Today was all about the chickens!

I decided to let the chickens out of their coop and yard today. We had been keeping them in their house and yard because they had discovered my vegie garden and stared to pull out young vegetable plants to eat. We fenced off the garden a few weeks ago but by then the hens were just starting to lay eggs and a friend told us that they could lay eggs anywhere in the yard if we let them free range before they figured out what the nest boxes were for. I did not want to have to look under plants or have to find the eggs so we left them in a few weeks longer. Also, we had picked up 4, 3month old chicks and 3, 2 day old chicks at an auction last Tues. We had to keep them separate from our chickens for at least a week to make sure they had no colds or diseases that could be passed on to our chickens. They seem fine so we let everybody free range today.
Well, that is not as easy as that sounds. The ducks were out at the same time and the Guinea hens were bossing around the chickens, keeping them out of the chicken house. It was quite a seen, lol. It was a bird zoo. Anyway, we got 15 eggs today! That's the record so far. We need to start selling them. We have made arrangements with a local farm with a roadside stand to sell them there. That should open up in a week or so. They mostly sell corn.

Well, it is time to go and put the chickens to bed. I hope we can get everybody where they belong.

Happy egg collecting,
Grow it yourself mom

Thinking About Winter

Today the farmer we buy hay from called and said he would be in the field today baling square bales. It has been so wet here this summer that many hay farmers have not been able to cut their hay yet. Anyway, we get a small discount if we take it right from the field instead of the farmer having to put it up in their barn. My hubby, Steve, met the farmer at his place and brought home 3 loads of hay using our flat bed trailer. He got 230 bales and wants to get 1 more load. It was hot here, 86 degrees and he was covered in sweat and hay pieces, ITCHY! Our Highland cattle eat hay exclusively during the winter. Another beef farmer has suggested we also feed silage or haylage (sp?) for extra energy during the cold months and makes the meat tender when you butcher. I am not sure if we will do that. Also, the goats eat hay daily all year long, and the pigs get some in their houses as do the chickens in the nest boxes. So we use a lot of hay. Making your own hay would be time consuming to say the least, but it may be cheaper. With the cost of haying equipment it may not be. We will think more about that in another year or two.

This is a oldest Highland cow, Amanda, after just giving birth this spring.

My daughter has been visiting her friends and family from the old neighborhood and has even gotten to go to the Delaware shore for a week. I am so glad for her because we will not be going there this year with all work here and their is no one we know well enough to do the milking chores while we are gone. If anyone is in the 'farm sitting' business, please let us know. But now I am feeling resistance to her coming home. She says her friend's family is going back to the shore and want her to go with them. I am torn between having her come back home well before school starts to be all ready and feeling her frustration with moving and leaving all her friends. I know it was hard on her starting at a new high school. She would not believe me if I told her this, but I am very proud of her for having the courage to start over at 15. I know how nervous she was about starting school last August. She did a great job, made some friends and still kept up her grades. I know her coming home this week will be a battle of wills, lol.

I have been asked to post my recipes here for the foods I make with milk from our Holstein and goats. I promise to post them next time :)

Take Care,

Make it yourself mom

Moving and Starting Over

This is a blog that I have started so I can let you know what is going on with our small, start-up farm. My husband, teeneage daughter, young son and I moved to 35 acres a year ago and the learning curve has been steep! First, some background information on myself...

I grew up in Philadelpia for the first 11 years of my life. My parents had always lived in the city. We hardly ever saw grass or trees and were amazed if we saw a squirrel! When my parents decided to take the family out of the city, we moved to a small suburb outside of Philly. We had a front and back lawn, freedom to go out and play in the neighborhood and saw all kinds of animals at the farms in the area. My husband grew up in a rural area but not as rural as the area we live in now. We had raised our kids in the small PA town and it was a nice place to raise kids. However, the continuous food recalls made us think seriously about raising our own food on a larger scale than the vegetable garden we planted every year. We wanted to raise meat, vegies, fruit and even drink milk from our own source. We felt strongly as parents that living a simpler life with more family time would be a better life for our kids as well as us. My teeenage daughter does not agree, lol.

So, we looked for land and discovered that purchasing it was easier than we thought. We started literally building it ourselves. Steve's concrete and building experience helped us tremendously. I knew we wanted to raise beef cattle and had done some research. We needed hardy, easy to care for beefers that could spend most of their time outside. Highland cattle were the answer. (More on the breed later.) I saw an ad in a magazine for a Highland cattle herd that was owned by an older couple who was downsizing. They lived near our new property, so we stopped to look at the herd one weekend on the way to our place. I fell in love with these magnificent animals and decided to buy them right then and there. Well, we had to move then! We were on the fence about when the right time to move was and the cattle purchase decided that. Since then we have added goats, pigs, chickens, a dairy cow and lastly ducks. Taking care of the animals is a fulltime job for Steve. I teach at a local school district and work with animals after work, weekends and of course summertime. We really enjoy watching them and taking care of them. My son helps me with the chickens, who just started laying eggs, and he plays with the kittens in the barn.

We have butchered 2 pigs lately and it is the best pork I have tasted. We use no antibiotics or meds of any kind. The eggs are delicious, too.

This blog is getting long, but there is so much I want to share with you. I'll close for now and write again soon. I include pictures.
Take care,
Grow it yourself mom