Our girls do so much more than lay eggs. I have always said that if I break even on the eggs, I am happy. They pay me back in so many other ways. They fertilize the fields and between the trees. In the picture above we have a permaculture planting of trees and lavender. The chickens are eating all the weeds and bugs. They will do all the work we have done in the past with a tractor and hand hoeing. We keep the houses moving down the field to get a good even coverage of their manure and weed control abilities. The chicken is an amazing animal. Once our new plantings of trees grow tall they will be much happier, as they will have cover. They are a jungle animal and we aim to give them as near a natural environment as possible.
The Solano Irrigation District SID, has been working to install solar powered valves to control the water we get from the canal each summer. In the past someone drove along the canal setting each valve. Now a person will program in our irrigation request. No doubt, I will be able to use my Iphone to open the valve in the future. Along with this comes automatic billing!