The lower portions of the picket fencing and the goats pen are "lined" with chicken wire in order to keep chickens and wild critters out of the garden; and to keep chickens from wandering out of the goat pen.
There is a chicken wire "tunnel" which connects the chicken run with the goat pen and allows chickens to have full access to the goat pen as well as their own large run.
The run is about 25' long x 8' deep and is beneath the trees and along the fenced property line.
The property behind is an early elementary school, grades K-5. The children often bring their parents to visit the animals after school.
The teachers have also taken their young students to visit our turkeys at Thanksgiving.
Another view during the installation; the yellow chicken house has two runs and the coop is divided inside by a chicken wire wall and door.
This is to keep young birds separate from the mature hens and their pecking order.
An old frame made from piping and wire, to form a mesh, is providing support for the cucumbers.
A view from "the street" looking in to the yard along the fence-line.
The goat pen was constructed from pressure treated 4x4's and 2x6's and 50" inch x 16 foot galvanized cattle panels. The entire goat yard
measures about 30' x 20' with an ell about 8' x 12'.
We left the height of the 4x4's uncut in case we need to add additional height to the fence as the goats get bigger.
These goats are 4 months of age in this photo and are about half their adult size.
Inside the goat pen there is ample space for running and playing. A teeter-totter, cable spool and child's slide keep them busy when they aren't playing tag with the chickens.
To the far left of the photo, along the neighbors fence, is our compost area consisting of 3 large bins made from rescued decking.
At the upper left corner is the smaller of the two chicken runs. We use this run for turkeys, ducks, and meat chicks before they are big enough for the chicken tractor and the larger fenced in pen.
Lots of worms, bugs and greens available for their foraging.
The goat yard measures approximately 30' left to right and 20' front to back. There is also an additional section which adds another 8' x 12' to the back, left corner of their yard. This is also the corner where the chickens can come and go.At the front of the goat fence, about in the center, we have a hay bin made from left-over cattle panel. The panel was measured and cut in a sort of + shape, and all four sides folded upward, and joined at the corner seams with zip-ties. Longer bits of the some of the wire were folded over to form hooks for hanging onto the fencing.
There are 7 "joists" plus the two ends. Twine used for baling hay is tied to the joists about 5" apart. At the ground are 2"x2"x8" strips to which I tie the bottom end of the twice, about 5" apart. By tying the lines so the wood strips float just above the ground the lines remain taut.
I plow a trench for each row and fill it with compost, burying the wood strips with the compost. (The dark lines in the earth are these rows)
At the bottom half of each end we added 2"x3" fencing (left-over) for additional vine support, such as for vining flowers like Morning Glory.
Added bonus here, when nothing is being grown except flowers, it is a nice area for comfortable outdoor chairs; or, as we plan to try later this year, covered and wrapped with heavy plastic wrap, it can be used a a warm house to extend the growing season, or start seeds in the early spring. It has full sun, all day, all year.
To the far left is the fenced area for meat birds.
Currently we have ducks living here. Six Peking for meat, and 4 ducks of two other breeds for pets. The area is enclosed with 2'x3' fencing, 48" tall.
After the ducks have been processed, it will be time to move the meat chickens to the area; then turkeys.
Through the arbor at the rear of this area, is the front yard. Next year, we plan to add an orchard and more garden there. The orchard will have apples, peaches and pears all planted using the espalier method in order to get the most use from the limited space.
As you can see from these photos, we do not live out in the middle of nowhere. Nor do we have a very large parcel of land. What we do have is a carefully laid out site plan where we can get grow or raise most of our food. We also earn a bit of money from the sale of our eggs which helps to pay for the feed and wood chips they will need in the winter.
Our goats will be ready for breeding around Thanksgiving. I am searching for a suitable sire for their kids, which should be born in April. At that time there will be plenty of fresh goats milk for drinking, for cheeses and for soap. Much of which will be sold, including the kids.
From this garden I can, dehydrate, ferment, etc. enough food to last us until the next harvest.
There is still much to accomplish such as collecting and storing water, converting our oil heat source to a sustainable wood heat system, building a green house and a root cellar. In time we would also like to drill a well and be free of the water company.
We have looked into solar power for electricity but at this time the investment isn't doesn't make "cents" for the small amount of electric power we consume.
I hope this visual of the layout of our little homestead is helpful to you when you are planning your backyard farm. Remember, this started with only 6 bags of potting soil!
