Search Results for: label/poultry

77 results

Do Hens Make Noise?

Mr. Homegrown
Animals, Chickens
8 Comments
...st time chicken owners, the first time we heard this sound caught us by surprise. We suspected that it’s the result of discomfort from squeezing out an egg, or some wonder of selective breeding, a way to announce to the poultry farmer, “Hey, time to collect an egg!” In fact, research presented by University of Sheffield animal scientists Tommaso Pizzari and Tim R. Birkhead, in an article entitled “For whom does the hen ca...

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Made By Hand

Mr. Homegrown
Thoughtstylings
7 Comments
Jungian analyst James Hollis speaks of two gremlins that meet us at the foot of the bed each day: fear and lethargy. As DIYers, gardeners, poultry keepers and fermentation fetishists, our worst enemy is a crippling fear of failure and the lethargy that results when we try to avoid challenges by surfing the Internet, watching TV, or just staring into space. To embrace failure is the only way to learn. Hollis quotes Rainer Maria Rilke, “our...

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An Omnivore’s Dilemma

Mr. Homegrown
Animals, Chickens
80 Comments
...e I have a lot more life in my life. That’s why I farm.” Even though I’m raising hens for eggs not meat (though I don’t have a problem with doing so), there are ethical questions involved in keeping backyard poultry. Is shipping chicks by mail humane? What to do with roosters? Would keeping hens on pasture be better than confined to a run? I believe these concerns are outweighed by the benefits of knowing where my food comes fro...

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Finding an Urban Homestead on Craigslist

Mr. Homegrown
Thoughtstylings
6 Comments
Backyard of the “Lee Street Homesteaders” You know the urban homestead thing has caught on when the phrase shows up in a Craigslist rental ad: Imagine… living at the edge of a city and at the edge of modern society. Growing your own food and medicine in your backyard. Raising poultry and harvesting your own eggs. Brewing your own beer and kombucha. Fermenting your own raw sauerkraut and pickles. And living within s...

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All Politics Are Local

Mr. Homegrown
Thoughtstylings
8 Comments
...erence. For instance you can: start a community or school garden volunteer to teach gardening or food preservation plant trees build neighborhood resilience and tolerance create bike lanes and walking paths legalize backyard poultry and bees Not that these local goals are necessarily easy, but they can be accomplished. And they all address resource depletion. By all means go vote today, but let’s get together after this mess and work on w...

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Bird Flu and Industrial Agriculture

Mr. Homegrown
Animals, Chickens
2 Comments
...eping chickens in our backyard has brought home the debate on biosecurity and bird flu. There’s considerable dispute about how these viruses spread, with the industry trying to make the case that wild birds and backyard poultry keepers such as ourselves are a greater threat. A report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Industrial Livestock Production and Global Health Risks (pdf) lends credence to Dr. Greger...

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Revised and Expanded

Mr. Homegrown
Events
6 Comments
...make a tomato can stove• How to make a Viet Nam light• How to make a Euell Gibbon’s crock• How to make L’hamd markad, or preserved, salted lemons• How to make a bike light “The Urban Homestead… touches on vegetable gardening, poultry, DIY cleaning products and beer making — all outlined with a sense of play and fun. “—Whole Life Times “… a delightfully readable and very useful guide to front and back-yard vegetable gardening, food foraging, food...

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