What's a chicken garden, you ask? Well, first you take a weed-infested pen, and cover it with cardboard and feed sacks (the paper kind), then you dump on 3 loads (at least) of composted sheep manure and bedding (thanks sheep!), then you generously sprinkle all kinds of yummy things that chickens love to eat, either in baby plant form or in full-veggie delight. We have chosen, various lettuces, cabbages, chard, spinach, broccoli, etc. We will have to keep the ladies out of the area for a bit to let it germinate and grow in the gorgeous Okanagan sunshine, because, not knowing what awaits them if they are patient, the sillies will eat the seeds if we let them.
Then, probably in July, we will turn them loose on "their" garden.
In doing this, we will:
*enrich the soil
*feed the birds (thereby lowering our monetary output to care for them)
*enhance the nutrient value of their eggs (which we eat, making us healthier)
*recycle the sheep's poop into really great stuff
*smother the weeds that are currently taking over said enclosure.
*ridding ourselves of weeds, without any chemicals whatsoever
*recycling cardboard
AND, since we have chicks and approximately half of these will be roosters, which we intend to make into dinner at some point, we will also be enhancing the nutrient value of the meat we are consuming.
Fun, eh? We think so :)
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