The Integral Urban House

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Some 10 to 20 rabbits, depending on whether or not a litter has been born recently, are also housed on the structure's shady side. Commercial pellets, garden-grown alfalfa, and discarded produce obtained from a nearby market make up the bunnies' diet. (EDITORS NOTE: You can learn more about the feeding, breeding, and care of rabbits by reading E. P. Bell's and Bob Bode's articles in MOTHER NO. 32.)

Rabbits are an ideal meat animal for the urban homesteader because they're quiet, very little trouble to raise, produce high quality protein, and are easy to kill. This last point may not seem too important to some of you well-seasoned homesteaders. But if you consider how far-removed the average city dweller is from the life-and-death process of maintaining a food supply, you'll understand that the "social acceptance of the slaughter" can sometimes become the most important factor in the decision when an urbanite chooses between raising his or her own food and buying it from a supermarket.

All told, the scant handful of Integral Urban House rabbits and chickens produce a whopping 350 pounds of meat annually, at a cost of only 25¢ to 35¢ per pound. In addition, the hens lay about 1,560 (130 dozen) eggs a year, worth at least 50¢ per dozen . . . or a total of $65. To say nothing about the valuable manure (and—in the case of the rabbits—pelts) produced by this small livestock. That's a pretty good bargain by anyone's standards.

AQUACULTURE

Sterling Bunnell—the Farallones institute's biological expert—manages an IUH aquaculture program, designed to determine if the production of fish and crustaceans can be made feasible for city dwellers. Bunnell has concentrated on raising native California water life—such as Sacramento blackfish, rainbow trout, and Pacifasticus (a genus of crayfish that can grow to lobster size)—in an experimental fish pond in the house's small yard.

Along with the daphnia and algae that grow naturally in the pond, Bunnell's "livestock" feeds on worms and bees raised by Integral Urban House staffers. The worms are grown in sawdust-covered trays mounted below IUH chicken cages to catch the birds' droppings. (The little wigglers thus serve as both fish food and "workers" that speed the production of compost from the chicken manure.)

The bees—on the other hand—fall into the pond only occasionally, and by accident, as they return to either of two hives located above the body of water. Says Sterling: "Happily, the hives contain so many bees that the loss—now and then—of a few unlucky ones doesn't hurt anything."

At present, Bunnell is installing a biological filtration system designed to remove growth-inhibiting wastes (produced by the fish) from the pond's water. The system is stunningly simple: It's nothing more than a bed of oyster shells—coated with bacteria that feed upon (and filter out) impurities in the water—through which the body of water's effluent is passed. If it works, the filtering system should significantly increase the yield (by weight) of fish from the small pond.

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