Well, it sounds like the setting for a crazy sci-fi movie, but it’s 2012! Hope everyone’s holidays over the past month or so have been joyful and relaxing, to whatever degree that is possible. I Tweeted early in December that I felt like I deal with a Möbius To-Do List on a daily basis – just looping around on the same tasks and never really being “done.” That seemed to resound with some other fellow “Tweeters” out there, so perhaps you can relate as well.
We are entering our third year of farming, and we’re excited and sometimes overwhelmed with the growth our little farm is experiencing. Our gratitude goes out to everyone who has helped to support us: family, friends, herdshare owners and customers, and even complete strangers! Whether you’ve purchased eggs, become a herdshare owner, or helped us out in other ways, we are truly thankful. We could not do this without you.
Speaking of which! Earlier this week, there was an anonymous surprise in our mailbox – a gift card inside of a card addressed to us that simply said “Merry Christmas” inside. It is so very much appreciated! We were able to use some of the funds on the card toward a heat tape that was installed on our water hydrant in the barn – it will keep it from freezing up during the cold weather. The animals benefit from this so much, as they do not have to wait for us to haul water down from the house if we can instead fill buckets in the barn.
We’ve got our first goat kids due in mid-March, and we will have deliveries of new babies happening through July, with the later arrivals being Nigerian Dwarf kids – the Nigerians can be bred practically year round. So, moving forward, we’ll always have a batch of “standard” and another batch of “mini” kids being born at staggered times each year.
Our chickens and ducks are still laying steadily, so we have eggs available for sale at just about any time. Our chickens are laying about three dozen eggs each day, and the ducks are laying about 10 eggs on average per day. We’ve been told that other ducks have stopped laying – we’re not sure why ours have kept going – maybe it is because this is their first year laying, or because they have their own housing separate from the chickens, or perhaps our flock is just really ambitious! Whatever the case, we are grateful to our little feathered friends for their continued efforts to keep us stocked with those lovely eggs!
We are pouring over the seed catalogs like we did the Sears Christmas catalog as kids – lots of great heirloom (non-GMO) veggies, berries, and herbs are on our wish list, and we plan to make good use of our high tunnel (hoop house) for growing this year. Eventually, we would like to provide a CSA program, however, we are going to build up to that. For now, we will simply offer any extra homegrown veggies and herbs for sale “à la carte” once those are in season. Watch for news of the availability here, of course!
It’s a blustery day today, and the temperatures are dropping. The winter has been fairly mild so far, contradicting the predictions that we read from a variety of sources. I am always torn about this; on one hand, due to my asthma being cold-temperature-triggered, I prefer that the thermometer not drop below 30° F.
However, the lack of freezing temperatures does bring with it other issues – for instance, all of the mud we are dealing with right now because of the ground saturation. But, it would seem that perhaps the old tale about Woolly Bear Caterpillars as incidental meteorologists might be true. They say if the caterpillar’s brown sections are more prominent than the black, to expect a mild winter. All of the WB caterpillars we saw around our property this Autumn were mostly brown. Perhaps this is just bunk, but we are interested to see how the rest of the winter proceeds!
Wishing everyone the very best in 2012!
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