Trinity: Stewardship, Wendell Berry, Chickens

The chickens will bring eggs, I thought.  

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Instead, they've given stewardship.

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8 heirloom chics, 4 breeds.  Some cats others livestock in personality.

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Nothing from the kitchen is wasted, every restaurant meal ends with asking for a left-over container.  Girls go wild for pizza.

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Almost 3 decades in my garden, What would it be now with their poop the entire time?

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More, What would I be like?  Yes, the girls have taught that much.

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Ironically, seeing several clients over a spread of years showed how easy chics are to caretake.

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Sadly, the Stewardship was invisible.

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America was founded upon this Stewardship.  Culture bypassed its tenants.

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  A particular client educates me with every third sentence and every hour starts a sentence, Wendell Berry says.  How can I not pass Wendell Berry along to you?

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Founding Gardeners, is the resource for Stewardship.

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I found what I wasn't looking for, one of life's deepest veins of gold.  From chickens?

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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara

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If you want a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, and causes you to tap the brake pedal, as you look in the rear view mirror heading out, become my client, local or on-line.

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Award winning speaker, hire me to speak to your group, local or out-of-state.

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Garden books by Tara Dillard, Amazon

Garden Gates are Meant to be Read

  Do you know why the gate, below, has its styling?

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 Think chickens.  

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This gate was designed to keep chickens from wandering away.

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Several times I've been hired to open a hedge at the front of a woman's garden.  In each instance a couple of plants were removed, a gate installed, a path added, creating a new entry to the front of the home.  Flow, open, welcome, beauty where there had been a hedge saying, 'Keep Away'.

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Welcome vs. Keep Away

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Most often, when I'm hired, the metaphors in the client's life/garden are dripping significance.  I'll say the obvious and get back, How did you know?

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You know exactly how I know.  Easy to see another's life metaphors.  It's our own dancing behind clouds.

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Garden & Be Well,     XO Tara

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If you want a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, and causes you to tap the brake pedal, as you look in the rear view mirror heading out, become my client, local or on-line.

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Award winning speaker, hire me to speak to your group, local or out-of-state.
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Garden books by Tara Dillard, Amazon.

Choose a Theme then Overdose

 Choose a theme, Overdose on your Theme.

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Orchard House, (aka my starter home in a working class neighborhood of cluster homes ca. 1986, today.)

Feng shui has it right about gardens, better than any garden class, 'you must be able to flow easily around your property.'  Like Mrs. Wilcox I adore walking round my garden.  E. M. Forster knew women.  Coop, below,  is mostly rescued materials.  Why not boxwood, roses, itea, hydrangea, camellia, daphne?  The coop is worthy.

View across the drive, below, with front loading garage.  Some jurisdictions have outlawed my type of home.  Too unfriendly.  Garagecentric.  No worries, it is my starter home, here 5 years & off to something more worthy of my magnificence.

It's obvious I had to do more growing than the garden.

I'm particularly pleased with this bit at the side of my garage, above.  Though the white roses lost their graft and only the root stock is left.  Reminds me of an old vicarage wall .
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Did you see the neighbor's houses?  Why would you?  You've entered my world.  An old cottage......  and become lost in my theme.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pics taken in my garden last week.

Chinoiserie Coop, Repurposed Materials

They wanted chickens, I suggested their small unused covered patio.

Old windows, door & lumber were reclaimed from a century old cabin at Lake Burton, GA.

Chicken wire, hinges, a few 2 x 4's were the only new materials.

Once the new wood is cured the entire Chinoiserie chicken coop will be stained BM-Alexandria Beige.
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Their garden is tiny Alexandria beige will make the coop recede.

Th girls fighting for grapes is greater drama than any football match.

Nesting boxes were repurposed from the same cabin.

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These 8 heirloom girls hatched 1st week of April & produce about 7 eggs/day. 

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Amazing how many clients have chickens.  Adore watching them walk, hear their noises, see cliches come true.

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Garden & Be Well,      XO Tara

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Bidding a job last month My Guy suggested they repurpose the child's swing-set fort as a chicken coop.  Love it when my team shines past me with creativity.  

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Girls are safe in their coop & run from hawks, dogs, cats.