Shades of Green Farm

We're growing again!

"Oh my... am I ready for this?" This is what comes to mind when I am not too busy to think or too excited to be worried... or sleeping.

It's almost autumn and we are growing our work here on the farm. The short term calendar looks like this:    
Wednesday Sept. 3rd~ 250 day old laying hen chicks arrive into a new brooder/house and pasture     Wednesday Sept. 10th~ 15 ducklings (Khaki, egg layers) arrive into their new house and yard    
Friday Sept. 12th~ 160 broiler chix arrive (thank goodness their brooder and house are built!)     S
aturday Sept. 13th~ Shades of Green Farm conducts a demo on preparing whole chickens and leftovers at the Bastrop 1832 Farmers' Market    

We're also bringing our own cattle onto home pastures here in September.    
Oh, there's the fall garden.

My my, aren't we busy? Are we crazy?!?

People want our chickens, increasingly... as folks get a taste of them and understand what it means to their health and our planet to eat organic, local, humanely raised meat as part of their diet, demand goes up. Some folks would like us to raise ducks, turkeys and other meat as well. People ask us about eggs, both chicken and duck eggs... we're hoping to offer eggs at market and primarily to small grocers and restaurants. We'd love to be growing more produce for ourselves and some to sell... and we're thinking about herbs-- fresh herbs to go with our chickens.

The possibilities are endless and so is the work. If you'd like to support us, there are a number of ways to do this. Buy our products, since without customers we have no farm. (In accordance with our values, we only sell locally, in south central Texas) Consider offering a contract for meat and/or eggs; regular sales/revenues go a long way in meeting our fiscal needs. Call jules to arrange a time to come and work on building, maintaining or moving poultry houses and pastures, gardening, etc; regular help would be greatly appreciated. Donate materials, expertise or money to build the expanded infrastructure we need; this includes electric and barbed wire fencing, freezer and/or frig-cooler, storage barn, water lines, trailer, tractor, gardening, etc. (At this time, your donation would not be tax deductible). Share your recipes and cooking strategies with us and others~ to expand our repertoires and help those who don't know how to approach a large, whole, pasture-raised chicken. Make suggestions for improvement and expansion~ we'll take all into consideration and if we might not be able to do it, we still want to hear it.

Life is good on the farm. At times strenuous, at time stressful... and good. How fortunate we are to have this opportunity to live here, work here (at least some of the time) and make food for ourselves and others... food we know is healthy~ for humans, the animals in their lifetimes, and the planet. Oh joy!

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.