Friday, June 26, 2009

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.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

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.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

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.