I’m baaack! Farm life has kept us busy and that, combined with the idiosyncrasies of rural internet restricted my blogging for the last several weeks. Now that I have weathered the character building challenge of the slow turning wheel with a fresh supply of megabytes, join me in a cup of tea (or coffee, if you prefer) and I will fill you in on our egg-citing life.
As many of you know, our rooster received his moniker and wears it well. After valuable input from readers and FB friends he was christened Sir Henry Foghorn. Sir Henry has adapted to his peer status readily by loudly crowing about the first egg our Gertrude laid.
Gert and Gladys share the top of the pecking order with their egg laying skills, however their shenanigans caused a storm of clucking consternation when Gladys got her head stuck UNDER the nesting box! Poor girl had quite a bit to say after I extricated her from her rather humbling predicament. Gert, being a true friend, clucked sympathetically, took Gladys into the coop and stood by for moral support. Voila – our egg production doubled! Mildred the Java girl is following protocol by laying her eggs IN the nesting box and we’re looking for Velma to contribute her share any day now. I will confess a substantial bit of personal excitement at the discovery of our first egg.
Our south pasture has been a hive of activity as the fence line is cleared in preparation for our new fence. We’ve met our neighbors, a family whose ancestors have been in this area over 100 years still living in the original 1925 farmhouse. The brush pile grows as our boundaries are defined. With those boundaries comes another new name: Glen Haven. Every farm deserves a name, right? So now we’re legit and I’ll fill you in more later but expect a website, logo and farm products a little farther down the line.
Meanwhile, I’m learning bales about grass and hay! Recognizing that our animal products are only as good as what they consume has set me on a quest to really develop a grassroots perspective! Soil samples, identifying types of grasses and studying how to farm hay is whole new territory. We will institute managed intensive grazing (aka MIG), a part of a holistic land management program using animals for restorative purposes. Joel Salatin’s book above (click on pic to see more) helped put the pieces of what God was speaking to me together. My head spins with a plethora of terms and ideas to ruminate on. It’s quite fascinating, actually. Look for us to expand our herd as we incorporate some of these practices at Glen Haven.
A beautiful day full of sunshine prompted us to put out a long row of onion sets and a package of peas just in time for winter storms to roll in, one after the other.
The first snowfall was exquisite but now that we’re on #3 – I’m done and ready for spring!
I’m certain the sunshine will return soon and we will be hard at work planting seeds.
And next time, I’ll tell you how this little guy walked into our life!
