DH and I wholeheartedly believe that we should learn tradeskills that make us independent of the “outside world.” Just in case we ever need to care for ourselves – as in feeding ourselves from our land. As of right now, we don’t own land but that’s for another post and another venture.
For now, we are working with what we have and who we know. 
My parents own quite a bit of land and have offered to share a garden with us and to house chickens! How exciting is this! We are using a building that is already on their land and equipping it with a fence and some nesting boxes (which DH’s father is going to make for us out of scrap wood). Then we are going to fill the coop with sawdust from the nesting box project. Our chickens will be arriving in the beginning of May. We are pretty sure we will only be using our chickens for eggs at this point and not for meat.
Then the garden! My mom has already started planting – the onions and garlic that were planted last fall and covered with hay are now sprouting. She even started some tomatoes and peppers in the house and we are awaiting warm weather to put them into the earth.
I am also part of a community garden this year. When James and I put in our work hours each week, we will receive our share of food. Isn’t that amazing!?! We get to work with friends and earn vegetables. If you are interested in the concept, please check out the garden blog here.
So we are taking a few big steps to tread a little lighter, grow our own food, and learn independence in feeding ourselves. Are any of you growing your own food this season?
Picture courtesy of ~ http://www.greenestcity.net/resources/Aerial+Garden.jpg
