chickens and veggies

CHICKENS AND VEGGIES

for the last several weeks i ordered eggs on my instacart order and didnt get any for awhile so i was able to get egg beaters which are basically eggs without the yolk
not as good but it is a good substitute during desperate times
now it seems the supply may have caught up with the demand since the last 3 weeks we have been able to get eggs
ok so i go to the old folks early morning shopping at traders joes when all the shelves are fully stocked
ok so i get there so im in the first 10 ones in the store and im out of there about 10-15 minutes later
virus free i hope

we have had backyard chickens half of our married life
when we were in college we rented a house that i was able to set up a chicken coop and we obtained 2 chickens which provided us with fresh eggs for almost a year
we were hooked after that

when we moved to the country n one of the first thing we got was chickens
i built a portable coop that later i converted to a stationary one

we ate fresh eggs every day for years
we gave them away as presents

since moving here we miss those fresh eggs every day
for awhile we would go to the farmers market to pick them up on saturday morning
we paid extra but the flavor was worth it
since we had the covid 19 we havent been back for fresh eggs

we are limiting our exposures since we cant be sure we are immune to the covid 19

im sure our condo wont allow us to keep chickens

we started our research on backyardchickens.com

we also went to presentations on backyard chickens

we also attended the popular austin funky chicken tours each year to see example of coops and to talk to the chicken coop owners

most if not all cities in the united states allow chicken coops with certain rules like no roosters and not too close to the neighbors and not too close to the house

yes even santa barbara allows them


next you should consider doing a veggie garden

if you live in an apartment you can easily grow them in pots
the secret is using a good potting soil dont skimp on this
veggies like tomatoes  may need to be watered twice a day during hotter weather
use a liquid organic fertilizer
i use an organic fish emulsion +sea weed+molasses solution to replace the nutrients that can be washed out easily in the warmer weather from the extra watering
i use the solutions at least every other week to twice a month
i get mine at the local ace store here
some but not all the local nurseries have this combo
in austin most if not all the nurseries have it
dont use a granular non organic fertilizer in these pots since salts will build up in the soil

you can also if you have space do a garden
a simple design is a 4 ft square one
dont use treated wood
but you can do any size you want
my son has a 5 ft x 8 ft garden that is easily accessed from any side
his is a foot in depth

its surprising how much you can grow in this size of a garden

you have to start with good organic soil
dont skimp here
for those in the austin area there are a lot of good sources for bulk organic soil
elsewhere you may have to get bags of soil
usually the square foot garden soils work well since they have everything already added to the soil

a couple of nurseries here that i have talked to here are selling their veggies and seeds and garden soils like hot cakes
folks are trying to grow some of their own foods

at our community garden we would have a plant sale each spring on easter saturday
which got canceled this year
so
we did a serve yourself sale that allowed folks to pick out their veggies and put the money in a larger jar sort of on the honor system
they werent exposed and we werent exposed
it was open all the time

interesting is that this is one of the best years for the spring veggie sale at the community garden

here is a nice article on starting your own garden titled
...how to start one

here is a link to a newsletter from the texas gardeners seeds newsletter which will be available on this link later this month
the may 6 2019 newsletter has an article entitled
5 tips for building a Victory Garden 2.0 raised garden bed
you can sign up for the newsletter online

so think about getting you a chicken or two
think about starting your own garden on your patio or porch or in your yard
then
enjoy your own fresh eggs and fresh veggies

the organicgreen doctor