Mis-Adventures of the Year

Ok, so I sometimes like to think and pretend that weird wacky things just don't happen to me. Well that of course is not reality and weird and wacky things DO happen to me. What follows is a short list of the mis-adventures from the past year that make me smile now...now that I am well past them.

Transporting rabbit on bike.

Simple right? Put rabbit cage on back of bike pedal bike home. Well it would've gone just like the except for the fact that while biking from the ferry terminal along my chosen route there is this thing in the way. It's actually called a bollard but why it is where it is makes me call it a thing. I believe it's intended use is to stop cars and trucks from crossing a pedestrian bridge that likely can't take that kind of loading. Well this bollard is on the opposite side of the bridge where pedestrian and bike traffic comes from and the direction the cars come from is completely open. Anyway this thing makes you slow down and thread your bike through it usually leaving about 6-8 inches on either side of the bike and panniers. Or so. Well with a rabbit cage mounted on back of bike there is actually negative space available, so that when traveling along and trying to thread bike + rabbit cage it doesn't fit. I, blissfully unaware, thinking about the great rabbit from Abundant Acres Farm that is going to fit right into my rabbitry, am not thinking about any of this bollard/trail blocking thing up ahead. Of course I did think about it maybe a nanosecond before I tried...

Thank You Turkeys

The turkeys were processed the weekend of November 20th at the Day Road Farm with Lauren and Garth of Dropstone Farms. It was a full day of hard work and it was cold too. 

What I learned is that turkeys are strong, resilient creatures, that have huge wings that whip you in the face when you get close. Also learned that if they are given the chance to escape they will, sorry G, but as they are social creatures they might come back looking for their cohorts, which gives you a chance to hunt for the now wild turkeys.

Our Bourbon Red turkeys came from Bay Hay on May 15th as day old chicks. After a spring, summer, and part of the fall season they got really big! The Tom's after processing weighed in at 17-18lbs. The hen's weighed in at 13-15lbs. 

The "pasture" the turkeys were tractored in also raised 25 chickens this year. Turns out that the pasture is tired and needs a good rest period. Not sure if it will be ready by May for another batch of turkeys. The cover crop is growing ok. I will over seed in late winter early spring. I'd really like to see some good grass growing there before adding birds again. Also another thing I learned about tractoring chickens and turkeys is that the tractor should be well constructed with the ability to be moved daily if necessary. The tractor I had this year was poor to good and will not be used for chickens or turkeys again. Nope it will likely become the frame work for two new Hare Raisers, ala Natures Harmony Farm, sometime this winter. 

Hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving Holiday! There is so much to be thankful for this year. One thing that I am thankful this year, which I have never been so thankful for is turkeys!

BEE CRAZY!! Queen...no Queen...new Queen!

Ok so right around June my bees were rockin'. There was capped brood, eggs, pollen and a nice big fat juciy queen bee buzzing around working her magic. Now when I say magic I really mean it! There is a lot going on inside a bee hive just because of the Mother Bee, aka queen bee.

Her importance can not be underestimated. Everything the hive does, except for just about one thing, which we'll discuss later, is to make the Mother Bee happy and to provide her with the nourishment she needs to keep popping out eggs.

So my queen seemed to be doing great. At least she seemed to me to be doing great. Well right after that, our queen vanished. No note, no teary goodbyes, she just wasn't there anymore. Of course it was my fault or it least I was thinking of all the reasons it could be - maybe I squished her accidentally while moving frames around. Or maybe I inadvertently dropped her outside the hive while looking for her on previous inspections. I started having nightmares about squished bees.

Once I realized she was missing, I freaked out! I scrambled through my notes from my bee class, the class at Beez Neez Apiary was great but was my note taking? I found some sketchy details about re-queening but hardly enough to help make a decision. So I looked up a local expert. I called one of the mentors from the Westsound Beekeeping Association, there are several on the island. After a quick call I was relieved a bit but also started worrying. The mentors response to the situation was to leave the hive to itself and they would replace the queen. This relieved me because to buy a new queen would be expensive and take time to track down. His advice also had me worried too because I wasn't certain my bees would be up to the task. That was a big question and I couldn't just as the bees if they were up to it, I'd just have to wait and see. A hard task for a nervous nelly.

2010 Harvest Fair!

Making Cider - Check out this big apple!

It is full circle for us and this blog. Last year our first post was on the Harvest Fair and now here we are reporting back on another fabulous Fair. 

This year Fair was almost a wash out but miraculously the clouds broke and the sun shined down on lots of happy faces. The music was great, the food was great and it was great to see the people - kids running wild, parents chasing them, grandparents, and new born babies. Totally full circle. 

We made cider from apples that we picked earlier in the day. One gallon of cider from one paper grocery sack full of apples. 

Thanks to Friends of the Farms for putting on such a great event!

They may not look tasty but they sure are, perfect for the cider press

Worst Hard Time

Just finished Timothy Egan's book, Worst Hard Time (http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d.html/ref=redir_mdp_mobile/176-3789840-1422665?a=061834697X). Was hard to read cant imagine living through it!

Will get a review out soon.

Pullets! Humphf!

The four Americana pullets are now 23 weeks old. A pullet is essentially a chicken in their teen years - teenagers.

They look great, act normal, and are eating and drinking well. The rub is that they are at the age when laying normally commences and so far no eggs. I know what you're think, gimme another week. And that is what we'll do. One more week and then I will demand they start laying, that ought to do it.

Poof! Summer...almost gone!

Ok, so I'll be the first to admit it, I've not held up my end of the bargain. The posts this spring were a good start, but what happened to all the updates from the summer? Well...summer happened and then I slide down this crazy rabbit hole and and I chased a rabbit and I ah...chased a chicken then I...I ah...chased a turkey and ran from a scary bee hive and woke-up and it was August!

Stay tuned for an upcoming series of posts to update you all on the progress this summer...it's been a wild ride - mating flights, chicken processing, pullet growing, foraging, and eating some amazing local food. Stay tuned!

May bees with you, and also with you.

That's right I said bees! As a wonderful birthday gift from my family, I now have a hive that is ready for it first bee package - said to be arriving April 10th at Stedman Bee Supplies in Silverdale. I'd add their link here but they don't have a website.

In fact Stedman's is very very oldschool, which makes it absolutely perfect! I purchased a complete hive, two honey supers (just in case my bees really take off their first year, which is very unlikely), protective clothing, smoker, hive tool, and come April 10th a bee package.

Bee packages weigh between 3-4lbs and contain several hundred worker bees and one queen who is enclosed in a special case within the package. Once placed in the hive the bees will chew their way into the queens enclosure and free her to get to work.

I am very excited to begin the adventure of bee keeping. After taking a class at Beez Neez apiary last spring, and helping my brother with his hive last summer, I feel that I am ready to give it a go. Whether the bees feel the same about me is something yet to be determined.

23 weeks and counting....EGGS!

Peas are in the ground, rest of the garden is ready, and the starts need to be thinned - desperately!

Also the chickens have started laying! Or at least a few have. See the smallest egg in the image. It's next to "regular" sized eggs in a carton of store-bought eggs. Is it the last store-bought? Fingers crossed.

The leghorn, Miss Blanca, is the smallest of them all and she is already showing her genetic strength, laying the largest of the pullet sized eggs and nearly the most regular already.

It is such a wonderful surprise to open the nesting box door and discover these jewels waiting. I am checking the boxes a couple times a day for now and will increase to three times as more chickens begin to lay.

Also, the turkeys are scheduled to arrive at the end of April or early May. I am getting ready.

Review of Farm City, by Novella Carpenter

As a reader of the Ghost Town Farm blog, I picked this book up in hopes of getting a guidebook with good tips and bits of knowledge. What I got was that and more.

At times heartwarming, others heartbreaking, Farm City is a snapshot into the very challenges we face as a culture reacquainting ourselves with food and each other again. The author, Novella Carpenter, allows us to see through her direct experiences, the blunt inner workings of a place that is grappling with major societal issues at every turn and she still manages to put bacon (amazing tasting to be sure) on the table.

As an aspiring urban farmer, I found valuable insights and instances of hope and in Farm City. Here we are nearing the brink of sorts and yet here is Novella Carpenter doing what needs to be done: breaking ground, raising animals and growing food in a place that is far from a rural picturesque setting, in fact in an urban setting that is more like a place where over 50% of the worlds population now lives.

It is the reapplying old knowledge in a new setting that is encapsulated in this book. A lot of what is presented in Farm City is old knowledge, but it’s for a new generation that now lives in cities in apartments or postage stamp lots that want to take control of what they are eating. Feeding ones family from the land was common knowledge a mere 50 years ago, yet here we are teaching ourselves in new ways, adding knowledge and know-how with books like Farm City.

Starting the garden off right

With a ton of organic matter - leaves from last Fall, rabbit manure, and lots of chicken manure. And then stir with your favorite digging fork.

Our fingers are crossed for a small but bountiful garden at our new place this year. We are going to grow leafy greens and other crops that can take a bit of shade as we have a forest surrounding us. Will be a good experiment - potentially a tasty one. Also a big part of the garden this year will be to grow treats for the chickens, rabbits and turkeys that are coming in a couple of months. More on that soon!

Enjoy the warming days, especially in this El Nino year, and the growing light - 2 minutes more each day!