The Trials of being a Farmer....

I've had a hard, hard week on the farm. For whatever reason, my meat birds, which had been doing just fine, suddenly got cold. Within an hour, I had 16 dead.... that's quite a loss. It was depressing. I still have enough to fill all my orders, but I can't afford to lose anymore at this point. Then, one of my laying hens died for no reason. That seems to happen regularly. I have no idea why. I think they just lay eggs that are too big, and it stresses them out so much, and they bleed out. It's so sad. THEN, to top it off, a Dorking flew the coop, and of course Reckless saw it immediately, and killed it. GRRRRRRR.
I am still battling slugs, and hoping everything grows fast enough to fill my first CSA orders. I replanted all the lettuce, and am planning on getting more arugula seeds so I can replant those, too, soon.
I guess I have to expect losses on occasion, but it's hard to swallow when it does happen!

ATTACK of the slugs!

HELP!
Yesterday morning, I was walking the gardens, checking everything over, making sure all was ok. I was so pleased by what I saw for the most part. Little lettuces, all green and growing, little carrots and peas and cabbages, all looking fantastic. I had a brief moment of pride there.... then it ended. My gorgeous arugula, which was looking fabulous the day before had disappeared. Gone. Vanished in the night. Was it birds? Was it slugs? Was it deer? I was looking forward to my first harvest in just a few weeks. I checked the beer slug traps. In them were hundreds and hundreds of little dead slug bodies. So, I thought Great! My little traps are doing their job, and I guess I'll just replant the arugula.

Then it started to rain. Crap! Within minutes, THOUSANDS of slugs were all over the place. I was madly hand picking them, and dropping them into a deep bucket of water with dish soap in it to drown them. I was out there for over 2 hours, until it got too dark to see the little bastards. I'm pretty certain trap or no trap, slugs were what got my arugula. It was an invasion! You've seriously never seen so many slugs in one place in your life.

This morning, I went to the liquor store, and bought a bunch more beer. I made a ton more traps, and set them up. I emptied the old ones of all the dead little bodies and refilled the beer. I am on a MISSION, folks. I refuse to let the beasties eat all my profits before I even get a crop. I'm all for sharing, but this is ridiculous! I plan on going out tonite to hand pick what the traps don't get. My only long term hope is that once all the grass and weeds between the beds are killed, the slugs won't have as much to eat, and maybe they will think my garden is just to far to go for a meal. Luckily, the weatherman says it will get hot and sunny for the next week, so hopefully I will have a chance to replant and get my little lettuces and arugulas going again before the next invasion.

Here's to hoping.

Another Spring Day

Even though it is an absolutely gorgeous day out there today, I am trying to do a few more 'indoor' jobs. For the last week, there has been something wrong with my left foot- the heel is all swollen and painful. I have been hobbling around the whole time, just trying to suck it up, thinking it will go away. It hasn't. It's been getting worse. I guess the only thing I can do it try to get off of it for a bit. It KILLS me to stay still, though. There is so much I need to do! I really don't need a bum foot slowing me down. Even so, I still mowed most of the lawn today, and did just a few other necessary chores. With farming, even if you are dying, things still need to get done. Chickens to feed and water, doggy beds to wash, kitchen to clean, it's endless...

I decide a week or so ago that I wasn't getting enough done around the farm, so I reluctantly cancelled my TV service. It was really, really hard to pick up the phone to call, but the funny thing is, I'm not missing it at all... I think I will just keep it during the darkest days of winter, and otherwise let it go. I am getting more done without it, although there are still not enough days in the week, or hours in the day....!

I got my first order of meat birds in last week. I feel like I have succumbed to the pressures of society with those. Grow quick, get paid quick, get them out quick. I guess you just have to do what you need to do to pay the damn mortgage. Regardless of that, I will still continue to raise my Dorkings for meat as well as eggs. Hopefully I will be able to get more people behind them as time goes on. Here is a picture of the meat birds.

There are 74 birds... I ordered 75, got 78, but 4 died. That's normal.

 I have had a strange couple of months in the dog boarding side of thing. It's truly feast or famine out there. March was so slow, I was certain I was going to starve to death. The first 2 weeks of April was so busy, I couldn't breath or even go out anywhere. I just hope things even out as time goes on. Managing the budget is hard when it's so up and down like that! Can't wait for my gardens to start making some money!

Crazy Days of Spring!

Well, spring is proceeding with it's usual undecidedness. Warm and sunny one day, frost the next night, and pouring rain next. You never know what the weather will bring!
Things are progressing in the garden very well for the most part. Broad beans, peas, some lettuce, arugula and carrots are popping up. A few lettuce varieties I planted haven't shown up yet... not sure what is up with that. I'm going to wait until it warms a bit, then try replanting them. I need those early crops!
I am stoked to report I finished all 50 of my garden beds on March 26. It was 11 days later than my goal, but that's ok... I got it done, and am feeling quite proud of that fact. Most beds are planted now, but I've saved a few beds to plant assorted beans into later this month when it gets warmer. I've also been working on doing yet another business plan... I am applying to the government for a grant, to see if I can get further funding so I can put the rest of the garden beds in, as well as finish my orchard and berry patch. I also want to build a few new chicken coops, so I can rotate their pasture, and the chickens will always have fresh pasture to forage in. After this winter, the chicken runs look like giant mud patties. I can't imagine that it's the healthiest thing for chickens to walk around on.
A friend of a friend gave me 30 laying hens a few weeks ago. They are just the regular laying hens, which give you huge eggs, but I still love my Dorkings the best. The new layers just drop dead every once in a while... they are definitely not as hardy as the heritage breeds.
Here is a sample of the difference in the eggs:

Even though the Dorking eggs are smaller, the birds win the contest for overall hardiness and ease of keeping. I am keeping my fingers crossed right now.... 5 of my hens are broody, and I am hoping for some little Dorking chicks soon!

Here is a pic of my new layers. There were 30 of them, but Reckless ate 2, and 4 died spotaneously.

I am also taking part in a challenge- it's called the Nourished Kitchen. It's teaching people how to eat traditionally, like we did 100 years ago and more - BEFORE we had tooth decay, and everyone got chubby. It's the direction I've wanted to go anyway, but didn't really know how to start- alot of the things we used to do to eat have been lost in the mass of processed foods we eat these days. So, I am learning how to make my own sourdough bread (and pancakes!) at the moment. It's really interesting! Things I didn't know: sourdough bread is WAY healthier for you, plus it keeps your blood sugar levels even, and is especially good for diabetics. This is the link if you are thinking of doing the same thing: http://nourishedkitchen.com/
I am looking for a cow to buy shares in, so I can get ahold of raw milk, and learn to make my own butter and yogurt products. It's so exciting to try all this stuff! The best part since I've been eating these foods is this:
I AM NOT GETTING THE TREMENDOUS SUGAR CRAVINGS I NORMALLY HAVE. I have been a junk food junky all my life, and every time I've tried to 'eat healthy' in the past (low fat, blah, blah, blah) I've had sugar cravings that have almost killed me. This week, I bought a chocolate bar and put it into my fridge. For anyone who knows me, that bar would usually have been gone the day, no, the minute I bought it. It has been 4 days, and it is still in my fridge. I've had a couple of bites, but that little bit was all I needed. I am so excited to try some new traditional recipes, and see where it takes me...

The cherry blossoms are out and I just had to take a picture of my little Aaron cherry tree all dressed up. Can't wait for those cherries this summer!

I also have 2 new arrivals at the farm. Katrina, who owns the horse that boards with me got 2 little Shetland ponies- Babe and Lenny. They are so cute, and a joy to have at the farm!

I went to a meeting a couple of weeks ago for people who raise heritage turkeys. You know how much I hated those damn turkeys....
Well, I am going to try again. There was some really awesome people there, and one of the ladies is going to come over and help me clip the turkey wings, so I don't have escapes every 10 seconds. In theory, it should be a little less stressful this time around...
We are also getting a new food made for the turkeys and chickens, which mimics closer the feed we used to give these birds. We should get faster growth out of them... it will be interesting to try it, and see what the difference is!

Last Blast of 'Winter'

I feel the need to put 'winter' in quotations this year... most of the year, it was so mild and lovely, it really didn't feel like winter at all! Officially, it has been my favourite winter of my life. Wish they were all so wonderful! True to form, however, winter decided to rear it's ugly head for a week there... we had some dumps of snow (which didn't last long!) and some colder temps... I blame myself, as it only gets cold when I plant my gardens... lol!

The cold snap didn't seem to do much harm, however... I have radish and arugula coming up already. I LOVE seeing little green things coming up! I also planted my first ever asparagus plants... Jersey King and Purple asparagus. I won't get any crops this year, but should be able to start harvesting a bit from them next year. I've been working on filling and planting the rest of my garden beds... I am getting there! I now have 35 beds all ready to go, most of them planted already. I was so happy to have my goal of 50 beds in this year, but now I see it probably won't be enough for everything I want to do... I am going to slowly start building more as I go, and just keep plugging away at it.

I went up to my friends' greenhouse last week to check on my little seedlings. Everything is doing fantastic! The little cabbages will be ready to plant outdoors in just a couple of weeks... then I have to figure out how to keep the deer from gobbling them all down. grrrrr... deer.

A friend of a friend also gave me 30 more laying hens. This are just your regular run of the mill hens, but suddenly I have eggs coming out my ears... I am working on building up a good new customer base on those, too, so my fridge doesn't fill up completely with eggs!

I sent out an email to all my customers last week, to get preorders for meat chickens. I have now officially sold 46 chickens! I ordered 75, so I will have 20 for myself, and a few extras for some late orders. I am super happy with that! The little poults will arrive in a couple of weeks, and they should be ready for processing in early June. It will be nice to have a bit of extra money coming in at that time, too.

I am now off my EI self employment program, which is somewhat scary, but I am determined to do whatever it takes to make a living from my little farm, and I know everything will work out just fine!

It's Officially Spring...;-)

Oops... haven't updated in a while! My dogboarding business has had the busiest 3 continuous months, and I've been up to my neck in dogs day after day. This is NOT a complaint! I've loved every moment of it. I am finding I am getting better and better and nicer and nicer dogs in here all the time. This week is a slow week, so I am using the few days I have to try to catch up on everything else in my life. Not an easy task!

Let's see.... what is new? I've been going gangbusters on the garden beds, and I now have 46 beds made, with the lumber for 3 more. I just have to go to the lumber store one more time to get the rest of what I need. Yay! I'm so stoked I got this much done, considering how busy I've been. I have a small load of compost coming in on Monday, so I will use that to start filling the empty beds. The load I'm getting won't get them all done by any stretch, but it will make a good dent in it.

Yesterday was March 1st. In Kelly Land, this is officially spring. I don't care what the calendar says, I don't care what the weather is doing. March 1st comes, and I want to be in the garden. Well, this year, I am! I started planting yesterday after checking the weather for the next week. There is no frost expected in that time, so I have been busy turning over the fall rye, and weeding and planting all the beds that are ready. I've got in 2 varieties of peas, 3 varieties of beets, arugula, several lettuces, walla walla onions, mesculin mix, and a couple of herbs- rosemary and oregano. If I think it's going to get cold, I will just cover the beds with newspaper to insulate the little seedlings. I also went to a friend's place who has several greenhouses, and planted basil, cabbages, tomatoes, and peppers, to be ready for me when it warms up. Very cool of him to let me do that... it will definitely give me a head start, and everything can be grown organically so I can keep my Certified Naturally Grown status.

I had to mow the lawn last week for the first time this year.... a huge bit earlier than last year! The mower started up just fine, and I got it all done just before it started raining again. I guess if it dries out a bit here and there, it will be my weekly chore again. So much to mow... I do almost 2 acres each time, all hand mowed... no ride 'em mower for me! I used to hate it, but now I don't mind so much. It's good exercise, and a great time to just plan what I want to do next.

There are green things coming out of trees all over the place, and the cherry blossoms are starting to come out. I think Mother Nature agrees with me that it should be spring now... !!

Spring is on it's way....

Well, the weather has still been mild and wonderful. This has officially been my favourite 'winter' EVER! It's raining right now, but I got lots done today before the drops started falling. I just planted a Yellow Transparent apple and a Lapins cherry tree. My orchard will be finished before you know it! The Y. Trans. is a heritage apple, and is apparently the best for cooking and baking. The Lapins  is a newer introduction, but is self pollinating, and I've had the fruit before, and it's delicious. Sweet and juicy. I've also now built 12 new garden beds... the count is now at 37 total. I'm getting there! I am going to have to break down and buy some compost to put in- it's getting too late to put in fresh manure, and I just haven't had enough years here to build up a good pile of usuable compost on my own.

I got a dumptruck load of driveway chip in this morning, and got it raked into the biggest holes in the driveway. The driveway was degrading fast after all the rain we had over the winter months. I was getting afraid I would start to lose customers due to the fact that it was so bumpy and muddy. I did, however, grossly underestimate how much driveway a dumptruck full would cover.... I thought it would do most of the driveway. Turns out I will need about 3 full loads to get it all done. It's a loooonnnnngggg driveway!! The worst is fixed, so I will let it rest for now and put my funds into my orchard and gardens.

I've also been working on fixing my coldframes, and am starting to plant a bit underneath them. Mesculin went in yesterday. If the weather holds, I should have fresh salad again starting in about a month or so!
I went to a couple of seminars over the last weekend on how to grow fresh veggies all winter long, and also on how to maximize the space you have for the greatest amount of yield. I learned ALOT, and feel much more confident about growing my CSA shares. Plus, I will have the added bonus of harvesting fresh veggies all next winter.