Chickens are dirty. Let's Make it Clean!

Keeping chickens is a blast. It comes with many rewards and some of which are the challenges it brings. You learn responsibility, accountability, perseverance, and discipline. These things come naturally to the farmer, and farm-kids. I wasn't as fortunate to grow up on farm, instead now I'm living out a mini fantasy by keeping dozens of animals in my house and yard. With that  desire to be a farm kid comes the grim reality of farm chores and cleaning, getting up early and dealing with things you don't want to deal with, no matter how cold, wet or hot it is outside...or how tipsy you got last night.

Learning what it takes to raise animals and keep chickens, has certainly moulded my work ethic and pushing my skills to be responsible with my animal husbandry. For months and years before I got my first chickens, I read countless books, blogs, web forums and asked questions, I did my research. One thing, that whole time was omitted - how dusty chickens can be and what it's really like to clean up after them. You'll see countless beautiful coops on Pinterest, you'll see pretty chickens in glorious gardens, but you wont see what I'm about to show you! Warning: dust, manure and gross cleaning pictures ahead.

In side the shed area, not actually including the chicken coop area.
You can see the dust build up on the bin lids on the left. It's time for some changes!
Just look at that floor of shame!

An Article on Miniature Horse Therapy!

I came across this article on my Facebook feed just hours after I posted about my field trip to a miniature horse breeders boarding facility, coincidence or not - this is a great article and the pictures make me melt and smile. I am all for animal therapy and Gentle Carousel Miniature Therapy Horses is doing something amazing, check them out!

Click here to read the article on Huffington Post. 

Miniature Horse Field Trip

I recently went on a little field trip to Elmira Ontario to go visit some miniature horses! Yes they're beautiful, yes, they're small, but how would they fair on the micro-farm? This question, is exactly what I wanted to find out about. 

At first glance, I scratched my head, "This woman has horses in her backyard?" Our first stop on the field trip was the downtown Elmira home of a sweet a Mennonite woman and owner of several miniature horses - Sweet Dreams Miniature Horses - her business and hobby. Low and behold we stepped into her backyard 15 metres from a public school to find an immaculate annual garden with three mini horses in a back paddock, munching hay under a small shady tree. They didn't smell, and they were very quiet and peaceful. 

You are looking at half her yard! Micro-animal husbandry? It's happening in more backyards then you think!