Saturday morning we woke up to rain falling and suddenly noticed the garden full of green. Closer inspection revealed it wasn't stuff we planted. The crab grass and perennial thistle are having a wonderful time. Ugh. These are such difficult weeds to conquer. But then we had an idea. Let the chickens do the work!
My husband built a little pen from livestock fence. We put some water and four chickens in there this morning. We didn't give them any food so that they would work hard on the weeds, eating deep down to the roots. The area already is looking much better. we plan to keep this up, moving the little pen to a new area each day.
After a second tilling, we got furrows cut into the front garden. I plowed rows and then my husband followed with the push furrower. The furrows were deeper and better defined than when we skipped the tractor step. Now it's ready for planting!
Tomorrow our chicks arrive, which means today we have to get the brooder ready. I think there are 56 little day-old chicks arriving. Several will be for my daughter's 4-H project, about 35 will be for the freezer in September when they're grown, and 15 will replace the current flock.
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