Ah, vacation... and home-coming

At long last we’re on our way home from almost a month on the road. Sue and I haven’t had much of a break for almost two years and looked forward to our vacation with great anticipation. Except for ongoing minor vehicle issues (including the air conditioning going out as we drove through Oklahoma’s 107 degree weather!) we have enjoyed a peaceful and rejuvenating time together. Unfortunately, the ferry we planned to take from Michigan to Wisconsin broke down, so we lost an opportunity to visit a couple small farms before leaving the area. Sue did spend a day at the sister mill of Coyote Creek Organic Feed Mill in Elgin, where she works and we get our chicken feed. She received answers to many of her questions and I spent the time in an amazingly beautiful cabin just a few miles away, set in fields of wildflowers where I walked and sat and breathed in the sweet northern air. We thank all those who supported our goal to take this time away from the farm~ without you this would not have happened!

Today we sat down and planned out the time line for our fall flocks. After quite a bit of discussion we decided to keep to raising two flocks of 160, even though we may run out of chicken before our spring flocks have matured. This plan does not allow for much growth, and we may yet alter the plan if a good opportunity comes up, but it does give us the chance to see if we can repeat our successful yummy, healthy, happy chicken outcome as well as address areas we want to improve in, such as regular weighing of the chicks over their life span and fine-tuning the ways we call them in each evening. Given that there were nights we were still coaxing chicks into their homes for over an hour, we have a strong incentive to make that process move more smoothly and quickly. Also we have recently lost several of our personal flock to an as yet unknown predator, so it is imperative that nighttime finds all chickens safely tucked into their sturdy pens. The learning continues and we eagerly await our next babies’ arrival in early September.

In trying to find the best approach to make a living and offer quality food at decent prices, we will be raising the birds for a shorter period this time around, making them a bit smaller when finished and hopefully saving us some money in expensive organic feed. Feed prices have gone up significantly and will continue to; we will likely have to increase our price per pound, so the smaller sizes should help offset costs to our customers. Raising broilers is not a way to get rich quick, that’s for sure. We have just about decided to add a flock of layers to the farm~ 250 to start~ which would provide more income, more consistently once the work of building infrastructure is completed. Because there are other farms selling eggs at the Bastrop Farmers’ Market, we would focus on sales from the farm and to small groceries and restaurants. We’re a long way from ‘there’ and this endeavor would involve more of my least favorite activity- marketing- but the idea feels good so far. Scary and good, this farming life we have entered into.