Solar, Wind, and Other Alternatives To Power Grid Power Part 1

Having an alternative energy source makes sense on a homestead. Even if it's just to supplement the grid power. I read about people who don't want to rely on a freezer for food storage because of the potential for power loss. But with how affordable things like solar panels are these days, there should be no reason for you to never have power. Well, maybe a major natural or manmade disaster. But just from a regular outage you should be ok, I would assume.

Do you have any experience with solar or any other kind of alternative energy? I saw a guy on Doomsday Preppers who was using his pig poop (and his own) to make methane to burn. That sounds kind of dangerous to me but I don't know if it really is. And, I really like the idea of wind power too. It's windy even when the sun's not out, even more so sometimes! And it's just there waiting to get used for something other than messing up your hair and blowing away your dirt. Let's use some of this stuff man!

Follow me on FACEBOOK if you want to!

Why Do We Refrigerate Eggs In The USA

Did you know that in other countries they don't refrigerate their eggs? I never really thought about it but then in the past couple days I came across a couple articles dealing with it. It turns out that here, and several other countries, the eggs are washed after being laid. The washing strips off a thin layer of antibacterial coating that sort of seals up and protects the contents, thus making it necessary to refrigerate. There's much more about why we refrigerate eggs from NPR.

Where Do Baby Chickens Come From?

If you're a city slicker like me, you may have never seen where all them eggs you eat come from. I know they come from inside a chicken and the chicken lays them, but do they just fall out like in Monty Python's The Meaning of Life? Or is there a long laborious process involved in it?

Like I said, I never knew...until yesterday when I saw a video on HobbyFarms.com that showed a chicken laying an egg. It looks like it hurts a bit doesn't it? And they do this every other day or so? It gives me a greater appreciation for the plight of the chicken.

That greater appreciation doesn't preclude me from eating them and wanting to keep some of my own, don't worry. I think chickens would be some of the best animals to have on our farm. They seem like they're easy to take care of and they make food. Then when they're done making food, they are food! The making them food part does make me a little nervous or something, but after the first couple de-headings I'm sure there would be no problems.

How about you? Have you ever, or do you currently, have chickens? Any general advice or knowledge you want to share with the class? Do tell in the comments.

Homestead For Me Post 1: Welcome!

Hello there whoever might be reading this! It's nice to meet you! Perhaps you are wondering why I have gathered you here today. Perhaps you are not, I'm going to tell you anyways. The title of this blog is Homestead For Me. This is both a statement and a question.

Let me tell you a little bit about me first. I am living in Denver, Colorado. I'm married with two kids, both under 4 years old. My wife and I are both getting kind of tired of this modern life we've gotten ourselves into; the city and all its trappings. The people all over, the food we eat comes from who knows where, everything is all artificial and overall it's just not very appealing anymore.We have to be here for a couple more years but after that we are thinking a major change will be in store for our family.

That is where the title of this blog comes into play. I think that homesteading is the way to go. To live in a simpler manner where we grow as much of our own food as we can and live on some acreage where we can roam about unimpeded by throngs of people all going the same place. To live off the fat of the land, as they say. It's a crazy dream we've got but people are doing it more and more these days, it seems.

So this blog is to sort of document our journey to whatever might come. I am starting out with the intention of setting up a modern day homestead but as time goes by and it turns out that won't be feasible, I guess we'll see what happens. That's why it's both Homestead For Me, and Homestead For Me? If that makes any sense (I'm not that well known for making sense so sorry if I don't! LoL).

Stay tuned and follow me/us on our adventure!