gratitude

It seems so fitting that it’s Thanksgiving because this time of year, as our farming season comes to a close, I am feeling so very thankful for so many reasons.
I'm thankful to be a part of this exciting local and sustainable food movement as it's something I believe in so much. I know Nate and I can't change the world but it's a start.
I’m thankful to have such amazing customers. The fact that there are so many people who have educated themselves about food and farming and who really appreciate what we’re doing feels amazing. I love talking with you at farmers markets and telling our story. I love that so many of you care enough about your food to want to come out to the farm, have a look around and learn about how your food is raised. That is what we’ve always hoped for. We think everyone should want to know how their food is raised and anyone is always welcome here.
I’m thankful for all of our animals who have enriched our lives and have given theirs to nourish others. I'm thankful for the privilege of knowing and raising them. I’m thankful to have such supportive friends, family and customers without whom, we could not do this. When we started this farming endeavor, we never would have dreamed that we would raise products that would be so well received. We completely sold out of chicken and turkey this year and have such a demand for our eggs, we never have enough. Somehow, we have to figure out how to increase production without compromising our sanity. That, my friends, is how we’ll be spending our winter. Lots and lots of planning.
We are still unsure of where we’ll be moving to and we're just about out of time. I simply cannot describe how that feels. We have a few options and are waiting to see what happens so stay tuned.
All of that stress aside, I have never felt more like I’m right where I’m supposed to be. And for those of you who know me, you know that this is huge. And for that, I am most grateful.

empty nest

The feelings we are experiencing today are truly bittersweet. We just butchered the last of our turkeys yesterday and our only animals remaining are our 180 laying hens who we keep over the winter. Besides those hens, WE ARE FINISHED FOR THE SEASON!

On one hand, we welcome the break as we’ve both worked harder than ever this year. I feel like I could sleep for days and days. But to be honest, we’re feeling a bit sad. We miss our animals.

We have such amazing friends. We had a big crew helping with the turkeys and it was a really fun day. We made it a ‘turkey honoring party’. Everyone left not only with their Thanksgiving birds but also with a deeper appreciation of what it takes to get those birds ready for the customer.

Chris, Greg, Jen, Nate, Marc, Mike, me in front and Justin far right.

Nate and I love raising turkeys. They have such personality and are so much fun. We put a lot of love and sweat into those birds and, however sad it is to see them go, I can’t begin to describe what it feels like to know that our turkeys will grace so many tables and nourish so many families this week.

Is this really my life?

this gets easier, right?

I'm not going to try to be the tough farmer today. No, today I write with a hole in my heart. That's the space that my lambs used to fill. Yep, they're gone. I know, I need to toughen up. And actually, I'm quite proud of myself for handling it so well.
After all, that was the deal. They were to be butchered in the Fall and here we are. I can't say that made it any easier to say goodbye to them. Of course, it doesn't help that we bottle-fed them and bonded with them. And it doesn't help that they were SO cool and friendly towards us. And it certainly didn't help that since they trusted us with their lives, it was super easy to load them up and take them away.
That was the deal though. And we gave them the happiest life we could. Since they were orphans, they wouldn't have been good for breeding and keeping sheep over the winter means buying or growing hay which we're not prepared for. We don't even know where we're staying for the winter! They were also all males (Rams) and their cuteness and sweetness would soon have turned into aggressiveness. I have heard stories of people being knocked over and injured by their rams.
They were so much fun and so easy to raise. Nate and I could have spent all day sitting with them, scratching their heads. There are definitely more lambs in our future but there will only be those 6 that were our first.
To top things off, we've started processing some of our turkeys and they too leave a little hole in your heart each year. They've got a sweetness all their own and it's hard to see them go.
That's the price we pay for providing good, clean, healthy food for folks.
Sigh....this get's easier, right?

behold...the molting process!

Folks, I'm here to tell you about one of the wonders of nature.

About this time of year, our laying hens go through a process called molting. What is molting you say? Well, just before the cold weather sets in, a chicken loses its feathers and regrows new ones. Just in time for full feathered fluffy warmth when the cold temperatures arrive. It's truly an amazing process and quite a sight to behold. During the molt, the hens lay far fewer eggs as the majority of their energy is put towards growing new feathers. They also eat more and require a bit more protein as feathers are made up of mostly protein. They also get a little....well, bitchy. We are very friendly with our hens and spend a lot of time with them and we notice that they tend to want to be off on their own while molting. Maybe they just don't wish to be seen in such a disheveled state. I can't really blame them. A 'No hair' day is way worse than a bad hair day!

Example. . .

This is 'Lazy Eye Hen' looking extra bummed that she's such a hot mess.
First, the feathers fall out. Sometimes they fall out to the point of 'naked' and sometimes they lose them while replacing them simultaneously. See on this next photo, the pin feathers that are coming in on her chest?

And check this girl out below. See all the pin feathers on her head and wing?

This is an after shot. Now doesn't she look beautiful?! And look at all of that nice extra fluff under her feathers. She'll be nice and toasty this winter.

Amazing, right? Nature never ceases to amaze me.

fall!

It's Fall!?! How did we get here already? It seems like just yesterday we were in the height of the season; overworked, overheated and up to our eyeballs in chickens. I can't believe we're quickly approaching the end of our second season. We raised more chickens this year and somehow it still wasn't enough. We have been overwhelmed by the demand for our chicken and I think that's a good problem to have.

Well, I'll tell you....we have some HAPPY turkeys right now. Nate worked his farmer butt off making this very unique shelter for them.

See, those wheels in the middle flip up and down. You flip them down on each side and it raises the shelter up so it can be easily moved and then you flip the wheels up to lower it to the ground. It's genius, right?

We don't have crates big enough to fit these guys so we had to carry them one by one to move them into their new digs. And let me tell you, those males are big strong suckers! I know it looks like I've got him under control but my inner voice was saying "hurry up and take the damn picture, Nate. He's gonna bust loose!" I got wing slapped many a time that day.

 
Happy, happy turkeys. We have another shelter that's not as fancy with more turkeys and we move both of the shelters several times a day to keep up with their appetite for grass.

Right now our last batch of meat chickens of the season is ready to process. We're having the absolute worst weather, and have been for days, which is making things very difficult for us but we have to do it anyway. Once these chickens are gone, it's just turkeys and laying hens.

We are desperately trying to figure out what to do next as we have to find another living arrangement after Thanksgiving. This little camper does have heat but it is not winterized and the pipes will freeze. Plus, it's starting to be a pain in the ass. We are looking for a new farm as the clock tick tocs. It is crazy stressful and we're really hoping something comes along quick. Keep your fingers crossed for us. WE NEED A FARM!

eggmobile II

 This is the new Eggmobile that Nate lovingly built for our new flock of laying hens. Just like the other Eggmobile, this one is parked out in the pasture and we move it every few days to a new spot so the girls have access to all of the fresh grass and bugs they want. We just moved them outside a few weeks ago and they are loving it.

 That lucky guy in the middle is our rooster, Mr. Blonde. He has his hands full. He's in charge of keeping all 100 hens in line. One of his jobs is to get all of the girls inside at night. That's actually why they're called roosters, because they get the hens to go inside and get up on the roosts at night. This keep them safe from predators.

 And our new girls have started laying! That means lots of tiny eggs for a month or so before they get bigger. Below is a regular sized egg next to a new egg. People LOVE our eggs. They are a huge draw at markets and we can never have enough. We have several different breeds of hens that lay different colored eggs; green, blue, white,pink, brown. At farmers markets, people line up at my table waiting for the market to start and I sell out of eggs in the first half hour. And for good reason...they are absolutely delicious. I could never eat a grocery store egg again....ever.

 So, what do we do with all of these tiny eggs when we have more than we can handle?? Well, we hard boil them and feed them to the turkeys, of course! Our turkeys are still growing and they need extra protein. They have to stay in the brooder building for a few more weeks and then they can move out to pasture. They LOVE hard boiled eggs and go CRAZY for them. Working on uploading a video of the egg-feeding mayhem but sadly, I think the file is too big. Maybe another post.

life, simplified.

Wow. So much has happened and I really should have been blogging about it as we went along but alas....there was no time.

A little background... I mentioned before that we are 'borrowing' space on this farm. We were given the opportunity to use the land, tools and equipment. This was an amazing way for us to see if we liked farming without making the huge commitment of buying a farm. We knew our time on this farm was temporary from the beginning as the owners had purchased a bigger farm and put this place on the market. They still live here while waiting for it to sell and their cattle reside on the new farm. We have spent our time here contemplating what would be next for us and considering all options. After almost 2 seasons as farmers, we are now sure that we want to continue farming and we have been searching for a new location to move to over the winter so we could be ready to start up again in the spring.

I also mentioned before that we were able to rent a house just 400 feet from the farm to live in. This house has a separate owner from the farm. A few weeks ago, on the day before my birthday, our landlord informed us that he was kicking us out. He said he wants to do some remodeling on the house so he can put it on the market and told us that we have to leave. We have no lease, just an informal rental agreement so our rights are limited. We told him that we currently have 700 animals who need our daily care and that we can't just leave. See, our last batch of meat chickens will be finished for the season in mid October and our turkeys will be finished before Thanksgiving. The lambs should be gone by then as well. So that would leave the 200 laying hens that we keep over the winter. We asked our landlord if he could hold off until the end of November to help us out but he wasn't in the 'helping' mood. We had 3 weeks to figure out what to do.

We had 2 options....move our entire operation plus 700 animals somewhere or find a place close to the farm to live for 3 months. We could have rented a place nearby but that would have cost money that we didn't have and would have required a commute back and forth throughout every day to collect eggs, feed and water animals and work on other farm projects.

Enter my Dad. He and his wife have a 27 ft travel trailer which they generously offered us. We had to clear it with the farm owners as we would need to park it on the farm and hook into their water and electric. They allowed us to do it and here we are. This is our new home for the next few months...

 The one on the left, that is. That structure on the right is the new Eggmobile that Nate just finished for our new flock of hens. More on that to follow...

So the last 3 weeks have been spent processing 240 chickens, moving 200 chickens out to pasture, getting 260 new chicks, packing up a house, deciding what will fit in the camper with us, what we need to have access to and can store in the barn, what will go into the storage POD, building a new Eggmobile, doing 3 different farmers markets a week, moving into said camper, daily farm chores, etc. In addition, our van which we heavily depend on for getting our product to market and for hauling things around is now broken beyond repair. Stress has been felt in indescribable ways and I questioned whether one or both of us would survive. However, we're still here.

I will say that being free of a house is quite liberating. It feels good to simplify to just the essentials. I will also say that our new living space is...small.

For now, at this moment, we are more than fortunate to have a free roof over our heads with heat and running water. We also have the ability to pick up the wireless internet from the barn office, however spotty the connection may be....at least we have it and it's free.

We are working on planning our next move. The universe was very cooperative in facilitating our entrance into farming as things just sort of fell into place. Things have been challenging lately, to say the least. We have had to work really hard and make many, many sacrifices to continue to follow our dream. It's heartbreaking to think that things could not work out for us. Farming is our life and we are determined to make this work.

Where will we go in December? Well, we'll just have to see...