A heat wave!

Has it been hot this week or what?! The cats and dogs have been like stuffed animals, feet in the air, bellies exposed, flopping from one position to the next trying to stay cool. The baby chicks in the barn have been outstretched and panting...their tiny little beaks hanging open to expel the hot air. The cows have been laying in the grass and in the barn...no energy to play. Us humans have been staying indoors in the air conditioning as much as possible because the moment you step outside you sweat. It went from a cool spring to a sweltering summer. The air this morning feels cooler and much less humid than it has been. We have a ton of work to do in the garden this weekend so we're hoping for a break in the heat. The hot, humid weather has been awesome for the garden and the fields. The weeds are thriving right along with the plants. We need to check the strawberry patch...there should be another round of berries waiting for us. The sweet corn is about mid-calf high. The pole beans are just about tall enough to start climbing on their poles. There are flowers on the cantaloupe plants and the new strawberry plants (which all have to be picked off so they don't waste energy producing berries until next year). Several of the watermelon seeds didn't germinate...but I think I planted an old package of seeds. I'm not sure if the basil and carrots seeds have germinated because the weeds are in the way. The pumpkins and cucumbers look good. We should be able to harvest some radishes this weekend. A lot of growing going on...summer is in full swing.

Who needs shampoo?

Barred Rock Chick

New chicks have arrived!

Future egg layers. Pictured here are the Isa Brown chicks. We also purchased more Barred Rocks. We have found these 2 breeds to be the most friendly and serious about laying eggs. We also have Buff Orpington's and Rhode Island Reds, but the Buff's are very broody and crabby. These chicks should start laying around December. The chicks now have a brooder area in the barn so we can clean out our garage. Now that the hot, humid weather is here, we'll be glad to have the chicks out from underneath our noses.

Chicken Tragedy

What a weekend! Friday evening we loaded the first batch of chickens into a friends' horse trailer (thank you Brandy!!)...in the rain. We drove them to Yoder's (an Amish farm in Charlotte) where we left them for the night so Yoder's could begin processing at 4am on Saturday. We got back home around 9:30pm Friday night and had to move the 100 chicks from the garage to the outdoor pens. We finished that just before the rain started pouring. Paul had to work on Saturday so I went to pick up the chickens...I was told to be there at 9am. I arrived at 8:50am with $45 worth of ice. The chickens weren't ready to go until 10:15am...as you can imagine, much of the ice melted during that time. But the loss of the ice was nothing compared to the loss of chickens. 42 of them died over night in the trailer. Chickens are known to pile on top of each other and because of the storms Friday night it appears they did just that. That was a huge loss for us. It was definitely a weekend that will go down in our farm history book...a story we'll have in our back pockets when swapping tragedies or mishaps with other farmers.

TIME TO PICK UP CHICKENS!!

SATURDAY, JUNE 20th, PLEASE PLAN TO PICK UP YOUR CHICKEN ORDERS ANY TIME AFTER 12:00pm. We are processing 200 chickens which we do NOT have freezer room for so it's VERY much appreciated if you can pick up your chickens as close to noon as possible on Saturday. They will be in bags on ice. Please bring your own coolers and ice to take them home. We will have a scale ready, the cost is $2.25/lb. We will accept cash or checks (no credit cards). Please let us know if you will NOT be able to pick up your order on Saturday. We have some freezer space if needed.

THANK YOU!!

Chickens waiting for food

These are the chickens for the July orders...they are still in the garage but will be moving outside this weekend. They get very excited when we open their door...always hoping for more food. They will eat non-stop if you let them.

A gift from Lily

Lily brought this cute little bunny to us last night. Emily was sitting on the porch with the kittens and it hopped out from underneath the refrigerator. It has a cut on it's back leg and a little cut under its eye, but it seems to be doing okay. It ate grass and part of a carrot last night and a bunch of spring mix this morning. We've never had any luck saving a bunny before but this one is showing great promise. We'll keep our fingers crossed!

Making progress...

The calves definitely aren't as trusting as they were before they had their vet work done, but a few of them are coming back around. This is a self-portrait...I'm the one on the left.

(This picture is for you Spleen)

Hanging out at the watering hole

The Scottish Highland cattle are enjoying this cool weather. They like to hang out by the water bowl as you can see from the lack of grass.

Future Zucchini Relish

The zucchini have popped up! I will be making zucchini relish this summer in our licensed kitchen so we can sell it. It is the best relish ever! I've never tasted any other relish like it. It's great on hot dogs, hamburgers, and mixed with mayo for tartar sauce.

Resting Chicken

I thought this chicken looked so cute...it might be hard to see but he has a piece of grass hanging out of his mouth. I'm sure he would've been embarrassed to see himself in a mirror.

Iris in the garden

I think most farms have Iris growing somewhere and our farm is no exception. Along the edge of the garden there are a few varieties that delight us every summer. It's too bad their blooming time is so short.

Playful kitty

This was the only kitty awake and playing this morning. It tried to play with its mother's tail, but she didn't like that and got up and went outside. With no one else to play with, the kitty resorted to going in and out of this pitcher. This kitty is looking for a home...isn't it adorable? And remember, a free dozen eggs with every kitten!

Sweet Potato plant

A few of the sweet potato seedlings seem to be hanging in...maybe we'll have sweet potatoes after all!

Patients in the hospital

Two of the chickens in the hospital with wobbly legs.

Beautiful morning...

It looks like it's going to be a gorgeous day! The kittens are enjoying the sunshine on the back porch steps. Running, jumping, and hiding in the grass, on the rocks, attacking the mother cats' tails, pouncing on each other...they are a whirlwind of activity. The chickens have been moved to their fresh plots of grass. Paul is feeding the calves and the hens. I have potatoes frying for breakfast. There are baskets of eggs to wash...and miles to go before we sleep.
Brad (our nephew) helped Paul plant the pumpkin patch yesterday. Another job checked off the list.
Paul and I went on a MSU Pasture walk last night to a sheep farm in Charlotte. They had a nice commercial operation but a different management style than us. It's always fun to see how other people farm and to network with other farmers. We are still looking for the right place to buy our lambs. It's important to buy your animals from a farm that has a similar management style to your own.
We returned 7 hens to the wagon last night. So far only 1 has made her way back this morning. There are 4 wobbly leg chickens in the 'hospital' (old truck topper). We are feeding them liver in their grain...it's supposed to beneficial for them. I think this breed of chicken (cornish cross) just grows too fast...their legs can't keep up with their body weight. They are healthy otherwise.

Garden Progress

This garden picture reminds me of the girls' bedrooms. The dirt is like their carpet...you only see it for a brief moment right after they clean. Soon, the carpet will be covered in clothes as will the dirt be covered in weeds. But weeds aren't all that bad...they have saved many a vegetable during drought periods through the years. I also believe weeds help to keep the harmful insects off of the plants. Speaking of which, we bought a praying mantis cocoon. As soon as it warms up to over 75 degrees for a certain period, 300 babies will emerge and supposedly eat the bad bugs.

Sunset

I found myself with time to just be this evening. I walked around the farm and took some pictures. It was a gorgeous sunset!

I ate a strawberry!

I'm excited to report that I picked our first strawberries yesterday...about 10 of them. They still had a bit of white on their tips but I couldn't resist. They were wonderful!! I imagine we'll have berries to pick this weekend.
Paul is outside, as I type, planting grass seed in the rain. Yesterday, Emily and Damien worked up the paths left from digging trenches for the new water lines last fall so now Paul is working as fast as he can to get the grass seed and straw down to take advantage of this perfect grass growing weather.
We didn't get all the planting done in the garden this past weekend but we made a good dent. We bought another flat of Roma tomatoes, 50 more strawberries, and 25 more asparagus crowns. We also planted cucumbers, sweet potatoes, marigolds, and nasturtiums (edible flowers). We have never planted sweet potatoes before so this is an experiment...one I believe that will end in failure. We still need to plant the pumpkins, green beans, cilantro and more basil.
The hens are finally far away enough from the barn that they are staying put. Well, I guess I should wait until after today to say that for sure. There are about a dozen that make it up every day. Last night Paul took them back to the hen wagon which has been moved quite a bit further since the last time they made their great escape. If they still make it up to the barn today, that's it, there's no retraining them, they will be barn hens. The roosters have been freed from their cat crates and they are staying with the wagon.
We lost another chicken over the weekend. We have one in the hospital now, not because he is sick, but he has a leg issue. He can't stay standing on his feet, he rolls back onto his ankles (if chickens have ankles). I put him in the hospital so he doesn't get picked on and so he can rest near his food and water. He's got it made.
The calves in the barn seem to all be recovering from their horrific ordeal last week. They are definitely more skittish than they were. Slowly, they are warming back up to me, but I don't think they'll ever be as trusting again. Sad. We'll need to do a better job with our next group at getting them taken care of when they're younger. We waited too long. Live and learn.