Jynx
A few readers have asked about my adventures with the newborn chicks delivered to our San Francisco house by our mail carrier in early March.
After six weeks of living in an old kitchen cabinet in my office, the four birds relocated to a backyard coop built by Erik, my partner in love, life and chicken raising.
As I write this, they are 20 weeks old—big beautiful hens that will start laying any day now. Strike that. (more…)
Categories: Chickens
Path to Freedom video brochure. In this 18-minute web video, meet Jules Dervaes and his three children, eco-pioneers who have turned their Pasadena, California, home into an integral urban homestead. Highlights include alternative energy systems, chickens, ducks and miniature goats, and an edible landscape that produces three tons of organic food each year on one-tenth of an acre. pathtofreedom.com
Categories: Chickens · Energy · Food · Green homes · Recommendations
For years I would perk up my ears whenever I heard about someone who kept chickens in their backyard. “Wouldn’t that be the cat’s meow,” I’d think. “Eggs as fresh as can be, humanely treated hens, fertilizer for the garden, plus the antics of lively creatures right outside your door.”
And then I’d become, as my permaculture mentor Kevin Bayuk puts it, a major-league but-head. Yes, but I live in the city. Yes, but my yard is so small. Yes, but my dog will freak out. Yes, but I travel too much. Yes, but isn’t it more efficient to buy eggs at the store. (more…)
Categories: Chickens
My Pet Chicken. If you’re hankering after hens for your backyard but can’t meet the 25-chick minimum order set by many hatcheries, go to mypetchicken.com. They’ll ship as few as three baby chicks via the U.S. Postal Service, in a box complete with its own heat source.
Categories: Chickens
Up close and personal with worm composting.
This summer, I didn’t go to the beach. Or to the mountains, for that matter. I stayed home and took a six-weekend course in permaculture design. Offered for the first time by the San Francisco Botanical Garden Society, this course was unique in the permaculture world in that it focused more on urban than rural issues.
Although hardly a household word, the concept of permaculture design has been around for more than three decades. Originally formulated by Australians Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, permaculture is now practiced across the planet.
So what is permaculture? (more…)
Categories: Chickens · Community · Food · Gardening · Permaculture
