Cleaning out your chicken coop, while not the most glamorous way to spend a Saturday, is one of those tasks that brings so much satisfaction.
I aim to do this two times a year, usually Spring and Fall. Like most everything, I am running a tad behind schedule. How often you need to do it depends on how many chickens and how much space you have. I’ve read that if there’s a smell, it’s time to clean.
It’s one of those chores I build up in my mind and then when I actually do it, it takes like two hours and isn’t that bad. I will say this is a task for a COVID mask. The cobwebs, dust, debris, and whatever else you want to think is in a chicken coop are not things you want to inhale.
I follow these general steps for my coop cleaning:
Remove all waterers and feeders.
Empty wood shavings from nesting boxes onto the ground.
Rake and shovel out the top 3-5″ of ground cover. I haul it away in a wheelbarrow to a pile outside my garden to use as compost in my garden. Depending on how big your coop is, this could be 1-2 loads or many more.
I re-layer the ground with 3-5″ of fresh wood chips and fill the nesting boxes with fresh wood shavings.
I don’t know about you but my ladies are in low production mode. I’m hoping this helps them get more cozy for the winter.
I think it’s a bit funny that we say Happy Thanksgiving… Shouldn’t it be Have a Grateful Thanksgiving? Recently I heard someone describe the difference between gratitude and being grateful. She said that gratitude is more of a “I’m so happy X happened to me.” As if to say, we are only in a gratitude mindset when good things happen or things are going our way. Whereas being grateful is a sense of appreciating what is. Not just the good stuff, but the challenges and difficulties we for sure did not ask or hope for.
This year has taught me so much about life and myself. It has taken months and A LOT of struggle to move from “Why did this happen?!?!” to “This is what happened and here’s who I want to be as a result.” This has by no means been a linear process.
I still have a lot of crappy days. But amidst it all, there are beacons. Lighthouses in the distance that remind me it will get better. Sunsets on the horizon of electric pink and burning orange that make tomorrow look beautiful before it’s even arrived. It reminds us that even in the muck, we can try to see the situation from a different viewpoint.
Every day has it’s thing that was annoying or frustrating. But we can always balance it with the things that are going right. Salty and Sweet. Over the last few years, I’ve realized there are five things that have always helped me notice the good that’s right in front of me. They all start with the letter F too, and I’m not sure what that means.
Friendship. Friends are the fun. They are the silly. They are always up for a good time. And they are there to lift you up. Through parenting. Through marriage. Through heartbreak and loss. I have the best girlfriends from so many different walks of life and they all share their amazing wisdom so generously.
Family. Maybe it’s your blood relatives, maybe it’s not. Family is that small tribe of people who know your worst qualities and still love you. They see your failures and don’t judge you. My daughters and my husband help me to grow every day. Even when I think I got my Sh*t together, they show me the rough edges that need to be smoothed. That the best version of me is still coming to the surface.
Faith. Believing in something goes a long way toward seeing the possibility of brighter days. Humanity. Nature. God. Whatever it might be that makes sense to you, believing there is something bigger than you that wants you to do well is vastly important.
Fitness. Moving my body has been my north star for as long as I can remember and I hope it never changes. It makes me feel strong. It clears my head. It shows me I can push past a limit. It’s a metaphor for getting unstuck. Returning to biking this past summer with a close friend did more for my mental health than I could have thought possible. It gave me something to look forward to every week and helped me feel strong when I thought I was going to crumble.
Farm. We’re five years in to this Farm Charm lifestyle. It’s more work than we thought, but it’s meaningful and feels good. It’s shown me how much I need nature and want to take care of Momma Earth.
I’ve found other things along the way that don’t start with F that bring solace to my restless soul. Music. Books. Sunsets. Neighbors. Plants. Hot Tea. And Flowers (I had too 🙂
What are yours? What’s good in your life that you notice every day?
If it’s the beginning of November, it’s Garlic Planting Time. If there is one crop that is worth planting due to it’s low effort and high production, Garlic Is It. I know not everyone loves the taste and smell of garlic, but we cook with it at least five days a week. Just something that is always nice to have in the kitchen.
I wrote about garlic last Fall and am following essentially the same approach this year. I chose a bed that I let rest the entire year so decided not to add any fertilizer because I had added compost and manure last year.
The steps for planting garlic are very simple:
Get heads of garlic from an organic source – your local organic grocery store is fine or mail order from a place like Baker Creek or Hudson Valley Seed.
Separate the garlic heads and choose the biggest cloves.
Dig individual holes or a trench to plant cloves 2-4″ deep and about 6″ apart.
Place the cloves in the holes or trench with the pointy end up.
Cover with soil and place a marker if you didn’t plant the full bed so you know what open planting space you have in the spring.
I cover the bed with leaves and cardboard for the winter.
As we head into the final days of an Indian Summer (surely that is no longer PC!), and the change of seasons becomes more apparent – frosty mornings, crunchy leaves, darker evenings – I think it’s always important to take stock of the season that is winding down and the new one that is upon us.
Summer is go, Go, GO! I love many things about summer but this was a very tough summer for me. My Mom died at the beginning of April as the weather was turning nice and then the next five months were filled with sadness, emptiness, regret and sorrow. It made me realize the cliché that life can change in an instant is absolutely true. Up to that point I had been so focused on the doing – the doctor’s appointments, the driving, the updates, the bloodwork – that I didn’t stop to just feel, and see, and be.
I wish for Fall to be slow, slow, sloowww. I fully intend to ratchet down the intensity and use this season to take stock of the goodness in my life. Life is always surprising us. The struggles that came out of left field and the blessings that land in our lap. I have a quote next to my desk How simple life can be if you enjoy the life in front of you.
I’ve had such an easy life for 40 years. I knew this year was going to be a landmark year for a variety of reasons – 5 years on the farm, 10 years married, 40 years alive. I never even considered that it would be the year I lost my Mom to cancer. This year opened my eyes to pain. A pain that creeps into every hour of my day and I can’t even comprehend. Some days are tolerable. Many are debilitating.
I still believe Life is Good. Every day isn’t easy, but there are good things that happen every day. I would have never chosen to learn this lesson, but it has taught me to keep going. I will not remain broken forever. This is life. There is no dress rehearsal. This is the show. Live It.
It’s that time in the season where your fall garden is likely winding down depending on where you are. I really enjoy the clean up phase. It helps me take note of the areas and crops that went well, and those that need more attention or a different approach next year.
As I’m putting stuff away like stakes, cages, and netting, I’m noting if the spacing was adequate, how many plants I want to fit next year, which ones should be near different partners. That’s the beauty of gardening, it’s constant learning and attention. I love that my brain clears in the garden with the effort of the physical work.
As I was trying to take down my cattle panel that I used as a trellis for my pole beans, I needed to unweave the plants that I had left to dry for seed saving. Green beans have to be the easiest plant to seed save. Literally two steps: 1) leave them to dry, and 2) crack them open.
And the best part is you never have to buy these seeds again. Yippee!
Well, after my posts about starting and planting dahlias, you were probably like, “And….. did you ever grow any?!?” I have to say after a long awaited arrival (largely due to my lack of any care or watering whatsoever) they have arrived!!!
I have been harvesting 20-25 stems three times a week for the last three weeks and they do not disappoint. I’ve been delivering little bouquets to my neighbors and it brings so much joy.
Now, of course, I see a lot of room for improvement in stem length. BUT, I’m not worrying about that. I just like going out to the garden every day to check on them. I’m happy I got any.
This summer was quite a bummer for me in the garden (and life!) so I’ll take these stems of happiness and beauty.
It’s funny because the change of seasons always makes the tune play in my head “It’s the most wonderful time of the year.” And I know that song is supposed to be about the Christmas season, but I think it applies to the turn of every season. I love the change that each season represents and Fall is so crisp and crunchy you can’t miss it.
One day I’ll walk outside and notice the brown, curled leaves dappling the ground in so many places. As if they all fell the night before.
The evenings will all of a sudden seem darker at dinner time and I’ll want to put on a snuggly sweater while sitting on the couch.
The change of scenery is a perfect time to recalibrate our senses and pay attention to what is new and evolving. It’s so easy to be wrapped up in our to do lists and thoughts that we miss the beautiful magic right before us.
Speaking of, here’s a cute little nugget of Fall that crept up without me even noticing. Last year, I threw my old decorative mini-pumpkins on the ground in front of my porch at some point in early December when they had become rotten and mushy. And in the last two months, look at this amazing little pumpkin plant that took hold (with no help from me, I will say) and is happily growing two adorable little mini-pumpkins.
These are the wonders of nature that keep me in awe. What are some of the fun fall finds you’ve noticed in your garden or nature around you?
Reminder: this is the time to start checking the big box stores for fall planted bulbs that will bloom in the spring. They usually go on sale in the next few weeks.
Continuing with the seed saving discussion we started last week, there are a few more no fail varieties you should definitely try. Honestly, the only thing that you can mess up is not letting them dry enough. Be sure to leave them on the plant to dry for about two weeks or cut a stem and leave it in a warm place where it’s protected from any rain for about a week.
Marigolds: I will never stop being impressed and in awe of how many seeds come from a single dry marigold bloom.
four dried marigold bloomsmarigold bloom with seeds exposedmarigold bloom with dried seeds Dried marigold seedsCollected marigold Seeds
Echinacea: If you aren’t saving coneflower yet, now is the time to start. It’s a super hardy perennial that expands every year. Plant once and be amazed.
Mexican Sunflower: So similar in shape and qualities to coneflower, and hummingbirds absolutely love it.
Dried Mexican sunflower headsMexican sunflower head with seeds being gently loosenedMexican sunflower head with seeds gently loosenedMexican sunflower seedsCollected Mexican sunflower seeds
This is the first year I grew poppies in the Spring. I’ve always loved poppies and how delicately beautiful they are. I did absolutely zero maintenance, as seems to be the case with all of my efforts in the garden this year, and they were a raging success. I literally sprinkled two-year-old seeds on the ground in early April and walked away. The varieties were: falling in love, amazing grey, giant lilac pompom, jelly beans, purple peony, and Flemish antique.
One thing I’m trying to get better at each year is lowering my baseline costs. There’s probably a real financial term for this but basically, if I spent $35 on veggie seeds and $25 on flower seeds last year, I want to spend less this year. Or I somehow need to generate income to cover the cost, e.g. sell some veggies and/or flowers.
This year my goal was to be cost neutral in the garden. I had bought 5 flower buckets ($16), 100 count of kraft paper cut flower sleeves ($29), and 100 count of Chrysal water conditioner ($16). My plan had been to sell fifteen $10 bouquets to generate $150. That seemed very realistic. Well, it didn’t happen, but there’s always next year. When I stopped watering the garden after July 4, I couldn’t really hope for too much.
In preparation for next year, I’ll be ready with some amazing poppy seeds. Here’s how you can save flower seeds for the next season.
The other day, Cactus walks in and says there are white caterpillars that have eaten an entire bush by our pond. Now in 15 years I have learned to not react as if the sky is falling because he is quite fond of hyperbole.
When he says there is vomit all over the house because our schnauzer raided the compost pile, that usually means there is a puddle in or near his dog bed. Sometimes two puddles.
When he yells that all the chickens have escaped and are out in the road, that translates to one or two are in the driveway.
Needless to say, I didn’t go running out the door upon hearing a bush had been demolished. But lo and behold, this may have been the one time he was telling the accurate truth.
I have never seen caterpillars like this nor am I even sure they are merely caterpillars. I’ve googled and searched and asked my master gardener friend and still a big mystery.
Have you seen any new or unusual pests in your garden this year? I keep reading about how pests are changing and management practices will need to adapt. But this is the first I’ve encountered.
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