If I buy land and have it paid off while other kids my age are still in college or just getting out and moving back in with their parents looking for a job to pay off $50k in debt (which is my plan), what the hell am I supposed to do with myself after that?

Probably take some time to just chill after busting ass for years to buy it. Obviously wouldn’t want the land to be very remote because I’d want to be able to do things like get a job somewhere or have a business. I could just get a 40 hour work week job and save like all of the money. As long as you understand the malicious lifestyle design of the system and use it accordingly it is a pretty useful system to use .

Problem is, if I skip college to save up the money to buy some land, that might limit my employment earnings potential and I might not be able to get the status of having shiny stuff and a good job and the consumerism which is apparently still ingrained deeply inside my psyche doesn’t like that.

Was stopping by and got the part about To tractor or to deep litter your chickens, what is gained, what is lost.

I was showing Josiah Wallingford where my two deep litters and how I move them to make Rain victory Garden. It was just wild that we did that today and you where talking about it.

Deep litter method. Been there done that NEVER EVER again. That was my take on it. Course I do every thing wrong several times before I get it correct. Deep litter? Oh yeah wrong. Not willing to even try again. How we did it wrong? Chickens are in a coop in the barn. They are free range. All was well and fine until the day we had to clean out the coop / stall. WHEW BABY beyond toxic. Problem the deep litter was not on the bare ground. We had stall mats down. In part to help keep ground rats out (didn’t work) In part to keep rain water run off from seeping into the bedding. (worked so so)

There was no stink on a day to day basis. But all that first layer that was down several inches maybe even a foot rotted. Not composted. Formed a very hard mat to get out. Even with a pitch fork. Not the most sanitary for the bird either. Also food that gets lost in the deep bedding I feel brought in more rats.

To do deep litter I think that you really need to have the ground / soil contact so worms can come up and help compost the bedding. IF I was to try it again I would only do so if I had movable housing. Meaning instead of cleaning it out I would rather move the house.

Having deeper litter in the chicken yard only worked a bit better. Not by much. Even though there was ground/ soil contact. The area didn’t have a roof over it so rain turned it all into goopy mess. Added a roof over the area Works much better but very slow process to make compost.

Chicken tractors don’t really work for us. 1 electric fencing sucks in our situation Way to much work to maintain. 2 ground is sloped and very uneven so predators can get in as well as chickens can get out. 3 moving the tractor way to time consuming.

What works best for us Chickens again back in the barn. They sleep with the other animals and this gives them more protection. When having birds in a separate area lost more to predators. Besides I am tired of fighting them on where I want them to go vs where they want to go. They got their own way. So poop boards on the rails solved the problem of droppings on the other animals. They still have nesting area and a small feeding area. We now clean out the stalls and make huge piles that can be covered with a cattle panel and a tarp. This blocks some of the rain. We surround this area with pallets. 2 pallets are on hinges that works like an 8′ gate. When I clean out the stalls I pile every thing in there. The chickens LOVE it. They dig scratch eat. Makes compost very quickly and has cut down on feed. I’d say feed is mostly for a snack. They would rather roam and get their own food. Especially out of the big piles.

I pile things up in that spot until I just can’t get any more on it. Every so often I throw in a very large branch. Give the chickens a place to sit and gets a bit of air in the pile. Then I make a new pile. That pile was not covered. Rain saturated it Not good. Stinky slimy mess. But has more bugs than the drier pile. I don’t turn my piles until I move them I do use a tractor. If I didn’t have the tractor with loader then most likely I would do this but on a much smaller scale with smaller piles. More like a bin set up with pallets.

So now I am taking the wet goopy pile and putting a few scoops on the dry pile. Not sure how that will work but the birds come running for good eats every time I do it.

Currently I don’t have a yard garden / kitchen garden. All the piles are getting put on the hugle beds and am using it to fill in the swales or level some of the ground out. Which means the chickens now spend a lot of time in these areas scratching and eating. Less time in the barn, shop, & yard pooping on every thing. Before I plant the areas I cover with just a bit of fresh soil. Then seed and mulch. So far the chickens prefer the old stuff and don’t bother the fresh planted areas.

Keeping chickens / birds in a confined area on bare soil eventually that soil will become sour. It will need to be dug out set aside for a long time and replaced with new soil. So putting deep bedding down for that reason can prevent that. Long as it’s cleaned out. The confided chicken / bird runs that I do have. I put sand in there. Then I can scoop out like a cat box. In the bird / coop house I have shavings and am slowly switching to sand. The sand is easy to clean stays dry or at least dries out fast. It keeps their nails trimmed and gives them a dry spot to have a dust bath in. Some times the birds do have to be locked up. Easier to catch. Protection from sever weather. They become obnoxious and wont leave me alone so I can work.

I also have hens that are pushing 3. They are still laying about every other day. They are the first to slow down with the dark days. The last to start up laying again. One of them is only laying about 1-2 eggs a week. That is fine with me. Those old hens teach the new little ones about life. They are quick to keep them in line if their mom wont. So they help teach the new moms how to be a mom. Some this fall will go to the freezer. If nothing else dog food. But I think Iggy will just live out her days. She was one of the first chicks hatched here. Has been a good mom. So we have a soft spot for her. ( all our chicks are hen hatched and raised) Same goes for the turkeys.

Can’t wait till the apples are in then they will all but live in the apple tree. If I could start over I would do a wagon wheel design surrounding a stationary coop and yard. Attached to a bigger hub that can move animals all different directions with me just going to one spot. Hubby laughs at me because I say when I’m done I want to just push a button from the house and be able to open and close paddock runs as I need. I am to lazy? old? hobbled up? just don’t want to? to efficient minded? to spend my time moving fencing houses and running around to feed and water. I would rather have the animals move themselves and come back to me in one spot. One spot to clean all chores can be done in one spot. I tried the other and it just didn’t work well for us.

just my story take what you will throw out the rest.

I would be hesitant sending Organic Consumers Association ANY money’s after looking at their financials (link below). Their overhead (salaries) is >50% of the money they take in.

I’m not saying they are doing anything illegal, but if u look at how they spend the nearly $3m taken in, I sure as heck wouldn’t send them money. They may claim a $99k salary for the chairman (not excessive), but there is also $883k in “other” salaries that isn’t earmarked for phone bank employees.

https://www.organicconsumers.org/about-oca