In 1933, Congress passed a cornerstone of New Deal reform, the Agricultural Adjustment Act, which paid farmers to cut the production of commodities like wheat and corn in an effort to lift farms out of the depths of the Great Depression. Since then, government farm programs have evolved into a confusing labyrinth of tax reductions, price supports, and direct payments designed to help farmers deal with fluctuating weather patterns and market prices—all to ensure a stable supply of food.
Just mention subsidies and most people’s eyes glaze over. But government subsidies transfer hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars to large farmers who grow just a few types of crops, creating some of the country’s least deserving welfare recipients. Subsidies set price minimums and ensure that corn, soy, wheat, and rice producers get paid regardless of how low prices for their crops are or whether they even need assistance in the first place. These subsidies support the cheap and unhealthy domestic food that shows up in the aisles of the supermarket. And they’re the reason why a salad costs more than a Big Mac.
Like so many DYI trends, building a chicken coop empowers us to produce something we would usually buy, harkening back to a time when folks knew how to provide for themselves. And if you love eggs, you can’t get a more fresh and local source than your backyard.
While there are many factors involved with raising and caring for chickens, one absolute necessity is providing them with a safe, clean, dry place to live.
Here’s a primer on what to keep in mind as you research, plan, and build your coop.
“Some of you will grow food. — Probably a lot of you, actually. Even those of you who do other things as your main job. So you should probably start to learn how it’s done. Right now. Because it’s not something you can learn in a year – how to add fertility and prepare the soil, when to plant and harvest, how to store the harvest and save seeds, etc. There’s more to it than you think. And it’s gonna get even trickier when the climate starts its carbonic seizures – droughts, floods, heat, cold, and storms. In no particular pattern. So you better be good.”
People still regard home farming as an elective “green” activity, but might it be a survival skill by the time current teenagers are adults. Should we start retooling home ec classes to start covering agricultural education?
Slow Food is the organization that first brought me to sustainable eating. It showed me how to enjoy the experience of eating the best in local foods. I learned that often times local foods are easier on the planet than organic if they are grown sustainably and that my diet was one of the best tools in my plight to reduce my carbon footprint. December 10 marks the first annual Terra Madre Day celebration.
Our first stop was Nectar Gardens, run by Scott Pomeroy in Moloaa. He was farming 15 acres of a beautiful, well organized gardens and orchards. Scott has been commercially gardening here on Kauai for many years. He currently sells most of his produce at local farmer’s markets, but in the past has done CSA’s (Community Supported Agriculture), sales to local restaurants, and even exporting to Oahu.
Scott uses frequent plantings of cover crops to enrich his soil. They fix nitrogen and add organic material. Some of his favorite cover crops are cowpeas, sudan grass, and buckwheat. He also rotates crops and even moves gardening areas to let the soil recover from depletion of nutrients caused by intensively growing food crops.
Scott’s main vegetable gardening area is an array of beautiful curved rows. He weeds weekly, before the weeds have time to get established. A sprinkler system is used for watering. Scott recently bought a tiller which pushes soil from the paths into raised beds for planting.
A high school chemistry teacher has 
