Interesting article

[pricem11]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070916/hl_nm/locavore_dc

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Wow, how does one spend $11,000 on chickens, rabbits and a vegetable garden all in 800 square feet?

 

[lacyloo]

poor rabbit i think the guy had syco issues

 

[mom'sfolly]

A garden, 25 chickens and rabbits in 800 sq ft. No wonder the rabbits died. I can't imagine how he spent $11,000. Any guesses???? I wonder what a yard of topsoil, delivered, costs in Brooklyn?

 

[mdbucks]

mom'sfolly :

I wonder what a yard of topsoil, delivered, costs in Brooklyn?

well article says thousands so at least 2 maybe 5, that still leaves 6 thousand for chickenns, ducks, rabbits, and a vegitable garden.

If there is a newspaper out there that wants to foot the bill at my place I would be willing to try this experiment too.​

 

[Mac in Wisco]

That must have included everything like carpenter's tools, gardening tools, and such. Of course each meal cost a $100 if he only did it for a month. He invested all that money in the infrastructure of his "farm" and didn't stick with it to see the benefits. Sounds like he read a book and was more interested in being part of a "fashionable movement" than actually raising his own food.

Properly planned vegetables and livestock give you more than one harvest a year and why would he need a "costly" still to produce alcohol, what's wrong with beer and wine?

There's a video clip in the upper left corner if you missed it...

 

[Davaroo]

I liked this article. It shows how much we've forgotten.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
Does it? There are plenty of people around who know how how to grow vegetables, raise rabbits and poultry for meat. They just don't try do it all in a small backyard in Brooklyn. Others are blissfully ignorant or just don't care until somebody tells them that they should care.

What this article tells the average person is that doing it yourself is not feasible and should be left to real farmers, when in reality this fellow was in way over his head.

 

[silkiechicken]

That's terrible... This is how he did it...

First he fenced in his yard with this at 460 per 6 feet... for a grand total if assuming square yard of about $6,400:

Then for his chickens and rabbits that died from maggot infestations he bought two eglu's for the chickens and two eglu's for the rabbits for $2290 :

http://www.omlet.us/basket/basket.php?action=update

Then he needed soil so he bought individual bags from the local home depot and it cost him about $2000 to put his 800 sq feet 6 inches deep.

To make sure he was a real famer he also had to buy a small tractor with plow for $3000:

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100426315

And OOPS! Over 11k!!!

That's terrible.

 

[Davaroo]

Sure, Mac, there are people who raise a few animals and grow some veggies, but few subsist on these things alone. He gets credit for at least trying to do it all. Most are only content to watch someone else do it.

While I see the whole thing as silly, in and of itself, I DO think that it points to much of what MOST people walking the street have lost. They dont want to live on farms for all the reasons he learned the hard way, but they dont have a clue where there food comes from. The guy learned that, among other things.

To try and fail is okay, in my book. Im not inclined to pick him apart for that. Besides it was a sponsored "event," a reality show if you will. It was scripted at the outset. In that it succeeded.

You are right. We owe much to the real farmers who support us.