My Chicken Coop Run Downsize

         The Chicken Run was the first of my projects that I got accomplished this spring. Overall, I pleased with the way it came out. Nothing special, just a smaller 10 foot wide by 18 foot long run. The bare dirt gives you the visual of how large it used to be. I made it smaller because I wanted to reclaim the front of my shed yard, and since I let my birds free range on the grass every night and all weekends, I really didn't a run of such a large size for my flock size of 10 birds. I firmly believe that the more access the chickens have to select what they want to eat in the yard, the better my eggs will be. If you haven't seen this blog post, it shows you a store bought egg next to one of my hen's eggs. Have a nice weekend!

New smaller run size

Gate and Water bucket Nipple Waterer

Cinder Block Raised Bed

This isn't my mine, but it is a friend of mine that made this bed. The cinder block holes are what I dig most about this design, you can put a ton of herbs/small plants in them.

DIY Topsy Turvy Tomato setup

In order to save space this year, I've decided to try to grow hanging tomato plants on my garden arbor. The design of this is a copy of the Topsy Turvy growing containers sold on infomercials and Kmart. My setup contains three containers left over from a recent tree purchase, resting by the lip on a simple frame made with some leftover scrap wood from another project. A hole is drilled in the bottom of each container using a 1 inch paddle bit. It's nothing special,  but it should work perfect for the upcoming tomato season. This will be the first season I've not grown tomatoes in a traditional cage or stake method, progress will be posted throughout the season.