Gardens and Coops Make Great Gifts

Casey Rogers had been interested in organic gardening and raising backyard chickens for some time, but it wasn’t until around the time last fall when “Rocking around the Christmas Tree” saw a sharp spike in airplay, that Courtney Rogers decided a coop and garden would make a really cool gift.

The goal was an attractive looking organic garden large enough to yield organic produce year round for the family of four’s dinner table. We went with an L shaped Kitchen Garden style bed measuring 4’ wide by 10’ on the long sides, with a 4’x4’ square bed nestled inside the larger bed.

The Rogers's garden is located on a slightly sloping area on the edge of their property and while it receives plenty of unfiltered morning sunlight, clusters of nearby trees will offer a reprieve from withering afternoon heat in the summer.

The Beds are made with 2x12 Western Red Cedar boards, and filled with a blend of pine bark fines, mushroom compost and Stalite PermaTill. To the soil we add Microfarm Mix : an organic amendment blend of bone meal, blood meal, kelp meal, green sand, dolomite lime, and rock phosphate.

The Rogers’s also wanted a small flock of three to five hens that will provide a dozen or more organic eggs every week. That’s easy enough, but because the Rogers family lives in an upscale neighborhood, the appearance of the coop design in this case was just as important as being sturdy and predator proof.

After getting the green light from the neighbors on a shaded spot nestled just inside the wooded area at the back of their property, the Rogers’ fell in love with the charm of the 4’x8’ Playhouse Coop design, and selected a charcoal gray metal roof, and red cedar colored stain for the exterior walls.  

Rogers Family's 4'x8' Playhouse Coop from Microfarm Organic Gardens on Vimeo.

The framing of the coop is made with red cedar and wrapped with ½ hardware cloth, and the siding is made from sheets of rough sanded cedar T1-11 plywood. We use Timber Pro UV non toxic stains and sealers for our garden projects.

In order to extend the life of the coop and discourage digging predators, we placed it on a base made of 2”x8”x16” concrete blocks.

The Playhouse Coop’s design is large enough to house up to 5 hens and has a human entry door for easy access to clean the coop and top off food & water. Features like the standing seam metal roof panels, all cedar construction, and roost box window and flower box put the design  right at home in even the most upscale backyard setting.