Forest pasture becomes bare in November

Around the beginning of
November, I had to increase the forest pasture flock’s daily ration of
storebought feed back to the normal levels.  Kitchen scraps have
mostly petered out since we’re now just eating out of the garden rather
than freezing masses of produce every day, and the last of the garden
is now weeded and put to bed for the winter.  With less coming in
from outside the pasture, the current paddock is looking quite bare and
the chickens are depending mostly on storebought feed for their energy.



In a perfect world, we
would have a third paddock fenced in and ready for the flock, but fall
is a busy time and I suspect that paddock won’t make it onto the list
of chores for a few more weeks.  Instead, I plan to start layering
fresh wood chips and other sources of biomass in the paddock for the
chickens to work through, creating mulch and keeping them off the bare
soil in a deep-bedding
type system.



Meanwhile,
I’m eying the winter
wheat in the first
paddock, which popped up in a lush layer of green during a late October
rain.  Around the end of November, I think the seedlings will be
well enough rooted that I’ll be able to turn the chickens into this
paddock for a day or so to give them a dose of fresh green vegetables.