The Egg and I, Revisited

Book Review

Free-Range Chicken Gardens  How to Create a Beautiful, Chicken-Friendly Yard  by Jessi Bloom, Timber Press, 2012

Growing up on an egg farm, I dreamed of moving to the city, vowing to never again look  at a chicken, unless it was on my dinner plate.  Under Daddy’s watchful eye, we three children were enslaved by chickens on the family farm.  Their beady little eyes, red combs, white feathers and ceaseless clucking are forever etched in my memory, not to mention their highly annoying, non-stop by-products: eggs and manure.   

Daddy’s business began with a traditional country wedding gift: my great-grandmother gave Mother and Daddy a mother hen and her brood.  To Mother’s dismay, Daddy fell in love with chickens, and soon came home with 100 more.  By the early 1970s, the family farm had become one of the largest egg producers in the Southeast, and the whole family was expected to pitch in and help make the business a success.  We learned to tend baby chicks in the hatchery in the dead of winter. We washed, sorted, cartoned, boxed, delivered and sold eggs, say yes ma’am and no sir to even the grouchiest of customers, endure name calling at school and hear complaints about the stench from the neighbors.  The pinnacle of embarrassment, heaven help us, came when Rufus Thomas recorded a song called “Funky Chicken.”  At school, there was a torrent of new chicken names for us to endure, and kids clucking around in the halls.  Arrgghh.   

Fast forward to the present: I’ve spent my adult life in urban, poultry-free bliss, successfully avoiding most fowl encounters. That is, until the next door neighbors began building a small structure that looked suspiciously like a chicken coop.  Next thing I knew, there were 5 hens doing the funky chicken dance in their back yard, hunting and pecking like Hemingway on his trusty typewriter.  But instead of being upset, I felt warm and fuzzy, like a newly hatched chick, and instantly waxed nostalgic for my childhood.  Downright delighted. Then, CLUCK! Nashville joined many other big cities in passing legislation to allow urban chicken-keeping.  My dear Daddy would have been fascinated and proud. 

Therefore, as a long-time gardener and chicken farmer’s daughter, I feel uniquely qualified to introduce you to Timber Press’s brand new, exciting and infinitely useful guide, Free-Range Chicken Gardens  How To Create A Beautiful, Chicken-Friendly Yard, beautifully researched and written by Jessi Bloom, with yummy photography by Kate Baldwin.  Many gardeners would enjoy chickens in their yards, but worry about their busy lifestyles, the neighbors, the size of their garden, or the potential havoc that the birds might cause. I know, because I’ve had these same concerns.  But Jessi writes in a warmly encouraging style, with an authority that comes from mistakes and experience.  Her writing comes straight from the heart, and her passions for both  gardening and chickens infuses the writing with energy and enthusiasm.  First and foremost for me is her ability to engage so effortlessly with the reader.  You’ll find yourself instantly liking her as a person, wishing Jessi lived nearby, that she was your friend, and that she would give you a chicken!  As I continue to delve into Free-Range Chicken Gardens  I find little tips scattered throughout the book, all genuinely useful, not just fluff.  We gardeners will also appreciate the fact that Jessi is not only an award-winning garden designer, but an avid plant collector.  Her garden is a combination of native plants (she lives in Seattle), ornamentals and edibles.  She considers chickens as ‘pets with benefits,’ providing food, fertilizer via manure, eat insect pests and weeds, perform soil aeration, as well as teaching children lessons about where food comes from and learning the responsibility of caring for birds.  

While Jessi’s emphasis is on free-ranging chicken gardens, she realizes that it’s not always possible in certain urban situations, and suggests a variety of creative housing possibilities, featuring attractive chicken runs, plants to grow for chickens to eat and dealing with predator problems.  There are fabulous chicken coop designs, sure to please the neighbors as well as the birdies.  Free-Range Chicken Gardens explores many breeds of chickens available (who knew), common chicken problems (including not playing well with others).  As I child, I considered all chickens to be “alike,” and though I had observed occasional flock cruelty to weak birds, I was unaware of the complexities of their social structure.  It never occurred to me that chickens might need medicinal plants, much like we humans, or that there were a number of common plants toxic to them.  

Another issue Jessi Bloom discusses in detail is preventing the backyard from becoming a barnyard, offering advice on practicing stewardship to both animals and neighbors.  Complete with lists of good resources, helpful charts and tables, this new book  is essential for anyone who gardens with chickens, is considering doing so, or just loves life.  If you aren’t persuaded to consider gardening with chickens after reading this book, I’d be surprised.  Highly recommended for all gardeners’ bookshelves. 

by Leann Barron--chicken farmer’s daughter who just may take up where her Daddy left off.