Happenings on the Ranch

… but I’m finally making another entry.  It’s been over two months since I’ve had the chance to sit down and write – which tells you how busy we’ve been!

 As I sit here eating a big salad of mixed lettuce, spinach, diced green onions, chopped hard-boiled duck eggs, and bacon I can’t help but smile.  I’m smiling because everything in this satsifying spring meal came straight from our farm.  Not only is it fresh, but I know where it came from and how it was grown.  Yum!

Planting, weeding and now our first week of harvest have taken much of our days over the last weeks.  Managing our flocks have become a little tedious because of the continuous assault from the pair of fox in the area – obviously feeding pups.  Our chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys have all relegated themselves to staying in their yards for fear of being picked off.  The few that do venture out inevitably don’t come back.  Unfortunately, they’ve worn down their yards so we’re rotating yards to allow the greenery to grow back for them.  Thankfully they don’t seem to be unhappy but I hate that they don’t have the wide open freedom they usually do.  I’m hoping after Spring things will ease up a bit and they’ll be able to venture further again.

On a sad note, our goat herd queen Snow White (aka ‘Momma’) passed away last week.  She was our son Devon’s Nubian doe that gave birth to the two bucklings earlier this year.  She was battling a resperatory infection and then bloated.  Everything that could be done for her was done, but it just wasn’t enough.  Devon was devastated but comfortable knowing he had given her plenty of love and care.  It still sucks, though.  She was a real favorite around here. 

Other than that, everyone is well.  The cattle all seem to be pregnant and growing (out) by the day, the horses are itching to be ridden now that it’s warm, the pigs are getting fatter, the puppies are cute as ever (and need homes!) and the flocks are growing well.  Now all we need is the hens to be consistently laying and all will be well!

This week is the first harvest for CSA members.  Our first deliveries to our Grandview customers was tonight.  It was really nice getting to meet everyone finally after months of exchanging emails.  Everyone seemed very excited to get their first share and anticipate more to come.  Everything is growing well and each week the harvest will get heavier and more substantial.  Any and all additional harvest will be sold at each Farmer’s Market.  It’s starting out to be a good season (knock on wood).

Guess that’s all for now.  I’ll try to post more often (as time allows) and encourage you all to post a comment or shoot me an email – I’d love to hear from you!

Happy Spring,

Karin

Yipes it’s been cold, especially at night. The livestock are all doing well with it, though. Valentine the bull woke up with ice on his fur this morning, which didn’t seem to bother him a bit but made me giggle when I saw him. He’s a Scottish Highland and they have very long coats. Great for the cold weather, not so good for the frost when it’s damp! I don’t think he knew why I was laughing at him.

The bad thing about the cold weather is the predators have less to eat and are now starting to prey on our animals. Sadly, we lost two of our ducks this week to some sort of animal. Ricky, our male mallard, was found by the creek. All that was left of one of our pekins, Lucy, was a slew of white feathers. Ethel, our other pekin, is now wandering around the farm a bit lonely. Some of the hens have befriended her, though, so I think she’ll be okay for now. I’ve posted a picture of the three of them when they were ducklings. I’m going to have to keep a close eye on the chickens and be sure I’m counting them each night as they go to roost to be sure we’re not losing any to hungry animals.

As I wake up in the morning to heavy frost on the ground, I think forward to spring and the anticipation of turning the soil, working in the compost and setting the new seeds in the ground. We are working on building a heated shelter to get an early jump on planting, with some seeds going into pots as early as February. This will let us provide an early and longer harvest of many items that usually wouldn’t be available until later in the year. I really hope we can pull it off – I’m already anxious to start planting and it’s not even Christmas yet!

-Karin