There are a lot of options out there for the would-be composter. And anyone who's trying to green up the planet a little bit will acknowledge that composting is important. But what is the best method for you? The large plastic bin to set next to your garden? A heap on the ground? Worms? Manure?
Here's what we do. We've tried the plastic bin, and it's not for us. The compost takes too long to break down, and when it's sitting out next to the garden, we forget about it, and go throw the veggie peelings to the chickens instead, so it really doesn't get used. Friends of ours, however, find it works perfectly for their small garden. They just open the trap door, scoop out the finished compost from the bottom of the bin, mix it into their soil in the spring, and leave it until next year. Sounds fine, as long as you keep adding stuff to make new compost by next spring.
We create heaps on the ground from the big stuff. Like when we muck out the stalls in the barn or change the bedding in the chicken coop, we cart it all to a big pile out of the way. Each time we do that, we create a new pile, so we have several in different stages of decomposition. This is what I'm going to use when I build my raised garden beds as some of the layers for next year's garden soil. But, we've tried this with the kitchen scraps, and what ends up happening is that a watermelon plant pops up in the middle of the heap, or it spreads too far to really end up composting properly. It gets tilled into the garden come spring time, but there really isn't a place to compost during the winter with this method.
Manure is a good additive to your garden soil, but it can't be fresh. It has to be at least 6 months old before you mix it in, or it will be too rich and burn your plants. A good idea is to add it in the fall, till it in, then let the garden sit for the winter. It's going to be another one of my layers in my raised beds which will break down all winter long to create lovely nutrient-rich soil in the spring!
This spring, we bought 1000 red wiggler worms, and they have defied all of our attempts to make mistakes. At first, I had them in a rubbermaid tub that I'd drilled holes in. The holes were too big, and some of the worms escaped, but they still made some lovely compost while they were in there. Then my dad built a big 'row box' after visiting a vermicomposter in Calgary. It's hard too keep the moisture in this box and sometimes I've forgotten to feed my wigglers, but they're still thriving in there. The only problem is using the compost that they are currently living in. My next step is to buy one of those dedicated drawer system vermicomposting bins, where the worms can migrate up from drawer #2 into drawer #1, leaving behind pure compost that they're finished with.
In the meantime, it's looking like I have a couple kilograms of usable compost already. I would just have to sift through the whole box to get the worms out so that I can add it to my garden. I think I'll do that when I get my drawer composter. For now, the little wigglers are still happy in their big box, and enjoying all the fruit I just threw in for them!
Which reminds me, the kinds of things you'll want to feed to your worms are fruit, veggies, tea bags, egg shells, coffee grounds, stale bread, cardboard, leaves, paper, and hair.
Things that are no-no's include manure, animal products, citrus fruits, grass clippings, pineapple and other acidic fruits. And light. Keep it nice and dark in there for your little crawlers!
p.s. did you know that worms don't actually eat the food you throw to them? They eat the bacteria created by its decomposition. Cool, huh?
That's it for today.
From me to you, Happy Small Farming.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Chickens
Lakenvelder Rooster
If you’re new to small farming, but you want to go a little country, your best bet is to start with chickens. You can get mature, egg laying hens through the classifieds, or ask at your local feed or farm supply store where you can get some. The most common varieties are ISA Browns or Rhode Island Reds, and I’ve heard Brown Leghorn is popular, but we’ve never had any.
Rhode Island Red
These ladies are my favourite between the two. They are more resistant to bad weather than the ISA Browns, and since they lay almost every day, they are a favourite all over America and Canada. They lay smaller eggs than the ISA Browns.
ISA Browns
These girls also lay nice brown eggs, and as a commercial laying breed, they will lay more eggs per year than the Rhode Islands. They are however prone to becoming egg-bound as they can sometimes lay absolutely gigantic eggs!
If you’re going for eggs only, these two breeds will be an excellent start.
Feeding
Chickens are easy keepers. You need 4 things: Layer ration, Scratch, Oyster Shell, and Granite Grit. If you can give them a small pasture to graze in, they will eat less processed feed, and that is better for everyone! Make sure you check the ingredients on the layer ration you buy from your local feed store. You want an unmedicated, hormone free feed. Red Barn is a good option. Hen Scratch is a mixture of different grains, corn, and seeds which you scatter on the ground, and they then scratch at it with their feet to dislodge it from the dirt or grass so they can eat it. Oyster shell is for calcium, which your birds will need to keep producing eggs with nice sturdy shells without depleting their natural stores of calcium in their bones (which can happen). Granite grit acts like a flour mill in a chicken’s stomach, helping them to digest the grains and seeds that they eat. Free range chickens need less granite, as they’re probably picking up plenty of grit out in the dirt where they play, but it doesn’t hurt to add a little to their feed anyway. You can also mix the oyster shell into the Layer ration, or free feed it. We just found it easier to mix the shell and grit into the feed, as they kept knocking over the container we were putting it in.
Occasionally, you will also want to throw your chickens some table scraps. Bits of meat and fat are okay, just no bone. Fruit and vegetables will always go over well, fresh or cooked, as well as rice, mouldy (just not too mouldy) bread, cheese, crackers, etc. In gardening season we like to throw our weeds into their coop, and they go nuts over them!
Water
Chickens demand the best, cleanest water you can give them. In the summer, this is easy. Just dump out what’s left over from the day before, rinse out the container and refill it. We use shallow rubber pans because they are easy to clean and they don’t break in the cold. In the winter, if you aren’t using a heated water source, you’ll have to check on their dish a few times a day, breaking up the ice and refilling if necessary. The most fabulous invention at times like that is a heated self-waterer. They are usually small for chickens, so they don’t get too dirty, and you can be sure that your birds always have access to fresh water. 5-gallon jugs with gravity fed trays are fine as long as you elevate them on a surface no larger than its own base. The reason? If the chickens can stand on the surface that the waterer sits on, they will get dirty shavings/bedding and dropping in the tray, and that makes your water stinky and cleanup a real chore!
Coop
The coop doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive. Nesting boxes should be around 1 foot square, you’ll need about a foot of roosting space for each bird, and about 2 square feet of floor/feeding space for each bird. It’s handy to have a sliding door that you can open and close from outside the pen, so you don’t have to disturb the birds when you close up at night after they’ve gone to sleep (which will be at around sunset). You will also want a window for sunlight, and a rooster in the coop, or at least nearby. If you live too near your neighbours, a rooster isn’t necessary. He’s mainly there to protect the hens from danger and provide some moral support!
I’ll go into greater detail about coop plans at another time, because I want to talk more about some different breeds that I think are fantastic!Silver Laced Cochin Hen
Silver Laced Cochin Rooster
Buff Cochins
Gardening in General
Now, nobody knows best what your soil can do than you, but I wanted to pass along some valuable information that I picked up last winter, but have yet to put into use. The common terms are companion planting, biodiversity gardening, French Intensive, square-foot gardening, or permaculture. They are very popular in Europe and Africa, I am told, and the point is to get the maximum benefit from the least amount of space. Think around 500 times your seed value in produce!
It’s more than container gardening, but less than traditional row planting. The key is raised beds and strategic placement of certain plants. For example, there is the Terrific Trio. Native Canadians used to plant corn with beans spaced in between, and sprawling squash nearby. The benefit of this pairing is that the corn provides a sturdy stalk for the beans to climb, the beans add nitrogen to the soil which the corn and squash adore, and the leaves of the squash spread out and keep the soil moist and cool for the corn to thrive. All three plants do better together than if they were planted separately in rows.
Now, you’re probably thinking: How am I going to reach the beans and corn without stepping all over the squash? And the answer is: Raised Beds. Building a frame to raise the soil not only aids in drainage, but you don’t have to walk in them so the soil will not compact. This makes weeding a breeze in such nice loose soil. And if you make the beds around 4 feet across, you can just reach in from both sides and access anything you need!
Now, it takes a little work to get this set up. This fall, I’m going to build four or five 4 foot by 20 foot raised beds, probably 12 inches high, and I’m also going to rig them up to accommodate hoop houses for the spring. Before the snow falls, I’m going to layer in some straw, soil, composted chicken manure (for nitrogen), newspaper, leaves, etc., covering it all with cardboard to hold it in. Over the winter, these layers will break down, and I hope to find wonderful nutrient-rich soil in the spring when I open them up!
I’ve also drawn up some garden plans, with appropriate companion plants arranged for maximum impact, both for my crop yield, as well as for pest control. For example, Marigolds are an excellent trap-crop, attracting insects that would otherwise be chomping on your strawberries. There is an excellent list of companion plants at www.gardensablaze.com, which shows compatible and incompatible pairings of many common garden plants, herbs, and even trees! You’ll have to search a little harder to find more exotic plants, but there is always trial and error, if you can’t get a solid answer from a Google search!
So, while your raised beds are composting beneath the snow, you can spend some time dreaming about what you’d like to put in the ground come spring. Here’s one of my plans that I’m hoping to try out next year.
Picture here...eventually!
Another thing that will help in an unpredictable growing season like the one we live with here in Southern Alberta, is hoop houses.
I’m bolting rebar pieces to my raised beds, so all I have to do to create one of these babies is bend a piece of PVC pipe over the bed and attach some tarp or poly and voila! Instant tiny greenhouse! So there will be no need to start hundreds of tiny peat pots inside, which you then have to transfer to larger containers, then transfer again when it’s after May long weekend. This is what can happen when you planned on doing this but let other things get in the way!
Picture here...eventually!
Since the soil in the raised bed is above the permafrost, it is already warmer than the ground, and adding the hoop house on top makes the best use of whatever sunlight you get, trapping the heat in the small amount of air above your soil. Then, when your plants have a good start, you just lift off the hoop house, and away you go!
If you want more of a three-season greenhouse, a hoop house also delivers, warming a target area on its own, or improving the impact of a space heater. You’ll have to reinforce the hoops with cross braces so they don’t fall in on each other, but using pipe and poly, it’s still cheaper than a greenhouse kit, and completely portable!
So here’s the best part about gardening this way: It can be completely organic. Using trap-crops to manage the pests means you won’t need chemical pesticides. Planting different crops next to each other where one adds nitrogen, and the other adds something else means that you won’t have to use fertilizers other than what’s already in your lovely composted soil. Planting close together and making use of shade plants means your soil holds its moisture better, and you’ll use less water. And nice loose soil means that weeding will be easy to do by hand (oh, did I mention that the over-winter process of composting the soil is supposed to help limit weed growth!), and you won’t need to use herbicides. Now, doesn’t that sound great?
I’ll let you know how it goes.
But for now, Happy Small Farming.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Fences
Okay, this is probably the most important thing you can pay attention to on any small farm. If you're going to have animals, you must have the proper fences. Many tales of woe can be told because we put the wrong animal behind the wrong fence, then had more work to do later once they broke it and escaped. So here are some pointers so that you can avoid scarring your horses, catching your pigs, or having to cut your goats out when their horns get caught!!!
Cows: Barbed wire is a good all-purpose fence for these big beasts. If you're only keeping adult cows, three strands will do fine, but if you're going to have calves, go for five or six, as they can step right through the rows and escape otherwise. Although they look really sturdy, I wouldn't go with metal pole and bar fences, as cows like to scratch their necks, and at an average of 1000 lbs, they have a lot of muscle strength, and your fence can end up looking like this!
Another kind of fence that was already here when we bought our farm was panel fencing. It is sturdy as all get out, but it's probably better suited to smaller corral fencing than something you'd want all over your pasture. You can't see through it, but not even the strongest bull would be able to bring this fence down.
The other fence shown in the picture I'm going to call plank fencing. It'll work great with cows if you have to go for that classic country look, but just be aware that horses will start to chew it, and you may have to replace a plank from time to time.
Horses: It's hard to find the right fence for horses, especially if they're sharing your pasture space with cows. Three strand barbed wire fences leads to mane loss, as they reach through the fence for greener pasture, but split rail fencing ends up looking like this.
Now if you're a master fencer and you don't mind replacing rails on a regular basis, and you must have that good old country feel, go for it! But horses chew wood. Remember that. They also stick their necks through for a good scratch, as well as press their 900 lb bottoms for another good scratch, and that's a lot of wear and tear on a wooden fence.
To cut down on horses scratching on fences, there are these things you can put up called The Equine Scratcher by Two Fair Mares. They're not harsh on the mane and tail, and as long as your horse will switch to them, they can save your fence too!
We haven't tried horses in a 5 strand barbed wire pasture yet, but we've heard that they're less likely to stick their heads through if they scratch their nose in the process. I'll let you know once we try that. We're going to re-wire the big pasture before the calving season next spring.
There is also vinyl fencing and plank fencing. With vinyl you'll have to check that they haven't dislodged any sections, and with planks, you'll need to keep an eye on wear and tear due to chewing.
Goats: Oh goodness, is it a challenge to find a goat-proof fence! Adult goats can be kept safely in a 3 strand barbed wire fence reinforced with a line of electric fencing below the bottom wire, but if you have an adventurous kid, even that may not be enough. Again, a 5 or 6 strand barbed wire fence ought to do the trick for pasture, but it is not predator proof, and if you're keeping kids outside, you're going to want to keep the coyotes and wolves away.
Page wire is an OK option, but if your goats have horns, they will probably stick their heads through the larger sections, and there have been several that couldn't get their heads back through (or wouldn't), and had to be cut loose, requiring a repair to the page wire. In the barn, we've used snow fencing to stop the kids from escaping, but it has to be in perfect condition, or they will find the weak point and break it.
In one corral this summer we put up page wire, then reinforced it with chicken wire, and that stopped them putting their heads through...for a while. We put a bale of hay a little too close to the fence, and temptation got the better of our fence!
Our fence of dreams is a strong mesh with squares no bigger than four inches, with a rail along the top (so the goats can stand up and not wreck the fence) and a band of electric tape along the ground just outside it to repel any determined critters. We don't have this fence right now, but we will keep dreaming about it. So until then we will continue to kid in the barn where it's safe.
Pigs: Because they root around quite efficiently, if you want to put your pigs in pasture, you must electrify the boundaries. Do not be afraid to put quite a lot of electricity through the wire, because a pig is curious, determined, and tough. Put the wire at least 6 inches above the ground to prevent it getting buried in mud (rendering it useless).
The fence behind the electric wire doesn't really matter, as no fence will hold a pig in for long.
If you're putting your pigs out with just electric fencing, then I suggest putting two or three strands up, one six inches above the ground, and another no more than six inches above that. And once the pigs have tested the wire once or twice, they won't bother it anymore. We once had six wild boars restrained by a single electric wire in the same pasture pictured above. We should never have taken it down.
Llamas/Alpacas: These guys are easy. You want your fence to be at least 4 feet high, but they really don't try anything with the barbed wire, and they don't chew the rails or planks. They will, however, take advantage of the weaknesses that your horses have created, so just keep on top of your fence maintenance, and you'll be fine.
Oh, if you're relying on a cattle gate to keep these guys in, you may want to reinforce that in the winter if you get a lot of snow. Since their legs fit right through the bars, once the snow packs in the hole beneath it enough, they are able to step neatly through and go exploring. Yeah. The alpacas got past 2 cattle gates last winter. This winter, we are putting up temporary gates.
Chickens/Ducks: As long as you're not housing your chickens with anything stronger than they are, chicken wire and simple posts will hold your flock in safely. For a portable option, use electrified netting. The electricity is to keep the predators, and your fluffy little kitties out. Even if your cats don't harass the chickens, they can cause havoc with a relatively flimsy fence like the electrified chicken fence.
With small chicken runs where there is no quick escape from hawks, I suggest putting a ceiling on. Chicken wire will do fine, unless you manage to find some fine netting that you can support with poles, like the pheasant breeders use. I suggest the netting, because the cats have been known to walk on the chicken wire ceilings, causing them to stretch out.
Turkeys: Did anyone know that turkeys can fly? Yeah, they can. Well it's more of an assisted hop, akin to the man jumping on the moon. You may need to extend your fence up to at least 10 feet to curb this little migratory habit. And leave the top of the fence weak to discourage roosting. We've had turkeys roost on a rail 8 feet in the air before!
Green Tip: I've suggested a lot of electric fencing, and now they are making solar powered fence chargers. No extension cords, and you can even use them in the winter! That's an innovation I can live with!
Well, that's my bit on fences. I'll get those pictures up as soon as I can.
Until then, Happy Small Farming.
Cows: Barbed wire is a good all-purpose fence for these big beasts. If you're only keeping adult cows, three strands will do fine, but if you're going to have calves, go for five or six, as they can step right through the rows and escape otherwise. Although they look really sturdy, I wouldn't go with metal pole and bar fences, as cows like to scratch their necks, and at an average of 1000 lbs, they have a lot of muscle strength, and your fence can end up looking like this!
Another kind of fence that was already here when we bought our farm was panel fencing. It is sturdy as all get out, but it's probably better suited to smaller corral fencing than something you'd want all over your pasture. You can't see through it, but not even the strongest bull would be able to bring this fence down.
The other fence shown in the picture I'm going to call plank fencing. It'll work great with cows if you have to go for that classic country look, but just be aware that horses will start to chew it, and you may have to replace a plank from time to time.
Horses: It's hard to find the right fence for horses, especially if they're sharing your pasture space with cows. Three strand barbed wire fences leads to mane loss, as they reach through the fence for greener pasture, but split rail fencing ends up looking like this.
Now if you're a master fencer and you don't mind replacing rails on a regular basis, and you must have that good old country feel, go for it! But horses chew wood. Remember that. They also stick their necks through for a good scratch, as well as press their 900 lb bottoms for another good scratch, and that's a lot of wear and tear on a wooden fence.
To cut down on horses scratching on fences, there are these things you can put up called The Equine Scratcher by Two Fair Mares. They're not harsh on the mane and tail, and as long as your horse will switch to them, they can save your fence too!
We haven't tried horses in a 5 strand barbed wire pasture yet, but we've heard that they're less likely to stick their heads through if they scratch their nose in the process. I'll let you know once we try that. We're going to re-wire the big pasture before the calving season next spring.
There is also vinyl fencing and plank fencing. With vinyl you'll have to check that they haven't dislodged any sections, and with planks, you'll need to keep an eye on wear and tear due to chewing.
Goats: Oh goodness, is it a challenge to find a goat-proof fence! Adult goats can be kept safely in a 3 strand barbed wire fence reinforced with a line of electric fencing below the bottom wire, but if you have an adventurous kid, even that may not be enough. Again, a 5 or 6 strand barbed wire fence ought to do the trick for pasture, but it is not predator proof, and if you're keeping kids outside, you're going to want to keep the coyotes and wolves away.
Page wire is an OK option, but if your goats have horns, they will probably stick their heads through the larger sections, and there have been several that couldn't get their heads back through (or wouldn't), and had to be cut loose, requiring a repair to the page wire. In the barn, we've used snow fencing to stop the kids from escaping, but it has to be in perfect condition, or they will find the weak point and break it.
In one corral this summer we put up page wire, then reinforced it with chicken wire, and that stopped them putting their heads through...for a while. We put a bale of hay a little too close to the fence, and temptation got the better of our fence!
Our fence of dreams is a strong mesh with squares no bigger than four inches, with a rail along the top (so the goats can stand up and not wreck the fence) and a band of electric tape along the ground just outside it to repel any determined critters. We don't have this fence right now, but we will keep dreaming about it. So until then we will continue to kid in the barn where it's safe.
Pigs: Because they root around quite efficiently, if you want to put your pigs in pasture, you must electrify the boundaries. Do not be afraid to put quite a lot of electricity through the wire, because a pig is curious, determined, and tough. Put the wire at least 6 inches above the ground to prevent it getting buried in mud (rendering it useless).
The fence behind the electric wire doesn't really matter, as no fence will hold a pig in for long.
If you're putting your pigs out with just electric fencing, then I suggest putting two or three strands up, one six inches above the ground, and another no more than six inches above that. And once the pigs have tested the wire once or twice, they won't bother it anymore. We once had six wild boars restrained by a single electric wire in the same pasture pictured above. We should never have taken it down.
Llamas/Alpacas: These guys are easy. You want your fence to be at least 4 feet high, but they really don't try anything with the barbed wire, and they don't chew the rails or planks. They will, however, take advantage of the weaknesses that your horses have created, so just keep on top of your fence maintenance, and you'll be fine.
Oh, if you're relying on a cattle gate to keep these guys in, you may want to reinforce that in the winter if you get a lot of snow. Since their legs fit right through the bars, once the snow packs in the hole beneath it enough, they are able to step neatly through and go exploring. Yeah. The alpacas got past 2 cattle gates last winter. This winter, we are putting up temporary gates.
Chickens/Ducks: As long as you're not housing your chickens with anything stronger than they are, chicken wire and simple posts will hold your flock in safely. For a portable option, use electrified netting. The electricity is to keep the predators, and your fluffy little kitties out. Even if your cats don't harass the chickens, they can cause havoc with a relatively flimsy fence like the electrified chicken fence.
With small chicken runs where there is no quick escape from hawks, I suggest putting a ceiling on. Chicken wire will do fine, unless you manage to find some fine netting that you can support with poles, like the pheasant breeders use. I suggest the netting, because the cats have been known to walk on the chicken wire ceilings, causing them to stretch out.
Turkeys: Did anyone know that turkeys can fly? Yeah, they can. Well it's more of an assisted hop, akin to the man jumping on the moon. You may need to extend your fence up to at least 10 feet to curb this little migratory habit. And leave the top of the fence weak to discourage roosting. We've had turkeys roost on a rail 8 feet in the air before!
Green Tip: I've suggested a lot of electric fencing, and now they are making solar powered fence chargers. No extension cords, and you can even use them in the winter! That's an innovation I can live with!
Well, that's my bit on fences. I'll get those pictures up as soon as I can.
Until then, Happy Small Farming.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Hello, and Welcome
Hi. Thanks for coming. I'd like to quickly introduce myself, and my farm. I am Lady Farmer, and this is my story.
Meet Jake.
He is my nephew. And basically the reason we decided to pack up the whole family and move out of Fort McMurray Alberta and come down to our 'new' 135 acre, 2-house farm 2 years ago.
And we've never looked back. Okay, so maybe buying a complete farm on a whole 1/4 section was biting off a bit more than we could chew, but we are learning. Fast. We don't have a choice. As city-slickers-turned-farmers, we've had to learn how to maintain this huge property and all of its buildings, as well as how to make the best use of the resources we have, all in a very short span of time.
So just let me start off by saying that we haven't arrived. I know this is a green guide, but I'm not claiming that we are 100% green yet. But it is our goal, and this will be a record of our journey, and hopefully it will help you avoid some of the mistakes that we've made along the way. But, we've switched all of our light bulbs to compact fluorescent ones, begun a few compost heaps, and made all kinds of plans for the future. I'll let you know how it goes!
And now, for the introductions.
Me: I'm 28 years old, and I've never really found something I wanted to spend my life doing, until I moved to the farm a year ago. If you'd asked me then what I thought of chickens, I'd have said "Eeew, gross!". Now I'm a contributing member of a chicken keepers' forum, and breeding a particular rare breed called Cochin's. Shoveling out barn stalls? I would have found some excuse to get out of that chore. Now I consider that to be a nice cathartic afternoon activity! So let's just say I've found my calling. I'm still not fond of cows and the thought of mice in the house weirds me out just like anybody else, but I'm finally home. And in the span of a year, I've collected a horse, a donkey, 8 goats, over a dozen chickens, 5 ducks, a cat, and a border collie! You'll get to meet them in time, along with the family's collection of horses, cattle, more goats, alpacas, llamas, more dogs, more chickens, more ducks, turkeys, pigs, more cats, and whatever else we collect along the way!
My Sis-In-Law: She and my brother bought the second house on our little family farm, and along with raising her adorable boys Jake and Will, Stacey has been the biggest culprit in getting me hooked on this life we call farming! She has taught me about different breeds of chickens, making them interesting again, we're working on training our horses together, and we've shared the responsibility for our milking goats. So she is my co-conspirator, and my best friend, and we'll be making this journey to sustainable small farming together.
My Parents: They are the ones that own the bulk of this farm of ours, and I think they shake their heads sometimes as they watch us and our experiments. But Mom is the chief gardener among us, and any progress I make will be with her help, and Dad can fix like, anything, and apparently he can learn to use any piece of farm equipment without the user manual (except for the square baler - the bane of his existence!). They are supportive of our efforts, if not quite as exuberant as we are, but they've been with us every step of the way, and I don't see that changing any time soon.
My Siblings: My brother supports his wife, and maybe he even has a share in the madness. Don't let this guy go to auction with his wallet!!! The pigs are his fault, and some days we even blame the ducks on him, though he won't take any responsibility for that!
My sister isn't convinced. She is the kind of girl that you can take out of the city, but you can't take the city out of her. But she can bake a mean apple pie, and mow the gigantic front lawn like a champ, so I think we'll keep her after all!
The Animals: Today we have 8 horses, 2 Shetland ponies, 1 donkey, 2 llamas, 8 alpacas, 15 goats, dozens of chickens, 3 turkeys, 11 ducks, 5 dogs, 9 cats, 2 pigs, 8 steers, 6 cows, 2 heifers, and 1 bull. I think that's it, for right now. The number keeps changing as we sell some animals, eat others, and buy still more. For example, I still really want a few sheep, but I'm waiting for the right time to do that. But I'm working full time right now, and fitting the farming in wherever I can, and taking anything else on at the time would be ridiculous.
Okay, that's everybody. Keep checking in as I'll be talking about land usage, buildings and construction, gardening and greenhouses, keeping poultry, keeping goats, training horses, dealing with cows, holding onto pigs, trying to go green, being part of a community, raising crops, and rehashing our mistakes so you can learn from them.
But for now, I'm signing off. Happy Small Farming.
Meet Jake.
He is my nephew. And basically the reason we decided to pack up the whole family and move out of Fort McMurray Alberta and come down to our 'new' 135 acre, 2-house farm 2 years ago.
And we've never looked back. Okay, so maybe buying a complete farm on a whole 1/4 section was biting off a bit more than we could chew, but we are learning. Fast. We don't have a choice. As city-slickers-turned-farmers, we've had to learn how to maintain this huge property and all of its buildings, as well as how to make the best use of the resources we have, all in a very short span of time.
So just let me start off by saying that we haven't arrived. I know this is a green guide, but I'm not claiming that we are 100% green yet. But it is our goal, and this will be a record of our journey, and hopefully it will help you avoid some of the mistakes that we've made along the way. But, we've switched all of our light bulbs to compact fluorescent ones, begun a few compost heaps, and made all kinds of plans for the future. I'll let you know how it goes!
And now, for the introductions.
Me: I'm 28 years old, and I've never really found something I wanted to spend my life doing, until I moved to the farm a year ago. If you'd asked me then what I thought of chickens, I'd have said "Eeew, gross!". Now I'm a contributing member of a chicken keepers' forum, and breeding a particular rare breed called Cochin's. Shoveling out barn stalls? I would have found some excuse to get out of that chore. Now I consider that to be a nice cathartic afternoon activity! So let's just say I've found my calling. I'm still not fond of cows and the thought of mice in the house weirds me out just like anybody else, but I'm finally home. And in the span of a year, I've collected a horse, a donkey, 8 goats, over a dozen chickens, 5 ducks, a cat, and a border collie! You'll get to meet them in time, along with the family's collection of horses, cattle, more goats, alpacas, llamas, more dogs, more chickens, more ducks, turkeys, pigs, more cats, and whatever else we collect along the way!
My Sis-In-Law: She and my brother bought the second house on our little family farm, and along with raising her adorable boys Jake and Will, Stacey has been the biggest culprit in getting me hooked on this life we call farming! She has taught me about different breeds of chickens, making them interesting again, we're working on training our horses together, and we've shared the responsibility for our milking goats. So she is my co-conspirator, and my best friend, and we'll be making this journey to sustainable small farming together.
My Siblings: My brother supports his wife, and maybe he even has a share in the madness. Don't let this guy go to auction with his wallet!!! The pigs are his fault, and some days we even blame the ducks on him, though he won't take any responsibility for that!
My sister isn't convinced. She is the kind of girl that you can take out of the city, but you can't take the city out of her. But she can bake a mean apple pie, and mow the gigantic front lawn like a champ, so I think we'll keep her after all!
The Animals: Today we have 8 horses, 2 Shetland ponies, 1 donkey, 2 llamas, 8 alpacas, 15 goats, dozens of chickens, 3 turkeys, 11 ducks, 5 dogs, 9 cats, 2 pigs, 8 steers, 6 cows, 2 heifers, and 1 bull. I think that's it, for right now. The number keeps changing as we sell some animals, eat others, and buy still more. For example, I still really want a few sheep, but I'm waiting for the right time to do that. But I'm working full time right now, and fitting the farming in wherever I can, and taking anything else on at the time would be ridiculous.
Okay, that's everybody. Keep checking in as I'll be talking about land usage, buildings and construction, gardening and greenhouses, keeping poultry, keeping goats, training horses, dealing with cows, holding onto pigs, trying to go green, being part of a community, raising crops, and rehashing our mistakes so you can learn from them.
But for now, I'm signing off. Happy Small Farming.
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