I burst out laughing when I saw this headline on Twitter:
Of course, I had to click through to the article on treehugger.com.
And when I did I laughed even harder.
The article is about my hubby’s hometown of Campbellford, Ontario.
You probably don’t know where that is.
It’s ok.
Before I met Jeff, neither did I.
Well folks we finally did it!! We have been dreaming about getting chickens since we bought the house and Saturday was the big day! Jeff built me a fantastic chicken coop / potting shed / strawberry-patch-green-roof building in the back yard that we’ve painted up to be just about the prettiest chicken coop you ever did see.
This was just another one of those times that I’m so happy my fiance is a contractor.
Our Saturday started with an early morning drive out to Langley to the auction. What an experience! It was just like something out of a movie.
fraser valley auctions
Even if you have no intention of ever buying livestock, the auction is worth the drive just for the experience. I didn’t take many pictures because Jeff said my big camera made me look like a tourist. (I kinda felt like one!) It was noisy and smelly and absolutely wonderful. Cage on top of cage on top of cage full to bursting with clucking, scuffling, pooping, squaking, egg-laying goodness. There were chickens, goats, sheep, turkeys, fertile eggs of all description, quail, ducks, bunnies and even a lone cockatiel. The people watching was FANTASTIC and there were a gazillion little kids running around just having the time of their lives; some of them were even bidding! So cute!
the auction supervisor
The auction is a great choice for city-bound-would-be-chicken-farmers. A quick look through the hatchery catalogues and you quickly realize that the 25 chick minimum doesn’t quite jive with your boutique backyard hen house. And what do you do when some of your balls of fluff start to cock-a-doodle-do? No number of free, fresh organic eggs will warm your neighbours up to that nonsense. Sure you can get laying hens at the garden shop in White Rock, but they’ll set you back 25 bucks a pop.
So off we went in search of heritage laying hens which ended up costing us about 10 bucks a bird. Not a bad investment considering organic, so called “free-range” (which doesn’t mean squat) eggs go for close to 6 dollars a dozen. And they are BEAUTIFUL.
don't hate me cause I'm beautiful
We got a mix of heritage birds – aracunas, rhode island reds, a black jersey giant and barred plymouth rocks. We had a bit of a dust up when we first let them all in the hen house. The rhodies are feisty to say the least and it took them a bit to sort out their pecking order. Some of them though are sweet as can be and don’t mind being held and patted. Jeff’s had chickens before but this is my first go, so it’s been pretty wild. Our chinese neighbour heard the clucking and immediately came over to peer over the fence. She doesn’t speak much english but she knew the word “chickens!” and we got an enthusiastic thumbs up.
lyle lovett - our sweetest hen
The men of the house, who all grew up raising poultry, have been warning me for weeks not to name them when they come. No sooner do we get them out of the crate, do I find all the guys standing around the coop, beers in hand, promptly christening our littlest one “Lyle Lovett” on account of her flamboyant hairdo. Poor thing.
So why on earth should you bother with backyard hens? You’ve heard me rant about industrial pork production and chickens are no different.
conventional industrial egg production
Just like the pigs the hens are rammed into cages, unable to move. Crammed in with so many other chickens, fed a questionable diet, you can imagine that just like the pigs, medication is a necessary part of the process. Which once again begs the question what’s happening to the bugs we’re medicating?
industrial broiler chicken production
Here’s an example of typical broiler production. Modern poultry breeds are selected to produce the most breast meat possible in the shortest amount of time. They grow so fast that their skeletons can’t hold them up anymore, and many of the poor things can no longer bear their own weight and must sit in their own shit, unable to walk. If you’ve ever been around chickens you know their shit smells strongly of ammonia and ammonia burns. Because they’re sitting in it all day, the chickens get chemical burns on their legs, which is why you’ll notice commercial chicken now has that part of the legs cut off – to spare us the reminder of the origin of our food. Odd, isn’t it.
If this is an acceptable way to raise our food, why is the industry always trying to hide it from us?
I grew up in a neighbourhood that had an industrial poultry operation. On hot summer days the air would be heavy with feathers and the stench of too many chickens in too little space. Even then it made me wonder . . .
Here’s a few things to ask yourself as you’re planning your garden (which will be lovely and creative and not even a shadow of it’s former square self!) :
If you don’t have at least a few sunny spots you’re going to be limited as to what you can grow. If you have mostly shade, don’t despair, but don’t hold your breath waiting for your peppers to ripen, either. Instead turn your mind to veg that prefer a break from the heat – leafy greens, some herbs, cabbage and anything that might bolt if they got too hot. Now start sweet talking your neighbour with the south-facing lawn to let you plant peppers and tomatoes there.
No point in planting a ton of veg that you can’t stand the taste of. In our house, we plant insane numbers of tomatoes because we adore them and will take the time to can them. That said, somethings are worth planting even if you don’t absolutely love them yourself. Even at 28 years old I still don’t like brussels sprouts, but I know they will look striking in the garden come winter. (my mum’ll eat ‘em.) Also keep a mind to what kind of veg are expensive in the store or at the farmer’s market, or where store bought can never compare to homegrown. Especially if you’re short on space, pick veg like peppers, heirloom tomatoes, fancy herbs and garlic – store bought will cost you the earth and won’t be nearly as tasty. I’d never spend 250 bucks on tomatoes – but if I bought them at the market – that’s what only one weekend’s harvest would have cost me. (Suddenly a little dirt under the finger nails seems like a small price to pay, doesn’t it?!)
fresh peas my favorite garden treat
Do you entertain? Have kids? A dog? Make sure you make space for these things in your plan. We’ve put some features near the spaces where we spend the most time; table grapes climbing over the arbour where I can munch and read, the fish pond by the shady spot where we sit with guests in the summer time. Think about how your planting can not only accommodate what you want to do in your yard, but also how it can contribute to it. For example, we’ll have chickens this year, so I’m making sure the plants I select to camouflage the run will also serve as chicken feed.
Is there a path worn in your lawn where you are constantly walking to get the hose? Or do you dread taking out the compost because its stuck behind the cobwebby shed? Don’t fight the natural flow of things, you’ll only get frustrated. Put in a path where you actually walk, not where you think you SHOULD walk, and put the things and veggies you use most often in accessible, easy-to-notice-as-you’re-laying-in-the-hammock-drinking-a-beer, spots. If you do this you’ll be less likely to get a face full of spider webs and you might actually notice the slug assault in the lettuce in time to do something about it.
Especially in a small yard, vertical gardening is key. Once you start thinking up and down rather than just in boring rows in a raised bed - you’ll see the sky really is the limit and you’ll increase your space’s productivity exponentially.
lots of beans in a little space
Free yourself of the tyranny of the monoculture and mix your plantings. We are constantly intercropping – one bed alone held beets, peas, beans, carrots, chard and garlic. Think about how you can grow one veg up and over another, or around the base of a tall plant to mulch it and hide it’s ugly stem. Use your imagination. If it doesn’t work – just eat your mistakes!
an intercropped bed
Think seasonally as you plan. Remember eventually that spectacular cabbage will become supper – be ready to have something to replace it.
Your garden can provide privacy, security, buffer noise and pollution from the street, stop the neighbourhood kids from using your yard as a cut-through, offer shade, scent, beauty, medicine and attract wildlife. Figure out what you need and then try to ensure that every plant meets multiple needs. Redundancy is nature’s insurance policy and will ensure you have a vibrant, dynamic ecosystem in your garden.
At the end of the day, there are no rules in the garden. Don’t be afraid to take risks and to make choices that might lead your neighbours to think you’re off your rocker. Sometimes its the most out-there ideas that have the most impact. The tomatoes climbing my front gate got plenty of ooohss and ahhhs and kept me (and my mail carrier) in healthy snacks-on-the go all summer.
When I plan my garden I often think back to my days in art school and one of my favorite quotes by Picasso:
Now go. Make a pot of coffee and get dreaming!
On the cover of one of the landmark books of the locovore movement, the 100 Mile Diet by Smith and MacKinnon, our favorite local environmentalist David Suzuki boldly proclaims:
“Eating locally isn’t just a fad – it may be one of the most important ways we save ourselves and the planet.”
What a lovely sentiment. I must admit that for me, the warm and fuzzies of the local food moment has been a huge draw.
Like most people I have felt completely overwhelmed by the doom and gloom messages about the peril our planet is currently facing. It seems like ever since the tipping point moment of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, we have all suddenly become consumed with concern for the environment. The slow food movement was alive and well long before good old Al got going, but it seems that was the moment that catapulted what was previously the stuff of scientific crack pots to the realm of accepted public opinion.
For me, the local food movement offered an opportunity to face the problem rather than bury my head in the sand. Rather than feeling overwhelmed, books like the one above offered individuals an opportunity to make concrete change through positive joyful action, one meal at a time. By eating locally we were saving the planet, stickin’ it to the man, big business and those awful agri-industry monsters. Easy peasy, right?
Maybe too easy. Continue reading
