Winter hasn’t relaxed its glacial grip on our area but we had a great time on Saturday (March 9) at the South Central Wisconsin Master Gardener Association spring symposium in Monroe.

It might not have felt much like spring, but the full house of gardening enthusiasts was ready to learn about everything new for the garden at an all-day affair entitled “Gardening Inspirations for All Season: Flowers, Chickens and Bugs, Oh My!”

I was surprised to find that their enthusiasm even extended to chickens. Actually, I was a little worried that gardeners on the lookout for the latest Dahlia or hybrid Coreopsis would even be willing to consider allowing a sharp-footed critter who likes nothing better than to pull up seedlings and dust-bathe in the garden to get among their gorgeous plants. If the gracious attendees at this well-done seminar had their doubts, they kept them quiet and proved to be an attentive, fun audience.

It’s true that not everyone wants chickens in the garden (and most of us forbid access at certain times, and in certain locations). But there are a couple of places where any gardener can see the benefit of having a backyard flock. One of those mutually beneficial places is at the compost pile. As I explained briefly during my talk, there’s nothing better for compost than chicken manure. But because it is so rich in nitrogen, you have to be careful about how you handle it. Here is a very detailed how-to from the Seattle Tilth.

Another of those areas is pest control. A chicken clean-up patrol around the yard is a beautiful thing as they chomp down on grasshoppers, Japanese beetles, ticks, slugs and any number of other bugs that can make gardening, or outdoor living in general, more difficult.

I also like to remind people that our beautiful, decorative chickens are themselves sometimes like breathing, moving flowers in the landscape (when they’re not tearing up the strawberries, or scattering mulch all over the porch). Think about a gorgeous Golden-laced Wyandotte, a lovely gray Cochin, a stately Jersey Giant or an enchanting little Silkie. And, besides the birds themselves, a nicely designed coop can provide a perfect focal point in a thoughtfully structured garden.

It’s always interesting in any group when you start talking chickens: Almost everyone has some kind of story. That was certainly true on Saturday in Monroe.

Members of the audience shared many chicken-centric tales. Several of them involved a little child (often the story teller, reciting a well-remembered incident from years ago) and a mean, aggressive rooster, or irritable, pecking hens. Those farm birds of yesteryear weren’t pets; they were livestock. And the most common breeds – great at laying eggs, not so great in the personal charm department -- were generally more aggressive than the more laid back heritage breeds lots of us backyard chicken fanciers favor today. Given how frightening the bad rooster/bad hen experience must have been at the time, I’m always surprised at the amount of nostalgia and genuine affection for chickens at the heart of many of these stories.

Unfortunately, in my new life as a storekeeper, I’m not spending as much time in the garden as I used to. It’s a pity, because events like the Master Gardener symposium remind me of how much I love to turn over the earth, and watch things grow. When I do have time to mess around in my garden these days, I love having company from my feathered friends, chatting away in those contented little hen-ish voices, while they hunt and peck through the soil.

The classical images of Heaven often show clouds and angels playing harps. Personally, I’d far rather have a trowel, a summer evening, some good Green County dirt, sturdy perennials and a little flock of companionable chickens.