At last, the chickens move in day!

This is what the garden looked like previous to working on it. 

The Garden has made substantial progress, starting off with a slow start and finishing strong. I didn’t think anything was going to be accomplished this week at the rate we started; but we finished strong. It’s funny the mixture of people we have in our group. Nate and Stuart were consistently quarreling over aesthetics and how the wood should be cut for the coop, but they survived. I don’t think we could have done it without the help of Liam, he mediates the group; however, he himself doesn’t actually know how to build anything. It all works out perfectly. I’ve taken on the role as mother chick raiser. I’d like to just spent the day taking care of my chickens, but Mr. Wilson doesn’t like that very much. 

Stuart and I worked to mark out the pathways and land for the garden. We are doing a complete renovation on the garden, taking a permaculture approach. In the garden, earlier this season, a group of kids, Ms. Clark, and I worked to set up and prepare for the growing season. Thus far, the only plants that managed to do well were our four rows of pea plants we started from seeds and we have about five rows of onions growing. Stuart and I took cardboard from the lunch room and mapped out the paths. We plan to keep the cardboard there to restrict growth and kill any plants from sprouting. 

Liam and I took a run to Home Depot on Thursday to get the needed supplies to finish the coop (stain, handles, locks, wire, etc.). We are trying to design a gutter system that will collect water from the roof of the coop and dispenses it into a filtration system, thinking maybe to water the chickens. The man at Home Depot was super helpful in explaining how the gutter system works and what we will need to create it. 

 Liam and I have also been working on composting, which has been a great success. It's going to take months to actually get fresh soil to put down. The lunch crew has helped out a great deal and been really supportive in our efforts to compost. Everyday Liam collects the compost and puts it into our bins. Usually, before he dumps it, I'll grab some pieces of fruit to feed to the chicken. It makes them quite happy.

Our composting bins! Yummy

We worked on breaking up the ground to prepare it for planting our seeds. Liam then raked out the top parts of the grass and such to have a cleaner soil.  

The coop is now complete as of May 10th! I worked all day on staining the coop and making sure every little detail was complete for the chicks to have a safe night. We had to finish by putting in fencing at the top so predators couldn't get in to attach the chickens from the roof. We put trim around the vents, got the roof secured, and put in an extra posting rod for the birds to hop on. I'm super excited and are the chickens. Last night they spent their first night alone, I felt like they were going off to college. I came in to check on them at 6 o clock, and they were all cuddled up against the fence together. I was worried that they were too cold. Then, at dusk, around 8:30 p.m. I came and put the chickens to sleep and locked them up in their coop. 

Chickens are checking out their new house :)