Chicken Tractor. Photo: Jessica Reeder

Pretty much everywhere I’ve been where I thought life is good, the people had chickens. It just makes sense on so many levels. You can get organic eggs, you can harvest meat, the chickens help make the land more fertile–and it doesn’t take a lot of space to do it.

A couple days ago I saw this piece on the recent surge of people raising backyard chickens, which is legal here in Sarasota county. People living even on very small lots can use chicken ‘tractors’ like the one pictured here. Tractors are basically inexpensive floor-less coops that you move from place to place around your yard. The chickens scratch at insects and worms, and their manure goes directly into the ground as organic fertilizer.

Here’s a great resource to find out what the laws are for having chickens in various places around the US. It’s surprising how many urban areas, such as Seattle, allow you to raise chickens. Here’s another good site that sells tractor kits (although they’d be super easy to build yourself if you have carpentry skills) as well as poultry supplies.

As we settle down in Patagonia this fall, we’re definitely thinking about having chickens. I’m tired of buying everything. I want Layla to grow up eating food that comes right from our land, food we raise ourselves.

Community Connection

Anyone raise / raised chickens in an urban environment or using a tractor? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Wedding photos by Philip Chang

I could write about how not to spend money on a wedding — getting married at City Hall or eloping to some far flung place. But this is for those who want to have a more “traditional wedding” without having to take out a second mortgage on their home.

Below are some tips on where and how you can save some cash in planning your wedding, and still make it the beautiful and classy one you always wanted.

Free cherry blossoms

1. Keep the guest count down

Do you really need to invite your third cousin twice removed’s little niece? Stick to those who you keep in touch with on a regular basis. If you haven’t broke bread with someone in over a year, it’s probably not appropriate for them to partake in your day. We kept the guest numbers down by limiting the invitees to immediate family and the closest of friends.

Yes, you may rub some people the wrong way, but this is your day. You have your reasons, and they should be respected.

To take that further, we split the wedding in two parts: ceremony/dinner and par-tay. Half the guests came after dinner to celebrate with us, which also helped keep costs down.

2. Make your own invitations

Another nice thing about keeping the guest count down is you need fewer invitations. This means you should have time to make and send them out yourselves. If you’re crafty like my wife, you can make unique and special cards. We included a blank page in the invitation and requested that the guests make it their page in our guestbook and to bring it to the wedding.

With the time they had we received some really thoughtful and colourful pages to insert into our guestbook. Much more personal than just a couple sentences and a signature, or, worse, drunken words of advice.

3. Use your contacts

If you think about it, you probably know someone who has some handy skills you could take advantage of. Maybe even a friend of a friend. An old high school chum who I occasionally ran into agreed to do our flower arrangements (it just so happened she is a florist). In lieu of payment, we invited her to the wedding.

Friends and family were also more than willing to chip in as they could, some coming to the venue early to help set up decorations and chairs. And speaking of venues…

Barclay Manor in Vancouver’s West End

4. Find a cheap venue

While the big ballroom with floor-to-ceiling glass and a panoramic view over the ocean is ideal, it’s going to be expensive. Find a place that doesn’t normally do weddings.

We scored a beautiful heritage house and struck up a nice little relationship with the events coordinator. We negotiated a great deal and had extra access to the venue for planning purposes and also cleaning up post-wedding.

5. Be your own DJ

Sorry DJs of the world, but you aren’t needed here. We sent out an email to our guests and asked them for song requests. I then mixed everything together myself with MixMeister. It was easy to use and it was fun putting it together, plus it makes a great memento. We still have the original file and dance to it on our anniversary.

At the wedding, you can play this mix from your iPod or laptop. We rented a mixing board and big speakers for party level music. We also got a dancing colour light.

Professional DJ for $1000 or this set-up for $80? You decide.

6. Don’t go pro

It’s not always a case of “you get what you pay for”. We’ve all heard the horror stories of professionals providing less than adequate service. But it also works the other way round. You can get some seriously good service for a discounted price.

Photographer: We found one just starting out in the biz and so was offering a deep discount while he built up his profile. He came with an assistant (with his own camera too) and was with us for eight hours.

Plus, he was willing to give us all the images he (and his assistant) took throughout the day instead of just a set amount of prints.

The “homemade” wedding cake

Videographer: Also a newbie, but as this was his first wedding he offered to do it for free to get his portfolio going. The end result was fantastic and he was extremely professional, polite, and took great care of us.

Caterer: Try a culinary school to keep your catering costs down. If you’re in Vancouver, check out Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts. My mouth is watering just thinking of the food they dished up that night.

We found a cheap and cheerful bartender off Craigslist, where we also found the photographer and videographer. Just make sure you meet with them at least a couple times to make sure you’re comfortable with them.

7. Make your own cake

This is not for the faint hearted, but you can save heaps here. Rather than a sugary, fluffy cake, use one you actually like. We used a tuxedo cake (from Save-On Foods) square base, with a round raspberry and white chocolate cake on top, offset in the corner for artistic purposes. And, of course, decorated it.

8. Find some good, cheap booze

Who says you have to spend over $20 a bottle for some good wine? We tested a bottle or two each week, which was fun in itself, and found a red (Chile) and a white (Germany) for around $10. Same goes for the sparkling stuff, no need for the Dom Perignon.

9. Finally, recoup the costs

I don’t care what people say, I think it’s perfectly fine to ask for cash gifts, especially when the guest knows where it’s going (i.e. travel funds). You can also mix it with a registry of sorts for things you actually need.

Other random things we did to keep the costs down:

We rented a white PT Cruiser — modern, classy AND cheap — and I asked a work colleague to be our chauffeur. We “pruned” the cherry blossom trees around town for some free and beautiful center pieces (do this under the cloak of night).

All unopened bottles of booze and mixers were returned to the liquor store and Safeway, respectively.

Also, Yvonne’s wedding dress was so last year. But it was also so not expensive. And it was so gorgeous.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

If you’d rather plan a destination wedding than go the traditional route, Matador has the Ultimate Guide to Planning a Destination Wedding.

And we’ll never leave you at the altar– check out 16 Places to Stretch Your Honeymoon Dollar too.

For those of you who have already passed this stage and are on the next phase, you’d best read the Expectant Mom’s Guide to Travel.

How about you? Do you have any wedding money saving tips to share?

Pop them in the comments below!

Photo: mynameisharsha

Why Cold-Brew?

Chilling hot coffee is a common way to make quick and easy iced coffee. Cold-brewing takes several hours. Why bother?

Cold-brewing extracts the flavor and caffeine of the coffee grounds, but less of the oils and acids. Without heat, you get great-tasting iced coffee without the bitterness. Try the two side-by-side sometime. You will be converted.

The Recipe

Fill a glass container with 6 tablespoons of ground coffee.

Add 2 cups filtered water.

Cover and let rest for 12 hours.

Strain the coffee through a filter.

Fill two glasses with ice and add coffee.

(Optional) Add cream and sugar to taste.

Develop Your Caffeine Habit

Photo: findfado

Twelve hours is a long time to wait for coffee. To make cold-brewed coffee regularly, you need to plan ahead.

First, get a French press. They are easy to use for brewing both hot and cold coffee. Each night, around dinnertime, fill the press with coffee grounds and filtered water.

It will be ready at breakfast.

After you try it a few times, experiment with the amount of coffee grounds and the timing. I like the portions in the recipe above, but you might want to adjust the strength. Also, some people prefer a 24 hour brewing. On the other hand, you can cut it down to as little as four hours – make it at breakfast and enjoy it with lunch.

Cold-brewing Tips

Photo: thebittenword.com

To get great coffee flavor, buy good whole-bean coffees. Look for fair trade. Make sure it was roasted recently.

Coarse grind your coffee. The mesh screen on the French press will do a better job of filtering.

Add a little cream and sugar if you want, but try it plain first. It is smooth and probably won’t need as much extra stuff added as you are used to with hot coffee.

For variety, add a bit of honey or cinnamon to the coffee grounds. Or try adding some peppermint loose leaf tea. Flavored syrups will work as well.

Use filtered water.

If you drink iced coffee all day, you won’t be able to make them fast enough with this recipe. Consider purchasing the largest French press you can find. Multiply the recipe to make large batches. You can store the extra coffee in your refrigerator. It will keep for days and it won’t get that nasty old coffee taste.

Community Connection:

Travelers looking to make coffee on the road should check out Matador’s Coffee Gear for Coffee Fanatics. Also, don’t forget how your purchases affect the lives of coffee producers. Read more at Fair Trade for Beginners.

Feature photo by CrowdedGarage. Photo above by joey.parsons.

Erase

Purchase a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser (or your store’s knockoff). These sponges are the greatest invention since the stripper pole.

Cut the sponge into 2-inch strips (you’ll get more use out of them, since using a whole sponge dirties it fast), apply a little bit of water and rub like crazy on anything vinyl. You’ll be shocked at how much dirt you can remove, especially from the sneaker’s lower sides.

Wash

It’s time to dunk these Chucks in the washing machine. Always take the laces off first, as they’re prone to turning machinery into mayhem. Remember to pack the machine with a whole load of clothes, because otherwise the noise from the machine will wake every baby within a two mile radius.

Photo by Tom Gates.

Add detergent and if you’ve got some, fabric softener. If you’re cleaning white Cons, I’ve also had success adding them to the “whites” wash load using some bleach.

Dry

When washed, you’ll want to dry them in the sun. I never put them in the dryer, mostly because heat doesn’t seem like a good thing to do with cheaply glued sneakers. Also, the noise is just ungodly.

Open the tongues and imagine the fragrance from all of the smelly bar-nights disappearing into the atmosphere. If you’ve worn the to a concert or festival recently, it also helps to pray. When half-dry, I often stick a Bounce inside for good measure.

Surgery

Arm yourself with some Crazy Glue. The first thing to go with Chuck Taylors is a piece of molding in near the toes. Nobody knows why – it’s one of the great mysteries of the world.

Five Months And Still Kicking. Photo by Tom Gates.

Get in there and do a little bit of surgery, if necessary. I take the cotton off a q-tip to apply it and use as little glue as possible, so that it won’t splatter onto the outside of the shoe and look unsightly. There’s also a product called “Shoe Gum Repair” that can help out if things have gone horribly wrong.

Sole

Chuck Taylors are VW Bug’s of sneakers, efficient but not meant to last. After a couple of polishes, you’ll might have to add a new insole. Heel pads can play an important role, as the area at the back of the sneaker seems to rot quickly, as if it’s been attacked by a sneaker-eating virus.

Lace

The last step is to add new laces. Remember to buy a size appropriate for 14 eyelets, usually 114cm or so.

Photo by Tom Gates.

The cool thing is that with a little expense and lots of love, a pair of Chucks can easily last a year. We’d love to hear your tips for shoe/clothes resurrection in the replies!