Chickens and ground preparation.

We had a very busy weekend at the flower farm. We have finally had warm enough weather to get outside, do some bed prep, and yard work. A lot of the focus for the weekend however, has been on getting our chicken coop set up. This year we have decided to get chickens. Not only am I excited for some fresh eggs in our future, I am also excited to be able to create more compost for the flowers in house. This is the beginning of our longer term goal of using more regenerative farming practices.

Chicken coop, with one coat of paint so far

The only outside work we have done so far for the flower bed prep, has been mowing down some of the existing plants and debris. We do not have a tractor, and we do not till the ground. I will only be putting material on top of the mowed ground we just prepared. The plan this year is to do a layer of Kraft paper, followed by compost/mulch to help minimize weeds. The idea is that this will all be able to decompose naturally into the garden. I try to avoid using landscape fabric, because of the negative affects it has on the soil microbiology.

Overall, we are very excited with the chicken coop progress and the outdoor bed preparations. I am hoping to have the first flowers planted into the garden bed in just a couple of weeks.

Our new baby chicks, being watched over by our dog Daisy