Where did those days go?

I didn't sleep well last night, so I am up early - well, early for me.  I'm not really a morning person - not a good trait for a farmers wife.  Anyway, I visited all my usual morning websites and blogs and nothing had changed since yesterday so I decided to look through my iphoto library and realized I took a bunch of pictures I hadn't realized I had!  Since this blog is aimed mostly at keeping family and friends updated on what is going on here at Goodness Grows Farm, I thought I'd just post pictures and some little stories inspired by them.

This boy just melts my heart.  He works harder than most grown men.  Everything he does, he does with all of his heart.  He's kind, responsible, caring, and sensitive.  In fact, there are times I fear he is too sensitive.  I worry about his heart and am afraid it will be broken many times in his life.  He is innocent and everything a little boy should be!

Did I mention how much I love his freckles?  These photos were taken back in March, right after a hair cut - his hair has grown out a lot since then and on humid days, it gets really curly.  He hates it and wants to get a buzz cut for the summer, but I keep putting him off.  I fear he won't stand for it much longer.

This little boy also melts my heart, but he challenges me in ways I never would have imagined.  

He is stubborn and strong willed and at times quite a bully.  He is independent, yet is fearful of doing things without his siblings.  He, like his older siblings,  has been blessed with impossibly long eyelashes.  We recently had a bit of a melt down because he was having a problem with the new sunglasses he got.  He was telling me they were broken and I couldn't figure out what he meant by "broken, Momma!"  Finally, I had him put them on and I looked all around his face to see where they were broken.  When I looked down on them from above, I could see his eyelashes were smashed against the lenses.  Poor guy's eyelashes were too long for him to wear the glasses so far up on the bridge of his nose!  Who complains about that?  

We're also working on potty training this little guy.  He went through a phase for a while where he always had to be wearing this blue skirt from Maggie's dress up bin.  On this particular day, he has on sweat pants, pull ups, the blue skirt and his muck boots.  I told him if he was going to wear the pull ups he wasn't allowed to pee in them.  Well, that worked, but he decided to pee outside, far away from me and then couldn't get all of his pants back up.  He was pretty stuck.  Of course, being the good mother that I am, I had to take pictures of it before I could go help him.

This little princess is something else!  She's smart and sassy and quite the tattle tale.  She doesn't restrict her tattles to things the boys are doing wrong - she gives me updates on everything that is going on.  She tells her stories with such passion and animation that even when she is being a tattle tale, it is quite funny to listen to her story.

She and Will are my big sweets eaters.  They would eat sweets 24/7 so I have to be very careful on what they are allowed access to.

Maggie & Walker have their very own cowgirl/boy hats.  On this day they were playing cowboys/cowgirls and were wearing their hats and boots.

Will was very disappointed to not have his own hat.  All we had left was a costume type hat that I had to modify to fit him.  He was pleased as punch, which is all that matters in the moment.  However, I have a feeling that when this photo comes to surface sometime in the future, I'm going to get in trouble.  Something along the lines of "sure, typical third child, always getting the left overs!"   Willie J, my consolation to you is only this:  Imagine the short end of the stick your new baby brother is going to get!"  Poor guy - I had to find a super larger rubberband and wrap it around his hat and chin to keep the at on him!

Scenes from fishing camp at my dad's.

Enjoying the last days with the puppies.

Will is obsessed with goggles.

Will falls asleep in our bed.  Typical male.

Maggie exerts her sisterly dominance and applies lipstick to her little brother!

Will isn't such a photogenic model demonstrating his recent lipstick application!

Walker holds Tubby - now named Levi as we say good bye!

I can't express with words how much joy these creatures bring to my life.  We wait with great anticipation for the arrival of this little guy.  We're at two weeks!  But we wouldn't be too disappointed if he came sooner!

Catch up

It feels like the last two months have been a whirlwind!  We've been busy enjoying warm weather and enduring the ups and downs of the temperature.  We've also been working through a few weeks of various illnesses.  Maggie & Will came down with the 24 hour stomach flu, thankfully not at the same time.  Walker had a bout of what I believe was Fifths Disease, which then led me to a series of blood work to determine if I have an immunity to the disease (I am) and general life on the farm!  We ordered 50 broiler chickens to raise for our own consumption and hopefully to sell to customers.  Erik has been super busy with his landscaping business as well as keeping our other customers happy.  In addition to the Burmese families that come to the farm to purchase their meat, we've been approached by a young man from the Pittsburgh area who is opening a gourmet market in the Strip District featuring hard to find meats/delicacies.  He has put in an order for a variety of things:  Ducks, geese, goat, in addition to specialty items like lamb belly (he makes a bacon out of it) and is even looking for venison, game birds, etc.  Erik is doing his best to accommodate him, but finding a lot of these animals on demand is hard!  It is kind of ironic that the game animals that Pennsylvania has been so well known for are so hard to find through domestic resources.

We've had two ultrasounds and as of May 13th, the baby was estimated to weigh 7 lbs 13 ounces.  That measurement was taken about three weeks before my due date.  Baby's gain about half a pound a week the last four weeks of gestation, so factoring that in, we're looking at a pretty big baby - about 9 lbs give or take!  I'm not really worried about it - have you met the children I've already birthed?  They are peanuts!  We are actually struggling right now with Walker because he has graduated up to the official "Olympic" pool at the YMCA for his swim lessons.  Unfortunately, the Olympic pool is kept at 80 degrees and he finds it freezing!  We've tried using those rash guard shirts to keep him warm, but it just doesn't work.   He's such a skinny little fellow and by the end of the 40 minute lesson, his lips, fingertips and toes are purple from cold!  Unfortunately, the class he is in is a mix of kids that have graduated from preschool swimming classes and youth ages 6 and up that have never taken lessons before.  His class has two inexperienced swimmers in it, which makes it difficult for the instructor to really provide much additional instruction.  He's too busy convincing the one student to move away from the wall and encouraging the other student to actually move his arms and legs.  This situation has been a real challenge for me because I want to interfere somehow because I feel the rest of the class is being treated unfairly.  They end up swimming the length of the pool and are left waiting at the end for the beginner students to catch up.  It's especially frustrating because Walker used to LOVE swimming lessons and now he cries and complains each week when I tell him we have to go to lessons.  He hates being that cold.  In fact, this past week, the instructor said that next week will be report card week, so that means only two more weeks of class.  Walker burst out with a "HOORAY!" when the instructor made the announcement.  Now I'm torn between registering him for class again.  My hope is that he will advance to the next group and leave the beginners behind but my fear is that the instructor, really having no time to evaluate the entire class on their progress, will not see that Walker would benefit from advancement into a more active class.  I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

The wait and see portion of parenting is the hardest for me to deal with.  I like to look at the calendar and make plans for what is going to happen.  (More like make plans for what I want to happen!)

  

All six of our puppies have found homes. HOORAY!  I was a little sad to see them go, but I know they all have wonderful new homes and are loved.  That's a good feeling for sure.

Walker has been taught how to mow grass and has been mowing it every week now.  We felt bad because we kind of scared him to death, lecturing him about the responsibility of mowing grass, how the other kids, dogs, etc. were not to be in the yard when he mowed, he was NEVER EVER EVER allowed to mow without our permission, and all the other bad things we could think of to scare him into being safe (like accidentally mowing off his leg, or his brother's leg).  But, we think he got the message and he did a great job of mowing!  He's very conscientious of what he is doing and I'm very proud of him for doing such a great job!

Separation of House and Barn

Erik is out of town for the weekend having taken Walker to an event in the state capital.  I am left home with the two youngest and 40 acres of chores.

I think it's pretty safe to say that each household has its division of labor.  Just from my general friendships, (*DISCLAIMER:  I am not implying or saying that this is EVERY household in the world - it is just my view of the microscopic circle in which I am part) I think that typically, the household is divided into outside and inside chores.

 I realize that many men participate in and maybe even enjoy the inside chores, but generally women do dishes, clean house, do the laundry, shopping, schedule and schlep the children, and men typically mow grass, shovel snow, fix things that need repaired, coach the teams the moms are schlepping the children to.  That is just a generality, but one that is, I feel, pretty accurate of the area in which I live.  Now, that is not to say that men can't do the inside stuff or women can't do the outside stuff  - it just tends to be how it works out.  There times in the summer months when I pack up the kids, load up the car and drive to my hometown for a week and leave Erik home alone.   I try to have all the laundry done, stock the refrigerator and pantry and leave little notes about what is there to make for meals, etc.  I can guarantee you nine times out of 10, when I call Erik at the end of the day to say goodnight, he has either been invited to eat at someone else's house or he just ate "on the go."  I come home to expired lunch meat and produce.  I don't usually expect Erik to do any of my inside chores because they don't have to be done.  I can usually catch up with them when I return.  That's not to say I don't appreciate it when he does go ahead and do some of those chores while I'm gone - especially the laundry, but it isn't necessary.  Which is funny because while all of the chores I do are vital to our house and family looking and smelling good, basically none of them have to be done daily, well, other than meals.

This time of year at Goodness Grows Farm, outside duties include:  starting and maintaing a fire in the outdoor wood burner, feeding goats in two barns, watering goats in one barn, feeding chickens in the chicken house, collecting eggs, feeding a variety of ducks and chickens that live outside of the chicken house at various points in the barn yard, and feeding four dogs.  Today this all had to be done in the mud and muck in the pouring rain.  And I had to do it all by myself!

The thing about these chores is that they have to be done regardless of who is home!  See, when I go away in the summer time to visit my hometown, all the chores I do INSIDE on a regular basis do not have to be done!  Erik does not have to do laundry.  He does not have to sweep floors, do laundry, cook meals,

 do laundry, take out garbage, do laundry, clean toilets, do laundry, make beds . . . and did I mention do laundry? 

 Sure, most times he does do some of that stuff, but most of the time he doesn't.  And that's okay, I'm fine with that.  My personal view is that because I have the privilege of being a stay at home mom, there are just certain duties that fall into my jurisdiction as part of the job of staying home. Maybe that's old fashioned, but it's my philosophy.  

But here I am, alone, 30 weeks pregnant (yeah, I slipped that one in) and I HAVE to do all of those outside chores or else I won't have any hot water for bathing, cooking or LAUNDRY, no heat in my house and I would have a barnyard of dead animals on my hands (well, I don't think they would really die of starvation in four days, but you get the point).

This realization has given me pause.  All of the things I do around here that I think are so vital to our existence here, really aren't.  Well, maybe cooking - but that's about it.  Okay, and keeping my kids clean, that is kind of important too, but as evidenced by pictures, I don't do such a bang up job on that front.

Here I was earlier tonight feeling all martyrish that not only was I doing my chores (which, by the way, I do not understand how removing one grown man and one six year old boy from the equation lessened my burden by so much, but it did) but I also had to do the outside chores on top of being 30 weeks pregnant (I know, I'm milking the pregnancy thing).  I was throwing logs into the fire (logs, I might add, my husband carefully cut to manageable sizes and then stacked in a trailer at the same height as the furnace door so I wouldn't have to do any heavy lifting) the rain soaking my hair and dripping into my eyes, mumbling something about how he'd (my husband) better appreciate the fact that I'm willing to come out here and do all these things! when I realized I took for granted that my husband not only willingly goes out and does all of these chores daily, he does so happily and with no complaint, unlike me, who complains at least a million times a day about the mud and the laundry!  I think at most, there have been maybe two times that Erik has complained about a chore and that was when he needed to cut more firewood for the furnace after having already been awake and plowing snow for 16 hours.  But he fired up the skid loader, trekked through a foot of snow and cut wood for the furnace because it was VITAL to our survival.  

So, I'll end my little tale by admitting that I have been significantly chastised and have let go of my martyrdom.  I've turned my complaints to prayers of gratitude for a husband that keeps all the outside chores running so smoothly and for never grumbling about having to do them.

I am grateful for the luxury of living on a farm where the separation of house and barn is an option and that should I ever find the desire to participate in the barn world, I can, but in the meantime, I'll continue to plow through the mountain of laundry that constantly lies in wait, even though I'm 30 weeks pregnant.  And I'll try not to think about how much MORE laundry I'm going to have in 10 weeks time.

Random Conversations with my Children

I know that this post will have no real appeal to anyone outside of my family, but since the  main goal of this blog is for me to have a record of the things my family does, I thought that it was time to put together a post of Random Conversations with my children.

Momma:  Maggie?  Why did you spread your curtain that fell down all across the floor last night?

Maggie:  Because a BIG cwocodile and a wittle cwocadile was gonna get me.

Momma:  What were you more afraid of, the big one or the little one?

Maggie:  Well, I sure wasn't afraid of the wittle one!

The children have been expressing a great deal of interest in what is going to happen to me as I get closer to my due date.  Unfortunately/fortunately, they are pretty aware of the actual birthing process having watched a wide variety of animals give birth on the farm.  Walker has expressed some anxiety over all the doctor appointments so we recently had him come with us.  It was a busy day - I had to do a one hour glucose test where I drank a sugary orange drink (I found out that this drink contains 3x more sugar than a Mountain Dew soft drink!) and then after waiting for one hour, I have blood drawn.  In the one hour wait time, we took Walker to the maternity ward, showed him the rooms and the nursery.  He wasn't too impressed.  Then we headed back to the lab to get the blood work.  He wanted to come in and see what happened and was sitting in a chair across from me.  He was a little scared but I just explained that the phlebotomist would stick a needle in my arm kind of like a shot and blood would come out through a tube and fill a little vase.  He watched with a little horror as she inserted the needle, but the we could see him straining to see.  The phlebotomist told him he could come over closer to see.  So he watched me fill up to vials of blood.  

Phlebotomist:  Here's one vial of blood - all filled up.  Touch it, it's very warm.

Walker:  Momma!  I didn't know your blood was so hot!

Phlebotomist:  Ok.  We got two tubes so we're all done.

Walker with great disappointment:  Aw.  Can't we just do another one?

I admit with some shame that occasionally we are those parents that threaten the kids with a wooden spoon.  We've never actually had to use it really, just the threat scares them pretty good because I have told them stories of my mom hitting me with a wooden spoon or the 'pank turner (pancake turner/spatula) and I make it sound so gruesome that they know it will really hurt.  The other night, Walker and Maggie were whining a great deal about cleaning up the toys they had gotten out.  

Erik said threatening:  Where is that wooden spoon?  

Will, running into the kitchen:  I get it for you, Daddy!

Walker recently went to the dentist and came home with a goody bag filled with a new toothbrush, toothpaste and floss. He left it in his Dad's truck but then asked Maggie to carry it to the house for him.

Walker picking his teeth with his fingernails:  Momma.  What did Maggie do with my gloss?

Momma:  Gloss?  I don't think you have any lip gloss, buddy.

Walker:  No - my GLOSS!  For my teeth!

Momma:  Oh - your dental floss.  Yeah, it's in the cupboard with the toothbrushes.


It has been a beautiful and sunny week here at Goodness Grows Farm.  Yesterday, the children spent hours outside.  Rather than come in the house and ask for one, they kids decided they would just get in the car and raid the stash of lollipops I keep in there for emergency bribe moments.  So yesterday afternoon, Will comes in the house with a lollipop and says:
Will (with a big smile on his face and laughter in his voice:  Momma.  Chloe like me pop.  So funny.  
Momma (a little stricken, but complacent in only the way a farm mom can be when her children tell her about sharing their food with the pets): Oh yeah?  Chloe likes lime lollipops, huh?
Will:  Yeah.  Her say 'Yummy in my tummy'!  Then makes a big slurping noise.

Will (after eating lunch) sticking his belly out and lifting up his shirt:  Dere's a baby in mys tummy.
Momma:  Really?  What kind of baby?  
Will:  A pink one.
Momma:  So that must mean it is a girl baby.
Will (in his most indignant voice):  NO!  It is a pink one!
Will leaves kitchen in disgust.

Small Farmers Part 2 - Antibiotics/Pharmaceuticals on the Small Farm

Small farming provides a host of challenges.  As we approach the Spring and Summer farming seasons, it brings about a new set of goals and obstacles for us.  And by "us" I mean Erik.  Due to my current state of pregnancy, I'm really not much use out back at the barns.  I am clumsy and not able to lift anything, so if I manage to maneuver the long path of sludge that we call the driveway to the barn, I basically just stand there and observe.  Erik is in charge of everything for the farm - from the day to day feeding to the planning for crops, arranging crops to be planted and harvested, managing our herds, flocks, etc., to performing emergency medical procedures and treatments, Erik has a handle on everything.  That's not to say that I don't help out a little and through helping out, I've gleaned a little knowledge and some opinions on the subject.   Here's the disclaimer I posted in my first post about small farming :Small Farmers Part 1 - The Chicken Chronicles

the following comments are the opinion of the author and are a compilation of conclusions I have come to after MINOR research into the small farm business. Please do not interpret my OPINIONS as fact nor should you take my OPINION as an endorsement for anything in particular.


I have to say that our farm has benefitted greatly from the internet.  In our area of Western PA., large animal vets are few and far between.  By the time you actually reach one on the phone and get them to your place, chances are your animal may be dead.  We have spent a lot of time on our cell phones - Erik in the barn giving me a list of symptoms and me at the computer looking those symptoms up for a possible treatment.  God Bless all those folks out there who are willing to share their knowledge with the rest of us on the net.

Having had to do that has led us to some conclusions about antibiotics and other practical drugs used in small farming.  Many people ask us if we are organic or hormone free, etc.  The answer is yes and no.  First of all, there is no such thing as "hormone free."  All animals that are consumed contain hormones because all animals create their own natural hormones.  When you butcher and consume them, you can't extract the hormones - well, at least the butchers we use don't offer that option.  I'm sure in some scientifically based, sterile laboratory out there some where, it can be done.   Usually when people refer to "hormone free" they are asking, "does the farmer inject or feed growth hormones to the animal?"  Growth hormones have been a popular choice in the past to enhance the growth of animals, creating larger animals at younger ages.  Here at Goodness Grows Farm we choose to manage growth through natural breeding practices.  Why don't Factory Farms use natural breeding practices to promote natural growth and weight gain?  Well, basically because it is a money issue.  To make more money faster, you have to produce more animals faster, which means you have to sell off animals at higher weights faster.  Not only does this mean introducing growth hormones, but it also means feeding the animals a steady diet of antibiotics to ward off infection.

Now, I'm not a big conspiracy theorist or one who always believes everything that she reads.  However, I've come across enough "conspiracy" articles to make me think twice about the ethics of factory farms and how they are "creating" animals for the marketplace (your local supermarket).  There are TONS of articles out there from major news organizations highlighting the problems with factory farm animals, but here are a few links to both major news organizations and some posts from other farm bloggers about their discoveries as to why factory farms use antibiotics as a PREVENTATIVE measure and what that means for us, the consumers.

Is Your Food Safe?
Giving Antibiotics to Animals . . . Not So Smart

If you don't feel like reading these articles, the break down is this.  Factory Farms routinely give their animals small doses of antibiotics as preventative measure to cut down on infections, etc. that tend to plague feed lots.  Additionally, research has shown that routinely feeding cows (beef) antibiotics there is a three percent increase in growth in those animals.  This should be wonderful, right?  Cows are growing faster, staying healthier, and the factory farmer is making better profit AND better yet, the increased good health of these animals leads to better prices at the supermarket because the farmer has less loss (death) to counterbalance.

Well, research is showing that not only are feed lots/ factory farms unhealthy regardless of the use of antibiotics, the use of antibiotics in consumable meat is leading to the mutation of many forms of common viruses.  Not only are the viruses mutating, but humans are consuming (through their meat and environment) small doses of COMMON antibiotics making those antibiotics useless to treat many common infections.

So, what does this mean for the small farmer?  Well, here at Goodness Grows Farm, we use antibiotics and/or other pharmecutical treatments regularly AS NEEDED.  Why?  Well, if you had a serious infection that could be treated easily with a course of antibiotics, you would do it, wouldn't you?  Strep throats, ear infections, etc., are all treated regularly with a simple course of antibiotics.  It is important for your health, right?  It's the same for a small farmer.  A while back, we had an outbreak of pink eye in our goat herd.  Should we have completely ignored the infection, allowed our goats to go blind and let our consumers see us treat our goats inhumanely or were we right in secluding the infected animals, treating them all with a minimal course of antibiotic treatment and then once they were healed return them to the herd?  Economically, the right thing to do was to treat our herd.  The antibiotics were administered for less than 10 days.  We do not believe in the daily administration of antibiotics to our animals, but yes, when needed, we will provide adequate medical care.  It is good farming practice.  

Animals are expensive - especially animals considered "stock" which refers to the animals kept on a farm for breeding purposes only.  If we did not treat our breeding stock appropriately when they are sick, we would be out of stock in months.  Every animal has a disease or ailment that they are prone to.  Goats often develop pneumonia.  Is it humane to let our stock suffer with pneumonia just so we can say our animals are "antibiotic" free?  Of course not.  That's just ridiculous.  Just as any extreme is ridiculous.  Most small farmers I know practice a common sense, middle of the road approach to farming.  Especially small farmers that rely on that farm for income.  Whenever possible, we use as many home remedies as possible.  I can't even tell you the concoctions we have created in my kitchen for our goats they are so bizarre, but they didn't involve pharmeceuticals and we were able to treat and even in some cases save the lives of our stock.  In fact, one simple treatment many dairy farmers use for their cows when they have a twisted stomach or other stomach ailment is to give the cow a bottle of beer.  The yeast in the beer has components that help level out the bacteria in the stomach.  It seems so simple yet is very scientific.  On the other hand, when we have a dire situation, we have the proper antibiotics and other medications on hand to treat our animals appropriately.

It's all about balance, folks.

Sharp wire brushes leave your caviar looking clean

Sharp wire brushes leave your caviar looking clean


I'm trying to earn money on my blog.  One of the ways to do this was to register with a site that will not suggest advertisers to place ads on my site, but will also allow advertisers to request that I write articles for them.  


We'll see what happens, but for now, I had to publish that silly opening sentence so they can verify I own this site and am not trying to make money off someone else.  


I'm not sure how effective this is going to be - but if you happen to catch me out purchasing a vacation home or something, I guess you'll know my attempt at gaining advertisers worked!  


Thanks : )

Life at Fertility Farm . . . ur I mean, Goodness Grows

Way back eight years ago we bought this farm.  In January of 2003, we started 9 months of demolishing and rebuilding the farmhouse.  During that time, we would spend evenings here working.  When we were thirsty, we drank the water from our well.  On the days that I would finish my job before Erik, I would come over and walk the property - explore the woods and throw sticks for the dogs.  One late summer day on a walk, I encountered our now beloved neighbor, Donna.  She gave me some history about the farmsteads surrounding ours and the low down on how many children were born at each place.  The farm she now lives on belonged to her husbands family.  Dan was one of I believe 15 children.  She and Dan had five children even though they didn't buy and build a house on the property until their children were all grown.  Up the road a bit lived another family that had a dozen children, and so the stories went on.  I had recently found out I was pregnant and Donna said, "Be careful . . . there's something in the water around here."

Since purchasing this house and drinking the water, I've conceived four children.  Three are alive and well, and the fourth is, as we joke around here, still incubating.

Since we started our goat production herd, we've had about a 99% success rate with our breeding program.  (For all you non-farm folk, for an operation that relies soley on ONE billy to get the job done, that's high).

Our most recent fertility success story is that of our beloved Chloe.

As many of you may be readers know, Chloe went into labor Tuesday night and gave birth to SIX wonderfully healthy and robust puppies.  I was always under the impression that there typically was a runt in every litter.  Not so.  Each of these puppies is as roly poly as the next.

"Tubby" is the name we've affectionately given the first born.  He is almost completely white with a brown head and a brown spot on his shoulders and another just at the spot where his spine and tail meet. He is our most vocal pup and cries anytime he is separated from his mother or litter mates.

Notice in this picture you cannot find Tubby.  That's because his favorite place to sleep is under his Mama's leg.  If you lift Chloe's leg up, you'll find him tucked up under there.  Funny dog.

The only other one's we've really identified w/ a name are "Brownie" (well, because he is all brown) 

And we know this one was our last born because it was interesting that our first born and last born were so similarly colored (minus one spot).

The other three are typical in terms of markings - brown heads, white collar, brown backs & tails with white tips.

Although we've discovered something different about this one than all of the rest.

This is "Dot."  She's our only girl.

Six babies and only one female in the litter.

They're all pretty cute though - and the best is watching how they cuddle up with each other when Mama Chloe needs to take a break.

ALL six of the puppies are for sale.  If you are interested in one, please contact us.  We also highly recommend that you do some research on Border Collies if you are not familiar with the breed.  Do your research and then decide if the breed would match your lifestyle and your family dynamic.  They are a high energy, high maintenance breed.  They are super intelligent, super loving and all around good dogs, but if they are not living a particular lifestyle, their intelligence and EXTREME work ethic will get the better of even the most loving of owners.  Remember, these dogs are bred to be herders, and that instinct does not go away just because they are not living on a farm.  They will herd small children, birds, and to their demise, tires.  I've heard countless stories of Borders "herding" the tires on the family car with a fatality or traumatic injury the result.  Even our Chloe, who has ample exercise and "working" time, will attempt to herd the tires of our quad.

I don't mean to scare away potential owners, but I feel it is my duty to warn you about the nature of the breed because I love the breed so much.

Puppies will be ready for visitors in about 10 more days or so.

Small Farmers Part 1 - The Chicken Chronicles.

I've been going a little stir crazy lately, waiting for our Border Collie, Chloe, to give birth.  Even now, she sits to my right in the superyard we borrowed from our friends to serve as the whelping box/nursery. I have been doing my normal household chores, but nothing seems to be distracting me enough. I've been doing lots of online reading on a variety of topics from "how to tell if a dog is in labor" to "complications that can occur in dog labor." So today I decided to shift focus away from dogs and whelping to doing some research on farming, small farmers, local producers and buying/selling local and got inspired to talk a little bit about the subject and to explain a little bit about where we are coming from as small farming meat producers.


Special Alert:  while writing this, Chloe went into labor!  I tried to complete and publish this post, but I could not find it in me.  It was too exciting to watch her.  I'll do another post on that adventure!

I'm probably not saying anything new here, I mean, for years we've been hearing about the trends towards buying food and products that are free range, organic, cage free, hormone free, etc. I've said in previous posts that I support the efforts of people to find and purchase these items, but buying products from a grocery store with those stamps on them for our family is not as important as buying your food products locally. By no means am I an expert in this field, I mean, we've only been "small farmers" for about four years now, but in those four years, I've managed to form some opinions, which I can share.

DISCLOSURE: the following comments are the opinion of the author and are a compilation of conclusions I have come to after MINOR research into the small farm business. Please do not interpret my OPINIONS as fact nor should you take my OPINION as an endorsement for anything in particular. If you are interested in the facts, please do your own research and perhaps check out this NPR interview.

NPR interview with Vilsack about ‘Know your famer, know your food’

Opinion 1: Buying organic, free range, etc., is great, BUT buying local (and from small farmers) is more important. My opinions are based heavily on the meat production market. I know a little bit about produce/crop production but not as much as I do about meat production/farming. I know that the biggest concern of consumers in regards to buying produce/crops in terms of the choice to buy organic is the use of pesticides and other chemicals that are sprayed onto fruits and vegetables and how those chemicals remain on the skins of the fruit produced. Obviously ingesting harmful chemicals is not something we want to do. And we don't want to feed animals that we are to consume products that have been grown with these chemicals. A friend of mine, who is much more educated regarding most of these matters has written several posts regarding sustainable living - from organic gardening to sustainable building, she's a plethora of knowledge and I've learned so much from her posts alone. I'd like to give a shout out to "Grace" a pseudonym she goes by to protect the privacy of her children (how excited am I that I get to use the word pseudonym!?  My childhood obsession with "Nancy Drew" is paying off!)  and her blog, Life Under A Blue Roof and include this link to a post she wrote on buying organic which addresses why buying organic produce is healthier on so many levels.  She also offers a great system for thinking about and implementing organics into your life - which you can also apply to the meat production industry.

http://lifeunderablueroof.blogspot.com/2010/01/sss-1-buy-organic.html

For the most part, the food you purchase from the grocery store is typically grown on a mega farm or feed lot of some sort. When I say "mega farm" I don't necessarily mean in terms of acreage - I'm talking in product. I guess the new term out there for these farms is "factory farm" which implies that an unnaturally large number of animals are maintained on these farms. Whether the farm is here in the USA or in another country, large farms typically have larger problems with their crop or livestock. The number one problem these factory farms have is disposal of animal waste.  Now, I know that everyone needs to and deserves to make a living, but my personal opinion is that the factory farm is not the best, healthiest, or easiest way to farm.  Additionally, factory farms require less workers, less skill, and when you boil it all down, the meat appears to be much cheaper than locally grown, but the true cost is never truly revealed because as taxpayers, we pay for government subsidies to these farms and we must cover the costs of pollution produced by them. 

Unnaturally large numbers of animals are kept on such farms.  They are kept in close confinement in order to restrict movement allowing for maximum calorie intake and minimal calorie burn.  They are fed unnecessary high calorie diets in order to promote fast growth.  High calorie diets in animals result in high fat foods for consumers.  Sure, in a processing plant, meat can be de-fatted, but from experience, I can tell you it is far easier to start the butchering process with an animal that is leaner.  Additionally, these animals are usually confined indoors with minimal room for normal animal behaviors and limited access to sunlight and fresh air (both which are needed in order for the body to absorb and maintain proper vitamin levels).

For instance, a hen laying chicken facility can house up to 30,00 - 82,000 chickens on one farm.







For a meat chicken farm, they can maintain up to 125, 000 chickens.  Numbers are based on the manure processing/treatment facilities of the factory farm.

Many of you know that Erik and I have been raising layers (hens that lay eggs) for their eggs since we bought our farm.  We also have been raising meat chickens for our home consumption.  We've done this for about 3 years now and through trial and error have learned valuable lessons.  Our first experience in raising meat chickens was good, but we followed the advice of an article based on production from a factory farm.  We kept 25 chickens penned into a section of our barn about 4 feet square.  We offered feed to them 24 hours a day.  We did not buy organic or locally produced feed.  They were limited in movement and had no exposure to the outdoors.  The idea behind this was to promote maximum growth in fewer days.  The chickens we raised were even genetically bred to pack on the pounds in six to eight weeks.  Confined to such a small space, these chickens grew to be quite large and as a result, they also lost their ability to walk - their tiny bones could not support their weight. If we did not butcher them by 10 weeks, they would  be worthless. They also became aggressive with each other - crowded for space, they fought for every spare inch they could get.  Finally, they were dirty.  Unable to walk and move, they were covered in their own excrement.  Gross.  When we butchered them, they were very fatty.  When I cooked them, I spent a long time cutting away fat, which actually left adequate meat- but it was a pain.

The second time we raised meat chickens, we kept them confined to a similar size space, but changed our feeding schedule.  We heard about feeding them for 12 hours and then taking the feed away to help eliminate the amount of fat the chickens produced.  This system did produce less fatty chickens, but the results were still the same in terms of them being dirty and not having any exposure to the outdoors.

This third round, we raised the chickens in confinement, however, we gave them a larger area in which to live.  Erik basically fenced in one area of our hoop-house barn, which receives a lot of sunlight due to the 5 foot wide barn door being open.  We fed them locally grown (about two miles away), locally milled (ground up) feed and were surprised when the eight week mark came and went without the chickens showing signs that they needed to be butchered because they could not support their own weight.  In fact, because we raised these chickens over the summer, we ended up going about 12 weeks or so before we had them butchered and they did well.  We even somehow missed a chicken and he is still alive living with our laying hens to this day.  He's almost six months old - that's like 500 years in a meat chickens lifespan!  We eat our home grown chicken about once a week (if not more).  I find this batch of chicken to be the most flavorful, likely because the feed we are offering is a better feed.  Additionally, it is less fatty.  This is important because although the first year we did chickens, we butchered them ourselves, the last few times we've found local people to do the butchering for us.  Costs go up when the butcher has a lot of extra fat to remove.  Also, when we get the chickens home, I take a few and cut them down myself into portions for meals that require individual chicken pieces.  For us, the cost of about $2 per chicken to have someone else butcher it is worth the cost so we don't have to deal with the time consuming (and let's face it, gross) process of doing it ourselves.

We also feel justified in doing this because we are supporting another local business in their efforts to make a living.  After all, that is part of sustainable farming - utilizing the time, effort, talent, knowledge and skill of other small local farmers so that you ALL profit.

This is a lot of information to put out and to digest, so I'm going to end the post for now.  There is so much more I want to say about factory farming, the use of pharmaceuticals, and what we can do to improve the lives of small farmers, that I'll do a series based on this initial post.

I hope you enjoyed it and that you heed my disclaimer and do your own research so that you can make your own informed decisions about the food you eat and the farmers that you support.  Most people don't want to think about where their food is coming form - hence the popularity of the prepackaged, fast frozen products we can buy at the grocery store.  But there are consequences both economically, environmentally, and let's face it, physically to our health if we don't consider the farming practices behind the food that graces our table.

Some book links from Amazon.com that have been helpful.

Grammie

My Grammie's birthday was yesterday. I meant to post this yesterday, but I got busy and distracted - and well, to be honest, I really had to think about what I should write.  She has been an influence on my life like no other and there isn't a day that I don't think about her.  She passed away unexpectedly shortly before my first wedding anniversary.  It was probably the most painful experience of my life so far.   Grammie was a lovely and classy lady.  She was raised in a different time and was the quintessential homemaker.  Although I've never watched the show, the images of January Jones as the housewife in Mad Men make me think of her.  The black and white photos we have of Grammie from the 50's and 60's are her dressed impeccably, posing with her children or her friends.  She wore the beautiful housedresses, pedal pushers and keds, etc., just like all the images of the women of those days.  I think the only time she ever dressed down was pool side.  Typically, every Friday, she would wash her hair in the morning, then she would set her hair in pink foam rollers and sit in the sun and let her hair dry.  As long as I can remember, this was her summer ritual.  I can still see her sitting back in one of the white patio chairs, feet propped up on a second chair, wearing a coral or yellow, or royal blue simple spaghetti strap tank suit, her hair in pink rollers, reading glasses on and a Harlequin Romance in her hands.  When we would get to the pool, she would dip her chin down, her eyebrows would raise and her big blue eyes peek out over her glasses.

  "Well, hello, Angel!"  she would exclaim - as if she hadn't just seen us the day before and like we didn't live 300 yards from her.  She was always happy to see us and she never cared that we just popped into her house whenever we felt like it.  

Grammie and Papa were very much in love, but they also had their ups and downs.   But they always forgave each other and got back to life how they liked it.  My most vivid memories of being with my grandparents are summer time memories or our vacations to Florida.  No doubt because I had nothing else going on in my life at those times and it is when I was with them most.   My Papa has his own business, and I remember going into the house at 11 each morning to get Papa's lunch ready. Papa has always had a garden and at night, after supper (promptly on the table at 5:30) he would go out to the garden and tend to it.  He would bring in fresh lettuce and if in season, tomatoes and other vegetables for a salad.  Grammie would use those ingredients to make a BIG salad for him the next day.  Usually topped with some Bacos - do they still make those? and slices of hard boiled egg and tomato.  He always ate a sweet and sour dressing that my Grammie bought from a local restaurant - The Dutch Pantry - or he would just use oil and vinegar dictated by his Italian roots.   They were very happy together and had a complicated and easy relationship.  They were the perfect compliment to each other.  He always said something along the lines of "No one else on the earth could compare. . .  unless Sophia Loren showed up at my door - then I might have some choices to make."

This photo is of me with them at their 25th Wedding Anniversary Party.  I was pretty young here - maybe going on four, and I don't remember much about the party.  I just remember that anytime we went to the Country Club with them (or any restaurant for that matter) Shirley Temples were at our fingertips within seconds.  I'm pretty sure that Shirley Temples were on the menu for that special day as well.

I know that a lot of my memories are tainted by the rose colored glasses that grandchildren typically have in regards to their grandparents.  I know that she had flaws and made mistakes, but there is so much about my Grammie that I remember and hope to emulate.  Her husband and family always came first.  She loved us all fiercely and wanted only the best for all of us.  She may not have always gone about it in the best way, but her heart was in the right place.  

To me, Grammie was soft pink kisses that stained your cheeks, a whiff of Chantilly Lace perfume, Harlequin Romance novels and stacks of VHS recordings of soap operas.  She was a lover of everything shiney and sparkely, diamonds, real or fake, big clip on earrings, a collection purses and shoes that required their own zipcode, but most importantly, she was LOVE.  She was our protector and encourager, a lady that went after what she wanted and taught us to never settle.  

Most importantly, no matter who was around, how busy she was, or what the circumstance, she made me feel like I was the most important thing to her because I was her First Angel Baby.