Still not a week into 2009. Life feels steady on the farm, with all the animals who live here seeming happy and healthy, including the humans. The pullets (young female chickens not yet matured to the point of laying eggs and becoming hens) have settled into their home and pasture-- finally!-- and we've lost no more for over three weeks. We have a solid rhythm for moving their house incrementally, so as not to go too 'far', which means we move the house every 3-4 days and just about 1/2-3/4 the width of the building, so some of the floor overlaps with the previous location. When we switched from following the feeding chart to following their lead, the anxiousness and escaping ended... another lesson learned. These gals talk up a storm when we approach and will mill about our feet as we move slowly through the house and yard (the only way to move with that many chickens all around!)... I'm enjoying them again and I'm thankful for that.
Then there's the ducks, having a grand time waddling around... we ended up with 6 females (ducks) and 2 males (drakes) so we'll start having about 3 and half dozen duck eggs about the same time as our chicken eggs start coming in. Don't yet know if we can keep both drakes; typically the ratio is 1 male to 6 females, so perhaps one will become a meal.
Our home birds now consist of the ducks (I guess, since the share the land with the others rather than being separate), our two rescued layers Gail and Violet and the diva gals- two broiler hens we kept from the spring flocks... we get 3 or 4 eggs a day from these gals and that meets our needs most of the time. We have kept a cockerel (who's crow tells us he's becoming a rooster) and 9 other broilers from our last flock in 2008- flock 5. Out of these we'll likely let 5 go and keep Mr. Beautiful, the big cockerel, and 4 lovely ladies... we're combining them in with the divas, who we believe will rule the roost rather than the rooster... but who knows how love and hormones will alter things in that coop? The story unfolds...
And our cattle... our two mamas and their two steer calves... now separated and weaning, with no more bawls and crying.. teats and udders are shrinking as they should, giving the mamas a break before they calve again in April. I have grown quite fond of our gals, who come up to the cross fence when they see or hear us, hoping for (and usually getting) a treat of alfalfa or a bale of hay. I stand quietly with them almost every day, and now I can touch them and stroke their necks while they eat their alfalfa... I get the sense they only let me for the big treats, since they still shy away from my hand if it's only hay they're eating. We have Pippy Freckle-face, who is bigger and darker and bossier, and who has, yes, lots of freckles on her nose and around her eyes. Our other mama is Penelope Bovine, whose color is similar to a penny and who sometimes seems too thin to me, although everyone who knows cattle comments on how good they all look, including her. Pip and Pen will be with us for many years, I hope, producing a few more gals who will fill out our small herd and many other calves who we will let go to become food or income. We call the calves 'boys' and try not to interact with them or get too attached, since come summer they will leave us and we will eat some of them... with great gratitude for having known them and knowing where our good beef came from. (For those of you interested in purchasing a side of beef in the summer, email me now and let me know; this year we're likely to keep a half for ourselves and sell the rest. I will explain later about how we'll arrange this, or contact me.)
The winter garden is tiny but providing us with lettuce and greens; the garlic is up and the broccoli taller; the seeds have sprouted but not done much yet. We use our rosemary, oregano and sage for cooking and that's a joy, too. Perhaps next year the garden will be a more significant piece of our life here; I need time or someone who wants to do the work of it and I don't have either at this point. We want to put in a few more fruit trees this winter yet... we'll see how time and funds flow.
I'm going to separate this part into it's own entry and follow with another, which is focusing on what's involved in raising chickens for eggs. I so appreciate the comments folks send me in emails~ I encourage you to write your comments here on the blog, if you'd like to share with other readers. Thanks for the encouragement with the writing.
Thanks to all our customers and supporters for making this possible. Happy Gregorian 2009!
jules and Sue and Shades of Green Farm
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