Podcast No. 47: Backyard homestead chickens

🎧 Podcast No. 50: Chickening out

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.brunettegardens.com [https://www.brunettegardens.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_7] Hi, I’m Lisa Brunette, and this is Brunette Gardens, a podcast about gardening and life, with a little snark and a lot of healing heart. After two years and more than $5,000 spent, I’m letting go of my chicken-keeping dreams. This might come as a shock to those of you who’ve followed my poultry obsession from the halcyon days of that adorable mobile coop called the 'chickshaw [https://www.brunettegardens.com/p/spring-into-2023-gardening],’ to the tragic total loss of that first flock [https://www.brunettegardens.com/p/the-year-of-dying], and up through the trials and tribulations of my attempts to rotation-graze using electric fences [https://www.brunettegardens.com/p/the-chickening-continues]. It’s been an adventure, hasn’t it?

🎧 Podcast No. 49: Welcome to Brunette Gardens!

As it’s been a while, let me offer you a warm welcome back to Brunette Gardens! I’m Lisa Brunette, bringing you a garden of healing 🌱 from autoimmune conditions and the trauma at their root ❤️‍🩹. No ads, no pop-ups, no auto-play videos. People like you fund my work. Podcasts are mainly for paying members, except for this first one… and maybe some others I decide to kick out for everyone. What you’ll hear is my narration of the latest essay, with video and a few ad-libbed lines for additional edification and hopefully entertainment. Owing to his cuddly-yet-mischievous nature, you might also get a video-bomb glimpse of Chaco the cat [https://www.brunettegardens.com/t/cat]. This return/reboot is still evolving, and I might bring on guests for discussion, among other possibilities, so let me know what you think in the comments. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.brunettegardens.com/subscribe [https://www.brunettegardens.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

Podcast No. 48: When your hen's a he

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.brunettegardens.com [https://www.brunettegardens.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_7] Each of the chicks I’ve raised since early spring had a 10-20 percent chance of turning out to be a rooster. That’s the “gender accuracy” given by the hatchery. It’s notoriously difficult to sex baby chicks, so an 80-90 percent accuracy rate is actually pretty good. Ours is a flock of barred Plymouth Rocks, bearing feathers “barred” in black and white, for an overall effect of thick, salt-and-pepper stripes, an Oreo pattern, if you will. One morning the bird with the brightest feathers, whom I named Double Stuff for that reason, issued forth a call that seemed a bit like… a cockle-doodle-do. This narrated version is for paying subscribers. Upgrade now for further adventures in chicken keeping!

Podcast No. 47: Backyard homestead chickens

A fine-feathered flock of garden helpers. By scratching and pecking, chickens till the soil, and they also fertilize it with their poops. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.brunettegardens.com/subscribe [https://www.brunettegardens.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

Podcast No. 46: How we fill our nests

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.brunettegardens.com [https://www.brunettegardens.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_7] I wasn’t sure I’d get chickens again. The first time we tried to raise a flock, I lost my favorite feathered friend when she was only 8 weeks old and then the rest of the flock shortly thereafter to predators. This was all before they’d even started laying eggs.