Long have i dreamt about having chickens but it was always a mystery how we were going to protect them from the various animals which see them as a tasty snack, or even a tasty drink (some animals will kill them just to suck their blood), so when all the chicken owners in our village told me i would need to buy a metal cage, i believed them.
But even this convenient cage won't protect from foxes digging under the ground and let's face it, the design is reminiscent of a prison cell.
I was in fact very close to going the easy route and buying a cage when a friend sent me a video featuring a basic wooden design and i immediately felt excited to create something in my own way.
The Chicken House
Here we are one month ago in the area which was previously inaccessible and covered in brambles.
This lot would have produced blackberries if i had left the where they were, but i could justify their death in the knowledge that blackberries grow everywhere around here.
Here is my chosen design, weaving garden waste (mostly ivy) between bamboo poles.
It was a laborious job filling up the wall, taking around ten days to trim every tree and hedge before weaving it in with the excessive amount of ground ivy we have growing under the surface of this land.
Sabrina's step-dad offered to help out for the door and central column by making deep straight holes with his machine.
A job which would have taken hours was done perfectly in minutes.
The overall stability of the wall was strengthened by these supporting poles which also hold everything in.
The nylon net has been stretched across both sides of the wall.
In line with the wisdom of Anastasia (from the Ringing Cedars book series) i saved all the ash trees which were growing where i wanted the wall.
Ideally one would plant trees and shrubs to create a living wall, but in the interest of time i just used the trees which were already there, interweaving them with the wall.
We covered the base of the door frame poles (which were found in the forest) with used car oil to stop the wood from rotting in the ground and sunk them into their holes with stones & soil, cramming it all down with a heavy tool.
Sabrina & i felt quite proud when it was done.
It's not 100% straight but the frame fits the door perfectly, which by the way was found on the side of the road during the winter.
This little house was bought flat packed for €80 and was our main expense. In the interest of time it felt like the best route.
Underneath it i will place a magnetised electroculture cable which will help the chickens rest more deeply and produce better quality eggs.
A central column is essential for holding up the roof net and i needed something circular which wouldn't tear through the net over time, so used an old bicycle wheel which has been hanging on the wall in my stone house for the last three years.
The wheel was easily attached to the wooden beam and here it is about to have its base painted with the car oil.
There was talk of it being too high but this felt good to me, giving it a circus tent vibe.
Around the perimeter of the wall i dug into the ground this metal grate which will prevent foxes from digging under.
My idea was to overlap it with the nylon net and attach them both to the beams of the wall.
Once fully attached i filled the soil back in and planted Morning Glory seeds in a few selected places, looking forward to the beautiful white flowers which will grow up the net and create extra shade (and chicken food!) in the heat of the summer.
Here we are with a finished chicken house.
Luna & Esteban have agreed to decorate the door.
On the inside we attached this bamboo wind-chime to the wheel and also created two swings.
Yes you heard that right. We made two chicken swings. I understand they like this because it replicates the movement of a tree branch swaying in the wind.
Not sure how high above the ground they need to be but let's see if this height works for them.
We also tied these two little ash trees together just to see what happens.
Hopefully it will create a bridge of shade for them to walk under once the trees produce some more leaves.
I dug a stream for drinking water which flows from the village canal through the chicken enclosure and out into the bamboo forest, at the bottom of which there is a little river, so the water may continue its journey to the sea.
Finally we attached this xylophone to the wall for them to peck at.
Or for the children to play with!
I understand it is important to keep them entertained in there so swings & music should help with that.
Am super happy with the overall vibe of the enclosure.
The children too seemed to feel good there, running around for hours like i've never seen before.
Needless to say they took turns to lock each other inside the "prison".
Yes, this could be a useful place to lock them up when they are naughty ;)
Here's Luna mixing up a few bowls of prison food for Esteban.
They were particularly excited to investigate newly accessible areas, like this 'balcony' which has been claimed as the kid's zone.
Will need to make some shade for them and put up a safety barrier, but this could work.
Behind the chicken house is a steep drop down to an incredibly lush bamboo forest which Esteban had a lot of fun playing in.
I may trim the ivy back some more to reveal the view, which currently includes snow covered mountains above the bamboo forest, an unusual landscape mix.
The seating area is my next focus of attention.
We discovered this lovely collection of hyacinths right at the back, so boarded them off with stones to prevent little feet running on them.
They will be quite amazing in a few weeks i think, with all that glorious scent & colour.
These stones are from a collapsed wall and i have something very special in mind for them which will make this seating area fit perfectly in line with the name of this land, The Spiral Garden.
More about that in a future post!
Have prepared a bed under this small oak tree on the right for pumpkins.
Here it is viewed from the recently created "Empowerment Bed" in which potatoes & sweetcorn are popping up everywhere.
My Steiner based biodynamic calendar says we shouldn't plant sweetcorn directly in the soil till May, yet here we are in April with perfectly happy corn in the first Empowerment circle.
Being that we are in the warmest part of the 11 year solar cycle (the solar maximum) we should not be surprised by the unusually warm Spring. Certainly it has nothing to do with carbon emissions.
All that's left now is to get some chickens. Oh and also some hay and a little chicken food. I say a little because having researched what chickens eat i am very confident now that i can in fact produce most of it from this garden. Worm farm coming soon...
Yes, i was thinking to use my sunken greenhouse as a water storage area in the summer but someone gave us a 300L container recently so am more interested now to convert it to a worm farm.
Not much to do in fact as the deep layer of compost underneath those plants is already full of worms. Just need to keep feeding them the right stuff and not disturb them for six months, before turning it a little and letting the chickens peck around in there each week for some extra protein.
They will actually have a dedicated bed in the garden, where only chicken food will grow, which by the way isn't all that different to human food.
Like us these birds should eat seasonally and i look forward to providing what they need.
Final thoughts
This was an exercise in Co-Creation not only because my family helped out but because the Universe was so evidently involved too.
From my friend in Romania who sent the perfect videos at the perfect moments to a seven year old girl who lives in our village who happened upon my construction last week and informed me that these ivy berries are poisonous for chickens.
I was pondering this problem the following day (having confirmed online that she was in fact 100% correct) when i met an English man who started talking about the old wattle & daub method of house building. Not much different to what i have done here, except that an outer layer of mud is added.
And so, rather than spend an eternity picking all these berries i believe i will cover the inside walls with mud, ultimately making them even more secure.
It was Nicola Tesla who once told us to "Be alone, that is the secret of invention; be alone, that is when ideas are born" and i resonate deeply with this simple idea. Nature communes with us when our calm & focused vibration permits it and any vibrational distractions which includes the presence of another person, no matter how calm they are, will cut us off from the simplest way to get our answers.
So what i want to say here is that the design came to me during moments of silence. I would just look at the empty space and then let my eyes move around the land, searching for answers. When i felt like i had them i would build the construction in my mind and mentally walk around it, checking integrity. Once i felt happy with the outcome of this mental journey i knew it was ready to build.
Can't tell you how many doubting voices i endured once it had been announced how i was going to do it, but such voices only encourage me in fact, so this was perfect.
And as far as budget is concern i saved a ton of money by using nature and scrap pieces from the forest.
All in all it has been such a pleasure to build this. An obsession even! I could think of nothing else but getting it done as fast as possible so that my children may enjoy a very different kind of Summer to the one we had last year. They don't know this yet but i will also be getting two female rabbits which will live in the enclosure with the chickens. It's a surprise for Esteban's 9th birthday in a week!
Back home life is so rich with colour and activity at the moment i almost feel as if i need another post to describe it all but i leave you now with a few final images, just to give you an idea.
Luna made a lego chicken.
All of us made a bigger home for the double mother kitten situation.
The seven cats seem happy here.
Our courtyard is looking like a plant nursery, bursting with energy.
The jasmine next to our door is in flower, providing one of the most wonderful smells i know of in nature.
The pyramid garden is beyond words at the moment, almost all of this self seeded.
Providing my daily bowl of salad which connects me inside and out to this Great Playground on which we live.
Plus, pea season has begun! Eaten raw these are hands down my favourite fruit/vegetable/seed.
What else can i say really?
Life is so very good 🙏
Love & Light everyone 🌱
