The chickens were a strategic decision, you know. With this crappy soil, the garden would need TONS of material to amend it.

Well, two chickens produce as much soiled bedding as a single cow. And I’ve got 8 hens and a rooster. So, my soil’s pretty well prepared for the first crop.

Learned all this stuff from reading VITA publications, “Permaculture”, and “Farmers of Forty Centuries.” And talking with the older folk, who remembered what their parents and grandparents did, back in the day.