The Pleasures of Recycling

A damp, gloomy, drizzly day this close to Christmas is definitely just what I needed!
And yesterday was just that.


Farm chores, taking recyclables to the recycling center, and picking up our weekly
pastured milk order from the local coffee shop
were my reasons for going outside.
The rest of my day was spent finishing up a knitting project that needs to be done for Christmas.
Weather like this prevents the guilt that would ordinarily accompany a day spent indoors
knitting.


Excuse me, I've digressed.
While picking up our milk order, I also picked up about a dozen 5 gallon buckets of
kitchen scraps from our local café.
This is mutually beneficial to the café and to us.
We recycle their kitchen scraps into our compost pile, adding valuable nutrients that 
will eventually be recycled back into the earth.


I get excited about this process of recycling...
but not quite as excited as the chickens get when they see me dumping scraps.


About 20 chickens come running...
their little beaky heads leading their bodies down the muddy lane with such glee...
anticipating the yummiest of snacks to pick through.


The café owner refrigerates the scraps in the summertime so that they don't rot.
And in the winter, they sit outside in the cold.
So, even though they are scraps...they are quite edible for the chickens.
What the chickens eat becomes chicken manure which goes back to the earth;
and what they don't eat decomposes in the compost pile which also goes back to the earth
via the manure spreader as it rolls across our hay field.


It's a WIN-WIN-WIN!!
You see, everyone on the farm gets treats of one sort or another.
The equines love their peppermints.


The pigs love apples or carrots.


The goats...Ritz crackers... and only Ritz crackers.
The chickens...not picky, anything has the potential of reaching "treat" status.
The dogs...everyone else's manure (that's not my choice...it's theirs!)

Before I end, I wanted to share a photo that I found in the blog archives...
It's Ginger and MaryAnn when they first came to live at the farm
with our dear, dear Maddie (our newfie that passed last winter).
Can you believe how tiny the girls were?
Oh, how Maddie loved her piggies.


Oh, how I love a trip down memory lane.

Comments

My chickens come running for scraps as soon as they hear the back door opening! How cute those piggies were! And quite dwarfed by Maddie. I remember how much she loved them. What a sweetie she was.
Lynne said…
Good for you . . . your recycling helps to build your beautiful gardens at the Bee Haven for all of us to enjoy!
Anonymous said…
Big or little those pigs are a bundle of cuteness!
Kendalle said…
oh I just LOVE the picture of Moonbeam with the peppermint stick in his mouth. So funny! Aren't animals friends just the best!?
Unknown said…
Great post...love seeing your little babies...again. Forgot they were ever that small.

I have been tempted to ask our local Safeway for their organic scraps to feed my girls but decided it was just too much trouble for only three chickens. If I had twenty.....

Merry Christmas!
Anonymous said…
my treat is reading your blog everyday... I am in need of cheering up we had to put our dear maltese Lily to sleep yesterday, and as you know the pain is unbearable at the moment.

Annie v
jaz@octoberfarm said…
oh wow...the girls are so little and so cute. and dear sweet maddie! do the pigs eat the scraps too?
Lisa said…
What is it with dogs & manure?? Ew. That's reason #1 why my Beagle doesn't get to lick my face. I see what goes into that mouth. His favorite? From my sister's mare.

Aw! Baby piggies! Adorable!