09 Feb Mon 2009
Dissapointed Coyote
This morning we saw in the snow that the coyote walked up to our coops and sat down for what had to have been an interesting converstion with our birds. After a while (the snow began to fill in the tracks), the coyote circled and made fresh tracks over its older ones and backtracked... only to smell and see how a family of quail had made tracks over its own while he was trying to entice our birds out of their home! The quail made for a safer hiding place after the coyote passed.
After circling in distress, the coyote left for an entirely differnt direction.
What a dissapointing night (for the coyote)
3 new roosters!
We always are keeping an eye out for new birds for our flock. Sometimes we're adopting from shelters, other times from other farmers. Sometimes we take on extra birds from breeders.
We just bought 3 roosters from an enterprising young man who, in his family’s back yard, is making a good run at raising chickens, guinneas, quail and pigeons. He does not let the birds run free, but keeps roosters to breed his hens. When he has extra roosters, he must sell them. He raises the birds to sell as mid-aged chicks or new-hatched chicks, and breeds them.
We inspected the roosters - they looked quite healthy! The young man then showed us their father - a beautiful, large rooster. We saw the young chicks, taken from their father and mothers so their mothers would brood more eggs into chicks.
No picture of our beautiful “prisoners:” they’re sitting in the back of the truck in a transportation cage. We’re all waiting to get home - blizzard conditions up on the mountain are keeping us all prisoners of a sort on the roadside.
Rather than wait in the cold, we returned to town for a while to ride out the storm at Denny’s, where we are taking advantage of their free WIFI and endless coffee and tea, and consuming unhealthy quantities of fried potatoes.
The birds seem to appreciate it - it’s much warmer down in the valley! As soon as we get back, we’ll put them in the coop for a few days of socialization, and then set them free when they’ve learned where home is and have bonded with their new flock.
Though our practices of chicken husbandry differ considerably from those of our new young friend, we have the utmost respect for his enterprise. His objective - to produce as many chicks for sale as possible - leads him to undertake the logical result: keeping the birds in cages. Our objectives - to maintain a healthy semi-wild (low maintenance) flock yielding a surplus of nutritious eggs and a stable quantity of new chicks leads us to undertake an equally logical and different method: free roaming birds kept in coops whose populations we modualte by season +/- 1 bird per square foot.
Though he must remove the chicks from their mothers and father, we must keep our chicks with their mothers and fathers. We must have many roosters, and are glad to take his extra roosters - especially considering their health and good breeding.
Free Home Delivery
Shameless promotion alert! (but don’t worry, it’s not all our own promotion - we’re also stumping for some friends - the Southern California Biodiesel company) http://www.socalbiofuel.com/ Of course, if this blog entices you to order from us, as well, well… you’ve been warned!
B.D. asked us by email an excellent question, suitable for our blog!
Why and how do you undertake free home delivery?
BD already recieved a personal email answer, but we thought we’d share this wonderful question and its answers with everyone. Why and how we undertake free home delivery every week is, in fact, two separate questions.
Why? Because we love to drive, and to rest assured our customers are getting the personalized attention they deserve. We get a book on tape or some fresh release of music, roll down the windows for the fresh air and zip about at a mile per minute, a revolution of ecologically friendly farming, community-centric food and experimiental fuel surrounding us.
How? We use cheap “experimental” biofuel. Though the diesel engine has run on vegetable oil since Dr. Diesel invented it, and America relied on veggie oil to propel its fleets in dire emergencies (especially during Vietnam), the EPA regulations on this “new” fuel are excessive: multimillion dollar testing is required - a price no one can afford to undertake. So, the State of California and other forward-looking communities across the USA have declared it in the interests of the people to allow exemptions to those people brave enough to take advantage of this cheap, domestically produced, clean fuel.
While you can collect your own waste oil from restaurants, we go through so much that we simply buy (at about the price, when labor is calculated, it would cost us to collect it and process it ourselves) from the Southern California BioFuel company http://www.socalbiofuel.com/ The amount we save on fuel allows free home delivery!
The biofuel burns better - we get more MPG. It burns with no or negative carbon gain. It is locally and domestically produced. It gets you cheap, delicious, farm fresh food!
Statistical Encouragement
We have farmed many places over the years and though our neighbors have always tried to urge us caution, though their words can be in effect discouragement.
“The gophers will eat your crops!” “The hawks, bobcats, lions, coyotes and dogs will eat your birds!” “Colony collapse disorder will kill your bees!” “The drought will dry out your soil!”
Among the advice we offer to new farmers and gardeners is caution.
A cautious farmer undertakes experiments and collects data to learn the truth of a matter. The cautious farmer understands from their data not only whether or not the gophers are eating the crops (perhaps it is the mice, or some other critter entirely?), but why (lack of alternative foods?)…and then is able to overcome the problem entirely!
Statistical analysis allows a complex understanding of the world that then prescribes solutions to even the greatest problems. This is because every phenomena you can observe has causes, and understanding the factors that influence the outcome of a scenario allows you to effect a more desireable outcome.
So, cautiously collect all kinds of data. For plants, there are several factors that are most important to the success or failure of the crop: the nutrition of the plants (water, soil composition and structure, and the presence of microorganism “friends” who help the plants eat), the predators of the plants (micro and macroorganisms), and the weather (espeically temperature and cloudcover). For animals (birds especially), you must also consider closely the nutrition of the animal, its predators (especially in regard to hygiene), and the weather (especially daylight).
Yet, minor factors should also be considered. We pay special attention to those minor factors that describe larger phenomena beyond our ken. Among these is the presence of organisms that pass through our farm as they migrate from place to place (as observed through footprints, excriment, and other impacts and pollution), and the global weather.
There are also non-numerical data to be considered. These must be translated into numerical values. If you observe, for example, that the plants look very “green” this year, create a coefficient of “how green?” by making a scale of green, from 90% white to 90% black tint. If you observe that the goats are acting very “goaty,” identify what “goaty” means in numerical terms to you.
You must also collect data on your impacts on the growing environment. These “controllable” factors might include the width of beds and aisles, the planted biodiversity, the maintained biodensity, and irrigation, supplimental feed, supplimental heat or light, etc.
When you have all the data, perform regression analysis and correlative analysis. You will quickly learn how the various factors you are observing impact each other, and how you’re helping or harming your production. Converting the terms into costs allows you to learn how to be more profitable!
We love statistics - they encourage us daily. A farmer who collects statistics on their operations understands that every problem has a solution, and has the confidence to undertake improvements to their practices. They are always learning, loving their world through observation. The stastistically impowered farmer works eyes wide open, ready to behold the wonder of the world - and kindly treat all creatures with whom they share it.