Had an awesome day Friday. It always helps when the weather is great! First delivery was Chickens to Chloe. She homeschools and had just the two girls at home. She has fenced off a largish area behind the garage which is filled with piles of soil and weeds and remnants of vege gardens. The chickens will be in heaven there! Her step dad has helped her fence with 1.8m high fencing and waratahs, and they are going to organise a gate. Chloe was so very grateful. She appreciated the value of what she was receiving and wanted to know who to thank. She asked if she can tag RT into her posts. I said absolutely! We talked about the bokashi system and she said she’s not really hooked on the method and wonders if she’ll even need it with the chickens now. We talked about even just using the juice for cleaning the drains. I just thought… I might suggest she offer the bokashi to a community garden compost too.
Next delivery was to Max & Candace. Max met me and was unaware they might need to extend the height of the fence and didn’t seem sure he wanted to do that, but was keen to try hens. He was quick to ask if these were rescue or battery hens and I explained they weren’t. That we choose hand reared brown shavers as they are reliable layers. I clipped their wings with him and explained this may help but if they were unhappy about keeping them to let me know and we can rehome them easily. It’s a small front area of their garden and I suspect they will annihilate it but see how they go. Max’s Mum has chickens free ranging so said he feels comfortable with them, though he was a bit concerned at having to hold them when I showed him how to clip their wings and asked if he goes to the vet if he has a problem. I said to contact me or the lady in Glenbrook who supplied them before a vet, in case we can help.
After lunch I did a second visit to Deborah who had received her seedlings in tipu tubs because she has a very steep driveway. She said they didn’t do so well, so she extended her growing area and transplanted them into a garden space where they flourished. Deb has gone on to plant more and you’ll see she’s doing really well with lots going on. She asked me what to plant now as we head into Autumn. Perfect timing as I had the planting calendar to give her, some new gardening gloves and a packet of bok choi seeds. Deb had noticed ants and aphids on some plants and we discussed how plants are more affected when they are weak. We looked at the soil and talked about how dry it was. To remedy that she will add bokashi mix to the soil and chop up the old taro leaves, bits of grass and other weeds and some compost. This will enrich the soil and work as a mulch, keeping it more evenly moist. I’m thrilled how much more confident Deb is and how big her garden is now.
Naita was next, a second visit and man was he proud! He had built his own run ready for the hens, but by the time I delivered in his two allocated ones, he had talked to so many people about getting hens that a couple of people offered their hens to add to his flock because they were unable to keep them themselves for one reason or another. He’s enlarged his run space and added more gardens into his back yard protected with all sorts of fencing. He has a large crop of peanuts, bok choy, taro etc. He asked me what should he plant now and I gave him one of my planting guides. I will attach a pic of the hens running along the back of his property and another of the feeders he has set up. I wondered if they were being fed scraps or layer pellets but he offered to show me his shed and I noticed 4 bags of layer pellets in there. He said he buys them at PaknSave. He gets plenty of eggs and keeps a daily tally and he shares them with neighbours and family.
Next was a second visit to Teremoana. Teremoana has had a problem with Pukeko who must nest along the river edge, coming in and pulling things out of her garden, but she has persevered with new plantings and coverings for the bed. I love how Teremoana is trialling seed saving and seed raising by adding the seeds of tomatoes and capsicums etc back into the soil. This is so very cool. I explained they will grow, but not develop into mature plants before the cooler weather stunts their growth. We talked about saving them for Spring next year. She’s saved little plastic cherry tomato containers to use like a mini hothouse so this is a perfect way to start them off in September. Awesome to see this natural progression with trial and error. I gave her a packet of Bok choi seeds, gloves and the planting guide. I asked about the bokashi bin and she pointed to the bottom only which was full of rotting vegetation. I explained how it needs the top section to work properly and she didn’t know where it was, but thought it was in the shed. We talked about finding the top and giving it another go.
Next week I’ll be running a homeschool workshop on seed raising and learning about hens with Kirsty & Phillipa. Exciting stuff! Talk soon!
Rākau Tautoko 