The chickens are such a fun addition to S&B. Though their main job is to assist with pasture maintenance by following after the sheep with pasture rotation, they've also been the first source of income as well as true entertainment.
Over the past 6 months, I've seen a lot of eggs. This was our first egg:
This is a picture my first customer sent me - she was so excited to get farm fresh brown eggs, she immediately cooked it for dinner and sent me a picture:
This was the most eggs my girls laid in one day:
I had 5 eggs per day for several days in a row - and was overwhe...
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Gross & Squishy things
Black Soldier Flies (part 2)
Each morning after the alpacas, sheep, and dogs are watered, fed, and scooped – the chickens get let out to start their day of work. About a week or so after I put that newspaper blanket down, I absentmindedly realized that big mess of gnats and flies were no longer swarming around the BSF bin. I got so excited, and picked up a corner to take a peek. TA-DA!!!!!!
Though very small in number, I had some BSF larvae in the bin!!!!!
One of the really amazing side effects of BSF is that they emit pheromones, which are a natural fly repellant. The life cycle of larvae to maturation o...
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Black Soldier Flies
A few years ago (before the farm was even thought about), I went out to my composter only to find it was infested with grubs. I was devastated, and could not figure out what in the world had gone wrong. My first thought was my ratio was off – but it couldn’t be: the bin didn’t smell, the consistency was good, I knew that meat and dairy weren’t in there. Thinking my compost was ruined, I put the lid back on, and dejectedly walked back inside to figure out what I was going to do with my mess.
My next step, of course, was to consult The Google. “Grubs in compost bin” was my search argum...
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Worms!
I’ve been composting for many years. As a little girl, I remember my mother saving egg shells and coffee grounds to put around her flowerbeds. From the giant azalea bush in the front yard to the rose bushes that have been at the house for 40+years – all of our flowers benefited from the calcium and nitrogen boost. We ate lots of eggs, and my parents drank lots of coffee… so it was an accidental coincidence that there was a little less waste each week in the trash can.
As an adult, my household produced much fewer quantities of these precious eggshells and coffee grounds, so I attempted t...
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Turtle / Terrapin
One of the things I love so much about the farm is that every day is a new adventure. No matter how often we plan our tasks, inevitably something will come up and our plans change. This isn't always so easy for me to accept - I love having a plan, and following it through to the end. But, the animals don't care so much about my checklist.
For example, I really intended to write about our intensive pasture management practices tonight. As I was moving from the lot where the mamas are staying over to the alpaca lot, something caught my eye. It was this:
Do you see it? Here's a cl...
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It was a sluggish kind of morning…
... and I really hate slugs.
It started with a check of Patu's food bowl. She didn't finish her dinner, and a slug decided to help her.
Then, I went to the garden to pick some tomatoes and cucumbers. As I was walking to the house, I noticed a baby slug on my finger. No picture for this one - just a loud "YUUUUUUUUUUUCK" and a sling across the yard.
At the front door, guess what was waiting for me...
It's ok, though. One of the chickens got a really awesome protein boost this morning. :)
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