Truely Blessed

Fig preserves. In the back you can see salsa and tomato juice.

This summer has been a blur of visitors and food preservation. How blessed we are to have such wonderful friends and family to visit. With the exception of a few days, we've had visitors all summer. Boy does that ever help to chase away our homesickness. Our home feels so full (in a good way). In addition to being able to visit with and cook for, we've also been able to bring lots of our family and friends to our farmers market and introduce them to the idea of local food. So exciting.

We have also been blessed many times by our neighbors who have shared with us the abundance from their gardens. We've been blessed with tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, squash (by the truckload, it seems :), blueberries (literally by the gallon) and this week figs (25 pounds yesterday, plus another 15 pounds last week that we made into preserves to share with our extended family). We have been preserving this blessing as quickly as we can. Most days find the dehydrator going all day. We have veggies for soup, lots of tomatoes, figs, peppers both hot and sweet, potatoes and blueberries all dehydrated and ready to be used in the off season (mmmmm . . . dried blueberries in oatmeal - I can almost taste it now).

We've also frozen lots of fruits (peaches, blueberries, a few strawberries and some figs) and veggies (squash, zucchini, corn and even pesto). The fruit we will use in smoothies, pancakes and pies. The veggies will be used mostly as side dishes.

And it seems that at least a few times a week, we've been firing up the water bath canner to preserve something in canning jars. So far its been mostly the same thing over and over, but I'm grateful because it is stuff we eat a lot of and will need many jars of in the off seasons. We've made peach syrup, salsa - lots and lots of salsa, garden tomato juice (like V-8) and fig preserves. Once we take care of all of these figs we were given, I'm hoping to put up some more salsa and some tomato sauce/ puree. Then we are going to get to work on making some pickles. We've also been offered some pears (they are not yet ready to harvest) and hope to make pear sauce out of what we don't eat fresh. It is comforting to know that we have some locally grown and home preserved foods set aside for the time when there is less fresh produce available at the market or from the garden.

And speaking of gardens, my little garden is growing nicely. We have been able to harvest several cucumbers and yellow pear tomatoes and the peas are growing quite nicely. I think they will begin flowering soon. It has been fun having our garden survive to harvest :)

The chickens are still laying well, even in the heat. We are still getting an average of about 9 eggs each day. It has been such a blessing to have eggs to share with those who share their garden produce with us and to send home with our guests.

Garden/ Chicken Update June 2011

I can hardly believe it! My very small garden is still alive and is producing veggies!! I know that I am inviting disaster by writing those words, but I can't help it - I'm that excited!! We have tomatoes and cucumbers on the vine and purple hull peas are growing well. The lone strawberry plant that survived the winter is trying valiantly to produce berries. About a month ago, the neighborhood dogs tore out our potato plants (they are why I am cautiously optimistic about the garden). The plants had been growing for about 6 weeks. I assumed that there were no potatoes, but when I dug more compost into the bed, we found a few pounds of new potatoes. Pretty exciting to me :) The fruit trees are doing well. We have an orange and a lemon tree, both which have fruit growing on them. The fig trees have no figs on them this year. Thankfully, we have a another source of figs for this year's preserves.

The chickens are doing really well. We have only one rooster and we've lost a few hens to the dogs, so we have 11 laying hens and 6 new chickens (they are about 3 months old). We get approximately 9 eggs per day, which is plenty for us to use and allows us some to share with our neighbors, friends and family. The new chickens should begin laying around the time the laying flock molts, which is great because then we should be able to keep getting eggs.

Harvested so far this month:
Eggs: 234
Cucumbers: 1
Potatoes: 2 lbs

New Chicks

It seems that all chicken raisers are destined to have some loss. Since we got our first chicks last April, we have lost 5 hens, including one we lost this week. Because I am sure we will lose more before next spring, I thought it prudent to add a few to the flock. We were able to get six 6 week olds from the farm store today. They will begin laying sometime in late September, right around the time our current layers begin molting. Hopefully that will mean we continue to get some eggs this fall and winter.

Hoarding?

So, we've been a bit disappointed with the hens' output of eggs these last few months. Some of it, we knew was due to the shorter days, however, as the days grew longer, their output did not really increase. We were stumped. Why were 12 hens only laying 4 eggs per day on average?

I'll tell you why. Those girls were hoarding their eggs, lol!! They had been laying a few each day in the laying boxes and the rest were being laid on the ground, and then covered with hay. When we discovered their hoard, they had amassed 90 eggs!! Since no one was sitting on the eggs, they were not growing chicks, unfortunately. Now that we know their secret, we can prevent them from doing it again. We are now getting between 10 and 11 eggs per day; enough for our needs, to share with neighbors and even for a customer :)

Our flock has changed some in the last few months. We have lost 4 hens to the neighborhood dogs (including one to our dog) and we are getting rid of some of our roosters (2 down, one to go). That will leave us with 12 hens and a rooster. For now, that will work out fine for our needs.

More updates coming soon.

A Sense of Urgency

Four years ago, when I began seeking to explore local food supplies and self sufficiency, one of my goals was to acquire land and begin growing/ raising our own food in a more deliberate way. Country living had always been on my heart, but at that point it began to be more about sustenance and less about scenery. Last year, we saw that dream begin to become reality when we moved to our little cabin in the woods. We love our little cabin, and in many ways it is meeting our food growing/ raising needs, but in other ways, it is falling very short.

Our cabin is a hunter's paradise. Too bad, we are just beginning hunters - experience would surely help us to have more success. It is also a nice place to raise some livestock. Our chickens are doing well and I could see adding a few more things such as ducks and fish (we have a pond) and maybe goats (lots of scrub), but anything requiring pasture, such as cattle, sheep and turkeys, is probably out.

The other problem we have with growing our own is lack of sunlight. We are literally IN the woods, so we get no sunlight from mid March to mid October. Fall/ Winter crops grow fine here, and once we have better fencing, I think we will have success in those seasons, but unless we can find a way to increase our sunlight, spring/ summer crops will fail here.

I am beginning to feel a sense of urgency in becoming more self sufficient. The world seems to be changing very quickly and it has me nervous. It could just be post pregnancy hormones or something, but I am becoming increasingly concerned about being able to feed my family. Food and gas prices seem to be rising daily and I am beginning to see empty shelves in the grocery store. We had been, as a family, transitioning away from the grocery store for a few years and over to farmer's markets and raising our own, that is, until last year when I became pregnant and spent those months so sick and so exhausted. Now that our little man is here, it is time to get serious about building our homestead. Here is a list of the things we are going to be working on in the coming weeks.

1. Repair/ renovate the chicken coop and run. The cold, rain and ice were really hard on the chickens' home. Much of the safety netting is torn and needs to be replaced. We also want to add a pitched roof to the run so that when we cover it next winter, rain does not pool in the tarp and tear the netting. First on the agenda with the coop, after replacing the torn netting, is to make the laying boxes accessible from the outside. The roosters are becoming increasingly aggressive with my husband and the boys and I think it would be safer as well as simpler to be able to get to the eggs from outside the chicken run. This would also be safer for the chickens, since there is a chance of them getting out every time we open the door. In fact, last week, two of them got out and we were not able to catch them or coax them back into the run, and the neighborhood dogs got them both.

2. Build a stronger fence around the garden. I am afraid we will need cattle fencing around the garden in order to keep the dogs out. For some reason, the neighborhood dogs enjoy digging up some of my plants and sitting on and crushing the rest of them. A stronger fence may keep them out.

3. Plant some fruiting trees and bushes. We have a small area on our property near the road that gets sunlight. We will be planting some fruit trees and berry bushes along the tree line in the coming weeks.

4. Repair the compost bins. The dogs destroyed the compost bins and scattered the compost all over the woods. I think we will have to make the bins out of wood and hope they survive the canine assault.

5. Remove some of the smaller trees on the property. Many of the shade producing trees are huge and much to big for us to remove ourselves. Since tree removal is expensive, we will only be removing the two that are near the house and that I feel are in danger of falling in the next few years. I do feel confident in removing the smaller trees, though. In fact, the boys and I removed many of them last year and cut them up for firewood. We plan to continue doing that this year.

6. Investigate indoor growing. We grew micro-greens indoors last year with some success. I would like to do that again. We also have everything we would need to grow sprout, except the seeds. I need to find a source for seeds. Anyone have a suggestion?

7. Get something into the ground outside. I plan to get some seeds into the ground, even before the new fencing is up. Lettuce and snow peas, as well as carrots and spinach are on my list right now. I hope we will see these last till harvest.

How about you? Are you feeling a sense of urgency about things lately? What are you doing around your home in terms of growing or raising food? Have you made any changes to your shopping habits?

Feels Like Spring - Little Cabin Update

This past week we experienced many days of warm sun on our faces. What a joy after an unusually cold, snowy, wet winter. After such a dry summer (not a drop of rain for 9 weeks), we certainly welcomed the rain, but its continued presence for 3 months insured that we spent the winter caked in either mud or icy mud. Last week, it thawed, then dried up. Grass is beginning to grow around the little cabin, as are boys, both big and small.

The winter adaptations we made to the chicken coop worked well to keep the chickens warm. In fact, they seemed unaffected by the cold, even when it was in the 20's for days, even weeks at a time. The problem we had was that we simply draped tarps over a flat "roof" which did not shed rain, but instead allowed it to pool, causing our netting over the top of the coop to break. We will have to repair that before we can remove the tarp completely, in order to keep our flock safe. We are planning some modifications to the coop/ run in the coming weeks, including adding a pitched roof and outside access to the egg boxes, and their food/ water.

Our fall/ winter garden was destroyed by the neighborhood dogs (including our own, who love to "run with the pack"), as was our compost box. We are currently investigating some stronger option for fencing for the garden and stronger materials we might use to remake the compost. I am trying not to let these setbacks discourage me too much, though it does sometimes seem like between our animals, the neighbors animals and too much shade, I am destined to fail at gardening. You see, even with strong fencing, we still would not have a lot of success with a summer garden because of the trees that surround our house and cover almost every inch of our property. I am currently investigating options.

Things are slowly returning to normal since the baby arrived. My big boys are such a tremendous help, as is my wonderful husband. I have recovered well from the c-section, and feel great. The baby has a laid back personality and is pretty easy going, which helps, as well. We took a week off from school when he was born, then had a modified (just the basics) schedule for 4 weeks, plus co-op. Last week, we jumped back in full force and I think everyone was glad to get back to normal ( we all missed history and science). This week, I am trying to add menu planning and more cooking, as well as some additional work outside, on the property. I am also hoping to blog more, as I find that keeps me accountable. Even if no one else reads it, I still feel like if I commit here, I have to follow through.

And now, I'll wrap up with a picture of our littlest cutie. This is his default "serious" expression. He is extremely curious and spends most of his waking time looking around, taking in all of the sights and sounds of our little cabin.

Happenings around the Little Cabin

Wow! It is COLD here! We've had several days of super cold weather and there is snow predicted for our area today. That's just crazy to me. We are not used to having snow in winter. Couple that with living almost an hour away from any major shopping, and we are having to think about winter preparations a little differently this year. I'm glad we took the time to cut some of our firewood this past summer. Next year, we will be more proactive and cut a lot more, I hope.

Our hens are really getting good at laying. In November, they laid 249 eggs! We were able to give away about 4 dozen a week, in addition to the eggs we kept and used for ourselves. What a blessing. So far, the winterizing we did for the coop/ run has been quite successful. We ended up adding a stronger tarp to the run and more hay around the outside (we had to use several bails inside the run, so had to make another hay buying run last week), but now it is toasty warm in there, even at night.

The rest of our food production has come to a grinding halt :( The neighborhood dogs have formed a "pack", led mostly by our pooch and they are all quite active BIG dogs. They get into everything and have torn down the small fences I had around my garden (every morning is an adventure as we discover what they played with/ destroyed in the night). The only garden item that has survived the assault is the parsley, though I am going to harvest it all today, as I noticed when I went out around 5:00 am to check on things, that they finally tore down that fence and have started smashing/ digging it up. I guess Tabbouleh is on the menu for tonight.

I am no longer really able to do any heavy lifting or much manual labor (less than 4 weeks to go before the baby arrives), so new fences will most likely have to wait until spring. My boys are a big help (doing almost all of the farm work plus taking care of all of the pets and a good deal of the house care as well), but I don't think they could handle building a strong fence by themselves and DH is working around the clock lately for his job (he gets calls at all hours lately, even when sleeping - as it is end of the year), so he really can't help now, either. In the mean time, we will try micro-greens indoors again, plus sprouted beans and seeds.

I think things are just about ready for the baby. This pregnancy has just flown by for me, and about 2 weeks ago, I was really hit over the head by the fact that we were not ready (we didn't even have a name for him, though, thank God, we do now). I think we are ready now, with the exception of cloth diapers, which we still need to get. I'm getting really excited about meeting this little guy and can't wait to see what he looks like.

I will probably not post much for a few months, though I do plan to post pics of baby boy when he is born (or have DH do it). I'm finding that I don't usually even have time to read my favorite blogs lately, much less post :( Menus have been very basic and not really worth posting. The focus for us has been stocking the freezer with meals and snacks to take us through about the first month with the baby. So far, we have lots of main dishes, a few side dishes that freeze well and lots of snacks (muffins, cookies, etc). We are trying to add at least one main dish and one snack per day for the rest of the month. We will see how that goes, because some days, it is really hard to motivate myself to cook instead of pulling something out of the freezer, lol. My hope is that once the baby is here, we will only have to take meals and snacks out of the freezer and add fresh veggies or fruit to round out the meals.

But We Only Have 15 Hens

I put this on Facebook earlier this week, but could not help posting it here, too. We have 15 hens, but on Monday, they were quite busy. Between sundown on Sunday and 5:00 pm on Monday, our 15 girls laid 17 eggs :) Do you think they were motivated by the pumpkin we gave them?


Or do you think it was "chicken eye" from the dominant rooster?

Winterizing the Chicken Run

We are expecting below freezing weather this weekend and that coupled with the rain we are getting and will continue to get has prompted us to winterize the coop. Cold, wet chickens are not what we want.



Here is the coop/ run as seen from our kitchen door. It really is in the woods :)

A close up shows that we added a painting tarp over part of the run and then stacked some hay bales on two sides to create a snug corner to keep out rain and wind.


In this picture, you can see some of the hay bales and in the background, the laying boxes and a few chickens :)


Another close up from the side. We only covered the top and two sides with plastic so that we would still have ventilation. They have a warm coop, but all of them prefer to be outside of the coop in the run. This will hopefully help them stay dry and warm when the weather gets cold and wet.

Harvest Totals October 2010

Well, October has been much better, harvest wise, than July, August or September. The garden has consistently provided enough greens for a salad about 3 times a week, and I was even able to bring a salad to a family gathering for 11 and I only had to add a cucumber from the grocery store. I was pretty excited!! These greens include mesclun (looks to me like only red and green leaf lettuce), romaine lettuce, baby kale, parsley and occasionally baby swiss chard. It is so nice to have homegrown greens again.

This was taken early last week. The eggs are usually bigger, more like the size of the green one, and we usually have more than 7 as well.

The hens have really hit their stride egg production wise. Their eggs are getting bigger, averaging large size, though there are two who are laying the equivalent of jumbo eggs. They are also averaging 9 eggs per day now, up from about 6 last week. This month, they laid 186 eggs!! I am extremely pleased with this number. It comes out to an average of 6 per day for the entire month, and that includes days with only one egg and even one day with zero eggs. In fact, we have so many eggs, I'm not sure what we will do with them. We gave away 3 dozen this week, ate or baked with 2 dozen and have 4 dozen left in the refrigerator. I wish I knew where to find one or two customers. I don't think I could support more than two, just in case they don't lay well one week, but it would be nice to have an outlet for these eggs.


In the meantime, I guess we'll be eating lots of omelettes, like the one above, which is made with caramelized veggies and cheese. Yummy!!

What's Happening Around the Little Cabin

Today was a pretty busy day at The Cabin. It has been raining most of this week, which meant we could not get much done outside, and there was lots to do outside. Today, we were blessed with cool weather and sunshine, so we got outside and got stuff done :)


First, we put wheat straw in the chicken run (they were so thrilled) because all that rain had turned things to mud. While we were in there working, we had the opportunity to see one of the hens lay an egg :) That was pretty exciting for the boys and for me, especially because she's my favorite hen (very friendly - she lets me pet her and she "talks" to us). It was also neat because now we know which eggs are hers ( the really jumbo sized army green colored ones - WTG girly).


Next, we put down some stepping stones to make a path between the house and the shed. We must walk that path a lot more than the previous owners. We had walked a dirt/ mud path through the grass and decided it would be better for the lawn and for our shoes if we had stepping stones.

We also put a temporary fence up around my garden, as all of the animals in our neighborhood seem to think of my garden as their own personal beds and they have been crushing my lettuce. Hopefully we can fortify it in the next day or two and make the fence more permanent.

Finally, we put compost in the new bed and then started some new compost with some leaves and chicken manure. Phew! I'm tired and so are the boys. Busy, busy day!!

What's happening at your place?

Garden/ Chicken Update - October 21, 2010

We finally got some rain, after 9 weeks with no measurable rainfall. The ground was so dusty that we could barely walk outside some days, with all the dust flying around. The ground, and my garden are enjoying the deep drink of rainwater provided earlier this week.

The little fall garden is really beginning to feed us more substantially (finally!!) and I could not be more happy. Our greens have reached the baby stage so we have been enjoying some nice "gourmet" salad mix with our meals and even as meals. I don't weigh the "harvests" but I have taken pictures of a few of them. Our mix includes mesclun (a few green and red leaf lettuces), romain, parsley and kale. The spinach is still too small - only about 4 true leaves and not many plants - so we are not harvesting it yet. The above photo is pretty representative of a harvest and we are able to pick this much a few times a week. This amount will make 3-4 side salads or two or so meals.

This week, I planted some more mesclun and spinach. The spinach plants that have been growing for several weeks are still so small, and most of the seeds did not germinate yet plus two of my chickens got out a few weeks ago and ate half of the mesclun seedlings. Having a staggered planting will be nice, so I guess things have worked out for the best, in that regard. I am hoping that we can keep all beasts from eating, squashing or digging up the garden so that we can continue to enjoy it in the coming months.

The hens are laying pretty well (except for today when they laid a grand total of ZERO eggs - weird). So far this month, they have laid 113 eggs and we have been able to use almost half for ourselves (we enjoy eggs, plus we bake a lot) and have been able to share the rest with our family and neighbors. I've really enjoyed that part of having laying hens. It is nice to have something our land has produced to be able to share with our "community".

We are getting ready to add compost to a new bed that we will use for herbs and tomatoes, plus probably a few caning berry plants (blackberries, maybe) in the spring. I'd like to get the parsley transferred there before it gets cold here. If I can get to that next week, then that will free up another 4 square feet of garden for more spinach. I also still need to plant the sprouted potatoes and garlic. We have a micro climate (where that new bed is going) that is significantly warmer than the rest of our place and gets lots of sunlight, too. The potatoes will be in containers in that area, so I think they will grow well into winter and produce a small harvest. Not a lot, but home grown potatoes are so worth the effort :)

I have a question for all my gardening friends. How often do you add compost or fertilizer to your garden? I've been adding compost (made with leaves, garden plants, grass clippings, kitchen waste, chicken and rabbit droppings, wood shavings and hay) about once every 2 months or so. Is this often enough or am I depleting the soil? Any advice?

September "Grow Our Own" Totals

We finally have something (though just a very little) harvested to count, so I'm going to try to keep track of what our little cabin/ farm is producing for us.

In September, we grew a lot of baby lettuce that we did not get to consume, but that the chickens did get to consume and that we will ultimately consume as eggs. The only green stuff we harvested in September was parsley and basil. The parsley was used in Taboulleh and most of the basil was dried (5 plants - dried to about a cup of crushed leaves). In addition to the small harvest, we planted lots of fall crops including Romaine lettuce and Mesclun, Kale, Beets, Swiss Chard, Broccoli, Snow Peas, and Spinach. We lost our bunching onions to something (I think it was our dog who dug them all up) and those will be replanted soon.

Not food, but we also harvested some hay (about 3 wheelbarrows full) and have some more to harvest. We also cut some trees (3) and made firewood.

The chickens began laying eggs on Sept. 19th and the total egg production for the month was 60 eggs. We used many of them ourselves and have also been able to share some with our wonderful neighbors. We also harvested a rooster who dressed out at about 3 or so pounds. He is still in the freezer.

All things considered, I am quite pleased with our very small harvest. I am hopeful that October will be even more productive.

How about you? Harvest anything in September?

Little Cabin/ Garden Update

I'm sitting here this morning with all of the windows open, listening to the sounds chickens make when they are busy laying eggs. The trees have been losing their leaves for weeks, though our temps have been in the 70's at night and 90's during the day. It may have looked like fall around here, but it has not felt like it, at least not until this morning when we woke up to a lovely 51 degrees :) Fall makes me happy.

This is the path to the pond on our property. In the summer, it was so dark on this path that it looked like evening all the time. With the leaves falling, we are starting to see the sun again.


We've been keeping the chickens inside their run instead of letting them run around in the woods and yard. Trying to grow a garden with them running around was futile. Even with netting and fencing, they still managed to eat most of my seedlings, and what they did not eat, the dog would dig up, so this summer did not boast much of a harvest. After losing two plantings of my fall garden, I finally have something to show for my efforts.



The small plants in this photo are some kale I just planted. The larger plant in the foreground is ginger that I planted from a sprouted ginger root I had for cooking. It is about 3 inches tall right now. Its really fun to get free plants from the kitchen :)Here are a few of our broccoli plants. We have nine, which will not be enough to supply us with broccoli for even a few weeks (we go through tons of broccoli here), but still, it is worth the effort of planting some.

Here is our "spring mix" lettuce that is just coming up. I have lost count of how many times I replanted this as the chickens would eat this up as soon as it sprouted. We like to harvest a few leaves from each plant every day to make a salad. That way, they just keep growing all season. These usually are ready to start harvesting by about 3-4 weeks old. We've got about 2-3 weeks to go.



Here is our romaine. I think we have 12 plants. They are growing nicely and I am hoping we will be able to start using some of them as baby lettuce soon.

We have not had measurable rain in over 6 weeks. The garden is surviving because it is small enough for me to keep up with watering. The rest of the yard is not doing as well. Most of the grass is brown and the trees that still have leaves are looking pretty thirsty. We had about 15 minutes of rain yesterday, but it was definitely not enough to make any difference. Hoping for a little bit more soon.

I think that this week I will pull up the rest of the basil and either dry it or make one last pesto with the harvest. In its place, I think I will plant some of the sprouting potatoes that are in my house waiting for a place to grow. Potatoes grow pretty well here during fall and even winter, if they are kept in a warm-ish area and get enough light.

We have a very small area with cut hay that we have slowly been raking and bringing in. Right now, all that we have 'harvested" is in the chicken coop, but I am hoping to get a little put away for later when the pen needs to be refilled.

We also built the girls two more laying boxes and they are putting them all to good use. When they first started laying we were getting about 4 eggs per day, on average. They have slowly increased their numbers and are now averaging about 8 per day. Not only are they laying more, but their eggs are getting bigger.




The middle egg was laid last Wednesday and the other two were laid on Saturday ( you can see the date I wrote on the green/ blue one-I date the eggs as I bring them in so that I can be sure to use the oldest ones first-learned that from my friend Kathleen ). At first they all looked like that little bitty one, but now most of them are like the big ones and we only get one or two of the little ones per day.

At this point in my pregnancy, I am still feeling really great and have lots of energy, so I am hoping to get some more of our projects done in the next few weeks. We are hoping to build some beds to help with erosion where our yard does not get enough light and water for the grass to grow. I am also hoping to chop down some more small trees and cut them into firewood (not only is it great exercise for me but the boys love this chore and will happily help with it for hours at a time). We are also hoping to get some limestone put down in the driveway/ parking area so that when the rain starts up again, we are not walking through mud to get to the house.

Inside the house, I am hoping to get the school room back into shape - it has become the school room/ dumping ground for anything that does not have a home. I also hope to organize the pantry.

What is going on over at your place?

The Hens are Finally Earning Their Keep :)

This morning, we were running late for church, so while I was inside helping the boys to get ready, Bryan went out to feed and water the chickens. He returned quicker than usual, looking like the Cheshire cat, then pulled 3 eggs out of his pocket :) Our FIRST EGGS!! This afternoon, when I went to fill their water, there were two more :) Five eggs on day one!! Those girls sure do copy each other, lol. Having chickens just became even more fun.

Looking Your Food In The Eyes - Part Deux

Well, we did it. We "harvested" meat for the first time. I did NOT cry like I thought I would. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but it definitely was not "fun" nor is it something I want to do often.

The hardest part, outside of the actual taking of life was plucking the feathers. Sheesh, but there are a lot of feathers. Since we were doing it all by hand, it took quite a long time - I'd say 20 minutes or so just on the feathers and we were squatting that whole time - because after the initial feather removing, we had to remove the "leftover" feathers one at a time. These were mostly pin feathers, so they were hard to reach and took time to remove. If we ever decide to do it en masse, I think we will try to rent or borrow one of those feather plucking "machines". It really was challenging. Also, if we decide to do it again en masse, we will need a better set up. We really were not rigged for it and we did not have any tables or chairs. Basically, we had a camping stove for the hot water and a #3 tub and some rope. We stood or squatted for everything. I think sitting would make it easier to do more than one. We spent over an hour and only managed to butcher one (the one who had begun "attacking" us) and I was exhausted by the end.

I also think that if we ever decide to raise lots of meat birds, I think we'll raise Cornish X instead of heritage birds (if we have the option). For the effort, it would be nice to have a bigger finished product. This guy was 5 months old and huge, yet he only dressed out at about 3 lbs, including bones.

Boy do I have a new appreciation for my poultry farmer :)

Looking Your Food In The Eyes

I've known for some time that I wanted to raise both laying hens and meat birds. About 5 years ago,we began buying pasture raised poultry from a farmer who grew the chickens naturally and treated them humanely. This kind of poultry is expensive (depending upon the farmer, it can be up to 4 times more than grocery store chickens) but it was something I knew we needed to do for our family for several reasons.

First, pastured poultry is better for you. Our bodies require EFA's (essential fatty acids) such as Omega 3 & Omega 6 in order to survive (that's why they are essential) and we need them in an approximate 1:1 ratio in order to maintain our health and avoid chronic diseases. The standard American diet of processed food contains a large amount of Omega 6 (found in abundance in all corn and soy products) but very little Omega 3. Pastured meat and dairy products from pastured animals contains a nice balance of the two EFA's. It seems that animals that eat lots of green grass have the right balance of Omega 3 & Omega 6. This is one of the reasons we go to the extra trouble and cost of seeking out locally raised chicken, beef and eggs. Knowing the farmer allows us to know how the food was raised, thereby knowing what is in our food, so to speak.

Second, pastured meat and eggs taste better - a lot better. In fact, even 5 years after we started buying pastured chicken and beef, I am still blown away by the taste difference. The difference between conventionally raised, factory farmed chicken and pastured chicken is literally equivalent to the difference between pale watery store bought tomatoes (in January) and garden fresh tomatoes in July- no contest!! And even though these meats cost more than grocery store meats, our food bill did not go up much when we started eating them because between the amazing taste and added nutrition, I find we need to eat less of it to feel satisfied. Meat has become part of the meal, not the main focal point.

Between the health benefits and the taste benefits, there are reasons enough to make the switch to locally raised pastured meat, but there are still more reasons we made the switch and keep seeking it out. One of those reasons is that buying locally from farmers you know helps out the community you live in. Buying from the farmer, instead of the grocery store means that not only does your farmer get to make a decent profit for their work (hard work, I might add), but it also means that they will get to keep doing that work year after year and thus supplying your community with healthy food.

But the other side of the coin is that we want to avoid factory farmed meat both because of its toxic environmental impact and because of the conditions the animals live it. I won't rehash details of what its like for these animals for their short lives, but you can read about it in The Omnivore's Dilemma or watch Food, Inc to get a good idea. Its not a pretty picture. But of course, even after reading about it or seeing film, I still didn't fully understand just how poorly these animals were treated. Then we moved to our new home, which is about 30 minutes from a poultry processing plant. We don't travel in that direction often, but we do have to go out that way sometimes and we've seen the trucks carrying the chickens in for processing. It really is shocking and puts a whole different spin on those pretty rotisserie chickens.

So, we buy our poultry from farmers who raise them on green pasture and allow them to live the way chickens want to live - foraging for at least some of their food. I know first hand that chickens want to live this way because our chickens call to us and practically ask to be let out into the woods to forage. They run around in the fresh air and sunshine eating grass and leaves, bugs and even sometimes small reptiles like lizards or toads (I've seen it with my own eyes, otherwise, I'd never believe it, lol). It really is something to see.

Our hens and roosters are 5 months old now and hopefully the girls will start laying eggs soon. As mentioned in other posts, the guys are getting pretty amorous, so I'm hoping it wont' be long before we start to see some reward for our efforts at chicken raising. But, the guys are not only getting amorous, they are also getting pretty aggressive, at least some of them are, and not only with the hens, but also with us. After one of them came at me with wings spread and clawed feet bared, well, I just know that I am not allowing that around my kids. So, we set their date with destiny. The two aggressive roosters are moving on Saturday - one to the Bar-B-Que and one to the freezer.

Yeah, I am a little nervous. I will probably cry. I am glad someone who knows what they are doing will be here to help with the "hard" parts. But I also know, deep down, that this is right. These roosters have had a good life - better than most chickens and much, much better than most roosters who do not live more than a day or two in factory farm settings (google it - pretty disturbing). And I know that my family does not take lightly the raising or the eating of meat, so, over all, I feel good about it. Wish us luck.

Disclaimer: These are the rambling thoughts of a very pregnant woman at 5:30 am. Please don't just take my word for any of this - do your own research. The above mentioned book/ DVD as well as the book Nourishing Traditions are great places to start.

Chicken Update

The nesting box is built. A few weeks ago I mentioned that since the girls will begin laying eggs soon, I had decided to build nesting boxes to put into the existing run until we can get something else built. I am pleased with the results and so are, it appears, the girls, who jumped up to investigate our work as soon as we finished. We put it in the run and filled it with bedding, now all we need are some golf balls or other fake eggs to encourage the girls. I think we will probably also paint it, at least the outside, to help prevent it falling apart since it will be "outside" the coop (but inside the run) for at least a month or so.

Garden Update: Fall Garden and Garden Addition Plans

Well, there is not much to take pictures of right now in the garden. The only things growing now are parsley, mint, basil, bunching onions (and they died back when it was so hot and dry), a pineapple top I planted as an experiment and one or two lettuce plants that survived the assault by the 60 lb puppy.Mint that has started growing again after all of the heat lately.

I put the fence back up and planted some seeds for fall. So far, I've planted broccoli seeds, swiss chard, kale, spinach and some sprouting ginger. Still to go in are beets, potatoes and carrots. I'm also thinking of adding snow peas which we've grown during winter before, though not in this planting zone.

This was a pineapple top I planted several months ago. It is starting to grow new leaves (lighter colored than the original)

We also did some planning over the weekend and decided that while the location of the garden will be fine during the winter, it does not get enough sunlight during the summer when the trees have leaves, so we are building more raised beds in other locations of the property that get more sun. These will need to be built in the next few months since I may have a high needs baby in the spring.
I know the chickens are not technically part of the garden, but since they fertilize it and eat so much of it, I'll put the chicken update here with the garden. After much debating, I've decided against building a new coop for the layers. Instead, I am going to add laying boxes to the existing run. Not only will this be easier for me, but the chickens will probably like it better, since they are creatures of habit and do not take very well to change. Another bonus is that the girls will probably start laying as soon as the weather cools a bit and there is definitely more of a chance I will have laying boxes built in time. We will build a chicken tractor with an enclosure for the little group of hens and rooster that we are hoping will become parents, but that can wait since I really don't want little ones while the weather is cold.


The roosters are getting so beautiful. Their long draping feathers are growing in nicely and they are becoming so colorful. One of them is a dark red with iridescent dark green tail and shoulder feathers. The boys call him "Pawski" after my Dad. He is in the picture above surrounded by his girls :)One of the others (Casanova - he is the most amorous) is a beautiful gold color with lots of rust and dark greenish black tail feathers. He is pictured above with the Dominique rooster who is so huge. The one below is a Barred Plymoth I think, (based on his coloring and comb). So pretty, don't you think? Can you see the pretty colors this one has on his sides. They boys call him Hawkie because his comb looks like a mohawk, lol.

Most of the time, Pawskie (the Rhode Island Red) is the only one to hang out with the girls. He is a wonderful protector. The other Roos usually just act like frat boys hanging out together unless they are feeling amorous. Usually. It is actually quite interesting to see the flock dynamic beginning to develop and to watch the guys taking care of the girls, but that's another blog post.

Edited to add pictures.

We Have Roosters!!

My Dad, who lives in town, bought 4 straight run chicks a few months ago, figuring at least some would be hens. Surprise! All four were roosters. He decided that he wanted to keep his neighbors as friends, therefore, the roosters had to go. So, the guys moved here to the woods and are hanging out with my girls now. They are about a week older than the girls, but are so much bigger. We are holding out on naming them since we are planning to select the one who seems to be the best protector and keep him, and the rest will most likely end up in the freezer. Although . . . As luck would have it, they are the same breeds as the girls; 2 are Dominques, 1 is an Americauna and 1 is a Rhode Island Red. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could get them to raise chicks :) Ah . . . farm dreams . . .