Today, we harvested six male quail from our flock. We should have done it sooner, but this summer has been full of delays. Now that we are ready to move the chickens to the new pen on the farm site, we had to take care of these quail. Why are those things connected? Well… the […]
One of the reasons for our purchase of the farm site is that the land is zoned for agriculture. Currently, our operation is based on land that is zoned for general commercial use or residential use. Keeping chickens on these lots is legal (we checked!), but people live nearby and we don’t want to be
The New Chicken Pen Read More »
The smoke from nearby forest fires kept us indoors for a week. After that, the rain began. At first, it was welcomed because it was mitigating the smoke and putting out the forest fires. Unfortunately, the rain continued until it wore out its welcome. We had been making decent progress on the driveway at our
Last summer, our electric fence charger malfunctioned. While the smoke prevents progress on the driveway, I decided to cross a different item off my to-do list, and began the repair process. I perused some how-to videos and found the information that seemed necessary. Opening the case was, indeed, as easy as was indicated in the
Shipping to Alaska Read More »
The Big Red Broiler cockerels have been growing steadily and I was getting curious as to their actual weight. I caught one and weighed it. It was surprisingly easy. These birds are far more docile than the hens and pullets. The bird I selected weighed in at 5.3 pounds. If he were dressed, he would
The Broilers Are Growing Read More »
In our back yard we have a lilac which was given to us as a wedding present. It has taken a long time to mature but has produced a nice number of blossoms for the past few years. At first, we thought that we had a weak plant, because it took forever to show any
Today was the first lawn mowing of the year. Fortunately, the grass grows slowly here. I can usually get away with mowing the lawn four or five times in the summer. The iris are now in bloom. I look forward to this happening. Iris grow wild here and I have been spreading them along the
The Iris Are in Bloom Read More »
In preparation for working on our farm site, we are building an outhouse. It seemed like a good infrastructure project, because there is currently no convenient way at the site to take care of those needs. Also, our youngest offspring has decided to become a carpenter after high school and wants to have a project
The Outhouse Framing Read More »
The Big Red Broilers are about a month old and are now so big that they are getting crowded in the partitioned area of the coop. So, I moved them into the larger area and moved the rooster and hen to the partitioned area. It was not as simple as that sentence makes it seem.
Another Moving Day Read More »
Today, there were enough roses in bloom that Melissa decided to begin harvesting petals. She makes an excellent rose petal jelly from them. It is wonderful stuff, which tastes very much like the roses smell. Around here, Arctic Roses and Sitka Roses grow wild. They can reach 6’ tall and the stems can be almost
The Roses Are In Bloom Read More »