Catching up on things

It seems like we're always playing catch-up, so I shouldn't be surprised that I have fallen behind in blogging. The first-cutting hay from Brian's parents' is now baled and most of it is stacked in our barn. This is big news because usually it has to be stored in a couple of sheds at his parents and we have to bring it home 18 bales at a time. But for the first time since we've had our little farm, we have a truck capable of pulling our trailer. So we were able to bring most of the hay home; the rest should be making its way here tomorrow.

We also had the barley combined and Brian baled the straw. We now have lots of fluffy bedding in the barn and a bunch of barley on storage at the co-op. We'll start feeding that out soon, because the lambs will be weaned in early July and the pigs will be getting a new barley-based ration.

It was a stormy afternoon, but after a short intermission for a passing shower, all the barley was harvested on June 12. Observant readers may notice this is not the antique combine. Too little time to get that up and running in time for this harvest. So we brought in the big guns.

The tomatoes are growing really well. This photo was taken June 11, and the next one was taken June 19.

It's hard to believe, but they've almost doubled in size again since this picture.

Saturday we put some of our new straw to good use and finally got some mulch down in half of the bean rows. That night they got an inch of rain plus their usual irrigation and they grew six inches overnight. We have a variety of beans out this year: limas, black beans, pintos, horticulture beans, and kidney beans. No green beans because the shelves are full of leftovers from last year.

The flowers have been growing too. I didn't get pictures of all of them, but the lilies, evening primrose, daylilies, coneflowers, butterfly weed, and butterfly bushes are all blooming now. I did get a few shots of one of my favorites, the hollyhock.

It seems fitting to end this post with dessert. There weren't any leftovers of this cherry pie. Unfortunately that was all we ate of the tree-full of cherries that we had this year. There just aren't enough hours in a day... But it sure was good while it lasted!

I hate to disrupt the ecosystem, but...

How many black snakes do we really need? I saw three today, and that's at least two too many in my book. I don't know if it's the hot weather, the increase in small woodland creatures, or just really bad luck, but I'm not a fan. If there have to be snakes, I'd rather have these than any of their nefarious reptilian cousins. But I still don't like seeing them. When my boss asked earlier in the day (when the count was still at two) if I had "dispatched" the critters on sight, I said, no, I don't get that close to them. But upon further reflection (after seeing the third one) I'm thinking maybe I'm going to have to figure out a method of getting rid of them.

In happier critter sightings, I have been seeing rabbits almost every day the past several weeks. There are two near the corral and two little babies near the potato and corn garden patch. Tonight when I walked down to get the mail, one of the corral-rabbits was sitting in the driveway, big eyes just staring at me. I couldn't help but break into a chorus of big-eyed rabbit, boo...boo! In my head of course, what would the neighbors think?? (if there were neighbors that could hear me)

I've also been seeing several deer regularly. Tonight I startled two and one of them kept just in sight and every time I got within a certain distance she bounded off. The other is a buck with velvet-covered spikes, so far he's pretty small, but I am curious to see how his rack develops. We have seen two amazing bucks the last couple of years; maybe he's from the same gene pool.

Leroy's reaction to pigs this time

I forgot to mention in my earlier post about Leroy that he didn't have much of a reaction to the new pigs this time. I guess he got used to the smell last time. So he investigated them and their pen, but no pacing, no alarm calls, and generally no fuss!

Chicken butchering day

Killing chickens isn't a lot of fun, but it is necessary if you want to eat delicious home-raised chicken. Friday was butchering day, and Brian's buddy Pete and his son Austin came up to help us kill and process 100 broilers. Having done chickens the "old fashioned" way as a kid and once or twice since then, I can heartily recommend investing in some technology to make the day much more pleasant. Here's a guided tour of our backyard chicken processing setup.

First, Austin and Brian caught the chickens and put 24 at a time into a cart attached to the four-wheeler. Austin kept them in the pen while Brian took care of loading them in the kill cones and bleeding them. Although a chopping block and chickens running around after their heads are cut off make for entertaining (if a bit grisly) tales, it is messy and not that appealing. This kill cone rig is great. Brian makes two small cuts to nick the veins on either side of the neck and allow the blood to drain completely. The cones hold the chickens still so that any flopping is contained and there is no bruising of the carcass. Blood is collected into the vat below the cones and later added to the compost pile.

Four at a time, birds are placed in shackles for dipping in the propane-powered scald tank. They are swished around for about a minute at just the right temperature. Getting a proper scald is extremely important to ensure good plucking.

Brian times the scald and tests the wing feathers to be sure the birds have spent enough time in the hot water. Once they are properly scalded, all four birds go into the plucker. This is the most amazing machine! I have plucked my share of chickens by hand, and I still don't understand how this works, but it does. Oh does it! The tub rotates and the combination of rubber fingers and running water strips all the feathers and even the little hairs off of the chickens. In about a minute these chickens go from fully feathered to completely clean.

I tell you, it's amazing! From the plucker, the chickens go to the evisceration table. Here Pete removed the head, feet, and intestines and separated out the gizard, liver, and heart. I finished cleaning out any remaining tissue, gave them a final rinse and quality check and then dropped them into an ice bath for rapid cooling. We then packed them on ice. Quite a tiring day, but a satisfying one. Thanks to Pete and Austin for all of their help!

Pigs!

We're feeding pigs again this summer, and we picked them up last Wednesday. Within an hour they were settled in the corner of their shelter snoozing away. Rough life! There are two red wattle hogs in this group. Red wattles are a relatively rare heritage breed; read more about them at the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy. We are excited to give them a try and thank our friends Tammy and Mike for finding these pigs. It's hard to belive how difficult it is to find young weaner pigs to feed out in our area. These red wattles came from Georgia and the white ones came from Bedford, VA.

We set up a nipple watering system for the pigs. It only took a few days for them to figure it out, and Sunday morning I saw the first pig drinking. There were signs they had been at least nuzzling the nipple earlier, but this was the first documented sighting. Hooray!

We were a little curious as to Leroy's reaction to the pigs this time. Two years ago when we introduced pigs to the farm Leroy made it quite clear he was not impressed.

That alarm call is really an odd sound. I haven't figured out how to describe it in words, so thank goodness for YouTube! Here's another shot of Leroy since this is his first appearance on the blog.

My Memorial Day weekend

Even on a little farm like ours, we still have work to do on holidays. So while we were both off from our "paying" jobs, we worked hard this weekend catching up on a variety of projects. We set up a pen for our new pigs and will pick them up tomorrow. We also devised a watering system for the pigs based on what we learned about pigs and water from our last batch. Namely that they will tip any watering device to make mud puddles that are quickly turned into wallows. And if they can't tip it, they will crawl inside and splash around in the water (using an old bathtub is a bad idea!). So this time, we rigged up a nipple waterer like they use in commercial hog operations. We'll see how that goes... Pictures of the pigs and their fancy new waterer coming soon.

We also prepared the beds and set out nearly 300 hot pepper plants. We are hoping to sell the peppers at the produce auction later this summer. We started all sorts of fun varieties from "sweet spot" to "chocolate habanero." Note to self: 300 peppers is a lot of work, especially when it is 90-some degrees with 90% humidity. BUT, the good news is we're done. We also planted the gourds for wedding decorations and added some zinnias and sunflowers to attract pollinators and other beneficial insects to our peppers. The only thing left to plant is the sweet potatoes. The seed potates I started have sprouted, so we should be able to get the slips transplanted soon. I also received my perennial grab bag from Brecks, so I have some more flowers to plant now. That's not work though, it is soothing to dig in the dirt. Oh, yeah there is one more thing. Brian's going to put out some buckwheat in the produce patch to lure in more bees and beneficials. It is a beautiful summer crop, so no complaints from me! And that garden could really use the organic matter; right now it is very rocky, such a difference from the garden here at the house.

A trip to the farm we rent showed the no-till corn Brian planted a few days back is sprouting pretty well and the barley is a week or two from being ready to combine. We are really looking forward to having our own grain and straw this year, one more step on the path to self-sufficiency.

Brian in the barley.

 This is the antique combine we're going to try to use to harvest the barley. I have a feeling it's a good thing Brian and his uncle are handy... 

And, of course, I took more pictures of flowers. This time it's the bloom of the catalpa tree. If you have never seen this tree it is hard to comprehend how amazing they are. First of all, they get really tall. Then there is the bloom...it's beautiful, like an iris almost, and there are thousands of them blanketing the trees like snow hanging on evergreens in the winter. And last, but not least, there is the heady perfume that is sweet at first but becomes nearly overpowering if you spend much time around the tree. As if that weren't enough, the seed pods that form later are nearly a foot long and curly. Except for the fact that the fallen pods freak me out when I'm walking in the pasture because I keep thinking they are snakes, this is an amazing tree. 

 

Broilers are almost ready

The broiler chicks are just over 6 weeks old now and approaching our target date for processing. They look good and have been doing well in their pasture huts.