A big THANK YOU to everyone who has sent in their photographs and stories. I hope by sharing other peoples pictures and stories here on One Hundred Dollars a Month we can all have a rock star garden. Keep them coming!
Good morning Mavis!
I’ve really been enjoying the gardens and backyards you’ve been sharing on your blog and thought I’d share a peek into mine.
We moved into our house on 20 acres 8 years ago. It’s located about 30 minutes northeast of Grand Rapids, MI.
My garden has always been a work in progress. Our property is a combination of trees and field weeds. This much acres gives us a large canvas to work with but sometimes it feels like a continuous battle with the weeds! And it’s often hard to know where the yard begins and the wild ends.
My main garden is a 40′ x 60′ area. There’s a row of of blueberry bushes, a row of grapes, a row of non-producing raspberries, and then about 16 raised beds followed by an open area that I plant cover crops for the chickens. Our soil is very nutrient deficient and clay-like so the raised beds have been a tremendous help to getting anything to grow! It also allows me to mulch between the beds to help with the weed control.
We built the beds out of scrap untreated 2×4’s we had laying around. This time of year my garden is a mess of plants falling and crawling every which way out of their beds. It’s a good to see that much growth but it conflicts with my desire for a nice neat garden!
This past year I added a couple pallet beds and a couple square beds right outside the back of our house. I’m surprised how great they’ve grown and also that I’ve had no issues with critters because they’re so close to the house! I’ve never been able to get cabbage to grow in the past and this year they are huge!
I’ve always loved gardening but moving into this forever home finally gave me the nudge to try out raising chickens. It’s now been 7 years of chicken raising!
Our first coop was a chicken tractor that we could move around the yard to give them fresh greens. It was big enough for 10 birds but with our Michigan winters they were really “cooped” up by spring! So last summer with the help of my handy husband we came up with a plan for a bigger coop that allowed more birds. It even has an area for a brooder box so we can house new chicks every spring.
We re-purposed an old shed and acquired some old metal barn sheeting off craigslist to help cut down on the costs. My favorite parts are the automatic chicken door and the rain barrel on the back that doubles as a chicken waterer.
During garden season the chickens are kept locked up in their run to prevent them from harvesting my entire garden. I created some chicken chunnels with left over fencing to give them more room to run and get them some greens. Since they’re in 10 foot sections I can move them around quite easily to new locations allowing them fresh greens every week or so.
In the past year I’ve been encouraging my 12 year old son to take more responsibility of the chickens as a little source of income for him. He buys the feed and sells the eggs to family and friends. We even hatched out a batch of chicks this past spring in our incubator to replace some of the older hens that will soon move to the stockpot. Hopefully they will start laying any day now because they are literally eating up all of his profits right now!
Last fall we even acquired a pair of Pekin ducks – because they were free on Craigslist! We named them Quackers and Cheese and renovated a duck house out of a cage I had picked up free on the side of the road. A month and a half ago Cheese decided she was going to sit on a clutch of eggs. Since we’ve never had any bird go broody in the 7 years we’ve had chickens I thought it might be a great experience for the kids. Last week 3 of the cutest ducklings hatched out! It’s been so much fun to watch them and see Quackers and Cheese as parents!
We currently have 5 beehives residing on our property as well. When my dad passed away 6 years ago my brothers took over his beekeeping hobby. Our home is used to house the hives that they split off from their established hives.
The bees are a welcome addition to my garden!
Mavis if you’re ever in the West Michigan area feel free to stop by and give me some tips!
~Carolyn
If you would like to have your garden, chicken coop or something you’ve made featured on One Hundred Dollars a Month, here’s what I’m looking for:
- Your Garden Pictures and Tips – I’d especially like to see your garden set ups, growing areas, and know if you are starting seeds indoors this year. If so, show me some picture of how you are going about it.
- Your Chicken and Chicken Related Stories – Coops, Chicks, Hen’s, Roosters, Eggs, you name it. If it clucks, send us some pictures to share with the world.
- Cool Arts & Crafts – Made from your very own hands with detailed {and well photographed} pictures and instructions.
- Your pictures and stories about your pets. The more pictures and details the better.
- Garage Sale, Thrift Store and Dumpster Diving pictures and the stories behind the treasures you found including how much you paid for them.
If I feature your pictures and the stories behind them on One Hundred Dollars a Month, I will send you a $20.00 gift card to the greatest store in the world: Amazon.com.
Go HERE for the official rules.
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Deborah says
You wouldn’t want to see what my garden looks like. I’m growing weeds.
Heidi P says
You’re not the only one:)
Susan says
Thank you so much for the delightful story and photos. Growing cabbage so healthy too. Love pics of chickens and duck couple with babies. We have used the vinegar salt and dish detergent mixture to cut down on weeds in some areas and it works and is better than toxic chemicals. Thanks again — from sunny Florida
Tamara says
It all looks so nice, even with the unwanted weeds! Twenty acres requires much work, as you know; however, it also provides so many opportunities!
Carla says
Loved your pictures. Especially the adorable ducks.
Heidi P says
I love your chunnel! excellent idea for giving your chickens freedom without compromising your garden.
Karen Coghlan says
I love all the green, originally from California, I miss green. The chicken run is ingenious,,, Awhile back I got the bug to have chickens and was wondering if I could do something similar, but in the end I chickened out.. 🙂 We live in a track home on less that 1/10th of an acre….
alli says
She sure has all her ducks and her chickens in a row, lol 🙂
ann in E. oregon says
Wonderful garden! Cute ducklings!! You all have done a terrific job with your place. Thank you for sharing! 🙂
Carolyn says
Thanks for your kind words! It’s very intimidating to put yourself out there on the big wide web! My yard and garden is no where near Mavis quality but I’m a fair-weather gardener and the deer flies this time of year are as annoying as an HOA so weeding just has to wait! My best advice to myself (and other newbie gardeners) is just to learn something new every year in the garden. I think this winter it will be pruning grape vines and nurturing raspberry plants!
Jillian says
I have a chunnel too! It’s great to keep the curls contained in there favorite areas!
janet in woodway says
Beautiful, thanks for sharing!