Chickens offer two readily known assets to a homestead in producing eggs and meat. I have found a third use for chickens here on CG Heartbeats Farm. While I am likely not the first to do so, in this post I share how I have put chickens to work on the homestead.
Humble Beginnings
One of my frustrations early on in this journey was a desire to garden, but no good way to bust up the sod which has a fantastic root system. I wanted to turn parts of the yard into garden space as long as 2 or 3 years. I started looking for little ways to begin producing some of my own food and here is where that journey has taken me so far.
Originally, I used broken buckets to grow sweet potatoes and pots to grow peppers, and tomatoes. The first year I had the best success with the sweet potatoes and from that soil, created a small container garden. I also utilized a part of one the flower beds which for years, I hardly kept the grass at bay. My garlic journey began with 18 cloves of garlic in 2016 with 3 varieties. Fast forward 5 years later, I have around 600 cloves planted in 8 varieties. I no longer use the flower garden. Now I am able to use other areas, thanks to the work of chickens.
Looking Back
As a part of using what I had in the form of dog kennel panels, I set up first one 10 x 10 and an additional 5 x 5 off the side of the 10 x10 pen. These were covered in a netting that we had purchased in a roll and a part of that roll remains. These pens were placed in an area where I wanted to create garden space. In the fall of 2018, the chickens had sufficiently killed off the sod in the 5 x 5 pen.
How did I know this you might wonder? There was almost no visible grass or roots sticking up in this pen. A few stray root tops near the surface along a piece of wood was about all I could see from the surface. Simply put, it had a look of bare ground.
I moved the 3 panels to a different side of the 10 x 10 pen. In this new location, more sod could be removed by the chickens.
Back to the spot where the pen had been. My next step was to take a spade to this area and turn the dirt over. At this time, I also found and removed any remaining roots I could find. There were a few, but certainly not the number that would have been present had I randomly picked this spot in the yard and tried to start digging up the grass. I have done that before when planning grapes and black raspberries and it proved to be a bit difficult for my current physical state.
Sustainable Gardening Ideas
With the ground prepared, I used this area to plant the Music garlic variety and has a mild, sweet flavor that I find pleasing. It has been a bit of a trial for me being the first time I had planted garlic in this area of the farm. Knowing this spot also contained a sandy subsoil same as where I planted garlic before in a garden near the house, I felt confident planting one variety in this location. Adding hay chaff and eventually wood chips are a practice for garlic I am raising. Both could be considered a waste product, but not if I am looking for ways to be sustainable. Since I don’t like weeding and I love the benefits of chaff and woodchips as a method to cover the soil.
Recalling the Spring of 2019
Spring of 2019 rolled around and proved it was indeed excellent for garlic. It is doing every bit as well as in the other location where it is planted on CG Heartbeats Farm.
In March I was itching for the 3rd week of April to arrive for that was the week I planned to move all the current panels to a new nearby location. Here the chickens would have fresh ground and I would have another garden plot. I am finding I like the idea of having different plots around on the farm instead of one large garden area. I think it adds character, reduces wind and water erosion, and in time with some flowers mixed in, beauty. It may provide a way to rotate crops in different areas, a sustainable practice.
I had started heritage tomato seeds indoors and looked forward to planning them outside in this new garden space. My excitement helped energize me for the task. No sooner than the new pens set up we had 5 inches of rain in about a week’s time. That put a damper on the progress.
Help from a Friend
I learned to know Julie last year at while attending the markets. She has proved to be a continued encouragement to me. She had earlier offered to bring her tiller over and work the ground for me, saving me the work with a spade. This past Monday that day finally arrived.
Feeling excited to see the progress made, I proceeded to plant the tomatoes that day. What I cannot share in a picture or quite in words was the smell. I will only say that ground did NOT smell like roses. Julie, in her encouraging way, said, “You will have the biggest tomatoes around.” This in response to my comment about the bad smell.
Now that tomatoes are planted and covered due to the forecasted temps in the low thirties and I will continue to leave the cover on until the weather has warmed. These ‘covers’ are the tops of apple cider vinegar and milk jugs, an example of ways to re-propose materials otherwise considered trash. (#usewhatyouhave) This project has cost me little to nothing. Perhaps even saved me a small amount as it provided a natural food source for the chickens while they lived outside. I did, of course, feed them additional food.
Continuing the Progress
Over the last 2.5 years I have continued putting the chickens to work on the homestead creating additional garden space. I am getting close to creating a garden entrance and fencing a portion of the garden.
Garlic and onions are currently planted in a 10 foot by 36-foot garden where chicken pens sat in 2020. Eventually a portion of this space will be home to an additional row of grape vines.
planting. This is one of several current garden spaces. Notice I had just started to put hay chaff on.
The vision of the gardens I am creating has developed slowly over the last few years. To be honest, it will likely continue to be modified as time goes by.
I am looking forward to adding flower bulbs against a fence line. Last fall I planted 2 Dwarf Alberta Spruce trees, one in each outside corner of where the fence will be. How are you using what you have?
