Chicken Power

I'm putting the outside gardens to sleep with a nice layer of compost and then a covering of dried leaves.  In our little town, the borough picks up any leaves that have been raked to the curb and if you call they'll be happy to drop them off for your garden.  

I worked all day hauling, dumping, and spreading compost and then hauling dumping and spreading leaves.  My back did not thank me for it!  When I was finished, the garden right outside the high tunnel looked like this.

Then I got to work on the corn and squash gardens.  I hauled and dumped and hauled and dumped and then I got ready to spread the leaves and compost out and had a "a ha!" moment.  I'm going to put my chickens to work!  They're not laying any eggs but the little buggers can still work to earn their feed.  

I took some scratch feed and sprinkled a bit over each of the piles.  The chickens quickly went to work.  Digging, scratching, spreading - and incidentally fertilizing, the leaf piles.  In two days the gardens looked like this and my back gave a big sigh of relief.

“The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it.”

 ~Arnold H. Glasgow