The Happy Rooster

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Fall has arrived and we've moved our ladies to a different area though we still have them guarded by the electric nettting.  They will have plenty of shelter from the winds that are picking up.  

On the steer end, they are looking really nice and we are still working on building the fence and paddock so we can catch them in the fall!  We do have 1/2 left to sell.  Each quarter is $500.00 so email us if you are interested.  

Work on the barn progresses.  We now have all sliding doors done.  We have one more swinging door to finish and then the barn will not have temporary blocks in place of doors!  

The fields look really nice.  We cut a couple of times this year and had animals grazing the entire field.  I don't notice many weeds out there and that is awesome.  

We are still working on protecting the fruit trees and blueberries from the ever present deer.  That is a long project but I hope to work on it as we have time before winter.  

Fall has arrived and we've moved our ladies to a different area though we still have them guarded by the electric nettting.  They will have plenty of shelter from the winds that are picking up.  

On the steer end, they are looking really nice and we are still working on building the fence and paddock so we can catch them in the fall!  We do have 1/2 left to sell.  Each quarter is $500.00 so email us if you are interested.  

Work on the barn progresses.  We now have all sliding doors done.  We have one more swinging door to finish and then the barn will not have temporary blocks in place of doors!  

The fields look really nice.  We cut a couple of times this year and had animals grazing the entire field.  I don't notice many weeds out there and that is awesome.  

We are still working on protecting the fruit trees and blueberries from the ever present deer.  That is a long project but I hope to work on it as we have time before winter.  

Our new laying hens arrived.  Robyn went out and checked on them this evening and they seem to have warmed up to us.  We have them in the electric mesh netting which they are used to as the farm we got them from had it also.  Robyn said they came up to her and are laying the nice big brown eggs we remember from the breed.  Hopefully, I will be able to skip over to 7 springs farm and pick up some soil to build the raised beds with in the expanded garden area.  Plantings have continued with some onion sets and cabbage as well as lettuce, carrots, and peas soon.  Hope all is well with everyone.

What wet weather we've been having.  Our fields were saturated awhile ago so very little can be absorbed today.  I did get to put some spinach in yesterday so I guess the rain is helping that.  I am thinking of going ahead and putting in a few potatoes also in about a week and see how those do.

Our ladies seem to be laying very well this spring.  Of course they took off the winter but I'm not counting that against them anymore.     

I put some work into one of our electric chargers to try and keep the yellow jackets out.  Seems that last year sometime (after I bought a new circuit board) we had yellow jackets move in and set up shop on the wires right above the board.  As they died or dropped foreign matter on the board, it soon shorted out again!  Hopefully, they won't be able to get in this time. 

We've got some big plans developing and I'm happy to share them with you!  After the birth of our daughter, Emma, last fall, we realized how hard it might be to do all we want but here is what we are thinking about:

Expanding the flock and using netting to keep them corralled.  There would only be about 14 birds in the portable pasture but they'll be protected with an electric mesh and our gardens will be protected from them! They will have access to the field and fresh air and we'll build them a more portable coop they can go in at night for some high quality roosting and egg laying. 

We are working a small area next to our current garden to put some potatoes, peas, and other vegatables that won't fit in our current garden.  I am personally excited about that but the area needs a lot of good attention so I've worked on it a lot this winter trying to build the poor soil back up. 

We are also going to put a cow or two in with our horses and sell meat in the fall.  The cow(s) will only be grass-fed and will have full-time access to pasture.  I am talking now with USDA about setting up fields for rotational grazing and would love to find a market for good sheep fiber so if you're interested please let me know.  I have what I think are very good sheep in mind that are supposed to produce beautiful fiber. 

Our barn construction continues on and I hope in April to have it completely finished on the outside and ready for animals and woodworking projects.

Take care and thanks for visiting.  Please email or call with questions or requests.