The bird house

I have enclosed my entire back yard in deer netting to prevent the chickens getting out and dogs getting in. The deer netting runs through the entire length of bamboo on one side of the house, it is attached to trellises which act as a back drop for the garden in the back and through trees on the other side of the house. It is barely visible.

The chickens live in a 4'x4' house which I built from a child's playhouse kit and it is painted to match my house. It has a window box, shutters and awnings and is incorporated into the yard, but sits on the opposite side of the complaining neighbor. Attached to the house is a 6'x12'x2.5' (high) screened in porch/yard with white trim and gingerbread. The girls spend the day in their house or porch and I let them out after work and on weekends to roam my enclosed yard freely where they eat bugs, fertilize, frolic in dry dirt taking dust baths, but mostly follow me around because they LOVE me.

The house and porch are built to chicken specifications to keep out rodents and predators. The windows of the house are covered in 1/2" x 1/2" hardware cloth. The sides and top of the yard are covered with the same as well as traditional porch screen on the outside. The house and porch sit on the ground and have chicken wire running underneath which is very securely attached. There is also a 6" skirt of hardware cloth around the perimeter of the porch which has been landscaped so it will prevent digging while not being noticeable. As you can tell, I did extensive research.

The bird food is kept indoors to keep out pests. The chicken house is clean and does not smell. I use pruned bamboo leaves from the yard to line the house and porch floors. I compost the bamboo liter, and use it in my gardens. I layer leaves on the compost so it does not smell either. It makes WONDERFUL soil and feels like such a great use of resources. I am an ornamental gardener. I grow flowers, a few herbs and 5 tomato plants. I have ornamental chickens which complement my garden.

My Garden

When my children were little girls they used to call the yard the "yarden". I have spent most of my adult life gardening in my free time. I lived and worked on a large nursery in CT for several years. http://www.ctgrown.com/index.cfm I was in the landscaping business upon moving back to Sewanee.

When I moved into my house about 13 years ago most of the back yard was covered in underbrush. There was a little overgrown rock garden in the back covered in privet that we used to call the "Secret Garden". No one (including the former owner) thought that grass could grow in the front yard. My awkward shaped, narrow, just under an acre yard has been reclaimed for years now, but like any gardener knows, it is always growing, evolving and changing.

All the gravel, mulch, rocks, soil and plants were placed where they are by me. Until 2 years ago when I got tendinitis, I had an annual dump truck of mulch delivered. It had to be dumped in front of my carport because the truck couldn't get through to the back yard. Over the course of several weeks I would wheelbarrow it to all the flowerbeds in the yard. I don't know why, but I enjoy this.

I've always grown flowers. I dabble at vegetables, but haven't had much success. Luckily many of my friends have beautiful vegetable gardens and are very generous. My garden is ornamental, not practical. It's a lovely place to have dinner parties on summer nights.