Well-Being Garden

[MysticTree]

We have a small area outside at the back between the house and the veg garden. Today we have taken baby-steps to reclaim it from our rescue hens who have also colonised the front garden (they get into the house if they can!) and have a quiet place with some running water and lots of flowers and herbs.

This is the starting point ... one large peony clump, one large clump of English mint. There will be a small paved area where a table can be for eating breakfast or lunch or supper or all three and I hope that I will be able to keep it clutter-free enough for some meditating.

[sport]

That looks like a large space. You can have lots of fun with that.
They are laying the base for my "grow house" on Monday. I will put a pic up when it is ready.
They also announced an allocation of allotments in town so I have asked a few friends to share one with me. We are having a guided tour on Wednesday night. I am looking forward to that.
We spend too much time indoors.

[klomasius]

Looks like it has lots of potential. Good luck! :)

[MysticTree]

Thanks :)

We are doing it ourselves so it will take a while. We got a whole bunch of brick paving for free when someone lifted their front garden to put a lawn in. And I want a cottage garden feel in the flower beds with lots of herbs and some medicinal plants and a place where bees and butterflies are happy.

[klomasius]

I reckon doing it all yourself will mean when it's all over and you are relaxing there it will feel ten times as good! You should post pics here and give us a running tally on the progress! :excited:

[MysticTree]

I'm going to blog about it mostly but I'll put major updates on this thread.

My bf is away a few days so we'll not be doing much til he's back.

[Sugar Snap Pea]

What's a rescue hen?

[MysticTree]

What's a rescue hen?

A rescue hen is a hen that is taken from Battery Egg Farms when they are due to be culled. I have rescued 37 so far but at the moment I have 16 hens free-ranging in my garden. Well they don't free range in the veg garden until the crops are all picked - then they do a bit of a light weed and fertiliser programme in the fallow months!

I have pictures somewhere of the hens if you'd like to see them.

ps ...yes, by culled I mean killed; which is what happens when the hens are about a year old becase their living conditions impact egg production :(

[klomasius]

You are top notch in my opinion for this type of work! :heart

Chickens are my favourite animals, and many of my friends have rescued (and rescue) chickens in their yards.

The photos of what they look like when they come out of the factory farms is horrific. No feathers, with the skin around their bums and other places often red raw. They lead short miserable lives, and when their bodies are no longer able to churn out the eggs at the rate that the commercial egg farmers push them to, they are simply slaughtered. They know no other life. The rescued ones are the TINY minority of hens that actually get to feel what a life should be like.

[MysticTree]

You are top notch in my opinion for this type of work! :heart

Chickens are my favourite animals, and many of my friends have rescued (and rescue) chickens in their yards.

The photos of what they look like when they come out of the factory farms is horrific. No feathers, with the skin around their bums and other places often red raw. They lead short miserable lives, and when their bodies are no longer able to churn out the eggs at the rate that the commercial egg farmers push them to, they are simply slaughtered. They know no other life. The rescued ones are the TINY minority of hens that actually get to feel what a life should be like.

Ours have taken to the free-life with a gay abandon bordering on hooliganism!
They are such fun to watch and they wait by the gate when they hear us coming home and then get all round our ankles so that we nearly go flying.

The first batch we had were very poor when we got them, the latest ones were much better although there is one still that hasn't bothered to get new feathers in and she looks like a threadbare feather duster on legs :(

They have to be kept in at night because we have urban foxes all round us but on the whole I think the urban fox prefers the bins of the local takeaways.

[Arky]

Ours have taken to the free-life with a gay abandon bordering on hooliganism!
They are such fun to watch and they wait by the gate when they hear us coming home and then get all round our ankles so that we nearly go flying.

The first batch we had were very poor when we got them, the latest ones were much better although there is one still that hasn't bothered to get new feathers in and she looks like a threadbare feather duster on legs :(

They have to be kept in at night because we have urban foxes all round us but on the whole I think the urban fox prefers the bins of the local takeaways.

I know nothing whatsoever about keeping chickens, so please don't quote me on this, but I think I vaguely recall reading in one of the 'Albrecht Papers' books (Volume 1 or 3), and/or possibly Kirvran's 'Biological transmutations' that chickens require access to certain inorganic minerals such as mica, shale etc., for good health. Might be worth you looking into this for improving the health of your chickens.

All the best.

[MysticTree]

they peck at specks of non-food. Bits of fine gravel, snail shells etc ... they are very healthy :)

[green goddess]

What a heart-warming story about the rescued hens! And it works out for both of you, really - the hens get to live (that's a win!), and you get lovely hen manure and maybe some eggs! I can just picture them clamboring around you, thanking you in their chicken-speak for being their rescuer. :)

When eventually I have a more suitable yard, I'd like to look into doing something similar! I've always wanted to have a few chickens, like my grandparents' had, but maybe having rescued chickens would be even better!

[MysticTree]

The garden is progressing slowly and I will post some pictures at the weekend. The first 48 bricks of the paving are down and the quality of the soil is causing me some not inconsiderable concern.

It is going to be the most special place in the whole world ever and I will nurse the soil back to life :)

[klomasius]

There's nothing more satisfying than nursing soil back to health.

And with all that organic matter generated by a rawbie, a compost heap will do the trick rather fast! :):throwhearts:

[MysticTree]

We have two large compost bins already and some coconut timber to make at least two more. We are going to need every last ounce of compost we can make and I am already fetching the waste from a friend who keeps guinea-pigs so I hope to have at least five bins going by the end of the summer.

The laying of the patio has reached an impasse. Until we get paid, their is no money for the sand to bed the bricks on.

Never fear! Today we have been starting to clear a small area next to the existing veg garden. It appears to be 30% large rocks and 70% bind weed. It is going to be quite an undertaking getting it all sorted but I hope to have strawberries and raspberries there in the future.

In the meantime it will have to have a very thick layer of carpet or such-like down to try to get this bindweed clear.