You may remember that back in September I had the amazing experience of hosting the Growing a Greener World TV crew so they could film my garden and we could talk about modern homesteading and family.
In case you missed it, here’s the TL;DR: super talented TV people came to my house to put me on TV and I talked to them about duck poop. It was the greatest fifteen minutes of fame ever.
I’m happy to be able to share the Modern Homesteading episode my family appears in with you guys here. It also features the lovely and talented Jessi Bloom, bestselling author of Free Range Chicken Gardens and soon-to-be-released Practical Permaculture, and one of my favorite people.
Our episode aired in early December, but if you missed it on your local PBS affiliate you can watch it below.
My Key Messages From The Modern Homesteading Episode
- Modern homesteading is an effort to transition from a lifestyle of consumption to a lifestyle of production. There’s a lot of ways to boost your own personal productivity: gardening, livestock, food preservation, alternative energy, conservation efforts, DIY, natural home and body care and more. You don’t have to do everything, and your goal doesn’t have to be about total self-sufficiency – just pick what you enjoy and do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
- Start small and expand your areas of production over time, as your skill and experience and interest grows. As your life shifts, it’s ok to shift your garden and home to accomodate. For example, as my life has become more full, I’ve started to shift towards more perennial crops to keep productivity and homegrown yumminess high while trying to cut down on seasonal chores and maintenance.
- Involve the family as much as possible. Real chores and responsibilities are good for kids. A “Real Chore” isn’t just makework – it’s something essential to keep the homestead running. For example, our ten year old daughter has a lot of responsibility for the poultry we keep. We don’t ask her to do anything outside the scope of her maturity, but she knows that living creatures are counting on her for clean water and topped-up food.
- Relatedly, if you have a partner, this life is so much more fulfilling and feasible if you can work together. My parents use the phrase, “two oxen yoked to the same cart.” If you are pulling in opposite directions, that cart isn’t going anywhere, but if you pull together, nothing’s going to stop you. (Would you stop two oxen heading straight at you? I wouldn’t). Bottom line – neither my husband nor I could do this without the other. Husbands who hang laundry on the line are awesome.
- Ducks are freaking adorable, hardier and far less destructive to a vegetable garden than chickens, easier to herd and manage than chickens, and they like to poop in water. Understand their duckiness and design a system to contain and target the duck poop for bigtime garden fertility without much effort. Ignore their basic duck needs and prepare for a nasty, wet, duck poop mess that needs constant work.
If you’ve had a chance to watch the Growing a Greener World Modern Homesteading episode, let me know what you think!
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Oh, the joy of having you ‘back’! And I’m so glad to hear your experience with ducks vs chickens, pros and cons. It seems that the duck cons are usually the uniquely impressive poop and fewer eggs. I’m looking forward to your reports on how well the poop ‘stays’ in the pond and egg production. I am also thinking that they could be a good source of ‘animal fat’ … a butter replacement, in case cows won’t work in the suburbs 😉
I wouldn’t say ducks make less eggs. Our anconas pretty much lay a large egg a day each. The eggs are larger than chicken eggs, too. We have two layers, and there is almost always two eggs for us in the morning. The poop is a hassle, especially with deep little method in their house, since they don’t scratch/turn it like chickens do. Also, the ducks like to lay eggs all over, and their eggs have poop stuck to them because of that. Still, I really love my ducks!
Great episode, thanks for sharing! Seeing your garden is so inspiring. I’m just itching to get back to work on my garden (as soon as some of the snow melts).
And I’m glad you survived the book writing and are posting again!
Erica I loved this episode so much and congratulations again on being a part of inspiring t.v. It was so wonderful to see more of your homestead/garden and to get to know a little about your family (Fruitarian! Chicken manager! I loved how involved your kids are).
Keep up the awesomeness that you’re doing!
I love point #2 – start small. I constantly repeat this over and over again to new gardeners. It’s better to be small and successful than big and stressful. It’s more likely that you’ll have fun with your garden, not lose control of it, and want to do it again the next year. You can always expand in the years to come!
How right you are about having a partner working with you rather than against you! I’ve seen too many relationships fall apart because one partner was steadfastly against what the other person was passionate about. I’m fortunate that my husband also hangs laundry. 🙂
Thanks for linking to the program. I’ve been in bed with cold/flu for two days and have enjoyed many of their episodes by now. Gets me inspired for gardening in a few months. Your segment was great, and I’ve really enjoyed Jessi’s book and just bought one for a friend. It was great to see and hear you both “live and in action”. Congratulations on all the successes of late!
Hi Erica! I so enjoyed seeing your set up on video. Have you read Shannon Hayes “Radical Homemakers?” it’s excellent- similar message. This may already be somewhere on your blog and I’ve missed it….I would love to know where you were in this journey when you had babies and how you were able to keep up with it. We currently live a similar life (gardens, chickens, goats) and I am 8 months pregnant with our first child. When people find out about our “hobbies” I am so often told “Oh, just wait til you have kids- you won’t have time for all of that anymore!”. It has me really worried, I don’t want to loose this lifestyle…in fact, one of the main reasons we decided to have a child is because we thought it would be cool for a kid to grow up in this environment. I know that it’s all about priorities- but we are still only a few years (about 8 now) in to “homesteading” and have so many projects and things we want to add on and do. I know there will be a period of time after having a baby where we won’t be able to pursue new things as aggressively…..how long was it for you and how did you manage to keep up? Thanks!
Why have I never watched this show before??? Great episode, I will be watching more of them. I loved seeing your family and your garden and pond, Erica. Some great advice here, too. Someday we will have our own house and garden, so I’m just tucking away all these ideas for the future!
Great job on the show!! Bella especially was wonderful. Reminded me of a smaller version of you! She’s darling!
Wonderful job on the show! I’ve been a reader for a few years now and you have done a marvelous job conveying your ideas, values, and knowledge while giving us all a sense of your home and family. I have always thought highly of your blog but I am now incredibly impressed after getting a real sense of your homestead. It looks absolutely wonderful and you and your family have done an amazing job. I have learned and implemented a plethora of your ideas and have expanded my ideas with your posts on personal values. Endless thank you’s for sharing, I can’t wait for your book to come out, it will be an instant buy for me!
I’m so happy to have watched this, Erica! The piece that completely melted me- Bella. What a smart, strong, hard-working, passionate daughter you have. Loved this!
Loved it–and Bella stole the show. 🙂
It’s taken me a month or two to say it but I am so happy you are back! Despite still feeling totally ashamed about the state of my fridge compared to yours… But more than anything I am very excited that I can actually watch the show via this link (I’ve never been able to access any of Growing a Greener World from here in Argentina). I am saving this one up for when the kids go to sleep. Thank you!