“When my White Orpington hen, (Marilyn) began egg-laying last summer, she made a habit of laying them in my lavender and lemon balm plants.
Perhaps she found them soothing to be in, maybe she knows something I still don’t about her chosen locations, but what we do know is that there are aromatic benefits from the volatile oils in herbs that affect the mood and stress levels of both people and animals.
Whatever the reason for Marilyn’s nest choices, they validate my practice of sprucing up the coop with my freshly grown herbs. Unfortunately, one of the disadvantages of living in New England is our pitifully short growing season and access to fresh herbs year-round.
One of the disadvantages of my schedule that includes two children, a husband, house, dog, 50+ chickens, a blog, Facebook page, volunteer work and small business, is that I have no spare time for some of the smaller pleasures in life such as cutting and drying herbs to use throughout the winter and spring…”
