...various fuels become scarce and costly
...factory farm meat and eggs become too expensive to mass produce and distribute
...I walk out back, smell fried eggs and sausage, peek over the fence and see my neighbour cooking breakfast on the BBQ
...I also notice he has a few chickens, two pigs and a cow wandering about under the watchful eye of his dog
I’m pretty sure I’d say, “Hey, Jason. You’ve made a good start at home grown meat production. Great idea.”
(I don't think 'meat production' would ever include his retriever. Gilmore is a very nice dog. Always happy).
I’d like to see a few chickens (or ducks, goats, rabbits etc.) next door, in my own yard or local common area - as a way to wean ourselves off excessive use of fossil fuels.
Years ago my dad kept chickens, to help feed seven mouths, and I helped expand his coop. I didn’t realize then that the experience might one day come in handy.
[Original chicken coop at left end of our barn: watercolour by Edith Harrison]
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As times get tougher, would you consider your own chicken coop, rabbit pen etc.?
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2 comments:
My neighbors across the street kept chickens for a while, and might still have them. I only knew it because apparently there was a rooster in the mix for a while (not intentionally) that I heard crowing from time to time.
I'm not sure how much zoning restrictions allow in the way of keeping livestock on the property, but in a perfect world I'd be living at the beach and pulling my dinner from the surf every day, and using the by-products to keep a fertile patch of garden going for vegetable production. That's how the natives did it before we got here and it worked for them.
Yeah, I could live that way.
This makes me think of Tasha Tudor. Do you know her? I always fantasized I could be like she was, raising the animals and the old stove, ect... I'm sure I need more discipline though. I love the watercolor.
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