Chicken Harvest

Our roosters getting some fresh air and relaxation before the end...
Farewell, Gussie, Kung Pao, & Hot Wings! We'll miss your lovely crowing!
(though I don't think our neighbor will)

I really never felt this day would come, but it finally did! We had four roosters and only needed one. So, with the help of a lady down the road with a large flock of chickens herself, we killed and processed our extra three roosters.

Wow! What an experience!

I did feel a little trepidation since it was my first time. I thought a lot about what we were about to do and wondered how I would feel. Doing away with them humanely was not as hard as I thought it would be, but I did feel a great feeling of gratitude and some sadness that they were giving their lives to feed our bellies. I also thought that it was the way of life and I felt honored to finally be apart of it in such a personal way. I love knowing where the chickens lived and what they ate - because we fed them ourselves! They were happy roosters too. 

I helped pluck feathers and clean out one of them. It was good learning what it took to get a chicken ready to eat. We even had to chill them in the fridge and wait a few days before we could eat them which I didn't realize. If we decide to get into meat birds, I now know what that would all entail!

An Owl Visitor

A beautiful barred owl 

Look who came to visit us the other day! There were actually two in the trees, but we didn't see the other one until they both flew away. And then just a few nights ago I was loading my daughter up into our car. It was dark out and I heard 3-4 owls hooting loudly to each other in our trees. We hear them fairly often from a distance, but when they're in our treeline by our yard, they are loud! It was so cool! It was too bad it was so dark, because that would have been neat to see.

From Pallets to Chicken Coop

Our own homegrown eggs are so close!!!

My husband and I are preparing for the project I've been waiting for most of my life: building a chicken coop to house some chickens! We got this great idea from Mother Earth News for building a chicken coop out of wood pallets. You can usually get wood pallets for free and we're lucky in that our neighbor occasionally ends up with pallets in relation to his job and doesn't know what to do with them. Now that he knows we're collecting them, he just brings them on over! Sweet!

Well, we only have 2 pallets so far, so it's going a bit slow. I guess that's okay though. The wood is free! Sometimes "free" takes time. :-)

I am so thrilled to finally be able to seriously think about chickens! It's always been so far in the distance that I haven't even settled on what breeds I want or how many. I'll need to bust out my chicken book and get studying.!

Birds

Whew, it's been awhile! I don't even know if anyone reads this blog anymore... but anyway! I have been busy with homeschooling and taking care of the house, etc.

Right now we're learning about birds in science, and I thought it was the perfect opportunity to read together a childhood favorite book of mine The Trumpet of the Swan. I had forgotten how much information about swans was in there, so it's been the perfect choice! And I also forgot how funny it is. My 5-year-old son has loved it so far. It helps that he's always loved birds and found them fascinating and fun. My kids have owl curtains hanging in their room that I made for them, and every now and then we go over to JoAnns and get a couple little wooden birdhouses for both our kids to paint which sit on their dresser. It's just one of those funny things that has evolved through their growing up.

And it just so happens that we have some woods at the back of our property with a terrific selection of birds that come to visit - and we don't even have a bird feeder!

Vulture - I thought it was so funny to just see him perched in our tree.

 

Blue Jay - Yesterday was the first time I've seen one around

Barred Owl - we hear them hooting pretty often. Really cool!

Grass-Fed Beef?

We have a local Angus beef cattle farm down the road from us. Initially, I was really excited about this, especially as they advertise that their beef is grass-fed. Now, I've seen their cattle out in the pasture munching away on grass, but I wanted to know if they fed their cows corn at any point in their life. So, I drove over there and asked. 

Why did I want to know this? Because cows are ruminating animals, are only meant to eat grass, and I find it really sad that most cows are fed a diet of corn because it's cheaper (Seen a corn field lately? There's a lot of them around here.), and they fatten up faster on corn. Do the cattle-raisers care about the health of the cows and what corn does to their digestive track? How about the nutritional value of their beef? NOPE.

Anyway, I went and asked the local farm if they fed their cows corn at all, and I found out something very interesting. I was told that while the cattle are raised on grass, they are finished on a combination of corn, grain, hay, and minerals. So, while they live a grass-fed life, they are not true grass fed cows because they're fattened up or "finished" on corn and grain. 

Currently, there are no USDA regulations on the definition of "grass-fed beef", so beef producers can get away with a lot and mislead consumers on whether or not they're really getting true grass-fed beef. Considering that grass-fed beef is significantly more expensive that corn-fed beef, it's no wonder! And what do you think of when you think of a grass-fed cow? A happy cow in a beautiful green pasture? Well, technically a farmer could confine his cow and feed it grass its whole life and still call it a grass-fed cow. I know government food regulations get a bad wrap a lot of the time, but there are times when its necessary, so that consumers know exactly what they're getting when they buy a food.

I found this very informative article on the true definition of grass-fed beef according to grass-fed-beef-101.com

If you have thought about switching to grass-fed beef or currently buy it and aren't sure if it's up to scratch, then this article will prove very helpful!

Eat Wild is also a fantastic resource for finding locally raised foods. They have a strict criteria for farms in order to be listed on their site.

In the meantime, my search is on for grass-fed, grass-finished beef!

PIGS

Okay, so I don't even have my chickens yet. I think we're waiting until the spring. (It's so hard taking one step at a time when you finally have your house and land!) Anyway, today I was talking with my husband about how I wanted to use our 1/2 acre woods to keep a couple pigs. After we chatted about it, he was totally on board! Whoa! I wasn't expecting that, but I am so excited that he is so supportive. We talked about fencing we'd need and where we'd put the fence. Ever since reading this article in Mother Earth News about raising pastured pigs and how amazing their meat tastes, I have dreamed of raising my own pigs. I'd like to raise a heritage breed like Tamworth, but I have no clue what's available out here or if I'd be able to find many heritage breeds. That means there's more research to do! We're not getting pigs any time soon; maybe within the next couple years, but it's exciting to plan out the use of our land. My husband doesn't know it yet, but there are also bees in the future.... mwahahahaha! But still. It's one step at a time. There's so much to do!

Mmmm! Bacon!

Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival 2012

Baaaaa baaaaaa!

It's that time of year again!!!

I am really excited to be volunteering again at the crazy t-shirt booth for the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival.

I've heard that the lines before opening get longer and longer every year. 

Can't wait! :-)

The beautiful artwork is by Deanna Williford.

Seafood Watch

So, for a few years I've known about this really cool organization called Seafood Watch that I really wanted to share with you. Seafood Watch is an organization that seeks to promote and educate the public and restaurants about sustainable fishing practices. I know a lot of people care about good food and sustainability and this organization makes it really easy as consumers to be conscientious about buying fish that has been harvested sustainably.  The thing I really love is that they have a little pocket guide that you can download and keep in your wallet so that you have an accessible guide when you're out shopping for fish so you know which kind has been raised sustainably and which fish has not - it really helps me feel like I'm a better, more educated consumer. Not only that, but they have cards you can download to give to friends or to leave at restaurants to encourage them to buy sustainable fish. I think it's a fabulous resource!

Here's the link for their downloadable cards. I've used mine a lot and LOVE it! http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/download.aspx

Neighborhood Turkey

This year I really wanted to commit to buying a local turkey - one from our neighborhood, where I could take my kids to the farm and they could see where their Thanksgiving turkey came from. I picked Weber's Cider Mill Farm up the road about 20 minutes. Choosing a local bird is one step closer to being more aware of our food and the truth of where it comes from. A lot of kids grow up thinking meat comes from the store in cellophane-wrapped Styrofoam. And they're right. Most of our meat does come that way our whole lives. But I want my kids to understand that their meat had a life before it died to be on their plate. I'd really like to teach them respect for life and that it's not something we should take for granted. (My son first realized just this year that chicken that we eat is the same chicken that he's seen at farms running around clucking. It was a bit of a shock, but he took it rather well!)

This isn't to say that those who buy their meat from the store are taking things for granted. Most of the time, there isn't much choice. We have to do the best we can, especially in this difficult economy. I myself still buy chicken vacuum packed in plastic because it's what I can afford. But I'm taking this food awareness/reality one step at a time. This step happens to be a Thanksgiving turkey. And I can't wait to meet the farmers who raised it and to see where the bird lived out his life. I hope to pick up a jug of cider while I'm at it too!

Days End Horse Rescue

Whoa, it's been awhile! Sorry about that.

I was able to arrange it to have a babysitter come and watch the kids once a week so that I could get out of the house. (It's nice not to go crazy!) And I wanted to spend the time either volunteering for the park where I'm on the museum committee, at a horse rescue farm, or sitting in a coffee shop working on my writing. (I'm in a writers group! Yay!)

I've passed Days End Horse Rescue farm on the way to pick fruit at Larriland Farms many times. Outside their main fence they've had a sign saying they needed volunteers, so I signed up! I'll probably go there twice a month to work. I look at it as a chance to learn in a realistic setting what it takes to care for large animals (horses in this case) and to gain some valuable experience at a working farm for when we have our own small farm some day. I figure the price of a babysitter every week is like paying for an inexpensive hands-on course in horse care and farm chores. Awesome!

So, I went there last Tuesday and went through a one-on-one orientation with this nice young woman named Jill. She showed me around the farm, explained where they get their rescued horses from (abused and neglected) and how they bring them back to health. All the horses are graded at a certain level of behavior so that beginner volunteers don't wind up working with a Level Red horse who is dangerous and highly unpredictable.

My first day I helped muck out a stall (Yay! I've been looking forward to that. Well, hey, I didn't grow up on a farm so mucking is like a novelty!) and accidentally left the horse's stall door open when I left to dump off the old sawdust from his stall. Doh! Luckily, he was occupied with his food and didn't make a break for it and an employee saw it in time and closed the door. Won't make that mistake again! I also helped move around some donations from another farm into the feed barn and filled up a wheel barrow with fresh sawdust for the stall. And I learned to "catch" and lead a horse as well as how to read a horse's body language. Luckily they gave me a nice, docile horse who was a sweetie and only a tiny stubborn. After only a few hours I was beat! It really showed me how much of a wimp I am - something I'm hoping volunteering at this place will cure. I really have never been around big animals like this much, and it was pretty intimidating! I'm used to cats and gerbils, people! So, obviously, I've got a lot to learn.

And man, it was muddy! I'm gonna have to get me some muck boots...

Oh, and the 2011 Mother Earth News Fair is coming up this weekend! Woohoooo! And I'm very excited that Jenna from Cold Antler Farm is going to be there to speak and hold a couple of workshops. I am really stoked about her meat rabbit workshop. I'll let you know what I learn!

Memorial Weekend Get-Away

Barn Kitten

This past weekend my family and I went up to visit a good friend of mine up in New York. I haven't seen my friend, Mairi, for about a year and through letters I've heard so much about the little farm where she lives with her sister Heather's family. So Friday afternoon my husband, our two kids, and I headed up to stay for a few days.

Heather and her family's hospitality was wonderful and we had ourselves a great time chatting, walking and eating. We enjoyed drinking raw milk from a dairy down the road, eating fresh eggs of the chicken and duck variety, wandering the ruins of an old gristmill next door, and meeting their large family of animals in the old barn on their property. Among the animals we met were three sheep whose bleating sounded rather mournful and pathetic (haha!), three psychotic geese who we had to fend off with a stick nearly every time we left the house and ventured toward the barn, a sweet old horse, a dozen little barn cats, and a bunch of chickens. We got a glimpse of the ducks who were a bit snooty and stayed downstream on the creek if we came anywhere near. We also had fun playing with their dalmatian dog Rooster. (I asked if their rooster's name was Dog, but it wasn't. Heehee!)

One of the wonderful things about visiting them was being able to eat some of their local food. It really was such a treat. I went with my friend, Mairi, to go pick up the raw milk from that dairy down the road. It really is such a shame when getting raw milk is reduced to the status of something akin to picking up illegal moonshine at a secret meeting place. I personally don't mind pasteurized milk, but if people want to drink raw milk, why not let it be their choice and to get it if they'd like to?

I realized something important this weekend. We were driving past that "dairy down the road" and I looked out my window to see their beautiful, creamy brown Jersey cows grazing in the pasture behind their old wood slat and stone barn and a thought struck me hard: "There are the cows whose milk I'm drinking." For a suburb girl who's only ever drunk milk bought at the store in plastic jugs, this was really profound. Not to mention I had been eating the eggs from the ducks and chickens I had met at Mairi's house. There is one thing to be eating the food you buy at your local farmer's market, but it's a completely different thing to eat the food that comes from animals you've met or that you take care of, the vegetables you've sweated and labored over in your own garden. It's a whole different level of eating. The satisfaction is immense. I don't know where it comes from exactly, but to be that connected to what nourishes and strengthens my body is a mind-boggling experience. To have that feeling every day - wow. I want that so badly. It's the biggest goal I'm going for right now. And to think being that connected was such an everyday part of life to so many people in the past. I'm glad that so many people today are passionate about getting back to that.

Mairi's sister Heather sent us home with some fresh eggs!
From top to bottom: Chicken egg, Duck egg, Goose egg.
Man, the goose egg looks like a freaking ostrich egg! I think I'm going to manage to make a whole quiche with just that one goose egg. Amazing!

A wonderful gift from Heather:
Washed, carded, and dyed wool ready for spinning (from their own sheep.) Hooray!

Me feeding the horse, Des, a candy cane.
Apparently, he loves these. It was quite the slobbery experience!

The Turkey is Dead

Well, awhile back I wrote about this pair of turkeys that nonchalantly crossed a busy highway on the crosswalk and disappeared. I've seen them again. A couple of times, actually. The latest I saw both was when trying to cross the road at the treadmill factory and half block from the river. The cars honked and swerved and the turkeys finally stuck to the sidewalk until they could cross. Turkeys on a sidewalk? Seriously, these birds are suburbanized.

Anyway, today was sad. I was driving myself and my son home from an errand and turned south on that same highway with the crosswalk. There on the side of the road not a 1/4 mile from the river lay a jumble of feathers. Turkey feathers. One poor bird had finally been branded as roadkill. What a sad way to go for such a proud, carefree bird. He wasn't even a Thanksgiving dinner where there were people sitting around admiring him and enjoying and appreciating his gift of life. I suppose that's just the fate that wildlife are forced to pay for encroaching development of civilization. I hope his mate will have a better fate.

Sled Dogs Galore

So, this morning I headed over to my old professor's house to meet her sled dogs and ask her about sledding. Sue's property was everything I could wish for in a place to create a homestead on. (And it's for sale! Too bad we're moving in two months.) She had a beautiful old craftsman-style home with a gorgeous, golden tree that was shedding in the front yard, and the back room had this incredible view of the mountains and her well-treed backyard.

We headed straight outside to meet the dogs. I could tell she was excited to share with me. In fact, later she told me all sled dog owners love talking about their dogs. We came up to a small paddock of good-sized fenced-in runs each with one or two dogs in it. The dogs were, of course, very excited to see us and leaped and yelped for attention. They weren't quite what I was expecting. Of course, they were very dog-like, but I was expecting the typical Siberians or malamutes. It turns out that most of Sue's dogs were ones that were retired and that she had rescued or adopted. And they were all Alaskan huskies. This was a new breed to me, but they were still so beautiful!

The first dog we met was all white and a sweetheart. We went into a few of the pens to scratch ears and rub down backs. Sue introduced me to them all, and made special note of the dogs that took her through the Iditarod. I had no idea that she had completed that race! (Which is something like 1100 miles long. Wow. Now that is a fun time.)

We then headed to a much larger fenced in run that had a pack of at least 6 dogs altogether. Some of these had also run the Iditarod with her. It was wonderful to hear each dog's story and amazing that she could tell them all apart! One dog was absolutely huge and looked like he had a little greyhound in him. (not all were pure breed)

Last she took me into the shop building where she housed her 3 sleds, harnesses and food for the dogs along with everything else sled dog related. She even had a special truck that was made for transporting the dogs in their own separate compartments. I could tell she'd been doing this for quite a few years and she just loved it. In fact, she'll be moving back to Alaska at the end of the year and her face lit up at the thought of being able to train her dogs, taking off from her yard as opposed to here in Utah where she has to transport the dogs just to get to a good running trail.

Aaah, it was a good time and I learned a lot. I don't think I'll ever do races. Well, maybe short ones. But the thought of having working animals that will pack and pull for you and to help you enjoy the outdoors and their company... that's what gets me excited. We're moving to Maryland soon, and I even found a website for someone out there that races their dogs. So, you can be sure I'll be paying them a visit! It'll be something really fun to look forward to in a new and different place.

Sue pointed me to this great website to learn more about sledding, races, and even finding dogs for sale or free! Sled Dog Central

Dogs

Just take a look at that face!

I want a dog. Really bad. And a cat. But mostly right now, I want a dog. My husband doesn't really understand this. My whole life I grew up with an array of animals: cats, birds, fish, gerbils, guinea pigs, even a ferret. Then, for one blissful year, we lived in the backwoods - it was really the sticks - and we watched the landlord's two big fluffy dogs. I'm not sure what kind they were, but they were beautiful. It was fun to watch them scampering through the woods, barking at the squirrels who surprisingly barked right back. That was the only time we ever had dogs. And they weren't even ours.

About a month ago, my sister and I went to a Scottish festival. There was some random booth there of someone trying to sell their border collie pups. My sister and I cuddled with the puppies, snuggling into their downy black and white fur. I have never seen such adorable, heartstring-pulling puppies in my life. How I wanted to bring one home! I might have, if it wasn't forbidden by our rental contract. Someday.

My dream dog is a Siberian Husky. Or an Alaskan Malamute. Both are incredibly beautiful. And I've always wanted to try out mushing. I'd name my first pup Edison. I think if there was a soul dog match for me, it would be a sled dog. At least I think so. I've never really considered myself a dog person, but is that just because I've only grown up with cats?

I just remembered that my geology professor in my last semester of school mentioned she raced sled dogs. It was amusing to picture her mushing dogs when she was teaching us about natural disasters. She's lived in Alaska, so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised.

Also, in this burst of gun-ho, I just found out that the county where I live has a mushers association! Who knew? I was too shy to ask as a student, but now that I've graduated, I felt better about e-mailing my professor to see if I could come meet her dogs. This is a huge step for me. I've never done anything toward my dream of having a sled dog. Well, I'm going to check this out and see if I'm cut out for a life with canines. Not necessarily right now, but in a few years when we've got a patch of land. I'm stoked.

Turkeys and Roadkill

Since moving to the southwest side of town where it is more rural, I've noticed this random pair of wild turkeys that live close to the protected river trail which borders the main highway. I have occasionally see them poking about on the corner at the stoplight (which actually has a nice crosswalk considering it's a highway.)

A few weeks ago I saw one of the pair wandering around at the corner and my mind instantly said "Mmm! Thanksgiving dinner!" I laughed to myself, but then became a little worried as the wild gobbler was really close to the traffic and I was concerned it would quickly become roadkill. Indeed it was a miracle the turkeys weren't already a pile of feathers and fluff on the side of the road.

Then not too long ago I saw both turkeys hanging out at the corner once again. They seemed to be waiting for something. The light turned green for cross traffic and those turkeys promptly began strutting across the street at the crosswalk! I was amazed! Smart turkeys? Who knew? Apparently their sojourn at the corner with blazing traffic night and day had made them street-wise. In fact, I had to wait to turn left until they made it safely across the crosswalk to the other side. I haven't seen them since.

Living in suburbia most of my life, I have still felt I was always a country girl at heart. I love being in nature enough to be able to smell it engulfing me every day. However, I have been mildly surprised by how much nature still startles me - certain evidence that I am still really a suburban girl.

For instance - my son and I were taking our usual walk past our outskirt homesteads (most especially to visit the farm dog). Along the way I have been astonished by how much roadkill we encounter. And strangely, it is roadkill of only one kind: snakes! It is not very pleasant to cruise by, pushing the stroller where the roadkill is at our very feet - squished serpentine shapes laid flat by careless passing cars. What's even more strange is that I counted six dead snakes in a single 100 foot stretch! I didn't point them out to my son, but he noticed anyway and seemed unfazed when I told him it was a dead snake. We even found a dead, unsquished one which was much more interesting in its 3-D form, pristine and round as if the snake had stretched out for a nap. All this squished snake business has been a reminder to me that when I have my farm/homestead at last we will be dealing with the death of animals a lot more often.

Chicken & Sheep

I took this amusing picture at an historical village. Maybe it's amusing because I'm not that familiar with the habits of sheep or chickens, but it's still pretty darn cute!