Raven's Brook Farm

Ducklings hatched today

2010-05-15T19:43:00.000-07:00

Now everyone in unison: Awe....

I don't know how many there are yet, they are still hatching.

It's peeping hot in here

2010-04-27T07:54:00.000-07:00

A wind storm knocked out the power yesterday afternoon.

I phoned Hydro and they said it would be back on in half an hour. I didn't believe them. The wind was getting stronger and I knew that it wouldn't be long before more areas loss power. There were only a few hours of sunlight left so we had to get to work right away.

I left the eggs in the incubator. It's fairly well insulated and in a room that was about to get much warmer. It was the peeps that I worried about.

I have 43 little 4 day old chicks in a brooder in the garage which keeps the chicks toasty warm. Without electricity the brooder doesn't work. So, we stoked up the two wood fires in and set up a temporary home for the chicks in a box next to one of the fires. They didn't like the journey from the garage to the house, but once they were inside they enjoyed investigating their new surroundings.

On top of this, I had a sick hen out in the yard. She was so listless and her eyes were glossed over. I thought for certain that she wouldn't make it through the night. Thankfully it was just an unpleasant egg and she's right as rain this morning. It was just one more worry on an already stressful day. But back to the peeps.

As the early afternoon turned into the late evening and the power was still not on, I began to wonder if I would get any sleep that night. I had to keep the fire going at a good rate to keep the chicks warm enough. So I would have to stay up until the electricity returned.

Have you ever put your hand under a hen while she was sitting on the nest? It's wonderfully warm under there. It's like being in an extra hot sauna. That's the environment that the chicks need. And an extra hot sauna is what we turned our house into.

Because there wasn't much light, so the chicks cuddled together and all went to sleep on mass. Then one peep would wake up and all the chicks would wake up and start chirping. Then they would slowly fall back asleep.

The power eventually came on around 9pm, and once the brooder warmed up again we took the peeps home. They sure were happy to be back.

An occasional adventure is all well and good, but there is nothing quite as comforting as home, sweet, home.

More eggs in the incubator

2010-04-26T08:30:00.000-07:00

I stuck 13 hen's eggs in the incubator last night.

I don't know if I've done my math right but I think they should hatch around the same time as the duck eggs. It takes 28 days for chickens to hatch. - Ops, 21 days to hatch. So they will be ready sooner than I planed. oh well. I'll get the brooder ready.

I've come to pick up my Peeps

2010-04-24T07:59:00.000-07:00

I have six roosters crowing in my ear.

We brought home four bantam cross cocks today and man can they yell. The boys are for my new chicks. They have experience fighting off hawks and two of them have even defeated an eagle. I figured they would be perfect for keeping my girls safe when I'm not around.

As for me new peeps, I picked up 43 darling baby hens on Thursday. They are absolutely tiny and very curious about the world around them. They will live in the brooder until the weather warms up enough. Until then, I get to wipe their bottoms. That last part is not as cute as it sounds.

Urban Hand-raised Hen Programme

2010-04-22T08:15:00.000-07:00

I plan to hand raise hens to sell to urban chickenites.

I think that chickens are the best. They can be affectionate, intelligent and they provide their owners with a lovely egg almost every day.

I love the idea of keeping chickens in an urban environment. I wish I had known about this as a kid. Forget about wanting a cat, hens are the answer.

That said, there are challenges for the family who wants to keep a couple of hens in their back yard. I think I've got the answer to that: my Urban Hand-raised Hen Programme.

What challenges could there be? They are only chickens after all.

If you want to hand raise your hen yourself, you have to start from scratch. Most places require a minimum order of 25 chicks which is way too many for an urbanite. The would be chicken lover has to set up all sorts of equipment to keep the chicks healthy. There's special chick feed, brooder, heat lamp, red light bulb to stop them from pecking each other. Correct temperature and airflow are vital. Not too hot, not too cold, good circulation, and no draft. You even have to teach them how to drink. You have to provide special watering equipment to prevent them from drowning. For the first week or so, you have to wipe their bottoms if they get pasty poo stuck all over it. It can be expensive and time consuming to care for chicks.

One could always buy point of lay hens - chickens who are mature enough to start laying, usually after 4 to 6 months of age - are few and far between around here. And even then, they are usually over a year old and are not use to a small flock and human affection.

If left to their own devices, it can be hit or miss if the chicken is affectionate towards people. The best way to do this is to keep them in small flock and handle them several times a day.

What I plan to do is to raise hens in small flocks of 6 or less. Spend lots of time with them every day to socialize them to human interaction. Then, once they are old enough, sell them to urban chickenites.

And yes, before you ask, city people around here can keep hens. From a recent news paper article: The Charm of Chickens:

ROOST RULES
Bylaws governing keeping chickens in a residential neighbourhood vary by municipality. It is recommended interested parties contact their municipal hall or local animal control office. Roosters are not permitted in any urban municipality.
CITY OF VICTORIA
No limit to size of flock
Eggs for personal consumption and cannot be sold
SAANICH
10 chickens on land 1,114.8 square metres to 1,858 square metres
30 chickens on land lots between 1,858 square metres and 0.4 hectare
No limit on land more than 0.4 hectare (or one acre)
ESQUIMALT
Four chickens on any parcel of land zoned for single family residential use
OAK BAy
Requires a poultry-keeping permit
Five chickens on land greater than 745 square metres but less than 1,858 square metres
Eight chickens on land between 1,858 square metres and 4,047 square metres
10 chickens on land greater than 4,047 square metres (or one acre)
NORTH SAANICH
10 chickens on land 12,000 square feet to one acre
20 chickens over one acre to two acres
30 chickens over two acres
CENTRAL SAANICH
No more than five chickens on a parcel of land less than 1,858 square metres
No more than eight chickens on a parcel of land greater than 1,858 square metres and less than 4,047 square metres
No more than 10 chickens on a parcel of land of 4,047 square metres or more

Duck Eggs

2010-04-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

I went egg hunting around the yard yesterday. A bit late for Easter, I know.

There are three ducks (not including Sky Duck) laying eggs in five different nests. Some of the nests are really poorly placed and easy for a big old monster to get at. So I collected up the eggs to stick in the incubator.

I know that all of the eggs are under four days old and the weather hasn't been extremely cold or hot during that time, so I think they will hatch. I even tried candling them, but I have no idea what I'm looking for. They look mostly transparent with yellow tint up the pointy end (except for one which is yellow tinted up the other end). I'm curious to see how they change over time.

These are Muscovy ducks, so according to this breliant guide, they take 35-37 days to hatch. Which means that Sky Duck's eggs (I left her on the nest) should hatch 10 days earlier than mine.

Eggs how many started sitting should hatch

Sky Duck >17 10 Apr 2010 15-17 May 2010

Incubator 14 19 Apr 2010 24-28 May 2010

Anyone want to check my math on that?

Tasty eggs

2010-04-17T08:47:00.000-07:00

It's raining today. That's good because after the last few days of hot sunshine, the rain barrow is less than half full (or is that more than half empty). It also gives me an excuse to work on my weaving.

Yesterday I potted up the basil seedlings. I have lots extra so I think I'll sell some of them and start more seeds for use later. There are four different types of Basil, but in an unusual act of recklessness, I didn't label which are which so I'll call them Assorted Basil.

One of the other ducks has started a nest near my bedroom window. This is great news because maybe I can help protect her from nasty monsters.

Speaking about eggs, I have one hen who loves eggs. She loves them so much that she pecked open no less than 7 eggs the other day.

Apparently when you have an egg eater in the flock and you don't know who it is, you lift up each hen and whichever one is the heaviest is your prime suspect. This one hen weighs as much as my rooster which is at least five times the weight of the average chicken in my flock. So, yesterday I separated Blacky (soon to be re-named Vindaloo) and not a single egg was pecked. This is indeed good news.

But now we are faced with a different challenge. What do we do with naughty black hen? I'm not willing to eat her. Mostly because I don't want to kill her. Plus there is the plucking. She is people friendly - not affectionate - but not aggressive either. She's also older than the other hens. I'm not interested in keeping her separate from the flock forever. It makes one more feeder to fill twice a day. That means I have to go out and buy an extra feeder and waterer for a chicken that I don't really want.

So, I have one gorgeous, healthy, friendly, and well fed chicken available. She is still laying most days, but you have to get the eggs quick. If anyone would like to buy an extremely fresh stewing chicken or if someone with a soft heart would like to give her a good retirement home, please get in touch this week.

Odd things

2010-04-13T08:24:00.001-07:00

Yesterday all the critters were acting very odd.

The rabbits were exceptionally cowardly, the ducks kept trying to sneak onto the road, and the hens constantly fought among themselves all day long. Normally the boys manage to keep the hens civil, but not yesterday. Major hen fights all day long.

Then, as night fell, the dogs in the neighbourhood all started to bark. They kept on barking at least until I fell asleep.

This morning, the chickens seem in better spirits. Except a great big raven flew down and landed just the other side of the fence to my rooster and he didn't do anything about it. Maybe it's time I added a stronger rooster to the flock.

Chickens, ducks and basil

2010-04-13T07:41:00.000-07:00

The roof on the Chicken palace is almost finished. We had a lot of help putting it up; neighbours, friends and family all came out to assist. The hardest part of the project has been keeping my G'pa off the ladder.

Sky Duck is still sitting on the eggs. She had 17 at last count. Whenever she runs off for a snack, one of the other ducks sneak in and lays an eggs.

Today's task for me is to transplant my basil. I love basil and I've planted four different kinds so far.

skye duck

2010-04-10T21:12:00.000-07:00

Skye Duck, the mum of most of my ducks, has started sitting on her eggs today. I counted 12 eggs last time I looked, but there are probably more.

I wonder if I should take her eggs. The other duck died defending her nest from predators. But then again, Skye Duck has managed on her own before and the nest is right against the house.

Still no ducklings from the Ms Moneypenny's eggs yet.

Good morning chickens

2010-04-09T07:42:00.000-07:00

It's frosty this morning. I didn't think it would be given how rainy and windy it was when I went to bed. It looked like another windy weekend. But instead, it is sunny with quite a bit of frost on the ground. That's good because the roof on the new hen-house is going up this weekend and I would rather have frost than wind.

At the moment I have 27 hens and two roosters. Well, one of them is the rooster - he rules the roost and the other boy is a cock (which is short for cockerel which is something I never needed to know when I lived in the city). I can hear them now, singing "Let-Me-Oudda-'ere!". I lock up the hen-house each night so that the evil monsters cannot get in and eat the chickens.

At the moment I get around 20 eggs a day which isn't nearly enough to keep up with demand. It's funny because every third driveway along our road has an egg sign out. I wonder if everyone has this problem and are constantly running out of eggs or is it just us? We are one of two houses I know of where you can see the chickens from the road. So even when we don't have the sign up, random people are always popping by to purchase eggs.

That's why we are building the new hen-house. I have fifty day old chicks arriving later this month and plan to have two flocks of chickens instead of one. My neighbour has some bantam-cross cocks/roosters that they are giving us tomorrow which should do really well at keeping the new hens safe.

Why the roosters? Three reasons: First, they are necessary if I want to hatch out some of the eggs. Second, they stop the hens from fighting too much. Hens are just like high school, so that tells you just how cruel they can get. And third, roosters are excellent for defending off predators. These ones have lots of experience and are willing to do battle with a hawk on behalf of their hens. They also make a lovely noise in the middle of the night: "Let-Me-Oudda-'ere!", "Let-Me-Oudda-'ere!"

The new hen-house is a lot fancier than the first one. We have taken all the lessons we've learnt from the first flock and used them to design a chicken palace. Now all we need to do is to find helpers to put on the roof.

Eggs

2010-04-08T08:07:00.000-07:00

The ducks were very aggressive with each other this morning. I have one drake that is scheduled to go to the neighbour's for dinner. He has black feathers on his head and is a pain in the backside - the drake not the neighbour. The neighbour is lovely. Actually, all my neighbours are lovely. Well, except for the one I haven't met. I don't know if he's lovely or not.

Blackhat - the drake with the black feathers on his head - is a real bully. He's always pestering the ducks and chasing they off their nests. The ducks get their own back when they can. Sometimes Blackhat has this long thing hanging out of his behind (his penis) and the ducks play 'bite that worm'. Nature is very weird.

Of the four ducks I have left, two of them have started laying eggs again. There are eight eggs in one nest and two in the other, although the nest at the front of the house has the eggs scattered around a bit this morning. That might be thanks to Blackhat.

Of the eggs I saved from Ms Moneypenny's nest, one of them was definitely off. It had a crack in it and didn't show the air bubble when I candled it. So I did an egg-topsi and discovered that, though it did have a large yolk with a tiny white spot on it, it smelt terrible when opened.

The other eggs, when candled had fairly large air bubbles and possibly movement inside. On one of the eggs I thought I saw a tiny webbed foot up against the eggshell. But it was gone before I could get the camera. 'Though, it might have been wishful thinking.

Dead duck day

2010-04-07T08:10:00.000-07:00

I've decided that I need to keep better records of what's happening on the farm.

I've known this for a while, but it really came home yesterday morning when my darling duck, Ms Moneypenny, was attacked and killed. She died defending her nest, probably from raccoons. She had become quite a good friend and I would bring her breakfast in bed every morning so that she wouldn't have to leave her eggs to go forage. I never left any food around the nest because I was worried about attracting rats.

I had been looking into incubators lately, especially after I found that Ms Moneypenny had bite marks on her neck one morning. Possibly from rats, but I think the teeth marks were too far apart and were most likely from a mink. Given the price of incubators (starting around $200) and the lack of supplies on hand to make my own, I was tempted to simply remove the eggs. I would rather have the eggs die then loose the duck. But I didn't have the heart to do it to her. After all, she had put so much energy and love into keeping those eggs. That's where I went wrong.

All of the eggs survived the attack, but the battle itself seems to have ranged across half the back yard. (this is the gross part) Her head was ripped off and carted away which is usually the act of raccoons. A raven as large as the ones you get in The North, half again the size as the local ravens, had already found the carcass and was finishing off the entrails. All this in about an hour and a half - between the time when we got up in the morning and looked outside to check on them and the time we finished drinking our coffee.

I tell you, the realities of living on the farm can be extremely hard sometimes.

I'm not certain if this experience makes me want to raise even more animals so that I can enjoy the company of more ducks like Ms Moneypenny or if I just want to give up on animals all together. They do break my heart.

The thing I could have really used a journal for was to know when exactly she started sitting on those eggs. It's been at least a month now. You see, we ran out and immediately bought an incubator, stuck the eggs in it, and crossed our fingers. According to this fantastic egg hatching guide, a Muscovy duck takes up to 37 days to hatch. If my memory is right, which sometimes happens, then the eggs should be ready to hatch any day now. But it sure would be nice to know exactly when.

The next goal is to find some way to candle the eggs and find out which one has gone rotten. It really smells. Maybe I can discover if they are still viable and/or how far along they are. There isn't much information on Muscovy ducks anywhere; online or in books. But, I'll do everything in my power to hatch these eggs even if it means stinking up the house for a week with rotten egg smell.

Also, I've set up some traps: have-a-hearts (borrowed from friends and neighbours) for the raccoons and the mink and snappers for the rats. It may be considered cruel these days to use snapper traps, but you know what, it's a much kinder and faster death than poor Ms Moneypenny got.

Ms Moneypenny is the small white duck in the back.

Snowdrops

2010-01-31T10:48:00.000-08:00

We now have snowdrops for sale.

This is the first proper thing we've had ready to sell at the farm (other than eggs) and we are very excited about it.

Grandpa planted almost 300 snowdrop bulbs in little 4" pots last fall. Now they are up and blooming.

Snowdrops are one of my most favourite flowers. They are the harbingers of spring. They have such dainty white little blossoms and, around these parts are in bloom before the tulips even think of poking though the soil.

$2.50 each pot.

Is it spring?

2010-01-23T10:52:00.000-08:00

Funny thing happened yesterday; While I was in the yard giving the chickens a treat, a person drove up and dropped off a hen in a box.

A vision of my future popped into my head: Every morning I would wake up and unsuspectingly step out my front door only to see yet another bassinet or box, orphaned hen nestled among the blankets inside, and a note saying something like 'please care for this hen, her name is...'.

This place is turning into quite the bird sanctuary these days. My Muscovy ducks are almost all grown up and are on the lookout for places to nest. Roving bands of California quail are starting to wonder around the yard again. Last year we had over 40 running wild in the yard and if I can ever find one of their nest, I will stick a bunch of eggs under one of my hens and have quail of my very own.

As for this new hen, I've named her Patty after the name written on the box. Apparently, they found her wondering around their yard a couple of days ago and decided to find a flock for her. It is thought that she and another hen (who was run over by a car) must have escaped from their home near Thetis lake. I think that Patty was a pet chicken and not a farm chicken. She seems more comfortable around humans than chickens. She doesn't mind when there is one or two hens near her but freaks out when several chickens come up to her to say hello. I had her in the chicken hospital (a cage that I put inside the hen house) so that she could become accustomed to the other chickens without being picked on. But as soon as I introduced her to the flock, Lucky, my rooster started chasing her with amorous intentions. Patty decided to leave the chicken pen and is now running wild around the yard.

(photo of Lucky with some of his hens)

I think I'll just leave her to do what she likes. She is obviously uncomfortable around boy chickens. She has access to the Duck's food and water and there are plenty of good places for a chicken to sleep around here. When she becomes more use to us, I'll try introduce her to the flock again. In the mean time, she can eat bugs and fertilize the lawn.

duck

2009-08-28T07:49:00.000-07:00

Today is friday, my day for cleaning out the chicken's house. It's amazing how dirty twenty-seven hens, two roosters and a duck can make a place in a week. Wait a minuite, did I say duck?

This fellow was found at the side of the road next to our driveway. We haven't found his owners yet, but this muscovy duck seems to be happy enough with our chickens. He even made himself a home in the hen house dispite us makeing him a shelter that he could have all to his self. When he arrived he weighed in at under 2lb, now he's alsmost up to 10 lb. He has quite a limp, but other than that he seems happy and is increadibly friendly.

Speaking about duck, this week we were given eight ducklings and a mummy duck. These are also muscovy ducks. They are so cute. They look like they are smiling. I'm smiling too: apparently these ducks love to eat slugs.

Working hard

2009-08-25T19:07:00.000-07:00

We've been working hard at the farm. We've made a home for the rabbits, dug a pond, moved the hen house, and harvested a countless number of cucumbers.

We now have far too many cucumbers and more eggs than we can eat. Eggs are $3.50 a dozen and any vegitables or fruit we have ready are by donation this year. Tours of the place are free and encouraged. They give us a welcome break.

Also, if you have any old egg cartons, we would gladly take them off your hands. The hens are laying between one and two dozen eggs a day. They are finally earning their keep.

Realities of farm life can be disgusting

2009-06-11T09:31:00.000-07:00

Sad news this morning. We are one chicken short. (Oh, and some of this post is disgusting – I don’t yet have the stomach for the realities of the farm life, so I thought I’d warn you before you read this.)

We keep the hens and some of the cockerels in a coop next to the house, but most of the boys live in something called a Chicken Tractor. This is a cage made of wire mesh and has a roost on top. The tractor has wheels which allow us to move it twice a day so that the chickens have fresh grass to eat. This has two advantages: one, we can concentrate where the chickens eat (they eat nasty bugs so we put them in the orchard) and poop and second, it keeps them safe from predators – well, safer than free range. Or, at least that’s the plan.

When we opened up the chicken coop this morning, the hens seemed out of sorts. They were making the chattering noise they make after they’ve had a scare. I thought that maybe that little bunny rabbit was around again. The rabbit is half their size but it really seems to bother them.

The chickens in the coop were physically unharmed, though in need of reassurance from us (they get underfoot and demand that we stop and chat with them). The chickens in the tractor, however, didn’t do so well. There was a single chicken leg outside the cage and about half a chicken left inside with his friends. This is even more discussing because when I went to fetch the carcass out, the remaining cocks were upset that I was removing their breakfast. I hate cannibalism – It can lead to nasty illnesses like mad-chicken. Okay, on a small scale production like ours, it’s not that serious – but it is a health risk I would rather they had not taken. Besides, it makes a huge mess and I worry it will encourage them to peck on each other and before last night, that bunch has been getting along very well with no injuries.

My worries were quickly confirmed. One chicken from the tractor is injured and of course the other boys are all picking on him. So he goes in the chicken hospital (a small cage with some water and food) which we place near to his friends so that they can stay socialized as he recovers.

What happened last night, as far as we can tell, is that a small creature, possibly a mink, dug under the cage and up through the bottom wire (which has larger holes than along the side). It ate a chicken’s head then tried to drag off a leg for a later snack. yuck! It must have hurt the other poor chap in the process. We made the tractor according to what we’ve read in books, magazines and the internet. Obviously, we were under cautious. We were very lucky to loose only one chicken last night and today, well, we are upgrading the chicken tractor. I might stay up late and keep vigil tonight. I don’t sleep much these days anyway and judging from the smell and that the corps was stiff, I think it might have happened early in the evening.

On a side note, we were going to have roast chicken for dinner tonight, but given the smell of decomp. and all that blood, I might have a vegan meal for once. I’ll have to see how I feel closer to dinnertime.

Scare Deer

2009-06-08T12:20:00.000-07:00

I helped G'pa make a Scare Crow this morning.

We got some old clothes and stuffed it with crumpled up newspaper. Fingers crossed it will keep the deer out of the garden until we can get the fence up.

Chickens

2009-06-08T10:08:00.000-07:00

I simply adore my chickens.

I even adore the mess they leave on the path, on the deck, on the ground, on the bench, and on anything else they can find (sometimes even the garden).

They are such a delight to care for. If I knew just how wonderful chickens could be I would have had them long ago.

We need to make hen boxes today so that they can start laying eggs. I wonder how old they start laying at? Ours are 9 weeks old now.

Grey water

2009-06-06T12:06:00.001-07:00

My great grandmother grew some of the best roses in the land. Well, some of the best roses in all of the Trimleys that is. When roving bands of aphids plagued other gardeners’ prized flowers, hers remained unharmed. This is one of the stories that are told in our family. You know the type of story; the stories that get told whenever the older family members get together with the younger, usually at holiday meals.

My great grandmother you see, use to do the washing up in a bucket and then pored the old dish water over the rose bushes outside the kitchen window. The first few times I heard this story, I was amazed. I was very young then you see, and being the Eighties, dish soap when applied to any plant was the quickest way to kill the poor rosebush. My great grandmother used castile soap, mostly because it was the only soap available at the time; unlike our modern household which was use to using products like Sunlight. Castile soap is made with oil or fat and an alkaline like lye which worked not only as an insect repellent but also nourished the plants.

This was the first time I realized that you could garden without chemicals (which did nothing to stop the aphids anyway and always seemed to be to me a waste of money). I think that this was the most powerful realization I had in my youth and I began, at a rather young age, to question all the ‘facts’ imparted to me by garden centers and by television. I also began to experiment and thus learned that modern dish soap leads to dead plants.

I’m quite lucky that I became sensitive to chemicals at this time in history and not ten or twenty years ago. Now products made according to old recipes (like castile soap) are readily available. All the cleaning products in the house nowadays are plant friendly and biodegrade quickly, even the dish soap. I always think it such a shame when I come in from watering my plants (with well water) to have a bath. Why can’t all that lovely nourishing bath water go to plants? Why send it to the septic field (which is bound to overflow with four people livening in the house)?

The plan is to install a grey water system. Grey water is water not suitable for drinking but is still good for other things (like watering plants). For example: bath water, laundry water, and dish water (provided you use natural soaps). The brown water, like that from the toilet, will still go to the septic field for now – we don’t have the resources or the energy to process this safely at the moment. Maybe in a few years when the septic field needs replacing we could switch to a system that would allow us to use this waste product in a more resourceful way.

The grey water system consists of a tank which will be buried at the base of the house. A hose will go from it to the lower garden and the water from the tank will flow according to the will of gravity to the stand pipe at the lower garden. At the top of the tank, there will be an overflow outlet which will flow into a series of small pools filled with reeds for filtration and finally join the pond (which has yet to be dug).

The council tells us that it is easy to get a permit for this as it doesn’t touch drinking water. They say all we need is a rough sketch of our plans and ten dollars. That is what they say in any rate.

The water tank arrived today, courtesy of our neighbour who hates the smell of an overflowing septic field in the summer. It’s about the size of my bedroom, so I think it will do.

On a side note, I don’t know if this would have happened so early on in our life here at the farm if I hadn’t taken it upon myself to show just how much water we make use of doing a simple thing such of laundry. My laundry machine is about a quarter size of a regular washing machine and is suppose to be extremely economical on water as well as electricity. For example it only fills with water two or three (your choice) times during a wash as opposed to up to five times for a regular washer. I did a wash on the economical setting and instead of allowing the water to flow down the drain; I lined up some 10 gallon buckets. One large load of wash filled up five buckets. Can you imagine? I thought for certain it couldn’t be right. Maybe the buckets are really five gallons instead? But no. All that water that could be used for the plants get’s dumped down the drain on an ordinary washing day. I cringe to think of how inefficient the washing machine that the other people in this house use might be. Just think, we are using water from the tap to water the plants. This way of doing things is not sustainable at all. So the grey water system is getting installed sooner rather than at the end of the year. It should make quite a difference.

What is in a name?

2009-06-05T12:59:00.001-07:00

It was 38.9 degrees Centigrade here the day before yesterday. That’s way too hot not to mention hotter than just about anywhere else in town. According to my min/max thermometer, it was a cool 33.9 degrees here yesterday. Even still, dad won’t let me go outside to play.

So, I’ve been thinking and reading about what we can call our place. What kind of farm are we?

Organic is a lovely word. It brings all sorts of warm fuzzy feelings to mind of sunshine and happy plants. Just, these days, that word has lost much of its potency. We don’t use any chemicals, in part because we don’t like what they do for the world, but mostly because my health won’t allow it. Eating foods grown with petro chemicals has a strong negative effect on my immune system – even more than it does on a healthy person. So we are extremely strict about the use of chemicals and we don’t even use things that would be okay under governmental organic guidelines. But if the word ‘organic’ has been shanghaied by the big agri-businesses and industrial food chain to the point where it no longer means all the good things it use to mean - and shanghaied it has been - then is it worth our time and money to become certified? The general consensus in the family is that the certification process is arrestingly expensive.

Local is one of my favourite buzz words these days. I buy most of my foods from local sources; if I am not able to buy from the farmer directly, then from a small butcher or farmer’s market. When it comes time to buy something that isn’t produced locally then I buy it from a local company. I’m very aware of where the food comes from and I feel terribly guilty when I buy something imported from far away or that is produced out of season. The same goes with tools and supplies for the farm. We bought many of our tools used from other small farmers (some turned out to work great, other’s broke within a week – but that’s a risk you take) and when we had to buy something new we didn’t go to some big box shop, we went to a small shop and supported a local business.

Most of the produce we hope to produce won’t travel well so, for the most part, we will only produce local foods, &c. So, I think that ‘local’ is a word we can use to describe ourselves.

We are in essence a family farm. Various types of farming are deeply engrained in our family’s history. All of our families experience would be considered small scale farming by today’s industrial standards, but much of was managing manor farms in England. My G’pa, a brick layer by trade, always kept a large kitchen garden, plenty of beautiful flowers, fruit trees and often livestock. He has over 90 years of experience growing things. Add my father and myself into the mix and we have three generations of different farming experiences under one roof. Of course, each generation has different styles of doing things. This presents us with the opportunity to learn from each other which is something that hardly ever seems to happen in the world these days.

Eco-friendly is a word which I would like to use. The thing about eco-friendly is that it means so many different things these days that one really isn’t certain how to use it. We are very conscious of the environment and try to act in a friendly way towards it. But in the end, I don’t know if we should use this term as it seems to have lost much of it’s meaning through over-use. Very much in the same way ‘organic’ has.

Sustainable, now there is the word for me. To me this means a combination of things. It means not destroying that which you depend upon. For example, don’t deplete the soil by growing the same mono-culture in the same place year after year or by augmenting the soil with chemicals. It also means being self sufficient. For example, use the chicken poo to nurture the plants in the garden rather than importing fertilizers (natural or otherwise) from outside. This also means saving money by not spending it on things that you can make (or your chickens can make) and can be altered with just a little bit of effort into something wholesome and nourishing.

Ethical? My dad loves this word for describing how we treat our critters. As far as general use of this word goes, I think we qualify. In fact, the SPCA (Society for the Prevention of the Cruelty of Animals) has a certification that you can apply for where they inspect your farm to make certain your animals are being taken care of. I think I would like to apply for this once we become more established. But as for the word ‘ethical’, as a philosophy student, it’s a difficult word for me to utilize – there are many ethical systems, some of which condone nasty behaviour for the betterment of the group (Nazi Germany during the second world war for example). So, as a philosopher, I would rather use a different word to say that we treat our animals kindly and in a way that they feel safe and free from cruelty.

So, for the moment, that makes us a Small, local and sustainable family farm. Unfortunately, that doesn’t sound as impressive as I had hoped. Can anyone suggest any better descriptive terms we could use to describe ourselves?

Until the weather cools down again and I can go play outside, I’ll practice being a farmer on this odd little game I found: Free Farm Game

Getting Started

2009-05-31T08:57:00.001-07:00

So, here we are, five months after moving in and we are finally starting to feel like a farm.

It feels like everything has been impossibly slow. In order to get one thing done, you have five other things that need doing and everything needs doing yesterday.

We are still waiting on contractors; many of whom came out to look around and never bothered to give us quotes despite us pestering them. Most of them claim that they don’t have the man power for a job this big, or the time for a job this small. We are not the only ones in this part of the world with this problem; it makes me wonder how much of this economic downturn is actually happening and how much of it is artificially educed by moderate sized businesses not bothering to hire employees. There is a lot of work out there; companies just need to step up to the plate. I don’t sound frustrated at all, do I? The end result is that the house is still in its deconstructed state. We took the carpet up before I could move in (carpet is made with chemicals and given my health these days, chemicals’ have gotta go.) and are waiting for plans from the engineer so that we can install the heating system (under floor heating with a heat pump from a pond which we are waiting for the guy to dig). By doing most of the work ourselves, we managed to find a contractor who would draw up the plans, get us the parts and inspect our work as we go along. In the mean time, we have to walk carefully on the noisy subfloor; being every vigilant of splinters that aim to lodge themselves into our feet.

The yard is doing much better. The chickens are growing up and providing us with lots of ‘fertilizer’ (much of it on the paths, so watch your step). They are a great source of entertainment and as they are allowed to wonder around where they like, they often come and help in the garden. They especially enjoy nibbling on vegetable seedlings, a habit I hope to eliminate by placing wire cages around the young plants. Despite my vow not to name my food, three of the cocks have been named. At first, I just named the rooster: Lucky. From the start he had a wonderful personality. As a chick he was bold. When all the others ran in the other direction, he would approach you and investigate. He’s also very people friendly, well friendly with people that he knows. At night Lucky is the last one in the coop, often escorting the hens inside, and if anything untoward happens to a member of his flock, he’s right there to set things right. He’s also the only chicken I’ve seen who doesn’t hog treats. If you give him a snack, more times than nought he will give it away to a hen. Since he is such a good care giver to the flock, we decided that he should live on and care for the hens when the other boys go to that ‘other place’ - thus the name Lucky.

The chicken named Trip loves tangy things. He’s one of the few chickens who will eat ants and once he ate a bumble bee. The bee, not wanting to be eaten, decided to sting poor Trip in the crop. The toxin from the sting made Trip terribly ill. I find him seizing on the floor of the coop, his neck flailing around like a bit of yarn, and I thought that he was a goner. His eyes were glazed over and he seemed to be completely unaware of his surroundings. I put him in a box with some straw and brought him into the house (to separate him from the other chickens just in case it was something epidemic). When we realized it was something he ate, I massaged his neck and gut to help it move through and get out of his system. Then I had to help him drink water (all that diarrhoea surely makes a chicken dehydrated) as he didn’t seem able to remember how to drink. Right away he seemed to relax and started to improve. A night in isolation (box in the livening room) and he was ready to rejoin the flock; albeit, his neck was still tender for a few days afterwards. Before all this, Trip was just another chicken, not much interested in human activity apart from the fact that we sometimes give chickens food. Now, he’s always near by when we are in the yard. He seems to realize that we saved his life; either that or being the only chicken to spend a night in the house has made him think he’s part chicken, part person. As for the name, well since I think he was hallucinating, I started calling him ‘tripp’n chick’n’ which was quickly shortened to Trip.

Another chicken, Spot, follows G’pa around the garden. He’s not much interested in the flock; he’s small and scrappy but loves eating bugs and therefore loves helping G’pa in the garden. Spot also enjoys eating weeds more than any other chicken. So, if you see G’pa out and about, chances are you will find Spot close by.

Speaking about G’pa, he’s out in the orchard pulling on the shoots right now. He’s planted over 50 fruit trees and one walnut tree since we have arrived. The deer have caused some havoc on the new trees, which was expected, so instead of waiting on contractors (again) we bought the fencing material from a nearby farm supply shop and will install it ourselves (at a savings of $14,000 over the lowest quote we had). I’m of the opinion that we should splurge and hire some people form the local hostel for the day to help us with the installation. G’pa and Dad are not as young as they pretend to be and given that I cannot even lift the posts, it would go much quicker if we had some help. Besides, it would help the economy to give some people extra pocket money.

We have three vegetable gardens started, the upper garden next to the house, the lower garden next to the brook which will eventually be dug, and my own experimental beds in the front yard. As G’pa has already planted enough vegetables to feed our family and hopefully a few extra to sell, I’ve decided to start some garden beds in different ways to see how they perform. Whereas G’pa is use to large scale garden beds, my experience is more towards the small scale raised bed system like what I used at the allotment gardens in the city. But, more on that later as the season progresses.

Even though everything took so long to get started, we should have enough vegetables to feed the entire family (including processing for the winter) and a some extra to sell to a select few. Once dad get’s a spare moment, I’ll get him to set up an email address that you can contact us on if you would like to put an order in. I think what I’ll do this year is to post on this blog what’s going to be available in a week’s time and then you can email with orders and we can have it ready for pick up when you are coming by our way. I’ll work out the details later on.

As the deer have thoughtfully striped most of our trees of the fruit buds, we will be scrumping for fruit this year. We might have a few apples and pears from the lovely old trees that were here when we moved in, but we will just have to wait and see.

The hope is that by next spring we will be growing enough to sell in earnest and start paying off my student loan. Both Dad and G’pa have small pensions which should get us through the year if we are frugal. But of course there are my health bills as well... well, something will work itself out and being outside seems to be good for my health. In fact I find it difficult to spend time inside when the weather is this fine so I’m going to have some breakfast and get out there to feed the chickens and work in my garden.