Mowing the pasture

This week on the urban farm I've been thinking quite a bit about my yard, specifically the lawn. Now that spring is in full bloom and the weather feels more and more like summer, I have been spending a lot of time each week mowing the grass. When I set out this spring, I was imagining that the lawn would be my "hay field" and I would toss bags of newly cut grass into the chicken coop to provide them with greens.

The chickens love picking through grass and any other plants I toss in for them.

Reality check... even one bag of grass is way too much for the chickens, perhaps a good month of chicken salad, and goats are not allowed in town (sadly I am not a fan of goat milk or cheese anyway).

Too much grass

I realize that there is a deeply held cultural belief that weed-free, grassy, expansive yards are important to a neighborhood and that they keep house values up. But there are many reasons to re-think these ideals. There is even an organization called Food Not Lawns that advocates tuning lawns into gardens.

A dwarf Honey Crisp apple tree is surrounded by a sea of lawn.

I do think there is a place for grass-- the urban farm dog would be very sad if she didn't have a place to play fetch with her tennis ball-- but for the amount of time I spend mowing, weed eating, edging, and discussing the merits of not using chemicals to keep my lawn in check, I could be growing more food.

Our clover-filled, chemical-free yard is kept mowed short to fit into the neighborhood.

Over time I hope to have less lawn and more food.

Why turn at least some of your lawn into a food-producing area? Some of my reasons.

Relationships with your neighbors: chatting over the fence on quiet summer evenings while you're weeding your tomato beds will build friendships in a society where social isolation is more and more common.

Hens are a great source of conversation, and both adults and kids are interested in seeing them.

Vitamin D: especially if you work indoors all day, having a reason to be outside in the sunshine is both mentally and physically beneficial, and garden chores are known to be relaxing and can help reduce stress.

Especially in northern climates, it's good to get in the sun for a while each day.

Put your yard to work: producing vegetables or fruits is a great sense of accomplishment. Throw a dinner party and serve veggies from your garden. Your friends will be very impressed!

Cool weather salad greens grow quickly and make for easy "gateway" garden veggies.

Teach your kids (and yourself) where food comes from: modern folks have lost contact with what it takes to grow your own food. Once you've fought bugs, harvested delicious heirloom tomatoes, and gotten your own boots dirty, you'll know the effort it would take to feed yourself if you had to, and you'll be better equipped to argue all of the fun topics of the day, like GMOs and organic farming. You'll also have complete control over what you grow and how it is grown-- bonus!

My boots after working the community garden. My advice: raised beds will keep your feet clean!

Do what you love; love what you do

I've been really busy this week planting, transplanting, weeding, mowing, finishing up projects, and eating salads, so I haven't started anything new. What I have been doing is thinking about luck and jobs and happiness. I used to think that people who loved their work were lucky, but I am now convinced that most people work hard to find a position in life that makes them get out of bed singing.

I am so happy with my new work that I forget what day it is and don't mind popping out of bed early in the morning. Last Sunday I was hanging out with some good friends talking about how nice it was that it was Saturday night. In my mind it felt like an evening to have fun and celebrate-- in the past I was afflicted with a "Monday dread" that often started as early as Sunday morning, and now I don't always know (or care) what day it is.

It is time well spent to work towards finding something you love to do that fits into the life you want to have. Money is certainly important (my friends and family can tell you that I am a planner and a saver and I love to stretch my dime!). That said, if taking a pay cut or having one person in a relationship step away from a paying job makes everyone happier and more sane, then it's well worth it. Life it too darn short to dread Mondays and waste every Sunday being unhappy. 


A week at the urban farm in photos

We've had a really cool May, but I think the raspberry harvest will be just fine.

Radish season is almost over (until fall) but salad greens are still going strong!

I transplanted these teeny tiny tomatoes a few days early and protected them from frost with mason jars. Many people's tomatoes have died, so I am feeling lucky to have waited.

As of this week, the gardens at home are mostly planted. Peppers, okra, winter squash, and other hot weather veggies will go in at the end of May.

The solar powered automatic coop door is a hit with the humans!

Farmer's Market Find of the Week

I like to see what's hot at the farmer's market (both to think about what I might sell someday and also to find the value of what I am working on). This delicious 16 oz. jar of spicy sweet pickles was $5.25.

Tricking out the chicken coop

It has been a crazy busy week here at the urban farm. The chicks are growing quickly-- becoming very crowded in their brooder box-- and living in the stuffy garage gets warm this time of year. Preparing a space for them to live outside became priority #1.

My wonderful parents gifted me a chicken coop for my birthday.

Original coop

The three main issues with the coop were the height (about 3 feet tall), it didn't have predator protections (the neighborhood fox could dig right under the run), and the top of the run was open (rain and snow would be an issue). So we decided to modify it to fit our and our chick's needs.

There are many coop design ideas available online. This is one example of a complete plan.

Playhouse coop

The main features I like: the run is tall enough to walk in (important for feeding and cleaning) and the coop off the ground (to avoid rodent issues). Once we knew our goals, it was time to build.

The trips to the hardware store were numerous...

The first thing we needed to do was expand the run. We were able to repurpose the original coop and run materials and add to them, and we planned to use wood stain so that the new and original lumber would match.

The new run is angled with the taller side facing south for winter sun.

A sturdy metal roof over the top of the run keeps the chickens dry and cool.

The front of the coop has a full size door.

Hardware cloth is stapled to the bottom and lies flat on the ground around the run. 12"x12" decorative blocks were placed on top of the hardware cloth. This keeps digging predators out.

I then learned the hard truth about our birds... they were going to get big! Beach ball big!

Because they are going to be large birds, we needed to give them more sleeping space in the coop. The original coop has a very nice coop design and style, so we doubled the size by building another identical coop and connecting them to make one large coop.

Double-wide coop with original nesting box (all stained dark).

The last issue we have (and I'm guessing this is an issue with most chicken keepers) is that we can't always be at home by sundown to lock the chickens up. I found this door online, and as soon as we get the chicks coop trained (where they will put themselves to bed each night) this will be our answer to late nights out.

The door runs on solar power (there are other power options as well) and it has a photo sensor so that it opens automatically at dawn and shuts at dusk. It's heavy duty and gets great reviews online.

Pullet-Shut Chicken Door

My last addition to the coop I am going to install tonight... a chicken nightlight. I just learned that chickens can't see in the dark at all. When dusk comes, it's lighter outside in the run than inside the coop. We sat outside and watched them wanting to go into their coop last night, but they were afraid of the dark and ended up piling into a corner of the run (I scooped them up and put them into the coop when I realized that they were sound asleep). Tonight I am adding a nightlight on a timer so that they will see the coop as a light, safe place to go when it's getting dark outside. After a few nights with the night light I'm hoping they will be trained and we can start using the new door. 

Do you keep chickens? How did you coop train them?