Archive for the ‘In the Barn’ Category
Remnant Apple Pie
Remember the lone abandoned apple forgotten in last fall’s harvest. Well, it is being appreciated NOW in a rustic apple pie!
The smell of cinnamon bubbling through with brown sugar, butter and apples filled the house with sweetness and promise.
Shades of things to come.
Winter Meat Birds
Five weeks ago our winter batch of meat birds arrived, a replacement batch for the ill-fated group that ended up being a nice meal for a mama opossum and her babies instead of us. Fortunately this batch has been uneventful, just growing big and doing what meat birds do—eat, drink and poop…lots of poop.
We usually raise two batches each year, but now that Brianne is off at college I’m figuring out how to live, cook and farm as a single person. If I raise them up to about 6 pounds I can cut them in half, which will give me 30 meals. But, if I quarter them or cut them into parts I can make those 15 birds go even farther.
Raising fall birds is a nice option in our area. The weather is warm enough that the chicks only need a heat lamp at night, and since we don’t have the searing heat of summer the chicks grow easily without any stress from the heat. We do have to pay closer attention to the weather though. A sudden cold snap makes it necessary to keep chicks warm all day long until they are feathered out.
With the festivities and cooking of Thanksgiving over I concentrated on some needed farm chores. Gates were moved and fixed. The barn was cleaned. And, the chicks were moved out of the garage and into the barn where they will stay until butchering time. Fence panels that will contain the birds were put up, straw laid down, automatic waterers installed, feeders set up and finally, two at a time, the chicks were moved.
The 8-foot by 8-foot pen will allow the chicks more room to move around, but will also protect them from the elements.
The hens and goose were not quite sure about their new roomies, but by later afternoon everyone had gotten use to each other and the meat birds had settled in nicely.
By the time Christmas rolls around I’ll have a freezer full of chicken.
The late afternoon was spent cooking down the turkey carcass to make batches of meat and broth, the beginnings of soup, casseroles or pot pies. The remains of the breast meat was cut away and saved for sandwiches and salads, while two large stock pots bubbled on the stove full of bones, herbs, veggies and broth. When the pots had simmered for more than 30-minutes the carcass parts were placed on a cutting board to cool before the meat was stripped away. Once cleaned, the carcass had yielded more than six cups of meat. Stored in 3-cup freezer containers the turkey and broth will be the perfect amount for small-batch cooking.
It always amazes me how much meat can be cleaned for those simmered down bones.
Post Grads Dig Into Farm Life
As the number of small farms are on the rise, college grads are learning to farm from the ground up.
A reader sent me this NY Times article and I thought you would all enjoy it.
To read the entire article click here http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/25/nyregion/the-farm-life-draws-some-students-for-post-graduate-work.html?_r=0
Photo By: Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times
Daily Water Wisdom
The past few weeks have been the hottest on record for many parts of the country and my area is no exception. The pinch of a high water bill can send an already tight household budget over the proverbial waterfall.
Here in California water is a precious commodity, one that we fight over, protect and conserve on a daily basis. Many strides have been made in water efficient appliances, but there is still more we can do regardless of where in the country you live. Homeowners can go native with landscape plants or use micro sprinklers that direct water to the roots of a plant rather than water the surrounding area, or install low-flow toilets and showerheads. In the garden we can “put the drops on the crops” with the use of drip irrigation and micro sprinklers.
But with a dry summer such as we’re in amplifies just how fragile our water systems really are. Much of the water that flows from rivers to streams to creeks comes from winter snow pack in mountains that may be hundreds of miles away. When this water source is cut availability to many populations is reduced creating a supply and demand situation, sometimes meaning reductions in use.
Reservoirs and water banking help even out the highs and lows of supply, but many areas still rely on natural rainfall to provide the necessary water to crops and livestock. This uncertainly makes it important to become as water wise as possible—wet year or dry year.
To become more water efficient inside and outside try implementing these helpful water tips:
- Take shorter showers or use only a few inches of water in the tub
- Turn off the faucet while brushing teeth
- Use a broom or a blower to clean sidewalks and driveways
- Adjust sprinklers to water only planted areas and not walkways or the driveway
- Wash only full loads of laundry
- Use grey water on non-edible plants and trees
- Run the dishwasher only when full
- Fix leaky faucets and toilets
- Adjust automatic waterers to prevent overflow
- Use water from cooking on potted plants
- Mulch flowerbeds and gardens to help retain moisture
- Research the water requirements for plants to prevent over watering
- Empty water from troughs and fonts on plants when cleaning and changing
As we see the effects lack of water has on our crops and our food system it is in our best interest to look at saving more water and storing more water on a larger scale for the long term, it is important to become more water wise day by day.
Opossum Update
The opossum problem I wrote about last week has finally been resolved. We caught the mamma last Friday night and each night since we have caught one of her litter. Finally, last night, after setting traps every night, the trap was empty for the second night in a row. So, I think we’ve caught and relocated all of the juvenile youngins – 6 in all.
Because of the attack and the uncertainty over whether or not the remaining meat chickens have been exposed to rabies they were destroyed. An expensive loss for our small homestead, but a necessary one. No sense in taking any chances.
Another mystery has also been solved. From the first night we caught the mamma opossum our egg production has gone up. After not getting any eggs for weeks and thinking my girls were too old and needed to be replaced we are now getting 5 to 6 eggs a days. A pleasant turn about.
Plans are in the making for another batch of meat birds and new ideas for more secure meat bird housing is also in the works. So – come September we’ll be back in the chicken business, and none too soon either. The freezer is getting a little thin where poultry is concerned.
Chick Arrival!
Actually they arrived early yesterday morning. My friend and fellow poultry raiser, Angela, was kind enough to let me tack on my 15 to her order. So, yesterday morning more than 50 peeping, fluffy chicks were delivered by the US Postal Service to the Post Office in our area. After they arrived, Angela and her kids set about the task of removing each chick from the shipping box and making sure they got a good drink of water and something to eat. They were then nestled in the warmth of their brooder box until each new owner picked them up. Angela left me a message that our future dinner entrees had arrived, but work and meetings and errands and dinner with my daughter prevented me from picking them up until late in the evening. Read the rest of the story »
Ending on a High Note
Well folks, we did it. We finished our last show of Brianne’s 10-year sheep showing career this past weekend with a two-day show and we ended it on a high note. She won 2 Reserve Champions with each one of her lambs and placed second to the top showman in the state in showmanship both days. I couldn’t have asked for better.
It seems like only yesterday that this shy little girl stepped into a livestock show arena for the very first time; untrained, unsure, unaware of how this livestock show thing worked. But, over the years she has gained confidence, knowledge about raising livestock, skills in presenting her animals to their best, respect from fellow competitors and made a ton of friends along the way. We have traveled thousands of miles over the years, shown in some of the worst weather California could throw at us and come out the other side strong, committed and even more dedicated to what we were doing. It isn’t all about buying lambs and winning prizes. It’s about building a foundation for what Brianne wants to do in her adult life, and clearly that will include raising sheep.
At the end of the weekend our friends took one of the lambs north and delivered it to its new owner, a friend up north whose daughter will take it to the state fair. The other lamb came with us and was dropped off to its new owner, a friend who will show him at our county fair. It was strange though, coming home with an empty trailer, no lambs to settle back into their home, no equipment to unload, clean, reload waiting for the next show weekend, and when 6pm rolled around we hardly knew what to do with ourselves. We usually feed at 6 then work on showmanship in the cool of the early evening, but not this night. It was oddly quiet. Sure there where chores we could have done, projects we could have worked on, but our routine was out of sorts, broken. The block of time set aside each night for sheep related tasks was empty and silent.
But, life is all about change and we have to change with it or become stagnant. So now Brianne is going in her direction…an internship with an agricultural company, then off to college in August. After that who knows what the future holds. She wants a farm of her own, a flock she can hold on to and not sell off after each show season that much I do know. She is already connecting with large breeders she can work for while in college and hopefully work with when she is finished.
In the short term I’m taking back my farm starting with a new batch of meat chicks and a greenhouse, then moving forward with new garden areas, fruit trees and more vegetable beds, and raising a pig for the freezer. There are plans in the works, laying the foundation to move from my little suburban homestead to a larger farm, but for now those are only plans rolling around in my head. When I look at the horizon I see a world of possibilities, not next weekends show. How quickly we change and move on.
It’s been a long ride, folks, and a good one. I wouldn’t have changed it for anything.
Recent comments
Aenean nonummy hendrerit mauris. Phasellus porta.