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As our chickens have been growing quickly over the past few weeks, so has their backyard home. We showed you the original concept for the chicken coop several posts ago, but now we can show you the real thing!

First we chose the spot where we wanted to place the chicken coop. We took some time to level out the soil and placed some landscaping pavers under our floor sections. Leveling the soil helps the rest of the coop stand up straight, and the pavers should keep the wood from being in direct contact with the soil, which would cause it to rot.

The wall pieces were actually assembled in our basement over the winter, so that step went pretty quickly.  We just laid out the walls, stood them up, and fastened them together. We're glad we took the time to build these last winter, because it was a big time-saver during construction.

After the walls were standing, we raised the roof! Both literally and figuratively. This step was a little tricky just because the roof was a large, heavy piece that we needed to lift 8 feet off the ground. That required two people, each with their own ladder, to lift the roof and climb the ladders in synchronization.

Things really started to look like a chicken coop after we attached the sheathing, windows, and door. That's the same charming, used door that we picked up at the ReStore several months ago. It looked much better after a fresh coat of paint. The sheathing is just several sheets of OSB (oriented strand board) that we cut to the proper size for each wall.  We installed the windows backwards, so that we can open them from the outside. This allows us to get some air flow through the coop to provide ventilation and keep the temperature down in the summer.

It's important to keep the chicken coop dry, so we took lots of care to seal up the roof using roofing caulk. We even laid down tar paper and asphalt shingles. We hadn't shingled anything before, but luckily the internet can teach you to do anything! This handy YouTube video was a great resource for us. The coop has been through a couple of rain storms already and we haven't seen any signs of a leak.

It required a lot of discussion at the hardware store, but we finally settled on the perfect shade of blue to paint the outside walls of the coop. The color pairs nicely with our bright compost bin, and has just the right amount of country charm with a little seaside flair mixed in.

The outdoor run is covered with 1/2" hardware cloth (wire mesh) to keep the chickens in and most importantly to keep predators out. You might think that we don't have to worry about predators in our urban neighborhood, but that's not the case. Cities have lots of animals that can harm chickens, including raccoons, foxes, hawks, and domestic dogs. We haven't finished this yet, but we'll bury the hardware cloth around the perimeter of the run to keep animals from digging under it.

Now that they are fully feathered (about 4-5 weeks) the ladies (plus Frenchie) have moved out into their new home. They were a little nervous about it at first, but now they seem to be settled in nicely. As far as we can tell, they like their new coop better than their old cardboard box.

This chicken coop was a lot of work, but we are thrilled with how it's turned out. The two of us didn't really have much carpentry experience, but by taking it one step at a time, we've built an attractive coop that will keep our backyard flock healthy and safe for many years.
This post has been shared at Simple Lives Thursday.

Why We Grow Radishes

We've already alluded to some of the appeal of the radish in the home garden or urban farm. Radishes can tolerate the cold temperatures of the early spring, and are typically the first plants of the year to sprout. On top of that early start, they don't take very long to grow to harvest-able size. The Sparkler variety that we planted says 21 days to harvest on the seed packet, but we let ours go for another week or so. It's easy to see when they're ready to pick by simply brushing away some of the soil at the base of the plant. If the top of the root is a good size, maybe an inch in diameter, you can go ahead and pull it. Here are a few we pulled just the other day.

Now, we've previously used the greens as a kind of garnish/side on the pork chops we recently made. They're pretty tasty: they start off tasting much like a chard or collard, but finish with a bit of a bite. We're hoping to use up many of our radish greens in that way, but the fact remains that if you're going to grow radishes, you better want to eat a lot of the roots too. And if we're honest about it, radishes aren't exactly our favorite vegetable.

You can put them in salads, but that's a very slow way to use up a whole harvest. You can eat them simply sliced and with salt on top; if you're one of those who loves the peppery flavor, this is probably what you'd do. And we'll usually do this a few times per harvest, but they just become a bit too potent that way. Thankfully, we've discovered the simple awesomeness of the radish sandwich. Probably a good three-quarters of our radish harvest will be consumed this way.

Basically, all you need to do is slice the radish into thin slices. A mandoline would make quick work of this, but a sharp knife will do the trick just fine. Then butter a slice of bread with a nice layer of softened butter. Probably the best way we've done this is with a good soft French baguette, but in a pinch when you have a great-looking radish, any bread will do. Arrange the radishes in a single layer on top, and sprinkle generously with sea salt. You could put another piece of bread on top, but experience has taught us that we prefer them open-faced. That's all there is to it!

Something about this just makes radishes so much more delicious. Salt and radishes are a well known combination, but the addition of the butter brings everything together. The creaminess mellows some of the fire of the radishes, but subtly; you definitely know you're still eating radishes. This combination adds depth of flavor to what can often be an overpowering one-note vegetable. Radish sandwiches have transformed this early-season staple from a mere harbinger of the growing season into a harvest that we look forward to.

If you can't get excited about the notion of growing your own radishes, give one of these basic sandwiches a try. You might be surprised to find a new love for a veggie you never used to look forward to. They're the easiest thing to grow in a home garden, so why not give them a try?

This post has been shared at Simple Lives Thursday.