Well, I ended up taking some vacation days this week as I have been unable to focus on anything else but preparing to be dragged before the judge.

Another Code Enforcement officer stopped by a couple days ago. She said she couldn't smell anything. My waste management practices are working. 

Although it is possible to raise water fowl without a pond, these are birds that are meant for a life on and beside a pond so I'd like to underline the importance of ponds in waste management for ducks, chickens, and geese. I'll also briefly note that I only have one chicken, but she does her part in making sure it doesn't smell like bird sauce in our permaculture food forest. 

Besides the safety factor of the ducks and geese being able to escape into the pond if any sort of predator comes over the fence, the water itself becomes a source of fertilizer for the plants. The plants and trees grow their roots directly into the pond mud or adjacent to the pond, and suck out the bird waste with the utmost of efficiency. 

The water keeps the waste from burning the plants by not only diluting it by converting the waste into a plant-safe, organic fertilizer that makes nutrients immediately available to the plants. 

In our first forest, we were able to get 3 feet of growth off of our persimmon trees, apple tree, and October Glory Maple. That is the power of storing water in a pond and letting ducks and geese simply be ducks and geese. 

Oolong, my chicken, is the most efficient, and the most destructive, when it comes to breaking up the hard clay and mixing in the organic materials of leaves, chipped trees, grass clippings, and "bird sauce". 

Did you know that it takes a forest about 100 years to create 1 single inch of topsoil? We've been here about 3 years and have managed to create at least twice that based on a visual overview of the garden's progress.

This is due to a combination of deep mulching from chipped trees, the regular collection of leaves and grass clippings put on the street side from neighbors, and the regular aeration and nitrogen additions made by my birds. Together we combine our efforts to create a fast-growing food forest. 

This environment not only helps to prevent the typical fumes and funk that people associate with traditional farming and animal-tending, but also fosters an environment where plants are able to thrive despite the harsh environment created by paved roads and sidewalks (massive heat gain in the summer, inability to hold water, to name a couple).

As we move into the spring, I ask for your hopes and continued support as we push forward with growing a hedge of roses meant to offer additional protection to the birds, more visual appeal to passerby, and more noise insulation that comes with planting densely and growing a large amount of plants. 

I am off to court. Fingers-crossed and candles lit. 🤞🏾🤞🏾🤞🏾