Raising your own food on the island

Is Homesteading right for you?

Published in Whidbey Weekly July 12, 2018

If you explore Whidbey Island, you will find homesteaders and gardeners nestled into our community. Our beautiful island is home to many do-it-yourselfers who raise all, most, or some their own food. You could be one of them! 

Have you driven down highway 20, seen all the cows or bison and thought how cool it would be to do something like that? Then reality hits, and you know it’s not an option because you live within city limits, or work full time, or simply have no idea how to get started? Well, I am here to tell you anyone can be part of the homesteading movement! 

At it’s core, homesteading is the concept of self sufficiency. Large scale or small, homesteads everywhere embody this idea by trying to provide for themselves. You can find homesteaders everywhere, tucked into residential neighborhoods or out in the rural zones. I am one of them and I am happy to share what I have learned in the last four years of my homesteading journey. I will be your guide if you choose to dive into this crazy beautiful lifestyle that I have fallen in love with. 

I come from an agricultural family that has been farming for generations. I grew up playing on my grandfather’s farm and selling his produce at farmers markets. When I had children, I decided to make it part of my life again. Even with a background in agriculture, it has been a learning curve full of mishaps. 

For those interested, you don’t need a back- ground in it or a large amount of property. You don’t even need animals. All you really need is the desire to become more self sufficient, access to local city ordinances to find out what you are permitted to do/have on your property, and to keep reading these articles in Whidbey Weekly. It is that easy! 

Next, if thinking about raising your own meat makes you squeamish, you are not alone. Many folks shudder at the thought of slaughtering an animal. Some homesteaders raise animals and have someone else do the slaughtering. However, you do not need to eat your animals to be a homesteader! 

Initially, I started with a garden in raised beds. Over the past few years, I have slowly expanded my operation, adding laying hens for fresh eggs before finally making the leap to meat birds, quails, and rabbits. It has only been in the last year that I really worked myself up to being able to butcher my own chickens, rather than just shouting com- mands at my husband. I was his cheerleader and coach, critiquing and criticizing with my YouTube knowledge. Now, I can clean and gut a chicken in around two minutes. That’s not too bad for a girl who wouldn’t eat meat as a child! 

Starting with a garden is a nice way to ease into homesteading before graduating to animals, though. The gateway into full on homesteading – backyard chickens – can lead to chicken math. Chicken math is the phenomena that many homesteaders fall victim to, in which they somehow end up with twice or thrice the amount of chick- ens they intended to have. For example, this spring I foolishly sent my husband into Tractor Supply for “up to ten Cornish Cross chicks.” He came out with a box of twenty! As he got into the car, he said “sorry, Hon, it was chicken math.” 

If chicken math strikes, it’s like opening the floodgates. You suddenly have a lot of birds, which can lead either to a confidence in your homesteading skills or anxiety, as one scrambles to get set-up. For a beginner who isn’t prepared to handle an attack of the chicken math, let this be a warning, even the strongest of people have been hit with the chicken math during chick season. 

My advice to a beginner homesteader is to start small so you are not overwhelmed. Herbs are a great way to get your feet wet, for little to no monetary risk. Local nurseries and grocery stores sell potted herbs for nearly the same price as cut herbs. Most herbs do well in pots so you can transplant the starter plants into larger pots and start a potted garden with minimal effort, or move them into a garden bed. Once you start enjoying freshly cut herbs, or salad from your garden, you will have your foot in the door! 

If herbs sound like small potatoes to you, go plant some large potatoes! Potatoes grow amazingly well out here, are low mainte- nance plants, and a lot of fun for the kids to dig up at harvest. The possibilities are endless when it comes to planning a garden. 

Once you feel confident enough to step up your homesteading game, you can pick out your coop design and prepare for the deliciousness that is fresh eggs! Do you want a dual purpose hen that you can eat later, or a commercial laying hen that stays small but produces like crazy? What color and size eggs do you want? My mixed flock gives white, cream, brown, and turquoise eggs ranging in size from extra small to jumbo. 

Stay tuned for my next column, where I will unleash an eggs-plosion of information. 

P.S. Did you know that quails start laying eggs within eight weeks of hatching?

Photo Credits to Helina Bailey