School Lunches

by Marisa

I don't normally talk a whole lot about my personal life. I show pictures of my kids now and then, but nothing too personal. This is silly, I know, but I'm secretly afraid of being cyber bullied, which is why I haven't ever talked about homeschooling my children. When I first started thinking about homeschooling my kids, I mentioned it to a few people, some supportive, but some got down right angry. So at times I'm cautious about who I mention this to, so I may be crazy because I just announced it to all you in blogland. Please don't cyber bully me!


I had just a few reasons NOT to homeschool my kids, reasons like lack of socialization among a few other reasons. On the flip side, I had a whole page of reasons I did want to homeschool. (I am a strong supporter of teachers, PTA, and good administrators and the amazing job that they are doing!) This may seem silly to some, but one of the reasons I wanted to homeschool my children was school lunch.

My oldest son went to public school up until 2nd grade. I volunteered in his class, with the school, and in the PTA during that time. On occasion when I was in the lunch room, I was able to observe the lunch process. Some parents send their children to school with their cute lunch pails full of food. Other parents send them off with their $2 for a hot lunch provided by the school.
I became appalled at what I was seeing. Those cute little lunch pails full of food were barely touched, the chips and juice box were quickly consumed while entire sandwiches and fruit were thrown away. Then there were the hot lunches, which tend to be mostly overly processed food in the first place, the cookie, and chocolate milk were quickly consumed while the soggy veggies weren't even touched and the main course was normally picked over unless it was pizza. My son was right there along with the other kids, picking off the sweets, throwing away the rest!!!

As a mother concerned about the health of the rising generation, which includes my own children, I want my children to enjoy the benefits of healthy food. I want my children to have the opportunity to make good food choices. I know that the time is soon coming when I won't have as much control over their choices (including food choices), and I'm hoping that I can set a firm foundation for them. I'm hoping that I can educate them about their food choices and help them gain a love for healthy food options.

There are some school districts out there that are really making strides in changing school lunches, and I applaud them!

But....I recently saw a blog, Fed Up with Lunch: The School Lunch Project. A teacher is eating and documenting what is served for lunch at the school where she works. It is both entertaining and enlightening!

Is it time to make a stand in your school?

How do you feel about school lunch?

Chickens Riding Motorcycles

by Mike Johnson

It's time for a new contest but first let me explain:

I took this picture in the Dominican Republic when I lived there. I loved the country and the people. I was always amazed by what people could carry around on motorcycles. You could walk down the street and see anything from huge propane gas tanks on the back of a motorcycles to washing machines. Yes, I actually saw someone with a washing machine strapped to the back of their motorcycle.

Anyhow, I snapped this picture as soon as I saw this guy. I know it is cruel and I am not condoning carrying chickens on the handle bars of your scooter, but you have to admit that it is amazing. I don't know if you realize this but the chickens were all alive. Look at the chicken on the left that is raising up and flapping it's wings.

Now for the contest rules.

We are going to have a chicken photograph contest.
Send us your chicken pictures to:

backyardfarmingblog@gmail.com

They can be funny, artistic, heart warming, or beautiful. You name it and we want to see it. Next week we will post your pictures and have everyone vote for the best one. The winner gets this set of egg holders. We have some of our own and we love them.

The Raw Milk Revolution

After Dale's raw milk series, I decided I wanted to educate myself further on the topic. I'm reading, "The Raw Milk Revolution". Has anyone out there in blog land read this book? I'm not that far it, but it is really interesting. It does seem like it is very "one sided" on the debate, the author is pro-raw milk. Does anyone have any suggestions on reading material the pose the good and bad regarding raw milk?

What Are You Doing This Weekend?

(Maya, summer 2009)

I'm hoping these pictures will help inspire me to clean up the yard, pick up doggie poopies, and assess the garden this weekend, just to see what needs to be done before we plant our seeds next week.

My goal is to have our peas, carrots, beets, and lettuces in the ground next weekend.
Be sure to check when the proper time to plant your cold weather crops would be for your area!
No, it isn't the same for everyone!!!

What are you hoping to accomplish?

~marisa

Is Your Blog Carbon Neutral?

Backyard Farming just became Carbon Neutral, and you can do it too! It is really easy. Just click on the button on the left or click on this link for instructions.

Bloomin' Handmade Greeting Card

This is the cutest idea! Not only is this an adorable greeting card, but you can take the petals off the card, plant it in your garden and it will grow flowers. So, your card now becomes a gift as well! You can check out the directions for making this over at Make and Takes. Man, people are so crafty and creative!

They Eat Their Young!

by Michael

A few weeks ago our chickens quit laying eggs. One day we were getting 5 a day and the next day we didn’t have any. Usually this means they aren’t getting enough food, they are too cold, or they aren’t getting the right nutrients from their feed and it happens more often during the winter. Chickens can also stop laying when they molt but most of our chickens molted over the last few months and it is rare that all of them would molt at once.

Our first step was to check the heat lamp and it was still on. The next culprit, a lack of food, was checked and the chickens were getting plenty of food. This left one dreaded reason that we could think of for why the eggs were disappearing. OUR CHICKENS WERE EATING THEIR YOUNG!

This is not an uncommon thing. If chickens accidentally crack their eggs they might taste them and find that they like them. This will lead to the chickens cracking the eggs by pecking them and eating all of the eggs. To make sure that your eggs don’t crack accidentally, make sure that you add soft padding to the nests and make sure your chickens aren’t too crowded as this can lead to more trampled, cracked eggs.

I was really worried that our chickens were eating the eggs since I have heard that once they start they might never quit. We read online that if your chickens are eating your eggs, that you can add golf balls to the nest. This will often lead to your chickens pecking the golf balls, and quitting since it isn’t pleasant to hit a golf ball with your beak. Try throwing a golf ball at your teeth and you will know what I mean. We didn’t have any golf balls, but we did have some plastic Easter eggs so we decided to give it a shot and throw them into the nest. I don’t know if it is a pre-Easter miracle, but this colorful method worked and we started getting eggs again. For the first few days the chickens were cracking our Easter eggs open but they have quit cracking both so I guess they decided it wasn’t worth the effort to guess which eggs are real and which are fake. Now I can have eggs for breakfast again.

I guess chickens aren’t as smart as I thought.

Tell us if you have experienced something similar and how your resolved the problem.