Evolution of a Chicken Coop

This is where we left off in my last chicken coop post, The Master 
Plan and The Chicken Coop. You can see the floor plan there too.

Have you ever measured twice and cut once only to discover you've still made a mistake? Such was the case recently for Dan and me, when we realized that the 15 foot by 10 foot chicken coop we'd designed on paper was actually 14 foot by 10 foot. Wot happened?

Second wall up

Third wall up

4th wall and roof rafters. The windows are old storm windows we took
from the house during the kitchen remodel. They'll go into that 4th wall.

It was only a one foot difference, but the last thing I wanted to do was short change my chickens. Not that we have that many (17 at the moment), but I don't like the idea of overcrowding.  If we didn't want to make the chicken area smaller, the other option was to make the storage area narrower. My original storage was to be 4 by 7 feet. This would enable me to line up three feed containers (heavy duty trash cans) along the wall with enough room to get to them easily. I contemplated making it 3' by 7', but losing that one foot would make things tight in there.

It was Dan who came up with the idea of extending the roof out over the people door.

It will create a porch-like overhang where I can store extra containers of chicken feed or anything else that could benefit from not getting rained or snowed on.

New "porch" area measures 4 feet by 10 feet

Also accomplished -

Bridging stiffens up the roof.

This is how one supports the roof when using scraps. Lumber prices have
gone up and quality has gone down to the point we hate to buy it anymore.

We eventually figured out that when we staked out the coop, we did it right after measuring the old coop and storage area, which is 10' by 14'. We just repeated that without looking at the new plans(!) The new coop, then, will be the same size as the old. Because we're going to rearrange the coop area we will actually have more room for the chickens. With that mystery solved, we went ahead with the 4' by 7' storage area.

Close up of the beginnings of my storage area, dug out & ready for a floor.

When we first set ourselves the goal of feeding our animals from our land, we didn't realize how much space we'd need to do that. It's not just the growing of it, but you need someplace to cure it, process it, and store it. And not just a week's worth, but a year's worth. With only a few small outbuildings, difficult! Because of our error, I will have both an enclosed storage area and a wide overhang as well. Happy Providence indeed.

What do the chickens think so far?

I wish I could tell you they are admiring the new coop.
The truth of it is that they're eyeballing the pile of dirt
Dan made when he dug out to level the storage area. 

Next in this series -  Coop Roof

Evolution of a Chicken Coop © March 2014 

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

Giveaway: Celebrating Over 500 Copies Sold!

5 Acres & A Dream The Book
Over 500 copies sold!

When I checked sales for 5 Acres & A Dream The Book on Thursday, I was excited to discover that in just a little over three months I'd topped over 500 copies sold! Considering that most self-published books average less than 200 copies sold over their lifetime, this is exciting news indeed. I'm celebrating with another book giveaway!

The giveaway is open to anyone, anywhere. Even if you've already purchased it you can enter to win a copy to gift a family member, friend, or to donate to your public library. You can even get extra entries!

How to enter

Multiple entries are possible by doing any or all of the following:

• Blog about the giveaway with a link to this post for 3 entries.
• Promote the giveaway on any social media for 1 entry each.
• If you've written a review on either Amazon or your own blog or website, you can have an additional 3 entries. (Click here to read some of those reviews).

Then leave a comment here with a link to your entry. 

On Sunday, March 16, I'll have a random drawing and announce the winner!

Giveaway: Celebrating Over 500 Copies Sold! © March 2014 

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

Agrarianism and Permaculture? My Answer

Many thanks to everyone who took the time to answer my question,

"Permaculture and Agrarianism. 

The same? Similar? Different? Why or why not?"

I asked the question because these things have been on my mind a lot lately. It's been something I've been mulling over quite a bit. When Dan and I bought our homestead almost five years ago, we had a strong conviction that this was something we must do. We had some skills and some experience, but it's been a journey nonetheless.

Our first five years were spent observing, planning, prioritizing, researching, building, fixing, experimenting, and learning. These years were the basis for my book, 5 Acres & A Dream The Book: The Challenges of Establishing a Self-Sufficient Homestead. In the book I referred to these first years as our "establishment phase." Each chapter addresses a different aspect of self-sufficiency and the learning curves we've faced for each one. Our biggest challenge, however, has not been something tangible such as learning how to grow and preserve a year's worth of food, or how to get off-grid. Our biggest challenge has been our own mindset, or world view.

"By this I mean one's expectations about how things ought to be, about life and society as we are used to them. It's our attitude, particularly about what we have, what we need, and how we get it. It's our mental image about cultural and lifestyle standards, of how life ought to be lived, how things ought to work"           Chapter 10, "Obstacles"

This was the focus of Chapter 10, "Obstacles," and is the topic of a number of my blog posts (see list of related posts at the end). This is the topic that is foremost in my mind now.

Why? Because now that the master plan is fairly set, the house has received many repairs and lifestyle improvements, and proper outbuildings are in progress, it's time to think beyond getting established. It's time to draw on what we've learned and put it all together. Hence this research question, for which I turned to you. As my homesteading cyber-community, your feedback not only helps me clarify my own thoughts, but as a writer, I need to know what you think if I'm going to engage you on an intelligent level in my writing. I will blog about it every step of the way and, perhaps, this may become the basis for a sequel to 5 Acres & A Dream The Book.

It does seem true that there is more written about permaculture than agrarianism. I'm sure many know that the term permaculture first came in to use in 1978 from, "permanent agriculture". Most simply defined, it is a design system for sustainable agriculture based on natural cycles and ecosystems. Popularly, it is used as a landscaping system in both rural and urban areas. Over the years the meaning has expanded to "permanent culture", with the hopes that it can solve many of the world's social problems.

Agrarianism is a rather ancient concept, and hence possibly more obscured in meaning over time. Because of that it is difficult to find a definition which describes it as modern day agrarians think of it. It is often thought of as agricultural, but agriculture can take many forms, from the single family subsistence farm to the multi-billion dollar industrial farm.

Personally, I would define agrarianism as a cultural, economic, and social system based on the land, on agriculture. To further clarify, the opposite of agrarianism is not urbanism, but rather industrialism, which is based solely on money and its byproducts - consumerism and commercialism. Historically agrarianism was community based and encompassed all manner of trades and occupations. The difference was that these communities were based on a dependence on the land, rather than a dependence on money (either "real" or otherwise).

So I agree with you all that permaculture and agrarianism are not the same thing: one is a design system, the other is a cultural, economic, and social model. That does not imply incompatibility, and many agrarians do indeed practice permaculture. A permaculturist, on the other hand, may or may not be an agrarian. The CEO of a large investment firm, for example, can have an extensive permaculture landscape, but could not, as such, be an agrarian.

Is agrarianism really so arrogant as to assume superiority over any other model? How one answers that is going to depend on where one's sense of security lies. The heart of the modern agrarian movement does not see the industrial economic and social model as sustainable. It is seen as self-consuming and doomed to fail. The call for change is an attempt to extend a lifeline to anyone who wishes to grab on, before it's too late.

Those are my beginning thoughts on it, as we work toward creating a sustainable homestead.  I do have more to ponder out loud and will blog about it from time to time. Please do continue the conversation with your comments. And below are a few related posts if you are interested.

Mindset: Key to Successful Homesteading?
Contemplations of Value & Money
The Lost Art of Bartering, Part 1
The Lost Art of Bartering, Part 2
Cultural Disengagement
"Good and Bad Investments For Farmers"
Agrarianism: Forward or Backward Thinking"

Agrarianism and Permaculture? My Answer © March 2014 

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/