Our Chicken Flock

 Back in October we got about 40 assorted large chicken and rooster chicks, who have grown rapidly through the winter, first protected from the cold in the basement under heat lamp and then in a coop.  Recently we built them a new chicken house utilizing some holistic principles and design.  The new coop has lots of light from windows, and lots of ventilation.  The floor is a dirt floor which allows a healthy culture of micro-organisms to develop in a deep litter system that has been shown to enhance chicken health.  We also have a small screened in area that will be replaced with a larger one that will hold kitchen and garden scraps that the chickens will make into compost.  Our chickens are much more than egg layers or meat producers, they are our garden partners and recycling partners!

 When we completed the larger chicken run, where the chickens could get out and stretch their wings and legs, scratch in the soil, look for bugs and eat greens, their joy was evident.  The roosters immediately began posturing with each other, fluffing up their neck feathers and dancing, and the chicken clucking showed how happy they all were.  As the weather warms these chickens will be instrumental in keeping pest levels down (as they love to eat bugs) and keeping our gardens clean, all the while giving us eggs that are far better than any from the market.  And when we do eat the majority of the roosters, we will be eating birds that lived a happy natural life, not birds that grew up in 10 weeks confined to cages in a building.

 In our new chicken coop we used many left over materials that we happened to have around our home, including doors and windows that we had salvaged.  The coop itself is cedar which is a much better material than the typical pressure treated lumber and plywood with all the chemical additives.  Chickens like to peck around and we wanted to make sure that they would not be pecking at any toxic materials that could then get passed on in their eggs and meat. 

Like any animal, when you have the opportunity to observe them over a period of time, you get to know their personalities and characteristics.  Children tend to love chickens, and our daughter was instrumental in building the coop and caring for the chickens.

 We also added the feature of nesting boxes that are accessible from the outside of the chicken house.  This allows us to quickly and easily gather eggs by simply lifting the lid up.  We put any dry material such as straw or leaves as bedding material both in the coop and in the nest box.  It is essential to keep a clean dry layer in both coop and nests for the health of the chickens.  Contrary to popular opinion, chicken coops should not smell, and the disgusting stench that emanates from battery chicken farms is certainly a big red flag.  While you may not want to sit down in your chicken coop, it should not be a smelly unpleasant experience to walk into. 
In the tradition of our Ancestors we seek to work in harmony and partnership with Mother Earth and all her Relations, our chickens are just another aspect of that.

Ancient Wisdom, Modern Solutions!

 Our Ancient Ancestors understood the wisdom of gardening using permanent or semi permanent "beds".  They utilized the Conuco, mounds and of course did not use plows or tillers that continually turned over and disrupted the Soil.  We do have some Conucos on the Land that we care for but what can be seen here is a different sort of Conuco, same concept, same benefits, but different application that suits the slope of the Land and our needs in a temperate climate.


All around rural areas we see fields being plowed, some of these fields are flat (which does minimize the damage done in terms of erosion) but most have a slope, and when it rains, streams of muddy water wash off the fields into the rivers bringing all the chemicals applied to the fields into the rivers and eventually into the oceans.  Since we are on a hill and have almost no flat areas, we use "swales" and raised beds (or elongated Conucos) that are formed "on contour".  Being "on contour" means that the pathways between them are level and catch the water that comes down the hill.  This water slowly sinks into these "clover walkways" and becomes available for the plants in the elongated Conucos to take in over a prolonged period of time.  There is a lot of attention these days given to catching rainwater off house roofs to be used in the garden, however we can take that concept to a much greater area through the use of the swales and Conucos.

 Very low impact, these beds do not require timbers, or other framing structures but involve a re-shaping of the natural hillside.  We also have here the challenge of rocky soil that does not have very much top soil (something that is not unusual, most gardeners are challenged with either very compacted soil that has been abused for many years, soil that is very high in clay or other soil challenges).  We created our elongated Conucos by layering manures, composts, straw, leaves and other beneficial substances such as wood ash from our fire, and other special things, including some Ceremonial ingredients.  Then we simply left the beds alone over the winter for the Natural Magic to take place, as they formed in place compost heaps.

 As the weather warms we checked the beds and found this beautiful rich soil, filled with worms (always a good sign), which has a beautiful soil structure (fluffy, easy to work with, easy for roots to penetrate).  This soil absorbs more water from the rains and retains more water for longer periods of time.  This soil is a solution for Earth Changes that can involve periods of either extreme rains or extreme droughts that are unpredictable and can devastate crops or require the use of huge amounts of precious water to be irrigated onto them.  This soil drains water better when there is "too much" rain and retains water better when there is "too little" rain.  These beds will never see the ravages of a plow or tiller and so will continue to form a microscopic world of wonder of Fungi, Micro-organisms and beneficial animals that will year to year allow our plants to thrive more and more.

 "Dirt" is seen by too many in this society as bad, negative, ugly and to be avoided, but there will come a day and there is here a day when people in general will need to once again come to appreciate and love the Soil as our Ancestors did.  An important point in this sharing is that we "did" relatively little and Mother Earth responded with so much.  We gathered up our bits and pieces of cardboard plus ones gathered from the local food co-op, layered them on the Earth then cleaned up our horse fields and put the manure on, raked some leaves, put them on, put more manure, put some straw on, and then watched.  We saw the rains fall, we saw the Sun shine, we saw the frost freeze the beds solid, we saw them thaw, we saw the snows fall, and now we see the result of all those elements combined.  


In many ways our journey in honoring the Spirit and the Ancestors through cultivating the love and caring for Mother Earth that they lived every day has involved more mental transformation than anything else.  We have been led by the Ancestors to discover so much, and so much of the wisdom has been to embrace creative thinking and the wisdom of the Ancestral agricultural ways.  In the photo below you can see the beautiful soil that has been formed in just one winter by working with Mother Earth rather than against her!

Winter Gardening and Eating!

 As Fall becomes Winter, there comes a time when rather than leaving our potatoes in the Earth to be harvested as needed, we do a final digging and collect everything that is left rather than risk the potatoes freezing, or needing to mulch them heavily and dig them up in colder weather.  We leave this to the last minute, sometimes because we are so busy with other things, but also because the Earth is the best "refrigerator" for the potato.  In the bucket above is a potato called "Purple Sun" with a Purple skin and yellow inside,  below are fingerlings, which are a delicate potato that grows in amazing shapes with a distinctive flavor.  As of today (mid February) we are still eating and enjoying these potatoes.  Potatoes along with winter squash, and other root vegetables are excellent winter garden produce.  In fact we still have our carrots and beets growing in the garden since cold weather makes them sweeter and they are resistant to freezing.

We have been described in past with negative connotation as "Subsistence Farmers" scratching a living out of the soil.  Not only is this inaccurate, but it is also arrogant.  There is a prevailing concept among many people, including, sadly, urban and suburban Tainos, that working with the Earth to produce one's food is somehow a "lower class" activity or an activity that modern people have happily been able to move away from.  Most are aware that there was a time when the majority of the populations of the Earth were involved directly in gardening and farming activities on either part time or full time scales.  We know that our Taino Ancestors were master Gardeners along with our Relatives to the South, West, North and East.  We come from a continent of amazing botanical, agricultural innovation.  The permaculture movement that is very popular today among Europeans as well as many others, does come directly from our Indigenous Gardening Traditions.  Although our Ancestors are rarely credited, they are the genius behind this "new" movement that actually is our Cultural Legacy.

We do not come from a Cultural Legacy of Fast Food Restaurants and tasteless cooking that creates dis-ease and disease and shuts down our mental bodies.  Our Cultural Legacy involves eating fresh, local, sustainably produced foods.  Our Ancestors did not go from doing the Ceremonies to visiting fast food venues and sipping soda.  Our Ancestors did not shop at the supermarket for "offerings".  Our Ancestors cultivated the offerings with love, ingenuity, knowledge, wisdom, and sweat.  In this way our Ancestors knew the value of the offerings on a profound level and the Cemis, Spirits and Ancestors received those offerings on a profound level.  

While we have access to books, artifacts, papers, internet and so on today as sources of how our Ancestors lived, we cannot overlook who was the master Teacher of our Ancestors, and that master Teacher was (and still is) Mother Earth in the greatest concept of what Mother Earth really is with the Sun, Moon, and whole Universe embodying Mother Earth.  Mother Earth cannot teach through books, internet and so on, although humans can exchange ideas, concepts and discoveries in this way.  Mother Earth teaches through direct contact, direct communication, and it is up to us to learn her language.  Maybe we may start by only knowing a couple "words" but as we explore further we do realize that her language is profound and embodies wisdom beyond what can be captured by our human words.  

Many speak of the "Taino Resurgence" movement as a time when so many of us woke up to being "Taino" and came together to form communities.  For sure today many more of our people are including "Taino" as an aspect or central core of our identity.  Many of us began our awakening with false romantic notions on what it is to be Indigenous, what is an Indigenous Identity, and many took it upon themselves to define that for the rest of us with varying degrees of accuracy or integrity.  However, to truly embrace our Traditional Essence there is a profound and lengthy process, which is largely mental, of detoxifying from the colonial, western, materialistic mentality that has oppressed us for centuries. We must not underestimate the damage that has been done to us, and the distance we need to travel in truly returning to our Indigenous Identity in reality rather than in fantasy.  We also do need to recognize that Life is constantly changing, Earth is constantly changing, and what we are seeking is our Indigenous Spirit, whose expression may be significantly different that we know of from 500 years ago.

 Our Ancestors knew of the true taste of foods, but today many of us have become reliant on false flavors rather than true flavors.  A simple example is the chicken, which is a very popular food among our people.  The chicken that is factory farmed (all chicken from the supermarket) is a chicken that is raised in conditions that are similar to those of a slave ship.   This abusive way of raising chickens produces chickens that are not only flavorless but who also embody all the desperate, greedy, abusive, Earth-hating energies of those factory farms, and it is those energies that we are consuming when we eat those chickens.  This is made even worse if we go to a fast food venue to eat chicken.  This can only have impacts on our bodies, minds and Spirits.  


We raise chickens, and although we typically avoid the "boiler" chickens who have been bred for rapid weight gain and low intelligence, in error we received some in a shipment of chicks that came to us.  Above, our daughter is holding one of these "boilers" that we needed to slaughter for the table.  As a side note, it is important for us that the children gain an appreciation for the origin of their food.  It is a hypocrisy for people to simultaneously shy away from the idea of slaughtering a chicken, yet consume huge quantities of chicken on a yearly basis.  The children need to understand the value of that chicken they are eating, and can only truly understand that when they see and are involved in the process of raising that chicken, slaughtering and gutting that chicken and cooking that chicken.  When we slaughter our chicken we make sure that no part of the chicken is thrown in the garbage, every part is used one way or another, either to make stock, or to compost, the guts go to the dog or sometimes to the wildlife who also appreciate them.

 The chicken above becomes roasted chicken (actually here are 4 of them roasted for a gathering).  Unlike factory chicken, these chickens have a full flavor, a stronger aroma and a different texture.  Even the raw meat smells different- cleaner.  Within hours they go from walking around to the table.  Those that have never tasted fresh chicken may find the flavor strong, others taste the chicken and reminisce about their grandmother's flock, or how they used to slaughter the chickens in their homelands.  Once tasted, it becomes obvious that the factory chicken and home chicken are two very different meals, one comes from a total disrespect for Life, the other comes from Respect for Life.  We can all agree that our Indigenous Ancestors held a deep respect for life.

In our cold frames we pick salad greens all winter long, in sun, rain or snow.  The greens reach their best flavors during the winter as the coolness brings out their full flavor, while the heat of late spring and summer brings out their bitterness.  We not only grow the typical lettuce (although not iceberg- the fast food favorite), but also various other greens such as arugula, mizuna, tat soi, asian cabbage, chard, radicio, parsley and more.  These greens give us a full flavored nutritious salad that could not be any fresher.  From these simple cold frames we grow enough greens to never have to buy any lettuce or greens from the market all winter.  Our first harvest began in October and will continue until the greens begin to become bitter due to the heat, or set seeds.  We harvest the seeds to plant the next season's crop. 


As we have evolved in our own understanding and expression of re-embracing our Indigenous Roots, we have learned that there is a natural cycle of eating that has a direct relationship to the foods that are naturally available during the cycle of the year.  Once the greens become bitter, we enjoy salads that are made from green beans, peas, tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, and greens that can handle the summer heat.  We have learned to avoid the tomatoes available in the winter from the supermarket as they are always a flavor disappointment and a sorry substitute for the fully flavored tomato from the summer garden.  Living as Indigenous People, re-Embracing or re-Discovering our Indigenous Essence is not at all "subsistence farming or scratching a living", it is a return to Sanity, a return to Thriving, and a return to Truth, including a return to the true Cycle and Flavor of the foods we eat and the foods we use as offerings to the Spirits.