I agree with you you completely Maggie J; that's always our benchmark for every project we undertake. I think in the old days, integration was natural and necessary, but we've stopped thinking that way. I love the challenge of trying to use everything to the benefit of everything else! This will be an interesting thead; glad you started it.

Portable chicken pen to pasture chickens; improves grass (or compost pile) and is healthy for poultry.

A garden, from which trimmings go to the chickens (or other livestock), who lay eggs (or provide meat), which provides manure for the garden again.

Recycling water from a pond or lake to water and fertilize the garden. Removes toxic fish poop from the water and provides veggies with a literal tonic for growth.

Here's a couple of things I do around here.

rabbit pens under apple tree,
tree provides shade for rabbits,
rabbits provide fertilizer to tree,
tree provides apples to us,
apple cores into compost,
compost to garden,
garden attracts bugs,
chickens eat bugs and scratch out weeds,
Chickens lay eggs,
shells go into compost,
compost to apple tree,
and the cycle continues....

I live in the city and rent, but I am doing some of that myself. I like to eat organic, and have started a balcony veggie garden. When I eat the veggies I give larger scraps, and uneaten leftovers to my pet rats. I put any smaller ickier bits in the food processor for my worm bin. I also put in rat poo with newspaper they peed on. The worm bin provides fertilizer for my veggie garden.
I love the circularness of it!

That is the nastiest thing I have ever heard of!!

Please do not try to farm in an appartment in Chicago.

Be patient, buy a house with some land, then go ahead and farm.

MOW

I don't understand, Jackel411...What can possibly be wrong with an organic balcony garden? And how is that any different from a garden in the country? I thought it was an excellent example of integrated usage.

In this world there are plenty of nasty things, but this isn't one of them.

I think maybe Jackal411 believes you put your rats' papers in your food processor as I thought when I first read your post. After I read it again, it seems you add the processed veggies and add papers to your worm bin.
I think it's great - go for it!
(If you DO put the rats' papers in your processor, PLEASE buy a new one!)
A good suggestion is to buy a used blender or processor just for your gardening projects, ie. "blending" moss & buttermilk or yogurt to grow on clay pots, etc.

Jackal411, I don't know what your issue is. I garden organically in Philadelphia. (mostly herbs so far, and some flowers... veggies next year) My sister's going to be getting some rabbits - you can bet your tushy that they will be involved in the compost process and their castings will be in my flowers.

Much nicer than, say, throwing cucumber peels down the garbage disposal.

I hope to be in the country some day - excuse me if I can't do that yet. food 4 me, I admire the cleanliness of the system you've worked out.

I homestead in the city..My yard is only 3/4 of an acre. I am changing it over to a permaculture system. I believe that homesteading is a matter of perspective and not whether you have a huge acreage and cows and stuff. That is a farm not a homestead. there are several cityhomestead mailing lists around. all one has to do is a google search.

Smitty's absolutely right. I know 'country' people who buy all their food, much of it overprocessed, and spend their days sitting in front of their massive entertainment systems, hooked up to a zillion cable channels. And I know 'city' people who are remarkably self-sufficient. It's about more than acreage.

katie

Ahem, to get back on track: Rabbit idea is great. How about fencing the garden in two halves. One half is fallow and used for a few goats (great manure!). The other half is productive with the fences used for vining plants like beans and peas and cucumbers.

Rain barrels on house for water for the garden. Hose from rinse water of washing machine run out the window to flower/tree gardens.

All paper (newspaper, wrapping) is used as mulch or shredded in compost.

Eggshells and coffee grounds sprinkled around shoots to protect against slugs.

Deep compost in chicken house to keep chickens warm, keep the ammonia smell down and easily compost the manure into good garden compost.

Five gallon buckets from construction site used for hauling compost, picking harvest, putting waste from canning on compost or feeding animals. When cracked or have holes, used for starting plants.

Chicken coop next to garden so they can eat the weeds picked and the refuse from garden every day.Arbor with grapes grown on them that keeps the summer sun from heating up the house and lets the winter sun in to warm the house.

Synergy is the word we are using here...

Look around for a book called "The Integral Urban House" Self-reliant living in the city, by the Farallones Institute. These folks took an old house in the center of Berkley, CA and made it as effecient as possible in the areas of energy, producing food, recycling, etc. A little dated, as the experiment started in 1972, but still full of great ideas. There are still copies of this book in libraries and used book stores. I paid $10 for mine, probably more than it cost new, but worth every penny.

Another organic permaculture/edible landscaping suburbanite here.
We cycle garden/veg & fruit scraps with 7 chickens, a fuzzy lop bunny and a worm bin. Compost pile catches the overflow and grass clippings in Summer/neigbors' leaves in Autumn. We have put in many fruit and nut trees plus a variety of small fruit bushes/plants. We also have several raised grow boxes. In winter we have started layer mulching. The chickens love to stir this up! The composter crew is there working the mulch and supplying the 'girls' with protein which cuts down their food bill. The bunny is dd2's pet but the bunny wool is spinnable (I crochet and dd1 knits) and the bunny manure is great! It doesn't burn the plants and can be side dressed in the grow boxes. We have started to intergrate edible native plants to help draw in pollinators (I've thought of bringing in Mason bees but then what if I could put a hive or two on my porch roof?!) These also supply food source for the wildlife's diminishing habitat such as the frogs and garter snakes who in turn help keep down the garden pest naturally. Since they have moved in I have had less pest to deal with. In winter I create several small brush piles and the wild birds love these. It doesn't get real real cold here so it doesn't really get rid of all the aphids we have. Many of these little birds forage in the trees. We also use wood heat because its cheaper. I use the ash in the garden so I don't burn trash or coloured print. Our rain season is from Oct through May. Once the trees and vines are established not much watering needs except grow boxes. Working on a drip system now to cut down water need and contemplating rain water storage system for garden even though we are on city water.
You can really do alot with a little if you put your mind to it! I love to see people in small spaces defy 'the norm' and think outside the box! Recycling, reusing, thinking of new uses and using wisely: it really doesn't matter how much space you have; it matters what you do.

Nice to see this topic revived... thanks for all the great ideas...and keep them coming!

We overwinter some ducks in the garden every winter which adds wonderful fertilizer to it and I have never had better yields and the ducks don't get killed from wondering critters....
We use our beddings for compost from our guineas, chickens, ducks, geese, and rabbits. We shred paper to put in with the beddings. We use ashes for around the garden and to add to compost as well as sawdust (and my strawberries love it). compost compost compost everything from coffee grounds to lawn cuttings to animal bedding and eggshells. we use our duck bath water to water some outside flower beds that really thrive from it. Always a way to recycle things.

R___O____F___L!!!!After reading the Jackel and food 4 me posts. I am logged on at 3am becuase one of the kids woke up and had to be put back to bed. I am trying not to wake them with my uncontrolled laughter. I think rats, poop, and worms within your small living area is unappealing to some people. When I think about my dogs' (not to mention the children who will not stay clothed)exposed genitals all over my floor, furniture, bed and pillows I get grossed out.

I am grossed out by this apartment rat poo thing but I admire the drive and dedication to the process.

On/off the subject:"I know 'country' people who buy all their food, much of it overprocessed, and spend their days sitting in front of their massive entertainment systems, hooked up to a zillion cable channels. " You have intelligent people with financial power who chose to be slave to the media and consumerism.

I think this homesteading way of life is great. You are taking control of your life and environment. I love the self sufficient, survivor, I got boot straps mentality.

I have been so inspired and humored at 3 am. You never know what good things will happen when the kids wake you up.

Thank you.
sam

I just wanted to say, I watch tv, and I don't know why but comercials never make me want to buy things. I'm not really a shopping kind of gal anyway. If I want to "shop" I tend to go to thrift stores or antique malls anyway. Not impressed with most "new" stuff, and certainly not the prices. But I do like documentaries and garden shows. And movies.

Anyway, Yes I too enjoy how everything works together. I'm not sure I am really a "homesteader", but more of a wannabe. I don't live off the grid or grow all my food. I have a sattalite dish. But I do live on 25 acres, grow some of my food and fruit, have chickens for eggs and manure compost, sheep for wool and compost, llama to guard the sheep and wool and compost... LOL! I really enjoy the whole process. I enjoy my small orchard which produces more than I can eat. We also have wild blackberries and salmonberries to eat and preserve. I'm hoping to make salmonberry jelly this year in both colors (red and salmon) for gifts and for my own use. We also have bass in our pond and access to a river which has salmon in the fall, and trout year round.

I used to want to be a hard core homesteader... like in the books. But I am really too lazy to do all that work. What I do is enough. I do what I can enjoy doing, for enjoyment's sake. I don't make fresh bread every week, but I do when I feel like making fresh bread. That is enough and makes me happy. I don't make every meal from scratch, but when I do it is very satisfying. My animals don't make me money, but I enjoy thier company and what they provide me in food and compost for my garden. My garden has more flowers than food, but I am thankful for every sunwarmed tomato and fresh pea that doesn't look or taste like the produce at the supermarket.

I'd like to think this is all about enjoying life to it's fullest. If buying nothing but salt and toilet paper makes you happy, I'm all for it. I have great admiration for you. I have searched myself and found that I am not of a character that wants to work quite that hard while raising a small child and working two days a week. I'm lazy by nature and admit it.

There is a lovely book from the 1940's about a couple homesteading and raising chickens in the olympic mountains of washington state. She discusses in a couple areas the idea of integrated relationships on a farm. It is called "The Egg and I" and I think it is by Betty McDonnald. They made an ok black and white movie out of it, but made it seem like it was in the ozarks. The only thing I wasn't fond of in the book, was her negative remarks about the local indians, and that she generally made a lot of negative remarks about people that were her friends. She does have a great sense of humor though, and the book is a fun read.

Fantastic thread, and got me excited (even more if that
is possible) about the bunnies and chickens in my family's
future. :) We are going to get 8 bunnies, harvest all but
8 offspring each breeding cycle. The compost will be used
for the year round veggies garden I have in place, and of
course its all about learning, having fun, and living well.

If it doesn't make sense, it isn't implemented here. I
agree with the poster about doing what we like, for if we
don't like it, we won't do it for long.

Pudgy

Pudgy, you said: "We are going to get 8 bunnies, harvest all but 8 offspring each breeding cycle." I'm not sure I am understanding you correctly, but you would be best off to keep any good adult breeding stock for 2-3 years. Young bunnies take six months to attain sexual maturity and even then their breeding capacity is untested. If you have a number of good does and a good buck hang onto them until you have tested younger breeding stock.

We purchased six rabbits, culled three young ones and bred the adults. (Take the does to the buck's cage, not the other way about.) One of our does produced 12 young and raised eleven (one died of exposure on the wire from being accidentally dragged from the nest) and the other raised all seven of hers. We have saved three young does and a buck from these two litters and the rest are in the freezer. Excellent eating and we will be ready in spring to breed the youngsters who will then be old enough. Plan to breed the rabbits at full capacity over the spring to fall months and then cull all but our best breeders over the next winter. Hope this if of some help to you.

Note to self: Kindly pass on any dinner invitations from food_4_me.