Shades of Green Farm

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.

When Farming Feels Like Family

Sue’s flat-out sick and I’m trying to keep it at bay… cough, headache, fever, congestion… you know, that type of viral thing that makes it hard to stay up and work. However, Sue’s at work for a few hours because there’s work she simply must get done today. I just transferred frozen chicken from one freezer to another and collected eggs from our home gyrrls (what we affectionately call the hens that we keep just for ourselves—more on them later), and did this because it simply had to be done today… as did the feeding of our broilers and pullets and ducklings, as did letting them out this morning into their bright and chilly day. You know, I thought raising a child was the most ‘full time’ job I’d ever have… but, no… once she was old enough, if I really didn’t feel up to getting up and fixing breakfast, cereal would do and Jess could climb into bed with me or amuse herself in her room. Farming, on the other hand, is actually full time~ every day you have to do it, no matter how old the animals are or how rotten you feel.

Also similar to parenting is the surprising pride I feel that our ‘special’ gal, Gail, has become a hen. Yes, three months after her hatch sister, Violet, began laying her daily egg (100% of the time, I might add), Gail remained an undeveloped pullet. I was thinking that given the fact that she is legally blind (she can only see some shadows), her beak and head are somewhat twisted and we were concerned her innards might be as well… with all these concerns, it was just fine that Gail not mature. Then one day I bent to pet her and she “assumed the position”… a squatty, wings out to the side, ready for love look that I had no idea about with our first hens. In fact, when Beth, our first pullet to lay, first squatted down like that, I was quick to pick her up and reassure her I meant her no harm, of course not! Then I saw her do it for Mr. McNugget and saw his response to it and… oh! Sure enough, shortly after that she began laying. And now our little Gail (named after Sue’s favorite eye doctor of all time) has in fact matured and is now laying an egg every day. She’s not only okay, when our friend Rachel visited the other day, she immediately commented on her “Why look at that Gail! She looks fabulous!” or something like that… in any event, Rachel noticed Gail’s gyrrly glow.

So I have motherly pride in Gail’s becoming a young hen, and motherly fatigue from taking care of the poultry even when I don’t feel at all well. Now, how to I feel about our cattle? I think it’s a bit early to tell. You know, we have cows of our own on the farm now~ to be more exact, two pregnant cows and their steer calves. It was different when the cattle belonged to someone else.. much more emotional distance, even though Sue and I were thrilled when they calved and worried when it took a long time and much bawling to complete delivery.  Our cows will deliver in April, most likely, and we’re hoping for heifers, which are what gyrrl cattle are before they have their first baby and become cows. Boy calves are bulls and they stay that way unless they’re ‘un-boyed’ and then they’re steer… I think you catch my drift. If we get two heifers, we’ll have the 4 gals we want to make babies every year, so that we have no more than 8-10 cattle on the land at any given time. The steers will become food in the summer, and we are grateful for that—filling our freezer and providing income as well. Our newest arrivals came from Coyote Creek Farm and we’ve been waiting for them for awhile~ to have their calves, get pregnant and be ready to move. Their breed is called South Polls and we think they’re magnificent… our neighbor Otis told Sue that we have “some fine looking cattle there”… we’re so proud. Welllll then.... I guess I feel both parental pride and also some sisterly affinity to our cattle… I just know we’re glad they’re here!

Sue’s on her way home, waning fast, she said. Me, too, so I’ll close and post, then back to bed for another rest before the afternoon chores begin. Don’t get me wrong—I’m not complaining—I look out the window and see our two keeper broilers, Golden Freedom Rangers named Golda and Hillary… they’re just scratching and pecking and murmuring their soft chicken talk (okay, I’m inside, just imaging that last part, since I can’t hear them… but I know what they do as they make their way around the farm)… the cattle  are up here by the cross fence, flipping their tails at flies as they nibble the good grasses of our pasture… the ducks are as usual milling about like a school of fish… and the pullets… dog gone it! They’re back in the duck house, eating their food again… gotta go!

Life Abounds on the Farm

As I write this entry, I can hear the sounds of night in autumn from the open windows~ crickets and cicadas ring out their persistent song; thanks to a small recent rain, I hear the calls of at least two frogs from the run off pond nearby; dogs are snoring on the porch after a day chasing squirrels and munching big new bones from Bastrop Cattle Company (who offer them at their market booth in all sizes)… and if I listen closely, I can hear the periodic chirps from Flock 4—160 one month old broiler chicks in their Pasture House, who have reached the age of becoming pushy with each other. In another moment I hear the peeps of the 10 day old chicks that make up Flock 5 who are still in the brooder not far from the house. It may not sound romantic or appreciative to name our chickens by their number of arrival on the farm, but this approach lets us know which group of chickens we’re concerned about when we’re talking or writing about them, and that’s really important to their well-being, especially in the middle of the night when we hear the dogs barking wildly “Something’s out near Flock 4!”. And given that another night sound often heard around here is the wailing barks of coyotes, I’m glad for our dogs and our quick identification when we run out to see after our chicks.

In addition to the 320 broiler chicks, we have 300 pullet chicks that are 2 ½ weeks old. With this flock we tried something new that is working very well~ we brought our babies right into their Layer House and brooded them on pasture. We put together one of those 10’ x 20’ portable ‘garages’ with metal frames and tarp roof and walls; we attached it to a base made from 4” x 4” timber and surrounded it with wire, to keep unwanted critters out and our chickens safely inside. I built two hovers which are low, wooden, table like structures that contain heat lamps underneath; we can have the heat from as little as one 100 watt bulb or as much as four 250 watt bulbs. We are now using just one light and keeping the windows upon most nights; the chicks are doing great and are ready to go outside… so, now it’s time to build their first yard, as well as roosts. These gals will be ready to lay their lovely brown eggs in the middle of February and we are looking forward to expanding our produce to include organic pastured eggs. We have several people who are interested in buying a few for their own home coops when they get a bit older. Because we use only organic feed (oh, we’re lucky that the only commercial organic feed mill in Texas, Coyote Creek, is just 25 miles away in Elgin!), our pullets cost more and will not be contaminated by petro-chemicals or GMOs. Eggs offer a much better return financially, so we’re trusting that this addition will allow us to keep raising and offering our happy healthy chicken meat as well.

Our practice flock of 16 Khaki Campbell ducklings are now a month old~ they’re doing well and are adorable! These babies move like a school of fish, with their quick, fluid shifts in direction… except that their waddling and chirping is more comedy that choreography. They are also the messiest eaters and end up being pretty stinky pretty quickly… still working out how to set up the coop in a way that will ease keeping the drinking area fresher, as well as their ‘comfy box’ which is a large thick cardboard box on its side and which holds in the heat and lets them feel snug and safe out there in the big world. Because their webbed feet are prone to injury, I’m hesitant to use the wood chips we put in the other houses, yet the shavings are expensive and get yucky fast. I don’t want to move the coop too often, since I am also working on a swimming pool set up that provides them safe entry and exit, even when they have one of their group panics and must rush back inside their comfy box… ah, a new learning curve, what fun! We will share these characters with another family who are also wanting to have some duck eggs; because we ordered the less expensive “straight run” we don’t know how many are male or female… we’ll be having a meal or two of young drake, which one of our friends is eagerly anticipating. If this works out and there’s a market for duck eggs (as we’ve been told) we may add a larger flock to our flapping farm family.

Last but not least, our cows and calves are coming home! We’re fortunate to have this wonderful breed called South Polls, and access to the bull at Coyote Creek Farm, from which they come. Huge gratitude to Jeremiah Cunningham, whose vision brought us the organic feed mill and whose farm values match ours so well~ thank you! Our cows are coming back pregnant and we hope these are females (heifers) to add to the herd. The calves were males this time, and are now steers which we will eat and sell when the time comes. We’re adding portable, solar powered fencing to keep their pastures from the chickens, as separate cows from calves when they wean. As time passes, I’m eager to work on rotational grazing that will add another layer to our sustainable farming strategy.

Now, I just have to find the time and energy to put in that fall garden…..

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.

Seasonal Ethics, Bastrop Market News, and New Website Pages

Greetings on this hot, dry Texas day... yep, another hot, dry day here in south central Texas. I'm glad that, except for the 16 'keepers', all our chicken flocks have gone to processing, meaning they are not here to swelter in the heat; rather, they are chillin' in the freezers on their way to market.

We do not intend to have chickens in pasture during August or January, when temperature extremes are most likely (like we didn't have 100 degree days in June this year!). This seasonal approach to raising animals fits with our values about providing the best possible environment for the animals in our care and building in some relative down time for ourselves. We know this isn't the most lucrative approach in terms of keeping as many chickens as possible out in the marketplace  at all times, but we are aware of many farmers who take this approach and make it just fine. Some raise only enough to fill the requests of customers who pre-order a quarterly number they commmit to buying or pay for in advance. At this point in time we choose to take a looser approach and see if it's possible to keep raising poulty for the general public while exploring a strategy to raise some flocks that meet specific contracts... all based on seasonal times of availability. This means there will be times of having fresh never-frozen chicken, frozen only (which is all we can offer at the market, due to regulations) and hopefully minimal periods of being completely out until the next flocks mature. If we can make this work we will be happy farmers indeed-- with happy chickens whenever they are here.

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We are now selling at the Bastrop 1832 Farmer's Market on both Fridays (1-6) and Saturdays (10-2). Even though we'll be out of town for almost a month, Erika at Bradshaw Farms will continue to offer our chickens for sale to keep availability for customers, which is good for everyone. Our heartfelt gratitude goes out to Erika for her support! The sense of community and fun amongst the vendors at the market make the work a joy, even in these hot hot days.

On Saturday September 13th, Shades of Green Farm will offer a demonstration at the Market in preparing  our wonderful chickens~ we hope to see you there!

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To address the wishes and needs of customers, I've added two new pages to this website/blog. The first provides a place to express yourself~ called "Compliments, Critique and Comments", it's meant to be a forum for feedback and input; the other page is entitled "Recipes and Suggestions for Cooking" and is self-explanatory.

Well, I couldn't get the pages to accept comments, so they are now new posts under similarly named categories... works the same, in terms of going to the post and contributing via posts. And thanks!

Oh joy~ it rained!!!

Finally, after weeks of squalls passing just to the north, south, east or west of us, it rained a good drenching rain this evening... almost an inch in about an hour and a half. Sitting quietly on the porch, I could hear the grasses and the trees sighing as the sound shifted from the hard tap of wet on parched leaves and ground to the wet plop and swish of foliage drinking in the sweet deep rain. Now, if it's not too much to ask, we'd like another inch tomorrow... and thank you.

The chickens were quite funny~ since it's been so dry that the most 'rain' they've experienced has been when we've misted them with the hose, those chickens started off by running and flapping before getting themselves settled under trees and in their houses. As the rain eased off, those gals (all but 3 of our flock are females, the rest having transitioned into meat) began legging it through puddles and floating grass, pecking and scratching and having a great time. It took a bit more urging to get them in tonight~ I think they weren't finished with the novelty of their first big rain. Hopefully they'll get another experience tomorrow.