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the good life ain't easy

Allotment life @thegoodlifeainteasy and chicken-keeping

Tag: backyardhens

November 16, 2020November 16, 2020

Gardening with chickens: plants to avoid.

Chickens, 2 Comments

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A productive couple of hours at the allotment starting to get ready for spring. Sometimes it’s equal parts inspiring and overwhelming seeing everyone so organised, so I thought I’d start a little series of 90 second updates. A very rough and ready guide so you can see where I’m at and how much there is left to do. Maybe the amount of random household items I’m planning to upcycle will make someone feel better. 😂 It’s just going to be my first take talking to the camera, no prep, so we’ll see how this goes… it’s nice to be back at the plot! ☺️ #allotment

Work in progress - but we’ve been busy 💪🏼. The end of our garden is fondly referred to as the working part of the garden. It’s also primarily the chicken’s area - when this blasted flockdown is over, it’s their space. Yes they get to stomp around the rest of the garden with supervision, but we don’t ever tut if they destroy anything down this end! For a long time it was a path and woodchip areas, but it always gets messy and well - creates that sort of chicken poo/woodchip combination 🥴. So we decided to gravel the space (being easer to sweep/wash) and it’s made such a difference. We’ve also made the decision to get rid of the compost bin as it was huge and slightly unmanageable now we have less time and we’re moving to a hot compost system instead. This should also work better for us because we’re so cautious re composting food waste at home due to encouraging 🐀 near the girls. I’m looking at a Green Johanna as there’s a good discount on currently, but I’d love to hear from you if anyone has any good/bad hot compost experiences 👇. I’ve got to tidy the shelves and sort out my potting area, but I can’t wait until the cherry tree is in blossom and we’ve moved a few more chicken friendly plants in the space. Watch this space…! Ps ➡️ showed Parsley, her overwhelming reaction was ‘put me down so I can make a mess’. Oh and we have to move the contents of the current compost bin down to the allotment - wish us luck! 🫠

Just a boy and his chicken ✨I won’t pretend it’s the best job, but the greenhouse is ready to go. It’s been cleaned to a standard of ‘we have a 14-month-old and I don’t know how long he’s going to nap 🥴’ and that’s ok for now. It lets in considerably more light and isn’t home to any pests ready to eat our spring crops. Largely thanks to chicken patrol I won’t lie! Other things achieved today ➡️ the chickens got new woodchip. We use horse bedding, but today there was only a large chip available. Tom emptied it out and when I walked down to the run they were all stood up on the perches as if to say “what on earth have you done human”. Anyway a scattering of corn later and all was forgiven, but it’s currently so crunchy 😆. And finally, flying a kite. Because I want to always remember these simple happy moments. Plus it makes dog walks with children x50 times more fun. Fact.

#AD. Growing up with a soppy spaniel - what a special bond to witness 🐾. When I was pregnant with Arlo I suffered from terrible morning sickness. Every morning, Dylan would sit outside the bathroom door and wait for me. Then he’d put his head next to mine as if to say, you’re OK now. When he drags mud through the house, I always try to remember just how much better he made everything 💕. It’s hard to believe that pregnant bump he’d rest his head on is nearly four and one of his best friends.

Hands up if you know a chicken the same 🙋🏼‍♀️ I’m joking, I’m fairly sure the hens are 95% cabbage at this point. But they are repulsed by alfalfa blocks - potentially the first thing they’ve ever not eaten 😂 Anyway point still stands, it’s no doubt going to be a long old flockdown but we’re still the best entertainment. 😉 Also sorry I couldn’t take you to the chorus of this excellent song but stick it on tomorrow morning and belt it out, works a charm every time ✌🏻 #chickensandtunes (might well be my new hashtag seven years in the making 😂) #exbatteryhens #exbatts #chickensofinstagram

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