I have to try really hard not to stutter and stare... ...when I'm at someone's house and I watch them throw celery tops, broccoli stems, or banana peels in the trash. That's valuable stuff! Our goats are rather picky, and they only like choice items such as watermelon rind or cornstalks. However, our chickens can be depended upon to eat pretty much everything--especially veggie trimmings or leftover dairy items (like whey or ...Continue Reading
Showing all results for: chickens
How to Feed Eggshells to Chickens
It's been rather egg-y around The Prairie Homestead lately. We've talked about whether or not to wash farm fresh eggs and how to go about freezing them for later. Another egg-related question that has recently come up is: What to do with with leftover eggshells? Composting them is definitely one option, but did you know you can feed them back to your chicken flock? Like anything else, there seems to be lots of different ...Continue Reading
The Best Dual-Purpose Chicken Breeds
How can we close our chicken loop? It's a question that's been rattling around in my brain since a long-ago podcast conversation with Kate from Venison for Dinner. In that episode, we talked about reducing outside inputs in our home food production. And I've been working towards it in small ways for a while by: Saving more seeds Shuttling volunteer seedlings around the homestead to eliminate buying certain plants Using ...Continue Reading
The Best Mulch for Your Vegetable Garden
I've become a bit of a mulch evangelist. It started with my discovery of Ruth Stout all those years ago and has progressed into a full blown obsession. Now I find myself blathering on about mulch in almost every gardening conversation I have. Nothing else has impacted my soil health and fertility as much as mulch. And while results won't happen overnight, I'm continually blown away at the improvements that come faster ...Continue Reading
How I’m Letting My Garden Be Easy This Year
“What if the garden was easy this year?” The thought landed in my brain and I instantly felt uncomfortable. I love hard things. Impossible challenges are my oxygen. When people tell me something can’t be done, their pessimism becomes my fuel. If I’m not climbing a mountain, I’m restless. (read more of my thoughts on that here) I had been reading Effortless by Greg McKeown and when he proposed the idea of ...Continue Reading