Temperate Perennial Edibles / Permiculture

OK, so we've been living on the Rocky Mountain foothills for over 5 years now. We have had quite a few planting failures since, I have to admit, we didn't really know what we were doing. Two attempts at beekeeping have failed (we'll try again in the future).

The chickens, ducks and geese are doing well. However, we need to be able to produce more food for them to be more self-sufficient. Buying poultry feed just doesn't cut it cost and sufficiency-wise.

Plants (all plants have to be edible/fodder/of other use) that we've planted so far (zone 5):

Beans (annual; bush varieties are good for our short season)
Blackberries (perennial; surviving)
Blueberries (perennial; dead - they don't do well in Colorado's alkaline soil)
Borage (annual; an easy self-seeding annual, companion with strawberries)
Broccoli (annual; no luck with this yet) 
Daylilly (perennial; edible flowers)
Cabbage (annual)
Catnip (hardy perennial)
Cilantro (annual - great growth 1 year, none last year)
Lavender (perennial; only English lavender seems to survive our winters)
Lettuce mix (annual; ravaged by deer)
Peas (annual; grows but I need to work on these)
Potatoes (annual or perennial; prone to disease so best to grow in bags as annuals for easy harvesting)
Raspberries (perennial; surviving)
Egyptian Walking Onions (perennial; flourishing - an excellent almost no-care crop)
Grapes (perennial; barely surviving)
Johnny Jump-Ups (annual; grows wild - flowers are edible)
Nasturtium (fast growing annual; edible leaves/flowers/seeds)
Strawberries (perennial; small berry yield)
Sweet William (perennial; edible flowers)
Tomatoes (annual in our zone; best for container planting because of unpredictable seasons)
Zucchini (annual; decent yield, suitable for our short season) 

Plants for 2012 were chosen to be part of an easy to care for semi-permiculture project:

Amaranth (annual; this one is a long shot, we'll see..)
Asparagus (perennial; harvest in second year)
Yellow Grove Bamboo (perennial to zone 6; we'll try it heavily mulched. Edible shoots)
Comfrey (perennial; fodder and medicinal)
Hops (perennial)
Hosta (perennial; edible!)
Jerusalem Artichokes (perennial up to zone 2; you can just plant store tubers)
Mint (perennial; invasive)
Purslane (invasive annual; yes, the weed- edible!)
Raspberries (they grow wild here but seem to prefer more swampy conditions)
Sage (perennial)
Oregano (perennial)

Knowing Your Egg Producer

Sometime ago, I wrote a post describing the difference between free-range, organic and conventional eggs. In that post, I talked about how pastured organic eggs were the best choice. In this post, I would like to expand on the topic as to why it's also important to know your farmer. Why?

Eggs should normally be processed within a day after lay. In the US, eggs are often processed as long as 7-30 days after being laid. Processing includes collecting, cleaning, grading and packaging.

Egg shells are porous. That is why the older the egg, the larger the air sack in the egg will be. This is how to tell if an egg is still fresh: if it sinks in water it is fresh. Conversely, an egg that floats is stale. Because of this porousness, an important aspect to take note of is the cleaning process.

The chicken egg is covered by a bloom, a waxy substance that coats the egg. This bloom seals the egg and protects it from the external environment. Once cleaned, the bloom is cleaned off with the egg, leaving the porous shell exposed to the air and therefore faster spoilage.

As a substitute many large egg producers then coat the egg with mineral oil, a petroleum by-product. It is never meant for consumption. However this oil can and will eventually enter the egg. This process explains why egg whites from eggs that have been oiled will not form stiff peaks when beaten (a process that's important for making baked products, including meringues).

While using mineral oil on organic eggs would be unlikely, regulations vary from state to state. Hence the importance of knowing your farmer.

Preparing For Your Chicks

Spring is here and that means it's chick season once again! Whether you're buying them locally or having them shipped to you, you'll need to prepare for their arrival.

Equipment needed:
Heat lamps
Litter and/or shavings (use wood shavings, not shredded paper)
Feeders
Waterers
Chick feed
Clean water
Sanitizing solution
Cleaning brushes
Q-tips

A warm place indoors for the chicks, away from adult chickens, if any. For housing, we've always used large plastic totes with wheels. You can get these for less than $15 at Walmart or Home Depot.

Feeders, waterers, litter and feed can be purchased from your local feed or ranch supply store. If you're buying Purina feed, be sure to sign up for their Purina Difference Rewards Program - they email you coupons every quarter. 

I'd advise buying litter from the feed supply store rather than a pet store which is a lot more expensive. Remember to only use wood shavings for chicks. Do not use paper sheds as the chicks may get their legs entangled and/or broken from the paper sheds.

Clean and disinfect the chick area a few days before the chicks arrive to allow to area to dry. Place the heat lamp about 20" above the chicks.

Make sure the brooder is warm before they arrive (approx 90F). If the chicks are huddled under the lamp, the area is too cold. If you find the chicks moving too far away from the lamp, the area is too warm. Overheating the chicks can be as dangerous as having them too cold. If the chicks move comfortably around the area then you have the temperature right.

Water and feed should be cleaned and replenished daily. Wet or soiled litter should be removed and replaced with dry clean litter.

It is also important to note that chicks are susceptible to a condition call "pasting up" - this is when the feces builds up on the chick butt, preventing additional excrement from releasing. Check chicks daily and remove the dried waste with a warm damp paper towel or Q-tips, which I've found to be quite handy!

Things to Consider Before Adding Water Fowl To Your Homestead

 I decided to write a post on water fowl because it was the next step in our homesteading adventures. We already had a flock of chickens and wanted to add some ducks and geese to our flock. I will start the article on ducks and add another post about geese.

With Easter rolling around, this is a great time to get free or cheap ducks and chicks from others who don't quite know what to do with them! You can also consider adoption via sites like petfinder.com, Craigslist.org. If you come up empty, most feed stores still sell them this time of year.

Before you even start, make sure zoning allows you to have ducks on your property. We live on agricultural property, so this isn't an issue.

Why ducks and/geese? From my experience, ducks will lay regularly all year round. Only certain chicken breeds (like the Rhode Island Reds), on the other hand, will lay fairly well in the winter.

Ducks and geese are very hardy and do quite well exposed even in our harsh winter. They eat a lot less than chickens and grow much more quickly. If you're breeding them for meat purposes, Geese would be the best bang for your buck in terms of food consumption vs meat production.

Ducks also grow more quickly than chickens. The Peking duck makes a good meat bird.

Duck Cheney, our resident douche-y drake

The next question is, what about the eggs?

EGGS

Duck eggs are about 1.5 to 2 times the size of an average chicken egg. The shell is thicker and the egg is higher in fat and cholesterol. They taste a lot richer than chicken eggs and have a slightly different texture to them. I am not able to taste the difference chicken and duck when eggs are beaten or scrambled. Duck eggs are well known to be great for baking and for making meringues.

I also use them for making my 'giam neng' (salted duck eggs). Whilst you can use chicken eggs, duck eggs offer their own texture and flavor that's not replicated by salting chicken eggs.

TELLING MALES APART FROM FEMALES

Of course, if you know how to sex them, this is not a problem. If you don't, there are other physical characteristics you can look out for: drakes have a curl on the tail whereas females do not. Another obvious difference is that drakes do not have a voice - they do not quack. Instead, they let out a very rasp-y sounding 'quack'.

In my experience, drakes do not exhibit the same male strut of a gander or a rooster.

CARING FOR YOUR DUCKS

We've found that we can easily put our ducklings together with chicks in a storage tote without any problems. Be sure to have a heat lamp available if you live in a colder area.

Be sure to provide clean food and water for all the creatures. Ducks and geese should also have a deep enough water source where they can dip their heads into daily.

Duck poop is wet and nasty so you'll need to change the bedding more frequently. They are also a lot more messy because they splash water around a lot. You'll also need to prepare to move them sooner than chicks because they grow more quickly.

While ducks are very hardy, they will still need some kind of dry shelter from both the heat and the cold. Since temperatures very rarely go above 95F where we live, the heat factor isn't really an issue for us. We simply allow them to live in the coop with the chickens (side note: do NOT house turkeys in your chicken coop. They are susceptible to diseases from chickens that chickens are immune to). While their bodies are equipped for the cold and wet, remember that their feet are just skin, making them vulnerable to the cold and injury - hence the need for a good dry place.

Again, be sure to have water that's deep enough for the ducks to dip their heads into. In summer, we have a kiddy pool for them, and in winter, we just use 3 or 5 gallon buckets of water. You can get them new from Walmart (usually under $2 each) or free from your supermarket bakery (they use them for storing frosting. The only caveat is that you have to wash out the frosting yourself - you'll never look at frosting the same way again!)

FEEDING

Ducks are omnivorous and like chickens, will eat almost anything. Be sure to use a higher protein feed for the  ducks (meat bird will work but layer feed is insufficient protein). You can also opt to use an "all-flock" feed which is what we now use.

A FINAL WORD

Unless you manage to get your duck to imprint on you, ducks are no where as cool or as entertaining as chickens. If you have a nice pond and are thinking of adding ducks, do NOT do so. the ducks will tear and muck it up.