framing fowl -daily living

framing fowl

On a mission
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Welcome to our adventure! My husband MyT Man and I live on 1/4 acre in Lexington, KY. Along for the ride are our two dogs, Annie and Julie, as well as the chickens.

I grew up on a section of land in Big Sky Country Montana and was introduced to many aspects of ss living. DH grew up on a ranch in Oregon, then moved to Alaska for a few years before his family settled in the Willamette valley on an acre where they had a hay field, chickens, cows, and pigs.

We met at college in Kentucky and absolutely fell in love with this state. We bounced around the country for a few years before we were able to move to Lexington 4 years ago. I bought a business here so we bought a 1/4 acre in town with the intention of establishing ourselves and then moving out of town after 5 years or so.

Well, sometimes you have to take what life throws your way so last year I sold the business and am an employee again. We are currently on track move in 3 years. Our self sufficient goals are to use our current location as a test plot for things we would like to do on a larger scale after we move. We are planning on having 100 acres. 80 timbered and 20 for orchard, vineyard, pasture, and garden.

So far we currently have a peach, nectarine, pear, three apple, fig, and olive tree. We've got a strawberry patch, blackberries, raspberries, grapes, small herb garden, and vegetable garden. This summer we added chickens and currently have 4 layers, 3 pullets, and 6 roosters. (5 will be processed between Christmas and New Years). We also have a broody setting on 10 eggs due a week from tomorrow. This summer we also installed a 600 gallon rainbarrel system to water the garden.

We started with just a house and lawn. Every year we build on what we have accomplished the previous year. This winter our goals are to build a cold frame to start veggies earlier in the spring than I did this year. We're also looking at putting in a pond. We will also be reviewing our emergency preparedness plans. The other thing I want to do this winter is get my peach tree properly pruned.

As far as that long questionaire: I'll sum up some of my general thoughts. I keep a gun under my bed. We do own a television but it is only hooked up to the dvd player for movie nights, we don't watch broadcast tv. I read a lot, I'm usually reading something non-fiction such as gardening, cooking, autobiographical, or political as well as a fiction murder mystery or thriller. I'm tall, don't like to swim and prefer dogs over cats. My musical tastes are all over the board except for rap. I enjoy Johnny Cash to George Strait to Cherry Poppin' Daddies to anything operatic. I am a custom picture framer by trade.
 

justusnak

Almost Self-Reliant
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:welcome Sounds like you have a great plan...and it is working out for you! Way to go!! I can't waite to read more!
 

Dace

Revolution in Progress
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Welcome :)

Glad to have you join us....I am interested in following you plan and progress!
 

TanksHill

Super Self-Sufficient
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Welcome!!! Sounds like you have things well under way. We city slickers will definitely learn a few things from you.

Looking forward to it.

gina
 

Beekissed

Mountain Sage
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Welcome to the forum! We hope you feel at home and I can't wait to hear more about your city homestead! :)
 

dragonlaurel

Improvising a more SS life
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:frow You're doing really well with that place. You mentioned and olive tree. Can you actually get olives that far north? What kind is it? I would love to be able to grow my own. :welcome
 

lorihadams

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Welcome welcome!

I definitely look forward to hearing more!
 

Wifezilla

Low-Carb Queen - RIP: 1963-2021
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Fellow tiny lot owner here. It is kind of fun trying to figure out how much you can plant, grow and raise in a limited space. Got to get creative! LOL
 

framing fowl

On a mission
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Thanks for the warm welcomes everyone. It is fun being here and I look forward to getting to know everyone better.

This weekend one of our neighbors gave us his yearling buck because he likes to hunt but he doesn't like the taste of venison. Our neighbor on the other side was a professional butcher for 35 years so we bartered with him. He butchered it, we supplied freezer paper and tape. My DH is doing all of their baseboard trim in their living room and two bedrooms this week after they have their hardwood floors redone.

Last night we got seasonings to make our own jerky and I went and picked up a food dehydrator that I got from someone on Craigslist. We put together our own hawaiian marinade (1/2 pineapple, 1/2 soy plus all the herbs and spices). While we were out shopping, I found a sausage stuffer for my kitchenaide on sale so I picked that up. Got it home and realized that it only works with the meat grinder attachment...duh me! So now we've discussed the pros and cons of getting a meat grinder attachment on ebay for the kitchenaide or getting one of the handcrank ones and returning the sausage stuffer.

I guess it comes down to what our definition of ss is. Is it the fact that we make our own sausage rather than buy it at the store or is it the fact that if I ever wanted to make sausage or grind meat while the power is out, I could do so??? Off to ebay to go shopping!
 

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