The Coop Podcast with Special Guest Lisa Steele

Lisa Steele, author of the newly reimagined 10th anniversary edition of *Gardening with Chickens*, reveals that the updated book is not just a refreshed version—it’s a complete overhaul built from the ground up. After her original book went out of print, she didn’t just reissue it; she rebuilt it with 10 years of cold-weather and hot-weather chicken-keeping experience, new science, and real-world lessons. The result? A book so different that readers wouldn’t recognize it as the same title—despite keeping the name. Steele argues that chickens aren’t pests to be feared but essential partners in the garden, capable of tilling soil, controlling pests, and turning waste into gold through manure and compost. She debunks myths about chicken safety, shares practical timing strategies for integrating chickens into garden cycles, and even reveals how to make 'chicken poop tea'—a liquid fertilizer that’s both effective and eco-friendly. Her most radical idea? You don’t need to free-range your chickens to get the benefits—just use their manure, feed them garden scraps, and let them eat what you’d otherwise throw away. The real magic, she says, is in closing the loop: no waste, no guilt, just a thriving backyard ecosystem. Steele also delivers a candid, humorous look at the wild side of chicken life—mice frozen in ice buckets, cardinals killed in coop skirmishes, and geese that drown prey on purpose.