“Numerous illustrations, full-color photos, charts and tables, garden layouts, and useful tips … offer a wealth of practical advice.” (
Booklist)
“A comprehensive guide from mating to medicine that will particularly help beginners…Bloom makes a persuasive case.” (
Publishers Weekly)
“This is one of the coolest books I have had the privilege of reviewing.” (
ReadingAllYearLong.com)
“A fun new book.” (Valerie Easton
Plant Talk blog)
“If you have a backyard flock or you’re thinking of getting one, I would highly recommend this book as part of your poultry library.” (
Spinning Alpaca Yarns.com)
“Everything you want to know about gardening with chickens…is here." (
Garden Rant)
“Exquisitely produced and artfully photographed.” (
San Francisco Chronicle)
"Exquisitely produced and artfully photographed." (Brigid Gaffikin
San Francisco Chronicle)
“Everything you want to know about gardening with chickens…is here." (Amy Stewart
Garden Rant)
“Bloom’s obvious enthusiasm for good design and for her birds will inspire both novice and experienced chicken owners to create a garden space for hens
and humans to enjoy.” (Genevieve Schmidt
The American Gardener)
“Jessi Bloom’s new book is as lush and inspiring as the chicken paradise featured on the front.” (
TheGardenCoop.com)
"Jessi Bloom’s new book is as lush and inspiring as the chicken paradise featured on the front." (
TheGardenCoop.com)
“Bloom’s obvious enthusiasm for good design and for her birds will inspire both novice and experienced chicken owners to create a garden space for hens
and humans to enjoy.” (
American Gardener)
“Solves the dilemma of having free-range chickens and a vegetable garden.” (Kym Pokorny
The Oregonian)
“Well-written and would be a true asset to every chicken owner. This book has now become one of my favorite chicken books.” (
TillysNest.com)
“I can honestly refer to it as the Chicken Bible for Gardeners. With everything from coop design, dietary needs, to chicken personality explained, this book seems to leave nothing out.” (
FloraDoraGardens.com)
“Dispenses good, commonsense advice.” (
HenCam.com)
“Tackles the very fear that keeps so many from the enjoyment of raising their own backyard flock.” (
GreenPreferred.com)
“I love this book. It has the two things I look for in any garden book: tons of solidly researched, well-written, detailed information and lots of big inspirational color photos.” (
WhitePinesWhisper.com)
"... a manifesto on the many ways to pamper your hens - with plants for foraging and shelter, rain-fed water bowls and eco-friendly lawns." (
Sunset Magazine)
"Bloom's obvious enthusiasm for creative design and for her birds will inspire both novice and experienced chicken owners to create a garden space that hens and humans can inhabit harmoniously." (Genevieve Schmidt
American Gardener)
Bloom's obvious enthusiasm for creative design and for her birds will inspire both novice and experienced chicken owners to create a garden space that hens and humans can inhabit harmoniously. (Genevieve Schmidt
American Gardener)
“Complete with gorgeous photos, diagrams, plans, and a very well written and easy to understand approach, you will want to get your hands upon this book if you have ever dreamed of incorporating chickens into your lifestyle.” (
Small Town Living.com)
“Jessi’s approach is unique in that she’s a landscape designer and a chicken owner.” (
Sustainable Eats.com)
“I’ve had chickens for four years and I wish that I could have had Jessi Bloom’s new book in the beginning.” (Willi Galloway
Diggin Food.com)
“Provides a good overview on coop building styles and considerations, very basic chicken care info, do-grow/don’t-grow plant lists for the chicken garden and lots and lots of gorgeous inspirational pictures.” (
NW Edible)
“The only book I have seen that tells you exactly how you can have your chickens AND your garden too.” (
Living Homegrown.com)
“A great basic guide for first-time chicken owners and chicken owner wannabes.” (
Horticulture Magazine)
If your garden fantasies involve chickens, Jessi Bloom, author of FREE-RANGE CHICKEN GARDENS: How to Create a Beautiful, Chicken-Friendly Yard (Timber Press, paper, $19.95), is here to make those dreams come true. Chickens bring out interesting characters. My new heroine is Elizabeth Zumwalt, a chicken whisperer, educator and entrepreneur who blogs about her family’s Bantam hens, sells eggs and gives half the proceeds to charity. She pulls a red wagon, topped with a chicken house, when she heads out to educate people about her birds. Elizabeth is 9 years old.
By the time you’re done with Bloom’s clever book, you’ll know almost as much about chickens as Elizabeth does. And maybe more about what chickens like than what your children do. You’ll be looking for bug logs and creating dust baths. You’ll know that chickens like to have mirrors hanging in their gardens — but take care with the angle, since they have eyes on the sides of their heads. There is no end to the vanity of a chicken.
“Experienced free-ranging chickens” — now that’s a real sign of the times; do chickens no longer have a tribal memory of roaming? — will know not to eat toxic berries, but Bloom is an expert guide for the untutored. Somehow, I’m sure that chickens prefer heirloom vegetables to any other variety. And while your flock may break free to cross the road, you’ll be relieved to learn that (unless they have an unfortunate encounter with a car) they’ll probably be no worse for the wear. Chickens don’t sweat.
Bloom genially celebrates geodesic domes and shingled coops with stone chimneys and even clean-lined modernist coops. She also writes about “naughty” chickens: “Chickens are social and hormonal creatures, and when we have them living in ways that are different from how they would live naturally, they are prone to behaviors that can be damaging to themselves or that are simply normal but just catch us off guard.” You might have thought she was talking about teenagers, but I now see that they’re easier to raise than chickens. I’m thinking . . . roast chicken with that rosemary?
(Dominique Browning
New York Times Book Review)
"Exactly what we’ve been waiting for—the definitive guide to letting our chickens roam freely without incurring damage to our vegetable or flower gardens." (
Backyard Poultry Magazine)
"Exactly what we’ve been waiting for—the definitive guide to letting our chickens roam freely without incurring damage to our vegetable or flower gardens." (
Backyard Poultry Magazine)
"Essential guide that will bring your dream home to roost."
(
Natural Home and Garden)
"This well-thought-out and thoroughly comprehensive new book covers the topic so efficiently and completely that it is bound to become the gardener's go -to reference when chickens are the focus."
(
The Republican Journal)
