I was at an extended family function this past weekend and there were lots of curious relatives asking about those backyard chickens of mine. One aunt in particular has been mulling over the idea of bringing in a small backyard flock, but she started worrying about the maintenance and upkeep. There isn’t a whole lot to backyard chicken maintenance, but I thought it would be
Life as an Urban Chicken
Having a small backyard flock of urban chickens seems like such a normal, everyday thing for me now that I haven’t really posted a lot about “the girls”. But some of my readers have asked that I share more stories on the blog about the latest chic news. Now that I think of it, there is usually some funny urban chicken musing I have to
How to Build Rain Barrels
Are you ready for your mind to be blown my friend? Get ready, cause here it comes. I built rain barrels! Actually I built four of them and it was so easy to do! I actually spent more time in the hardware store buying the supplies than I actually spent putting everything together. I would say it took about 30 minutes per barrel, plus the
Calling All Portland Bloggers
My sister sent me this in an email and I’m intrigued. Since many of the readers here have their own blogs, are living in Portland, are to some degree interested in gardening, or any combination thereof… maybe you should consider this as well? Click this HERE to go to their site and see all the details. I am thinking about applying, but not quite sure.
Highs and Lows
The budding urban food forest has a recent success: the fig tree is alive! In case you missed the earlier post, we transplanted a 15+ foot fig tree into our backyard in early June. Not a great time to transplant a fruit tree, and the fig was none too pleased with us. However, we kept at it by burying a thick layer of mulch on
Mulch Matters
I recently had a reader share with me some of the important benefits of incorporating mulch into permaculture gardens, to which I readily agreed. Then I realized, although I have been doing so in my garden, it’s something I haven’t really talked a lot about here. With Portland’s summer finally on it’s way, and reading the news about the longest drought in 100+ years in
In Loving Memory of Mabel
My sister, Anne, moved into her new house recently and decided it was finally time to get her own backyard chicken flock. Not knowing what I was getting myself into, I decided to go with her to pick out the chicks at a local feed store. Who could turn down a trip to see such adorable fuzzy animals? I watched her pick her different breeds
NW Vegetable Planting Chart
As I’ve probably mentioned before, I spent my winter months pouring over seed catalogs and various books on growing veggies in the NW. I wanted to maximize our space and grow as much as possible. Two resources were especially helpful in my planning: Portland Nursery’s Planting Calendar and Maritime Northwest Garden Guide which is produced by the Seattle Tilth. At work I use Excel a
Portland Permaculture Workshops
This is just a quick post for those living in the Portland metro area. Portland City Repair will be coordinating a lot of really interesting workshops, many of which appear to be free, that range in topics but include permaculture subjects. Click HERE for their list of workshops. I wish I could attend some, especially the rain barrel one, but my weekend is looking pretty