Backyard Farm: Chicken Coop Under Construction

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Chicken Coop Under Construction

Here's the coop under construction. I'm making it out of pallets and recycled wood. I hope to house 3 happy, productive hens. It sits at the back of the yard.

So you see not all of the zucchini have ended up as bread. Meet Grave Digger or The Widow Maker, I haven't settled on a name yet. It's almost 2 feet long...so far.

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WHY I GROW MY OWN

FLAVOR & NUTRITION

Locally produced food is better than food that has traveled, it's fresher, more delicate. And what is more local than your own backyard?

Fresher food = more nutrients.

Growing your own gives you more choices of obscure and heirloom varieties of plants. Some of the most beautiful, most flavorful varieties are just not practical for large scale growers.

BETTER THAN CURLY LIGHT BULBS

If you're trying to reduce your carbon footprint growing your own food is a dandy way to do it. Okay, I'm not so pure that I will forgo European wine, cured meats, and cheeses. But if I grow some of my own food it doesn't require packaging, it's not using energy to get to me, and I'm not driving to the store to retrieve it.

Out of season produce may need to come from very far away, another hemisphere maybe, and some of it comes by plane. Does this make sense?

FOOD SAFETY

What I grow will never be recalled or tainted with Salmonella or E coli. I know exactly what is on my plants and what is not. I try to be organic, but I am not above buying conventional seeds or starts.

FOOD SECURITY

Without sounding like too much of a doomer. I don't want to be completely reliant on a food system that is so dependent on cheap, abundant fossil fuel.

GARDENING IS GOOD FOR YOU!

It's good exercise. It produces good food for you to eat. And it feeds your soul. It is elemental. It puts you in touch with the cycles of nature. And you'll meet lots of great, like minded folks. Gardening builds community.