2020 Meat Birds - Week 1

Last Wednesday, our 2020 Cornish Cross Meat Birds came in the mail.  50 little puff balls, chirping away.  What a fun project, although hard work.  At the end of 8 weeks, if all goes well, you have some meat to put in the freezer that you can eat on for an entire year.  Chickens that you raised and butchered.  This year's batch of 50 birds cost $2.54 per chick.  They were straight-runs, meaning some were male and some female.  They added a small order charge of $7, bringing the total cost to $134 or $2.68 per chick.

Each week, we'll track their growth and tell you a little about the process.  We'll be honest.  Things don't go well from time to time, and we try to learn and adapt.  On Wednesdays, we have our weekly weigh-in. I'll bring a random, average-sized chick in the garage and weigh it.  We'll compare the numbers with previous years' growth and make some comments on what happened on the "chicken ranch" during the week.

At the end of one week, the chick weighed 6 ounces.

This is the first year that we've put the chicks immediately on grass.  Normally, we do this four weeks earlier and start them in the brooder in the garage on wood shavings.  We've noticed that the birds are much more lively this year.  They are eating grass from day one and even chasing some June bugs around, too.  On a sad note, we've already lost one chick.  It died when it got trampled by some of the other birds.  This happens from time to time.  We look on the bright side: at least we did not have a lot of feed invested in the chick since it died at only 6 days old.

Next week we'll meet at the same time and talk about 2020 Meat Birds - Week 2.

Springing a Leak

This is the scene that greeted me Saturday morning as I walked out to the barn to milk Rosie and Clarabelle.  All this water was not due to rain.  Not good.

I milked as fast as I could so I could go assess what the problem was.  I began thinking, "Maybe a pipe burst?" or "Maybe the cows hit the valve with their heads, causing the water to continuously flow?"  The water covered the south pasture, flowing south then west, saturating the grass.  From the looks of things, it must have been flowing wide-open all night long.

I turned off the water valve to stop the flow.  As I walked up to the water trough, it became evident what the problem was.  The water valve was firmly in place.  As you can see, the level of the water in the trough was beneath the valve.  This told me all I needed to know.  I know what my problem is.

And there you have it.  Look at the bottom of the water trough.  The trough has sprung leaks, and this has flooded the pasture and made a huge muddy mess.


I'm drawing my line in the sand.  No more Rubbermaid water troughs for us.  This is the second one I've purchased and both of them sprang leaks in roughly the same place.  Rubbermaid is a fine company, and we've used other consumer products that they've manufactured with no issue.  But I will definitely stay away from their water troughs.  I've thrown $89 twice at an inferior product and won't do it again.

For the time being, I'll go back to using some mineral tubs as water troughs.  I will try to rig it up so that it has the water valve attached.  What I've learned in the past is that when the cows drink it down, they'll push the empty tub with their heads and break it.

If I get tired of using these temporary tubs as water troughs and want a more permanent solution, I'll opt for the oval galvanized water troughs.

Persevering Under Trial

James 1:12 New American Standard Bible (NASB)Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

A few months ago I embarked upon a project that I normally do on the property that borders ours.  This is not a fun job.  It is done with a machete, will, and determination.  Privet is an invasive shrub that threatens to overtake the fence that runs east and west on our property's southern border. I cannot let the privet overtake the fence or it will ground out the 'hot wire' and encroach into our pasture.

With my machete, I chop the privet and try my best to pull it up from the roots.  Since this was done a few months ago, the privet was lush, green, full of leaves.  As I would chop, I'd throw the cut pieces over the fence for the goats to eat.  Goats love browse!  This afternoon I caught up on my other chores and intended to walk along the southern fence and toss all the privet branches back over into the woods.  The cut privet branches had sat for the entire winter in the muddy area on the south side of the property.  The goats and bulls had immediately eaten all the leaves off months ago.  Today I needed to toss the old, dead branches over to make way for spring grass.  Here's one of those branches now:

The ground is indeed muddy and barren.  The soft, moist soil is littered with flowers that have fallen from Chinaberrry trees.  You can see the work of my sharpened machete on one end of the privet branch below:

As I reached down to pick it up and toss it, something odd caught my eye.  The dead stick had fresh, green growth coming out.  New leaves, despite no roots.  New growth, despite being cut from the tree months ago.  This is semi-miraculous.  How does this happen?

I'd say it happened for several reasons.  An abnormally wet winter ensured that the ground stayed muddy.  The bulls and goats pressed the cut branches into the mud, resulting in the branch never drying out.  Primarily, though, God's remarkable creation is resilient, complex, and strong.  His plants and animals have a desire to live, to reproduce, even in formidable situations.

What a beautiful illustration of perseverance lying in the southern end of my pasture.  As I stood there looking at the green leaves growing from a seemingly dead branch, I first thought of the Biblical account of Moses' rod that budded.  But then I began to think about how much perseverance, how much will, how much desire to live, that the privet branch exhibited.  And I thought that this is how we should be, especially in the time we're in now.

In the book of James, the Bible tells us that the man who endures testing and trial and perseveres and is found worthy by God, will receive the crown of life (eternal life) to those who love Him.  Everyone who truly loves God will experience trials and tribulations in this world.  This we are promised.  But those trials will be recompensed by our Creator.  May we be found faithful.  May we endure.  May we have dogged perseverance in the midst of our trials!

2020 Chicks in the Mail!

I post this every year, but here is this year's rendition.  Early this morning before chores, Tricia got the call from the Post Office that we had a package waiting that was ALIVE!  The 50 baby chicks we ordered from Ideal Hatchery in Cameron, Texas had arrived.  Tricia drove to the US Post Office in town to pick them up.

The motto of the US Postal Service states:

"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds"

Well, Coronavirus can be added to that list.  The pandemic did not stop the post office from delivering our chicks.  Tricia peeked in the box to find that all was well!:

They seem a little tightly packed, but that keeps them warm.  They were all alive and seemed to be in perfect health, but it was time to get them out of the box.

This year we're actually raising them about a month or so late.  Before this virus outbreak, we had a wedding to attend in Houston and wanted to schedule their arrival for AFTER the wedding.  You can't leave baby chicks for a weekend without food and water.  This is the first year that we don't start them off in the brooder in the garage on top of wood chips.  This year, on Day 1, they are going on grass - actually clover.

Tricia took them out of the box, dipping each one's beak into water to ensure they drink.  While she did that, she counted them.  Usually the hatchery will throw in a couple or three extra chicks as lagniappe in the event that a few die during transit.  Not this time.  There were exactly 50 of them.

They began eating the chick starter in the feed troughs immediately and scattered out in the brooder.  If they are cold, they huddle up in a pile under the heat lamp.  Some get trampled and die.  They are evenly spaced, signifying that the temperature is perfect.

The chicks' brooder this year is in the chicken tractor where they will eventually reside without the brooder for their 8 week expected lives.  The chicken tractor still has its covering we topped it with as we used it for a greenhouse.  Sitting atop the tractor is Ginger, our cat.  She is apparently guarding things in "the cat-bird seat."

As I hold the little fluff-ball in my hand, I always say to myself every year, "You are so cute now, but in a short while, that changes.  This chick is a Cornish Cross Meat Bird and will change very quickly into a big, muscular meaty monster.

We will track their growth each week.  The goal at the end of Week 8 is an Eight Pound bird that will yield a Six Pound Carcass.  (We calculated the amount of feed we'd need for the next 8 weeks to raise them to maturity and purchased it all in advance in preparation for the possibility of feed stores being closed.  We're all set!)  Some people are hoarding toilet paper - we're hoarding 20% Protein Chick Grower.  Strange birds, indeed!

The Hills Are Alive...

Once I got all the tomatoes, peppers, corn and beans planted, I started phase II.  That consisted of straightneck and crookneck yellow squash and zucchini.  Those seedlings were started in hills in the garden as soon as they put their first true leaves on.  Then I planted some other items that we transplanted.  I'll show you those today.  In the seed trays on the back patio, I started two varieties of cucumbers - Suyo Long Cucumbers and Boston pickling cucumbers.

What we'll focus on today are some of the vegetables in the photo below that we'll be transplanting:

• Butternut Squash
• Spaghetti Squash
• Green-striped Cushaw Squash
• Tahitian Melon Squash
• Georgia Candied Roaster Squash
• Moon and Stars Watermelon  

These plants were all started from seeds and the germination was fantastic - even the Moon & Stars Watermelon seeds which were saved from back in 2012 all popped up.

Spaghetti Squash

To give these seedlings a good head start, I dug holes and lined them with some biochar we made.  The photo below shows a big tub that we made last year.  It consists of homemade charcoal mixed with cow manure, hay and shredded paper.  This was put into a tumbler and tumbled over a year.  The bacteria in the cow manure inoculated all the microscopic holes in the charcoal.  Now all this will go into the soil and will give the soil fertility to assist in growing healthy vegetables.   

Here is a hill of spaghetti squash.  It was time that they get put in the ground.  The leaves were just starting to turn a bit yellow.  It will green up in no time now that the roots are in the soil.

In the very back of the garden I have a huge pile of wood chips that we use in our Back to Eden Gardening method.  We had 24 truck loads in all delivered to the house - for free!  I kept hauling it to the garden by wagon-load and stacking it high.  We compost directly into the wood chips.  There is one downside.  The hill has taken away some space that was formerly planted.

But then again, as I thought about it, I can still grow veggies on the hill.  I planted all of the squash and melons around the perimeter of the hill.  As all of the squash and melons listed in the bullet points in the second paragraph above begin to grow, they'll vine over the hill.  The brown hill of wood chips will be transformed into a productive green hill of squash and melons. That's a good use of square footage in the garden that might otherwise been fallow.

Harvesting Beets

We have been picking beet greens over the past month or so, mixing them with swiss chard, mustard, turnip greens, and brussels sprout leaves.  If you cook them down in a cast iron skillet for just a little bit, wow!  Great flavor and great for you, too!

If you go to the grocery store, you'll notice the toilet paper aisle is wiped out.  Same goes with disinfectant, bread, eggs, water.  One thing you'll likely not see people hoarding - BEETS.  No one has ever said, "There's an impending disaster coming.  Better stock up on beets."  And that's a real shame, too, because they are doggone delicious.

We plant two varieties - Detroit Red Beets and Bull's Blood Beets, planted on a 15 foot row.  The Detroit Reds are maturing first, so we've been pulling them up, peeling them, slicing them, and cooking them.  Tricia likes to pull a handful up for supper.

We like to pull them when they are just slightly smaller than the size of a baseball.  About half the beet root will be above the ground, so they're easy pulling.

A nice "mess" of beets for us is just four or five.  We'll eat the greens if they look good.  If not, the cows will gladly take them off our hands.

A mess of beets

We like them roasted.  Take a regular potato peeler and peel the beet root and then cube them into 2 inch chunks.  Put them on a baking dish, drizzle with olive oil and season with a little sea salt and pepper and roast them in the oven.  That's a mighty fine side dish for supper right there.  We haven't even begun to harvest the Bull's Blood Beets yet.  We have a bumper crop.  We will likely harvest and then can a bunch of pickled beets.  I love pickled beets.

Okay, I wasn't going to bring this up, but of course, you know I will.  The consumption of a copious amount of beets has a dirty little secret that you must be forewarned about.  How can I be diplomatic, civil and polite with this?  When you cut up beets, it will stain your hands dark red.  Eating beets will also stain certain things red.  Things that we don't like to mention in genteel conversation.  Looking down in the water and viewing bright red where you don't normally see it will give you quite a scare.  Many have observed this phenomenon and gone to the doctor thinking that they have colon problems, only to find it was just the beets!  Save your co-pay.  It's just the beets. 

How Are We To Live in an Age of COVID-19?

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I try not to get into popular culture or politics on the blog - normally we just talk about gardening, raising farm animals and country living.  Sometimes things come along, like the current situation we're all in, that warrants a mention.  As Tricia and I discussed the pandemic, we noted that as a mobile society, we're all over the place - our daughter lives in Baton Rouge, one son in Welsh, on son in college in Lake Charles, and I work in Sulphur (42 miles away).  My job deals with oil and gas and we're not shutting down.  We have to keep emergency services, power generation plants, and other vital industry supplied with fuel and oil.  The fact is, we're all separated.  What would happen if suddenly, all movement was halted and we were to shelter-in-place for an extended period of time.  Seems far-fetched, but is it?

I remember when the kids were young, we had fire drills at the house.  Our kids lived upstairs.  We purchased a chain ladder that attached to the dormer window on the second story.  We stored it in the window box upstairs, and we actually practiced the drill of them climbing down.  But that wasn't the end of it.  We told the kids if there was a fire, follow the drill, get out of the house, AND we were all going to meet on the west side of our neighbor's shed.  If everyone didn't meet at this pre-arranged spot, I would go back in the house and get them.

Yesterday we discussed the fact that if we would be separated TODAY, we needed to do the same.  Our meeting spot is our house, and no matter if you had to walk to get back here, we would do it.  We would wait a reasonable time and then I'd go looking for the missing family members.  Family is important and our safety and togetherness is paramount.

How do we live in this age of the coronavirus pandemic?  Well, I read something today that C.S. Lewis wrote years ago in regard to living in the age of atomic warfare.  I think what he said holds true to a certain extent with this threat as well:

In one way, we think a great deal too much of the atomic bomb. “How are we to live in an atomic age?” I am tempted to reply: “Why, as you would have lived in the sixteenth century when the plague visited London almost every year, or as you would have lived in a Viking age when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut your throat any night; or indeed, as you are already living in an age of cancer, an age of syphilis, an age of paralysis, an age of air raids, an age of railway accidents, an age of motor accidents.

In other words, do not let us begin by exaggerating the novelty of our situation. Believe me, dear sir or madam, you and all whom you love were already sentenced to death before the atomic bomb was invented: and quite a high percentage of us were going to die in unpleasant ways. We had, indeed, one very great advantage over our ancestors—anesthetics; but we have that still. It is perfectly ridiculous to go about whimpering and drawing long faces because the scientists have added one more chance of painful and premature death to a world which already bristled with such chances and in which death itself was not a chance at all, but a certainty.

This is the first point to be made: and the first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds.

One more thing, I looked this up to ensure I recalled correctly.  My other question that extends how we should live in this age is "How should Christians live in this age of coronavirus?"  I can best describe the answer to that by a story I heard from a publication:

The year was 1527 and Wittenberg, Germany was under assault by the bubonic plague.  It was a terrible disease, causing its victims to die painful deaths with high fevers and nasty boils.  It was very contagious.  This disease, in 1347 killed 60% of the population of Europe.  This time, people were scared and everyone was "high-tailing it" out of town.  Martin Luther elected to stay (along with his pregnant wife) and open his home to serve the sick.

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Bubonic plague was spread by fleas and was transmitted through the air.  No one knew this in 1527, but they did know that being near someone who was sick was VERY dangerous.  People not infected fled the cities, leaving the sick and dying.  Martin Luther did the opposite.  He ministered to the ill, not caring about his own life.  Watching this, another pastor asked Luther if it was alright for a Christian to leave?

Luther wrote a letter "Whether one may flee from a deadly plague," explaining that we must care for our neighbor.  With COVID-19 we can learn from what Luther had to say.  It was not necessarily wrong to flee from death (King David fled from both Saul and Absalom), but one must consider his family and community.  If you left, you should make sure your neighbors were cared for:

"[N]o one should dare leave his neighbor unless there are others who will take care of the sick in their stead and nurse them…. we are bound to each other in such a way that no one may forsake the other in his distress but is obliged to assist and help him as he himself would like to be helped."

We should take preventative measures and take care of our neighbors.  Stay safe, ya'll.  Talk to you tomorrow.

First Grass Cutting This Spring

Since we have mostly live oak trees in our yard, our "fall" actually happens in the spring.  I'll explain.  Live oaks lose their leaves in the spring and are quickly filled out with fresh green growth along with pollen tassels.  There is a brief moment when there are so few leaves left on the tree, you can see the limbs within the crown and see through the canopy to the sky.  That is not possible in summer time.

All of those leaves hit the ground.  It past years I would rake all those leaves up, put them in a wagon or drag them on tarps and bring them to the garden.  There I would dig a trench between the rows and bury the leaves.  With the soil amended with plenty of organic matter, earthworms would be attracted and go to work.  Over time the soil quality improves, compaction goes down, and it becomes a more fertile growing medium.

Now that we have more wood chips and mulch than you could shake a stick at, I don't need to do that anymore.  This year I'll simply mow the leaves until they are ground into little pieces that fall between the blades of grass.  I do have to either blow them or rake them into the grass in areas so that I can mow them into the yard.

Lots of leaves

Right before I mow, there's one more thing I do.  The yard, at this time, is filled with white Dutch clover.  It fills the yard, and their white flowers attract a plethora of honey bees.

The white Dutch clover also attracts hungry cows.  Before I mow, I allow the cows to circulate through the yard, eating the clover and winter grasses.  Talk about some happy cows!!

I don't just let them roam, however.  I have a solar power fence charger that charges up a temporary fence that I put up around the yard.  You can see the electric fence against Clarabelle's body in the photo below.

Many passersby always stop to ask if the cows are loose or what kind of cows they are.  I always stop to visit with them.  Sunday afternoon after coffee, we put all three cows in the yard - Rosie, Clarabelle, and Luna.  They accomplished their mission of mowing down the clover and grasses (pre-mowing, I call it.)  I have a small issue I discovered that I would rather you not tell the cows about.  The solar charger isn't charging the wire.  I think the battery is not holding the charge.  For now the cows don't know it.  They have been trained that the wire will shock them.  They remember this... for a while.  After a bit, they'll test it, though.  When it doesn't shock them, they'll walk right through it and then they are loose!  It is like a rodeo to get them back in the pasture.

For now, they respect the fence, but I'll have to get it fixed.  When they moved off of the portion of the yard that they were grazing Sunday afternoon, there was nothing left except the fallen live oak leaves on the lawn.  You go, girls! 

Meet A New Arrival at Our Maker's Acres

Saturday morning we woke up and milked the cows earlier than normal on a weekend morning.  We had a mission to undertake.  In a painful situation that happened that I'd rather not talk about, we have to replace Big Boy, our Great Pyrenees.  How can we ever replace Big Boy?  I don't know.  We had several parameters...  We had to replace him quickly.  We wanted a puppy, and we wanted another Great Pyrenees that looked just like Big Boy.

Tricia got on one of her livestock-related forums and located a Great Pyrenees puppy in Colfax, Louisiana.  Colfax is located about 20 or so miles northwest of Alexandria, Louisiana.  That made it about 130 miles away.  We decided to drive my car.  Due to not having a pet carrier that would fit in my car, we rolled the dice and brought a tarp, some cardboard, and a towel.  Should be okay, right?

We arrived in timely fashion and met the owners.  Their Great Pyrenees had a litter of a half dozen puppies - 3 girls and 3 boys.  They were born on January 14th, so she was just 8 weeks old.  We had picked out the female that was all white.  We paid the owners, put the puppy in the car and began heading home.  The puppy seemed very content, but suddenly began drooling excessively.  Tricia was holding her in the passenger seat and had her sitting on a big, yellow towel.  Good thing.  The puppy must have gotten car sick, because just outside of Alexandria, she threw up all over the towel.  Fortunately, the half digested dog food ended up on the towel and not on either of us or the seat of the car!  After that was finished, she was fine.

We got her home and welcomed her to Our Maker's Acres Family Farm.  She checked out her surroundings and was really digging the attention.

Look at those big feet!

She is a very happy puppy, and I think she is going to fit in just fine.  She's got a lot of fur and has white eyelashes with eyes that look just like a persons.  She is fat and healthy.

Benjamin was in from college and he rushed out to see her.  He took her to the barn.  She is a livestock guardian dog, we wanted her to familiarize herself with the livestock she'll be guarding.  The cows were inquisitive and sniffed at her and drooled all over her.  The chickens seemed to pay her no mind.  The goats, on the other hand, were freaked out by here.  Annie, our Nubian momma goat began making weird noises.  She doesn't like her at all!

For being only 8 weeks old, this little girl is a monster. I told Tricia that she had better pick her up all she can, because pretty soon, she won't be able to.  Tricia obliged...

I did too!

Now we don't have a name for her yet, although we've narrowed it down to two - either Belle or Bella.  I think we'll wait a few days and see which name seems to fit her best.  For the time being, she's living in the barn.  We're being very protective right now, as we don't want the cows to step on her and hurt her.  In time she'll learn to respect them and give them space. 

We're happy to have little Belle/Bella at our place, and we think she is a great addition to our farm.

I Don't Like Them in Any Language

The Dadgum Fourmi or Fromille.  That's how you say ant in French or Cajun French.  No matter what language, this is a nuisance like no other. Right now, our yard and our pasture is full of them.  They build huge mounds that pop up all over the place.  The first time it rains, they pack up and move to higher ground.  That usually means they move into the round bales of hay.  When I go to roll them out into the pasture, the fire ant (fromille) eat me alive. 

Supposedly, they arrived from Brazil on a ship docked in Mobile, Alabama and quickly spread throughout the southeast.  These immigrants are not welcome.  Perhaps we should import some anteaters!

Fire Ant Mound (or "ant pile")

The ant piles are in all sizes.  For perspective, that is a size 10 Croc sitting beside an average ant pile in our yard.  The ones in the pasture are much bigger.

Now, I'll readily admit, I'm not real neighborly to the fromille.  I stomp on every pile I see.  It doesn't really do anything to hurt them, but it makes me feel better - unless they get on my boots, climb up my leg and bit my ankles.

Rebuild, will you?

The ants are angry.  They mobilize to attack, protect their eggs, and begin to rebuild.  They are aggressive and relentless.

Knocking down the mound

If you look closely, you can see the white eggs in the egg chamber.  These eggs will hatch shortly, birthing more vicious critters that dot our landscape.

I've seen a You Tube video one time of some enterprising and entrepreneurial guys that put a lot of aluminum in a furnace and heated it until it melted.  Once super-heated and in liquid form, they poured it over a fire ant pile.  The liquid aluminum flowed down into the tunnels beneath the mound, filling every chamber, every tunnel, every hole.  They then allowed it to cool and harden.  Using shovels, they dug it all up and sprayed it down with a water hose until nothing remained but the "ant mound art work."  Here is an example:

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Of course, I've never done that.  I'm not that creative.  I merely stomp their mounds.  I also went to Tractor Supply, purchased some Ortho Ant Killer for $20-something bucks and spent the time from 6 pm to 7:30 killing ants.  Unfortunately, that didn't even kill half of them in the yard.  I loathe those dadgum fromille!

Getting to the End of the Fall Garden

Over the last two weekends we've been able to transplant all of the tomatoes and peppers into the garden as well as plant sweet corn and several varieties of green beans.  We've made room by harvesting all of the carrots, radishes, bok choy, and cauliflower.  The broccoli, cabbage and lettuce are finishing up.  In a short time, the cucumbers and squash will be planted, but we need more room.

Dill, Sorrel, Cucumbers and Squash

We're working on it.  The spinach finished up, so we planted our sweet corn there.  Now the beets are ripening.  First the Detroit Red Beets...

And next the Bull's Blood Beets.  You can see why they are called that.  The leaves have a deep burgundy color of bull's blood.

With all the carrots we pulled, we've been cutting up the beets and having Roasted Root Vegetables for a side dish several nights a week.  We'd add turnips to this dish, but we've been feeding all of the turnips to the cows.  We really like turnip greens, but the turnip roots are another story.  The cows like 'em, though.

This is the second to last cabbage still in the garden.  We've been making egg rolls with them, smothered cabbage, and cole slaw.  Once the last cabbage is pulled, we'll have room for the squash.

The cauliflower, as I mentioned, was all harvested.  The broccoli is another story.  The neat thing about broccoli is that after you cut the main broccoli head, little broccoli florets will continue to pop up.  We leave the broccoli and continue to pop off little florets every so often.  It is perfect for cooking up a quick vegetable side.  At some point as the weather warms, the little florets quickly turn to yellow flowers before you can pick them.  At that time, we'll remove the broccoli plant and put egg plant in its place.

It's all about making effective use of space.  We've run out of it.  That's why I planted all the potatoes in the side yard.  Maybe we'll check in on them later this week.