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On Meat Birds & Other Farmy Things

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So.

Meat birds.

Birds that are engineered by us humans to grow at an alarming rate so that they are ready for “harvest” by about 8 weeks of age.

Mine are now 14 weeks old and they are still not ready for harvest.

I have to admit, I was getting really, really worried about this.  We’re spending WAY more on feed than expected and it has been feeling like we’ll never get these birds into the freezer.

Internet to the rescue!

I found some message boards for chicken farmers talking about this very thing.

You see, I’ve been feeding a combination of commercially – prepared and processed feeds along with fresh pasture.  We don’t generally leave just a huge feed bin out constantly full of food.  If you do, they won’t forage.  We wanted a better tasting, healthier bird.  Less commercial stuff.  Apparently, when you limit the processed grain and turn them out onto fresh grasses regularly, they grow a lot slower.  Their mortality rate is much lower.  And – get this – they end up tasting better.

I am feeling a lot better about these birds, if not poorer, given that we’ve fed them several weeks longer than anticipated!

I’ve also recently been spending more time over at Juniper Moon Farm.  As you may have read, Susan has been ill so I have been helping out.  It’s been wonderful spending some quiet time in the mornings and the evenings with the animals.

Only the dogs seemed to want to cooperate for photos, however.  Everyone else was too busy taking advantage of the cooler temperatures and dewy grasses.

Oh great, not the paparazzi again.  Can’t you see I am eating here???

I have been trying to make friends with little Stella, as well, but is has been mostly in vain.  Her mother is so friendly and approachable, but Stella is much more of a tease.  She looks all sweet and cute and cuddly in the pasture, but try to approach her and she runs off to mama, tail between her legs.  She doesn’t look back until there’s a giant Luna safely between me and her.

Nanny nanny poo poo, you can’t catch me!!!!

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It’s In The Air

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Can you feel it?

Fall is on its merry way, and I couldn’t be happier.

I turned 36 this weekend, and I spent the day thinking about how fortunate I am at this point in my life, and I realized that unlike many people I know, I look forward to each birthday.  Maybe it’s the time of year; my birthday means fall is coming.  September is easily one of the most beautiful months.  Or maybe it is the knowing that I got through another year on this crazy planet and came through it (hopefully) another year wiser.  Either way I am happiest when the days get shorter and cooler and when the nights are crisp and long with the smell of fallen leaves and wood fires.

My truck full of rocks came and Paul spread them out over the culvert.

It still looks like a big old mess down by the stream thanks to all the rain we’ve gotten, but he drive the tractor over the new “bridge” several times and it is good and solid.  We’ll be able to drive hay over it soon enough.

I haven’t spent too much time admiring it, though.  Since there is still a large pile of brush in the stream next to it full of frogs I am wary of the snakes that surely infest it.  We spotted one in the mud on Sunday, but couldn’t be sure if it was poisonous or not.  I haven’t been down there since.  Next weekend we’ll finish getting it all cleared out for the fences.

I  ventured out Sunday and bought a couple of bottles of french wine in town and an assortment of cheeses  and had a wonderful evening with the book club ladies.  The perfect way to cap off a beautiful weekend.

My friend Jessie brought me this:

A cake with a Dr. Who Tardis on it, decorated by her very talented husband.  Do they know me or what!

 

Even the weather has been in on the wonderful: it’s been much lower in humidity and temperature, making for lovely fall – ish days and nights.

The mums are blooming.

The persimmon tree is fruiting.

I think it’s about time for a mug of hot apple cider.

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Labor Day Laboring

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While most everyone else we know is barbecuing and relaxing for the holiday weekend we’ve been working our backsides off inside and out.

Paul’s been playing in the mud rescuing the stream from the mangled tree debris that our less than wonderful landscaper piled there, and I’ve been cleaning, working on lesson plans and making pasta.  There was also a brief time out for the new season of Dr Who.  Because we’re still obsessed, y’all.

We had to install this culvert so we could extend some logs and mud over to stream as a land bridge without interfering with the water.

Did I mention that neither of us has any idea how this kind of thing is supposed to get done?  At least Paul is having fun with the backhoe attachment on our friend’s tractor.

Now all we need is more dirt and maybe some gravel to cover over it all.

The side Paul has finished up is flowing nicely again.  We even saw a fairly large crayfish (crawdad for you Southerners) hanging out on the bank.

See all the debris still on this side?  Don’t you love it when you pay someone to do a job for you and then you end up having to re-do it all?

All I know is it’s getting done.  Paul even thinks we may start fencing next weekend.

What a fabulous birthday present for me!

As for inside the house, there is pasta drying in preparation for the freezer.  September is when the basil in the garden has grown into a giant, bushy shrub and must be harvested before the first frost.  My favorite thing to do is make up a huge amount of pesto and make ravioli with it.  I can freeze enough to last all winter if I don’t get sick of making pasta before I’ve used it all.

I use Susan’s pasta recipe – in fact if you click that link you’ll see my hands creating the last big batch of pesto ravioli we made last year at this time.

Sweet heavenly pesto.  I could eat it for every meal.

Little pillows of delightfulness!  I let them dry on a cheesecloth or clean dishtowel for an hour or more (until they are not sticky anymore) and then toss them into a ziploc freezer bag.  They can be tossed in boiling water from frozen or fresh and take very little time to cook.

For my pesto I fill a blender with fresh basil leaves, toss in a handful of cherry tomatoes, a handful of parmesan cheese, a heaping tablespoon of minced garlic, about half a teaspoon of sugar, a handful of pine nuts, and 3 or 4 tablespoons of olive oil.  These are all approximate values, and I adjust according to taste.  Not everyone likes sugar or tomatoes in their pesto, but I find it gives it an extra something.  You can also substitute walnuts if you don’t have pine nuts, but I prefer the pine nuts.

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Vacation, Part Deux

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Greetings from Orlando!

We are running ourselves ragged visiting a different theme park every day with the kids.

Our feet are sore like you would not believe.   And we have two more days to go.

Mom is holding down the farm, braving one jackass rooster and some stubborn hens.  She’s gone above and beyond this time, I assure you!

Neve and Emily have gone on their first big roller coasters  and we all experienced the incredible Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  Wands were chosen all around, and Oona is angry that they don’t actually work.

I can’t post pictures from here, but there’ll be plenty when we get home Thursday.

Stay tuned!

 

 

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The Beach is Back

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I am happy to report that after 4 blissful days at the beach I am back and feeling great.  There really is something very healing about the ocean; just listening to the waves and feeling the sea breeze does something to your soul.

This year was my favorite beach trip.  Two of our lovely friends brought their new babies with them (both were born in December) and it was by far the most relaxing, stress – free and fun trip we’ve had. The babies were wonderful and I thoroughly enjoyed taking pictures of them discovering the beach and enjoying some time with their mamas.

There was so much good food that I may have put on a pound (or 5).  I brought homemade peach salsa, my friend Gabi brought a delightful Argentinian fruit spread that we ate slathered in large amounts on good hard cheese.  There was plentiful fruit and summer sausage brought by Jessie.

Of course we all splurged at the restaurants as well.

But the one thing I will really remember from this trip was the Stand Up Paddle Boarding that Diana, Jessie, Margie and I tried.  It was something that was a little bit outside my comfort zone, but I didn’t want to miss out.  I am SO glad I did it.  It was much easier than I feared and we had a blast.I wish I had pictures to show you, but I couldn’t bring my camera.

Little Liam was my seat buddy on the ride out and back.  He giggled and cooed and was a total angel both times.

Teddy was very much into exploring the sand.  And is so obviously in love with his mother it made my ovaries hurt.

Rainbow!  Fortunately the rain didn’t affect us too much – it was brief, and gave us a glorious rainbow.  UNfortunately, due to the cloudiness we were unable to see the perseids meteor shower.

The best beach crew you could hope for.

I’ve linked above to the company we used for the paddle boarding.  If you are ever in Virginia Beach, give them a try.  They were reasonably priced and a ton of fun.

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And I’m Outta Here…..

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This past week has been spent in a flurry of activity in preparation for Beach Week – I’ll be leaving for my annual book club retreat tomorrow and I’ll be there until Sunday.

Before leaving I had to get the house in decent shape (in hopes it won’t be too awful when I return), make sure I had plenty of easy – to – make food packed into the kitchen for the family, and finish up the hand – sewn garments I wanted to wear for the weekend.

Everything I’ve been working on lately has been Alabama Chanin – inspired.  This green dress won’t be for the beach weekend – it’s more of an early fall dress.

I will be wearing my stenciled and inked dress, however.  You’ll have to wait for pictures of it finished, though.

It’s been a solid week of work.  But, it’s been a labor of love.  And every pattern I have used out of their books have fit like a dream.

I’ll be back here Sunday evening with the beach report.  Until then!

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Early Harvest

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Here it is barely August and my garden has officially given up for the season.  The only plants that are still producing are a few of the heirloom tomato plants, the basil, and the potatoes I have yet to dig up.

This weekend I will go out and lightly till the dead and rotting vines back into the soil and set about getting the fall plantings ready.

The biggest challenge this year hasn’t necessarily been the heat.  It’s true that the overly warm night time temperatures slowed production, but the plants all did, eventually bear fruit.

The lack of bees (remember I was supposed to have bees this year?  You can thank the uber slow progress of the landscaping for that not happening) didn’t seem to slow pollination any; there were bumblebees aplenty buzzing all around.

What really hurt this year was the epic number of pests.  Squash bugs.  Cucumber beetles. Blister beetles.  Caterpillars. Cabbage moths. Slugs.  You name it, we had it, and in hordes.  The blister beetles took my entire wisteria vine down to nothing OVERNIGHT.  Literally. One day it was there, the next, gone.

So, it was a disappointing growing season, but I am not letting it get to me too much.  I had enough tomatoes to make a batch of salsa.  We had so many summer squash and zucchini it felt like they were never stop.  The cucumbers even managed to hold their own long enough for us to put up dozens of jars of pickles.  Not to mention the mini sour gherkins – those tiny little garden workhorses.  They are still producing, seemingly invulnerable to the pestilence around them.

I have also formulated plans to improve things for next year – that’s the silver lining of garden failures. You learn from them.  Next year I’ll be buying plenty of Neem oil and organic and natural pest controls.  I will have bees.  I will also move the squash and pumpkins to their own garden – they overtook everything and drowned out my peppers and watermelon, killing them off.
And if I can find a way to eradicate my land of the blasted Virginia Creeper that invades everything, my beans and peas might stand a chance.

All in all, if I can manage a decent fall planting (beets, cabbages, greens, a few root veg) I’ll be pretty happy.

And speaking of fall, I made an early harvest that has everyone trying to fight off the autumn-y mood they create:

Bunches of sugar pie pumpkins, a Connecticut Field pumpkin or two, and some Jack Be Littles.

Check out this Jarrahdale Blue pumpkin!  Now if the two big Musquee de Provence pumpkins would hurry up and ripen before they fall prey to the zillions of squash bugs surrounding them, I will be happy!

 

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I May Have A Problem

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A Weck Jar problem.  As in, I can’t stop collecting them.

I have shelves full of them, both empty:

and full:

There’s plenty more of them full of good things in the fridge as well.

I just think they are so much better than regular old Ball Jars.  Not only are they prettier, but they are made to be obvious if your food has been compromised:  the clips are removed after processing, and if there is any spoilage along the way, the pressure it causes will force the seal open, thereby letting you know the food is bad.  The screw – on lids of Ball Jars don’t have such a fail – safe.

If only I had more garden bounty to fill them with!

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Tractor Vs. Tractor

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Around here when we are talking about “tractors” chances are good we are talking about portable chicken pens.  It’s a way to keep chickens safe and give them access to fresh grass.

Since we are raising chickens for meat right now Paul has been busy building new tractors for them to live in.  We wanted to feed them a combined diet of standard chicken feed and pasture.  We also wanted them to have plenty of space to move around and stretch their wings and play.  In other words, we wanted happy chickens, since they are going to be feeding us.  We can at least return the favor by making sure they are happy and healthy leading up to freezer camp.

Originally Paul was going to build 3 of these triangle – shaped tractors.  They are very basic, very sturdy, and light-weight enough for either me or the kids to move around easily.

Problem was, I didn’t think that they’d be big enough for fifty birds to have room to roam around.

When they were still fairly small we put them all in this one tractor.  It was roomy enough for them, but it wouldn’t be for long.

So Paul stepped outside the box and built them a new tractor.

From an old trampoline.

They now have a ton of room to move around and not be on top of each other.

As they reach their peak size we won’t have to worry about overcrowding.  We move it every two days or so – and they do quite a job mowing down all the grass in there.  They have a waterer that Paul put a float valve in so that they are never without water.  They get fresh air and shade.

As for the original tractor, there is a new family living in there for now.

Fleur and her babies have taken up residence there.  They’ll stay until the babies are old enough to be introduced to the flock at large (in other words, big enough to defend themselves from the inevitable bullying of the newbies).

 

 

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Finally Clear!

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Today we have some cause to celebrate –  the loggers officially finished clearing out the remaining trees to be felled.  This means that all that is left is for us to clean up a bit and fence it all in!

Paul and I walked all the way back to the very back edge of our property – something we have never been able to do in the summer before – and marveled at just how much more land we have than we thought we did and how nice it will be for the animals.  There’s plenty of trees left in the back portion for shade, and plenty of wide open space in the middle.  The landscaper expressed concern with all the underbrush that is left out there but I told him to leave it – the goats will make very short work of it.

This is standing at the back edge, looking toward the house.  See the grey in the very center of the photo?  That’s our roof.

I love that there are still some big old trees to provide shade on these hot days we’ve been getting, but there’s still enough sun filtering through that grass shouldn’t have any trouble growing.

Gully had fun running around like a mad dog and flying off the tree stumps.

The next step will be fencing, and hopefully that will go smoother than the clearing did!

To celebrate I made some peach jam from Marisa McClellans’ Food in Jars.

It tastes like the filling of a peach pie.

In other words, divine!