George, Lucy and Emma watched at the window of the study to be sure that we were doing things properly. Characters. Did you know that they can live 30, even 40 years? I’m picturing myself at 80 with them. Just yesterday afternoon they fiddled with my shirt until they woke me as I napped in […]
deep litter
Deep litter is a traditional method we use for keeping chickens, ducks and geese in a healthy, living system. See their homes on the little farm, find out how we practice this method and hear why we think it functions so well to create a regenerative, living cycle that yields fresh eggs, nitrogen rich compost […]
life with chickens
Picture, if you will, the things we hold dear in this world, only on a slightly different trajectory. Picture them well-supported by a principle of following natural patterns, of meeting needs the way nature does. Take, for example, keeping chickens. We like to keep a flock in our garden. Now, they require shelter, safe from […]
life with geese
We were surprised by the young geese urgently knocking at the front door. They had a great deal to tell us. A moment later, a delivery van pulled up to the farmhouse. A rare event. They’d raced to the front door to tell us the news! What kind creatures. If we listen well, all of […]
making biochar
As carbon sequestration goes, charcoal-making has extraordinary potential. Last year we had the good fortune to spend a day learning to make charcoal with a local historian and tried out the basics of this ancient practice. From Terra-preta in the Amazonian rainforests, stone kilns in Japan (and all over these islands, which our friend has […]