We've had more wind and rain and severe weather and the power went out once again last night as I was about to post. Another 6.5 inches in the rain gauge and that follows 5 inches from this past weekend. Note to self: I need to get a bigger rain gauge, because the capacity of mine is 5 inches. When we get more than that overnight, I don't have a way of charting accurate rainfall totals. There was lots of hail in the area, but fortunately we were spared. It would have decimated the garden. One thing I'm a little concerned about is our rows of potatoes. They are ready to dig, but are currently sitting in mud! Priority #1 is harvesting them this weekend before they start to rot in the ground.
I will be posting again as soon as the weather clears. Stay safe everyone!
Thursday, May 4, 2017
Tuesday, May 2, 2017
A Miracle In Action
So I can't remember my first experience with planting seeds. It may have been very early in elementary school a project we had in which we planted a seed in a paper Dixie cup and watched it grow. I was awestruck. How could this dead bean swell up, burst the seed coat and send out a root and a crooked sprout that first yielded a cotyledon, followed closely by the unfurling of the first leaf that followed the sun and grew and grew and grew?
I was hooked. I planted everything I could get my hands on. I went outside one evening after supper and planted my fruit cocktail. Seriously. My Dad is a rice farmer and each night I would empty out his rubber boots, collect the rice that was in them and I would plant that rice in miniature rice fields I had constructed in the back yard, flooding the 'field' and watching the rice grow. After it began growing, I would pretend farm with my John Deere toy tractors and combines.
We've all heard the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. In the fairy tale, Jack trades his family's milk cow for some magic beans. Jack's mother, furious about how poor a negotiator her son was for not coming home with any money, threw the beans on the ground. Overnight the beans grew and grew and grew.
Truth be told, putting any ordinary seed into the ground and watching it grow is no less magical to me! As I was weeding in the garden this afternoon, I couldn't help but admire the humble bean plant below. This beautiful bean plant was, just a few days ago, that hard, white, dead lowly bean that you see in the ground in the photo above. You really can't help in just marveling over the miracle of the seed.
Not only will this seed grow, but it reproduces itself exponentially by creating more seeds - just as the Bible verse says below:
Genesis 1:11 King James Version (KJV)
11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
I'm now 50 years old, but I'm still as awestruck today by the miracle of the lowly seed as I was decades ago when I first watched my bean seed growing in my Dixie cup. Romans 1:20 tells us that since the beginning of Creation, His attributes, power, and nature, have been clearly seen by what He has made, that we are without excuse. I believe we can see the power and wonder of God by simply observing the miracle of the seed!
I was hooked. I planted everything I could get my hands on. I went outside one evening after supper and planted my fruit cocktail. Seriously. My Dad is a rice farmer and each night I would empty out his rubber boots, collect the rice that was in them and I would plant that rice in miniature rice fields I had constructed in the back yard, flooding the 'field' and watching the rice grow. After it began growing, I would pretend farm with my John Deere toy tractors and combines.
We've all heard the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. In the fairy tale, Jack trades his family's milk cow for some magic beans. Jack's mother, furious about how poor a negotiator her son was for not coming home with any money, threw the beans on the ground. Overnight the beans grew and grew and grew.
Truth be told, putting any ordinary seed into the ground and watching it grow is no less magical to me! As I was weeding in the garden this afternoon, I couldn't help but admire the humble bean plant below. This beautiful bean plant was, just a few days ago, that hard, white, dead lowly bean that you see in the ground in the photo above. You really can't help in just marveling over the miracle of the seed.
Not only will this seed grow, but it reproduces itself exponentially by creating more seeds - just as the Bible verse says below:
Genesis 1:11 King James Version (KJV)
11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
I'm now 50 years old, but I'm still as awestruck today by the miracle of the lowly seed as I was decades ago when I first watched my bean seed growing in my Dixie cup. Romans 1:20 tells us that since the beginning of Creation, His attributes, power, and nature, have been clearly seen by what He has made, that we are without excuse. I believe we can see the power and wonder of God by simply observing the miracle of the seed!
Monday, May 1, 2017
Harvesting Onions - 2017
We harvested some onions today. As you can see in the center of the photo below there are onions in the center that are being taken over by sweet potato vines. As the sweet potatoes are taking over the onion patch, it is okay, because the onions have signaled that they are ready to be harvested.
The way you know that it is time to harvest onions is that the tops of the onions will droop over. As if to say, "I'm tired. Pull me up." So I oblige. This is an indication that the onion's life cycle is nearing its end and no more energy will be devoted to growing the bulb. About 20% of the onions had not fallen over, so I'm leaving them to grow for a while longer. I'll keep my eye on them and will pull them as soon as they fall. I want to give them a chance to grow to their full potential.
I began pulling onions and have to say that this year's crop is far better than last year's crop. Most of the onions were larger, and although some were small, on average they were a nice size. This is a Texas 1015 Sweet Onion I"m holding in my hand.
And this beauty right here is a Red Creole Onion.
I filled up our garden wagon with fresh-pulled onions and pulled them into the garage.
The wind was really blowing outside and it was perfect weather to start the onions drying/curing. I want to maximize the air flow around the onions, so I got some old boards I salvaged from a chicken tractor that I'm in the process of demolishing, some roofing nails, and some hardware cloth, and I quickly constructed a drying rack and began to lay the onions on top.
Before long I had the drying rack built and all the 2017 onion harvest spread out to begin the drying process. The onions smelled great and I can't wait to try them! But first we have to let them dry so that they will store.
After a day and a half, I got some clippers and clipped off the roots of each onion and then clipped off the onion tops, leaving about 3/4 of an inch of the onion tops.
I'll watch them closely while they dry as a sudden spike in humidity or rain could cause them to begin to get soft and rot. If that starts to happen, I'll chop them up and freeze them. I wasn't as prudent as I should have been during this same process a couple of years ago curing garlic and a lot of the garlic rotted. I'll not make that mistake again.
In a couple of weeks the outer skin of the onions will dry and become like paper, as will the onion top itself. At that point they'll be shelf-stable for a while and I'll put them in an onion sack and bring them inside. I love to eat onions and can't wait to give these a try. We'll definitely order these again next year. If you are interested, I give two thumbs up to Dixondale Farms. That's where I ordered my onion sets from. You can learn more about Dixondale Farms by clicking HERE>
The way you know that it is time to harvest onions is that the tops of the onions will droop over. As if to say, "I'm tired. Pull me up." So I oblige. This is an indication that the onion's life cycle is nearing its end and no more energy will be devoted to growing the bulb. About 20% of the onions had not fallen over, so I'm leaving them to grow for a while longer. I'll keep my eye on them and will pull them as soon as they fall. I want to give them a chance to grow to their full potential.
I began pulling onions and have to say that this year's crop is far better than last year's crop. Most of the onions were larger, and although some were small, on average they were a nice size. This is a Texas 1015 Sweet Onion I"m holding in my hand.
And this beauty right here is a Red Creole Onion.
I filled up our garden wagon with fresh-pulled onions and pulled them into the garage.
The wind was really blowing outside and it was perfect weather to start the onions drying/curing. I want to maximize the air flow around the onions, so I got some old boards I salvaged from a chicken tractor that I'm in the process of demolishing, some roofing nails, and some hardware cloth, and I quickly constructed a drying rack and began to lay the onions on top.
Before long I had the drying rack built and all the 2017 onion harvest spread out to begin the drying process. The onions smelled great and I can't wait to try them! But first we have to let them dry so that they will store.
After a day and a half, I got some clippers and clipped off the roots of each onion and then clipped off the onion tops, leaving about 3/4 of an inch of the onion tops.
I'll watch them closely while they dry as a sudden spike in humidity or rain could cause them to begin to get soft and rot. If that starts to happen, I'll chop them up and freeze them. I wasn't as prudent as I should have been during this same process a couple of years ago curing garlic and a lot of the garlic rotted. I'll not make that mistake again.
In a couple of weeks the outer skin of the onions will dry and become like paper, as will the onion top itself. At that point they'll be shelf-stable for a while and I'll put them in an onion sack and bring them inside. I love to eat onions and can't wait to give these a try. We'll definitely order these again next year. If you are interested, I give two thumbs up to Dixondale Farms. That's where I ordered my onion sets from. You can learn more about Dixondale Farms by clicking HERE>
Sunday, April 30, 2017
My KInd Of Hip Hop
Saturday afternoon I walked across the backyard toward the sweet corn patch. I am a little concerned about it as it is yellow-looking and isn't growing as it should. I think it needs some chicken litter to get it moving. As I was walking to the corn patch, something caught my eye. Something brown ran past me. I turned to look and thought I caught sight of a rat running into a big pile of sticks that we had collected from a recent storm.
I'm not a fan of rats. I kill them on sight. I walked over to the woodpile with the intention of trying my best to kill the rat. However, as I looked down into the pile, I pulled this little critter out:
My first instinct was to go get a cardboard box and try to raise it, but we've learned with other rabbits, squirrels, wood ducks, and other critters, that wild animals are best left in the wild. I told Benjamin that in the woods just to the south of the hen house, I had seen two adult rabbits the week before in the tall grass. I'd bet anything that they were this little rabbit's family.
Benjamin set her down amidst a dense canopy of grass and weeds and underbrush. She blended in nicely and you could hardly see her.
She hippity hopped into the woods. Benjamin tried to follow her and saw one of the adult rabbits I was telling him about. I'm sure it was the bunny's mom or dad. We were happy to have reunited the family and saved the little bunny rabbit's life. Big Boy, our great Pyrenees dog would have eaten the little rabbit as an appetizer.
I'm not a fan of rats. I kill them on sight. I walked over to the woodpile with the intention of trying my best to kill the rat. However, as I looked down into the pile, I pulled this little critter out:
That's not a rat! It was a young, female bunny rabbit. I picked her up and brought her inside. I could feel her heart beating at a rapid pace inside her chest. The poor little thing was scared. I gave her to Benjamin to pet for a while.
My first instinct was to go get a cardboard box and try to raise it, but we've learned with other rabbits, squirrels, wood ducks, and other critters, that wild animals are best left in the wild. I told Benjamin that in the woods just to the south of the hen house, I had seen two adult rabbits the week before in the tall grass. I'd bet anything that they were this little rabbit's family.
Benjamin set her down amidst a dense canopy of grass and weeds and underbrush. She blended in nicely and you could hardly see her.
She hippity hopped into the woods. Benjamin tried to follow her and saw one of the adult rabbits I was telling him about. I'm sure it was the bunny's mom or dad. We were happy to have reunited the family and saved the little bunny rabbit's life. Big Boy, our great Pyrenees dog would have eaten the little rabbit as an appetizer.
Thursday, April 27, 2017
Who Fliipped The Switch to the "ON" Position?
Fresh pastured country eggs laid by our happy hens that roam around on 3 acres are a blessing to us. We love to eat 'em! Each and every afternoon Benjamin goes out with his basket and gathers eggs in the hen house, the barn, the chicken tractor and numerous other hiding places like in the loft, behind the box fan, in the goat stall, in the trough in the goat barn, at the bottom of the burn pile... Well, you get the picture. The hens will lay eggs most anywhere.
Except, Benjamin's egg gathering was slim to none for a while. On December 5, 2016 a hen laid ONE EGG (you read that right) and then none on the next day, or the next or the next. Not a single egg in the month of January! No eggs for the first two weeks of February. Finally on February 17th he picked up one egg. The number kept growing and growing and during the month of April, he is picking up about 5 dozen eggs a day.
When the hens weren't producing eggs, we hardly ate or cooked with eggs. There is a HUGE difference between store-bought eggs and ours. Now we have plenty eggs to scramble, fry, make quiche with, or cook with in any number of recipes. We also have plenty to sell to our egg customers and plenty to give away to our family, our neighbors and our friends. Friends don't let friends eat store-bought eggs!!
So, back to talking about finding hidden nests of eggs, we learned a test to determine the freshness of eggs. If you take a bucket of water and drop the eggs found in a 'hidden nest,' the rotten ones will float, the old eggs will sink but stand up at the bottom of the bucket, and the fresh ones will lie flat on the bottom. The rotten eggs get thrown back in the woods or composted in the garden. The old or questionable eggs get fed to the dogs. And obviously the fresh eggs get eaten by our family.
The hens are very healthy and fat right now and the yolks of their eggs are a deep yellow-orange color. The eggs are just beautiful and tasty, too! We don't wash them unless we absolutely need to. When the hens lay the eggs, they coat the eggs with a "bloom" that seals the eggs from bacteria and gives the eggs a longer shelf life. Once they are washed, their shelf life is shortened. In the late fall and winter, the hens' production will taper off, but for right now, we are enjoying the eggs.
The incredible, edible egg. I'm thankful that they are laying in abundance again.
Except, Benjamin's egg gathering was slim to none for a while. On December 5, 2016 a hen laid ONE EGG (you read that right) and then none on the next day, or the next or the next. Not a single egg in the month of January! No eggs for the first two weeks of February. Finally on February 17th he picked up one egg. The number kept growing and growing and during the month of April, he is picking up about 5 dozen eggs a day.
When the hens weren't producing eggs, we hardly ate or cooked with eggs. There is a HUGE difference between store-bought eggs and ours. Now we have plenty eggs to scramble, fry, make quiche with, or cook with in any number of recipes. We also have plenty to sell to our egg customers and plenty to give away to our family, our neighbors and our friends. Friends don't let friends eat store-bought eggs!!
So, back to talking about finding hidden nests of eggs, we learned a test to determine the freshness of eggs. If you take a bucket of water and drop the eggs found in a 'hidden nest,' the rotten ones will float, the old eggs will sink but stand up at the bottom of the bucket, and the fresh ones will lie flat on the bottom. The rotten eggs get thrown back in the woods or composted in the garden. The old or questionable eggs get fed to the dogs. And obviously the fresh eggs get eaten by our family.
The hens are very healthy and fat right now and the yolks of their eggs are a deep yellow-orange color. The eggs are just beautiful and tasty, too! We don't wash them unless we absolutely need to. When the hens lay the eggs, they coat the eggs with a "bloom" that seals the eggs from bacteria and gives the eggs a longer shelf life. Once they are washed, their shelf life is shortened. In the late fall and winter, the hens' production will taper off, but for right now, we are enjoying the eggs.
The incredible, edible egg. I'm thankful that they are laying in abundance again.
Wednesday, April 26, 2017
2017 Meat Birds - By The Numbers
If you dare to be honest when looking in the mirror, you see change. I'm seeing more grey hair and wrinkles. I'm not fretting about it. People change over time. Change is one of the constants in life. Everyday we change. So do all creatures. Today we'll do a post-mortem analysis of our meat birds like we always do to look at change over their 9 week lifespan. Less than 10 weeks from this cute little bird:
To this old fellow:
It is truly hard to believe that less than 10 weeks have passed between those two photos. We look at the numbers to determine if we can adjust anything to make the management of the birds better, more efficient, or more economical. Even though we've learned a lot over the many times we've done this, it is humbling because we learn things each and every year. Some things you can control. Some things are out of your control. Some things you have to mess up on to discover not to do that again. I seem to find new and creative ways to mess up every year, but that provides opportunities to learn.
Here's the breakdown:
To this old fellow:
It is truly hard to believe that less than 10 weeks have passed between those two photos. We look at the numbers to determine if we can adjust anything to make the management of the birds better, more efficient, or more economical. Even though we've learned a lot over the many times we've done this, it is humbling because we learn things each and every year. Some things you can control. Some things are out of your control. Some things you have to mess up on to discover not to do that again. I seem to find new and creative ways to mess up every year, but that provides opportunities to learn.
Here's the breakdown:
Date of Receipt: 02/15/2017
Date of Slaughter: 04/22/2017
Days old at Slaughter: 68
Weeks old at Slaughter: 9.7
Number of Birds Slaughtered: 66
Number of Birds Slaughtered: 66
Purchased Birds:
We purchased 75 meat birds at a cost of $2.49 per bird with a purchase price of $187.00. They actually sent us 84 birds, as they usually send a few extra chicks to make up for losses during shipping.
We purchased 75 meat birds at a cost of $2.49 per bird with a purchase price of $187.00. They actually sent us 84 birds, as they usually send a few extra chicks to make up for losses during shipping.
Supplies:
Propane $ 10.00
Bulbs $ 14.00
Chicken tractor $ 54.00 (we are amortizing the tractor over 3 years)
Ice $ 6.00
Ziploc bags $ 6.00
Feed $ 351.00 (24 bags of feed)
Total Cost: $628.00
Losses: We lost 18 birds this year, resulting in a 21.43% mortality rate. That seems pretty bad, but we lost 13 of those on one evening, 3/29/2017, with heavy rains and wind.
Cost per bird: $9.52
Cost per pound: $2.12
Feed consumed per bird: 18.56 pounds
Feed cost per bird: $5.32
Feed cost per pound: $0.29 ($14.24 divided by 50 pound bag)
Total pounds Cornish Cross carcasses harvested: $296.20
Average pound per bird (66 birds): 4.49 lbs
In conclusion:
Our cost per bird is higher than in past years, but largely that is due to the $2.49 per chick purchase price. In the past we were buying 4-H chicks at $0.40 per bird. The purchase price is the largest component in the increased bird cost. Feed cost is actually down about $3 per 50 pound bag compared to prior years. The feed consumed per bird is down from last year, but still higher than the 14.89 pounds of feed consumed per bird record in 2013.
One thing that skews the numbers a bit is that about a month ago we lost 13 birds during the rain storm that each weighed a little better than 3 pounds. The numbers would look better with those birds in the equation. Obviously, if your birds die, you want them to die young - before they eat a bunch of feed.
As we always say each and every year, at a cost of $9.52 per bird, we can't compete with the chicken sold at the grocery store. However, it is not the same product. Our birds were raised and slaughtered differently. The quality of their short life was markedly different (better) from the factory birds. No antibiotics, no medicines, no hormones. They saw sunshine, walked on green grass, and felt the wind on their wings. I like to think they taste better, too!
It would not do for the consumer to know that the hamburger she is eating came from a steer who spent much of his life standing deep in his own excrement in a feedlot, helping to pollute the local streams. Or that the calf that yielded the veal cutlet on her plate spent its life in a box in which it did not have room to turn around. -Wendell Berry
Tuesday, April 25, 2017
Slowing Down and Taking Time To Observe
We lead such fast-paced lives as does most of 'modern' society. There are always deadlines to meet, meetings to attend, and the constant stress of work takes its toll on your mind and soul. We stay so busy that we often miss the beauty of God's creation. It is right in front of us and in our haste to meet the next obligation, those beautiful things in nature are obscured.
I like to slow down in the evening or on the weekends and observe - really observe things around me that I might otherwise miss. I captured a few things in photos below of things that jumped out at me.
7 “But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; 8 or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. 9 Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? 10 In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind." Job 12:7-10
This is some Rainbow Swiss Chard. The stems are bright red, dark maroon, hot pink, yellow and white. As pretty as it is to look at, it is delicious and healthy to eat. I like planting it next to something green like kale for the contrast. It lights up the garden like a neon sign!
Speaking of chard, while I was picking off some of the bottom leaves that were touching the ground and feeding to the cows, I observed a snail slowly making its way across the leaf. Sometimes burdens of life may weigh us down, but at least we don't have to carry a big shell on our backs...
Back when I was farming in the early 2000's, I spotted a clump of Louisiana irises growing in the ditch in front of an old home site. The ditch always had water in it and the irises were as happy as clams living there. The beauty of the flowers caught my eye and I got my shovel and scooped up a shovelful and brought home to plant in the ditch at our house. Since then they have spread and spread. The ditch at home is now filled with green foliage most of the year, but in the spring, they bloom with the most gorgeous flowers you've ever seen in your life!
What a beautiful flower!
As I was trellising our tomatoes in the garden using the Florida Weave technique, a dragonfly lit atop a t-post. You could see right through his wings. He was poised to take off and fly away quickly, but I caught him with my camera phone as it zoomed in on him. It reminded me of a helicopter on an offshore helipad.
Finally. a lizard sat lazily sunning himself in a terra cotta pot His body was green, but his eyes were a brilliant blue.
I like to slow down in the evening or on the weekends and observe - really observe things around me that I might otherwise miss. I captured a few things in photos below of things that jumped out at me.
7 “But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; 8 or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. 9 Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? 10 In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind." Job 12:7-10
This is some Rainbow Swiss Chard. The stems are bright red, dark maroon, hot pink, yellow and white. As pretty as it is to look at, it is delicious and healthy to eat. I like planting it next to something green like kale for the contrast. It lights up the garden like a neon sign!
Speaking of chard, while I was picking off some of the bottom leaves that were touching the ground and feeding to the cows, I observed a snail slowly making its way across the leaf. Sometimes burdens of life may weigh us down, but at least we don't have to carry a big shell on our backs...
Back when I was farming in the early 2000's, I spotted a clump of Louisiana irises growing in the ditch in front of an old home site. The ditch always had water in it and the irises were as happy as clams living there. The beauty of the flowers caught my eye and I got my shovel and scooped up a shovelful and brought home to plant in the ditch at our house. Since then they have spread and spread. The ditch at home is now filled with green foliage most of the year, but in the spring, they bloom with the most gorgeous flowers you've ever seen in your life!
As I was trellising our tomatoes in the garden using the Florida Weave technique, a dragonfly lit atop a t-post. You could see right through his wings. He was poised to take off and fly away quickly, but I caught him with my camera phone as it zoomed in on him. It reminded me of a helicopter on an offshore helipad.
Finally. a lizard sat lazily sunning himself in a terra cotta pot His body was green, but his eyes were a brilliant blue.
Each little flow’r that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colors,
He made their tiny wings.
All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.
- Cecil F. Alexander 1848
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
