Self Sufficiency: Part One 

That little kid is absolutely adorable!

I like the example of self sufficiency that I'm seeing in this video. What a great model to follow.

Mike, you inspires us. Thank you.

Would to have more property like this. Thanks for the great video!

I can only imagine those that "dislike" such a video are humorless and/or upset that their negative comments are removed.

We're glad that three's been the interest and appreciation with our film, but I wonder why twice as many people have watched Part 1 as have Part 2.

This is the setup I most strongly desire.

@Mick from Mike (in the video): "I grew the calves in the video on my neighbors 6 acre pasture that he raises grass for cutting with a riding mower. He does not raise corn that I have stopped him from growing all that is stopped is the mindless driving in circles cutting the grass every couple weeks. I raised 1100 lbs. of beef in this pasture and I am raising 2 more calves as I write this, beef on previously empty mowed pasture. Where is the waste?"

That "Chicken Tractor" would have saved my friends hens from a fox.. Brilliant!!! I'm gonna make one for him! Thanks!!

WOW! I love your set up and your son is so cute. He was back there eating greens. My kids would never eat greens at that age!

Great video! Thank you for sharing this. Beautiful farm!

yes!!! I live in Orlando. I keep them in my laundry room for a few months till they get some meat on them. I use a white light bulb 40W i think to give them heat. I never raised them till about a year ago. I get feed from the store and sell their eggs to buy the feed.

Mike (e4tango) put my comments on the sweet potatoes on for me. The Chicken tractor does not have a screen bottom it is open. I have lost a chicken to a stray dog that got in. I have redone my chicken keeping. I have a tractor for now and then, fencing to put up for a rotational pastured effect. I have also put in a permanent chicken area for winter. I am researching and planting various perennials in this chicken area for "free feed". Mike in the video

You have a nice farm Mike!

nice little farm. i wish i could live like that.

very nice, lots of work to keep you busy.

@kevingok From the Other Mike: "While ornamental sweet potatoes are grown mostly for their foliage, they do produce some, smaller and not good quality tubers. Under the circumstances, not receiving my shipment of preferred plants and only ornamental one available everywhere I looked locally, I gave them a go. Not so great results but then with ordered plant I haven't done any better(they usually arrive in the mail like mush, late in the season and don't live when planted)."

From the Other Mike: "I am looking to go to yams, they are perennial and coolest of all, if I find the variety I want, grow "Air potatoes". Dioscorea batata and D. bulbifera grows regular yam tubers (which if left in the ground come back for years sometimes weighing 40 lbs depending on variety) and also potatoes grow on the vine that you can just pick off like a fruit without digging the root."

@Mick from Mike (in the video): " Lastly most and soon all corn will be contaminated by Monsanto GMO corn, even if it poses no risk (which I believe it does) they spray it directly with Round up several times in a growing season. Before GMO the farmer could only spray once before planting. Grow and eat corn, more power to you, I will grow and eat a variety of plants and animals."

great job, have you ever heard of colony raising rabbits a couple of my meat breeders give me nice size litters every month yet still manage to take care of the previous litters till they are weaned. love the garden and chicken set up also btw

Damn you guys look happy. Good for you. I am jealous. I wish my life looked like yours.

@trappedhere2 Mike (e4tango) put my comments on the sweet potatoes on for me. The Chicken tractor does not have a screen bottom it is open. I have lost a chicken to a stray dog that got in. I have redone my chicken keeping. I have a tractor for now and then, fencing to put up for a rotational pastured effect. I have also put in a permanent chicken area for winter. I am researching and planting various perennials in this chicken area for "free feed". Mike in the video

i dont have any vids up cause i dont have a good enough camera yet but ill hopefully have one up soon.

@Uberman30001 ya i barely found any good info on it when i started but im pretty stubborn so i ignored the pessimists and did it anyways and it worked out great. i have an 11x11 room with 2 conjoined paddocks that are 5x8 and 11x16, the walls of the smaller one are made from pallets with hardware cloth over the outside and the larger ones walls are chain link on 2sides and 2x4 welded wire fencing on the other 2 but 3 foot up the walls all around and across the floors of both runs is chicken wire

Rabbits make great fertilizer for the garden and we eat them. Even if you don't eat rabbits they are worth having for the fertilizer. Unlike chicken poop that is high in nitrogen and will burn plants if it is not aged, rabbit poop can go directly in the garden.

Had to make a new account(new user name)I am Mike in the video. Mike the camera man and I are talking of a visit and an update. Thanks for all the great comments. Some commented on that "adorable" son of mine. He is almost as tall as me now. He has made a video of our place it's at ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-dsSVeCWg82I.html

To All Those Interested: "venushumantrap" has added some updates to The Compound which will give you a good idea of how far things have progressed the last couple of years. Check out his channel (after you finish Part Two, of course)!

Howdy. You can make movable pens for everything, rabbits, chickens, the whole lot. With the rabbits, you just need a perimeter of about 8 or 9 inches in from the sides on the bottom.

hello from Greece.Very good your attempt!

the 'earthship' design for construction, permacultural food forests & aquaponics for food & medicine, microalgae biodiesel for machinery, solar-hydrogen "mike strizki set up" & wind turbines for electricity. sorted. that's what the world needs to achieve & it begins with us planning & Acting towards networking with people with other skills for creating a self-sustainable community. eventually we could achieve a co-existing network of small communities, each one making a domino effect.

@Mick from Mike (in the video): "Grain must be processed with technology as our first digestion, don't believe it, eat a few ears of raw corn or a few hands full of raw wheat. Man can not digest and get food value from grain without technology. As for corn, it's use migrated from South America to North America, closely following this migration of corn use is arthritis. Wolves seldom if ever get arthritis how ever their cousins, dogs, that we feed corn based dog food often do."

Very inspiring. Thank you for sharing :)

@Mick from Mike (in the video): " In a fully integrated permaculture system there is room for all Gods flora and fauna, in a modern agriculture system there is not. I wont go into monocultures devastating effects on nature, which is what a field of corn is, but I will comment on land waste."

YEAH! THIS IS WHAT I WANT TO GOING TO DO IN MY HOME.....STARTING POINT TO MAKE A POULTRY....

@DigitalPraise7 (from Mike in video) I eat a lot of veggies, nuts, fruit, and drink the heck out of green smoothies from my garden. I don't eat much grain, potatoes, beans or dairy. I do store these items as a survival food, not a staple. My mind is open, I ask that you open yours and check out the reasoning behind the paleo diet. If you don't agree, I would still shake your hand if we met.

Great to see the calves and goates... we have Jersey cows after having goats and sheep for a few years, we now prefer the cows. Like the chat between you two mikes :)

I'm not a farmer, nor have I raised any animals to eat, but all the pens seem a bit confining for the size and quantity of the animals.

To do as you please don't get into an HOA. I would live with an HOA for anything. I am originally from Arizona, I am new to Pennsylvania so I do not have a good feel of land and price. We continue to look for a smaller house and a bigger property.

This man has got it right. Great stuff.

My dream is to have a self sufficient farm. I don't think I will ever leave. Thanks for the video

I do not know much about breading, but it is obvious that the chicks are separated to protect them, but why are the female rabbits all separated from one another?

amazing video, this is really good!!

Easy on the panning! Great stuff tho'!

let your chickens walk around all day . and bring them in at night

do work mike, yur my hero

@e4tango I beg to differ. How do I know? My two year old daughter has been vegan all her life. She is happy healthy and thriving. My wife was vegan through the pregnancy. I have been vegan since she got pregnant and we are still alive and healthy.

I use those old windows for making my tipi! It's even better, I can sit in there with my family around a campfire!

1 acre of land produces 250 pounds of beef. The same acre produces 30,000 pounds of corn. Livestock is a severe waste of land use.

nice place

@Mick from Mike (in the video): "Man is a meat eater by nature, it you choose to be a vegan or any level of this I respect your choice. Man by nature does not eat grain. How do I know? Because no matter how you believe man got put on Earth they did not arrive cooking and processing food with technology. Even after learning to cook it was probably animals on a spit or in the coals."

To All: Given Google's takeover of RU-vid I've found myself with two accounts which is annoying. I've uploaded the complete "Self Sufficiency" video in one file to my other account for easier viewing. Let me know if you have any problems finding it.

those red chicks are red stars. even better than rhode island reds. ;) I LOVE red stars as laying hens!!!

To: Kathie Wade. The reason is that I haven't hied myself back up that way as Life has gotten in the way thus far. There's always hope for this year, though...

Very good, great tour in this vid. Great info and ideas. Thankyou.

This is great. Eventually I'd like to do the same. Good job!

I would like doing these kinds of stuff

Hi, do you leave the chickens in the big cage there over night? At my place the fox would get them too easily. And do you keep your rabbits on wire bottoms? Don't they get cuts at their paws? Your garden is enviably tidy and clean, in comparison mine is a mess... Good work!

what a rich life!

I enjoyed your videos. Why have you not made more since 2009. I'd Like to see the progress you've made, if you are still self-sufficeint farming. Either way, Thank you for sharing...P.S. did you ever find out what that odd feeder chick was in that batch?

@e4tango :) Its great your both called Mike, Great looking garden... I love seeing other peoples gardens etc... always something to inspire or give me ideas

Around 3:30, those red chickens aren't Rhode Island Reds.

@Uberman30001 I think it would be expensive to start up self sufficiency, buy once it gets going you will save a lot of money.

"What else ya got for protein?" "Well, I got my son...but we won't eat him!" LMAO! XD

dont you have problems with bugs eating the brocoll without row covers?

I really liked your set up specially the cages. Not criticizing, but thought I would mention the chicken wire that you use. Big dogs can easily rip it right off the cage. I seen this happen to a friend. Dead rabbits laying all over the yard because dogs ripped the wire off and got to them in the night. Just thought I might mention it to save you the pain. But, I think your set up is really great. Keep the videos coming.

Hi, your video is really cool, but what happens to the rabbits and chicken when it snows, do they stay there in winter time? and do those tomato plants give tomatoes the whole year or do they only give tomatoes in summer time? Thanks

@ndudman8 We're brothers from different mothers!

Nice place. Enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing. I subscribed.

very good set-up

how did you do all that i only have a smaller garden and it takes me all day to work with it do you have help on the side?

Goood Work I Love it

What bottle lids for the waterers did you find that fit the 2 liter bottles?

@ChuckCh9 i agree

awesome video i don't know why anyone would give it a thumbs down :)

I'm guessing the goats are for milk, first hens for eggs and second batch for meat, but what are the point of the rabbits? The reason I ask, is that I just purchased land that has a chicken coop as well as a large rabbit house.

nice vid, does your son help alot in the garden

Your son will probably grow to be a huge guy with all that nutritious food.

I am looking into purchasing a tract and am also located in PA. Just curious - where about? Not finding much luck with rural plots in my price range - many development/community lots with too many HOA regs!

@DigitalPraise7 (from Mike from in video) Humans can eat a wide variety of things and live. I believe, and there is research to back this up, man evolved a large brain and a short gut by eating nutrient dense food, meat. (try Rob Wolf book The Paleo Solution, or Neanderthin by Ray Audette) If grain were a natural food for man you could eat and digest it without grinding and cooking. 

Female rabbits are very territorial, they do not like other females in their area. Also you have to put the female in the males cage to breed. If you put the male in her cage she may tear him up including castrating him.

great job. great video

Rabbits will fight if put together. You have to keep them seperate or they will end up fighting and hurting/killing each other.

@e4tango Great Video! One question, what does he do for a living? It seems like he makes good money and has a lot of time off.

What else u got mike

very nice

I am so impressed. will youtrain my husband to do dtis?

@Uberman30001 Don't you wonder how Gauronline has lived the past 40 years without meat... without protein??? -Obviously dark leafy greens have SOME protein.

He cut us a great deal! ;-)

if yur not sweatin yur not workin

wow

Not an animal water of any sort. Your land is beautiful to cultivate fruits and vegetables. Check out Geoff Lawton's clips on permaculture. Peace!

@DigitalPraise7 (from Mike in video) Lastly it seems funny the things I believe man should not eat are the ones the government tells you to eat (food Pyramid) and corporations are monkeying with (GMO, hormones). Peace to you and your family.

el video esta genial y muy bien explicado, me suscribo! :)

i thought the same thing

I like the chicken :) GOOD JOB

I want to eat this man's backyard.

@DigitalPraise7 (from Mike, the videographer) All fine well and good but your daughter obviously wasn't given the choice. Homo sapiens owes its success to its adaptability so choosing a particular diet doesn't mean you'll die or otherwise be harmed. But to suggest that for tens of thousands of years mankind had it all wrong by eating meat seems rather silly to me.

لقد فعلت كل ماتمنيتة انا ...لم يامايك انا اتمنى وانت تفعل

Oooh, wont snakes get your chickidies?

Self Sufficiency