Questions? Answers!

I had some excellent questions from an anonymous reader, and I would like to answer those.

NO TILL
I had previously mentioned about using newspaper and no till for a portion of the garden.  It turns out that it's a small portion, newspaper laid on the ground, seed potatoes planted directly on top, and covered with straw.  I haven't seen anything poking out yet, but I'll report when I do.  I did not use newspaper in any other areas, although I would have liked to.  It would have taken a very, very long time to lay the paper, and I was a bit pressed.

BUCKWHEAT IS A WEED?
Anonymous expressed concern about using buckwheat in such a liberal fashion as I have been, strewing it everywhere.  Buckwheat is a strong plant, and tends to take over where it establishes.  It's roots give off a chemical that suppress other plants, and the tall canopy shades out the competition.  However, unlike mints, grasses, and thistles, buckwheat cannot spread through root rizhomes, it can only establish through seed.  If the plant does not go to seed, or the seed is collected, the buckwheat does not come back, it is not a perennial.  In Canada, buckwheat is planted as a crop in limited quantities, and is easy to grow.  The seeds are good food for animals, and the hulls are quite useful as well.  Buckwheat is probably one of the most common soil-building cover crops in use around the world today.  Oh, and bees love it!
My land is quite large, and my neighbors are far away, and buckwheat seeds are heavy, and can't be blown far.  My neighbors won't get any stray seeds growing on their property, but if they did, I'm sure they would spray just as for any other broadleaf plant.

WHAT IS A WEED ANYWAY?
Why do gardeners hate weeds so much?  Is it our love of order?  The desire for neat, straight rows of plants, growing with no competition?  Or is there some science?  Conventional wisdom tells us that "weeds" consume precious water and nutrients.  What then happens?  Do those nutrients vanish?  They are stored in the leaves. If we leave our garden to bare soil, we will find ourselves with crusty dry dirt in no time flat!  Many types of weeds spread across, keeping moisture in the soil.
Dandelions and other tap rooted plants penetrate the subsoil, creating carbon pathways, and nutrient channels that can be used by other plants.  If you cut them, and drop them, the leaves are excellent mulch, and contain a large amount of needed minerals.  Clover is a legume, and is also a wonderful mulch.  Grass can be suppressed with mulch, or pulled.  I already have plenty of dandelions growing in the garden, and I will control them, only to make sure that my garden plants can get through.  It's a lot faster to just cut them back than to pull them out.
Many so called "weeds" are found mainly in poor soil, and were designed by God to rebuild the soil structure.

CHICKEN
There are as many ways to raise chicken as there are moons circling Jupiter.  I choose to raise them in a way that reflects their natural habitat, the jungle.  Yes, chickens come from the jungle!  They do very well outside, all year round, and will roost in bushes, and trees if they are available.  Since I have no trees, I will have to put roosts out.
Pastured chicken has a very different taste from what you find in the grocery store, and a firmer texture.  It is not necessarily organic, but it can be.  Organic chicken can also be raised in little tiny cages, and many are.  Organic only refers to what the animal eats, not the conditions it is raised in.  My chicken will be many steps beyond organic, and I intend to market it like that!  Pastured meat is a fast-growing market segment, and there is plenty of consumer demand, especially from those who are concerned about the cruelty of raising a bird in a cage that is so small, it can't even turn around...