Chicken Mites: Yikes!
I’ve been keeping chickens for several years now and have always counted myself lucky that I never had a run in with mites. Up until this summer, I had never lost a member of our flock to an animal attack. Losing one of our ducks to a raccoon earlier this summer was the first sign...
Visiting New Chicken-Keepers
Recently I had the pleasure of visiting the backyard of Brian and Tara, thirty-something parents who just started keeping chickens. They used the standard sized chicken coop plans from my book Modern Homestead to come up with a variation that would work for their backyard. It was really cool to see what a basic plan...
Early Fall-Coloring Trees
The trees are telling us that autumn is upon us! I wanted to share a few of my favorite ornamental trees that put on a great, early fall show. They are not edible, but could still have a place on the modern homestead along streets and driveways, where you don’t want fruit falling. The native...
First Mushroom Foray
I enjoyed my first foray into the world of mushroom hunting recently. Mushroom hunting has been on my “to-do” list for a few years now, but I can never afford the fancy, all weekend workshops that happen around the NW. Some day I will take those great classes, but for now I’m riding on the...
Dog Attack = Chicken Dinner
My chickens have never been great jumpers, probably because they are fairly lazy and spoiled. My neighbor’s chickens, however, are expert jumpers. It’s not uncommon for them to hop the fence into our yard to hang out, but lately they have started hopping their back fence into the nearby alleyway. Tragedy struck last week when...
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