Self Sufficient in the Suburbs?

I've had a few questions asked about my newest adventure...backyard chickens (aka urban chickens) so I'm going to try to explain why we are doing this and things like this.

Really this all started for me because I want to try to become more self sufficient at home. I'm not talking about moving out to the middle of nowhere on 100 acres and trying to go off grid, just trying to save a little money.

Back when my husband and I were started to plan on having a second child it only made sense financially for me to stay home. Being that I was still some what "entry level" in my career field the cost of childcare (plus gas, etc) was eating up 75% of my pay check it wasn't really worth the time away from my kiddos. Around this time we also bought our first house. Though we were pretty modest about what we should buy and really put location and school district over square footage things were TIGHT.

I don't remember how I came across it (it may have been my husband) I read the book "Miserly Moms" by Jonni McCoy. It really gives good advise on living on one income in a two income world!

I basically followed to book to a tee, and managed to start saving a lot of money. One of the most effective things was in the food category. We don't buy any pre-made food. Okay I buy a few snacks per month for the kids (ex. goldfish or crackers) but everything else we make ourselves. As time went on I began to appreciate knowing the ingredients going into everything I was feeding my family...and that things were quite "organic" with no preservatives or artificial flavors.

Taking things a step further what else can I supply myself with at home.... Gardens and Chicken Coops. We've had small veggie gardens in the past but this year I am taking on the challenge of a bigger and more productive garden. I am starting my own seedlings inside, and hoping as the season goes on to can and freeze enough to have through winter (I'll share more on this later along with my layout, schedules, and plans).
I posted about Urban chickens here - the beginning of our adventure. We chose breeds that are "excellent" egg layers and should yield about a dozen eggs a week (Matt's uncle has the same breeds and receives one egg per hen a day!) But just as important I want the kids to really have an understanding of the process and be able to help! We even designed our Coop to have a trap door that the kids can reach straight into the nesting box to gather eggs!

So we'll just have to see how this years pans out for us! Funny that trying to be "green" and more self-sufficient is really just like re-verting back to life for our grandparents and generations before!
So follow along if you'd like if anything I'm sure it will be entertaining!