Just another Day on the Farm

Dang Geese Straw bale housing

Posted on January 7, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

I moved the geese this winter to two huge outside pens, providing a lovely enclosed three sided A frame wooden hut for them with straw bedding.. its huge, a full sheet of plywood in length, will they use it

NO!!

Its so cold right now I have been all grrrrrr but I do NOT want to give them a stall in the barn again this year, they did not like it, I did not like it etc

So as I glared at them and their lift a foot, hunker down in the open dumb bleep-bleeps

I put my thinking cap on and yesterday. they got straw bale instant shelter built right where they want to bed down.

Its pure function, nothing pretty about it, put up a solid back, two bales of straw for height with another piece of solid wood on top as a roof and the middle get some nice clean bedding to keep them off the snow.

After looking at it, I added in two more bales to create a 3 quarter wall in the front with a doorway..

So will they use THIS!

Why, yes they will and very pleased about it they were! there now, I can stop worrying that they are cold and without proper shelter

If there is one thing a farmer figures out pretty quickly, if you are willing to lock up your critters, yes you can make them do things but when they are given a choice.. its all about making it work for them, cause otherwise, they will not use it.

Baby is cold outside.. Bedding.

Posted on January 6, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

Sometimes it really pays off to keep your ears open and to ask what folks are thinking about doing. in this case we are talking about Straw! aka warm bedding..

Normally I buy straw from the same supplier of my hay but he gave me a heads up that this year of 2014, he would not be growing anything, be it wheat or rye that would make straw for me to buy.. so I reserved and bought all he had left from 2013, which he was kind enough to hold for me in his good barn till I was ready for it here on the farm.. I am grateful for it, and I am hopeful that he will have my big square straw bales for 2015 again.

But I had also talked to someone else about being able to get my hands on some small square straw bales, a little tiny bit more in cost but so great for a number of uses, I had thought I would need 50 of them, but then when they had a good yield and I saw the quality, I booked 100 of them.. once I found out that I was getting nothing from my regular source, I asked and was told yes, that I could reserve 150 in total for my winter use.

So glad that I ended up with a secondary source that worked out perfectly, I was able to get them at the same place that I get my wonderful locally grown and ground grains..

In this cold winter weather, the keys to happy animals are threefold

1) Draft protection, they need to be able to get out of the wind.. be it fully in the barn itself, in some of the barn pens, be it in the lean to, which has wind block from three sides and one open side, be it behind the little barn, which is a much favorite place for both the horses and the sheep.. they loaf around in the sun but out of the wind..

2) Feed, yes, that is right, bet you thought I was going to say bedding but nope it is last on that list.. your animals need the right kind of feed for this cold weather, the horses need that hay in front of their face free feed and available 24-7, the hay and digesting it is how they make more heat inside.. yes a little bit of feed, fat is good for them each day as well but its hay that is important.. for the chickens its the hotter feed aka scratch.. that will warm them up, and the adding in of meat protein for them.

Veggie scraps are awesome for the birds, but they are a cooling food, when its Brrrrr baby.. for the hens they need protein, be it given by redworms, or mealworms or sprouted higher protein fodder..

Rabbits are different, you want to increase their ability to work well in the cold, you want to increase their fat intake.. throw a handful of boss on that feed or fat sunflower seeds or home save pumpkin or squash seeds..

3) Bedding.. the bedding is important to all of them, it is what keeps their toes and in some cases their whole bodies from having the cold come up from the floor be it ground or the cement floors in the barns. In most cases, they just lay on the bedding but not all.. give a rabbit a choice and it wants to make a nest, in the case of the pigs, if they get their way, you will not see a single bit of them showing, they will make their nest and be so covered that all you might see is steam and or wiggle in the bedding.

Deep bedding is my winter choice when ever given the possibility.. We will be topping up all beddings tonight as they say, today is the best day temp wise for the next couple days, its calm and not bad outside at the moment but the temps are to drop and drop hard for the next three to four days..

We are prepped to ideally have happy, healthy and content critters that just hunker down and give us grumpy face with fluffed feathers, and poofed fur..

Posted in farm | Tagged Feeding for winter cold, Straw, Winter Bedding | 3 Comments

Butternut Squash, the landrace Great Grow out!

Posted on January 6, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

Its going to be such a interesting garden year, one of the things that is new this year is the Garden 2015 page.. I will be linking all my garden posts onto that page, so instead of using the search feature, you just need to pop up to the garden page and go!

I have signed up to for some test growouts, for some rare seed growouts, and the great Dear Hubby Melon Landrace event, and just for fun.. the giant pumpkin local garden groups growout!

I love my butternut squash, I have saved seeds from those grown on the farm but can and do cross out, so its quite normal for me to also buy seed to grow pure strain as well.

This is different, this is a landrace grow out.. wonder what a landrace plant looks like.. pop over to read this awesome interview done by Ottawa gardener

http://veggiepatchreimagined.blogspot.ca/2012/03/interviews-with-great-gardeners-farming_29.html

Now that you have a better idea of what landrace means, I have agreed to be a growout tester for a landrace butternut squash this year, I have been given permission to also grow out both my own homesaved seeds and bought plants side by side.. after all it is a landrace program.. As I did not get any seed saved from this years crop, it will be coming from the bounty that was 2013.

I believe there is around half a dozen of us or so that are involved locally, I think – I am one of the bigger growout in terms of plants wanted to grow and ideally produce.

I am giving up my main squash gardening space for this project, I am not going to put every single egg in the same basket and will be adding in a few squash plants here and there in other garden areas.

My main squash area is being split in two.. one side will just be the landrace only, the other half will be interplanted.. the landrace, my saved farm seeds, and bought or gifted seeds..

So here is my call out.. if any of you have saved butternut seed and are willing, send me some! I do not need much, five will do it 🙂 Pop them in a letter and send them my way to be part of the one growout area of lets mix them up..

Send me a note on the comments with your email and I will get back to you with some info.. and a big thank you on the blog 🙂

Posted in gardens | Tagged Butternut squash, landrace butternut growouts | 8 Comments

Apple and Ella Update-Overview

Posted on January 5, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

Well I finally found local breeder to me, within 15 min on country roads that has reliable litters of weaner piglets for sale all year round, he has been doing this for 20 plus years and I hope that means that he will not turn out to be a one trick pony and will instead become a steady source. His setup is well done, most important, his piglets are healthy, clean bright eyed and bushy.. Ella came from this Gentleman and I have a friend that has piglets from him as well and they are all thriving.

Neither Apple nor Ella are staying on the farm longer term, they have a few jobs to help with the on the farm (which they will love because it fits right in with giving them a great life) and then they are off to freezer camp, not as BIG pigs but as the typical size of commercial butcher pigs, ok well maybe a little bit bigger, I am going to send them around 300 pounds or so, I do not like to see the pigs go at much smaller then that.

They will be offered as Farmgate Pork sales, they will be available in front quarters, rear quarters, half a pig or a whole pig.

They will be sent after the spring garden season, and I reserve the right to keep them a extra week or two to be my piggy plows (but I figure anyone buying from me, knows that all those yummy fresh greens, bugs an worms are just going to create some amazing porkchops on your plates).

Due to the rising costs of.. well everything.. I am going to be asking 5 dollars a pound, that is for the finished cut and wrapped pork, if you want bacon or ham, you will need to pay the smoking costs above and beyond..

So lets get down to what the girls will be doing, what they will be eating, and why they will have the most amazing firm and flavoured meat you can imagine!

These girls have jobs!.. Right now their jobs are very simple, grow, , snuggle in straw, play with their toys and eat the house scraps.. what can I say.. winter jobs are pretty light LOL

But as soon as it starts to warm up they are going to be moved to the big barn, they are small enough that we have moved them to the small barn that is closer to the house for the winter, and they will get busy! turning that deep packed sheep pen bedding, allowing me to rake out that composted and turned goodness for my gardens..

Then as soon as possible, they will be trained to the electric fence and we are set up to have them out in the compost pack and pile.. they will be hunting for fresh roots and grubs, and hopefully not to many frogs or toads, cause I want them to stick around!

and then one day we will turn the corner and voila, it will be early spring and they will become garden pigs.. I love my piggy plows.. they will root up and turn the soil and turn the compost into the soil and so much more for me.. They will come down each day to spend the day in the sun, fresh air and garden and go back to their pen in the evenings to have a well deserved rest in a sweet pile of straw.

Now as to what they will be eating, for grains, its a mix of locally grown, harvest, dried and ground on the same farm of oats, wheat and barley.

I will be adding in, household scraps, leftover whole milk at times, red wiggler worms, extra eggs in the spring glut and I will be feeding sprouted fodder, normally barley but the reason for the sprouting is to increase their feed protein counts.

If there is enough interest in my way of raising pigs and pork, I will with a waiting list, get two more female weaner piglets in the spring, will be used to help dig a new pond area, feed all extra garden scrapes and will be finished on fall apples

At least monthly photos of the girls will be added to the blog so you can watch them growup and see what they are doing etc.

So if you are interested, let me know in the comments or at farmgal1800@yahoo.ca

Posted in 100 mile diet | Tagged Raising Weaner Piglets | Leave a comment

o those wild tomatoes

Posted on January 5, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

Well, the plans for this coming year of 2015 in regards to tomato are pretty simple..

Four Cherry tomato plants for fresh eating

Two tomato plants for fresh slicing or tomato sandwichs

The big Patch will be oxheart paste tomatos,

of which I am planning 48 to 60 plants

these will be my tomato*s for all sauces and canning purpose. These are a heritage tomato, they grow well within the days allowed in our zone.

Posted in 100 mile diet, Canning, gardening | Tagged growing tomato for sauce, oxhert tomato | 5 Comments

Freezing rain..

Posted on January 4, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

On a lighter note for the day..

Its was a bad hair day..

O yes it was…

Ps.. you see that big building behind you, its called a barn. use the barn.. its there for a reason guys!

Posted in Life moves on daily | 3 Comments

Miss Piggy and Kermit have left the farm..

Posted on January 4, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

Happy digging playing pigs.. Swimming pigs

Happy Sweet Pigs

Such a good pig friend..

Such a good momma pig!

ust

Healthy babies, o how I wish you would have just had more wee ones so I could have kept you..

You did not make it easy.. you walked up from the barn with trust and sweetness, Miss Pig gave me her lean, cuddle, give me a rub, I adore you just before she walked on the trailor, in a way it was as nice of a goodbye as possible but it just made me cry even harder

Its different when you know you are raising them for meat, but the parent, the ones that have been with you for years.. you bond.. you know their good day and their bad, you know what they loves as a treat, or where that special spot is to make them sigh with happiness. You help birth and raise their babies, you know how they like their beds, you see things that show their love and care for each other.. you know they think and feel..

Being a farmer is always a challenge but somedays well somedays, are harder then others..

Posted in Life moves on daily | 5 Comments

Removing skin tags with apple cider vinager

Posted on January 3, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

ok, I will admit it, I saw this a few times on facebook, even flipped though once and read it, soak a cooton ball hold and then put a bandied on it.. right.. yup

but I had one skin tag that was driving me crazy and it was a pain in the rear and I got the bad habit of playing with it, then it got sore and I wanted it gone.. now you can get a freeze off thing at the store for a lot of money and a hefty warning list..

or you can say. grab the apple cider vinager, if nothing else we can reduce the redness and possible and so we soaked it, and put the bandied on, it stung for a bit and then it hurt a lot less then it had been, what I was not expecting was that hubby noticed a difference in 12 hours, I noticed a huge reduction in pain, so did it again putting the vinager one twice a day.. and this morning, it just fell off, the head was dryish and intact but the root is flat and healing.

I have a few more that I am going to work on in the same way.. and see if I get as good off results.. huh.. who would have thought it.. but it work and worked well!

Posted in Health | Tagged removing skin tags with apple cider vinager | 7 Comments

Carrot-Butternut Winter Soup

Posted on January 2, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

I made a bigger batch as I wanted to freeze some and also because I am craving orange fleshed items, carrots, turnips, squash etc

A butternut Sqaush, lets face it, after trying and successfully growing at least 12 different kinds of winter squash, you are hands down my personal favorite.

Now, this soup used leftover cut up squash, the rest having been made into a lovely fresh mashed side dish..

So yum.. so where was I.. o yes. the recipe.. make its in a big pot, your big soup pot so it will leave a good amount of room for the stick blending.

One med onion, one clove garlic and if you have it, a half inch piece of fresh ginger.. peel all three, finely dice the onion and garlic but grate the ginger, add to two or three tablespoons of good oil at a med heat, in my case it was olive oil.. cook till onions are clear, then add your stock, it needs to be white stock, you can go, veggie, chicken or rabbit.. I went chicken, I added in two quarts.. to that you need three to four large carrots peeled and diced.. Two to three potatoes peeled and diced, and two cups at a min of your butternut cubes, you can also move it around and add less of any of the above and add in up to a cup of small diced winter (not summer) turnip. you should have a very full pot but your broth should cover them

Cook until fork tender, around 25 to 30 min could take upwards of 40 min, if you did not cut the turnip or carrots into finely chopped and did bigger.. no harm. no foul, just changes cooking time.

Once fork tender, take off heat, and after it stops boiling, add 1-4th cup of butter if you want it rich, or not.. its good either way but will have better mouthfeel with some added fat to it.. Salt, start with one tsp, white pepper start with half a tsp, and 1-4th tsp of clove or all spice.. blend well

Can be served colorful and plain, can have a tiny pat of butter and cruitons on top, can be served with a dollop of sour cream with sprinkle of dill for color..

This soup will make a hearty lunch or supper meal.. its not the starter, its the main meal 🙂

Posted in Soups and Stews | Tagged Carrot butternut winter soup recipe, Healthy thick soups, hearty winter soups | 4 Comments

Seglinde Potatoes The 2015 year spud..

Posted on January 1, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

Yup, we grew this for the first time in 2014 and its a huge winner..

Here is hubbies written report..

FRONT GARDEN ROW: “SIEGLINDE” – White w/ yellow skin

This row was planted in soil, and harvesting began in June to obtain small eating potatoes. Two plants had been left in the ground to see how they matured, and yielded 13 lbs. Potatoes are mostly medium to large with good shapes, and since this row was planted in soil, they were found at the top of the soil. Little damage was noted. One quirk was that this variety did not produce in a single location but rather tended to produce clusters in multiple places around the centre of the hill, making additional digging necessary.

Given that fourteen were originally planted, it can be extrapolated that a full harvest might’ve been on the order of 80 to 90 lbs if left to grow. One online reference indicated they had a yield of 20x. If we planted 5 lbs, then our hypothetical yield would’ve been 16 to 18x, which is very good. As it is, we’re not sure how much we actually ate from the early hills.

We loved this spud, we enjoyed as baby spuds, fresh eating, salads, mashed, and baked or fried, it has stored well to date and is listed as a great storage potato..

It is THE potato of 2015, we will be trying a few in straw but the rest will be going in the ground, we are planning on putting in a min of 15 pounds of seed, which if the same as last year give us.. 250 to 300 pounds of potatoes.. I need plant an extra ten pounds as extras for early eating-summer harvest.

We really need to do a better job hilling them this year.. lots of updates on this spud to follow.

We need to grow and put up 250 to 300 pounds for storage, and we need to plan for planting another 60 to 80 for fresh harvesting and eating in season.