Category Archives: Seasonality

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4 Inches in 45 Minutes

4″ in less than an hour.  That’s a lot of rain.  The storm was not intense, it just rained a lot in a short amount of time.  The basement filled with water but that’s another story.

Flood1

The stream was up 5′ above where it is now, which was about another 5′ in elevation from where the cows were pastured.  Looks like the whole bottom was a stream briefly.

Flood2All of our wide collection of driftwood was moved.  The barrier fences on both ends of the branch will need to be cleaned out and maintained.  But the good news is we’re covered in grass.  While the neighbor lost a lot of soil from cow paths and bare dirt, I suspect we trapped soil.  I especially like the protein tub pushed against the fence in the first picture.

Looks like the pasture wasn’t hurt, just the fences.  We’ll deal with what comes our way.

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Regularly Scheduled Simplification

There is only so much I can ask of my wife.  She is intelligent, beautiful and strong.  She cooks, cleans and cares for all 5 of her dependents (including me).  She teaches the children.  She washes, sorts and boxes the eggs.  She runs her own business, continues her ongoing education as well as that of the children and keeps the farm running when I go sit in the A/C at a desk job.  It is important that we simplify things as much as possible…that I stack the cards in her favor.  She is strong but she has a hard time moving chicken tractors.  She is willing to work hard but tires out long before I do.  There are only so many hours in a day and I can’t expect her to be able to do everything I can do.  So we have to simplify.

Milking

What do I mean by that?  Recently we took possession of 6 new heifers.  Now, six heifers doesn’t look like much on paper but it’s a whole new deal for us.  Rotational grazing.  Mob stocking.  Hoping and praying that the green stuff growing in our fields is appetizing to our hooved animals.  We have to learn how to move fence, how to move the water tank, how to troubleshoot shorts in our fencing, how to watch for problem weeds and to monitor how full the cows are.  Again, on paper, no big deal.  But in real life, learning all of that all at once is a bit daunting.  Learning all of that while keeping the food cooked, the dishes washed, the laundry folded, the kids educated and the business growing is pretty rough (though she does it all while looking great).

Sunshine

So we simplified.  We scheduled our production for the year and made sure several things were finished or on break before the heifers arrived.  The broilers are in the freezer.  No more chicken tractor chores.  The pigs went to market.  No more planning and moving pig pastures…or working pig pasture recovery into our grazing schedule.  We planned ahead, knowing our spring is busy and staging things out so we could learn new skills away from the pressure of existing skills.  Now, there’s no getting away from housework or even garden work but just freeing her from checking broilers 3-4x per day and liberating her from her fear of 300 pound hogs lightens her workload enough that she can afford to focus on these new heifers just when they need it without shorting the kids of the time they need.

Garden

The goats were scheduled to be sold in December.  The two females finally left today.  Once they are gone we’ll be down to just ducks, cows and layers.  Over time we’ll work pigs back into the rotation.  In the fall we’ll do another big batch of broilers.  In between we’ll attend Cattle Grazing University, Chism Heritage Farm campus, and the school of hard knocks.  Experience is a great teacher.  I have read every grazing book I could get my hands on and I’ve learned more in the last week than ever before.

Broilers

I think pigs, turkeys, goats and broilers all have a place in our lives, in our business and on our farm but we can only ask so much of ourselves.  At regular intervals we plan time to review what we are doing, why we are doing it and verifying that we are making the best use of our time.  Are we happy or just busy?  It makes me happy to see the pigs run in the pasture.  I enjoy butchering chickens with my children.  I love our goats.  That said, today I’m content to watch the cows eat grass.  They have a lot to teach me and require my full attention.

Most importantly, I have to consider my wife.  This is our dream, not simply mine.  I can’t abuse her with hard labor and expect her to remain enthusiastic.

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April Showers Bring May Showers

After last summer, I never thought I would wish it would stop raining.  We got a foot of rain in April.  We are off to a good start toward another foot 3 days into May.  It’s unbelievable.  An inch of rain by day.  Another inch by night.  The good news is we’re grass farmers.  Our crop is already in.  In fact we have harvested a second crop from most of the farm!  Chew on that!

MinorFlooding

We had been grazing the cows across the bottom on both sides of the creek.  They would need snorkels to graze down there now.  Fortunately we had some high ground well rested.  In fact, it’s perfect.  Lots of diversity.

WetKnees

And this is where we had pigs last October!  Pig manure is great!  It also helps to have pasture in reserve just in case.  This has been resting since we last grazed through in January.  Just think of the root systems!  Think of the grass those cows will trample into the soil!  Think of the water I’m holding now and how much more I’ll hold in the future!  And those girls will get fat!

TopOfHill

The creek attempted to claim our fencing but we got it untangled, recovered our posts and moved everything up hill.  I had to cross the creek on a fallen walnut tree but we got the job done.  The creek in the picture is down two feet from where it was last night.  The current flood emphasized the need for me to keep fallen branches cleaned up down there as they tangled up our fencing and clogged up the gate that keeps the cows in where the creek hits our property line.  I say creek but it’s not a creek.  It’s the branch.  I know.  City kid.

FallenWalnut

Regular readers know that farming is only one of many things we do.  We are so busy working and playing, it’s hard to find time to write.  Bear with us.

UPDATE:

My lovely bride took this picture at the peak of the flood yesterday.  Can you see the mouse?

Mouse

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Delayed Chicken Processing

The chickens just aren’t paying attention to our butchering schedule.  If you want a fresh, never frozen, hormone- and antibiotic-free, humanely-raised, pastured chicken you’re going to have to wait another week.  If you want a frozen, hormone- and antibiotic-free, humanely-raised, pastured chicken you’re going to have to wait another week…cause we’re all out.  Either way…we’re moving our processing date to the 20th.

Broilers

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You Will Know Them by Their Hen Fruit

Over the weekend I noticed our egg yolks are looking a little pale.  A customer also mentioned it to me.  That’s not much of a shock given the time of year but it’s something I need to manage.  The picture also indicates that my whites are a little loose, though those particular eggs came from geriatric hens so it may be a hen issue.

EggYolks

The yolks should be orange.  The kind of orange that screams at you like like William Wallace calling for his favorite crayon…”ORANGE!!!”  My chickens are not getting enough greens in their diet.  Later in the spring when the dandelions are growing well, the color will return on its own.  Right now the chickens need some supplemental greens.  I’ll start tossing in a bucket or two of alfalfa chaff and some winter annuals that are growing among the carrots in the garden (chickweed and henbit) and we’ll see how things go.  Things are starting to green up already but I’m not moving the birds fast enough to keep them in the green.  Work, work, work.

If you want a little bit of homework you can read about what makes a good pastured egg and how they compare to factory eggs on a nutritional level at Mother Earth News.

PS
My lovely bride (who is looking particularly beautiful today) says my joke title is a bit of a reach.  Chime in on comments if you get it at all.

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Who does the Heavy Lifting?

Who does the heavy lifting around here in the winter?

Not me I’m afraid.

Right now, a typical day for me is to get up at 5, read my Bible, check email, shower, shave, eat breakfast, get dressed and head off to work at 6:15.  I do my job sitting at a desk in a climate-controlled environment.  I’ll read the book du jour over my lunch, work a few more hours and arrive home again at around 6:15 PM.  Then I spend the evening reading to and playing with the kids and discussing what happened on the farm that day.  Once the kids are in bed, I may have to go outside in the dark and cold to get a new toilet bucket, tomorrow’s supply of firewood or some other chore but mostly I just park my tookus on the couch with a book in hand until bedtime.  I go days without seeing any animals.  Keep in mind, this is the winter routine, not the spring, summer or fall routine.  There is no tookus on the couch ten months of the year.

Who does the heavy lifting on the farm in the winter?

Not me.

My wife wakes up with me each day.  Today we each dared the other to get out of bed first.  She was the first up.  She made two attempts to light the fire in the stove before calling me in to try.  She walked the dog.  Twice.  She grabbed two frozen chickens out of the freezer and packed my cooler with the eggs and chickens for today’s orders.  Most of the time she cooks breakfast while I’m in the shower though today she didn’t.  We pray and kiss then she sends me into the cold, cruel world.  Off I go, to be the family breadwinner.  Making money in the city, working hard for my family.

Cows

Somehow, while I’m gone the cows get milked, the pigs, chickens, ducks, goats and rabbits get fed and watered (not an easy feat when the high temperature is below freezing).  The kids are dressed, fed and educated.  Phones get answered, letters and packages get sent, dishes get washed, laundry gets folded, blog posts get written, eggs get collected and supper lands on the table just in time.

During growing season I’m normally outside for a couple of hours before work and a couple of hours after the kids go to bed.  There is just a lot of work to do.  This time of year, on weeknights I try to chill out making the most of my study time.

Who does the heavy lifting on the farm in the winter?

Not me.  Summer may be a different story but my wife shoulders the burden all winter.  This is no knock against my children who also help make things go around here but if not for my wife there would be no farm…just land and a house.

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Fence v. Winter Storm

What a mess.  What a total mess.  Cows out of their designated grazing area!  Fence isn’t shocking!  Nothing works and it’s near absolute zero after factoring the wind chill!  Thursday we had a winter storm blow through.  It began with a thunderstorm and 30 mph winds and sideways rain.  Lots of rain.  When I got in my car at 6:30 am to drive to work it was 54 degrees outside.  When I got to work at 8 it was 34 degrees outside and the wind had picked up to 50 mph.  Then it started snowing.  When I drove home in the late afternoon I followed a semi pulling a trailer.  The trailer was being blown by the wind and wagged behind the truck like a dog’s tail.

We didn’t bother bringing the cows in.  They know where the barn is.  They had been in the barn recently but they know better than I do where they are most comfortable during a storm.  They found a sheltered place down in a valley and hunkered down for the night.  We put a few obstacles out by the layers to give them some relief from the wind and noticed several chicken tractor lids had taken flight and nearly landed in the pond.  Goats were warm, pigs got a whole new bale of straw, ducks were just ducky so we told the kids to sleep downstairs by the wood stove, built up a big fire and went to bed early…praying that the power would stay on all night but ready if it did not.

The power stayed on but the cows got out just the same.  At milking time we brought the cows up to the barn to milk.  They were feeling ornery and walked the long way around.  Cows!  Once up, it was time to start looking at the fence.  The charger was ticking but not lighting up.  It was shorting out somewhere.  That’s the worst.

The pace to start is to turn off half of the fence.  Part of my fence is pretty OK.  The other part is…well…servicable.  All of it is legacy fence, built by grandpa’s hired men or cousins of mine over the last 40 or 50 years.  I trust the newer part…mostly.  So I cut the switch.

FenceBlues6

As expected, this made no difference to the fencer so I knew which way to begin the long march around the combine shed, through the iron pile and back around the house.  Then I found it.

FenceBlues1

The fence was touching an iron corner brace.  This is one of the wonders of fences built by hired help.  Oh well.  New fences are in the works anyway.  I separated the wire from the pipe and continued my inspection.

FenceBlues2

Not too much fence to walk between break points.  Then I had to walk the strands of fence we use for the cows current pasture, checking at each rebar post to make sure the wire wasn’t touching a post.

Rebar Posts

There were a few problems to work out along the fence until the end.  At the end, the spools were supported by another rebar post but the wind, rain and gravity had knocked that post over.  I cheated by hanging the spools off of the perimeter fence.

FenceBlues4

Well, that’s what it looked like later.  I didn’t realize I created a new short on my own.  Nothing worse than fixing one short and creating another.  Had to walk back out to fix it.  That’s what I get for taking a shortcut early in the morning in the cold wind.

FenceBlues5

Back up to the fence charger and it was at full charge.

FenceBlues7

Now, I don’t want to pretend it was all work and I don’t want to say I was all alone out there.  I had help.  But what is the fun of having your own cemetery hill if you can’t sled on it?

Sledding2

So I made a few trips down myself.  The railed sled has carried me downhill for 30 years that I remember.  Dad would carry it up the hills because I just wasn’t strong enough when I was little.  That sucker gets heavy after a few trips.  Now I carry it up the hill for my kids.  Good times.

Sledding1

The storm made a lot of work for us today but it also gave us a chance to play before breakfast.  Hope the storm gave you something fun too.

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Chestnuts Roasting in a Closed Oven

I had never eaten a chestnut.  Until today, I wasn’t entirely sure what a chestnut was.  I even ordered 25 trees from a supplier in Florida that will arrive spring of 2013.  No idea.  Just doing what I thought sounded like a good idea.  Get some trees in the ground.  Grow lumber for future generations.  Harvest nuts.  Go.

We were picking up apples at Eileen’s  house on Sunday and I noticed what I assumed were buckeyes.  I asked the kids to leave them lay because I don’t want buckeye trees on the farm.  They are toxic to cows and horses, useless for lumber and are not welcome here.  Anyway, I did little more than glance at them and focused, instead, on apples.

But they weren’t buckeyes.  They were chestnuts.  I think they are Chinese chestnuts.  I realized my mistake today and drove back to pick them up after work.  In the cold.  In the wind.  Thankfully, not in the rain.  A cold front came through and dropped the temperature about 20 degrees in 10 minutes.  I didn’t have a jacket with me.  Remember to wear gloves next time you pick up chestnuts, OK?

We roasted a handful in the oven and, true to the description, they are like eating a slightly sweet, nutty potato.  Maybe I’m missing something.  Where is the wonder and majesty?  Maybe in the 68 years since Mel Torme wrote The Christmas Song chestnuts have changed.  Maybe we have more sweets in our diet now.  I dunno.  Though I plan to roast some at Christmas, the jury is still out on the whole chestnut experiment.  However, we’re going to plant some, we have trees coming in the mail and we’ll figure something out.

Now, I want to say a word about Eileen.  When I was younger (maybe just young) I hauled manure from Barney’s for Eileen’s asparagus (Barney deserves a blog of his own), I rebuilt her wooden swing that her cousin had made for her but the tornado threw into the ditch (Babe deserves a blog post) and I helped her pick veggies, cleaned up her fallen limbs and ate lots of her cookies.  She gave me a couple of her deceased husband’s ties.  Years later I did some really stupid stuff and hit a particularly low point in life.  Eileen made it a point to tell me in front of a large group that, to her, I was still as good as gold.  Eileen means a lot to me.

I think it’s great that, though Eileen is now in a nursing home, I am still welcome at her house.  It may not always be that way but, though she has no idea I was there to get apples and chestnuts, I know that I have her blessing even if it comes by proxy through her son.  Thanks Larry.

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Apple Picking…up

We were invited to pick apples at a friend’s house.  Well, we were invited to pick up apples at a friends house.  Their trees had a bumper crop of silver dollar sized apples this year and during a recent wind storm many of them fell to the ground.  He invited us out to clean them up because he was overwhelmed by the crop.

We had two hours between morning chores and lunch for three adults and six children (sister and nephews were visiting) to pick up the apples.  It was just enough time to clean up under one tree.

That one tree gave us five large tubs of apples and six feed sacks full of spoiled apples for the pigs and still left several bushels hanging from the tree.

Lunch was at my mother’s followed by a birthday party for our oldest son at our house.  Then we began cooking the first batch of applesauce.  Not time to loaf.  We work in this army.  We’ll be cooking apples for days.

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A Beautiful March Day in October

It’s March.  Well, it’s not but it feels like March…but different.  The weather is right.  We got an inch of rain last night.  The wind is blowing endlessly and I’m in the garden.  March.  But instead of planting potatoes, I’m harvesting the remaining tomatoes and peppers.  I’m cutting up the plants to allow them to compost in a windrow in the garden under (you guessed it!) horse manure.  I’ll haul the horse manure once the row is out.

We’re getting an incredible harvest of green tomatoes but the summer garden is at an end.

The fall garden is getting a good head of steam.  Carrots are doing well.

Spinach is finally starting to come out.  I have the hardest time with spinach.  No idea why.

Radishes are coming out.

Lots of things happening in the garden.  Out of the garden too.  Our last chicken butcher date is this weekend.  I think we’re all ready for it.  Place your order soon.