Living a self-sustaining lifestyle means more than just having a pantry full of food. OJ and Dory Howell have been on a self-sustaining path since they got married 21 years ago.   
 
“Our church encourages us to keep a year’s food supply on hand,” says OJ (Orlen Jr.) Howell, president of ProSTAR Industries, a Bryan, Texas-based jan/san distributor. “We always have at least 40 chickens. We have two ponds stocked with 400 to 500 pounds of largemouth bass, catfish and perch, which we use now for catch-and-release fishing, but the fish are there if we ever need them for food.”

Dory, ProSTAR’s vice president and controller, has a large garden about 75 feet long by 40 feet wide. They also have pear, fig and lemon trees. Dory cans vegetables and fruit, and grinds wheat into flour and uses it to make bread. OJ and his sons hunt deer, and a year’s supply of deer meat is kept in their freezers.

“We have an industrial-sized generator, so if the electricity goes out, the generator can run our refrigerators, emergency lights and a hot water heater,” says OJ. “I’m putting in a 500-gallon diesel tank that can support the generator, a tractor and our three trucks. We also have a water well that is backed up with solar power, and have a water filtration system that could be used on the water in the pond if we need to do so.”  

Other than losing power for two days during a hurricane, OJ said they haven’t had to be totally self-sustaining, so the system hasn’t been completely tested yet. Food needs to be rotated regularly and systematically.

“The oldest food needs to be eaten first, and when you open the big five-gallon pails of wheat and flour as part of rotating the supplies, you need to organize how the food will be used, or you end up throwing it away,” says OJ.

OJ and Dory have five children, and in addition to the chickens and fish, the family includes three horses (two regular-sized and one miniature horse, which OJ calls a “pasture ornament”). Up next the Howells plan on getting a cow.

Because the Howells live in the country on 11.2 acres, they can have as many chickens as they want. Usually they have about 60 chickens, but they recently lost some to coyotes.

“The chicken coop has an automatic door that closes at seven o’clock at night, and opens up again 12 hours later,” says OJ. “I think the coyotes started timing the door closings and openings, and they got about 25 of our chickens.

The Howells plan to replenish the coop with another 20 chickens. When the flock is up to 60 chickens, they’ll produce about three dozen eggs a day, which is plenty for the family. Extra eggs are shared with employees at ProSTAR.

The chicken coop has an automatic water feeder, lights, heat lamps, windows that open and close, and an adjacent 200-square foot fully enclosed outdoor aviary. The coop is protected by a barrier of chicken wire buried one foot into the ground to keep small predators out.

“I thought I made the coop snake-proof, but a big bull snake got in and ate a four-month old chicken,” says OJ. “The only reason I found the snake in the chicken coop is because it got too fat after it ate the chicken, and couldn’t get back out.”    

Gretchen Roufs, an 18-year janitorial supply industry veteran, owns a marketing and public relations company in San Antonio. To suggest someone you think should be featured in “Freetime,” contact her at Gretchen@GretchenRoufs.com.




POSTED ON: 5/1/2012