"There was no time to lose, no time to waste in rest or play. The life of the earth comes up with a rush in the springtime. All the wild seeds of weed and thistle, the sprouts of vine and bush and tree are trying to take the fields. Farmers must fight them with harrow and plow and hoe; they must plant good seeds quickly.
Almanzo was a little soilder in this great battle . " pa 124 Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Sometimes homeschool and homelife blend together perfectly.
Well, as we are slowing moving forward with our farm venture. The first of the two animals and I use the term loosely is....red wiggler composting worms. These worms are going to serve many purposes on the farm. First, these are composting not fishing worms. Second these worms can compost manure. We plan to use them to compost both the chicken and the new 'mystery' animals manure. We will be purchasing a pound a month for a 4-5 months so we have enough worms process the manure produced by the animals and the kitchen scraps. So, hopefully by the Fall we will start selling composting worm and worm castings, i.e. worm compost. Once the worms process the manure we have a compost that we will be selling by the gallon.
We are also adding a mystery animal in the next two weeks. We are currently preparing a place for them. This is an unexpected venture that we hope will do well in the near future. Farmer Jess will post more information on the mystery animal soon!
New ...Wednesday drop off option! Many of our veggies are going to be ready for delivery starting in November.
**A limited amount of 8 week old Pullets Ready for pick up week of January 11th to reserve your chickens contact us now. You must place a 50% deposit with your reservation. (Buff Orpingtons, Black Austrolorps).
See below regarding the cloudy skies and our poor Internet reception! There is a lot of exciting stuff going on at the Hill so hopefully we will have reliable Internet access ready soon!
Well, I have to admit I love the garden so I guess I am a garden girl. The only thing about the garden is it's a lot of work. We are currently experimenting with square foot gardening. As we have been shamed by the Dervaes at Path to Freedom , as we have 5 acres in comparison to their. These people are some vegetable growing & energy saving fools! You know we are all about it...they are growing their veggies in raised boxes and harvesting 1,000's of pounds more then we are in about 2X the space. So more boxes are going in this weekend with turnips, chards, carrots & lettuce. We will add a box a month until we have filled the area this is kind of mammoth undertaking because our garden is 2500 square feet.
But as I have gone crazy anyway...I smush bugs with my fingers. I look up organic treatments (don't tell my friends!) for stuff because we eat the food straight out of the garden. And I have been permanently scared by "Fastfood Nation".
So here are some pictures from the garden. Right now we are still getting plenty of food from the summer garden. In fact we are over run with butternut squash & okra (1/2-1# a day) so we are selling the extra to help pay for the fall garden. Hey, we might turn a profit just yet!
We also have a few pumpkin vines. Which seemed harmless when we planted them but now we are going to have a lot of pumpkins. I did make a mistake with the pumpkins I let them climb up the fence because the blooms look so pretty from our room. Well now some are growing on the fence and they are trying to break the fence. Regardless of the fencing situation we should have PLENTY pumpkins for sale in October - November. These few pumpkins are sort of a training ground for growing a lot of pumpkins and watermelons for next year. Both vegetables are known for being a little bit tricky to grow. But isn't this baby pumpkin just beautiful? I just hope that she and her cousins don't break my fence!
We are proud and sad to announce that we currently have a waiting list for our super tasty eggs!
The wait should not be too long as we have 9 birds that will start laying soon.
From my estimates we should have roughly 3 dozen more eggs available in September or October (I know Dina you want two dozen more!)and 3 dozen more available sometime starting in October or November. If we buy some chicks from a nearby producers these numbers will increase in November. Our numbers jump by nearly 10 dozen in January and hopefuly every 3 months thereafter. We are also looking into buying some battery operated poultry lighting to increase the amount of daylight they receive. I am not sure how well this will work as our birds are not simply confined to a house but we shall see.
Well, that all from Rooster Hill don't forget to check us out next week for our "Egg-tastic" recipe of the month!
As you may have noticed our prices went up this month. We will hold steady at this price as long as we can. Feed costs went up again this month and it is expected that they will continue to rise.
This is a portion of an article from the AP (Associated Press) regarding this issue...
Monday May 5, 5:25 pm ET By David Koenig, AP Business Writer
"Pilgrim's Pride also said its U.S. business would probably lose money in the current quarter, and it might be summer 2009 before the company returns to normal operating profit margins....Chief Executive Clint Rivers placed blame for the industry's trouble on the federal government's "deeply flawed" policy of paying subsidies for using corn to produce ethanol for fuel, which he said would cause food prices to rise further. "American consumers are only just beginning to feel the impact of sharply higher food prices," as food producers pass along more of their higher costs, Rivers said...."
Both corn and soy beans are on the rise and we are feeling the pinch here at Rooster Hill. We have however decided to try to hold our new prices for the next few months. Our feed costs have gone up nearly 20% in the last 3 months.
So what are we going to do?
Build more roosts in our modest Hen House
Buy more fencing and create a much larger yard and move toward pastured/free range chickens as soon as possible.
We are checking into making our own feed!
The most important thing I am finding in farming is watching my bottom dollar. Figuring out how to spend the least amount of money for maximum results. Just like any new business we are going to spend more then we make the first year but we cannot continue on this trend indefinitely. We have 9 months until we reach 1 year... We hope to be making a profit by then.
We now have a "Chick nursery" next to the shed. I made the basics and Wayne came in and finished if off. Although the pictures do not show it they have a roost and their heat light. I can't be happier to have those smelly little beasties out of the house!
Grand total: $0.97
Cost Breakdown
Chicken wire was already on the place
doors were dropped off by someone who thought we might need them.
hinges came from the door jams of the old door
latch .97
Equipment Purchases
1 Gallon chick waterer
1 Gallon base
Grand total of $4.24
The big news....we sold our first eggs this week. So now we are making a "profit"...okay not a profit but at least some money is going in instead of just going flowing out!
Garden
What just went in....:Black eyed peas,Green beans bush& pole,okra, tomatoes, acorn squash
What is coming out....Onions, Spinach
What stays...Romaine Lettuce,
Herbs for Sale: Organe Mint & Apple Mint
What will be different next time:
I'm going to start growing heirloom variety of seeds and I want to put a mini green house in the shed so I don't have to spend $30 on plants!!!!
I'll pay close attention to each upcoming planting season so the next one doesn't sneak up on me like this one.
We are going to start clearing for our big garden!
Why do small farms fail?
I think because it is so hard keeping track of the actual cost of the item you are producing. I just recently realized that I have to keep up with the amount of water the birds are getting to help determine my actual cost.
Making sure you buy the right breed of animal for the job you want done!
Making sure you get the best deal on the items you need.
Making sure you do not buy more then what is needed in size or quantity.
Learning how to manage the animals & crops well and cheaply.
Adding/Moving to quickly forward with plans.
Now that's just what I've thought about after 1 month of farming!
"There was no time to lose, no time to waste in rest or play. The life of the earth comes up with a rush in the springtime. All the wild seeds of weed and thistle, the sprouts of vine and bush and tree are trying to take the fields. Farmers must fight them with harrow and plow and hoe; they must plant good seeds quickly.
able growing & energy saving fools! You know we are all about it...they are growing their veggies in raised boxes and harvesting 1,000's of pounds more then we are in about 2X the space. So more boxes are going in this weekend with turnips, chards, carrots & lettuce. We will add a box a month until we have filled the area this is kind of mammoth undertaking because our garden is 2500 square feet. 
ss when we planted them but now we are going to have a lot of pumpkins. I did make a mistake with the pumpkins I let them climb up the fence because the blooms look so pretty from our room. Well now some are growing on the fence and they are trying to break the fence. Regardless of the fencing situation we should have PLENTY pumpkins for sale in October - November. These few pumpkins are sort of a training ground for growing a lot of pumpkins and watermelons for next year. Both vegetables are known for being a little bit tricky to grow. But isn't this baby pumpkin just beautiful? I just hope that she and her cousins don't break my fence!
