/diy/ - Do It Yourself

>>60274
>If you had the room would you raise cattle?
Probably not. Raising cattle sustainably is rather intensive and time-consuming. I don't care much for them and I don't like beef at all. Goats are incredibly and naturally sustainable, their meat is much much healthier than beef, and they basically take care of themselves. Nothing against the sustainable beef industry...just not for me.

>Also mind taking us through a typical day?
Every day is different but it would go something like this.
-Wake up at sunrise.
-Let chickens out, feed chickens, feed goats, make sure everything has water.
-Breakfast.
-Spend all morning with crops, cultivating or transplanting, searching for pests or whatever.
-Lunch.
-Take a walk to look at all the animals to make sure they're healthy.
-Move chicken houses.
-Feed chickens.
-Collect eggs.
-Water.
-Sundown.
-Wash eggs, do logistical and administrative work.

These are things done on a daily basis, so there is always more to do than that depending on what we have going on. Thursdays we process chickens, Fridays we harvest crops, Saturdays we do farmers' markets...it's a lifestyle, not a job.

I'll be in and out of this thread today so feel free to ask questions and I'll get around to it.

>>60267
>How many acres of land does it take to sustain you (and how many people are you sustaining?)
There's a difference between "self-sustaining" farm and "sustainable farming." Self-sustaining would be a closed system which could survive with no inputs. This is very difficult and requires a decent amount of land, knowledge, and hard work. There are some systems like this but they are not necessary, as community exists for a reason.

Sustainable farming is rather simply taking as many steps possible to reduce environmental impact. We get our feed and supplies almost all locally, we produce as much compost as we can ourselves, and we take great care to rotate animals and crops to not harm the land. On top of that, we reuse and recycle as many supplies as we can. We don't sell our products further than 50 miles from the farm, reducing travel time and keeping it local. We're improving our systems continuously.

We have 30 acres which is perfect for our size and scale of a system.

>What percentage of the food do you sell?
Most. Three people live here, and we don't eat that much compared to what we produce. We will often trade food for food or other goods as well.

Alright then, goodnight /diy/.

This is the walk-behind tractor we have. Attached is the tiller implement. We also have a rotating plow implement for heavier earth work and a flail mower implement for clearing heavy brush.

These are the chickens we raise for meat. They're called Freedom Rangers, and they're bred for systems like our's. A rotating group of 200 of them have access to at least an acre of pasture at any given time. They are plump and juicy and delicious.

>>60205
>noisy at night? or during the day?
Always during the day, and it's worse in the summer. They'll squawk non-stop for hours. I've had to stop myself from shooting them.

>Do you eat those fuckers or keep them around all year?
We don't eat our's, but there is a market for them. We just have them for pest control. We couldn't catch them if we tried, they're very skittish and can fly very well. Since they don't go into a coop at night, we sometimes lose them to night-time predators.

These are a couple of our guinea fowl. They are extremely effective natural pest control. They eat a ton of bugs and will basically prevent any tick problems at all. They're really noisy though.

>>60191
>It can drop below freezing at night, just barely though. I mean I'm talking a dusting of frost on the ground in the morning but that's about it.

Most greens can tolerate that. Peppers and tomatoes would probably die. Stuff like kale would actually taste better after a light frost. Some lettuces might die but others are winter-hardy. Spinach, carrots, beets, chard...all these will survive a light frost. Instead of a whole tunnel, I suggest looking into row covers or low-tunnels. A row cover will lightly sit on top of your plants and protect them from frost, and low-tunnel will collect enough heat to protect against slightly heavier frosts (28 degrees maybe).

>>60190
>Any recommendations for organic 'pesticides'--some way to keep bugs off fruit trees?

Fruit is really hard to grow without synthetic pesticides. You have to have the perfect climate and environment free of pests and disease to grow fruit organically. For small-scale fruit production, I don't really frown on using synthetic pesticides. However, I understand your hesitation.

Look into Spinosad, DF, or Pyganic. These are organic approved pesticides. I'm not sure if they're much better for the environment than synthetic pesticides though.

>>60175
well, it goes dormant because i harvest everything and pull up all the plants. It's just bare earth sitting there right now.

What's the lowest temperatures you get in the winter? You may not even need a tunnel. Like I said, around here the main purpose of the tunnel is to protect from freeze. Sunlight (lack of) is what normally stunts winter growth.

>>60166
They're not stinging wasps. They're incredibly small. You'll hardly see them. There are some better bugs specifically for flies though. We get our insects from a local garden center. Check here:


http://www(dot)bugladyconsulting(dot)com/Suppliers%20of%20beneficial%20insects.htm

>>60165
>so won't the bees eventually become immune too

Maybe...but before or after a famine sweeps the planet because we lost our main pollinators and food becomes scarce? And as the keep increasing toxicity and concentration, there will no doubt be definite and noticeable health problems with people.

>>60164
I don't know if a tunnel would help. Normally when stuff goes dormant it's mainly because of a lack of sunlight rather than temperature. Temperature can be a factor though so it might help extend your season, but you might end up with a dormant period anyways. The main purpose for them in this climate is to protect the plants from freezes.

Another example of taking advantage of nature. This broccoli grows in the spring but goes to flower (bolts) in the summer. Since a lot of the summer crops need pollination, we leave them in to attract bees and other pollinators. Conventional farmers would tear them out and plant something else. We allow it to work for us. We also do this with other cole crops and most anything that bolts in the summer.

These are parasitic wasp eggs. They'll find larva and small worms and lay eggs in them. They help prevent moth worm infestations and help keep flies at bay.

Here's one example of using natural systems. We release beneficial insect to help take care of pests. Ladybugs are especially good at small soft-bodied pests like aphids. We have a fairly nice ladybug population now so we don't have to release them much any more. Eventually we'll be able to stop completely, as long as we balance the ecosystem right.

>>60153
>What crops do you grow in winter? Will just regular crops grow or is it special shit?
They have to be somewhat cold-hardy. Something like tomatoes or peppers would only last till early December in a high tunnel. It's mostly greens...this year I'm doing lettuce, kale, arugula, swiss chard, spinach, kohlrabi, carrots, beets, and radishes. These will all survive in a tunnel through the winter.

This is totally dependent on climate. I'm mid-Atlantic, so you can imagine the difference for up North or further South, or in CA or something.

Seems like the board's not interested tonight...if someone wants me to keep going just lemme know otherwise I'll let it die.

>>60138
Aquaculture is probably the future of food production. If we can harness renewable energy, this is what will be able to feed 7 billion people, healthily, without the use of chemicals or synthetics. Perhaps one day, if I move on from the farm, I will get involved in aquaculture.

This is the final step. After it leaves the chilled water, the chicken sits on these posts for a few minutes to drain and then bagged.

This is allowed under a certain meat handlers exemption. We can process up to 10,000 a year on site. We cannot process anything besides poultry, so we have to send our goats to a sketchy processing facility.

From the plucker it goes to the evisceration table. This is where it is basically cleaned up and turned into food. We harvest everything that is legal to sell and discard the rest. After it leaves this table it is in market shape. From here it goes into a cooler with ice water to chill.

This is the plucker. It has rubber fingers and a disc at the bottom covered in the fingers that spins around fairly fast while spraying water. About 30 seconds in here and a chicken is plucked clean. It can handle 2 or 3 at a time. This is really what makes on-site processing a possibility.

>>60124
>u can use the biogas for cooking, water heathing and so on, u can storage it.. with the solids u got a perfect 100% bio fertilizer

Didn't think about that. We have a solar water heater. I'll look into other applications of biogas. Thanks.

After they are dead, they are then scalded. This device holds water at a temperature of about 150 degrees. Dunking the chicken in this for about 30 seconds-1 minute loosens the feathers so they can be plucked easier by the plucker.