Growing your own meat is a cheap and healthy way to provide a nice chunk of your own protein. Fish have some of the highest feed-to-weight-gain ratios because they don’t have to expend calories holding their bodies against gravity. The water they swim in does most of that for them. That’s why mammals had to return to the oceans before they were able to dominate the evolutionary tree as the largest living animals on earth.
I challenge you to think of a better airtight storage container than a 5 gallon bucket. They are the perfect size for nearly anything that needs to be stored secure from oxygen and moisture.
If a container is airtight, it’s also watertight. That’s a key factor because water is often more damaging than air. Too much moisture causes mold for instance, which ruins more than just food! I’ve seen a sleeping bag completely ruined by mold. Properly stored in an airtight 5 gallon bucket, that expensive sub 0 sleeping bag may still be usable today.
Remember that broken plastic bucket handle from yesterday? We already found a great new use for it.
Things break around the farm. They break a lot. If we had to go hire a repair guy or buy new parts every time something broke, repair costs would eat up all the egg money!
Yesterday we covered using 5 gallon buckets as protection from flooding. Today I have a little bit more to say on protection from the elements with buckets.
A 5 gallon bucket can protect against just about any weather condition that can cause damage – including wind, rain, sun exposure or even hail.
This is the chicken plucker we used last week to butcher a couple dozen old hens that aren’t producing eggs anymore.
The chicken plucking process needs a strong and steady stream of water, which due to our motor design, has shorted out the engine when it got just a bit too wet.
In the last 10 years, we’ve seen some of the worst flooding in American history. In 2005 New Orleans was drenched by Katrina, then in 2012 Hurricane Sandy filled up New York City’s famous subway system. Today, June 23 2013, floods are washing away great portions of Calgary – even though the city itself is nowhere near the ocean. So almost no matter where you live, floods from an increasingly bipolar climate can affect you.
I’d like to propose an uncommon strategy for dealing with flood waters – keeping sealable 5 gallon buckets around to hide your possessions from water inundation.