Trying something new this year. I put in a winter cover, crop of daikon, radishes, and Austrian winter peas. Yesterday I let the chickens go in the garden to kill off the winter, cover crop and turn anything they eat into manure. Once the chickens come out, the garden will have 30 to 45 days to rest and then I’ll transplant my starts and do my direct sewing. What do you think of this idea?
#gardening #garden #permies #permaculture #homestead #grownostr 
Sounds like an awesome flow, I'll be looking forward to seeing how it progresses
I know what the chickens are happy with the plan. The results should be pretty damn good. Can’t remember, you have rabbits? We compost a serious amount of manure as a top dressing about this time of year too.
Yes, I do have rabbits. The good news is that we welcomed two healthy litters about eight weeks ago, giving me a total of 15 rabbits.
The good/bad news is I sold all the babies in a week. Didn’t even have to process any. I only got about one cubic yard of good manure/hay for compost and that went in the strawberry beds.
We just had two litters birth this week. Silver Fox. Rabbits are such a good income source. Can’t be upset about the sales at all.
I've got 3 Silver Fox (2 doe, 1 buck), A Mutt Doe from Polyface Farms, and a cross Buck between the Polyface Doe and a Silver Fox Buck. That's my breeding supply.
Spent the day yesterday cleaning out the "bunny barn" and applying the manure to beds.
I'm almost valuing the manure more then the meat! Sold a few last year as pets. Which helped with feed costs. Thinking of selling manure as well, by the bucket load.
By Polyface, you mean Salatin’s farm?
Agree. Hard to pick what’s more valuable, agree. Kit sales, fur, meat, manure. They’re a must have for small farms.
That should make that patch very fertile for your new starts, good idea .
