Shades of Green Farm

From Steer to Beef-- the First Time

Well, we did it... we sent our two steer off to be slaughtered and turned into food for our family and the 5 other families that bought into the four sides of beef our 'boys' became. As with the first couple flocks of broilers, corralling them up then loading them into our friends' trailer, and saying goodbye was  not without some sorrow. Even though we refrained from calling them anything but 'the boys'  they became 'our boys' and when they ran up when I shook the pail with alfalfa pellets, it was a pleasure to watch them and to know that they knew good things would happen when they followed me or my voice. So, yes, some sadness and yet also great anticipation to taste the beef made from the soils and grasses of our farm, as well as our labor and attentive care. I trust the meat will be yummy indeed.

The story of talking with the locker plant that took our steer is a funny one. Background info: we know nothing about slaughter or butchering, so went by word of mouth when we chose Smithville... we were told by a number of sources that the 'old' managers were back and that they're great... good enough for us, from people we trust. With minor alterations, we used our friend Jeremiah's forms for marketing the steer and for ordering and tracking payment, which gave us a good start.

So, now our steer are sold, we have sent a message to the buyers that once the 'sides are hanging' we'll let them know the weight and the total due us, and re-iterate how to proceed with the locker plant. I call Smithville and tell the very pleasant womon who answers that I've got two steer there and need to know the weights. She asks my name and I hear pages flipping, then a pause... "Hmm, I don't see you here. Might it be under another name?" So I tell her I don't think so, but it might be under our farm name or my partner's name... I tell her the names and the pages flip again. Then she asks me if I am ready to pick them up and, after hesitating (because they're supposed to hang for 2-3 weeks before packaging and pick up) I just say 'no'.She tells me to hold on, she's going to look in the back.

Now, this whole time, the sounds of saws whirring and machinery clanging is loud in the background, and while she's off to 'the back', I am amazed at the noise... no wonder she's having a hard time finding me! She comes back, asks the farm name again; I tell her "Shades of Green Farm" and she says hold on, then I hear her call (I guess to 'the back') "It's Shady Glen Farm" and I yell pointlessly into my phone "No! No! It's Shades of Green!" Now I am becoming a bit concerned that our two fully organic steer have been switched for any two head of cattle fed who knows what... but I trust these people because people I trust, trust them... so I wait for her to get back on the phone while listening to the sounds of carnage.

Someone else picks up the phone-- "May I help you?" I explain what I am waiting for. "Oh! Hold on please." and the first womon is back on the line... "I just don't understand.. how many sides do you have? Have you chosen your cuts?" I say, beginning to get the picture, "Ma'am (yet, I talk that way, now that I live in rural Texas) "Ma'am, my friends brought two steer in by trailer last night. We had an appointment today-" "OH! That's why I can't find you!" and she apologizes and tells me that they're so busy and now she knows where they are, and she'll go get the hanging weight and be right back.

I held my tongue and did not ask her if she was sure they had the correct steer hanging there in our name... and then she commented on their size and supposed age and how good they looked... and I knew it was going to be alright... everyone who sees our cattle say they look good, so  they must have the right ones... how's that for pride of ownership? Can't wait to taste 'em!

Thank you to the Smithville Locker Plant for their patience and their appreciation of mine. Thanks to Renee, Barb, Kristi, Karen, Lorelei, Jennifer, Mark and Jennifer's family for buying our steer-- here's to good tasting beef raised in loving, sustainable fashion! Much gratitude goes out to Jeremiah, from whom we bought our South Poll cattle and who has helped in many ways as we learn how to raise happy and yummy grass-fed beef.

Buying Local—Paying the Price for Sustainability

I wrote the letter below to the Austin Permaculture group… thought I’d share it with you, too.

 Thank you, Germaine, for sharing this [letter from another farmer, Erin]! I am the recent recipient of some of those wonderful tomatoes from Green Gate Farm, given as a gift in kind for the chicken we gave them when we brought them some eggs. One of the joys of farming for me has been meeting and getting to know some of the people who are walking the talk about sustainability. Another joy is sharing (via sales or gifts or donations) our own food produced through humane and sustainable approaches. Making a living off of our farm work may be what proves unsustainable, if we can't earn enough from our efforts. Germaine told of another local farmer who has pastured beef to sell and wishes to do so locally and is struggling to make that happen and may end up selling to a feed lot for a lousy end to his cattle’s lives and earning much less money for his effort and their lives.

It's sad and outrageous to me that some folks see the growth of sustainable living, permaculture, organic food production and similar 'green'-oriented efforts as a way to make money, not thinking or caring how they might be undercutting the front-line folks who are actually doing the work. I was approached, as i was selling eggs at my booth at a farmers' market in Austin, by a man who said he would get my eggs to restaurants around town... the amount he quoted to pay me was far less than half what my wholesale price was. When i exclaimed how little that was, and not enough to pay for feed much less labor, he said that restaurants would not pay more and that this is how much he paid to his main provider. Well, my guess is that the main provider of his eggs keeps 20,000 chickens in each building who never see the light or take dust baths. Being certified organic costs money in food and health care, yet does not mean animals are raised in humane ways. It takes visiting the farm, seeing and liking the farming practices you witness and then-yep-paying the full, real price for the goods the farm produces. We sell eggs to Terra Burger [a new concept restaurant in Austin] who has made a commitment to supporting our local, certified organic farm and feel the price is reasonable... and two of Terra Burger's staff have come out to the farm, so they have seen it for themselves and advocate for maintaining the commitment.

 We get our feed from the only certified organic feed producer in Texas (i think that's still the case, for sure the only one in our area)--- Coyote Creek Organic Feed Mill in Elgin. (For full disclosure, my partner works there... i don't want folks to think this is a sneaky point on my part.) The mill makes feed with such a minute profit margin, they operate by the skin of their teeth, in order to make feed as inexpensively as possible. It's important that folks who want to support local production of organic goods pay this price as well. It's been interesting to see how in the past year 'alternative' options for feed have emerged... some are "natural" and "non-gmo" although no one can tell me how they certify it's non-gmo when it's not certified organic... some are just marketed as less expensive. I do not see how such feeds could be local, since there's only one local organic feed mill. If we don’t support this mill, it will go away, as is the case with any venture unsupported by the community it serves… as is the case for the small farms around the country, at an alarming rate.

Erin [from Green Gate Farm] speaks of being aware of 'faux local' and the need to buy directly from producers whenever possible. I couldn't agree more... and more so, to ask where the goods being sold you come from, insisting on an answer or buying elsewhere. In the case of large purchases like a side of beef, realize that small cattle ranchers are not typically licensed to sell packages of beef so they sell them by the halves, or sometimes quarters. We've sold 2 of the 3 sides we had for sale and in each case, 3 consumers joined together to make the purchase and store/share the meat... i believe they made that effort because in each case at least one of the people had come to our farm and knew us.

Go to farms... meet the farmer and see their practices...feel good about what you eat. Buy goods locally produced, even when it costs a little more. Whenever possible, invest directly in the folks who do the work. Get together to make something big more affordable.

Yours from atop the soapbox... sorry about that... thanks for the chance to vent a bit.

On this blog, I would greatly appreciate comments and conversation on this topic. Thanks.

With a Little Help From Friends

Awhile ago, I fell off our porch… 3 feet down involving an amazing number of movements all which culminated in a body out of commission for a couple weeks.

We have a farm—full of animals vs. plants and that means daily chores that simply cannot be put off… minimized, yes, some… some things let go a couple days, like scrubbing out water troughs. But every day there are chickens to be let out of their houses in the morning, fed, water checked, eggs collected and put up at night, plus cattle who were being finished with sweet organic alfalfa and needed some almost every day (luckily the pasture grass was still growing, so hay wasn’t needed on top of everything else).

Sue has a job at Coyote Creek Organic Feed Mill… about 30 minutes away from our farm. This, too, is a job that requires doing… she can only be gone so much and when she is gone, someone has to cover for her. People are pretty fussy about their animals’ feed, as I can attest to personally… so Sue really had to work.

Sue spent many years in Austin and was away for about 6 before we moved out here and made a farm… about an hour out of Austin… her life in Austin was based on computer technology and activism (and fun) and pretty much, her friendships were based on these as well. I moved her never having been here for any extended period, knowing no one except Sue’s people, and being pretty busy farming to build many friendships of my own… those I found were based in Austin and those folks worked too.

How would farm work get done, Sue’s job get done, and I not do anything? (It took me several days to get myself off the porch, so I wasn’t carrying feed buckets for sure). And how was I going to get better, get healing support? Hmmmm….

Enter people… friendly people… people who worked here daily or one day… people who came to heal me, the first time that same night.

It started with Sue, not surprisingly… surprising, though, that she was only 10 minutes away when I called her after a frantic scramble to get up the steps, to my phone and on the bed before I felt the fall too much… there within minutes, it was her quick presence and her presence of mind that helped get healing started… while I was still shocky and not thinking very clearly. Sue called Jennifer and asked her advice.

Jennifer Gwin is an extraordinary acupuncturist and healer….she talked to Sue and gave good advice about how to provide early care for my already spasming back. Then she went far beyond the call… she came from Smithville, about 20 minutes away, after her own long day… she came at 9 pm, to give me a treatment that I know 100% certain saved me a great deal of that pain caused from ick built up in muscles that have been pulled/torn/traumatized… and a person in the body that’s a bit traumatized as well. She came once, she came again several days later… house calls… who’d have ever thought such a service would be provided in this day and age?!

Casey, the same man who cared for our farm this summer, stepped up and stepped in… took over the daily chores for almost two weeks, much longer than I thought I’d be out of commission when I first called to see if he could cover the first few days Sue was back at work. (Sue’s in the background insisting I ask him to come for a week.. I think I’ll be fine in 4-5 days.) Casey knows the work, the animals and knew the need and was gentle and gracious with the lady groaned when rolling over at first, and later asked him to stand nearby when first attempting the steps… a little afraid of falling.

Out of the blue, due to a connection made when we attended Sue’s good friend Ana’s life celebration (some call these things memorials, but we celebrated her life as well as wept over her death)… we each met Abe as folks gathered… each separately and each commented on meeting this great gal with a great name- Abe. Abe, for those magical reasons things occur, decided she wanted to come out to the farm and work for us a day… soon… she had time right now. Well, I’ve got a day not covered by Casey and Sue has to go to market and how about this Saturday? Abe came and was game for slogging through chicken muck mud, feeding and collecting eggs and staying for a delightful chat… another day covered by a friend.

Then Mikaya came through on her way to kitesurfing on the Texas gulf coast… I met her online, again by chance connections magical indeed… she’ll stay on our farm while we’re away in January and came through to check out the place… just when it was time for me to get back to the work and those buckets of feed were feeling mighty hard on the arm muscles… (the last thing to heal, still bothers me sometimes)… Mikaya who has been a farmer and so understands the work… who was an easy guest who lives in her car and really appreciates good food like roasted fresh chicken… and who was willing to help bag up and weigh a bunch of them with me, keeping that work piece to a minimum (that day, anyway). Here came Mikaya , another new friend.

And so, with a lot of help from friends old and new, all the work was done, the animals cared for, and me healed from the fall off our porch which started the whole thing… funny how things go sometimes, eh?

Newsy Email Sent October 3, 2009

Greetings to our friends and supporters (those who didn't get this in an email; if you got the email,check out the new #3 listing)~

To ease your reading, I'm numbering and separating each topic... that way you can read only what you wish to or have time for.

1. Bastrop Farmers' Market and purchasing our goods

2.  New logo

3. Link to funny new YouTube video featuring Sue and our newest chick

4. Farm workings

5. Our wish list for materials and labor

1. Bastrop Farmers' Market and purchasing our goods
As of Saturday, October 3rd, the market hours return to 10-2; Friday hours remain 2:30-6, but we are there only on Saturdays, 10-2. We are often asked by regular customers if they'll see us Friday, so to clarify and explain... with all the work that needs to be done mostly by me alone, and Sue working at the mill, we are unable to attend on Fridays until further notice. We'll sure let you know if/when that changes.

We are about to run out of frozen chicken, only a few left. We will have fresh chickens for farm pick up in November and will send out the exact dates when we know them. We will also be raising pre-ordered chickens to a larger size for those who want them for Thanksgiving or just big birds for large gatherings. We'll soon have two order forms-- one to let us know how many chickens you would like to purchase fresh or frozen when they become available and another to order holiday/big chickens.

Should you be in Austin for breakfast and want an organic meal using our eggs, go to Terra Burger, on Guadalupe or Research; right now Guadalupe has a special on their breakfast tacos, too.

I deliver eggs every Tuesday in Austin and if you want to get together with other folks and arrange a drop-off of multiple chickens, let me know and we'll set it up. Many small farms are working with buying groups who do the work of organizing who wants what , where it will be dropped off by the farmer, and collecting the money to give to the farmer. I'd love to see that happen in Austin with our goods!

2. New logo and our gratitude and appreciation
We are in the final stage of developing our Shades of Green Farm logo! Gigantic hugs of gratitude to Andrea Weissenbuhler!!!! Andrea Feathers, as she may be called for her love of chickens and birds, came to us by chance in her search for chickens to photograph. She met Sue at Coyote Creek Organic Feed Mill (where Sue works) because she'd learned there were chickens there. Sue told her she might also want to come to our place and once Andrea called me, we both knew we just had to meet. She's been here several times, taken wonderful pictures, painted a fabulous and funny chicken for my birthday, and decided she 'should' support our efforts. Andrea is a website designer, a graphic designer and a very good artist... and she has donated her time and prodigious talents to create our logo. Once complete, I will certainly post it on our website and send it to all of you... and get the word out about this talented woman. Thank you, thank you Andrea Feathers!

3. Funny new video on YouTube
It's a hoot, especially the surprise ending! I won't say any more about it.... take a 'peep'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE8UVCSiD4k

4. Farm workings
It's a busy and exciting time on the farm! With the recent rain, our farm is once again living up to its name, and we are most grateful. It's good to see the land rebound after being so dry so long and in some places, having had hard pressure on it from chicken pastures that stayed in place longer than usual. Our vacation gave us great rebounding, too, which comes in handy now with the larger work load... my energy and spirits are high as I go about the work of being a farmer and educator.

On the farm we currently have:
Two registered South Poll steer about to become food and once they're gone, our 2 cows, Pip and Penny, return pregnant from their stay at Coyote Creek, along with this year's calves, the heifers Phili and Bette. These four gals will be the basis of our herd, although we'll take on another heifer if they have one, cause Pip and Pen are not youngsters any more and we need to give time for the new breeding cows to become of age.

Our first flock of layers, now numbering about 180, in their pasture, and a second flock of 300 pullets just starting to lay, in their pasture which includes the new Egg Mobile we bought from Josh at Alexander Family Farm. This 2nd flock involved quite an investment for our farm and will mean we can once again fully meet Terra Burger's needs, as well as one or two additional small contracts, and our customers at the market, of course. That is, once their lay rate is up, their eggs are large enough,and we've figured out how to meet their lighting needs... now the lay is down with both flocks because the daylight period is too short. It's amazing- the endless learning involved in being a farmer... as, I suppose with most long term endeavors in life.

There's 150 5 week old broilers on pasture and another flock of 75 in the brooder. We're working with Jason over in Brenham and it looks like we'll have our chickens processed at his place starting this fall, although it's still not clear if it will be certified organic in time for this year's flocks. Barr Mansion in Austin is awaiting our having certified broilers, and as soon as that occurs, they will take 16 a month! This is such an important step for us, to know in advance that we have ongoing sales.

The two ducks left from our first little flock are both laying again, after one took a hiatus to sit a nest of unfertilized duck eggs and some fertilized chicken eggs we snuck under her. From this we had our first farm-hatched chick~ Trudy, who was named by the girls who gave the rooster to us... named, by the way, Gertrude. Many and big thanks to Casey who cared for our farm while we were on vacation, and allowed that duck to brood! He also brought 3 more ducklings to our farm, which look like will end up being one drake and two more ducks, although they're not mature yet. More folks at market want duck eggs, so we want to collect more than we can from our two gals laying now. We are also exploring interest in duck eggs at small stores, to see if it makes sense for us to start up a larger flock... and figure out how to make the details of pasture, swimming and cleanliness work at that scale.

Of course there's the 'home flock', consisting of Gertrude the silver wyandotte rooster and his array of chickens, two of which are broody now, so maybe we'll get more chicks. We still have Gail, our blind hen, and now Trudy lives with her and I've found them laying next to each other and seen Trudy try to wedge herself under Gail when they roost up at night. It's adorable! News flash!! Our second home hatched chick emerged before I could get this letter completed and sent. Andrea doesn't know it yet, but she has the honor of naming this little one.... gender unknown, as is Trudy's.

Last and certainly not least, I am teaching again! I've spoken to a few groups about food production and consumption choices and Thursday October 1st, I addressed the Austin Slow Food group to discuss our farm values and practices. Thanks to Betsy Levy for contacting my about that. Through the efforts of Michelle Hernandez, it looks like we'll be hosting the Austin Backyard Poultry Meet up group in November or in spring. And many thanks to Kathryn Henderson, who teaches at Texas A&M in Bryan; she will be bringing her Eco-feminism class here for a day of learning and work later in October. I am so eager for this chance to teach on the topic of alternative/healthy food production in our country! To top it all of, I will be facilitating an online community of early childhood educators from St. Louis as they work to achieve Bachelor degrees in their field. For 13 years, I worked  at the Child Day Care Association in St. Louis as a consultant and trainer for early childhood and youth programs. I am honored that they would ask me to teach for them again, and with the wonders of the internet, it is possible.

5. Our wish list for materials and labor
As you can see, we've got a lot going on, and along with that comes a bunch of stuff we wish we had or help we need. So, in that light, in no particular order, here's our wish list:

Materials needed:
Metal or Plastic roofing panels in good shape, at least 6' long
Good condition 2x4, 2x6 and 2x8 boards, as least 4 feet long
Plastic gutter lengths, 10 ft. being best but not necessary
Welded wire fencing-- we need 100s of feet
6' T-posts, also 4' or 5'
Barbed wire on roll
Pasture gates-- 4', 8', 12' and 14'.. almost any size-- could be hollow metal, or chain link, or other
Stone or ceramic tile to cover a 4' x 4' outside floor area
Hardiplank to skirt the house with- could be remnant pieces at least 3' wide
Working front-loader washer
Non-working but not rusted electric water heater tank... 30 or 50 gallons

We have a pickup and will pick up anything we can use.

Work to be done:
Replace tarp with roofing panels on several chicken houses
Help put in and fence around a small fall garden (or it'll be next spring's)
Help mulch and fence around the rest of the fruit and nut trees
Mow or shred the dove weed in the lower pasture area
Mow down dove weed around pond while water's still low
Repair barbed wire boundary fence in a few areas (got tools for the job? i don't know how and am eager to learn as well as get it done)
Cut down dead trees... you can have the fire wood or leave it, as you wish
Build small pole barn/shed for well pump house and temporary egg washing room
Help skirt around the house
Tile the 4' x4' "bathroom"
Artisan craft privacy fencing that will hold vines... using cedar branches cut from nearby
Pile up chicken litter wood chips and fence around (to keep chickens from re-scattering)
Help set up solar hot water collection system (done with Sue)

As you might imagine, there's an endless array of work that could be done. If you have time and interest, let me know what and when and we'll make it happen.

Enjoy the rain, the new growth, the cooler days... life in general,
jules

Update on chicks, pullets and who's living on the farm

First off, the broiler chicks that didn't come in the mail on Friday, arrived on Saturday morning. So far, on this Tuesday morning, they seem fine. We've been opening and closing windows as heat, chill and rain have come and gone. If they were too cold too long in the mail, they may yet get sick and die, but for now they seem quite alright.

Last night- because both of us are a bit low with viral gunk- we got a later start putting birds up... and looked over to see the 300 new pullets working their way up the ramp into their house- on their own; without our herding them in and singing "Hey Ho Hey Ho, it's in your house you go..." until hoarse! Oh yay for us, making the effort to establish the routines and find solutions! We put a night light in their house (connected to a rechargeable power dome) and turn it on around 6:30, when we close their nest boxes. (Thanks to April, who Sue found online and gave us that tip.) It seems to be working to guide them in at dusk... only one of us had to work with them last night. Now to figure out a system to close and secure their heavy ramp/door with one person (comparatively easy problem to solve) and we can go back to splitting the chores or taking turns and getting some evenings off.

Right now on our farm we have~ 2 steer soon to become beef (and then our two cows come back pregnant and with their calves, two heifers to fill out our tiny herd); 75 broiler chicks in the brooder, almost a week old; 150 broiler chicks out to pasture almost a month old and loving their big big world; about 180 layers just over a year old in one pastured flock; the new pullets-300- in their own pasture and house (soon to get a larger pasture, the reward for learning to go inside at night); about two dozen 'home flock' chickens with Gertrude the rooster who share their house with 4 ducks and a drake... and Gail the blind hen... and Trudy, our first farm-hatched chick, now living with Gail... and our two dogs, 5 yr old Jordan and 2 yr old Aubie, who we adopted after finding her by the dumpster down the road a little over a year ago.

And joy of joys, it's raining!!! Ten days after we got 5 and 1/2" in 3 days, we're getting another soaking... lovely! Our farm is living up to its name once again. (Of course, when I look over to the pullets, I see about a third of them clustered soaking wet under the tree... at least the others are in their house!)

Oh, Mercury is in retrograde~ that explains it!

Somewhere there are 105 baby broiler chicks that should be here on our farm. They may be lost in the mail, although both our small town Post Office and the lost and found folks at Austin's main PO have searched and could not find them. I have called and left 4 messages for the hatchery folks who have taken this weekend to take a break... mind you, I don't fault them for taking the time, but they've left without giving us a tracking number and still have not called me back, now 6 hours later. The brooder was ready at 6 a.m., with the heat lamps on and warm water in the drinkers... and now it just sits there, sadly awaiting the arrival of our chicks.

A couple hours ago I heard that Mercury is in retrograde. Now, I'm not knowledgeable about astrology, but I do know that when Mercury does that, it isn't good for smoothness, progress, and mechanical things working well. Perhaps it's why the hatchery folks haven't called... perhaps they didn't get the messages or their phone is broken. My phone went on the fritz for several minutes this morning when I tried to call Sue to tell her that the broken oven wasn't acting broken any more, and that the repair folks arrived with a replacement part that wasn't needed but no thermometer to gauge if the temp showing was true. Sigh, it's gotta be Mercury. Here's hoping the oven continues to work and will actually bake the next potatoes I put in it.

And then there's the 300 pullets-ready-to-lay that arrived a week ago and still don't know how to go in their house at dusk. Perhaps it's because on the day they arrived here, it rained and rained, something the little indoor-brooded gals had never experienced before. Perhaps it's because their new egg mobile house wasn't ready yet and didn't arrive until the following afternoon... meaning that the first night was spent in a temporary house, after being moved there in late afternoon by Sue and I and 5 Fine Young Men who came to help. (Two hours of solid work later and the birds were asleep and we were all exhausted. What would we have done without them?!) Perhaps it was being moved yet again the next evening after their new home did arrive, moved one, two or three at a time by Sue and I and one of the fine young men, Cameron, who came back and loves our chickens so much that he would like to be paid in hens... so that even though they woke up in their correct new and permanent home, it's just not sticking. Perhaps it's just Mercury messing  with their sense of order, and let me tell you, chickens have quite the sense of order, and the start of their lives here has not been supportive of order and routine. Still, it's been 5 days and nights and we're still herding them into their house and rearranging them so they don't pile up and suffocate.

It must be Mercury... that explains it!

A Reflection Posted on Austin Permaculture (improved :-)

The message below is an edited version of something I shared on Austin’s permaculture group in a discussion about food and eating, where folks ‘confessed’ to eating meat and other ‘bad’ food. Because it gives you a bit of background regarding where I, jules, come from when it comes to food and farming, I thought I’d share it…..

In 2003 I became so ill I couldn't work for two months; after trying western medicine (upper and lower GIs, colonoscopy followed by no diagnosis and a recommendation to "give it a couple months"), I found out I had celiac spru (gluten intolerance), and eventually also learned I couldn't eat soy or corn. Now, that a challenging set of food sensitivities that gets in the way of easily making a meal for me and there’s lots of things I can’t enjoy any more without paying a stiff price in digestive and general health… i don't eat out often or to many places because it's so hard to avoid this list of ingredients, especially corn, which is in almost everything (watch the movie King Corn). However, life is much better... I am not sick any more either and surprise surprise, my arthritis and fibromyalgia magically disappeared too. To preserve my health and well-being, knowing where my food comes from and eating unprocessed or minimally processed food is critical.

I am now a small farmer outside Bastrop TX; we’re certified organic and raise chickens for meat and eggs and have a few head of beef cattle as well. As you may know, our farm is located in the center of an area experiencing crisis-level drought.  Our water consumption went through the roof this summer as we strive to keep the dozen fruit and nut trees and bushes alive, and most of our ornamentals are gone. Yes, the water for animals takes a lot, but less than I thought, compared to the spike we took when we began regular drip watering of trees. Our biggest waste with the animals is leaks, and that's an on-going struggle to keep hoses and float valves in best condition. We also use misters and/or spray the hose once or twice a day to cool the air and ground where the chickens pasture. And yet the 1100 gallons we used during the heat last month is not as much as a great many people here use to shower, wash laundry and fill their pools. Is our water use helping or hurting our planet? Would it be different if we raised more plants and fewer animals?

Now I never thought my main focus in raising food would be meat, yet that's what it is right now... and I do know there are places on this earth where animals are the better match for the environment, when raised sustainably. It’s not clear if the flora or the fauna is using more water on a daily basis. Someone suggested that raising bison is much better for the land in Texas than cattle. I'm not sure if our cattle are harder on our small acreage than bison would be... I believe bison require more space to feed their bulk, so I'm thinking our smaller breed is better in this droughty time of limited forage.

What I know for sure is that we are working hard and doing our best to produce food that is humane and healthy/ sustainable... and that we will and do make mistakes as we go, but our values are clear and they are what guides us. We're organic not as a marketing tool (we're not big enough) but because we know the grains used in feed will not contain chemicals and GMO's and so that our customers know we have not used chemical meds or hormones. USDA organic does nothing to guarantee humane treatment, sadly, as many believe it does. We approach our farming keeping our values front and center and assess and adjust our methods according to what works, what the situation is and how well it fits our values of being sustainable, humane, organic and local.

Most folks aware of the food production reality are all doing our best. I eat sugar, especially chocolate. I drink coffee (fair trade and organic) and I eat meat, the most direct way for me to get protein in my diet... and i love it. Those who do not yet know about the issues surrounding food production need education and support, not condemnation. We will make it as a whole or we will not make it at all.

Okay, my rant is over.... thanks for listening. By the way, EatWild.com and LocalHarvest.com are two resources for finding good food.

In health, as I go to check on my 150 day old broiler chicks,
jules

Spring Catch-up Time-- A Quick Check-In

Coming from Missouri where winters are longish, cold and typically wet, spring certainly calls forth the possibility of a good cleaning~ it’s no longer cold, making the idea of opening windows and taking things outside to air a pleasant one. After a season of being shut inside with old air, dust and germs, it’s a necessary step in having a healthy home, as well.

Here in Texas, winter is short and interspersed with warm days… warm enough to open windows and air things out. And being a farmer one gets outside every day, warm or cold, wet or dry (precious few wet days this past winter!)… like it or not there are animals to care for and in our case, just a few cool season greens that I managed to get in the good soil of our now 4 season garden.

What we have here at Shades of Green Farm is spring catch up time… not because there’s suddenly more hours in the day (although daylight savings time fools some of us into thinking we do)… not because there is information to get out that we shouldn’t have or didn’t send out earlier (although there are some dates set that weren’t before yesterday)… no, this morning is spring catch up time because my cat woke me at 3:00 a.m. upchucking an over-sized snack of dry food nuggets and after hours of snoozing, I got up early enough to at least start this entry. ☺    (and now it’s two days later, as I complete this entry to share at least a snippet)

The ‘abbreviated version’ of what’s new and doing on the farm is as follows (I am not brief, so I’ll do what I can to give you a sense of life on the farm without taking up too too many characters of font):

1. We are now certified organic by Nature International Certification Services!!! We are purchasing our little round green and white USDA/ORGANIC stickers to put on everything. We are having our egg label redone to include the USDA and Nature International logos.

2. Our 235 laying hens are producing over 200 eggs each day, which we are selling each week at the Austin Farmers’ Market at Triangle Park on Wednesdays from 4-8 p.m.; at the Bastrop 1832 Farmers’ Market on Chestnut St., each Saturday from 10-2; from our farm by appointment; to TerraBurger, a new organic, healthy 'fast food' restaurant near the UT campus on Guadalupe (which we are excited to see them being used in the egg muffin breakfast sandwich and to see our egg case on their ‘source wall’!); and to Kay Wheeler, chef and caterer who sells her wares most Saturdays at the Bastrop market we well (she’s featuring our eggs in egg salad and spinach salad at her food booth at Round Top)… and we continue to seek venues for selling our good eggs from happy hens.

3. Our two cows have ‘dropped’ which means their calves are hanging low in their bellies and their hip and back bones stick up like they’re emaciated… and means they’re likely to give birth in 2-4 weeks. With the drought we have invested quite a bit of money in hay to augment the sparse pasture… and have learned quite a bit about how much they need and thanks to Betsy Ross’ recent visit, how much dry matter a chunk of our fields offer the cows and their steer calves (which become food this summer) and how to set up rotating pastures fairly easily (I’ve added setting up new fence lines to the To-Do list)

4. We are running low on our chicken pieces but have whole chickens left; we hope they hold out until our  next flock is processed. We have another flock of broiler chicks coming mid-April, “Colored Rangers” and “Poulen Noir”, again from JM Hatchery. With the incredible help from Judy and Dennis, we cleaned the brooder of last year’s litter (which is now helping trees and bushes grow) and are almost ready for Flock #6.

5. We’ll have fresh, never frozen chicken ready mid-to-late June and will let you know when you can come to pick them up.  If you know how many chickens you would like this spring and early summer, place your order now to reserve them. We continue to work on finding a way to have our broilers processed under certified organic circumstances, at which point we’ll be able to add that mark of excellence to this label as well. We also want processing to happen closer to home, to minimize stress on our chickens at the end of their lives… part of the reason for a delayed start this year when we hoped not to run out again. Ah, well, it will work out in time.

6. Our ‘home flock’ consists of Gail, our blind hen, living alone at this time (Violet was predated and now we’re getting a few chicks to become her new companions that won’t peck her); our 5 keeper broilers are Golda and Hillary, the dominant divas now almost a year old and Lucy, Ethel and Ricky from our last flock~ Ricky’s voice is horrific, unlike his namesake, while the gals are both beautiful in big-time rotund fashion; only 2 ducks remain from our 8—all others were predated—and living with them are 6 escapee layers from the large flock. All are happy, healthy and laying eggs (except Ricky, of course).

7. The dogs: Jordan who is “owner protective”, is almost 5 and has surprised us by becoming well-behaved (as long as you accept her self-appointed guard dog ways… useful out here); Aubie, our dumpster dog who turned out to be at least part Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, she’s been with us almost a year and continues to be a sweetheart and unstoppable chicken chaser (since she’s up all night chasing off critters, she sleeps happily enough in her yard or on tie-out during the day).

8. Emma the cat will be 18 years old this summer and is just now beginning to show her age… she receives constant compliments on her youthful appearance, but I know she doesn’t chase her mice around the bed like she used to.

9. Sue continues her work at Coyote Creek Organic Feed Mill (and the farm as well, to lesser extent); the availability of local organic feed is how we are raising chickens at all; the lack of availability of Sue here on our farm is a decided lack on both our parts; Sue treasures the time she does spend here.

10. jules continues her work here at Shades of Green and finds increasing pleasure in the daily tasks of walking pastures and caring for animals; she is eager to find her co-farmer and get more growth happening on the farm; she has written a full page of To-Do’s and is not done yet.

11. Our recent 3+ inches of rain has resulted in the greening of ground and trees…. exquisitely gorgeous after the long brown drought. It appears that all the orchard trees have survived except the pomegranate; we’ll lost several perennial plants, even a couple lantana which are native to this area but obviously needed more water than I gave them.

12. We hope to open new ground for a market garden yet this spring, with the goal of having fall produce to take to market… (back to that co-farmer notion; either that or committed community supporters to help on a regular basis) herbs that go well with chicken and eggs are one thing we’re interested in attempting. jules’ experimentation adding organic matter to the sandy loam on this part of the land resulted in good soil in our first garden… we’ll move some of this soil to the new location, lightly till/turn the wood chips and chicken poop from our Flock 5 broilers into the sod and fence the whole thing from chickens and deer.

There you have it… a not-so-brief overview update… and a haiku for you…

Loving our Green farm
In all her variations
Of leaf and effort

Appreciating the green spring,
jules

A New Year Begins

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

Up Before Dawn~ Work with Pullets Continues

It’s just before dawn… being up at this time is something I only infrequently imagined would become an event heralded without the blare of an alarm and groans of dismay… I am grateful for this change in the patterns of my life, grateful to see the wonders of dawn arriving.

The sky moves through changes—sometimes rapid, something creeping-- which begin with a barely perceptible lightening from almost black to iron-gray… then the iron shifts to steel, to overcast, to pale gray to almost white (when compared to the dark).. right about then the first blush of bright apricot tints the point on the horizon that marks where the sun will emerge… and dawn seems to hesitate, hangs there in slow motion, with the apricot smudge spreading out and becoming less vivid, becoming peach and yellow, spreading pale yellow north and south as the western skies begin the change from dark through ever-lighter shades of gray. Is it dawn now, when the yellow encircles to include the north in pale peach and violet and even the west is light? Or is not fully dawn until the blaze of the sun peeks through the dense branches of the wood that lies east and southeast of where I perch on my chair? The ducks tell me it is time now~ “Don’t wait for the sun, we can see and we are up and talking and want out of our house.” The crows begin cawing and then the hoarse sound of a young cockerel just beginning to find his voice, an almost-crow that was at first alarming and now amuses me and calls me to find out which young lad is trying to cock-a-doodle to the dawn. The sky is beginning to blue, it is light and I’m off to tend to critters on the farm… and more than an hour after the process began, the sun has yet to make its dramatic appearance.

Dramatic it was not, today; rather I looked up and saw the glittering light of the sun already half way up. Ah well, it is now a bit before 8 a.m. and I’m back in the house, typing as Sue makes us some scrabbled eggs (from Golda and Violet) mixed with pork sausage (from Rose’s Berkshire pasture-raised pigs). Another significant and truly awesome (as in awe inspiring vs. generic exclamation) change in life~ I know where much more of my food comes from and am aware of when I do not!

When it comes to the pullets, our efforts continue, as do our losses, although greatly diminished~ 4 more have died as we work to address the situation. First, we let the chicks back out for a couple days after the pile-up, and they ended up sleeping on their old spot. When we moved the fence to block them from the spot, they slept piled up against the fence~ no deaths but not a solution. We asked around and found out that once chickens are moved from their first location, they may never sleep in their house again, or it is difficult to get them re-patterned to do so; in some cases, birds die in bad weather because they don’t go inside.

We installed 2”x 2” perches inside their house (and realized we would be wise to add little perches in the brooder, acclimating subsequent flocks to perching immediately); the pullets went inside and perched during the day and slept against the fence at night. So we put their feed and water troughs inside their house in late afternoon, leaving the doors open; then, after full dark, we carried them into their house crate-full by crate-full, carefully setting each bird onto a perch, side by side, tightly packed as they like it, and closed the door. We had already stopped trying to limit the feed rations to what the ‘chart’ told us; our birds acted like they were starving and were in a constant state of panic to eat… so right or wrong, we changed back to feeding enough so that a little bit of feed is left at the end of the day. This decision was confirmed by a very large egg production farm’s nutrition expert, who agreed with making sure they had plenty of feed during their growing period; he said if a restricted diet were necessary later, that could be managed by changing high calorie feed components to lower ones.

The next morning, Sue checked on them right at dawn, and filled feed and water; there were no dead birds which is what we expected given that they’d been moved when they were already in their dark-time stupor. Sue closed the cover to the side that faces their old location, so they couldn’t see where they might want to go and we kept them in food and water constantly, moving slowly and steadily; the pullets were very calm all day. That night Sue watched them settle for the night and they piled up along one long side, where the perches run the entire length; the birds still climbed and jumped on each other as they settled in, but were not frantic and in the morning, none were dead. Good start. Later in the morning, Sue opened the cover to the end and while we kept them in steady food and water and the pullets were calm, they did cluster at that end. That night they piled up more than the previous night, at that end of the house and not on the perches; the next morning there was one dead at dawn and another one found and taken to our hospital pen died later that day.

Still, we left the end open because they have to learn; we also kept up the steady stream of food and water, and kept them inside for the morning while Sue put up a very small chicken wire yard that opened only from the far end of their house and did not let them see their old location. They were outside and inside, with food and water left inside; at night (last night) they all went in and, unfortunately, piled up at the same end as before… not too much, though, since we had no more losses, at least so far. Today we enlarge the yard and move the troughs outside again… I worry about the degree of filth in the water, even though I know it’s still cleaner than many others keep it on a regular basis. I want to get the troughs outside and cleaned; also, the pullets have to learn to eat and drink outside and still go in at night… the next step in what we hope will result in a stable pattern of going in to perch and sleep and not pile up too much.

We have to move the house again and can’t wait much longer, but will slide it over not even a full width this time, using the fence to keep them from seeing or getting to the other half-width. We think we may have to use the chicken wire fence arrangement in an ongoing fashion, allowing the birds no access to where their house sat previously (and as much visual block as possible) and only moving the house to right next to where it just was. I’m praying this will work, along with foregoing the limited feed rations, to keep our gals calm and safe, healthy and happy.

I'll keep you posted, as we learn and grow our farm.