Decentralized Living- Part 1

As I have delved deeper and deeper into self-sufficiency and living half-off the grid (or perhaps more like 30% off), I've decided to write a 3 part series on decentralizing your life, and steps I have taken to rely less on fed notes, government and maintain my privacy and security during a time which I believe will be the largest paradigm shift the world has ever known. Welcome to Decentralized Living. 

LIVING OFF THE LAND

I live in a home, which is paid off, and own a hair over half of an acre. While this is not necessarily the ideal spot for a family farm or huge tracts of gardens and orchards, I have been able to start providing a small percentage of my diet by raising small livestock, gardening and fruit trees. 

On a small amount of land with city ordinances which prevent me from raising any kind of large flock of chickens, goats or cow, I had to be as efficient as possible in choosing my meat to raise. In the end, I looked for 3 things: Yield per square foot, Yield per dollar of feed, and ease of maintenance. I have made the following choices which I will break down below:

Rabbit

I started off last year with a buck (male rabbit) and two doe (female rabbits), and now I have 15! Yes, rabbits do breed quickly and provide a valuable resource of quality protein as well as pelts (which I haven't tried yet). Your typical litter of rabbit will be anywhere between 5 and 10 kits, or baby bunnies. My smallest was 5 and biggest was 7 so far, but hey, it varies. Rabbit tastes delicious and it only takes me about 10 minutes to dress a rabbit once it is ready for harvest. I raise California/New Zealand Mix and Silver Fox, as they produce the greatest yield of meat per cost of feeding. My mixed litters have gotten up to 7 pounds while my Silver Fox have weighed in at almost 10! (They can get up to 12 lbs if you get the right combination of nutrition and breeding pair). 

Quail

Of all of the types of bird to raise, chicken is the most popular in my area. But the bastards at city hall recently passed a law stating you are only permitted to have 4 chickens on land less than an acre (example of dumbasses passing laws on something they know nothing about- heck one of the city council members thought you needed a rooster to get eggs!). So rather than hassle with the bureaucrats, I researched the most productive and efficient bird I could find, the Japanese Coturnix Quail!

 

These little guys (and gals) are a multiplication machine as efficient as the rabbits I tend to. The male Coturnix Quail isn't that loud, shouting out "Coturnix!" only a few times a day, which, unlike a rooster, which I am prohibited from owning, will allow me to use my incubator (34 bucks at Tractor Supply) to hatch. 

I put 1 male with 3 or 4 females and I am ready to rock and roll! And unlike chickens, which don't lay eggs for 8-10 months after birth, these little suckers are already laying as early as 6 weeks after hatch! (The earliest I got an egg was 7 weeks though). Give em food and water, and they will provide you with as many as an egg and a half each! Not only is that good production, but they hardly take up any space and their eggs are maaaad nutritious! For a complete rundown on how nutritious, I'll refer you to this site: http://a-livinghealthy.blogspot.com/2012/11/benefit-of-quail-eggs.html   

Pheasant

This was a throw in, as ringneck pheasant is one of the tastiest birds that one can raise. I started ringnecks this spring, and won't get my first egg until sometime in March or April.. (bummer). However, when the ladies start laying, they will give you 50 to 60 eggs each during the season! 

I plan on keeping a male or two, then having the ladies for reproduction purposes. The males have a beautiful color to them, and make a kid's laser gun type sound when they sing! Pretty far out! 

TENDING TO THE ORCHARD

Over the past 3 years, I have established 5 apple trees, 2 plumb trees, 2 Cherry Trees and plan on adding another Cherry and Plumb later this fall (prices tend to be pretty great on trees in the fall). I chose the trees that I did based upon the climate zone, and also productivity. Here is the breakdown:

Apple Trees

I have 2 Red Delicious, 2 Granny Smith and one Fiji tree of which all but one of the red delicious gave me their first yield. Once established, a fully developed apple tree can produce from an average tree 20 boxes that weigh 42 pounds each! Can you say barter? I figure between personal nourishment, charity and trade, once these trees are all in full go (typically trees start to bear fruit in year 3-5, reaching greater yield each year up until year 30, when they are done). I personally recommend paying the extra dough and getting an apple tree with good healthy branches at a quality nursery in the fall rather than having them die on you from a young sapling age.

Plumb Trees

Plumb trees were my daughter's choice, and I didn't hold back. I bought a Santa Rosa plumb and a Methley plumb tree, which should start bearing fruit in their 4th to 6th year (this was their second). It is important when buying plumbs to get two different types for maximum pollination and production. Orchards have been known to produce up to 1,000 plumbs per tree!

Cherry Trees

I have 2 new cherry trees, a Sherry Cherry and a Bing Cherry Tree, and soon to add a VAN. It is important to get two totally different groups of cherry trees in order for them to cross-pollinate. The following link will help you make this decision: http://www.amherstnurseries.com/FruitTreePollinatorsChart-id-51.html.  One cherry growing station produces approximately 800 cherries. Besides, they are absolutely beautiful in the spring!

IN THE GARDEN

Due to space constraints, I have decided against doing a row garden (I hate weeding anyway) and went with the square foot garden approach. After reading Mel Bartholamew's Square Foot Gardening book (R.I.P., Mel) I decided to build 4 square foot garden boxes. The beauty of the square foot garden approach is not only does it look beautiful, but the yield per square foot is RIDICULOUS! I planted 6 tomato plants and have 55 tomatoes!

I planted ONE cucumber plant and already had 4 huge cucumbers, with more on the way! Kale and Swiss Chard? I had so much I had to feed some of it to my rabbits! The awesome thing about it? I planted from seed, saving tonsthat I would've spent transplanting. 

Tips if you are going to try a square foot garden:

1. Paint your boxes- Slapping a coat of paint on the wooden boxes will save you YEARS on the life of your boxes... and it looks great!

2. The key is the soil! The consistency of the soil must be 1/3 vermiculite (or perlite), 1/3 Peat Moss, and 1/3 manure. Year after year, the ONLY thing you need to re-add is the manure (which the rabbits and quail supply me, as well as my fall leaf compost). The more varieties of manure, the more nutrients your plants will get. 

3.  Don't skimp on the peat moss and vermiculite- The beauty of these gardens is the moisture retention that is created with the 2/3 of the content being in the form of Vermiculite and Peat Moss. Forget to water? No worries. These self sustaining gardens can wait til the next rain. Perfect for a lazy guy like me... haha.

I hope that you all have liked my story of how to be more self sufficient on little amount of space. Go ahead and give it a try, and let me know how you like that little extra bit of freedom that comes from raising your own fresh food!