Cattle Drive (Sage’s Acre Style)
When the livestock escapes the range and gets up near the homestead, we're forced to saddle up and drive the herd back down to the pasture. Here's how we do it.
When the livestock escapes the range and gets up near the homestead, we're forced to saddle up and drive the herd back down to the pasture. Here's how we do it.
All work I do on the compost pile is subject to a complete inspection by my chickens. They're extremely thorough, but I think they're satisfied with the work.
Among the dozen or so eggs I collected from the coop this morning was the monster in the middle. One of the girls is definitely putting in the "eggstra" effort.
Turns out the tiny mystery chicken that made itself at home with our flock is a hen and doing her best to earn her keep by laying some adorably tiny eggs.
Gaucho the Magnificent Bantam Rooster died in March of 2023 at age 15. He passed peacefully in his sleep surrounded by his hens, Buffy, Bad Buff, and Wynona.
Alexander rode an elephant; Caesar a gold chariot. Napoleon preferred a stallion. Gaucho, Chicken Emperor of the Acre, likes a wheelbarrow loaded with compost.
That's no simple pile of dirt! That's a mound of super rich, composted chicken manure and straw "bricks" to recharge the spent beds in the vegetable garden.
Tomato skins and bolted lettuce may not be a the top of your list when it comes to lunch, but for the ducks and chickens it's a five star meal.
My new hugelskultur garden is proving to be more complicated than I thought. Not because the garden is hard, but because the chickens won't get out of the way.
We didn't get hens for eggs originally. But now that inflation has driven the cost of store-bought eggs so high, we're saving about $70 a year by having them.