Showing posts with label chickens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chickens. Show all posts

Friday, February 27, 2009

Water Troughs--Not Just for Water!


Healthy Harvesters Don & Pat W. have found livestock water troughs a good solution for raised bed gardening.

If you look closely in the middle of the photo you can see their very FIRST asparagus spear coming up -- it is from the crowns they got from Jim R. who recently divided his bed and gave away his surplus.


This photo shows their onions & radishes.

Don used fencing material that was left over from when they built their chain link fence to form a climbing structure so they can plant cucumbers, sweet potatoes, etc. Recycling feels so good! We'll look for some more photos as the garden grows!

Another item of interest -- Don is the proud owner of a worm farm. Pat promises to get some pictures of it later to share with everyone. Worms are a good way to quickly compost your garden scraps (chickens and fishermen like them too!) So we'll stay tuned for a story to come on the worms! Maybe even a worm seminar!

Do you have photos and/or a garden story to share? Be sure to let us know!

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Jim's New Helpers


We hope all of you are excited and planning to attend the free February 7 Gardening Seminar that Healthy Harvest will be giving on soil fertility, composting, and raised bed gardening!

When we told Master Gardener Jim R. that besides great tasting eggs the main reason we keep chickens is to make chicken manure compost, he sort of got a gleam in his eye. The next week he adopted six hens.

This week he reports he was able to teach the hens to turn compost for him in only one morning. Ha ha!


Way to go, Jim!

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Eggciting News!

As free-ranging egg farmers, we are always interested in what studies reveal in egg studies. Results from Mother Earth News’ latest round of pastured egg nutrient tests show that compared to commercial eggs, free-ranging eggs provide:

• 1⁄3 less cholesterol
• 1⁄4 less saturated fat
• 2⁄3 more vitamin A
• 2 times more omega-3 fatty acids
• 3 times more vitamin E
• 7 times more beta carotene
• 4 to 6 times as much vitamin D

You can find the article here.