First Farm Tour

Our 1st Farm Tour was a huge success and a huge amount of FUN!  Our first tour was also a fundraiser for the St. Martin de Porres Family Retreat Center that friends of ours are working hard to make a reality.  It will be a place away from the fast-paced, technology driven world, a place where families can rest in the Lord.

Our day began with a visit to our broiler pen where the kids and broilers were equally excited about all of the activity.  Anthony held a hen for the kids to pet while others gave the birds extra food to eat.  We call the broilers "pigs with beaks" because they love to eat!  We also explained how the chickens get fresh grass and bugs each day because we move their home to keep them clean and happy.

Our second stop was the bee hives.  Here we talked about how important the bees are to humans and why we must do everything we can to help the bees survive and thrive.  

The kids were excited to feed and hold the rabbits.  Here at the farm house they also had a chance to play with the dogs, feed the pigs, and visit Josie the Jersey and her calf Hershey.

Homemade pumpkin cookies were enjoyed at the farm house before the group hiked out into the field to visit the eggmobile and the hens.  There they fed the layers and collected eggs.

After the eggmobile visit the hike continued to the picnic area.

After lunch the kids enjoyed making butter with Josie's cream and a scavenger hunt that took them all over the farm.

As they say, a great time was had by all.  The cool fall day, the smell of wood smoke, and the shade of the slowly changing leaves made a perfect spot for a Saturday afternoon nap.  I hope you can join us next time...

A good weekend!

I've been on this homemade bread kick lately which is weird since I've been anti-gluten for some time.  However, it hasn't been bothering me lately, no headaches.  I'm not sure if that is because my allergy shots have knocked something out of my system or because the bread is real.  I mean there are like 7 ingredients and all of them are pronounceable.  

I've also been on a no-processed food kick and have lost 4 lbs and feel much better.  Anyway, a good weekend always begins with homemade french-toast with real maple syrup.  I can't get over this stuff.  I'm going to be looking all over the farm for Sugar Maples and probably even hit up my grandparents farm.  This stuff is amazing!  

After breakfast, a hike is in order to check on various things and to get some great sunshine.  I put Bella in a backpack and Daniel walked with me...

The bees are doing fine.  Dad lost all his hives over the winter so these are brand new.  Hopefully this great weather for the next week or so will give them a boost.

Rosie and Samson came out to check on us but they didn't get too close.  Rosie is expecting within the next couple of weeks and doesn't like to move to far or too fast.

I found one of our farm hands (bees) working hard.  Look at those pollen sacks.  Don't destroy those dandelions!  Those are great for the bees.

Life revolves around food, period.  I stopped at the local meat shop and picked up two pounds of great bacon.  I made some in the skillet so we'd have some bacon grease for cooking at other times.  I also cooked some in the oven.  I really can't decide which I like better.

Breakfast is served.  Can't wait to have our own pigs to match the other homemade or homegrown stuff.

In the afternoon we went looking for mushrooms and all we found was this frog, do you see him?

The sunshine and fresh air was too much for Bella on this trip.  Here she is in a backpack on her big brother, sound asleep, yet she never dropped her flower.

The boys gave the layers bracelets and here you can see them showing them off.  For those who are wondering, we have Red Star layers.  These are the best layers we've ever owned.  The bracelets help us to keep their ages straight from year to year so we don't get the new flock confused with the old one.

Daniel was super excited to harvest our first mess of asparagus.  We'll wait until we get some more and then grill it.  I can't imagine cooking it any other way.

Anthony climbing one of our hop poles.  Oh to be young and nimble once more.

The egg-mobile is off to a good start.  It will be 8x20 on a hay wagon frame and be completely self contained.  We're under a little pressure to get it done because our broilers will need the current coop as a brooder in about a week.

Thanks for looking and reading all the way through.  We're slowly making our farm into something beautiful and we're glad you are along for the journey.  If you are interested in stopping by or getting any of our eggs, chickens or other offerings, just let us know.  740-324-0702

Springing to life

 Sunday March 20th will mark the official start of spring.  I spent most of the day Friday cleaning up around the farm.  I gathered up all of the electric fence from winter.  This little hen decided to come closer for a look.

 The next project was cleaning up the hop yard.  With all of the warm weather lately, they are up and off to an awesome start.  I'll get the strings up next week and do some pruning, maybe even try some pickled hop sprouts.  They are supposed to taste like asparagus.

 The laying hens had to investigate my work on the hop yard.  They were excited to get some of the smaller shoots as well as the worms that came out with the roots on the weeds.

Coloring some eggs was the next order of business.  These are our brown eggs and they turn out with some beautiful, rich, pastel colors.  Only $3.00 per dozen!

 

Daniel found this cocoon and it was all I could do to keep him from cutting it open!

I finished the day reading about the Rose Hive Method.  It's a unique way of raising bees that bucks current trends.  I'm planning on giving it a try and simply raising the bees for their own sake, at least for the first year or two.  It's a fascinating approach that works more naturally with the bees rather than manipulating them for gain, honey or other wise.

Other works on the farm include building a egg-mobile, getting our pastured poultry started for 2016, and planning out the garden.  I also have a pretty lofty goal of developing a clone Chartreuse using homegrown herbs.  Of course pictures will follow - here.