March 2011.....Red Fox Farm is stirring!!

Winter 2011 at the Farm

It doesn't seem like that much time has past since the last posting.......WOW!!! So much has happened, so I guess should update all the news that is the news. Last year's harvest was wonderful for just about everything. I made ketchup and now will be trying to grow whatever I need (especially fennel) to make lots more. Lane; our son, Dylan and his significant other, Sarah; and most everyone on the Farm prefers it now. Zucchini and cucumber relishes make things darn tasty when you roast hot dogs or whatever in the fire place. We ate all our potatoes, loved them, but really didn't have enough to last until next harvest. The "3 sisters" way of planting corn, green beans, and squash doesn't work for us. We'll be planting those crops the way we always have this year. We want to plant more specific this year however. For example: several recipes are made from the tomatoes, peppers, and onions we grow; so now we will grow as many of the other ingredients in those recipes as we can. Also we have fallen in love with all the colours in the garden....a kind of patchwork look about things. Our cherry tomatoes, cauliflower, our eggs......who knows where how far we'll go with this theme. Oh by the way............Death to stink bugs!!!!!

Steve, one of the Ameracuna roosters.

Some Delaware hens

Our chickens are laying between 9 to 13 eggs daily. We learned a lot about keeping chickens this winter. If the temperature dips below 32 degrees; heaters in the coop are a must for the water and the chickens. Letting the litter build up on the coop floor is a life saver in frigid temperatures here in Pennsylvania. I recommend wood shavings, The flock will compost it for you. Just sprinkling a fresh layer on every other week through the winter really helps. Always build nesting boxes with slanting bottoms. No one gets a chance to find out what eggs tastes like. One of our Delawares, now known as Cannibal Katie, waits for the other hens to start laying and then force them out of the box to get the eggs. Wench!!!! Slanted bottoms allow the eggs to roll to  safety and we are not experiencing the egg loss as before. Foiled the cannibal's evil plans!! Bwaaahaahaa!!!! A mix of scratch grains and layer crumble does a chicken good and a discovered treats are flock block from Tractor Supply and most especially freeze dried meal worms.

Ameracuna hens and a Delaware hen

Clean up is in progress. Snow/ice/rain/mud has caused a slight delay in our schedule. We're inspecting the raised beds, re-allocating the chicken run which is going to go over like a lead balloon. Prune(not the evergreens of course) and spraying the fruit trees and evergreens for bag worms and others pests. Looked long and hard for no residual types of organic spray. Getting ready to do some serious post hole installation for permanent fencing, gates, porch posts, and last but not least four new fruit trees for the orchard, Then there are all the flower beds. Whew, I'm tired........going to bed. More news later.

The great rain.

 Crops from in the late spring!

Raised beds...gifts from the gods!!!

Who knew or could have imaged that it had come to this? Yesterday was a hell of a thunder-boomer!! Where were Lane and I....out at the coop checking on the flock, Chanticleer, and last but far from least, Steve. Of course they were fine. The coop is a fine piece of farm architecture as is the Sugar Shack. Both were dry inside and offered tons of shelter. Things were as they should be. At the risk of sounding sappy,it really felt good. You've read all those feel-good articles about how there's a connection with the land when you grow your food and care for livestock..... yourself. That is true. It is not the only way, but it is very true. I grew up on this farm in a different time, but certain things have not changed. The smell of spring, the swelter of summer, the color of autumn, the quiet of winter, and the stars. I used to be barefoot almost all summer long. I still will take off my shoes in late spring until early summer to walk in the yard. My father is a farmer's son and I am a farmer's daughter....it's in my DNA. This feels very natural to me.

In the begining........

Lane

It started out so simple. My husband Lane and I just wanted to make the family farm live again, but this time in a sustainable way...a natural way....off the food grid...with a name maybe...before it became the "green thing" to do. This was a part our dreams since we bought the family farm from my youngest brother in April 2004. Being an avid gardener,I put in a small veggie garden the following spring and continued to enlarge it every season. Then my youngest sister, Faith wanted to join in the festivities  a couple springs later. She and I would often talk about how it would be nice to have a few chickens around...just for the fresh eggs. Thus it continued until last fall when a major event changed everything. My youngest sister and her family lost their home to a fire. We offered them a place to stay and the rest is history.

Beci (me)

 After the Christmas holiday festivities passed and the the icy New Year
slid in....we set about planning....well everything. We discussed what veggies and fruits to plant and totally agreed on raised beds being the answer to weed control. It was like magic....raised beds filled with topsoil and planted with all types of veggies started appearing everywhere this spring. There were even blueberries, strawberries, and elderberries in raised beds.
Ooooh...ahhh! MAGIC!!!

I'm still not exactly clear what happened next; it's still kind of fuzzy. At first it was... we would just get a few chickens. We could use the eggs and let them run through the garden for pest control during the summer. We goggled for coop plans...something simple we said. Next I ordered a kit to build a small storage shed that we could morph into a coop. Meanwhile Faith and I are pouring over Murray McMurray catalogs, making lists, remaking lists. Finally late spring it started to happen. Lane ,my husband (aka Super Genius) , Chris, Faith's husband, Faith and I unknowingly started the "The Chicken Drama". It was wonderful to see the coop slowly rising out of the pile of lumber. However when the weather turned 90+ degrees; the construction ground to a halt. With the heat, I barely made it out to water and harvest the crops every morning and almost every evening. ( Next year irrigation is a must!!!!!!) Brave Lane decided ,towards the end of August, to tackle the shingling the coop roof with the help of my 78 year old father. Forgive me for this bit of texting....but.....OMG!!!!  We could start to see the completion of the hen house!!!! By now we are in the beginning of September. The spring flock now turns into a mad dash for autumn pullets.  Faith started scanning Craig's List as did I. She is partial to Americuna poultry and I am really liking Wyandotte.....hummmm. This what we ended up with in the span of two days over the Labor Day holiday.....a mostly finished hen house; Chantilceer, an Americuna cockerel, 14 hens of various breeds,  and a second Americuna cockerel that was living in a rabbit hutch until last night. We took most of yesterday and put together a "sugar shack" coop and run for Steve, our second Americuna cockerel. This of course means there is need for a second coop for the second cockerel, more hens to make the flock of the second cockerel, and well......see how this just keeps going and going. As of last count, we are collecting 9 eggs daily. Some time before all of the "Chicken Drama" there has been a small fall veggie crop planted in several raised beds, other beds are being readied for spring, the pumpkins, sweet potatoes, peppers, eggplant, some tomatoes, and hops have continued to prosper; they're getting close to harvest or being harvested.

What a fabulous transformation since the beginning of the year!!!!! I have loved every moment of it....okay.....most of the moments. Plans are already in the works for next year's expansions and re-allocations of garden spaces. Looking at adding more garden space, an orchard, pigs, milk cow, beef for the freezer, goats, and oh yeah...a small flock of Old English Game Bantam chickens for the 'Banty Shanty' in the pumpkin patch. This rooster will be named Jack...you know...Jack the Pumpkin King (of Red Fox Farm).

For entertaining moments about our chickens..please read the "Chicken Diaries-Red Fox Farm" blog by my sister, Faith Peck. I will be adding farm pictures in my next blog. See ya!!

P.S. A cockerel is a rooster that is under a year old. Just a little poultry trivia.