Here in W. WA, 50lbs of oyster shell costs $12, and it’s very stable, not subject to problems of dampness, not susceptible to aging. Cheap insurance. Calcium in the soil is good, but it often isn’t enough for a hen to produce 200+ eggs per year. I live in a high-rainfall area, and it leaches calcium from the soil badly, so without adding lime in fall, grass and crops will be calcium-deficient. Get hold of Gene Logsdon’s book “Small-scale Grain Raising” for a LOT of info on growing smaller amounts of grains at home, for your own use and your livestock. Greens: alfalfa, clover, cowpeas, field peas, kale, chard and other people greens. Whole dried corn isn’t great for chickens unless they have an adequate source of grit. Otherwise, they will eat it, but they can’t break it down enough to receive much nutrition from it. Fresh or cooked corn is okay. Seeds: cowpeas, English peas (plus tendrils and flowers), flax seed, pigeon pea. Not beans unless they’re cooked. Grow sunflowers and let them pick the heads clean. Some grains to consider for poultry: buckwheat, amaranth, barley, wheat (including the old wheats: kamut, emmer, einkorn), millet, oats (on the stem or rolled), quinoa, rye, sorghum (don’t use for sprouts), spelt, teff, triticale. Many of these grains can be harvested by cutting the stalks or stems, and bundling them together, and hanging them in a warm, dry place. But beware of mice. If you miss some, or even if you don’t want to harvest it, you can knock the plants down and let the chickens in to the self-serve buffet. While eating these high-quality feeds, the chickens will help till in the cover crops with their scratching, improving the soil with both plant residues and their droppings. Comfrey has quite a bit of protein and minerals, some chickens will eat it, some won’t. Cooked cull potatoes (no green parts), pumpkins, squashes, sweet potatoes can help to fill them up. You might even consider growing some mangels or fodder beets for them – they’re nutritious, and can be nailed or clamped to a post for pecking at, or grated. All these crops store well in the proper conditions. Wild nuts, acorns, black walnuts, etc, can be smashed with a hammer on a rock or brick Any berry you can eat, chickens can eat. Consider planting some just for them: mulberries, aronia (they prefer black over red), currents, bilberries, elderberries, saskatoon/serviceberry, sea-buckthorn or huckleberries. Protect the roots from those big, scratching feet with some large rocks or wire mesh, and you can grow them where they can harvest them on their own. Run them under your fruit trees to eat the fallen fruits and insects. If you live near a beach, collect some fresh seaweed and bring it home to them. Rinse it off and nail it to a post. There are thousands of varieties of kelp and seaweed and none are poisonous. You can even dry it for extended storage. Grow duckweed in a kid’s wading pool. Scoop out part of it and give to the chickens (or ducks), let the rest grow a day or two and then scoop out some more. It multiplies very fast. Soybeans must be cooked or roasted for any creature to eat, including us, or it causes bleeding of the stomach. I wouldn’t recommend genetically-modified kinds (about 90% of the U.S. crop) for any creature. Grow your own earthworms, nightcrawlers, mealworms or black soldier fly larvae, but don't let them be more than 25% of the diet. Black Soldier Fly larvae contain about 42% protein, 35% fat, 5% calcium, 19 amino acids, and 13 minerals, a real powerhouse of nutrition. They produce much faster than earthworms. They can quickly reduce 100 lbs of garbage or manure down to 5 lbs, which could be composted or continue finishing via earthworms. They can be frozen in containers for winter feeding. Boil those cracked, dirty eggs. Cool, then just chop them in quarters (shell and all) and toss them to the girls. The birds don’t seem to associate eating the shells with shell-eating of raw eggs. If you’ve got a grocery store, farmers market, juice bar or restaurant nearby, ask for their produce waste (lettuce trimmings, juice pulp, etc). Use chickens to clean up after feeding grain to larger livestock and to pick eggs and parasites out of the manure. It is recommended that you don’t feed chickens avocado skins or pits, rhubarb, citrus, salt, green potato skins, garlic or onions (causes Heinz anemia) or uncooked beans (contains toxic hemaglutin). But they aren’t likely to eat them unless they’re starving, anyway. Don’t go crazy trying to poison-proof your property for your animals. Pat Coleby, Australia’s expert on natural health for animals, says that if animals are getting a good diet, they won’t overeat on toxic plants. Yes, they may take a taste or two, but she says that seems to fall into the “medicinal” category. The creatures know what they can eat and what they can’t. Farmers extol the horrors of tansy, but only starving cattle will eat it, well-fed cattle won’t. And I’ve found that she is right. I have quite a few poisonous plants around, and my girls may nibble a bit, but they don’t overload.

I still had lots of food in the house, but DH told me to go ahead and stock up since he'll probably be on the road for 5-6 weeks this time and the immediate future of our para-transit sytem is iffy at best right now due to budget cuts. (We won't know its fate until March 19. On the 22nd, we'll either have it or it's immediately gone.) So, hey, I'm no dummy. I stocked up. Trader Joes - greek yogurt eggs Cheddar cheese bacon almonds frozen haibut frozen green beans frozen mixed veggies frozen mixed peppers frozen naan butter canned diced tomatos quinoa mustard Regular Grocery Store bread Tortillas raisins black beans lentils canned tuna (my lucky day - albacore at .79 a can!) 5# chicken breasts (on sale at .99 a pound!) 2# pork bag of baking potaotes 2 cucumbers 3 onions 2 gree peppers # asparagas quart strawberries 1/2 gal milk canned mixed fruit # bananas # mushrooms garlic limes flour olive oil freezer bags pinto beans # coffee 2 boxes tea bags On the clearance shelf, we found organic pommegranate juice, V8, cherry juice and peanuts for $1.00 eash. The store isn't going to carry them anymore. So we got two each of those. And I had coupons for two free bottles of laundry soap that expire at the end of the month, so I got those now. Total - too much. OTOH, I'm set for another 4-5 weeks except highly perishable items like lettuce or milk. (Althogh I have some canned milk if I really need it.) That doesn't include the things we get for DH to take on the road as I consider his road supplies separate from my grocery budget.

After reading these horribly high prices for flour I went out this morning and purchased 50-pounds of wheat to add to my already sizable stash. Kansas wheat is not looking all that good, especially in the western part of the state where they have been in a drought. With rising fuel prices, we can only look forward to higher prices for wheat and flour - and everything they are used in. FYI - Wheat has a nearly indefinite shelf-life while commercial bleached and unbleached flour will keep 6-12 months at room temperature (double that if frozen). I use wheat for making wheat sprouts, wheatgrass, cooked wheat berries, farina, flakes, "wheat meat", bulgar and cracked wheat - and oh, yes, flour. I ran across a book recently - "No Wheat Grinder Wheat Recipes" by Cindi Van Bibber. A great little collection of recipes you can use whole wheat berries in even if you don't have a grain mill. Cooked wheat berries are mixed in the blender to use in recipes like: No Flour Muffins, Cornbread, Brownies, Meatloaf, Biscuits, Meatballs, and hubby's favorite - Peanut Butter Cookies. A great little book for anyone wanting to use whole wheat but who doesn't have a grain mill. I've included the link below for anyone interested. I like to "cook" a large batch of wheat in my Thermal Cooker and then bag it in 2-cup amounts and keep it in the freezer. Lots of uses for cooked wheat, as well as all the recipes in the little cookbook. -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: Cindi's Lifestyle Treasures

The cream of tartar in Grainlady's recipe is tartaric acid and that does help prevent crystallization. However, depending upon the recipe, it might not be enough acid for the desired result. The advantage of corn syrup is you are adding another form of sugar and that does help prevent the sugar crystals from adhering to each other. (I mean a small amount of corn syrup in a candy along with granulated sugar.) When I have candy where crystallization is a risk (like Oklahoma Brown Candy) I usually add a bit of lemon juice and a tablespoon or so of corn syrup. Neither is enough to alter the flavor but it does make for a smooth texture. I think Annie has a family recipe for white fudge that calls for cream of tartar. It's the same principle; add a bit of acid to inhibit crystal formation. Carol