Every November we plant alfalfa for the chickens to live on the following summer. The chickens have moved off this years pasture and Roberto immediately went to work preparing the beds for next years vegetables. Alfalfa roots have a bacteria living on them that fix nitrogen from the air. The chickens eat the alfalfa and they also eat the organic feed we give them. They excrete nutrients directly on the pasture that grows more alfalfa which produces more manure. The soils seems to absorb the nutrients well and it releases them for the next crop of vegetables. We always grow the best crops after chicken pasture.
The profit from the chickens is many fold. A small amount of money, happy customers and soil fertility.
This field will be rested over winter and planted to tomatoes, peppers and eggplant next spring.