As we move from Odom’s Idle Acres in Barnesville, Georgia to Pink Hill, North Carolina and our own little plot of dirt, the one thing that we intend on intensifying (even while downsizing) is our goal of self-sufficiency. We’re not vegans or even vegetarians so we have to think about our source for milk, eggs, and meat. Even if we were vegan though, keeping animals on our homestead would allow us natural fibers or wool to sell. Basic animal husbandry would also allow us the peace of knowing our animals were raised humanely and treated with care and and every day.

Goats

From what I gather goats are among the most practical and versatile animals we could raise. They are small and relatively easy to handle. In fact, a single goat can produce two to four quarts of milk each day, which can simply be drunk or used to make cheese, butter, and soap. Angora goats and other long-hairs can be bred for mohair and fiber which can easily be sold or used for crafts. Did I mention goats can be raised for meat? It may sound odd if you’ve never tried “cabrito” or goat meat but it really is as healthy as a chicken breast with a taste like that of veal.

One thing we have to read up on is what breed is best for what use. I am not aware of a breed that produces fiber, milk, and meat. For milk we will probably look to Nubian, Saanen, or LaMancha goats while if we decided to cultivate fiber we will want to look in the Angora direction.  And while any goat can produce meat, Boer and Myotonic (“fainting”) goats are the best suited for this purpose.

Poultry

We’re pretty versed in poultry since we currently raise 4 layers of chickens; hatchlings/broilers/layers/meat. And like for many neo-homesteaders, chickens are an obvious choice for us because they don’t require much space and provide us with eggs and fresh meat. Once a hen’s egg production has declined, she can be a great addition to the stew pot. Believe it or not (which I am sure you will if you are reading this blog), mature chickens are far more flavorful than the rapidly-fattened youngsters sold in supermarkets. Chickens aren’t hard to care for, and young chicks or fertilized eggs are very inexpensive to buy.

Other poultry are also worth considering. Guineas, ducks, and geese are also great sources of eggs, meat, and feathers. Although they cost more than chickens, the meat is richer and many people love fresh duck and goose eggs. Guineas have the added advantage of being an effective pest control measure; they will happily snap up wasps, hornets, ticks, ants, and even mice.

Small Animals

Another option for homesteaders who have very little room to spare is small animals. And the reason for this post really is because lately Pan and I have been talking about raising rabbits; the pros and cons. They can be raised in hutches in your backyard, and true to their reputation, reproduce frequently. As with many other animals, you’ll need to decide what you want to use the rabbits for before you choose a breed. Angora rabbits are a great source of natural fiber. New Zealand, Florida White, and Californian rabbits are good choices for meat. And I am supposing that if we preserve the fur we can use it for insulation on a number of things. And let we forget rabbit poop. It makes great fertilizer – higher in nitrogen than some poultry manures and it also contains a large amount of phosphorus–important for flower and fruit formation.

Did I forget anything? What do you think is important for us to consider in terms of raising animals on our small homestead? What do you raise? Was it a good choice for you? Why? Why not?

(The following post is about our experience making a cob oven. We built in the middle of the summer and that presented a multitude of problems. But today we fired it up and it worked and we are getting ready to have homemade pizza for lunch. So it does work. The construction details have been trimmed back a bit. However, feel free to contact me for more detailed instructions on how to build an Earth Oven that costs less than the 24 beer bottles I used in construction.)

I love pizza. Having lived in Brooklyn, NY for a while I can’t NOT love pizza. It was on every corner and as a photographer with little money it was the most affordable meal most days. I have also recently taking to making bread of all sorts. So in the spirit of DIY neo-homesteading projects I thought an outdoor earth oven would be a perfect experiment. And since we live in Georgia – home of red clay – I figured the materials were just out in the yard so why not?

After a fair amount of research I decided we would build a small cob oven that would hold two personal size pizzas or three loaves of fresh bread. The cost was right in my estimation, we had nothing but time really, and compared to masonry oven, a cob was more eco-friendly and better for our diet as traditional concrete contains a small amount of volcanic ash and dye.

As is my tradition the first step I took was to do a little research which I did with the help of Kiko Denzer’s Build Your Own Earth Oven, a small book covering the construction of cob ovens from the ground up.

So how did I actually build it? Well….

The foundation

With little more than some Georgia red clay, concrete sand, what straw, brick, some recycled beer bottles and old granite slabs, plust a little wood, I had everything I needed to make my own oven. After familiarizing myself with Kiko’s cob oven design, I began building the foundation for my stove from the reclaimed granite slabs. The foundation served two purposes I figured. It would raise the oven off the ground in order to have it at a more convenient working height and it also provided a place to store wood for burning.

A fire brick hearth with insulation

An insulating layer of beer bottles in a wheat straw/clay mortar was constructed on top of the foundation in a ring of cob and beneath the firebrick hearth. The hearth, a simple arrangement of 12 firebricks (the only real expense at $1.85/each), would serve as the bottom of the cob oven, where breads and pizzas would bake directly. The hearth bricks were carefully laid on a thin bed of sand, so that they could be gently tapped to be firm and level.

Sizing the Earth Oven

After all my reading I felt like a 21″ diameter oven would be perfect. Anything larger would be larger than we needed and anything smaller would be little more than a rocket oven. I have found today that our oven heats up to about 550 degrees in less than two hours of solid firing with good, dried, hard wood.

Making a brick arch and cob dome

Before building the actual oven dome, we made an arched doorway with some reclaimed red brick, pebbles (for holding the bricks at an angle) all mortared with a sand/clay mix. The cob dome (nothing more than a mix of sand and clay at a 3:1 ratio) was carefully built up around a moist sand form covered with wet newspaper and up against the brick arch. The sand was piled out of the doorway after the dome had dried some.

NOTE: The door is a critical 63% of the cob dome height, or 10″ high. (The dome is 16″ high, which is Kiko’s recommendation for cob ovens across the board.) This one measurement is the most critical because it allows the oven to actually draw. Because the door is left open while the oven is firing, the cool air is drawn in, and hot air and smoke can pass out the top half of the door. (A larger ovens would more than likely need a chimney.)

After all the above steps are done I would suggest adding layers as necessary. Because we built in the middle of the summer we encountered cracking with our layers as the mud simply dried too quickly. We will also need to add a final insulated layer made of earth clay, no doubt, to ensure all the heat is retained and the cracking does not effect cooking heat or time.

Overall, this oven has been a tremendous learning experiment and one we will continue to employ and expand on.

To see all the pictures from start to finish just visit this Flickr set.

You can also see the first firing by watching the embedded video below:

I read a lot of blog posts in the course of a week. I would like to say that I keep up with my reader each day carefully going through each post and gleaning valuable information from each one. But I don’t. I typically let them build up and then have a marathon of browsing them and reading only the ones that appear halfway interesting. Some really stick out though such as the following post written yesterday by my dear friend Sarah over at Polyface Farms. Her blog 8 Muddy Boots is a great read and the way she eeks out a space on this planet for her family is both inspiring and encouraging.

It’s so easy when you start watching documentaries on how your “food” is made, and processed to just throw your hands up and say, “well, I’m gonna die some day anyways…”. Or in seeing the way that commercially produced meat is raised and treated, it’s easy to become a vegetarian!

And when you hear about how they have now come up with a genetically raised salmon, that is close to being approved for the masses….. Why, it just makes me mad!

So, what can we do? Our food is killing us!

There are LOTS of things you can do, whether you live on 20 acres or zero… You just have to be smart, not scared!

• If you don’t have land, raise what you can, WHERE you can! Be it on a balcony, in a window or rooftop, plant some herbs and veggies in planters!
• If you DO have land, grow what you can. Start out with some, and as you find that you enjoy it or have more time, plant more! Don’t let your flower gardens be big and beautiful, but you don’t have time for veggies! It’s all in priorities!
• Make sure you look at the “Dirty Dozen” and the “Clean 15″ to make sure you are able to put your money into food that NEEDS to be organic. Some foods just aren’t as effected by pesticides, like bananas because of their removable thick, skin. Make sure you buy those potatoes organic!
• You don’t NEED to become Vegetarian! Shop at meat markets that DON’T ship their meat from a far… I was once in a chain grocery store and looked at the hamburger which had a sticker on it telling that it was a product of Mexico, Canada & the US! That seems SO wrong!
• If you have land, make the investment of animals! PRODUCING ONES! Chickens, goats, sheep, cows, etc… We started out getting some for ourselves, but now are going to grow, because we have had people who want to buy from us! In doing this, PART of your investment can come back to you. Animals are SO enjoyable! You don’t realize it until you have them. Don’t believe me? Go visit a friend’s farm, and ask them to take you along as they do their “chores”. Then watch those happy animals! I wouldn’t give this up!
• Shop from the FARMER! This is the best bet yet for those without land or time to raise animals. If you can actually GO to the farm, even better. Make sure those cattle are pasture raised, make sure those chickens are free-ranged… Make sure you don’t see round-up dead grass around their “natural/ organic” garden… You may not be able to grow much, but it doesn’t mean you have run out of choices!
• Cook and Bake! Don’t be afraid! Something is better than nothing. Find a homemade bread or dish that you like to make… Ask a friend to show you EXACTLY how she makes those healthy casseroles! Find a few things that YOU CAN DO and DO IT! Why??? Well, you know EXACTLY what is in them… Better than store bought!

I’m sure there are MANY more great ideas I didn’t mention, but the point is wherever you are, whatever your situation in life, knowing what is in beef and chicken for the super market doesn’t mean you have to be scared. You DO still have choices!

You can also find 8 Muddy Boots on Facebook.

It may not mean much to anyone else but crowds are cheering and a ticker-tape parade is planned here at Odom’s Idle Acres. Why, you ask? Because we have taken neo-homesteading to a new level (for us). For almost two years now we have been gardening, growing, planting, picking, harvesting, canning, etc. But nearly 4 months ago we began raising a flock of buff orpingtons for “meat chickens.” And tonight (after the events of this weekend…which will be blogged about this week) that work cultivated in a wonderful pot of chicken and rice. Granted the rice didn’t come from OIA, the chicken stock and the meat did and as we gave thanks for the meal we couldn’t help but give thanks for the riches of this life that we are able to live. Amen.

I am an avid reader of Jenna W. and her Cold Antler Farms blog. In fact, it was one of my early introductions to homesteading and following one’s rural dreams. Like her I am a graphic designer and I have to work a day job to keep things rolling around the farm. I digress though. I really just wanted to point out a from May 29. Entitled, “a real farm?” she tackles the question(s) that many of us face on a regular basis – What is a real farm? What makes it real? Her answers are spot on.

As the weekend continued and I found myself moving at a pretty good clip from task to task (in fact, as I write this I have one eye on the screen and another on the burn barrel just outside my window as I am trying to get rid of some old scrap wood that is too soggy to use for anything). Friday evening brought front yard work and cleaning the water feature. Saturday was invested in pressure washing the house and main fencing (complete all day job). Sunday was consumed by finishing up the solar heated outdoor shower (more on that in an upcoming blog post). Monday was spent cleaning out the garage and barn and trimming up the gardens. Of course we did BBQ in the evening and that made all the sweat and tears worthwhile. But mind you, all of this was done in between harvesting plants, taking care of chickens, doing odds and ends, moving dirt from one pile to another, dodging impending rain, etc. It is a balancing act, to be sure. “Where is he going with this,” you might be asking. Well, all of this work and its products make Odom’s Idle Acres every bit a farm.

As Jenna puts it, “As far as I’m concerned, if you have a backyard with veggies and a few hens, and you not only consume it yourself but others do as well (friends, neighbors, your community) you are a real farm. You are a producer. You are feeding people. You are real.” So OIA is a real farm – all 2.35 acres of it. We have 3 gardens, a corn field, a barn, solar power, chicken houses, etc, etc. We feed ourselves (almost 60% of our monthly diet is sourced here) and we feed others. While we don’t sell we tithe our extra and donate it to whom we feel led to. So yes, we are a real farm. And the aforementioned tasks – work, some may say – is what life is like on it!

After a long week at work I was ready to get out and join Pan Saturday morning for some garden work. The weather looked to be promising and we had days ago decided to give up on the old adage about waiting till after Good Friday to plant or whatever that colloquialism is.

We started out with a trip to the Plant Emporium in Griffin, Georgia. Not too much there as they haven’t fully recovered from the winter and prepared for the spring. Further down the road though we fell into the arms of our bittersweet lover, Lowe’s. While we aren’t a huge fan of box stores or giving our money to large, corporate entities who hire folks poorly versed in horticulture and gardening, we were growing desperate watching the sun beat down on our Buggy Town.

A little over $100 later we emerged with seed packets galore (based on our garden plot, of course) including crookneck squash, butter beans, pole beans, lettuce, beets, and onions, 8 tomato sprouts, 6 different herbs as well as herb seeds (for a nice, thick, rotating harvest), some organic plant food, a little topsoil for the herb garden and an odd or end or two.

After arriving home we realized it was almost 12pm and we hadn’t done much of anything. Pan quickly made a plan of attack and we headed for the herb boxes. Now, I am a huge fan of Black Kow so we emptied our two bags of the soil into the newest bed and arranged our newly purchased herbs into what we knew would become a staple of our dinner planning routine.

Pan laid out the thyme, greek oregano, parsley, lavender, basil and other assorted tinctures. We dug our holes, put them in, salted them down with plant food, and stood back for a second to admire the box.

We then moved on to our raised beds where we took stock of the onions that were already growing rapidly. At almost 4″ tall each they had certainly become a reminder of what we enjoyed so much last year and were anticipating this year.

I had bought a few annuals earlier in the morning as well so I could build a sort of “garden gate” for any deer or dogs that may want to take a turn at our onions and peppers. After I fished them each out of their little square packaging and laid them in I have to admit they looked rather pitiful and I began to doubt they would do little more than blossom and die. I guess I now kind of view them as the meteors of our garden. Pretty to see but quick to burn out. Oh well. At 94 cents for a 6-pack I hadn’t lost much on my $4 investment.

By 3pm the temp had risen to a warm 71 º and we weren”t even half done. We had 10 empty 5-gallon buckets and as many tomato plants staring at us from across the yard. Although we are cultivating some tomato seeds we did decided to get 3 plants each of varying stages (and an odd one) so we would have a better rotating harvest. We’ll see how that works out.

One thing I am a stickler of is our reuse of materials. I hate buying things when we have objects around the house/yard that can be used. For a few weeks now we have been scavenging and cleaning/sanitizing 5-gallon buckets for use as planters. I knew I wanted to try planting all the tomatoes in planters this year rather than a bed. To achieve our desired effect we filled the bucket with our sifted soil and drilled four drainage holes in the ‘four corners’ of each bucket about two inches from the bottom. No sense in rotting the roots of perfectly good plants. We then dug our holes, plugged them with beautiful tomato trunks and strengthened them with stakes made from bamboo harvested off the side of Highway 36. (It’s our tax dollars, right?) They came out quite nice.

It was at this point that I asked Pan if we could take a break. We had already missed lunch and with my neck turning even more red than it was naturally (by heritage, of course) I had to enjoy a cool one. Afterall, it was Saturday!

(…stay tuned for our 3rd part to this seemingly endless Saturday. We still have the main garden to go!)

I have a bit of a problem. (No, not that one…..no, not that one either…….c’mon now…….) I have shelves full of empty mason jars that have done nothing but gathered dust since we went through our tomatoes and pickles like Sherman went through Atlanta. But hope could be on the way. Pan, my folks, and I are headed to Florida for a long weekend in late April where it seems oranges are darn near ready for mass consumption. So, of course we will be buying a crate or two for a number of uses. One of them, I hope, is either for marmalade or preserves or something similar. When I made the suggestion Pan kind of turned her nose up and I was left wondering if my thoughts of citrus colored cans was little more than a rotten idea.

So, I ask. What do you think I should do with a minimum of one crate of fresh, Florida oranges?

No yard, farm, homestead, barn, house is ever finished. It simply isn’t. You can hang up your hammer. You can set the last post. You can feed the last animal but the only one consistent is that the task is never done. It seems a cruel law in the spirit of Murphy. It is a cruel law.

This past weekend was to be a celebratory one almost. Since the onions began to climb through the dirt towards the light of the sky the patience game has grown to an irritable battle of wills. Who can hold out longer? Me or the sun! right now we are tied.

Saturday was supposed to see a raked garden, some deposited topsoil, a little spreading of compost, the filling of a new herb box followed by Sunday with a few turned rows, some seed and a good, solid cleaning of the chicken coop. What the weekend actually presented though was rain, mud, sniffling noses and stuffy heads. No work would get done.

It was sometime Sunday morning though that I remembered homesteading and living a simple life is supposed to be about living at your own pace. It meant not keeping up with the Jones’ and doing what you could, when you could. It was a lifestyle and not a life sentence. This thought seemed to relax me some. It relaxed me enough to put on a jacket and have a cup of tea while watching the backyard slide away in a Georgia red ruckus.

Thankfully the mornings have turned away from crisp frost and become more tolerable. The days are now a little longer and the work hours seem more acceptable. It will get done. We won’t lose out on planting season. We still have several good weeks and if there is one thing I have learned about hobby farming and homesteading it is that you can’t control the world around you. You can only work with the ground you’re given.

I posted my first blog entry on November 28, 2004. That was almost six years ago. Granted it was on a site that is no longer active and I have taken a couple of month long hiatus’ I can honestly say I have been consistently blogging in some capacity for at least five years. That is a lot of random one-sided conversation, if you ask me. In that time I have blogged for three companies, four non-profits, one magazine, four newspapers and countless contributions. That is not even counting the over 400 posts made to anotherkindofdrew.com. It is because of this dedication and because of the tone I take in my blog as well as the content that has led me to my most recent opportunity.

About three months ago I was contacted by GRIT magazine (after some emails and recommendations of other writers) to blog on grit.com. WOW! What a community of wonderful people. They are all ages, sizes and shapes and come from all different walks of life from extremely rural to suburban to downright urban.

And so it is with great pleasure that because of the popularity my writing (through anotherkindofdrew.com) on GRIT.com, I can announce that this blog and even an image of mine was featured in the March/April issue of GRIT magazine currently on newsstands. If you haven’t gotten a copy it is available at most newsstands across the country. Published by Ogden Publications it is a staple in small farm/hobby farm reading.

So again, thank you for reading my blog, commenting on my blog and supporting all my various projects.