We’ve been out enjoying the warmer weather these days. Last weekend we went to buy some new pine chips for the chicken run. Their run was mostly dirt, which might not bother the hens at all, but definitely was ugly and also caused dirty eggs.
What is usually a no-brainer errand turned into a bit more of a challenge. Both Lowe’s and Home Depot seemed well-stocked with wood chips. But on closer inspection, they had dyes embedded in them. All of them! And not only were they colored, but the dyes were guaranteed to last something like a year. This was definitely something that I thought would be an environmental and chicken health nightmare. I finally found undyed chips at Home Depot by a company called Great Gardens that is a part of the Long Island Compost project. I had never heard of them, but if you take a peek at their link, you can see some of the great work they are doing. I was much happier buying organic chips for my chickens to run around in, so it was a win-win.
The girls were happy because they got to run around the garden wreaking havoc.
And there were a few plants starting to poke out of the ground..
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- Columbine
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- Ramps
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- Blood root
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- Golden Alexander
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- Parsley, chives and lemon balm
It was a good day in the garden. I emptied out my compost bin and enriched the soil in my pots and various beds.
The Yikes – Astillbe? Spelling looks off. I haven’t had it in my garden for years but it looks like it.
It does look a lot like astilbe, which I have in a different bed. I just got off my lazy b*tt and looked it up. It’s golden alexander or zizia aura. It’s in the carrot family.
Lovely posting! I often get my wood chips from the MulchFest Christmas trees at new years. It is not organic or natural but it’s recycling and it smells amazing.
I wonder if we’ve crossed paths. I’m always dragging multiple trees to MulchFest.