Design Variety Into Your Farm

So after I get the goats set up in their new home and after I finish installing the fencing I need to keep them in I will have to immediately turn my attention to building a chicken coop. I don't have much money, nor do I want to spend much money, but I do want to create a home for my hens that will be both beautiful and functional.

Here are a few really nice chicken coops I've found on the interwebs, but I want more ideas, I have been particularly interested in trying to craft a fiber chicken coop out of bamboo and sturdy vine fibers.



1. Coop on a stick, I've seen several variations on this theme and it is quite charming especially for the backyard chuke enthuiast. Seems quite nice for certain types of varmit control as well.

2. I call this one the "Foghorn Leghorn" coop, it reminds of the old  Warner Brother cartoons, though I'm not sure why.

3. This coop has a green roof which will keep it cooler in the summer and bring in yummy bugs for your chukes to gnosh on.

4. The outhouse coop, this is a charming design for your backyard or urban plot.

5. "Rustic" Not really sure about this one, but I like how cobbled together from natural materials it is, this kind of work CAN BE both functional and gorgeous.

6. The "Noog" pure ellegance.

7. The "Garden Club" this one is super simple, very clean and wonderfully bright. How many garden club members have chicken coops at their back porches?

8. Finally, I call this one the "Mayberry" I like the idea of a whole chicken farm made up of little tiny replicas of town dwellings, you could even make one that looks like a train at the station.


Do you have a coop already that is your pride and joy, send us a picture in the comments, or better yet, what would your dream coop look like? Draw us up some plans and send them our way.

Heirloom Seed Gift From Vermont

My good friend Suzy just gifted me some seeds from her farm in Vermont. Among the magick beans are blood orange seeds, which may or may not work outside at Brewton's latitude, but probably will do just fine in containers with the aid of the green house in the winter. I also received; Jacob Cattle Beans, Rattle Snake Poll Beans and Vermont Cranberry Beans.

Zizania Aquatica In Wetland Remediation?

Bog on north side, remediation target.

BunnyGoat Farm has a small wetland, a long narrow pond that is roughly 2 acres and about 4 to 5 ft at it's deepest. The floor of the pond is mainly mud and tree debris, I'm not sure about what kinds of subsurface plants that may be on the bottom currently. The wetlands current incarnation is no older than 5 years, created after hurricane Ivan swept through the farm and destroyed a forest and small spring fed woodland bog environment leaving a large field and pool of standing mud. The pond was dug out and a dam built on the south side. Till now the pond has been grazed and enjoyed by a herd of on average about 40 cows (the farm in general has been overgrazed by cattle for quite a while.) The north side of the pond is a bog that completely dries out in the summer months. The edges of the entire wetland have been grazed and trampled down by cows so that no vegetation grows, there is soil erosion occurring as well.

I need a selection of non-invasive native grasses and plants for small wetland management. I've been looking into Zizania aquatica, a native North American wild rice, which is good for aquatic bird populations. What are some others that I could use to balance my pond and make its water and shorelines happier and healthier? 

Suggestions are always appreciated.

Kudzu is Useful? Who knew?

Junco Sato Pollack of Georgia teaches about the Kudzu plant and its many fiber applications. 


Check out this great article about her at Kudzuweaving.com

BunnyGoat Farm In The Beginning Part 3

Part 3 of the survey of the small kitchen garden area of BunnyGoat Farm. The fenced area is only 1/2 acre of the full 37.

Well Now We Know the Pond Is Full!

Went out to the big pond in the pasture yesterday and spent about three hours fishing. Worms and bream hooks, nothing special, except we hauled in about 21 Bream and 1 Bass that weighed at least 3 lbs dressed.

The breeze was up and the temp was kind to us. Some clouds had rolled in and it was nice and cool. Sometimes the breeze was strong enough we couldn't see our floats on the water, but the fish were so eager we could have been in the dark and still would have hauled in a bounty.

Wild Food! Blessed Be!

It's A Start! And Local Produce From Friendly Folks!

The Loquat is planted; I spent a while with it sending gentle requests for a happy and long life! She'll have to be watered a couple times a day till it's established but then it should be just fine. I will have pictures tomorrow! Now on to fall veg... and the berries and grapes. Oh I built the second vine row today for the grapes, very exciting. BTW the sun at 6 was just beautiful, but we need rain so bad.

Plant Shack Co. Rd 6 Castleberry

Circle J Farms Castleberry 966-5631

I got the plants at the "Plant Shack" near L Pond outside of Castleberry, they have such a lovely tree nursery. On the way back we stopped at "Circle J Farms", they have local, fresh, flash frozen field peas (10lbs for $18 bought some!) they also have butter-beans, summer squash, local preserves, beef, sausage, and much more. They're really nice folks so go give them some love. 

I'm taking the afternoon off tomorrow to fish in the pond with Lee; hopefully he'll let me take his picture, what a curious and wonderful little man! Gonna be a blast and hopefully we'll get to see what we have swimming in the pond!

More survey problems and plans.

BunnyGoat Farm In The Beginning

Summer Fruit Smoothies!

In a blender; 1/4 cup plain yogurt, peaches, nectarines, watermelon, 1 tbs lemon juice, a little palm sugar or cane sugar if you like, not more that 1 tbs though. Blend, drink, grow more fruit then repeat! This will keep you cool and energized all day in this crazy Alabama heat.

I was thinking how cool it would be to open an organic juice bar at the YMCA here in Brewton featuring only fruits grown within 50 miles and dairy yogurt from local farms. What do y'all think about that?

Muddy Muddy Cows

My friends up north are getting crazy rain up there, but all we got is a mud pit. But here are some happy happy happy muddy hamburgers to brighten your rainy days!

Water Harvesting; The Basics, How & Why

As promised here is the first in a series of instructionals on Rainwater Harvesting for small farms and home-garden use. Brad Lancaster is an author and lecturer who specializes in Rainwater and water management.