Fertilizer spreaders …

as well as pest and weed control. Our chickens and rabbits are on the job!

As the spring rains mix with sun, and the soils slowly warm up, we have been starting seedlings in the nursery and readying our garden plots for early season planting. This year we have enlisted the help of our rabbits and chickens in the soil preparation. They are making a big dent in the weeds and spreading fertilizer at the same time.

This week the rabbits have been eating away at the chickweed that had begun to take over our hoop house. With the addition of their mild manure, we are on target for an early planting of the Three Sisters (corn, beans and squash) in this hoop house at the end of the month.

Last year we experimented successfully with straw mulch on the garden beds to protect the top soil and maintain the moisture. The use of livestock to add fertility and reduce weed pressure will be another important element this year in our no-till garden beds.

Our middle flock of hens has just begun to lay, and we are eager to get them the nutrients they need for egg production. We have had tremendous pressure with predators this past year, so have held off in sending them out to pasture. However, we just created a chicken funnel that should protect and contain them in the garden while allowing them to get all the bugs and greens that they long for. Chickens are very enthusiastic and energetic manure spreaders and pest controllers. You can see them here, spreading our compost and manure while at the same time eating down the weeds, and voraciously seeking out grubs and other undesirables.

I am getting so excited to start planting in the beds they are leaving behind! But chicken manure is not as gentle as rabbit manure, so we will plant a cover crop in the beds that the chickens have prepared, and then plant a second rotation of vegetables in them in early summer.