I completely forgot about this blog! Until a neighbor mentioned it to me. What a hoot! We had our summer chores cutting hay in September and October. The outlook seemed so gloomy but then the sun came out . . . and all ended up good.
Tomorrow we finish up the final batch of turkeys. Always sad to see them go. In my limited experience turkeys are one of the nicest birds. But by the this time, they can eat their own body weight in feed everyday and ours are farm roaming! They come looking for you if you are late feeding.
The pastured pork have gone to their buyers. That is another chore off the list for the winter months. We did keep 2 heritage breeds and may breed them for spring piglets. We usually buy spring piglets to raise. Shaun would like to try raise his own pigs, he leaves books all over so I'll get the hint and get on board. Commercial bred hogs grow so much faster and they consume just as much time, effort and feed for the dollars spent. The heritage breeds have cache and a better temperment so he just might convince me.
The chickens are in vacation mode. We do not force our hens to lay this time of year by keeping them under lights. Many people do not realize that eggs are a seasonal item. The girls will snap right back into production around January 1st, after they have had a few weeks of scratching, pecking and generally being chickens.
There are so many different ways to do things. We have another organic farm in the area that keeps hens in a Taj Mahal hen house with the hens contained in a chicken yard and kept under lights. They are selling their eggs locally as organic (the feed is organic - the lifestyle is not) but what is the true cost of their eggs with the building and production costs and the carbon footprint left behind. . . I estimate the real cost of those eggs are about $300 a dozen. Sustainable, I think not.
Darkness falls very early so I feel we rush, rush, rush through all the things that need to be done. So it is nice that a few of the animal chores can be reduced. We are going to slow down for a week or two while the college girl is home. (This is a family joke - we are thinking about adding a small green house to the back yard with all the extra time we have on our hands. Maybe we'll go to the "city" (Plattsburgh) and catch a movie with her.
Our son, the Reluctant Farmer, was rotating pastures for the cattle last week and he found turnips growing randomly in the pasture. This field has only been used as pasture of hay for years and we didn't plant turnips anywhere on the farm. Interestingly, this week I went to an organic dairy class and one of the points of discussion was adding brassicas to the rotational pastures. Well, who knew that BEN WEVER FARM was so far ahead of the trend. I told Quent that he is now the designated pasture specialist. He swears he has NO interest in agriculture but the kid doesn't miss a thing.
We are thankful for those who lives have touched our past and present. And look forward to who and what the future brings. And to my lone responder from August, you have no idea very we are very thankful we are that we do not commute 3 hours a day for a 5 x 8 cubicle cage on the Joint Staff . My advice - the world is not flat so go ahead and jump!
I must now fight my morning commute to the duck pond and check how thick the ice is. I expect there to be a traffic jam. The dogs will be under my feet & will stall traffic until I throw sticks for them to fetch.
