Summer Projects No comments yet

 Oh my!  It’s been busy with life-stuff so there hasn’t been as much farm-stuff going on, but we are still plugging away.

This weekend was the start of addressing the annual or semi-annual chores.  The chicken coop had already been cleaned, but the goat barn/shed was in dire need.  So we put up temporary pasture fencing (stock panels) up in the clearing, moved the goats to the pasture, removed a section of our terribly done (but surprisingly sturdy) fencing around the goats yard and used the tractor to remove the old bedding.  Afterwards we put a stock panel up in the place of the missing fence for easier future access via tractor.  It took most of the afternoon and I have several more mosquito bites and Bengt got in to a couple nettle patches, but it was still far more efficient than doing it by hand as we have in the past which required 4 people and several days to complete.

A couple weekends ago we got the “raised beds” in place.  We ended up running out of time for the grand plans so we went with a quick and dirty solution of creating temporary beds with hardware cloth.  I’m just happy all of my plants were able to get out of the greenhouse before this most recent heat wave occurred.

The rest of this weekend is supposed to be fencing off an area for the upcoming layers  to start free range and get them out of the hoop coop.  They’ve been doing well in the hoop coop (in the picture above) getting moved around to fresh grass but it’s not a good long term solution (it doesn’t have nesting boxes) and the new hens in the brooder box are well past old enough to move out.  So we plan to move the upcoming layers (technically the “yellow” flock but we haven’t banded them yet) to range houses/pasture and the brooder box hens (and three roos) to the hoop coop until they are big enough that I don’t need to worry about the ravens.  All of this is a little tedious but we are sort of developing a routine/process.

Bengt is thrilled at the prospect of having the garage chicken-free for the rest of the summer, especially considering we are due for more hay so right now there’s quite a bit more space to get in and clean out the “chicken dust”.

We took care of feeding and milking for our friends at Misty Eyed Goat Farm a few weeks ago and in trade got to keep the milk.  We scored about a gallon total and earlier this week I was out of milk in the fridge so I grabbed out the smallest jar, a pint, and let it thaw in the fridge.  That is some really tasty milk.  Goat milk gets such a bad rap but unfortunately the stuff that makes it to market isn’t as lovingly tended as this is.  It was amazingly good and there is absolutely no way the average person would know it’s not the cow’s milk they are so accustomed to.  Just absolutely stunning really.  I plan on turning some of it in to goat yogurt and hope I have enough left to make some cheese.

Here is the belated garden update.  I’ve had a few of my direct sows do poorly (beets, cucumbers, parsnips, chard, and summer squash) so I’ll probably pick up transplants for the cucumbers and squash real soon here.  We also didn’t get around to planting a few things that I have seed for, but there is always next year.  We added some other things that I hadn’t planned on growing so it all kind of washes out.  I’ve never had good luck starting beets and starting summer squash so I’ll blame those on mother nature… or something.

Harvesting:

Alpine Strawberries (wild), Arugula, Chives, Kale, Head and Leaf Lettuce, Lavender, Miner’s Lettuce, Mustard Greens, Nasturtiums, Nettles (wild), Oregano, Radishes, Sage, Salmonberries (wild), Sorrel, Spinach, Sugar Snap Peas, Thimbleberries.

In the garden/containers/or beds:

Basil, Beets, Blueberries, Brussel Sprouts, Cabbage, Carrots, Cascade Hops, Cucumbers, Eggplant, Green Beans,  Leeks, Mint (several kinds), Parsnips, Peppers (sweet and hot), Rhubarb, Soy Beans, Storage Onions, Summer Squash, Sunflowers, Swiss Chard, Tomatoes, and Winter Squash.

Running wild:

Blackberries.

On sort of related note I’ve started sprouting again. I had bought some fancy plastic sprouter (I nicknamed it the sprout-inator) and the damned thing just never worked.  The seeds would always rot before doing anything.  So I decided to go with stainless steel mesh inserts for quart sized canning jars instead.  It also fits with my desire to eschew plastics, particularly in food prep.  For $3 a piece (a fraction of the stupid sprout-inator) they’ve worked wonderfully.  Simple, elegant, and effective.  So we are now enjoying primarily organic sprouts from seed I ordered from some old hippies in San Francisco (it was the closest I could find for organic seeds that weren’t overpriced).  Eventually I’d like to grow our own sprouting seed, but I think I need to get a better hang of growing other foods first.  My hope is to use sprouts to get us off of less local/conventional greens during the winter.  Not to mention, I just really like sprouts anyway

Free Farm Help! (aka Family Visits) 3 comments

My parents made a surprise visit this week, up from Oregon.  They brought a goat stanchion my Dad had made for us as a holiday present.  My Mother always insists on being put to work so I took a day off of work and we made quick work of some outstanding chores:

• Trim goat hooves: This has to be done regularly and has historically been a two man job because we didn’t have a goat stand.  It’s MUCH easier to do with the stand and some grain to distract the girls.
• Clean chicken coop:  We do a full litter change of the cedar shed chicken coop by the house about twice a year.  We also scrubbed and sanitized their feed and water, scraped down the roosts, and refilled everything including their oyster shells and the bedding in the nesting boxes.
• Fence and reseed backyard: This isn’t really farm related but needed to be done.  Last year’s leaves suffocated the grass and the chickens have been keeping it well turned and any hint of reemerging grass eaten.  The moss was starting to take over as well.  So we fenced it off from the chickens so we could add some garden lime and reseed.  Once everything is established the chickens won’t be able to keep on top of it.
• Planted more seeds: It was time to start my tomatoes and peppers inside.  So far the only real failure I’ve had for seed starting was some chives and onions, but I already have chives so that’s not a big deal.  I may try starting onions from sets since starting from seed is so problematic.
• Scrubbed the back patio: Chickens traverse the back patio alot and even like to hang out right outside the back door.  This leads to lots of “presents” on the patio.  I still need to scrub off the front patio.

It wasn’t really on the chore list, but Mom tends to bring out the gardener in me.  We broadcast a bunch of “wildflower” mix and seeds I’d saved in to the front flower garden now that it’s been fenced off from the chickens.  Maybe I’ll have a cut flower garden after all!

About the only spring chores that are left right now are to do the spring cleaning of the goat shed (waiting on the tractor for that), finish the hoop coop, and to prep the garden.  We are off work next week so I’m sure there will be lots of activity.

Chicken Condos 4 comments

I’m going to have to break up my updates in to smaller posts to get all caught up…

Layers on range

After the loss of yet another laying hen we went back to the drawing board with regards to our free range chickens.  It was still very important to us that our chickens are able to range and be chickens, but the loses are hard to sustain.  With thorough consideration, and following our relative success with the broiler chicken’s house, we decided to build two range houses for the new (and old) layers.  The plan was (and still is) to move the layers in to the goat pasture, once we get the pasture fences up.  For most months out of the year this will work well for us.  For the few very cold months we sometimes get we are keeping the coop down by the house that also has the heater installed.  We can relocate the flock during the harsher weather if need be.

We stuck with the same design as the broiler’s range house with some minor modifications.  We raised the peak of the roof from 3 feet to 4 feet to create more room. 

Nesting house

In the first house we built in as many nesting boxes as we could fit which turned out to be eight.  We also put in exterior egg doors as well as hinged the roof as we had planned for the broiler’s range house.  Eight boxes is enough to support 24-32 layers so that gives us some room to grow.

In the second house we reversed the side the door was on so we could get the maximum space for roosts.  By doing so we could build in three tiered roosts which creates enough roosting space for about 15 chickens, which is how many layers we have in total.  On this house we also added heavier handles for mobility.  The nesting house shouldn’t need to be rotated often, but the roosting house will need to be moved to prevent manure build up.

Roosting house prepped

We stopped by the local hardware store and picked up some exterior “oops” paint in a bright miami teal green.  Once completed and painted we started the task of moving the houses up the hill to where we anticipate the goat pasture to go.   We got the heaviest, the nesting house, moved with some serious effort.  Unfortunately, building the range houses took longer than expected and we didn’t get the pasture fences up as well.  Since then the calendar has kept us busy and we still haven’t had a chance to put up the pasture fences.  Instead of moving the roosting house up the hill we moved it to the yard with the broiler’s range house and moved the new layers out in to the yard as well.  It’s an acceptable hold over location until we can get the pasture fences up which will probably still be a couple weeks out.

Here’s the cost breakdown:

We used scraps that we had already, which aren’t included in the price list, for the nesting boxes as well as some of the scraps that resulted from the project .

And for paint and supplies:

Our grand total including paint and hardware came to approximately $70 per house (plus tax of course). Overall it’s still a very good deal.

Goats: The Back Story No comments yet

We had planned to get chickens our first year and wait until the following spring to get a goat.  I had emailed around looking for where to get chicks since we weren’t planning to get enough to form a full order from a hatchery.  In conversations with “Farmer Joe” on where to get chickens the topic took a turn and we were discussing goats.  He had recommended them to me to help clear blackberry bushes that are so pervasive in the area and I had admitted we wanted to get a dairy goat eventually.  I had already been doing my research in anticipation relying heavily on http://www.fiascofarm.com, Storey’s Guide to Raising Dairy Goats, and even The Goat Handbook.

A few days later Joe sent me an email suggesting that we could “borrow” a goat he would be getting.  Joe would be traveling to Oregon to pick up some goats from a relative that could no longer keep them.  He knew there was a dairy breed in the mix and that she might have been bred and therefore pregnant.  He offered to let us “borrow” the goat in the hopes that she would kid (have a baby goat) and be ready for milking.  We could see how we felt about milking.  He insisted that we could return her at any time if we decided we weren’t so keen on the process.  I was thrilled and thought, ‘Loaner goat!  Why not!?’ and quickly called Bengt in California to get his blessing.  He agreed it seemed like a foolproof plan so I called Joe back and arranged to pick up the goat in a couple weeks.  We needed a goat structure first!

We had decided we would keep the structure simple and build it ourselves.  We had done a back-of-the-napkin plan and I estimated it would cost us around $400 dollars to build an 8 foot by 16 foot structure using plywood and 4×4 posts.  We have since learned to have a *real* plan before undertaking any structures in the future.  We started scouting our heavily wooded property for a location for the structure.  We wanted something relatively level which is not entirely easy on a property that is on the side of a valley.  We also knew it would not have running water or electricity in all likelihood so it needed to be accessible by foot or truck.  The closer it was to the house, the more likely we could put in either of those systems in the future.

After tromping around in the woods for half a day, Bengt climbed up on a fallen tree and announced he’d found our location.  It was perfect.  Just up the old logging road from the house, only a few yards back from the back yard, but far enough that through the trees you couldn’t actually see it.  The only catch was that there was a 62 year old tree (I counted!) that had fallen across the logical path from the road to the mostly clear spot.  Bengt was thrilled to give his new chain saw its first real trial.

The first weekend was spent working on the tree to open up the pathway to the clearing.  We hauled some good firewood out of there.  The second and part of the third weekend were putting up our poorly preconceived structure.  We, of course, underestimated the lumber necessary and found our happy-go-lucky approach to building design didn’t always work out as we had thought it would.  We ended up spending more on the order of $600 in building the structure, partly on our underestimation of the number of corrugated roof panels it takes.  After some long days we felt we had something good enough to manage for now.  We then undertook the arduous task of putting up fencing.  Now that is something that someone should create an instructional video for!

We had never put up fencing in our lives, let alone 150 feet of 4 foot high braided non-climbing horse fence.  We had t-posts, a t-post driver, a roll of fencing wire and the foolish determination that only comes with not having any idea what you are actually doing.  We wrestled that roll of fencing, pulled the fencing, and tied the fencing coming out of the whole afternoon sorer and more exhausted than we’d ever been, and not particularly confident that the mess we’d made would actually contain a wily goat.  They are known for being hard on fences and good escape artists.

At this point we didn’t have a gate, we’d left room for it, but it was now time to pick up the goat we had decreed to be named Molly after Molly from Fiasco Farm.  We threw down a moderate layer of white shavings for bedding and put up a couple bucket hooks to take flat-back buckets for water and food.  We had already picked up a bale of alfalfa and had it down in the garage.  We slapped up a pallet where the gate would be and Bengt secured it as best he could to the fence posts and corner of the goat structure.  We thought it would hold her until the following weekend when we could put up a gate.  We dashed off to pick up Molly and drove her home in the back of our “farm truck”, a ‘94 Land Rover Discovery.

We settled Molly in and retired back to the house eager to take a breather and rest after a couple of long weekends putting together her structure.  As I’m sitting in the living room lazily looking out the living room picture window I see something… a deer?… Oh no… “Goat!” I shouted.  “Goat!  Molly’s in the front yard!” I shouted to Bengt in the kitchen.  We both jumped up in a panic and ran out the front door just as Molly was sauntering up to the front door casually as if to say, ‘I’ll live here too, kthxbye.’  We broke down in the giggles that come easily when you are exhausted, while we walked Molly back up to her new home.  Our only solution was to secure her in her structure by attaching a sheet of plywood over the door way.  I spent the week using a feed bucket to climb up on in order to pitch myself over the short wall  to change her food and water.  We finished the gate the next weekend.

We became immediately smitten with Molly, her lopsided grin and gentle demeanor.  Any idea that we might “return” her quickly vanished.  She didn’t end up kidding that season, but she’s earned her place in our family.  She is of the Oberhasli breed and we are guessing that she was approximately 2 years old when we got her.

Goats aren’t solitary creatures, we eventually learned, and while Molly never complained too much they are happier in herds, so that necessitated… more goats!