These girls are eating up one acre of strawberries that have come to the end of their productive life. The old plants are in a mat on the surface. We use the chickens to eat the plants, so afterwards we can pick up the drip lines and the mulch fabric. If we did not have the chickens, this would have to be done by hand. The chickens do a much better job and we have more skilled work for the crew, such as pruning.
Our new strawberry planting is doing well. We have a windbreak, which we will cut down and coppice in the next few weeks. The Poplar stumps will regrow. We will select the best shoots next winter and remove the rest. After eight years they will be coppiced again and the logs used for mushrooms, mulch, and lumber.