Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Harvey Ussery <huboxwood@earthlink.net>]

> There is no way I would eat chicken or their eggs if they were fed maggots.
> I just wouldn't have chickens at all if that was all I could afford to feed
> them. . . .  The old saying that "you are what you eat"
> also applies to chickens.
>
> Art in Arkansas

I couldn't agree more with Art that "you are what you eat." That's why I 
am so insistent on eating eggs and dressed poultry from chickens that 
have been fed foods that are *alive* and *raw*--in sharp contrast to the 
inert, ultraprocessed, rancid (stale) feeds of commerce. I wonder if Art 
has the same horror of eating eggs/meat of chickens who have eaten worms 
and slugs and bugs? I'm not inclined to eat any of those directly, but 
sure am glad my birds are taking advantage of such high-quality foods.

To me it's not a matter of whether I can *afford* to buy feeds, it's a 
question of *quality*. People are always amazed when I tell them my eggs 
and dressed poultry costs more--*much* more--than the supermarket 
versions they buy. (I make my own feed mixes from certified organic 
primary ingredients--no way can I compete with Tyson with its boxcar 
loads of debased feeds and externalized costs.)

I am under no illusions: I'm sure most readers of this site are as 
appalled as Art at the idea of breeding maggots to feed their flock. But 
I pass it on so that the information, thus the option, is "out there." 
When the shit comes down, we'll all be looking for things that work, 
now, close to home.

My article on feeding the homestead flock starts at

http://themodernhomestead.us/poultry/feeds_granny.html

~Harvey
--
Harvey in northern Va
www.themodernhomestead.us