Kai: What is it like to homestead? Well, here’s the truth: Homesteading is admittedly not for the faint of heart – not to say that we aren’t in certain areas of this lifestyle, but I think it’s important to come clean about it. It can be a lot of work, requiring spur of the moment changes, working in the bad weather, learning basic survival skills and much more.
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What does that mean… Permaculture?
Kai: So what is permaculture all about?
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Learning Experience
Kai: Homesteading, permaculture, whatever you call it in which you are doing, requires more than just reading about it. All skill sets eventually force you to go gain the experience. Which is where we must face failure, trial-and-error, and the unexpected.
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How Water makes Permaculture Better
Kai: Water is an important feature in permaculture. Whether you are adding a pond, bird bath, rain barrel or other source to your yard, no matter how big or small, it enhances all aspects of the garden. Water attracts beneficial birds, insects, and reptiles, which eat many of the pests that would normally consume your garden.
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Chicken and Quail Eggs are Awesome!
Kai: Permaculture recycles everything, just the way nature intended! With all of the laying birds in the family, it’s important for them to get their calcium, and although there are many products one can buy for this, we like to reuse our chickens and quails own eggshells. We simply toast the empty shells in the oven and blenderize to a powder which is added to the bird’s food. I even use it for my parakeets.
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First time Breeding Pigeons
Kai: Almost a year ago I acquired 4 homing pigeons from a man at the keepers of the old ways expo in Blountstown Florida. When we got them home, I found that it had been a stressful move for the younger bird, and I had to nurse him back to health because he’d lost a lot of weight. The 4 birds had to gain back their muscles after being in quarantine, and once they were finally released into the coop, I found their behavior hard to follow…for months and months, all they did was fight and claim perches.
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Baby Quail Hatch Update
Kai: The baby quail are 2 weeks old now. Out of the 8 that hatched, 7 have survived to this point and are looking good. One that still remains has a bit of a longer story though, as when he or she hatched, they were born with splay-leg. This condition can be fixed if caught immediately, and so luckily l recognized it shortly after hatch day – but at the same time, I had absolutely no experience with it.
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Baby Quail Hatched!
Kai: We recently acquired an incubator, and began the fascinating process of hatching quail!
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Keep out the Chemicals!
Kai: Our family discontinued the use of many chemical cleaners nearly ten years ago when we started keeping birds. We had always stayed away from many toxic household products, but we ditched the last few by the time I got my first parrot.
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Eat Clean, Both You and Your Animals!
Kai: I have never been a fan of buying premade pet foods. We like to keep everyone’s diets clean in this household, yet pre-packaged organic products can be expensive. However, having a garden has made this a lot easier – as well as the “co-op” between animal and permaculture systems. Our hens eat greens and veggies from the garden, while our dog and cat benefit from their eggs! The chickens also receive feeder fish from our aquaculture, and worms from our earthworm farm. Our turtles also get fish, but the majority of their diet are the pests in the garden!
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Awaken the Wild Soul 