Adding a cover crop to the home vegetable garden was a game changer for me, and the garden has been happier ever since. Planting cover crop seed is an easy and effective way to practice good soil health on any scale. There are a few tips and tricks for having the best luck for home gardeners. Timing and seed selection are key!
There are many different ways of cover cropping, from holding a field for a full year, or part of spring or over the winter. Because I succession plant so much of my garden space from early spring to past the frosts of fall, I don’t leave much of my soil bare at any one time. But one of the reasons I have incorporated cover crops is how easy it is to just sow the seeds once I’ve harvested a late summer crop.
There are also a few different reasons people plant cover crops to benefit the garden. One is to build up organic matter in the soil. Another is using legumes to add nitrogen to the soil (or directly to the plants if grown simultaneously). A final reason is to help break up compacted heavy soil with plants that have think roots. If left to rot they create wonderful space in the soil for nutrient and water transfer. Basically, cover cropping is another way of Companion Planting for your garden.
Soil Health Starts with Cover
Image from Kiss the Ground
It always helps me to know the WHY behind whatever I’m doing- so… before I started planting cover crops a few years ago I took a deep dive into soil health. Asking, “Why are we planting seeds in the fall when they won’t have time to mature?” The basic answer is soil health.
No Dig Gardening includes recycling, composting and improving soil all by layering it on! This process is known by a few different names; Hugelkultur, Lasagna Gardening and Sheet Composting, but the ideas are based on “No Dig Gardening”.
Laying out the new beds
Making garden beds this way works with nature’s existing cycles, creating healthy soil, less weeding and happier plants!
This process does NOT need to be created inside a box, just easier to keep layers tidy, I’ve success both in and out of boxes!
Build It and They Will Come!
The idea of setting up a garden bed like this is to let nature do the work for you. You’ll be helping nature create good soil by composting in place- and that requires things for the soil organisms to eat. By giving a diverse group of soil life things to feast on you can create a very active and healthy soil to plant into.
Building Better Soil
Soil biodiversity creates a more resilient garden. I like to equate good soil organisms with good gut health. We’ve likely all heard of pre- and pro- biotics; the helpers of digestion (and so much more). Soil organisms help break things down and make them available to plants in a similar fashion.
Everything from worms and beetles we can see, to bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes and actinomycetes (though I sure couldn’t tell you what those looked like!) have a specific job to do- and many work in relationship with vegetable plant roots to feed them. There is a whole world of info about the soil food web out there, and I suggest watching THIS by Dr. Elaine Ingham if you want to dig a little deeper.
Of course I’m a zucchini lover, I’m a sucker for a veggie that goes overboard and can be used in both sweet and savory ways!
I’ve finally gathered together my collection of recipes and ways I use and preserve Zucchini. I know lots of us vegetable gardeners joke about ‘ding dong ditch’ with these as the season progresses… This is the notorious prolific vegetable. And many get away from me and all gardeners each year (see picture at the end if you want proof of that ;-).
There are so many ways to make use of zucchini! This is such a delicious and versatile veggie. For those of with bounty, or if you just want to savor the sweet summer flavors into winter, read on!
Zucchini Growing Tips
I both start seeds indoors and direct sow- with similar results. I get earlier harvests with the plants started earlier, or more prolific but later with the plants I direct sow. Choose what works for you! They do like lots of compost and can be planted outside a fence, as critters (at least in my area) do not nibble. This is a great news because zucchini plants take up a LOT of space, easily three square feet. A little compost and mulch when planting and you should have oodles of zoodles!
Female flower to the left left, male flower to the right.
Things are different by design on this biodynamic farm.
The first difference you’ll notice on this 5 acre farms is the lack of large outbuildings, big machinery or even an old farmhouse. Also, no overhead electric poles. This farm is completely off-grid.
You will see solar panels, an eggplant-colored tiny house, two hoop houses along with rows and rows of beautiful veggies, perennial fruits and pollinator habitat. A moveable chicken tractor and a sun hive round out the ways Kelsey hosts animals on this land. Each piece is intertwined with the next, serves a purpose and plays it part well.
Biodynamic Farming
Biodynamic Farming Defined: a form of alternative agriculture that takes an ecological and ethical approach to farming, food, and gardening.
Things on a biodynamic farm are thought out in wholistic, interdependent ways before anything is implemented. For Farmer Kelsey this means everything on the farm serves a few purposes. And she really does run this as a one woman show. She does most everything by hand enabling her to observe the plants (and critters) on the land more closely and to see changes in real time. She can decide what to do about those issues based on how it effects the whole system of living things on her farm. Sometimes doing nothing is the answer too…
Bringing wildlife into your garden will bring you higher pollination rates, more food, less pest pressure and the joy that comes from watching an ecosystem thrive. The best part about it is that the ways to bring wildlife in are all tied together, kind of like nature itself. This is a great reminder that we and our yards are part of nature and not separate from it!
There are lots of specifics to follow, but it really comes down to diversity, and making all the things you want to live in your garden feel welcome. This is my take on companion planting in general as well. You can listen in on a companion planting conversation of mine on the Grow It Minnesota! podcast.
We started by deciding to not use synthetic chemicals in our garden. This is a first step that is truly the most important! Then we added a bird feeder and a bird bath and luckily had some beautiful mature trees on our property. Since then, we’ve added more wildlife features as we could, from more native plants they feed from, more watering spots and more cover, creating a little wildlife sanctuary. We actually went ahead and made it official with the National Wildlife Federation as a Certified Wildlife Habitat .
In case you haven’t met yet, let me introduce you to THE SHRUB – the kind you drink.
Shrub What?
At its heart, a shrub is a sweetened fruit syrup mixed with vinegar as a way to preserve summer flavors. In practice, shrubs are best sipped with friends who are as bubbly and sweet/tart as the flavors flowing from the glass.
The magic of any shrub is how it brings together the sweet of the fruit with the acid of vinegar- creating a depth of flavor that lays down a perfect base to build on. But typical of true magic, there’s a third part – the health benefits of probiotics and enzymes from the apple cider vinegar complete the trinity.
Stephanie and I before Covid, at a WBL Farmers Market after she taught a fermentation class
When I first made shrubs, I cooked my rhubarb (and other fruits) then strained the juice and added vinegar. But there is a fresher flavor with fermenting- which may seem counterintuitive but hear me out. When you skip cooking the fruit you retain some great high notes from the rhubarb that get cooked out in other versions. Similar to fresh strawberry jam versus cooked strawberry jam…
Stephanie Thurow, a friend and coauthor of our book, Small-Scale Homesteading is also a master food preserver of Minnesota from Scratch . She first opened my eyes to fermenting shrubs and I will never go back!
This is my husband’s favorite hearty winter soup; a hearty blend of locally grown goodness that somehow becomes much more than the sum of its parts. Specifically this is a potage; which sounds really fancy but simply means a really thick soup.
I could go on and on about how much I love soups, and I’ve already compiled a few of my other favorite soups in a blog a while back, “Simmering Through Winter: Soup Suite”. It takes you through making “Very Veggie Zuppa Toscana, my take on a Basic Veggie Soup and a Ham + Lentil (way better than your split pea soup!!) plus some tips and tricks to making amazing soups- like getting the herbs and spices you add to “bloom”, stock vs broth, etc.
But back to this amazing simple yet sublime soup.
Sausage, Kale + Potato Potage
1 lb pork sausage (local makes a huge difference here!)
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp Oregano dried
1-2 tsp Thyme dried
2 tsp Celery leaf dried
2 cups shredded zucchini (I use frozen)
4 small or one huge russet style potato
4-6 Cups torn Kale (I use frozen too)
6 cups chicken stock
Fresh parsley for serving (or any microgreens you happen to have)
Instructions: Sautée Italian pork sausage until fully cooked, can spoon off some of the fat if desired (I find that locally raised pork products don’t have nearly as much fat as commercially raised kinds). Then add onions and sautée a few minutes, then garlic, then herbs.
Let the herbs ‘bloom’; this is when you let the dried herbs cook in fat before adding liquid to the pot – this is soup MAGIC!
Once you enjoy the aromas of all the herbs, add in the ‘wet’ ingredients; kale, zucchini, then potatoes and stock. This simmers only as long as the potatoes need to cook.
Serve with warm crusty bread, adding fresh greens, cheese or roasted squash/pumpkin seeds to the bowl just before serving. Or, you know, eat it right out of the pot…
Microgreens are so much more than the trendy ‘vegetable confetti’ you see on foodie Instagram accounts!
Beyond being photogenic, microgreens are the poster child for the phrase “Good things come in small packages”.
They Pack 10-40 times as much nutrition as their full-grown counterparts
They are ready to harvest in 2-3 weeks
They don’t require any extra equipment to grow
In case you’re wondering what I’m talking about… Microgreens include a wide variety of edible immature plants. Varieties of greens, herbs flowers and vegetables lend themselves to being eaten while small. You do not eat the roots like with sprouts. You harvest by cutting above the soil level and eating the stem and leaves.
It is no secret that I LOVE my microgreens… and I want to share with you how easy it can be to grow your own nutritious and delicious micros! I also love my local farmers, so I’ve invited Amanda Yadav, Microgreen Farmer at Fiddlehead Farm to join us and give pointers along the way… So let’s go over the basics of getting started!
As more people are looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint, they’re finding decreasing food miles can make an immediate impact. There’s a simple way to focus on eating local- cooking up a 100 mile meal!
Whatever lens you look at local food through- food miles, local economy, food waste, ecology, soil health, humane animal care, climate crisis, community building, nutritional content or simply TASTE- local food wins. Hands Down. Hands in the ground.
Let’s savor the ideas of “Growing Your Own + Knowing Your Farmer” as a two tined approach to digging in and eating more local.
Forks in the Dirt
Cows at Miron Dairy in Hugo MN, 13 miles from my home.
By the Numbers
Figuring out food miles can be a little shocking at first. It is estimated the average item you pick up from any grocery store has traveled around 1,500 miles before you find it on a shelf. Think of different common foods you buy if you pick up around the Twin Cities Metro Area:
Raspberries from Mexico- 2,000 miles
Garlic from China- 5,000 miles (90% of garlic comes from China)
I’ve loved seeing the backyard chicken community grow over the years- and especially this past year! So many new chicken owners; I lovingly refer to us as “chicken tenders”. So it seemed like a good time to gather my thoughts for an overview on getting your hens ready for winter. This article focuses on smaller backyard flocks because this is what I’ve had the most experience with, and what most newbies start with.
For us backyard chicken tenders there are specific city rules and responsibilities. I go over some of those and other local chicken keeping resources in my post, Chickens in the Hood. I also bear my soul in the sobering blog, Fresh Eggs to Chicken Soup, about when we decided to cull a flock of our hens a few years back.
Transitioning to Winter
Transitioning hens to winter can be smooth when you follow a few simple steps… Yes, even if we’re rushing after a freakishly early snowstorm and weeks earlier than normal! Just pat yourself on the back that you’ve taken a step to lessen your reliance on corporate food systems and get a good pair of gloves for winter chores.
Keeping chickens over the winter really comes down to keeping them dry and out of the wind along with giving them plenty of food and water. This should give you happy hens down to -20°F. But, let’s get real- nothing is happy colder than that. Like at any other time of year, being with your hens and knowing their routines is your best offense.
If there’s one thing you get out of this article, let it be that chickens are tough birds! While cold by itself can harm chickens, the thing that can really harm your hens is that sneaky combination of damp + cold together which causes frost bite faster. We’ll cover this in depth later on. For now, we’ll go over three area; the coop, the hens, food + water, but of course they all intermix along the way.
The Coop
Coops come in all shapes and sizes. If you ever need coop inspiration check out Egg|Plant Urban Farm Supply’s annual “Chicken Coop Tour”. So, what might work in one yard/coop/flock may not in another. I’ll give basic ideas that can be used to fit your chicken coop no matter the shape or size.
Current Coop, notice covered run area
Coops need ventilation, but not wind. This can seem antithetical. Think of it this way- we leave our coops uninsulated but cover the 6’X6’ mesh window in winter. Heat, and most importantly moisture, will escape between the roof trusses this way.
Once upon a time, when we were chicken newbies, we insulated our coop. Airtight. Too well. Luckily, that was during the warmer winters of a decade ago. But, even with lows around 20°F I noticed a LOT of humidity in that coop.
Poop in the Coop
As air gets colder it loses its ability to hold moisture. Add to that, the fact that chicken poop also contains all the urate (what humans would pee separately) and you’ve got a high percentage of water to deal with. The urate is also where that ammonia smell comes from. Most people keep a minimum of 4-6 hens in a relatively small space in urban/suburban settings.
So, let’s imagine it’s one of those -10F mornings and they’ve been in there all night (PS- chickens poop in their sleep) cooped up… then they go outside with colder temps, and maybe some wind chill, the dampness surrounding their combs quickly becomes frozen and you’ve got a hen with frostbite in a few minutes.
With colder but dry combs as the hens come out of the coop, they’re much less likely to get frostbite. So, you can see how important good ventilation becomes!
One of the basics is keeping chickens dry – and if you didn’t notice over your honey-moon period of chicken keeping over the summer- chickens release a LOT of poop, around 1/3 – ½ pound per day depending on the breed. That $#% needs somewhere to escape! If you’re really interested in the chicken digestive tract, and not squeamish about lots of chicken poop pictures, Check out Fresh Eggs Daily’s post: All About Chicken Poop.
Poop Plate ready for scraping off poopsicles!
Here’s where I’ll give a big Shout out to the “Poop Plate”. This is any board (or piece of metal for really easy scraping) that you put below the roosts to catch poop, because remember chickens poop in their sleep! This makes cleaning the coop so much easier in winter.
The back side of the fencing is covered in plastic, notice no snow on that side!
Lots of northern chicken tenders enclose their chicken run to some extent. I usually tack on an old clear plastic shower curtain or some garden poly. This lets light in, but keeps wind and snow out. It can even get a little like a greenhouse on calm, sunny days. I tend to wrap just two sides, because the whole idea is to have them outside, and it’s only on the coldest days that I’ll confine them into either the inner coop, or the coop + run.
How Cold is Too Cold?
As always, I think watching your chickens and see where they hang out is your best chance for raising happy hens. There’s no hard and fast rule to how cold chickens can survive because it depends on the breed, any wind and relative humidity. But generally, if it’s not getting above 0°F I don’t let mine out. If it’s only going to get to single digits, I tend to let them out in the afternoon- and keep them in the run so they don’t get so involved in scratching they forget how cold they are. This usually only happens a handful of times every winter.
We also try to have a solid covering in place for winter over the run, this really helps keep snow out. This not only makes it nicer for the girls in winter, but also in spring when everything melts having snowpack underfoot becomes one HUGE mess! Ask me how I know 😉 *We usually have small run areas, 4’X6” or 3’X8’.
I know some of our chickens hated going into the snow and would only venture out after others had forged a path. Others would fly into the middle of a snowy backyard without a care. Both are normal. Both are OK.
Hay There!
Add more hay. We use hay in our garden to insulate plants, and in our coop to insulate the chickens. We’ll be trying the deep litter method again this winter. This is the practice of adding more hay to the spent bedding throughout the winter and letting it decompose in place. While this sounds gross, it’s actually pretty cool, *if* you can keep the moisture down. The idea is come spring, you’ll have some finished (or nearly finished) compost for the garden. The decomposing hay and chicken poop give off heat, a nice bonus during our cold winters.
You’ll also want to make sure that ALL the chickens can comfortably fit on a roost up off the ground as sleeping on the floor invites disease and is colder. They also appreciate a roost off the ground outside in winter!
Coop Heaters
A point of contention for some chicken tenders is whether to heat the coop. Heating the coop can keep your chickens from getting acclimated to the winter temps and they’ll end up staying inside more; getting less fresh air and less chance to move around and forage. It can also pose a fire hazard if a cord is near or on the ground. You may think you’ve got the cord tucked away, but seriously chickens can be worse than rock stars at an after party.
We never heated our coops until a friend gave us this heater with her hens that we added to our flock. I will say they serve a purpose. It goes back to we do use a timed light bulb to add light hours to their days. Adding light keeps chickens laying eggs more consistently. Chickens slow down and speed back up their laying with the seasons, unless given a little supplemental light. We usually set it to go off an hour or two before normal sunrise, starting around November, going until February. I’d suggest starting earlier in the morning rather than at night, because a light that suddenly goes off might catch a hen off guard. This means a hen could spend the night on the ground and will end up more stressed out as a result.
The Hens
It never fails, I always have that one hen that starts molting about the time the temperature dips. I take care to give hens molting in cold weather extra dry spaces, as girls without feathers around their necks or under wings are the only hens that might have a hard time staying warm enough.
In general chickens are very capable of keeping themselves warm. While they aren’t exactly like wild birds (think chickadees and cardinals) remember they are birds. Some birds hang out in Minnesota (and even colder places!) all winter long. That said, cold tolerance varies with breed; larger breeds being the best in cold climates mostly due to body mass.
Frost Bite + Comb Care
Frost bite can harm our hens quickly and permanently. It can happen within a few minutes but is avoidable. The bigger, thinner and more ridged the comb, the easier it is to get frostbite. I’ll give a shout out to pea combs here. Those tiny, barely-there combs hardly ever get frost bite because they have good blood supply and are so close to the head. Big floppy combs, while adorable will need some extra care in a typical Minnesota winter.
You can see a bit of frostbite on this buff’s comb, black tip and then white.
When it gets “January Cold”, as my kids call it- I bring out the small jar of coconut oil and place it above the wood stove to have at the ready. Coating the combs and wattles creates a waterproof barrier between the skin and the cold. Not very insulating, but it keeps the wet off. And remember Cold + Moisture causes frostbite faster on combs. Have I pounded that in enough?
Even so – I like to push the limits and let my girls outside as much as possible, and mine have gotten frostbite. You’ll first see white tips on their combs. Then they will turn black. Really bad cases the affected parts will fall off. This is very painful for your hens, and we try to avoid this at all costs.
Food + Water
As always, give your hens plentiful feed, indoors and outdoors, as long as it can be kept dry. I tend to up their protein during the transition time too, this especially helps that one hen who’s always molting. The protein can be ground up nuts, leftover beans, or a few extra meal worms. I also make up some fun winter treats like garland from produce past its prime; like apples, kale/broccoli leaves, cabbages, and even cranberries. Another favorite treat to feed inside the coop (because it is dry and full of extra energy for when it is really cold and they are stuck inside the coop) is the “Flock Block”
Some people put dog waterers inside, and this just seems like a mess waiting to happen. If you have a smaller backyard coop, please do not put an open topped heated dog waterer inside your coop. Chickens will walk through, poop in, and just get wet (wet = cold) with open water inside a coop.
We use a simple heating pad under the regular waterer which is raised up off the ground. This keeps the water clean, and thawed on all but the coldest of mornings. We just inherited a heated waterer unit and plan on using this outside the coop for an additional water source during the winter to replace the extra water dishes I fill up in the summer.
The girls love snacking on my harvested microgreen trays before composting.
I will typically add a tablespoon or two of Apple Cider Vinegar to their water once a week just to help their systems. ACV is one of my secret winter weapons to keeping my flock healthy.
I also keep greens around for them for calcium and for something to work at in the winter. I am a huge fan of brassica leaves for my hens. This gives them a great boost of calcium, plus so many other nutrients. It also keeps them busy. I toss over the lower/larger broccoli, cauliflower, beet and kale leaves all summer. I purposefully leave some brassica plants standing in the garden as long as I can to break off leaves and parcel them out to the girls. Later in winter/early spring they get leaves I’ve frozen for them.
Keep it FUN
Adding some herbs, like thyme, mints, lemon balm or oregano to their bedding isn’t necessary, but is a nice extra line of defense. Thyme and oregano have serious herbal benefits with anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and antioxidant effects. I add herbs to their bedding, which they scratch in too, to give them a leg up on any congestion issues they might get. *I use thyme tea to sooth my own sore throats and coughs too.
For a real treat, we’ll string up a cabbage, or set out a chicken treat stick. We plan to give them some ‘garland’ for a Christmas treat – and if you missed it, I just presented my girls with a pumpkin Rooster- ha! I wanted to leave with you a reminder that keeping chickens is FUN!
I’ve got some video on winter prep under my “Chicken TV” Stories on Instagram, if you’re looking for visual how to’s!
Me and my old girl Sassy
I hope this helps prepare you for a FUN winter of chicken keeping in the bold north! Let me know if you have other tips and tricks for keeping your hens happy all winter long!
