balancing life

Okay, so I haven't been balancing life, using my time effectively, making this blog a priority, or whatever you want to call the neglect.  Amazingly, the world still spins and you three readers still live functional lives.

Farm update:

3 Red Bourbon Turkeys- loved these gals.  Turkeys are so docile, inquisitive and they make a very relaxing cooing sound.  We still have one left in our freezer.

New Poultry - 3 Bronze Turkeys - These are the guys that get really large and yummy and another heritage breed.  Also, we got another batch of chickens, around 25, that lay mostly white and several Arcauna's that can lay green, blue, pink or terracotta colored eggs.

Had a litter of piglets. Sold all, but kept one girl.  Great experience for the family.

Hatch a batch of Black Copper Marans and Olive Eggers. Another great experience

2 Ducklings that follow the children. Saturday my boy laid down and they nuzzled up in the crook of his arm. So cute.


Started having Lowline Angus Cows - So cute.  They are the height of a typical calf as an adult.  Our girl should be giving birth today.  This is our first calving and hope everything goes well.

Found a good butcher who does amazing work with natural smoking and curing.  That being remarkable may sound silly, but our family loves bacon and the past two butchers' cures have been less than desirable.  My children declared the new bacon better than store bought.  Its a small reward for all the work that we do with the animals. 

wrapped in plastic

We are awaiting our first slaughtered hog's cuts from the butcher.  He said he was interested to see this new breed and wants to our feedback on the taste.  American Mule Footed Hogs are premium ham hogs.  We'll see if that is true.  At the request of some locals we secured a stall at the county fair so others can view this rare breed.  I never thought that I'd be taking livestock to a county fair.  Rural life has brought changes and has made me to get to know myself more.  Those stories might come later.

This picture maybe a little gross for some, but this is how we omnivores get our food. We are just used to seeing it wrapped in plastic at the grocery store. I didn't know I was in that category, but a few experiences on this wee-farm has showed me that I am.  Maybe that will wear off with time. Dan took this picture. I knew if I was going to eat this ham I couldn't watch. I needed it to magically appear in my freezer wrapped in plastic for my liking.

did this hurt?

The smaller egg is about average size for our hens. The large one is about goose size. I wonder what hen laid the larger egg? I wager she made a some noise pushing this one out. Do you think it hurt her?

anyone for bacon?

Boy hogs napping together, Richens and Bacon a.k.a. "Grumpy"


Girls, Hamela and Snorky

We welcome to our wee farm four American Mulefoot Hogs, Richens, Bacon, Hamela and Snorky. Mulefoot hogs are the rarest hogs in America with about 2,000 registered hogs. They are known as a premium ham hog. They are grazing, pasture pigs. While they still root, they seem to go down about only 2-6 inches compared the to 1-2 ft of other hogs. These hogs are the only breed of swine indigenous to the United States. They get their name from their mule-like hoof. We are wondering if we can share the meat with any Jewish friends?

The shelters were made from the metal roofing that a friend gave us. It is mobile, enabling us to move them if needed. Making their pens was the first time I had ever worked with hog panels and gates. Of course, Dan the Man did most of the labor. He is such a hard worker. Hopefully our children will pick that up from their father.

These guys are so ugly they are adorable. Their squeals and grunts make me smile. Raising hogs will be a new adventure for us. Hopefully it will be an enjoyable adventure. If not, then we invite you all up for a BBQ.

chicken update

I know many of you have been anxiously waiting to see how we rebuilt our chicken coop. Since we were not sure about the precise place that we wanted to relocate the coop we opted to do a temporary coop using the dog run and other materials we scrounged up. Dan was able to procure from a friend some corrugated metal roofing at no charge. The metal roofing was zip tied to the dog kennel walls and roof. We reused the pots from the sycamore trees that we planted in the fall for the nests. Plenty of plastic buckets always abound on small farms so we were set for the water bucket. The metal feeder survived the fire, though scorched and a little misshaped. A few plastic pipes that we found in the barn were turned into the chickens' roosts. And all of this cost zero dollars. I always like that amount as an outgoing figure from me. The coop is not perfect but it'll do for now. The chickens seem to like it. Their egg production has doubled since moving into their new home. But, that could be attributed to Dan and Zayne axing the roosters. The hens have been much calmer without the males terrorizing them. The main cock wouldn't let the Polish(Einstein) and the Silkie(Furry Foot) hens out of the coop. Furry Foot died in the fire. Now Einstein, who always acted like she was about to have a nervous break down, leaves the coop relaxed and sociable. She was once the clean hen in the coop, now she is out in the dirt getting her fluffy face dirty. I am happy for her.

So that is the chicken update. Wait til you find out who is coming to the farm this Saturday. . .


Inside the coop.

the fire

Some of you might remember that we built a cute little chicken coop this past summer. We worked on it as a family and with Cousin Devin helping too. A lot of love and effort went into that little home for our egg producing, feathered friends.

While we were out of town last week, our chicken coop burned down. Fortunately, two neighbors saw the fire and moved the chickens to the green house. The chickens were huddled up against the fence to get away from the blaze. Sadly, one chicken, Furry Foot, didn't make it out. She is the one hen that the rooster did not like and rarely let out of the hen house. A small part of me wonders if he kept up his usual antics that night which sealed Furry Foot's fate.

With all the hay inside, it was a hot fire, even the metal screen door melted. We were able to salvage a metal feeder tray, nails and the metal part of a rake. We are presuming that the fire started from the heat lamp. While I am not glad that the chickens are making a mess of my greenhouse, we are grateful that eleven of them are safe.

first egg

Is that not a beautiful picture? Its our first egg from our hens. This past August we bought 7 immature hens and one rooster and had a fun time with the kids building a chicken coop. We knew multiple eggs were just around the corner.

As we made our way around that chicken corner we found that we had 6 roosters and 2 hens. Let me first say that you cannot tell the sex of an immature chicken, but it would have been nice to, for 6 roosters battling it out to be the loudest at 3 a.m. is not a pleasant thing to experience every morning.

To make the story short, 5 of those roosters are now eagle food. A local man has a blind eagle that he has been caring for for 30 years, and fortunately we could help in the food area a bit. We added 4 more hens to the roost, bringing the total up to 6 hens and one rooster, and we get 2 - 3 eggs a day. Hopefully more will follow as the new hens adjust to their new home.

After laboring to set up a home for the chickens, taking daily care of them, (or rather making sure the kids do), and awaiting that very first egg, watching our son walk proudly down the path to our home with the first egg has a certain amount of satisfaction.