Stihl, Stihl, Stihl

Phil borrowed Doug Bush’s chainsaw at Bible study last night. He wanted to experience the chainsaw again, to see if it was as bad as he remembered last year, or if it had a place in our life.

He didn’t hate it as much. It’s cooler weather, so the oil fumes aren’t quite so penetrating. He’s in better shape, so the discomfort of holding a 13 pound vibrating lethal machine didn’t bother him as much as it had. It definitely cut the stumps off flat and low.

So we talked through pros and cons. Potentially lethal but faster. Louder but flatter end result. If we bought one, would he use it? If we didn’t, would he regret it?

In the end, he went off to buy a Stihl, perhaps the "John Deere" of the chainsaw world. (In our book The Backyard Lumberjack, they say this: "the Stihl/Husqvarna debate remains as lively in some circles as the Ford/Chevy conundrum does in others. Actually, they're pretty much the same circles." The stereotype makes me laugh: stereotypes are there for a reason!)

In proper backwoods style, he combined this trip with a trip to the feed store. I have yet to acquire a good sense of how much the animals eat. In mid-December, I bought 300 pounds of feed for both chickens and hogs, hoping that would last until the delivery date late this month. I was two weeks short.

The feed, too, resulted in a lengthy discussion. The Bessettes buy from a man who mixes grains and field peas for about 1/3 the price we’ve been paying. Our organic, soy free blend, has expensive additives like kelp (seaweed) and acidophilus (cultures also found in yogurt to help digestion). I don’t care much about organic, but I don’t feed soy to my family and don’t feed soy to my animals.

We need to contact the Bessette’s supplier, because it could be that we switch, and just add our own kelp and vitamins. That could work. My concern, though, is that the grains might be genetically modified. My understanding is that most non-organic grains in the US come from genetically modified seed. (“Genetically modified” means that man tampered with the DNA of the seed, by inserting, say, a fish gene into the plant gene. This is a combination that would never occur naturally, and I cannot imagine good coming of it. Muckraker Jeffrey Smith wrote several books on the topic; I’ve read Seeds of Deception and would recommend it.)

As Phil and I discussed feed prices, I realized that is an issue I’m not willing to bend on. I would prefer not to eat meat that eats soy or genetically modified food. So until we find out about the Bessette’s feed, we’ll stick with our pricey feed.

My calculations today make me think that, before the chickens start laying, we’ll have spent about $20 per bird (price of the chick plus price of the feed), and then they’ll cost about $4 per bird every month thereafter. I am used to paying about $.30 per egg for the industrial organic eggs; at that price, I think it is potentially possible to break even, or maybe even come out ahead.

The pigs were less encouraging. I have my suspicions that we won’t break even, once we factor in the price for butchering. But perhaps I am being too mercenary. After all, experience, manure, and free plowing are all worth something, albeit not much monetarily. And perhaps, in the end, they, too, will break even. Or we'll eat well.