Plants for You and Your Hens by
Lisa Steele (Voyageur Press, 2016)
Add a little pizzazz to your outdoor décor and make more wholesome meals for your family with free-range chickens roosting in their own adorable, tiny cottages in your home garden. Author Lisa Steele details this natural alternative in her book Gardening with Chickens: Plans and Plants for You and Your Hens (Voyageur Press, 2016).
The chickens are a more natural option to reduce pests in the home garden than pesticides, and they provide natural fertilizer. Lisa’s book shows the home gardener that it is possible to have a beautiful garden that results in healthy produce and happy hens. “A garden can provide your chickens with lots of nutritious, inexpensive treats to supplement their regular feed and save you money, while their activities in the garden can help it thrive. They instinctively love scratching for bugs, loosening the dirt, and eating weeds, not to mention providing free fertilizer,” Lisa says.
In the chapters of Gardening With Chickens, Lisa explains not only the benefits of free-range chicken gardens, but provides the know-how of starting your garden and taking care of the chickens so you aren’t just winging it. She proves that chicken runs don’t have to be unsightly. Her examples look like miniature cottages and are so cute the gardeners will be envious. Lisa also gives ideas for great chicken snacks. She offers advice on what to plant to help the chickens produce the best eggs and gives details about different breeds of chickens that are best for free-range chicken gardens.
With clever ideas and facts, adorable sketches, and model-worthy shots of some gorgeous chickens, this book is a great resource for gardeners looking for a more economic and natural way to help their garden thrive.
