Happy Mothers Day to all my readers.. and a huge Thank you to my Dear Hubby for always making this day special for me.. I am so blessed that you so willingly share you home with all our special “four legged fur covered” purrpots and hounds that allow my mothering to come out in full force.
Thank you love for all your encouragement and faith in me that I can do whatever I set my mind to and for being my rock always!
Thank you for making me a mother..
Wishing you all a good day today!
The Farm-Hatched Chicks are coming on three weeks of age.. they are a barnyard mix, seven chicks hatched out from under momma hen.
Last week, we headed out bright and early to pick up the hatchery chicks, 50 meat chicks, 12 brown egg layers and 10 turkey pullets. They arrived on time and in a good shipping box…
Hubby shook his head at me as I checked everything single chick or pullet and dipped their beaks at least twice, checked beaks, checked legs, checked feet on each one..
I had mixed feelings during this process.. all the chicks were perfect.. as a breeder, I know that not all the chicks hatched perfect.. I paid good money and I got good value that part is true.. but its like I said to hubby.. I have a gut check on what happened to those that did not make the grade.
Of course, then I had to shake my head and give myself .. FG.. stop it.. you know that you cull and put down your own hatched chicks that do not make the grade. I am that hard nosed breeder that says.. Cull.. dang it..
Its such a strange thing, I think its because I know I do it with respect and care and I have heard that is not the case or perhaps not the case for the ones I bought from.. this makes me uncomfortable.. I am ok with that.. I think I would give myself the eye if I did not feel that that way..
But with a few things to note..
First the Turkey pullets were NOT day old’s they already had colored feathered out wing tips, they were somewhere around 2 to 4 days old at a min.. when introduced to food and water then clearly had been eating before shipping.
Second, I had two laying hen chicks that were dull, they just were off, I marked them in the box and I was not wrong.. One of them went down in the first day (I am positive something was wrong with it internally as it tried to eat but choked and gagged when doing so) the second one however recovered and is doing well.
Now on to the White Rock Meat Chicks.. those quote franken birds.. I have read about them but never raised them, never owned them..
The first thing I noticed is that they are active bright happy chicks, I do not know why but I had it in my mind that they would be dull chicks, or slow chicks or just different somehow..
The one thing they are is crazy friendly.. most little chicks are naturally ekkk until they learn your voice and that you are a force of good in their world. These little WRock have been some of the friendly chicks I have ever worked with.. they just declared me awesome from the moment they meet me.
I did lose one of them in the first 36 hours, at first I thought it was rapid onset pasty butt which had me checking everyone else but it was just the one chick and It prolapsed and had passed away when I found it..
The other 49 are growing.. man do they feather out fast and they are just eating machines, they adore their feeders and waters but they do explore their space, they do play with their toys, they do like to nip at the greens put in the pen and they like their grass clumps..
In a nut shell, they like and respond to things like a “chick” does.. this makes me happy, I worried a touch that I might find myself unhappy having chosen to raise them as I have heard so many stories about them being these slow things that eat and sit and that’s it..
So its lovely at least now to see them come running for their greens, and being very happy sounding chicks.
however they are growing so fast, they are feathering out at fast rate and they have huge breasts on them even as week old’s and such massive legs and feet.. they are the big foot of chicks.. I have never seen such big feet on such wee babies.
I will try and get you photos.. I will split the biggest (males) from the smaller (females or slower growing) at the three week mark and run two pens of them.. so they have more room per bird as they grow and so I can keep a closer eye on them, smaller numbers allow me to see things faster.
The turkey pullets and the older and younger laying chicks are in their own pens.. It’s been cool enough that we have had to run two heat lamps in the one pen just to give more space and avoid crowding.. Its been better during the day but they are sure using their lamps in the evening and night.
This has added to my chore time a bit and I have added in a third check mid day for the first week. that one is just a peek more then anything.. just listening gives you a lot of answers and peeking in without opening pens to see how they are doing..
Ok folks.. I am going to break a unspoken homesteading rule.. I am going to talk numbers! AHHHHHH.. run for the hills.. stats, data.. hard costs.. Hauling costs, Butcher costs and more.
LOL, no really, now that I am done poking fun at things, lets get to the meat of things.
Those are honestly real questions I have been asked over and over again.
So the first thing we have to do is get a full grasp on what I have on the farm as of Feb 2019 (if you want to see the list for
Jan, Here is the link to that post
Feb Here is the link to that post
March Here is the link to that post
Ok, so to make things a little easier to see, anything that changed from month to month or is new is in the slant.
Ordered in a good amount of wildflower seed mix for ground cover for the new meadow, the new picnic area and the for around the fruit trees and for the “lane” as well as some smaller area’s in and around the different garden areas. Cost 184.. including tax’s and delivery costs.
Total spent so far on the above $1,164
April was a flip it month, no training costs as I was teaching instead.
Total Spent to date 230.00
This is my first year that I am totally pulling back on raising extra farm gate meat for sale.. the meat raised on the farm is for our own farm use only. If this changes, I will make notes on that. This will change, we have more lambs born this year then we will need for our own freezers but I have not decided on how many will go for farmgate sales.
One lamb booked for farmgate sale so far..
Eggs however are open for farm gate sales.
All milk/milk products are for on farm use only!
Seeds/plants and plant productions are open to a point for use in farm gate sales
Photo sales directly related to the farm or farm critters will count towards farm income, however photography sessions and or sales not related to the farm or the farm critters does not count towards it.
The first thing to go will be the yearling sheep now that they are getting nice and big, they are ready to be done.. as I was growing them for my own use I prefer them to be larger/older then the “average” lamb. I very much like hoggart (over one year in age, but not older then two years of age)
The pig is ready for butcher as well.. its on the list but the weather must get better.
The intend is to grow less meat overall, but a wider kind of types and increase the amount of fruit/veggies/herbs we are growing. I can raise livestock at a rate on the farm out pace’s our own needs very easily. This is something that I need to pull back on!
So the out costs this month are in
Ok so here is our numbers for April (it was a good month in terms of better weather, less hay needed to keep everyone in good shape, straw from the month before made two plus months in bedding, no vet or ferrier costs)
*14 lambs, they are not returns until they are either keep back replacement value in stock for the herd or until they are sold as farmgate or until they are farm butchered and return yield to the farm in terms of filling the freezer or pantry. so while they arrived this month, they can’t count on this month. If I could count them.. they would run around 200 each to replace per what I am seeing on Kijji at the moment.. would it not be lovely to have that 2800 bump to my final numbers but that would be the lowest return rate I could get for them, and that would not be a good thing for the bottom line in the end!
Foraged greens- 20.00
Bark Harvest from Prunings
Cherry Bark – $90 (Took the amount of dried bark and weight it, then compared to two local sites on what they sell for per oz to figure out value)
Cramp Bark-$ 160 (see above)
Plants – Cuttings Started into new plants and their value.. based on if I had bought the same size starter plants from Ontario Native Plants, after I add in tax and shipping costs
15 high bush Cranberry – 8 each – $120
5 Gooseberry – 12 each- $60
In the Red by $3697
Honestly I am not worried, I know that the farm “saves” us money and that we get a yield back on our investment in a big way, plus we know how the animals are raised, the food grown and the processed.
I have tried to do a hard track year but things keep getting in the way.. the last time I did a full hard track year and was successful at doing so ALL year long was a while go.. I need to do so this year and get a firm grasp on where we were, and where we are.
However having said that, in many ways we are starting a lot of the yard/gardens over again because of what happened last year. This will means many things will be up in the air in regards to what can and will get done.
Throw in the fact that we are in for a wild weather ride and we will see..
Two mated golden finch pair in the yard.. bright flashes of yellow here and there..
The rare and hard to find on the list bobolink and mate sang for me before heading to the hay fields
Total of three mated pairs of common Grackles
three pairs so far of swooping tree swallows.. they come early morning and evening and feed over the new dront pond.
one adorable western wood peepee mated pair,, they are working on a nest in the brown shed, i hope? to share them sitting, hatching and raising their babies..
So much singing and breeding going on the front pons.. there are going to be thousands of baby toads coming, i have never seen so many breeding pairs.. i always have a healthy toad population on the farm.
Well, its a been a good week in the gardens, we have had frost a couple times so plants are being taken out during the day and brought in for the evenings and or covered an things are still very slow indeed. My fruit tree’s are ready to go but the cold is holding them, still no blooms yet, which means I am still holding my mason bee’s but they will go out this week yet.
Having said that so many things are leafing out, all the canes and fruiting bushes are going well.. the lilac’s are budding up their blooms, the honeyberries are the same. I picked up a extra male Honeyberry as I have extra females ordered and coming and so now to many females.. but more important, I want to plant two females in a totally different area of the yard and so I need that male to go with the girls.
Each morning after chores, I pick up my hoe, rake and other tools and I start removing all the grass and plants from a sections and then I dig it up with the four prong claw to loosen it all and turn it and then I load up the wagon and back fill it..
This is a double bed.. six feet wide, which you can reach from both sides.. its a far reach and I know it.. but I will deal with the issues of a wide bed raither then split it down into two very narrow beds with the walkway in the middle.. sometimes you deal with what you can and make it work. Each 3 by 6 foot area took around 6 wagon loads of the top soil. with two lots taking 9 loads as it was a much large infill needed there.
There is a load of mulch ordered and coming, so you will come off to your right onto the pathway and then can go left down the garden line or right into the other garden area. The path you can see between the infilled area and the edge of the strawberry raised bed and the old well head will be filled with mulch for the pathway. I need to dig and transplant some of the plants from that pathway.
If you look to the left of the gravel pathway, you can see that we pulled and potted up 38 violet clumps that will be used as infill. I use them in almost all my healing salves.. so making sure I keep a good size patch of them going is very important.
Also got one section of the rock garden in the corner of the deck.. got some cute flowering shrubs and some pretty annuals, I also tucked in a couple violets and the creeping Charlie is free lol.. I might add a few more things once the weather warms up enough from the started plants in the house but its to cold to add anything else right now. On the other side, I am going to put in some hosta’s to fill up that space.. just want something easy to deal with there but give it some color and such.
Nothing up yet in the horse trough gardens or where we planted in regard to pea’s and beets so those are in but holding.. They keep saying rain but we keep getting cool (with bitter winds) with bright sunshine. I am watering things in.. but I do hope that we get some rain soon..
Its not dry at all so that’s good but I still would not mind a nice rain to top everything up and settle things down. The toads have found the front pond an they are in love each other and it.. so much singing going on.. Its just lovely and I saw my first dragonfly hunting there yesterday!
We will need to add some plants to the pond and we will be planting the banks to create a more stable holding for them.. I am amazed at how active and alive it is already..
In case you missed it on the earlier post.. I also got most of the stump garden planted out this week as well. I will take a photo it next week for you as the plants are already up and thriving in their stump garden, which is lovely to see.
Looking for a fast and easy supper, Got lots of spring eggs this meal is for you!
Cook you bacon till just getting crispy, remove from the pan, cook the nettles and mushrooms in he bacon fat till greens wilted and mushrooms are half cooked and changed color, remove and allow to cool. place the mix into a pie plate standard size mix together so evenly spread out.
crack your eggs into a bowl and add salt, pepper and seasoning salt, beat them all together until well mixed, pour into the pie plate, use your folk to make sure the mix is even spread in the eggs.
Baked approx. 40 min in a pre-heated 350 oven, till puffy and golden brown, it will deflate as it cools, that is normal. can be eaten hot or cold. serve with a nice side salad for supper and fruit or toast for breakfast.
Ah, what a treat! I had put up a little share post on how cute these little chicken butt coasters.. I thought they were so adorable!
A long time reader of the blog made this for me as a thank you for all the posts and information shared over the years.. So sweet, what a blessing and she asked if I would share my address for them.. Of course I did..
Yesterday when the mail was gathered these little beauty’s arrived.. They are even better in person! I didn’t know what colors or sizes would arrive.. I want to buy some magnets and I will sew them on and use these my fridge to help hold things on
So I say again.. THANK YOU! MISS N..
Good Morning..
The weekend has flown by so fast, I had a awesome photo shoot to do Saturday morning and then I went to be help answer soil and garden questions for a couple hours for the local 4-H Loyal to the Soil club that was presenting soil sampling tests at the local farmers market. Then home to breath and putter in the yard.
Sunday morning was pulling up all the rocks and cleaning and working up the new garden bed area in front of the deck, then a clean up and off to visit with dear friends, hubby had some medical issues that week and was home recovering and we really wanted to get the chance to have a visit in person.
I picked up some flowers for the spring bee’s, they are on very limited feeding right now, they are only having tree pollen at the moment so adding in some extra flowers for feeding is a very good thing plus I just wanted some pops of colors in the yard!
Home again, Home again.. but not before I got new shoes and a new mop.. both things are required lol I had to plant out the stump garden, I might still add a spiking grass in the middle for extra height yet.
This morning, I got the text at 6:30 that my ten yards of soil would be arriving by 8 am.. its a good thing we got me a new tool to help in the garden.. I have found the bend down and lean over for the wheel barrel and when I hit bumps, its really jolts me and that can cause a lot of pain in my back at the moment.
So welcome to the farm.. the wagon! its got a handle that will lock in the upright spot, it can be backed in like a wagon for the horse’s and its a dump one, so I can load it but just tip it unload.. very handy indeed. its rated for 600 pounds. Loading once and then dumping also saves me some time and energy.
I will be getting the load of pine based mulch (cedar floats) for the pathways soon as I want to build in sections.. The front yard and the new kitchen garden is going to be AMAZING. I can see it coming together and I am so looking forward to sharing it with you all.
Well, I am about 5 posts give or take behind and I will do my best to write at least one more today before my head hits the pillow.. but I am looking forward to a coming rain day as need it for post writing.. back to the gardens/yard/farm with me.
Ps, the chicks and pullets have arrived.. a extra 78 chicks on the farm this week compared to last week!
Copied from the U of Sask.. Its just to good information not to share!
nd 
This is Solo the single ducklings born far to late in the fall last year that hubby adored, he has grown into a good looking young drake.. enjoying his swing and bath time.
Loved this White Throated Sparrow mated pair that have set up shop in the yard.. so pretty!
It was a bird kind of week..
One more..
I hope your yards are filled with fine feathered friends and that their singing lifts your heart the way it does mine!
Just another Day on the Farm 