You are on the right track;
IF YOU WERE YOUR BEST CUSTOMER, " What can I supply myself for myself?
Generations to come need simple farming skills. Planning a small garden, learning how to plant from seeds and supplement the store bought food that you eat. Fertilizer comes from animals like rabbits, chickens, ducks, turkeys and etc.... the healthiest meat is poultry, specifically the ORPINGTON CHICKEN and PEKIN DUCK, not limited to, find out for yourselves.
Don't let anyone tell you duck is greasy, it is more accurate to say that they do not know how to properly cook the duck, you got to cook it slower 325F and longer 3-4 hours, on a rack, breast down and make slits in the skin so the fat can cook off it.
I don't know what zoning laws are in your area, but; consider being your best customer. Say your family eats on average 4 chicken a week and say 7 holidays 3 ducks a year that would mean that you need 208 chicken and 21 ducks a year. Let's's round it off to 225 chicken and 25 ducks because an extra 17 chickens for you to have your eggs everyday. You have about six months that you can raise chicken and poultry for your freezer for the whole year.
At first you just order these chicks 25 at a time, feed them about 10 weeks and butcher them for your freezer. When you butcher them, let's call it harvesting the meat, be careful not to rupture the bile gland, it's the only green gland and it's between the livers of the bird. I guess the easiest way is to get a killing cone, put the bird in it upside down and then get a sharp knife and cut off it's head. After five minutes you put it in scalding water and rub off / pull off the feathers. Clean up the insides, save the neck, liver, heart, gizzard and feet. You can do like 12 at a setting, two birds at a time. There's a recipe for grandpa's chicken feet soup.
You don't need to keep a lot of birds around just for 10 weeks feed them and then freeze them. You get: MEAT, EGGS from the 17 birds you do keep, (remember to keep a couple of roosters to fertilize the eggs so that they can be hatched) , feathers for quilt or feather down, fertilizer for the garden and so on. You could even start an egg route, like a newspaper route but you sell eggs instead of papers. Make blankets and sell them for a lot of money.
Just REMEMBER, IF YOU WERE YOUR BEST CUSTOMER, " What can I supply myself for myself? " Even fruit trees, save those seeds and plant them in the about 2-3" in the ground in SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER all those seeds you eat can be saved in the refrigerator dry off first. You can sell seedling trees, start a greenhouse or plant nursery.
And while I am being my best customer, I am also selecting breeds that NEED HELP, and remembering to promote those breeds to people, and sometimes even give a few away to save the breed.
I AM ALSO THINKING ABOUT RAISING FLOCKS OF THESE BREEDS, the ones that good qualities, for instance the golden cascade duck is an excellent egg layer if not the best duck egg layer, orpington chicken, and appleyard duck lays blue eggs and the list goes on, but; I do check the list first and be sure to try to help the breeds in need. Saxony duck is on the list, now I got some duck mix from pekin and saxony that I am doing to breed, it is said the PEKIN, a common duck is better breast meat than turkey, leaner, and duck meat is more flavorful.
Here's about poultry that needs saving, raise some, eat some and share some:
American Livestock Breeds Conservancy PO Box 477, Pittsboro, NC 27312
phone: 919-542-5704 fax: 919-545-0022 email:
[email protected] website:
www.albc-usa.org
You can get rare breeds from here, write for their catalog and Poultry Order Form :
Sand Hill Preservation Center
1878 230th Street, Calamus, Iowa 52729-9659
Who knows you may fall in love with certain breeds, have a few large flocks. Sometimes certain eggs and be sold at online auctions for a lot of money; money that you need to buy feed, supplies and built first class coops and barns for all your poultry. By sharing some of the eggs in this way you will definetly be helping to promote the breed.
Thanks,
Dan from SC
I like to share inspired information, it's my nature to be helpful!
