backyard. She had all the fruit trees cut down for the safety of their children! They pretty much ate canned goods. DH grew up & hated every type of vegetable until I started a garden. Once he tasted REAL food, his opinions slowly changed.

Our kids are the exact opposite. I can't stop them from eating peas & raspberries off the vine. They play in the backyard and enjoy "finding snacks" in the garden. They eat any fresh vegetable (except brussel sprouts) without complaint. As far as eggs, my kids refuse to any that do not come from our own hens. In fact DS (at age 3) once ordered a hard-boiled egg at a restaurant. He took a big bite, then spit it out crying, "No I wanted a real egg!" I was so embarrassed. On that same vacation to visit my in-laws, my poor kids experienced their first taste of canned green beans. DD loves green beans & took a very big helping. She hid her 1st & only bite in her napkin & kept trying to tell me that they had spoiled. I was in a conversation & tried to wave her off, but she insisted on telling others at the table not to eat the rotten green beans.

So now I have a son who wants to bring his own eggs into restaurants and a daughter who must ask, "Is this canned?" before taking any food at a party. Each year we add a fruit tree, plant a new type of vegetable, &/or make the garden a little bigger.

 

[Faraday40]

My son enjoys the garden & fruit trees. This summer he picked cherries and enjoyed pitting them. It kept him busy for hours each day. (Good Messy fun!) Then I had him help me make a cherry sauce. I should have known he'd get into gardening. As an infant, he enjoyed rolling squash around the kitchen.






My DD shares my love for animals & science. The chickens are hers. She likes the eggs, but it's more about the relationships.













So today after learning that she has strep throat & must stay home from school for 1-2 more days, DD decides to start training her chicken. Both did very well. In only about 8min, "Bubbles" learned to consistently peck at the red target chip & not peck at the distraction white chip. She surpassed "Cuddles"(my trained chicken) on her 1st attempt, so it looks like Bubbles will be an excellent candidate for DD's project.

What will she do with her trained chicken? I can't wait to find out!


Yes, these are the kind of stories & photos that only other chicken people can understand.

 

[DesertChic]

@Faraday40 I cannot possibly express adequately in words how much I LOVE your last two posts! Those experiences are so priceless...even if I'm only living them vicariously through you. Don't be embarrassed even slightly by your children's awareness of what "real food" should taste like. It will serve them well in the future. I didn't begin my chicken + garden adventure until my son was in his teens, but I've always been "fussy" about our eating habits. He never had sugar until he was nearly two years old...much to my parent's chagrin. And when only five years old, while trick-or-treating for Halloween, he impressed the heck out of people by asking for fruit instead of candy. To this day he tells his friends to "eat more organic green salads" and avoid grocery store milk to clear up their acne. It's what's worked for him...and now a few of his friends. Passing these good habits and nutritional understanding to our kids may actually prove to be what finally saves this country from the mechanization of the food industry by the chemical companies. (A woman can dream...right?)

 

[UGLYFOOT]

Many 0f my eggs are from Papa Brooder, and there is a breeder in Boise that I ordered eggs from. Do you have an incubator? I may end up with too many for mine. I've ordered 34 Biele eggs some to keep, most to sell.


@Saris
Ok we will work out details. I would love some more.

 

[UGLYFOOT]

@Faraday40. I also love your stories and pics about your children. My grown daughter and her husband are that way about food and is teaching my grandchildren good habits. They are so excited to be out in the country now with chickens and gardens!. They live on our property for now, but are getting their own and will live in a tiny house and live a homesteading lifestyle.

 

[Bine]

I hope for our farmers, who have to farm very small acres more or less between the city and autobahn, that we reached a turning point when it comes to food production. Living in one of the really dense populated spots on this earth I can see every day that something went wrong in the last 60 years when it comes to food production. A coworker told me yesterday that she can not drink store bought milk anymore b/c most of the cows are dehorned now and - her doc couldn't tell her what it was - but 99% of his lactose intolerant patients only react to store milk they can drink milk from some organic lables where they not allow the farmers to dehorn the cows. Only 1% of his patiens with reactions to cow milk lacking the enzym.

 

[Saris]

@UGLYFOOT sweet deal, I'll message you when they come in if I have extras. They should be shipped on the 8th

 

[Faraday40]

I hope for our farmers, who have to farm very small acres more or less between the city and autobahn, that we reached a turning point when it comes to food production. Living in one of the really dense populated spots on this earth I can see every day that something went wrong in the last 60 years when it comes to food production. A coworker told me yesterday that she can not drink store bought milk anymore b/c most of the cows are dehorned now and - her doc couldn't tell her what it was - but 99% of his lactose intolerant patients only react to store milk they can drink milk from some organic lables where they not allow the farmers to dehorn the cows. Only 1% of his patiens with reactions to cow milk lacking the enzym.

That's so interesting. I wish I could provide more of my family's food, but fruits, veggies, & eggs are about all we can do in a suburban home. Our friends have a son with Asperger's syndrome. They did a lot of research years ago & determined that diet could have a significant effect on his symptoms. In the US, we process the milk in such a way that destroys all the natural enzymes that help one digest the milk. So even if you do not have allergies to milk, you can't really digest it well anyway. It's illegal to buy raw milk, so instead they bought a % of a dairy cow. The owner of the cows cares for & milks all the cows. He sells his services of milking & freezing the milk. They order raw milk every two weeks when it's delivered. (But legally, they're only purchasing the cow care, milking service, & delivery.)

In some towns people can own goats. Those lucky people can simply switch to goats' milk. All types of livestock are illegal in our town. We can get away with chickens because of a 4H loophole. DD must be enrolled in some type of poultry project each year so we may own chickens. It's funny because people who live in the city of Chicago with no backyards have no limit on the number of chickens (including roosters) they may own. They may also keep rabbits, pigeons, quail, & goats - all of which are against our town's ordinances.

 

[DesertChic]

I hope for our farmers, who have to farm very small acres more or less between the city and autobahn, that we reached a turning point when it comes to food production. Living in one of the really dense populated spots on this earth I can see every day that something went wrong in the last 60 years when it comes to food production. A coworker told me yesterday that she can not drink store bought milk anymore b/c most of the cows are dehorned now and - her doc couldn't tell her what it was - but 99% of his lactose intolerant patients only react to store milk they can drink milk from some organic lables where they not allow the farmers to dehorn the cows. Only 1% of his patiens with reactions to cow milk lacking the enzym.

That's so interesting. I wish I could provide more of my family's food, but fruits, veggies, & eggs are about all we can do in a suburban home. Our friends have a son with Asperger's syndrome. They did a lot of research years ago & determined that diet could have a significant effect on his symptoms. In the US, we process the milk in such a way that destroys all the natural enzymes that help one digest the milk. So even if you do not have allergies to milk, you can't really digest it well anyway. It's illegal to buy raw milk, so instead they bought a % of a dairy cow. The owner of the cows cares for & milks all the cows. He sells his services of milking & freezing the milk. They order raw milk every two weeks when it's delivered. (But legally, they're only purchasing the cow care, milking service, & delivery.)

In some towns people can own goats. Those lucky people can simply switch to goats' milk. All types of livestock are illegal in our town. We can get away with chickens because of a 4H loophole. DD must be enrolled in some type of poultry project each year so we may own chickens. It's funny because people who live in the city of Chicago with no backyards have no limit on the number of chickens (including roosters) they may own. They may also keep rabbits, pigeons, quail, & goats - all of which are against our town's ordinances.

You guys are speaking to one of my greatest concerns. I began studying nutrition almost 20 years ago because of my own medical problems and have since become convinced that the vast majority of the medical problems we see today are a direct result of what's been done to our food. When people have to wear hazmat suits to enter a cornfield or chicken house...well, how much bigger of a warning sign do you need?

We moved to an area designated as ranch land/agricultural, so there are no major restrictions on the animals we can have, but we've still been hearing complaints from some of our newer neighbors who moved out here from the city or suburbs. They don't like the smell of one neighbor's horses, or the number of flies around here...or the cattle that free-range on land clearly labeled as "free range", or the sound of roosters crowing from properties in every direction.....Gheesh! Then why the heck did you move to an agricultural area? And these same people will pay $7.00 per dozen for eggs from the grocery store labeled "free range" and never knowing that may only mean a pop door has been opened in the warehouse to allow chickens to go outside, but scoff at $3.00 per dozen for my eggs when they can actually see my chickens roaming happily about the yard eating greens, bugs, etc.

Anyway...I'll refrain from proceeding into a lengthy rant and instead just say that the more I've learned about our food production system in this country, the more I feel a need to grow my own. I'd love to own a dairy cow and meat cow, but our property simply won't support it, so I've settled for chickens, fish (via aquaponics), and produce...when I can get it to grow.

 

[Bridebeliever]

How disconnected our society is with our food is what really freaks me out! We tell our friends (ALL of them are meat eaters) that we got meat rabbits and they just flipped! "You're going to EAT" them they say? Well, yes we are! Even the eggs from our chickens...they want sterile white ones from the store...mine come out of my chickens bottom into a box...ewww. Seriously people!? Watch a food video or two! My animals have a life that doesn't compare to store bought food and will die quickly and humanly when the time comes!