Alternative uses for Papayas

Remember when I wrote about my volunteer papaya tree? How about them tasting like vomit? Blech! Well, as my papayas grow out and ripen, I’ve been cutting, smashing, or busting them open for the chickens to eat. The seem to like it, and that’s fine with me! At least I’m getting something useful out of […]

Revisiting My choice in animals for “Urbansteading”

This is a repost of one of my first articles. I’ve gotten a lot of questions as to why I’ve chosen these, so thought I’d repost it to get it out there again.   Living 5o feet from another family makes certain choices VERY important. Your TV volume, height of your fence, amount of clothing […]

DIY Bird Plucker

My Muscovy ducks have grown out to the appropriate size, so it’s time to start harvesting.  If you’ve seen my post,  Muscovy Ducks – Yard to Table, you saw just how long it took me to pluck one…over 45 minutes! Mind you, it was the first bird I’d plucked in over 20 years, but even […]

December 2012 Update

Lots of things are happening here at FloridaHillbilly.com! Just as I’m out of the woods from my hernia surgery, I get a nasty bout of kidney stones, and dealing with another one as I write this

I Tried Using Cast Nets for Food, Not Bait

I went to the beach this morning to try my hand at cast-netting some dinner. (Green Deane made it sound easier than I found it to be.) A cast net is a round net with a collar in the center of it, a heavy line stitched to the perimeter, and lines running from the perimeter through […]

Preventing chickens from flying (or jumping fences)

My chickens like to stray from time to time, jumping into the adjacent lot. Most times I don’t mind…much, but in truth, I’d prefer they’d just stay in the yard. I cannot afford a taller fence, so the next option is to eliminate the birds ability to clear a 4 foot fence. Since chickens are […]