A bunch of Turkeys live here

Benjamin Franklin once wrote to his daughter, "....For the truth, the Turkey is in comparison a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America . . . He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a bird of courage...."

I think I am enamored of the turkey.  Bourbon Red Turkeys to be exact.  A heritage breed.  They are indeed quite silly, chirp or peep in loud musical tones, and have enormous eyes for their tiny little head.

In March we received our day old poults and 10 cuckoo maran chicks (chocolate colored egg layers).


Day old turkey poults and cuckoo maran chicks (they're the dark ones).

After a couple of weeks the poults and chicks were transferred to the garage since they had outgrown their cardboard box and frankly, were not the sweetest smelling creatures for our basement.  Four weeks later the chicks were sent "to the big house", that is, the chicken coop to join 40+ black astrolorps, Rhode island reds, and americaunas.  Unfortunately adult turkeys and chickens should not cohabitate and so we needed to build another coop - a turkey coop.  The idea would be a shelter from adverse weather which would be enclosed by an electric netting for ranging.  The coop need only serve to overwinter 4-5 turkeys each year.  The rest would become meat for our (and our friend's) freezers.  In the spring the birds would hopefully produce fertilized turkey eggs which we will incubate and start poults again.  If all goes well we could have about 100 poults for the following year.  Heritage Bourbon Red Turkeys are scrumptious.

At least that's the dream.

First the coop had to be made.  But what to make it out of?  Ah.... what do we have plenty of around the farm?  Pallets.  So begins the saga of creating a turkey coop out of old pallets, leftover metal siding and one inch cage wire.
 

Farmer Husband Gary fixing the base pallet



One inch cage wire and sides going up



Farmer Chris stapling cage wire to base



Sides up and Farmer Husband Gary figuring out roof rafters



Farmer Husband Gary screwing on the metal roof.



Ah.... forgot the green treated skids.  Better late than never.



The door works!



Screwing on the metal siding.  It's a little dirty but nothing that a little soap and water can't help.



Farmer Chris and the Gator moving the the coop to its final destination.



The electric netting was inserted with some additional metal T-post for strength & the turkeys were let out. 
Not sure what to make of this green stuff underfoot.....

 

So this is what you were working on..... 
"Thanks Farmer Chris and Farmer Husband Gary...it's perfect....gobble, gobble."

By mid October or early November the turkeys should be a good weight.  Yet I already know that it will be difficult taking these guys and gals to the processors.  They are so funny.  They follow me around the yard and stop and listen to me when I speak.  So adorable.  Stay tuned for the adventures of the turkeys.....

Update on Farming

Green string, purple burgundyy, Italian romano, four different types of dry beans, red lettuce, radishes, kohlrabi, sweet corn, muskmelon, cucumbers, zinnias, four different kinds of potatoes and three varieties of onions, sunflowers, marigolds, summer and autumn squash, pumpkins (>2000 seeds with various sizes), broccoli, cauliflower, peppers of all kinds, 75 tomato plants of all sorts, and did I mention sweet corn (about an acre and a half)?  Also transplanted black raspberries across the road.  And weeding the blueberries.... seems like a never ending task.... discouraging.  I had hoped the weeds would be fewer this year after we sprayed with a preemergent.  Seems to have made no difference.  So in 95+ degrees I'm out pulling weeds, determined to make a dent into the field.  I won't be able to spray the grass killer until after harvest and that won't be for 6-7 weeks.  So I must get ahead of the grass and weeds and take back the blueberries once again.

We have 17 red bourbon heritage turkeys this year and also 10 chocolate colored egg layers to add to our assortment of egg colors.  The turkeys are still cooped up until I have the right fence.  I put up an electric mesh fence but the holes were too big and they escaped (yes, we caught them).  So I've ordered a smaller opening fence and hopefully I will be able to put that up this week.

Back to the field....

Spring Dreams

It is hard to imagine.  Under the weight of heavy thick snow, grass mulch, and three inches of amended soil lies the seed of the rocambole garlic.  They tried to sprout in the delayed winter weather of November but now they rest, stretching out their roots deep into the nutrients, gaining energy. 

Next to them lies nine rows of strawberries.  They too are buried under seven inches of snow and three to four inches of grass mulch.  Only the rounded mounds and row markers give any hint that there is something there.  Waiting.  Anticipating.  Yet growing, reaching, and increasing in vigor.

In the distance the pole bean fence stands abandoned.  Frost and snow envelope it.  Mounds of last minute horse manure lie scattered throughout the field.  Even the stalks of the long gone sunflowers stand as if on guard.

It is this time of year when the brrrr-cold of winter buries all remnants of growth and I have finally caught up on rest.... the sun rises reluctantly, the skies remain gray, and the setting sun dips with long streaks of pink and orange.  It has been awhile since I heard the hoot of the owl, the cry of the coyote, or the buzz of the bee.

Yet I know spring arrives in just a few short months. 

So I plan for the next season, pick and chose seeds and plants, dream about where I might plant and harvest.  Set up spread sheets and goals.  Order from my favorite seed companies.  I will be starting the tomatoes, peppers, and basil in mid February.  Early?  Perhaps not.

We may be getting a high tunnel hoop house courtesy of the USDA.  If granted, I can start these plants under the warmth of the tunnel two months earlier.  Wouldn't that be amazing?  Stay tuned.

Until then.... I'll gaze back over the field thankful for its gifts.  Both of plenty and of rest.

Popcorn Ramblings

This year the popcorn grows tall.  The sugar pie pumpkins stretch to extend their boundaries.  Burning orange as the days shorten.  Unkempt apple trees laden with disfigured fruit but hungry for chicken appetizers hang low.  The August tomatoes, usually slow growing and moisture barren, are this year bursting their skins.

And the UPS man comes delivering packages.  School books.  New red embroidered uniform tops and jackets.  Sneakers, an extra size big, requested after shoe shopping this past week. Reading material for enjoyment... "chicken coops," "easy concrete," "easy to build birdhouses: a natural approach".  Our UPS man has been busy.  Hundreds of pounds of beehives and equipment.  Honey bottles and buckets.  "Local Honey Sold Here" sign.

And still it rains.

We could use a week or so of sunshine and dry weather.  The potatoes need unearthing.  The beans need harvesting.  The plump and ripening blackberries need picking.  And the bees need flowers. 

But the popcorn grows tall.  It's at least 7 feet with two long thin cobs at the 36 inch level.  No sign of raccoon or deer dinners either.  "That's the tallest popcorn I've ever seen," said a gentleman this past weekend.  Perhaps the corn loved the former orchard nutrients.  Or perhaps yellow popcorn just happens to be taller.  I don't know. But the popcorn saga has been much more pleasant this summer.  Two months 'til harvest.

"That's going to be a big harvest," the gentleman added.  I tried to encourage him and others to volunteer for the great popcorn picking.... they could each take one row.  Except that there are at least thirty rows and there were only six of them.  "But it would make short work of it." I added.  "Ha!" he laughed, "Indeed it would."  But no offers were forthcoming.  Perhaps if I made popcorn....

Today's Journey Joy - popcorn and our UPS man

Visitors

We had visitors yesterday.  Farmer Husband Gary met the wife at the farmers market on Saturday.  She was interested in farm fresh eggs.  Since the market he goes to does not allow us to bring our eggs there we suggest to interested persons that they come visit the farm and purchase direct.  They get to save 50 cents a dozen as well.  Farmer Husband gave her one of my "Farmer Chris" business cards as she left.

She called me late morning.  "Do you have some eggs?"  "Yes," I replied, thinking she wanted maybe a couple of dozen.  "Do you have...say, ten dozen?"  "Ah.... I don't think so, but I'll let you know by the end of the day and you can have what the girls give us."

With the help of a very good friend who also free ranges her chickens, I was able to get a total of eight dozen.  Apparently this new family goes through a dozen eggs a day.  They have four young children (six years and under) who like pancakes and eggs for breakfast every morning. "Great!" I thought.  Now I should have no trouble getting my eggs sold come this fall when I am not at the markets anymore.  But ten dozen a week?!  That's 120 eggs.  And I only have about 25 girls laying right now.  And they are sporadic due to the excessive temperatures lately.  And "Tom," my other regular, usually wants about six dozen every ten days.  Good thing that the new ones should be laying in about a month and the 25 baby partridge rocks should easily be laying well by spring.  We may have a slight difficulty meeting demand in the meantime though.

But I wander.

The visitors came as a family.  They all wanted to see the farm and the chickens.  I guess I was unprepared for such scrutiny.  Usually my egg buyers (or any buyers for that matter), simply drive up, get their stuff, chat a bit and leave.  They don't want a tour.

But these guys did.

I discovered that they were a young family who recently moved back to the area.  They try to eat only organically grown fruit and vegetables and free range chicken eggs.  They sweeten everything with honey.  In fact, they purchase their honey by the 30 pounds. (That's a lot of honey!).

As we were showing them the fields and our progress I found myself getting anxious.  Weeds everywhere.  Disarray.  Branches down in various piles.  Equipment here and there.  Hoses stretched in coils on the sidewalk.  Kittens jumping.  Chickens (and their droppings) cruising about. Crops lost in grasses waist high.  Flowers barely able to bloom between the horse weed.  Not my idea of a beautiful farm.

I was embarrassed to show the farm.  We've been working so hard at farming organically / naturally.  But on this scale, with only a couple of hands, that beatific vision I have of the farm is unrealistic.  And looking at the place through "new visitor eyes" made me aware of the chaos surrounding me both inside the home and outside on the farm.  Change is due.

We have made plans to focus.  For which I will have to wait until tomorrow or so to describe.  But I am excited about the possibilities.

Today's Journey Joy - visitors

July's Garden Adventures

Sugar Baby Pumpkins for pumpkin pie making.

It's garlic powder makin' time.

Rocambole "Music" Garlic.

Pumpkin Blooms

The sweet corn ripening in the field drifts an aroma of delight and anticipation.  It fills my olfactory sense with delight and reminds me of summer's past.  Childhood festivals.  Family reunions.  Bubbling water on the stove.  Butter oozing through the stack of hot corn.  Stripping husks and peeling silk.  Salt... just enough.  Faces full of corn pieces and buttery fingers and cheeks. Finger licking and full tummies.

The cherry and grape tomatoes remain hard and green.  But promise of yellow, golden and red delights are in the future.  Picking jewels of sweetness from the vines.  Almost as good as berries.

Blackberries ripening. Juicy, sweet and yummy.

And yellow string beans.  Lost in the weeds and yet bearing beautifully. Exceptionally colorful.

Today's Journey Joy - July's harvest

To Break The Cycle

I'm still impressed.  Twigs planted in the dampness of spring. Rains and sun nourishing throughout the summer.  Leaves bursting forth verdant green.  Transforming to brilliant fire engine red in autumn.  And finally returning to twig form in the crispness of winter.  To start the amazing cycle again.  This time heavy with fruit.

But now the young blueberries are beneath grass and perennial weeds.  Japanese beetles attack.  And I have only so much time and energy.  I cannot keep up.  What will happen to our wonderful blueberry field?  It can not be good for them.  To be so choked and suppressed.  They have completed their fruit bearing but they need to keep growing for next year.

That's why we have decided to take back the field... with synthetics. (That's a nice way of saying "chemicals").  I feel as though I failed.  My dreams are larger than my time and energy.  Certainly not larger than my effort, for I put hours and hours in the humid hot heat of our Midwest summer sun.  Bent over with hoe in hand and weeds ripping from soil left in a heap to be mowed into mulch.  But the grass is close to seeding.... to repeat their annual seeding.  And the field is large. Those weeds which are too tall or old to succumb to the chemical will be yanked and destroyed manually. 

We will return to natural practices as soon as the cycle is broken.

Journey Joys - It's hard to express the "journey joy" today.  I am thankful that there are chemicals that can help.  And yet I am torn between my strong desire to grow naturally without chemicals and my strong desire to have a healthy productive field.  My husband and I have always said that we would follow organic farming as long as we could.  But if the crop was in danger of failing we would use chemicals.  We are at that point.  And yet I still feel.... discouraged. 

The Nemesis of Gardening

I love tilling the earth, mowing the grass, picking flowers and collecting fresh fruits and vegetables.  I enjoy sharing the fruits of our labors with those at the Farmers Market.  I like to think that they appreciate the hard work and time and energy that goes into each product that they purchase.

But gardening is a constant struggle.  My two worst insect pests are Japanese beetles and squash beetles.  Followed by cucumber beetles and cabbage moths.

We try to collect the beetles. We collect hundreds and maybe thousands of these nasty destructive beetles.  I dip them in cold water for a few minutes and then give them to the chickens to gobble.  But they continue to reproduce and damage the crops.  They seem to particularly like blueberry and raspberry plants and my cherry trees.  So the "big guns" need to come out.  That is, Neem oil.  It is an organic and OMRI approved insecticide and fungicide that doesn't really kill the little buggers but makes it so the leaves are not very tasty.  That helps protect the blueberries.

But spraying 1200 blueberry plants takes an amazingly long time.  And a lot of Neem oil.  It took 16 gallons of the stuff to spray the whole field.  And it was hot and heavy work.  The backpack sprayer holds four gallons.  But between the backpack and the water / Neem oil it felt like the whole contraption weighed fifty pounds.  My shoulders were not prepared for such heavy work.

The Neem oil also works relatively well on the squash.  Not as good on the broccoli because of the oil.  The leaves of broccoli do not seem to respond to the insecticide like the squash and blueberry plants do.  So I use Bt on them.  It too is an organically approved insecticide.  But it kills larvae not adults.

But pesty insects are not the only thing a gardener has to deal with.  As you could see from the pictures above.... weeds.  I seem to spend most of my time and energy on pulling or preventing weeds.  But this should be reduced now.

My wonderful and creative husband made a contraption that collects the grass while one is mowing. He mows the grass and it is sucked up through the vacuum and blown into this really neat collecting area that he built specifically for this.  The top and 1/4 of the sides are made out of hardware cloth so air can flow.

On its first voyage my husband filled the trailer to capacity.  (Forgive the sun spots on the photo please).  It's neat seeing the different layers and types of grass he's collected.  After he dumps it out (it's a dump trailer as well) I fork it up and spread it no thicker than 2 inches on the just weeded plants.  I can't put more on at this point because the grass is green and will mold.  But even at two inches the sun is blocked and the weeds cannot grow.  After a few days I'll go ahead and put another 2 inches on.  That will definitely keep the weeds down.  But I have a lot of weeding to do to catch up. 

Next year we should be able to keep on top of the weeds now that we have this suck-u-phrazt attached to the mower.  I'm very excited about the possibilities.  Perhaps I'll have some time to actually work on my flower garden.

Today's Journey Joy - A Very Creative Husband