Beyond Sustainable … a weekly blog from Homesteaders Supply. Here we will highlight articles from homesteaders and related helping organizations blogging about their experience and insights for creating a sustainable lifestyle. Many of these articles will demonstrate their creative ingenuity for income, insights into the care of the land and their animals, and how to effectively grow, preserve, and prepare the foods we need for a healthy lifestyle. We will also highlight articles from organizations that are helping us in our efforts toward a healthy and sustainable lifestyle.
Homemade Non-GMO and Organic Chicken Feed Mix
By
Homesteading starts usually with having a couple chickens and enjoying the bounty of their wonderful eggs. But what about what we feed them? Read Tracey’s store and the recipe she shares for making organic and Non-GMO chicken feed!
“After plunging into backyard chickens to rid our yard of chemical laden pesticides, we began enjoying the great benefit of having chickens: the eggs! That was until we read what we were feeding them. Handfuls of words we couldn’t pronounce, nor did we have the faintest clue what they could be. Certainly, I thought, our eggs were better than ones in the store, yet in my mind remained a nagging doubt. Were they really?” Read more for her homemade NON-GMO recipe for chicken feed…
Homesteading advice from the master… an interview with Joel Salatin
by Carol J. Alexander, photographs by Amber Karnes, originally published in the June/July 2013 From Scratch Magazine
“FS: Living a sustainable lifestyle is a trend. Never in my life have I seen a more powerful thrust to provide for one’s own family, live off the land, reduce one’s carbon footprint, eschew chemicals, cook whole foods, etc. And everyone wants a front-row seat on the green bus. But is everyone cut out to grow their own food? Share with us the traits the successful, modern homesteader possesses.
JS: Everyone can’t grow their own food, but everyone can live as if they were. And everyone can do something, even if it’s just a vermicomposting bin under the kitchen sink and using cloth diapers instead of disposables. The point is that every single act should be a physical manifestation of our thought process, a conscious decision. Mindless acts have no place in our lives. Even wanting to do something mindless like watch a silly movie should be for a reason: “I need a break from the 120 percent I’ve been giving all day to such-and-such an activity.” While I appreciate the desire for self-reliance, I’m much more in favor of mutual inter-dependence. Sometimes we can become so independent we do things we’re not good at or deplore, and then burn out or fail miserably. Part of self-reliance is building a resilient community of hard goods and soft goods (spiritual, emotional, educational) around us, proximate, and relationally-oriented. All that said, here are some traits to think about: ” Read more…
Get Joel Salatin’s newly published book Fields of Farmers
Chicken Treat Chart The Best Treats For Backyard Chickens
by Buff Hooligans posted on Backyardchickens.com
“This is a list of everything you can feed a chicken. However, everybody’s chickens have their own tiny brains full of likes and dislikes, so while one person’s chickens may come running for grapes or watermelon, another person’s chickens may turn up their pointy little beaks at it. Anything on this list is worth a try. AND … Don’t feed the following things to your chickens:” Read More for both lists….