Locating the winter chicken pasture

Over
on our homesteading blog, I explained how I’ve been
using the speed of snow melt to pick out the sunniest part of the
winter yard. 
The spot pictured here may look pretty wintry, but keep in mind that
our entire farm was under a coat of snow for the month of December and,
when the picture was taken, I couldn’t see bare soil anywhere
else.  This patch of sun is where I plan to build our next chicken
pasture, which will double as a chicken moat to keep deer out of our
garden. 



Winter is one of the
best times to understand patterns in your garden or on your farm. 
I highly recommend that you head out with a camera and map to document
your own sunny spots.  There’s no need to wait for a snow
(although the results are more dramatic that way) — even a light
frost is enough to show you which parts of your yard melt first.