My backyard microfarming cycle

What I love most about microfarming is how everything works together to create a perfect sustainability environment.  Wow, that's a lot of big words...what does it all mean?

For me, it started with trees.  In 2005, we moved to our Century House, which is a home built in 1900 with certification in the historic district within our city that it is at 100 years old.  In the yard were both paw paw and walnut trees.  For those who don't know, paw paws are a sweet fruit that tastes like custard.  I would pick the ripened paw paws from the trees and sometimes eat it raw.  We also had walnuts fall all over the yard, starting in August.  I would gather them when they were still green balls, and wait for them to ripen.  We also had a natural blackberry patch, where we gathered delicious fruit...until the year I thought they were weeds and accidentally killed them...Of the nuts and paw paws, I only took what we needed, and I left the rest to the rabbits, squirrels and birds that were in our yard.  Before long, I noticed how, in a natural emergency, we would be able to take care of ourselves if needed, through nature.

With this in mind, I started planting vegetables.  I started with tomatoes because they're easy.  Last year I added herbs and peppers.  This year I added cucumbers and squash.  

Then we got the chickens.  In winter, we have to invest in more feed than during the summer, because in summer, they eat our leftover vegetables, grass, and herbs (this also helps the coop smell better because of the poop).

Speaking of poop, not only do my chickens produce eggs (which I also use my garden vegetables and herbs for), but they produce...POOP!  Awesome, nutritious poop!  Natural fertilizer.  When we clean the pen and coop, we scoop the poop into our garden, which helps the soil, which helps grow the vegetables and herbs, which helps feed us...and our chickens...it's a circle of sustainability, and is found in my own backyard.