12/15/2023 0 Comments Ground cover for chicken runA friend and I mucked out a huge stable full of sheep manure and brought 9 cubic meters of sheep manure which we turned into many hot compost piles mixed with bio char, food scraps, weeds and hay.We created a lot of bio car (activated charcoal to add into the ground for better drainage and water retention). In Automne 2018 we planned and planted half of the first area ( See photos) Making hot compost piles to use to amend the soil in the new food forest Preparing for the food forest One area for the chicken powered compost system where the chickens will have access to from the very start (they will be introduced in 6 months when we introduce the chickens).This area will be open to chickens within 1 year and later sheep as well. One area with larger trees more spaced out and less understory plants and space for growing grains.One area more densely planted and closed to chickens for 1-2 years.The food forest should be split into three areas so the chickens can be rotated through them.Access to the chicken house, compost generating system must be easy for humans, wheelbarrows and a car must be able to access the output of the compost system.Areas must be devoted to growing grains to be saved for sprouting for additional chicken food.An area must be included for a chicken-powered compost generating system.Open areas should be included to give the chickens and insects both grass and weed fodder.Ground covers of herbs and spreading fruit like mock strawberries should be used to cover the ground.As many medicinal plants for chickens should be included (such as wormwood as a dewormer) as animals are known to self medicate.All plants should provide a yield for us (the humans), like berries, fruit, medicine, timber etc.The wild lavender growing all over this are not to be disturbed.Chickens should enjoy to eat something from every plant, like the fallen fruit or low hanging fruit or leaves.Fruit and berry plants that humans would harvest as a one off and would need to process to eat such as quince and olive should be planted further away from the path (e.g.berries or fruits that are harvested regularly and can be eaten there and then (such as apples and blueberries). The path for humans which goes through the food forest must have trees and shrubs on either side that can provide regular forage for humans, i.e.The polyculture of trees and shrubs should be designed and planted to give a forest feel and not individual beds or guilds of plants.All layers of the food forest must be included, the fencing will be used for climbers such as passion fruit.Shrubs and trees should be planted with adequate spacing so that they can grow to full size without competing with other plants.The food forest must stay true to the design if someone takes over the land who isn’t interested in food forests – we must give them a reason not to chop it down for grains or monoulture, i.e.The food forest must stay true to the plan if left unmanaged through a natural succession of plants.first design a canopy later that will be present in 150 years, then design in shorter-lived trees to live under this canopy and even shorter-lived shrubs closer to the main canopy tree. The system must be designed thinking about the succession of trees over time, i.e.The food forest must provide wind protection to our new community house.The food forest was designed with these requirements for the food forest: Leaving the rest for us to harvest.ĭrawing of the final planting of half of the Chicken Food Forest (Showing sizes of plants in 10 years) However, without plants chickens will quickly destroy through overeating or scratching. This is a food forest with perennial plants and trees that chickens can fodder for fruit, berries, leaves and insects. During our Automne 2018 food forest course, we designed and planted a food forest for Chickens.
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