Danille Bkack

When thinking about animals in an urban setting, I always suggest considering coturnix quail. They are quiet, small, do not smell very bad, and lay tons of eggs. We keep ours on our deck and our fridge is overflowing with eggs in the summer.

update - day 1 I found plastic cream containers in my compost bin marked "Coffee grounds and filters only" - I guess some people thought I was collecting anything related to coffee?
Day 2 - I left the bin here over the weekend but didn't think to notify the cleaning staff. They emptied out all my coffee grounds and took all my compostable bags I had underneath! I guess they thought it was all garbage.
Day 3 - cleaning staff have been notified. I'll buy new bags tomorrow. Hope I can start bringing some home soon.

Alder Burns wrote:Coffee grounds are a unique resource...they are after all a seed and therefore rich in nutrients, and because they are boiled or steamed to extract the coffee, they start out in a semi-sterile condition.  This combination makes them an ideal substrate for certain edible mushrooms.  And, as mentioned above, black soldier flies....which are wonderful feed for poultry and fish!  So there are at least two possible yields (both of which would be much more worth pursuing if the grounds are available in quantity!) before letting the residue from these processes go to compost.  As a compost or soil amendment, I've read that they encourage acidity in the soil....probably more so in an uncomposted state....this can be a problem or a benefit depending on what your native soil is like.  I have alkaline soil and so coffee grounds when I get them in any quantity (Starbucks, for instance, often bags their grounds and offers them for free) I use them around acid loving plants like blueberries.

Hi Alder,

I have lots of blueberries. Would you just sprinkle the grounds on them, or try to compost them first?

I work for a big company that always throws their staff coffee grounds in the garbage. I'm wondering about asking if they can be put aside in a compost bin (grounds only) for me to take home once a week. I imagine this would fill up about a grocery sized bag every two weeks. I live on 0.3 acres (not a huge property), and have a regular sized compost pile behind my shed. Would it throw off things to be adding so many coffee grounds, or might it help?

Chris Kott wrote:Hi Danielle,

Todd has raised some valid concerns. The fact that it is an investment in time can't be ignored. It may colour how you feel about it over time, if it's not a lifestyle that actually suits you, or engender a feeling of obligation...,,

Thank you so much Chris for such a helpful answer. I would love to keep bees. Chickens, rabbits goats and donkeys are the long term plan but I agree with your points around livestock. I’ve saved your tips for when we start our planning.

Todd Parr wrote:

I can give you one perspective on it, but your situation may be much different.  My brother and his wife did something similar, but his land had an older cabin on it.  They bought it more as a place to get away on weekends and just to get out of the city-ish area they live in.  They worked really hard on the place almost every weekend.  It quickly got to the point where they felt guilty that they weren't working on it and did something else on the weekend because they had so much they thought they needed to get done there.  It was like they thought since they invested money in it, it was a waste if they didn't use it.  Two hours is about how far they have to go to get there, and that adds up pretty quickly.  It's much different than if you have land 15 minutes away.  You have to plan it more, you have to pack the things you will need if you stay overnight there and 4 hours of driving in one day is a lot if you are working hard at something for hours in the middle of it.  All that is considering they had a dry, comfortable place to sleep while they were there.  They spent more than a year at it to the point where they were just burnt out and now they rarely go there and are planning to sell it.

None of that is said to dissuade you from doing it, and it may work out really well for you, especially if you aren't in any kind of a hurry.  Most of the work they had to do was on the cabin and you won't have that do deal with.  I just think it's important to go in with your eyes open.  Best of luck to you whatever you decide.

Thank you Todd. This is a very helpful perspective. In some ways it seems easier to buy land with a small property already there but I can see it becoming lots of work. We already have our home that needs a lot of work as well. Might make more sense to just use it as land to camp on.

We have a small property near town, but I’ve always dreamed of having more land. We can’t afford much nearby, but there are some affordable acreages (5-10 acres) about 2 hours away. Some have small houses on them, some are just land. I’m wondering if it might be an idea to purchase this land for the future. We could start by using it on some weekends and growing fruit trees, then retire out there. We are just 30 now so would have lots of time to get something going by then.

Is this something people do? Are there things we can grow without having to water regularly? I was thinking I could plant a bunch of berries. We live in Alberta, Canada, so the growing season is only about 4 months and it is not super dry or hot. Thanks for any advice. It’s just kind of a pipe dream,

Thanks everyone. The soil is just bare dirt, no grass. I think it’s should be ok to use. That is also a good idea about using current compost, I might do that closer to the end of the season.

I have a lot of raised beds gardens that need topping up this year. I’m wondering if it makes sense, can I dig a huge hole of soil from behind my shed, and then fill this hole back in with (to be) compost? I know the compost fill will keep shrinking, but does that make sense otherwise?