Vegetarians, Homesteaders, Eco-friendly, Green, recycling type people!

[ElleLovesDucks]

Hi there! I don't like all the arguing over at the other vegetarian thread so I decided to start a new one, and start it with some of the things I'd like to see and talk about with fellow chicken/poultry keepers!

First off, here's the recipe I'm having for dinner tonight!

Avocado Pesto:

3 avocados
(everything else is to taste, but I'll put in what I use)
fresh basil (I usually use 6-10 leaves depending on size)
lemon juice (maybe 1/4c)
garlic (we love garlic and usually use 4 BIG cloves of the garlic we grow)
salt/pepper (1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper)
lemon zest (just a little to give it some zing!)
olive oil (add this last to get the consistency you want)

angel hair or spaghetti-like pasta of your choice

Cook angel hair pasta according to directions. Put avocados (removed from skin and pitted) in a food processor with basil and lemon juice. Blend thoroughly, and add garlic, salt/pepper, and olive oil. blend thoroughly until its the consistency you want. I usually thin mine out to be about the consistency of alfredo sauce. immediately after straining pasta, toss with avocado pesto sauce. (I usually toss the servings individually so the sauce is mixed in better). Top with lemon zest and extra salt/pepper if desired. Voila! My husband's favorite vegan recipe using a ton of ingredients from out garden.

 

[WooingWyandotte]

I'm not a tree-hugger and greatly prefer to eat meat (I think its a genetic thing, because I cannot live on just salad and grains) but I truly believe in going back to the earth and raising your own food and animals is the right way to go. I'm glad this micro-farm is a growing fad in the cities/outside of city limits, and helps get the word out to people who need to know. So anyways just thought I'd drop in and say congrats and I wish you all well.

 

[ElleLovesDucks]

I'm also really into local buying and there just so happens to be a Washington Organic feed supplier I love. This is what I feed my girls! And they love it!

http://www.scratchandpeck.com

 

[RHRanch]

Maybe you should call this the "hipster" thread, as it covers vegetarians, vegans, flexitarians, homesteaders, urban homesteaders, recyclers and eco-friendlies and "green" types......

By the way, I'm a semi-urban homesteader type, flexitarian (nearly vegetarian most of the time), who keeps chickens, ducks, rabbits and mini sheep on my 2.75 acre property, along with an orchard and a garden that the squirrels and gophers keep eating. I also help my sis in law with her cookie business (all natural and made by hand) at the farmers market. I also enjoy tea and coffee and "Indie" music. I like re-purposing things, thrift stores, yard sales and flea markets, and making homemade food for freezing.

Most recently I made a ton of pasta (Carrot, Arugula, Bell Pepper, Egg) to freeze so I can use it for meals later. Saves me a ton of money and is way better than store bought. Got my pasta machine at a garage sale!

 

[ElleLovesDucks]

Maybe you should call this the "hipster" thread, as it covers vegetarians, vegans, flexitarians, homesteaders, urban homesteaders, recyclers and eco-friendlies and "green" types......

By the way, I'm a semi-urban homesteader type, flexitarian (nearly vegetarian most of the time), who keeps chickens, ducks, rabbits and mini sheep on my 2.75 acre property, along with an orchard and a garden that the squirrels and gophers keep eating. I also help my sis in law with her cookie business (all natural and made by hand) at the farmers market. I also enjoy tea and coffee and "Indie" music. I like re-purposing things, thrift stores, yard sales and flea markets, and making homemade food for freezing.

Most recently I made a ton of pasta (Carrot, Arugula, Bell Pepper, Egg) to freeze so I can use it for meals later. Saves me a ton of money and is way better than store bought. Got my pasta machine at a garage sale!

I've always hated the term hipster. Annoying teenagers come to mind

We do a lot of re-purposing too. We focus on buying local an almost all our local charities have thrift stores. My husband grew up on dairy farms and corn fields and I grew up on the back seat of a tractor, so after we joined the military (I did my time and got out, husband is still in! 12 years now for him) and talked about getting a home, I knew we needed land. Well we didn't get much, but we have a couple acres and it's forested and I refuse to change it. I love hiking in my backyard! So we grow our own organic vegetables, raise chickens, have ducks as pets, and randomly (I think it knew I wouldn't eat it) a wild turkey made its way into our chicken pen and hasn't left since. Got any good recipes/organic bird raising advice/eco advice?

 

[RHRanch]

I've always hated the term hipster. Annoying teenagers come to mind

We do a lot of re-purposing too. We focus on buying local an almost all our local charities have thrift stores. My husband grew up on dairy farms and corn fields and I grew up on the back seat of a tractor, so after we joined the military (I did my time and got out, husband is still in! 12 years now for him) and talked about getting a home, I knew we needed land. Well we didn't get much, but we have a couple acres and it's forested and I refuse to change it. I love hiking in my backyard! So we grow our own organic vegetables, raise chickens, have ducks as pets, and randomly (I think it knew I wouldn't eat it) a wild turkey made its way into our chicken pen and hasn't left since. Got any good recipes/organic bird raising advice/eco advice?

I think that the so-called "hipsters" should own that term - after all, we are bucking the system, wear it with pride!

As for chicken raising, well, I don't feed my chickens organic - its too costly here. The last time I had organic feed priced near here it was around $40 for 50 lbs - that's a ridiculous price, IMO. What actually concerns me more than organic vs non-organic when it comes to my poultry feed is the soy base that most layer rations are made from. All that soy can play havoc with the girls bodies, so I was excited to learn that my feed store will soon be carrying a soy free feed. I look forward to trying it.

The only eco advice I can give and wish more folks would pay attention to is to make your livestock pens and yards predator proof. Too many people skimp on their animal housing/fencing and instead choose to try to control predators. IMO, too many predators die because people don't want to invest the time, money or whatever on predator proofing their coops. Aside from hawks taking an occasional free ranging chicken, I haven't lost a chicken to a predator in years, except for when I kept some chickens in a temporary (AKA flimsy) pen. It's not green or eco-friendly to have shoddy hen-houses that don't keep livestock safe.

 

[ElleLovesDucks]

I think that the so-called "hipsters" should own that term - after all, we are bucking the system, wear it with pride!

As for chicken raising, well, I don't feed my chickens organic - its too costly here. The last time I had organic feed priced near here it was around $40 for 50 lbs - that's a ridiculous price, IMO. What actually concerns me more than organic vs non-organic when it comes to my poultry feed is the soy base that most layer rations are made from. All that soy can play havoc with the girls bodies, so I was excited to learn that my feed store will soon be carrying a soy free feed. I look forward to trying it.

The only eco advice I can give and wish more folks would pay attention to is to make your livestock pens and yards predator proof. Too many people skimp on their animal housing/fencing and instead choose to try to control predators. IMO, too many predators die because people don't want to invest the time, money or whatever on predator proofing their coops. Aside from hawks taking an occasional free ranging chicken, I haven't lost a chicken to a predator in years, except for when I kept some chickens in a temporary (AKA flimsy) pen. It's not green or eco-friendly to have shoddy hen-houses that don't keep livestock safe.

I agree to all that!

To go hand in hand with that our ducks are currently living in our bathroom until our poultry duplex is ready to move into. They found the bath and now won't get out. Hours of entertainment! I feed ours organic because I can and we only have 3 hens and one turkey. If we had more I could see it being too expensive, but right now it doesn't seem to be. I'm really struggling trying to find a local eco-friendly waterfowl food. Which is why I got online. Google search time.


And the food we use is always soy free. They have a corn free version too, but my hens love corn. They pick the corn out first and then slowly eat the rest of the scratch and peck.

 

[roostersandhens]

Go Vegan That's pretty much what I wanted to say!

 

[DavidILoveYou22]

Hi! This thread sounds like me in a nutshell. My family and I are homesteaders, or at least beginning homesteaders, as we've only had our lovely little five-acre farm for three years and lived on it for one. We have chickens (obviously, lol), horses, and an awesome winter garden we are just starting to plant right now! Our summer garden produces good but not the best, but around here the winter garden flourishes. Anyways, I myself am what I like to call a "storebought-vegan." I only eat meat and eggs I've killed or collected myself (with very occasional exceptions, as my family and friends are not vegan). Which means that, right now, I am basically only eating meat about once a month, if that, since the only meat animals we have are the extra roosters from my mutt hatchings (and a few Dark Cornish from my spring MM hatchery batch) and I've been lazy about getting any on the table lately. I did recently get my first hunting license, but no bow yet so that meat source might have to wait a while (the bow is $400).
Anyways, I am also very anti-GMO. This is seriously one of my biggest things. I can pretty much walk into a store, and in the first five minutes see a hundred things I recognize as being Monsanto products. (I drive my parents nuts whenever I go shopping with them.) Luckily, that's been happening less and less as we have started going to our local health food store/co-op way more lately (thank god!). And I feel like I'm actually walking my talk more since we went to a non-GMO rally/march at our capital the other day (which was awesome.)
So yep. I've only turned into one of these green, homesteader-type people over the last year, since we moved from town to the new farm. (Which is, quite literally, in the middle of nowhere- we are miles down a dirt road, which winds through National forest, and have about five neighbors within ten square miles.) It's amazing being in such a secluded place (especially with horses, since we can trail ride on and on forever), but also dangerous... we've had a bear rip apart our chicken coops three times now. And sometimes crazy people come out and do crazy stuff on our road, so yeah....

Anyways. I ramble. Lol.

 

[ElleLovesDucks]

Hi! This thread sounds like me in a nutshell. My family and I are homesteaders, or at least beginning homesteaders, as we've only had our lovely little five-acre farm for three years and lived on it for one. We have chickens (obviously, lol), horses, and an awesome winter garden we are just starting to plant right now! Our summer garden produces good but not the best, but around here the winter garden flourishes. Anyways, I myself am what I like to call a "storebought-vegan." I only eat meat and eggs I've killed or collected myself (with very occasional exceptions, as my family and friends are not vegan). Which means that, right now, I am basically only eating meat about once a month, if that, since the only meat animals we have are the extra roosters from my mutt hatchings (and a few Dark Cornish from my spring MM hatchery batch) and I've been lazy about getting any on the table lately. I did recently get my first hunting license, but no bow yet so that meat source might have to wait a while (the bow is $400).
Anyways, I am also very anti-GMO. This is seriously one of my biggest things. I can pretty much walk into a store, and in the first five minutes see a hundred things I recognize as being Monsanto products. (I drive my parents nuts whenever I go shopping with them.) Luckily, that's been happening less and less as we have started going to our local health food store/co-op way more lately (thank god!). And I feel like I'm actually walking my talk more since we went to a non-GMO rally/march at our capital the other day (which was awesome.)
So yep. I've only turned into one of these green, homesteader-type people over the last year, since we moved from town to the new farm. (Which is, quite literally, in the middle of nowhere- we are miles down a dirt road, which winds through National forest, and have about five neighbors within ten square miles.) It's amazing being in such a secluded place (especially with horses, since we can trail ride on and on forever), but also dangerous... we've had a bear rip apart our chicken coops three times now. And sometimes crazy people come out and do crazy stuff on our road, so yeah....

Anyways. I ramble. Lol.

Welcome! We're also a military family, so I forget to check on byc whenever my husband is working a lot. Sometimes I forget that the computer does more than give me emails from him

We had a little garden this year. Didn't get a lot from it (thank you local wildlife), but we got a ton from our apple tree. I've been canning, cooking, baking apple goods nonstop. I only eat salmon because my doctor thinks its a miracle food and I'm trying just about everything they suggest at this point. Just made my husband an organic carrotcake with all organic ingredients before he left. That's my newest recipe:

• 1/4 cup cinnamon applesauce
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup butter (can use vegan margarine), softened
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1/4 cup milk (can sub soy milk)
• 1 cup grated carrots
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped
  
  Mix it all together, bake at 325 in a 8 or 9 inch round for about 45 minutes. I top it off with cream cheese buttercream frosting, but the first time we made it, we didn't use any frosting! So yummy! I also use organic flour, sugar....and all ingredients when possible. I think the only non-organic label thing on here were the walnuts.
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