Back to the Grindstone

We have never vacationed in May before.  We always leave the last week of July when baseball is over.  That was before we became FARMERS!!

I thought the perfect time to leave would be after the plants were in the ground but the weeds hadn't started to take over.  

Plus, I knew I wouldn't start baskets quite this early, the mare should have delivered her foal by the last week in May and the chickens would have been butchered/delivered.  

Everything except the weed part proved to be true.  I was greeted this morning by a ridiculous amount of weeds.  I spent 4&1/2 hours weeding to find my plants again....just when my hands were back to the normal color!!

Here are some highlights from our vacation:

First of all, we live a very frugal lifestyle 51 weeks out of the year.  However, vacation is an area where I don't pinch pennies.  We travel in style, stay in nice VRBO homes and rent boats/water skis/jet skis, etc....to make a very memorable vacation!!

This is the Ultra bus we took to the Ozarks.  Do we have to?  Heck no.  Do we LOVE to?  Heck yeah!!

We have vacationed with my younger brother's family for the last 5 years and there are 26 of us together.  The kids absolutely love their cousins and it is a tradition we plan to carry far into the future.  The bus allows us to all travel together and the dads get to participate in those awesome "bus" activities without having to do all the driving.

Yes, we even have commemorative tshirts made for each vacation.  Great memories!!

Simon is the angler.  He caught 5 fish with one worm.  Compared to CeCe...

who caught this tiny fish using 5 worms! We anticipated this so we packed our own worms.  Yep, dug them up from the garden and put them in a bucket of dirt under the bus!!!

I was really nervous about staying in a lake house that was right on the water.  I made the babies wear these unless they were sleeping.  Also, I must have said the phrase, "Where are the babies?" a thousand times.  The rest of the gang cooperated in my phobia for a day or so.  Then they realized the babies had no interest in being in the water without big people.   Pretty soon the responses were...

  "In the bottom of the lake"

  "Hanging from the dock"

  "Taking a nap in the oven"

  "Driving the boat"

  "Drinking a beer on the boat"

  "A stranger came by & borrowed them"

  "Last I saw they were hanging onto a

      giant rock and jumping in the lake"

  

I guess that was their way of letting me know I was being overly-ridiculous!!  

Bottom line...we had a fantastic time.  I jut wish we had a few more kids....

Kind of lame to not even hit the "30" mark.  Slackers.

Now to work....on the garden....not on the "more kids" thing.....maybe.

The Four-Legged Wonder

Our family was preparing for one of the busiest weekends of the spring:

      -Broiler chickens were due to be cut, bagged and delivered.  

      -We had to roast a whole pig for a triple graduation party the next day.  

      -The garden needed weeded and more seeds planted before our family vacation in 3 days.  

    -soccer game, baseball tournament, wedding shower, etc....

The very LAST thing we needed or expected was for our favorite mare, Mattie, to deliver her foal THAT day.

Surprise!!!

Mattie is Mary Kate's horse, but I paid her, so we made a deal:  if the foal is a boy, I get to name it "Cash Is King" and if it's a girl, she gets to name it.  

Well.......

I got to the pasture well before Mary Kate did so I got to inspect the newborn.  I triumphantly shouted "YES!!  it's a BOY!! Cash Is King!!  WooHoo!!!

So...apparently the umbilical cord fooled me.  It's a girl - filly in horse terms.  Her name has moved back and forth from Penny to Millie to Missy to Misty to Pippi. Looks like we have a cute new filly and an indecisive teenage daughter.  I shouldn't be too hard on her...she only had 10 months to think of a name!!!

We intended to give them some space, but it was WAY too tempting.  A new foal is too good to pass up.  We spent all morning in the pasture.

Mary Kate had to move the new momma & baby to a private pen.  Not an easy task.  Took her an hour.  Seems like plenty of time to PICK A NAME!!!!

Chickens--Round Two

The first round of chickens are sold out.  Thank you for the business.  The next batch will be ready in about 6 weeks.  You can reserve some for yourself and spread the word to help me get these out the door as quickly as the last ones...my freezer is pretty full.

Time to clean up our mess:

Not a terrible job.  We wash out the "soaking" buckets with soapy water and a power washer.  A disinfecting scrub and we are ready for the next round!!

If you want something done with the power washer, the trick is to give it to a 14-year old boy. 

Isaac works really hard when it involves the power washer, running errands on the minibikes or eating up any ice cream you might want to get rid of.  You can rent him if you want.  Have REAL work for him to do?  Good luck. Pay before you take him...no refunds!!!

Way Too Much Information!!

Chickens are back...

If you are interested in buying chickens, this is information will be of interest to you.  If not, go to bed...it's 9:40....you need your beauty sleep.

So do I.  Look at my picture...not even as cute as that chicken!!!!

Instructions:

Once chickens are butchered, rigor mortis sets in.  If you cook or freeze the bird before that stiffness resolves, the meat will be very tough.  I check the chickens daily and once they have very movable parts, I will throw them in the freezer.  I suspect it will be around Friday or Saturday.

If you would like to buy chickens before Saturday morning, I suggest you keep it/them in the refrigerator until the legs move very easily.  The chickens will be bagged whole.

FYI..our last batch was large in number to get our family through the winter.  Mary Kate and I spent a morning cutting apart several (like...50) into pieces & parts.  We used those food saver type bags that suck the air out of the bag, and froze them with all legs, all thighs and all breasts.  It was a pain that morning, but WOW..what a treat in the winter!!  I get tired of always being faced with a whole, frozen chicken.  I highly recommend you do the same if you have freezer room.

We sent our knives to be sharpened today. Abbey and Mary Kate look happy, but only because I haven't told them what those knives will be used for.   

If I buy chocolate for one & Starbucks for the other...I'll have total cooperation.

Here's the scoop on cost compared to last year:

1. Newborn chicks went up by $.25

2. Feed cost stayed the same.

3. Butchering cost went up by $.75.

4. Weight is down a little (chickens'.... not mine)

5.  Cost per chicken remains the same at $11.50/chicken.  Shop around.  I dare you.

Time to place your order.  I've got 50 up for grabs.

Fried, Pulled, Souped or Roasted??

Chicken butchering day is here!!!!  These 100 chicks came to us on March 18:

They have led a pampered life for the last  9 weeks. They were fed a 24-hour organic, non-GMO buffet and were out foraging for bugs and seeds as soon as they had enough adult feathers to keep them warm.

Today brings an early morning trip to Duncan Poultry in Missouri Valley, a prayer of thanksgiving for their short life with us, and a morning filled with weighing, bagging and delivering. 

Isaac & Gabriel are the official "chicken catchers".  Luckily, these are the slow & fat variety so they are pretty simple to snag.

Who says a horse trailer is just for horses??  We have hauled our St. Bernard (King Louie), goats, sheep, pigs, and even fruit trees in there.  

The first chickens we had butchered were hauled in Rubbermaid buckets.  What a nightmare.  We've come so far:):)

Why Would You?

I don't go to the grocery store very often. Just ask my kids. Once we've completely run out of flour, sugar, milk, butter, bread and fruit, I will begrudgingly make a trip to the store.  

After my total is ALWAYS over $200, I exclaim, "That's why I don't like to come here!!!"  In comparison, that's not even close to what I used to have to spend buying groceries - before the farm.  I shouldn't complain...but it's my best quality.  Yes, my best.  My worst...calling people names. Consider yourself warned.

Last week I made such a trip to the store and happened to walk by the egg section.  Wow!!  I was shocked at the prices.

If you are buying these you are a FOOL! Actually an IGNORANT FOOL!  I'd go so far as to call you a MONEY-WASTING IGNORANT FOOL!!!

I decided I either need to raise my prices or educate my existing customer.  I'll start with the second to hopefully avoid the first.  To be fair to the larger companies, I do not ever intend to sell in the store, so I don't have to have the government involved in my business at all, saving me thousands of dollars in regulation preparation.  I do have an "egg" number given me by the state, but it was free for the asking.  Kudos to those companies for providing a choice for customers who want to feed their bodies the best quality food they can obtain.  However, when you have a choice of farm-fresh vs. store-bought.....no brainer. 

I mean, seriously, are their hens:

     - raised on a farm? 

     - greeted every day with "How are

           my ladies?"

     - hand fed worms from my garden

           by two brave toddlers?

     - taken on "walks" by Eli?

     - living in a hen mobile with a

          front porch?

     - visited daily by the best concierge

          doctor in Omaha?

I think not.

For $2.50/dozen, Fiddlestix customers get better eggs than those pictured (if you promise to save the cartons).  If you are not a CSA member, you can still buy eggs for $4.00/dozen.  You do more than support your local economy, you get better product for less money.

Lecture over.

To Market, To Market....

You know the tune:

To market, to market

To buy a fat pig. 

Home again, home again

Jiggity jig.

To market, to market 

To buy a fat hog.

Home again, home again

Joggers Jog.

Those are the words, here are the pictures:

*********WARNING********

If you think the pork you buy in the store just "magically" falls out of the sky in those little cellophaned packages, you can either stop right here or prepare to be educated.

Home of our 4 Red Wattle pigs. The creek runs through there and they LOVE to wallow in the "mud hole"

The chosen one...Agnes.  She was supposed go to market 3 weeks ago, but is too smart for those of us loading her.  She knew what was happening the minute the trailer came to the pen.  WASN'T GOING TO HAPPEN!!

This time the guys built a "chute" of pallets and brought lots of help. 

And by help I mean....sat in the back of the truck and watched.

Whew!!  In the chute. Now to coax her into the trailer.

It took less than15 minutes from start to finish to get her loaded.  She's probably about 350 pounds and has kind of a bad attitude, so it was time for her to travel down the road.

It is kind of sad to see an animal go to market, but we send her with thankfulness for her life and comfortable that we gave her the best environment in which to live her life.

Now, pass the bacon:):)

Fruits (vegetables) of My Labor

After weeks of daily plantings, and help from my biggest little helpers:

I am beginning to see growth.  Thought I'd share:

Kale..6 varieties, 120 plants.

Peas...shelling, snow and snap.

Tomatoes...LOTS of heirloom and rare seed varieties, both cherry and large species.  To date, 133 plants in the ground.  Not finished planting, but close!

Potatoes...lots of color, lots of hills, lots of future digging.  If you are in the CSA and you love homegrown potatoes, you are going to be a happy customer.  If you've never tasted "right out of the garden" potatoes, welcome to heaven.

We're closer than we were a month ago:)