2013 Goal Roundup

Build hoop house - have a greenhouse Done!
system for indoor winter greens - yes, but only for livestock 1/2 Done, keep on 2014 list
make bacon & ham - I have the pork belly, but have not yet taken the plunge 1/2 Done, keep on 2014 list
have chimney swept - Fail, keep on 2014 list
cord of wood - unneeded, as the fireplace is not suited to use until chimney is cleaned - Fail, keep on 2014 list
1/4 - 1/2 locally raised pig - more money than expected, but have found a farmer to buy from occasionally - 1/2 Done, keep on 2014 list
12 meat chickens in freezer - switched to rabbit Done!  Rabbit is much easier, yum
apricot tree - sour cherry tree instead Done! Reasonable swap
pink pearl apple tree - not yet Sometime in the future, not soon
peach tree - green gage plum tree instead Done! Reasonable swap

cold snap musings

Last night and today were the longest consistent snowfall I have seen since we moved to Colorado.  It is also the first time 60 degree weather is not forecast for a day or two after said snow.  Instead I am preparing for -9 tonight.  The hens have all the shutters on their coop shut and their doorway is blocked.  The heat lamp will be on until the temps go back above freezing.  Extra straw is in the nest boxes and on the floor.  All the rabbit hutches, also filled with extra straw, are wrapped to some extent or another.  Yeti's wooden sides are on and a burlap bag is hanging over the doors.  Peppers and Luna both have floor rugs draped over the open sides of their abodes.  The 6 young rabbits have an unused comforter over their converted chicken tractor.  Indica changed all the water bottles before dinner, although they are already slushy.

I would love to convert the shop into a barn.  I imagine it often, especially when my fingers are sticking to the cold locks of each hutch.  The shop's 11x11 floor could easily house all our livestock, plus food and bedding.  Rabbit hutches would hang on the east wall.  2/3 outside and 1/3 inside with a "doggy door" to keep some of the cold out.  The worm bin would be below on the outside, removable trays on the inside.  Both a heat lamp and a fan would be hanging from the ceiling.  There would be nest boxes and roosts for the hens.  And running water.  There would be 3 small stalls.  One for feed and straw.  And 2 for a couple mini mancha does. 

The fact that we need the shop to be a shop hinders this fantasy of mine.

Why can't I just get giddy about a Coach purse like every other woman I know?

Spring

Easter is a celebration of spring and all of its inherent new beginnings.   The easter bunny always brings us seeds and plants along with the requisite chocolate. 

This year a peppermint plant and some fennel seeds - both noxious, yet very tasty, perennials - were in our basket. Next to Rhiannon's purple Peeps were seeds for yard long Asian beans and Joseph's coat Amaranth.

The day was relaxed and enjoyable.  After feeding the various animals and moving the new chicks outside we relaxed, taking Riley for a leisurely walk and eating the traditional ham dinner.  Although I had planned on planting peas, Jerusalem artichokes,  and potatoes with the girls, but the daylight seemed to be gone before we got around to it.

The chicks with their new beginnings out of the bathtub and in the coop. 

This I realize is the part of my life that makes me not a real farmer.  The luxury of procrastination.  If I feed the animals enough one day I can sometimes skip the next, knowing that there is food & water to tide them over until the following morning.  The seeds can be planted tomorrow, or the next day.  I have put off harvesting daily, shrugging off the lost harvest.  This is not a personal trait I am proud of.  I think successful farmers must be type A personalities - of which I am most definitely not.  In the beginning I am always full of grand ideas that fade into missed opportunities.   Making a change always seems to be with the handful of other tasks never crossed off my to do list.

I sound so melancholy.

I'm not.

I want this year to be different.  I want to harvest enough peas to freeze some.  I want to store enough potatoes to eat through Christmas.  But these two items are perfect examples of how I am improving.  Two years ago I had only a handful of snow peas - last year we had enough for a meal or two.  The potato harvest of 2011 was nil - last year we had a meal and I stored 2+ dozen small ones well enough successfully to use for this year's seed.

I revel in the cliche of  baby steps.

My tub floweth over

This morning the girls and made the trip to Kiowa to pick up 4 chicks. 

It didn't work out quite like that.

We picked up the 2 Welsummers,  layers of dark brown eggs to replace Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum (Cuckoo Marans)  I admit some hesitancy in this as they do have a reputation of being loud.  But they are also colorful and new to us.

Also on hold were 2 Iowa Blue chicks.  These I picked because I had never heard of them before. Their heritage is mostly unknown but the story is good.

The Iowa Blue was developed in the early 1900's near Decorah, Iowa.  A folk legend tells the story of a white Plymouth Rock hen emerging from under a building with a clutch of chicks colored solid chestnut to striped.  Old-timers tell the tale that the chicks were sired by a pheasant.  With its plucky attitude and proud carriage, the Iowa Blue is a dual-purpose homesteader chicken, known to be an excellent forager.  Hens will go broody, exhibiting good maternal characteristics.  Though very aware of their surroundings in a free-range situation, the breed is fairly docile and not particularly flighty.  (Quoted from the Iowa Blue Chicken Club)

They are also supposed to be a smaller hen, not quite a bantam, but with the 2 bantam cochin frizzle roosters . . .

Honestly that was all I was planning to pick up.  I do want a couple new Amerucanas to round out our color selection, but I was going to wait until the local feed store got theirs in.

Then Mesha saw this chick:

She announced (to the amusement of the people working) that she had 3 weeks of  allowance with her and she wanted her own chicks.


This one is a Silver Campine.  It is the most colorful chick I have ever seen.  Under its wings it is patterned similar to a Bengel cat.  She also picked out a black cochin.



Then Juju found the buff bantam silkies.  To be fair, last January she used her allowance to purchase chicks and I bought 2 for her sister.  Turnabout seemed fair.



Chris had mentioned he would like Brahma hen.  They happened to have them in the Elizabeth store so we stopped there on the way home.  We picked up 2 buff Brahmas, 2 black giants (not sure what makes them different that the Jersey giants but they were 50¢ cheaper) and 2 Golden comets.

With the 3 pullets we got earlier there are 17 chicks living in the guest room bathtub.

I do not plan to keep them all.  But I plan on losing some to cats, dog, or carelessness.  Others I will trade (in theory) for meat rabbits.  The rest will go to the poultry swap in June or July.

Yeah, that's the plan.

New Blood

 

Our flock started in April of 2011, so this year we will be replacing Alice, Tweedle dee and Tweedle dum and also the Rhode Island Red & Barred Rock we acquired this year.  I want to focus on high egg production, dual purpose &/or broody tendencies.  (With 2 bantam frizzle cochin roosters I am hoping for chicks)

With these traits in mind I put 2 Welsummer and 2 Iowa Blue chicks on hold at the Kiowa Country Corner.  This feed store is just under an hour away, but they have much more variety than the local feed chain (although I will end up checking out the chicks there too)  And comparing an enjoyable two hour drive with a $35 overnight shipping fee to get them via mail and I'm sold.

The Welsummer, like the Cuckoo Marans lay dark brown eggs.  I had never heard of Iowa Blue, but read that they are likely to brood, and are smaller in stature - more in line with the bantam roosters.

I will see what else is available when I get there.  I don't expect to come home with only 4 chicks.

Looking back

2012 goals

I call a redo!

Not done, moved to 2013 list:
System for indoor winter greens
Make bacon & ham
Have chimney swept
Cord of wood
1/4-1/2 locally raised pig
Pink pearl apple tree

Didn't do, but found an alternative
Successfully grow broccoli - but will grow more cauliflower and kohlrabi this year

 Decided not to do:
Blackberries on south property line - put up a fence instead

Done, but added to 2013 list to do again:
12 meat chickens in freezer
Apricot tree planted - but it died
Peach tree planted - but it died

Done, but realized the error of my planning:
Build attractive garden beds in back parking area - hard to water and keep an eye on

Done and crossed off list:
New chicken coop
Pear tree planted
Plum tree planted

Looking forward

Now that the holidays are over I can start seriously perusing the garden catalogs porn that seems to be arriving daily to our mailbox. 

Good Fences . . .

 So today Hubby and I started putting up a fence.  There is chain link along the alley at the back of our property and our neighbor to the north has a wooden one, but the south line is open.

Juju wants the chickens to be free range.  Mesha would like to not worry about Peppers the Bunny when she takes him outside.  I would like the ducks to roam freely.

And we all would like a dog.

But first things first.

We did have help.  A friend offered up her 2 teenaged sons and they brought along a friend.  Chris and I had gotten 4 posts sunk in when they showed up which allowed me to take the girls and run errands.

Mesha also helped by poking wet concrete with rebar to get air bubbles out.  Juju did the inside chores (folding clothes, washing dishes etc) which helped out a lot.

Before bed I started reading Katz on Dogs - less about how to train but a philosophy of dog ownership.  The author was previously a mystery writer, and his well though out story telling is why at midnight, with heavy eyes, I was still reading in bed.

The tenacity of spearmint

This cutting has been in my kitchen window since late June.  It has been dried out from the heat at times and nearly out of water at times, and yet it is rooted and growing sprouts (underwater no less).  I love that it grows and takes over in the yard, but unlike vinca and Virginia creeper, it is useful.

I feel like spearmint sometimes.  When I carry water from the duck pond to the parking area garden.  As I replant beans again and again.  While working in the Ppatch until dark after getting off of work.

But I also feel like a hot house orchid more often than not.  The times that I look at weeds and overgrown vines in our yard and think it is too much.  When nothing comes up after we plant and replant pollinator flowers at the Ppatch.  When I let the seedlings I nurtured inside die because I didn't feel like planting them after work.

Maybe I should have been a Gemini.

With the drought throughout the farmlands of the nation it is more important than ever for us to produce more of what we will eat.  This year I increased our food budget for the first time in 5 years, and I expect that I will have to do it again each year going forth.  But now is also the time to make a difference where we spend it.  Meat from local farmers is much more expensive than from Costco, but I will know the animals raised have had the same good life as our own hens.  Vegetables from the farmers' market are in season and local, again higher in cost, but also higher in ethics and flavor. But if I wish to spend more of our budget on better items, it is necessary to produce all that we are able to offset the cost.
,
These statements are not anything new or surprising.  We have already heard and read them to the point that the ideas have become ubiquitous, blending into the greenwash marketing, of well, everything.  But that doesn't make them less valid.

So today I strive to be more like spearmint. 

Carla Emery to the rescue

Potatoes in the parking area

For me the woman known as Earthchild Marie is something of a mystery.  Her 8 seasonal garden plans are shown in every edition of the iconic Encyclopedia of Country Living but no one seems to know who she is.  All other people mentioned in the tome seem to be woven in Ms. Emery's personal history.

But I am happy with the garden plans.  I am using them as a guide to jump start my garden year.

Wish me luck.