Comments | brianrdu: Chickens on the horizon.

brianrdu

Chickens on the horizon.

May 03, 2009 19:57

Of course, as I typed that, I just remembered that a friend on Facebook reported they just saw the HBO dramatization of "Grey Gardens" (which I loved), and is calling everybody "chicken" like Big Edie Beale. I need to watch this again ASAP, followed by the original documentary and then "The Beales of Grey Gardens", both of which I currently have on ( Read more... )

Comments 20

brokn2pieces May 4 2009, 04:07:56 UTC

also, when making a compost pile do you just sort of, you know, pile it up or do you put it in something? i'm concerned about mice and such

brianrdu May 4 2009, 04:25:42 UTC

Mine's away from the house, about 25 feet away, in full sun. There are 4 old pressure treated posts (used to be a handrail in front of my house, one of the first things to get ripped out when I moved in), with hardware cloth nailed around 3 sides with galvanized U nails. It's sort of like layer cake. There is a layer of scraps (peels, rinsed eggshells, coffee grounds, tea bags), then a layer of grass clippings (in a separate pile on the other side of the yard), then some old compost or dirt, then it starts over. When I get dead leaves, I get them in there too. I always make sure the scraps are buried by other stuff, leaving them on top is an invitation for trouble (raccoons, possums, who knows what else). The pile heats up when it gets going; during the summer, flies lay eggs in it and when I turn it with a pitchfork, there are tons of maggots in it. I don't view this as a bad thing; they are not the gross maggots on meat, they are soldier fly larvae...I don't consider this a bad thing. Not especially pleasant, but they speed ( ... )

brokn2pieces May 4 2009, 04:32:58 UTC

i want to garden with you!

mwittier May 5 2009, 01:13:58 UTC

Hullo, gardener.

I have been mulling the chicken thing, too. In Minneapolis, you have to get written permission from anyone that lives within 100 feet. One of my immediate neighbors is a doctor, and a bit tightly-wound: she will definitely bring up the avian flu thing, and I am already inclined to tell her to shutup, so I dunno. Also, I worry that I won't be able to travel at all.

I want to name my potential hens (in a way) after my mother and her sisters: Anna, Mary, Jeannie and Martha, only more antagonistically: I want to name them Annabald, Maribald, Jeannibald, and Marthabald. Like Archibald, only feminine. Sort of. So I guess, yeah, if a big part of the reason that I want them is to aggravate my family, maybe I should A) reconsider and B) grow up.

Will you flickr your progress? I hope so.

I have a big ol' rotating compost drum on a stand, because I am impatient like that, so nothing grows in there. Except sweet, earthy black goodness. When I remember to turn the crank ( ... )