Kelly Beck

I’ve been back home for a few days and I’m finally getting around to posting some pictures of our presentations and talent show 🙂

You are sunshine, Coco!

We are learning survey techniques 🥰 Raising the bar on design literally and knowing the tools available to us.

Hey everyone! Here a few of my favorite pics from this fantastic, geeky, mind blowing class :P

Funny story.... I had 6 chickens. I got about 3 eggs a day, which was very exciting! My co-workers knew this. I was at a different clinic than normal one day. I come back the next and there is a hand written note from one of our Physicians which read, "Kelly, do you want more chickens?" I followed up on it and a patient fell and broke her leg while caring for her birds :( So she decided that she wanted to give them a good home. I love that this Physician cared enough about her to even help her find a chicken home! I also loved that I got first dibs!

Long story short, I met an amazing lady and now have 15 chickens and a guinea fowl. Today I brought several dozen eggs to work to share! :D They are beautiful eggs, too. I have about 4 different hen breeds, and they lay green, blue, brown, pink, and speckled eggs!

I did some math. I get about 7 eggs a day. That is 210 eggs a month. I eat about 3 a day. That is 120 eggs to gift or sell. Let's say I sell a dozen for $3. That's $30 a month, which pays for all my feed right now. I'm also working towards growing the chicken's food by using organic scraps, black soldier fly larvae, worms, and plants.

I also use a deep litter method which is already producing nearly free compost.

Of course I'm not getting rich off of 15 hens if you look at money, but my soul is a little richer!

You should have seen that same Physician who referred me to the chicken's previous mama when I have him a tray of eggs today! He couldn't believe I didn't dye the eggs those lovely colors. My co-workers took little handfuls of eggs home, smiling and laughing at such a crazy thing to do. Some already want to buy from me.

I really connected with people I hadn't before, even though we work together EVERY DAY. I thought you all would appreciate a little happy story of a new Crazy chicken lady! lol!

I can't wait for Spring either! It's my favorite season. I have a bunch to get ready. In the next few months the following changes will occur:

13 more fruit trees in the ground

16 more chickens (first, an upgrade to the coop)

Finishing up the fish pond (the fish are on their way!)

Completing 2 seating areas

Getting home mushrooms started

3 trellis areas to set up

A veggie garden to start for the season

And I'm tired already!

I'm an '87 model millennial, lol! I love this topic. I, too, never have made friends with my own age group very easily. I grew up in a very non-traditional.... or rather very, very traditional way. For a few years we were out in the country with no running water, no plumbing, no electricity.... and it was beautiful! I did go the college route, but because it was something I loved, nursing. There are many things in the modern medical culture and practices that I don't agree with. I believe that the future of medicine will be more elegant, natural, and start in a garden.

I love the looks on my friend's faces when they first hear about my lifestyle. They look shocked and ask how I can survive without TV, or why I "slave away" to grow food when there's a store a mile away. But... the looks on their faces when they taste fresh eggs or hang out in a garden in the middle of the desert is priceless!

Our whole culture seems bent on creating little cookie cutter people who watch the TV, are glued to their phones, and have are truly separated from eachother and the land. Thank God we aren't! :D Glad to see there are other gardeners in my generation.

Kelly B.

Hello!

I'm interested in building a rocket mass heater eventually. I'll be getting videos and books eventually. I'm not thrilled at the prospect of cutting a hole in my wall, so I had a crazy idea to design a fully indoor RMH that I wanted to run past someone smarter than me. Would it be possible to harness the small amount of smoke that does exit the RMH?

To my understanding there is a process by which the wood gas of burning wood is distilled or harvested. Does all of the wood gas get burned up in rocket mass heaters, or is there still some residuals that could be harvested at the end of the chimney, thus giving the possibility to design a completely indoor rocket mass heater? It would be cool to end up with another output besides heat and ash.... wood gas!

Thanks for helping!

Kelly

I for one grew up helping my dad build and do plumbing and electrical work, and all kinds of things, and I'm a woman. My dad saw my interest in all of this and taught me from an early age how to use tools safely. I can't remember a time when I wasn't allowed to try screwing something in place, or holding nails. I once helped my dad install our power pole and attach the 'control' or 'junction' box or whatever it is, lol! So girls can have these interests, too. Now, I've seen the plumbing knowledge help me as a nurse (all IV and infusion lines work on similar physics principles with gravity, friction, length of the tube, playing a part in pressures and so forth) and I'm able to do things like build my own chicken coop and garden terraces :D

I believe that women should be comfortable with as many skill as possible, so we don't end up being a vulnerable situation. However, I also feel that the delicate, nurturing part of being a woman shouldn't be lost or not valued.

I love that you are encouraging building skills at an early age! :D Like anything, if learned early, it will be better absorbed, understood and retained. Worked for me, and I only almost cut my thumb off once :P

Kelly

This is fantastic! Please keep us updated on your results. I don't quite understand one thing, though.... assuming that all of the plastic gets broken down eventually to a non-toxic level, will the resulting material be useful in any way, or will it simply be non-toxic? Which is pretty fantastic in it's own right! And can the worms be used safely as fodder?

Thanks!

Kelly