Our first sign!

Well, I think I can say it's official: we are a real farm!  I've decided to make this a regular thing on the weekends that we will have our eggs out for sale.  I plan to add the words "Saturday and Sunday" to the sign just so I can leave the sign out during the week, but I need to put some sort of weather protection on it since I made it from random material I found in the workshop!  We did get to meet a nice couple from the neighborhood across the street, and I'm hoping they not only become regulars, but get some word-of-mouth sales going for us as well.  I would love to, one day, maximize the efficiency of this farm to the point where I supply all families that desire Actually Natural food in that neighborhood!  I want to be a household name over there.  It only makes perfect sense to me!  And of course, if it only proves to be a pipe-dream, I have fun doing it, and the family stays healthy with great food.

 

Thanks for reading,

 

-Jay

Chickens at 6 Weeks - Getting Fat!

FATTIES!  These birds are definitely no stranger to a grain bin!  As you can see I did, in fact, upgrade that stupid watering unit to the galvanized 5 gallon unit that I'm used to.  So much easier!  Of course, balancing the stupid thing is my new puzzle every day!  All of the birds are doing great.  The injured bird only sat out for two days and she was returned to the flock.  I can't even tell which one she is anymore.  I established their butchering date.  They will all be dropped off in the morning of July 25th, and picked up that evening.  The great news is that I recently figured out that they will be sold for $1.69/pound!  I'm so excited that I finally have something that I'm raising that beats out grocery store prices.  That makes my chicken cleaner, more nutritious, more humanely and responsibly raised, AND cheaper!  That's progress.  Anyone interested in buying, please let me know.  If I get enough orders I will be raising up to 200 more birds!

Thanks for reading,
-Jay

Piggie Update - This is How They Sleep!

I had to sneak up on them because they're still afraid of me

Thanks for reading,

-Jay

Piggies!!! - First Morning in the New Pig Pen

Well, here they are!  As promised, 6 Hampshire/Yorkshire crosses for your entertainment and culinary pleasure!  Of course the farmer I bought them from gave me the runt, so Elaine immediately fell in love.  So once again, butcher day will be a tear-jerker.  They have their dates already set.  Three will see the man on December 16th (sorry Grammy, I know that's your birthday... at least the deed is not done that day!), and the other three will go on December 30th.  Delivery is approximately 1 1/2 to 2 weeks later.  As always, I will keep the piggies' progress as up to date as I can throughout the process.  For those interested, not all of the pork is sold, so let me know if you're in the market for pork.  I will be taking orders by the piece as I did last time, but may not have as much depending on how sales of halves and quarters go.  I am estimating approximately $200 for a quarter, and $400 for a half.  As always, I will be selling at cost, so if I save more than that, the savings will trickle down to all buyers. 

Elaine already named them...



This season the pigs have a new pen in the barn.  It is approximately 2 1/2 times the size of the old one, and the floor is over 6 inches of natural rough cut lumber sawdust.  It gives the little guys a clean, comfortable, open expanse to grow up in.  I am also building a 1200+ square foot outdoor pen that will be available to them as soon as they're too big to escape the split-rail fencing I constructed it out of.  It is located on the East side of our barn, and is shaded before the hot afternoon sun takes its toll.  I will be utilizing the old silo foundation leftover from the demolition as a mud bog for them.  I haven't really thought that project through, but that's the plan.  The setup I envision when complete is something spectacular.  Just up the hill from the outdoor pig pen is where the apple orchard will be once installed, and just past the orchard is the small portion of woods that we own.  The idea: each spring start the pigs in the barn where they're safest while young, then move them to the woods during the heat of summer to allow them a more natural environment while escaping the sun, then finish them in the apple orchard in the Fall for a great way to clean up orchard waste and fertilize the ground while they're "pigging out!"  It's the stuff real food is made of!

Thanks for reading,
-Jay

Outdoor Pig Pen - Phase 1

So today I decided to sink thirteen 5-foot 4x4's into the ground beginning the pigs' new outdoor pen... Yeah, you know, no big deal!  I also lost about 3 gallons of sweat in the process!  This is just phase 1.  In phase 2 I will put up the horizontals, and then in phase 3 I will dig the trench to sink the slab wood to prevent the pigs from rooting their way out.  I don't know when those phases will happen, but anyone interested in getting dirty, drop me a line!

Thanks for reading,
-Jay

Chickens at 4 Weeks - Pasture Birds!

Their first week out on the lawn!

Hey everyone!  I just wanted to drop a quick post on you about the chickens.  So far, so good.  They are out on the lawn soaking up some vitamin D, and avidly searching for bugs and worms.  They seem to enjoy it!  We did have one little issue with a chicken that had gotten hurt, and the rest of the flock pecked at her until she had a pretty violent looking gash in her thigh.  So we isolated her and cleaned the wound with hydrogen peroxide, and applied a little antiseptic ointment.  Just like one of my kids!  I don't imagine she'll be on her own very long.  Other than that, no real problems!  I do want to test a nuclear warhead on that watering unit.  It's a great concept, in theory, but it doesn't work.  I'm filling it 3 or 4 times per day.  I'm probably going to bring it back to Tractor Supply.

Thanks for reading,
-Jay

Our Turkeys are Here!

Well, here we go again.  More baby birds on the farm!  As you can see we got a little inventive with a kiddie pool that the previous owners of our farm left under the deck last year when we bought the place.  Thanks Schwerds!  Our rapidly growing chicks now call this place home.  Next week I'll have to find yet another home for them.  I almost can't keep up!  I put a scrap towel and a mover's blanket over the fence to help retain some heat.  They are still babies you know. 



The new chick brooder made from a kiddie pool left under our deck when we bought the house!

The chicks are still a little skittish, but it seems like they like having a roof over their brooder so they can hide.  They are going through 2 gallons of water and about 1 lb. of food per day!  They are growing machines!  

The chicks are getting bigger

Some of them are a little more friendly than others; curious almost.  They are starting to get ugly now, and they're starting to fly a little.  You may not know, but the chicken you're used to eating is actually a very ugly bird when it's full grown.  I just happen to be growing the same breed of chicken, but a heck of a lot differently!  No hormones, no antibiotics, and completely natural food.  That's the Lavasseur Family Farm way.  Oh, and happy chickens too!

They are curious about the camera

And without further ado, our 16 baby heritage turkeys!  This would be the reason that the chicks had to find a new home!  We are pretty limited on the brooders around this farm.  We got our birds from Porter's Rare Heritage Turkeys, and just like our chicken hatchery, they included an extra bird on the house!  So we have 5 Narragansett, 6 Bronze, and 5 Black heritage turkeys.  They will be ready for Thanksgiving this year, and so far 4 have been claimed (no one has specified which breed), leaving 12 for anyone who wants to purchase pasture raised heritage turkey.  Disclaimer: these birds aren't cheap.  I will still be selling at cost, but you should know that they were each $12 before they even got here!  Turkey feed is about $25/100 lbs., but I have no idea how much they eat because I've never raised them before.  I will average the free bird out over the rest of the birds, and I will be selling by the pound since the males are significantly larger than the females.  Just let us know if you're interested.

Our 16 new heritage turkeys!  Just one day old.





They're very small, but will be very huge!



Somebody is in love...

 

Thanks for reading,

-Jay

The Chicks are Here!

Finally!  I thought Elaine was going to go into cardiac arrest when she saw them.  These might be harder than the pigs.  She worries me...  All fifty made it here safely.  They immediately started eating and drinking, which is a great sign!  That means that they were relatively warm on their trip.  It is supposed to be 90 degrees out today, so that makes sense.  Only a couple of them are hanging out under the brooder. 

Fifty chicks in our makeshift brooder

And the girls are in love!  Is anyone surprised?  Riley even held one by herself.  I love teaching the kids about where our food comes from.  If anyone else wants to do the same feel free to visit us.

Elaine introducing a chick to Riley

And that really is an open invitation.  If there is anyone who would like to come meet our new chicks just drop us a line and we'll let you know when a good time is.

 

Thanks for reading,

-Jay

I think the chickens like their new home!

Happy, free roaming, bug biting, grass gobbling chickens!

 

 

New Chicken Coop, Phase 5

Well, it's just about finished.  You can even see the beginnings of the chicken run behind the first picture.  I have all of the posts hammered into the ground, I just need to get wire to attach the fence, and a lighter weight chicken wire for the roof of the run. 

 

Thanks again to Chris for the help today.  We made some great progress.

 

So, as you can see from the first couple pictures, the board and batten siding is nearly complete.  I have to remove the shutters on the back of the coop (the side that looks like the front), and then I will be able to complete the finish work.

 

Technically this is the back of the coop, but who's checking...

On the far side of the coop there are still some very tedious cuts to be made for the trim work on the upper portion (pictured below).  Then I will be able to finish the battens on that portion and the side will be complete.  I have just a couple pieces to add to the bird doors and they can be mounted.  I also need to build the ramps.

Front - The three bird doors you see are just boarded up because I don't have the hinges for them, and I didn't have time to finish them anyway.  They will have a little framing added to them and will look similar to the main door (pictured above).

Inside the coop there is little left.  I managed to get a very thick layer of sawdust down for them, as well as straw in the layer boxes.  I still need to staple a small piece of chicken wire to the eve created by the roof extension so the chickens don't fill it with droppings. 



Inside the coop - The layer boxes

Inside the coop - The roosts.

The chickens have already been moved in! Elaine and I spent two grueling hours carrying 30 chickens and 2 roosters, that were VERY reluctant to move, two-by-two to the new coop. It was actually a lot of fun, and even Elaine thought so!






















Hopefully tomorrow I will find the time to finish the chicken run.  I want to let them out of the coop, but I'm affraid that they will not head back into the coop for the night when the sun goes down.  The chicken run won't allow them much of a choice. 

Thanks for reading,
-Jay

The Salad Garden

 

Those sticks are the labels for the salad varieties

 After moving the old chicken coop we were left with a square frame that was (I thought) useless to me.  Then I got the hairbrained idea to cover up the patch of grass that I always forget to mow!  I laid down newspaper to kill the grass, then compost, and then soil from the big garden.  We have mache, two types of spinach, kale, chard, and arugula planted.  Sounds like a great salad!

 

Thanks for reading,

-Jay 

New Chicken Coop, Phase 4



The door has since been attached, but this is basically what I'm up to.  Next will be the metal roofing, and the fence around the chicken yard.  Then I can move them in!

Thanks for reading,
-Jay

New Chicken Coop, Phase 3

It hit 81 degrees today!  And I felt every bit of it... and will continue to feel it for the next week!  I have the stupidest burn on my back.  I attempted to put sunscreen (SPF 70 of course) on my neck where my first burn (with shirt) took place, but I guess I got a little over-zealous and now I have a neopolitan (yes, the ice cream) look!  Oops.  I'm sure Elaine will think it's VERY attractive!

In phase 3 I finished the first round of siding.  I will be doing a board and batten siding, and I will finish with the battens and trim in the final phase (whenever that might be...).  My next move will be the bird doors, main access door, and roof.  Then I will put up the chicken run and move them in.  I will probably have to do the battens and trim on the front of the coop prior to finishing the chicken run, because I won't be able to access the front very easily after I fence it in.





Back of the coop, or layer box side.



 

The window in the front is plexiglass, and the ones in the back are screened and will have shutters.  I think the shutters will add a lot of character to the coop.  Eventually I will install a rainwater harvesting system using gutters and PVC piping, and a grain hopper to make feeding them even easier.  But those things will have to wait since this project is taking WAY longer than I expected.

 



Front of the coop, or chicken run side.

Thanks for reading,

-Jay



New Chicken Coop, Phase 2

I've finished the wall frames and the layer box frame.  Moving right along!

Thanks for reading,
-Jay

New Chicken Coop, Phase 1

It was a beautiful weekend, and well spent with a whole bunch of projects.  Today (Sunday) was devoted to moving the old chicken coop out, and replacing it with a new, larger one that is capable of accomodating 32 chickens!  I can't wait to finish it.  Big thanks to Chris for all the help. 



Sorry about the poor quality.  I think my phone was dying...

Potatoes, shallots, & onions are planted!



Potatoes, shallots, and onions planted in rows.

Fence posts installed.

Today, in my usual impromtu fashion, I decided to plant this season's potato, shallot, and onion crop!  This year, the garden formerly known as "The Pumpkin Patch" will be home for these tubers and alliums.  I had to learn how to properly plant onions.  Did you know that you're only supposed to bury them less than half way?  I didn't.  So my impromptu planting decision was turned into a two-hour event since I needed a fence to protect the onions from critters.  Now if only I had that scarecrow!  I might have to put one of my fall scarecrow decorations out there in the meantime. 



Finished product.

The weather is looking pretty nice, and I'm hoping it will stay that way.  Farmers Almanac says this summer will be hot and dry, much like last summer.  This will be extremely detrimental (again) to commodity crop farmers.  I don't like to wish misfortune on anyone, but industrial food prices going up means more people may turn to real food.  It would be great to extend the natural food movement even more.  Maybe one day everyone will realize that the food that they are eating, the food that doesn't have to have a name added to it (like organic, CNG, or natural) is what is causing all of these health problems we all know so well.  Here's hopin'!  In the meantime, I'll just keep moving our family forward, off the grid.  The more I can raise, the better!  And I hope to raise excess so people who desire food raised right can buy it!

Thanks for reading.
-Jay


Look who decided to start earning their keep?

The new chickens have officially started laying. The eggs are very small, but it shouldn't be long until they are normal size. Now, if I could only figure out how to train then to lay in the layer box!

Pork Update

The bacon is gone!  After filling the orders I got today there are 5 packs of pork chops, 4 packs of hot Italian sausage links, 4 packs of breakfast sausage, 3 ham steaks, 4 hams, and 6 pork shoulders.  I also still have fat-back if anyone is interested.

Our pork is in!



Deep freezer is full!

...and I still needed the beer fridge's freezer!

Great news!  The pork is in.  Some have already claimed their bounty, and there's still more for those looking for the best pork you can possibly buy.  These pigs are 100% Actually Natural, humanely raised, and always handled with love.  So far we've tried the bacon and the pork chops, and both were exquisite!  The bacon has a very delicate texture when compared with the jerky-like texture that is common to pasture-raised pork, and the chops are to die for.  You can't get better pork anywhere.  Any restauranteur would pay top dollar to get their hands on this pig!  If you're interested in getting your hands on our exclusive pork products, send me a message.

At the time of this post what is left are 10 packs of pork chops (2 per pack, 1.25" thick cut), 5 packages of bacon (approximately 1 lb per pkg), 6 packs of hot Italian sausage links (about 1.25 lb per pkg), 4 packages of breakfast sausage (about 1 lb per pkg), 5 ham steaks (about 2 lb each), 3 hams (a little over 4 lb each), and 8 pork roasts (a little over 3.5 lbs each).

As many of you know, I am getting six more pigs near the end of this month that will be ready for processing around November or December. A few of you have already claimed a half pig and that's awesome! I wanted to get something a little more solid in the works for these pigs since I will be taking a very large financial risk in the event that I can't sell them.

I plan to keep either 1 1/2 or 2 for us, and the other 4 or 4 1/2 will be up for sale. I will be selling them at cost again, and everything will be sold by the pound to ensure fairness. I am looking for anyone who wants to commit to the purchase of a quarter, half, or whole pig. I would like to get commitments, because if I don't have a pretty clear idea who's buying, I'm going to try to reduce my order (or order more if that's the case). A half pig works out to about 20 Pork Chops (that's the 1.25" thick cut that I got this time), 8 lb Bacon, 6 lb Hot Italian Sausage, 3 lb Pork Sausage, 3 Ham Steaks (2 lbs each), 2 Hams (3-4 lbs each), and 14 lb Pork Roast. There's some modifications that can be made to this such as thinner pork chops, a little more sausage and a little less roast, sweet Italian sausage instead of hot, etc.

Based on this last trial, a half pig would cost $450.00. This time around will be cheaper since they will be raised in the Summer and will consume much less grain and much more garden scraps, etc. My best estimate is that a half pig will cost less then $400.00. My goal is $380.00, which is based on the research I've done on how much a pig should eat. These last ones consumed approximately 1400 lbs. each, and I should be able to cut that to 1000 just based on the time of year, and possibly less due to the addition of garden scraps. 400 lbs. of grain costs about $90.00. So as you can see, my estimate was a little conservative.

 So, a commitment would be a promise to buy in November or December, with the understanding that if I can cut costs we will all benefit. Please let me know if you're interested soon, so I can make my decision what to buy.

Thanks for reading.
-Jay

Our new laying hens are here!

Just picked them up yesterday, they seem to be fitting right in. Give us a couple weeks and we'll have eggs for everyone that's wants them! There's 30, so we will definitely be crankin' them out.

Efficiency Renovation Phase 2

The demolition is pretty much done! Thanks to Chris again it all came down in a day. Now the fun can begin. Next four-day I'll be looking for some extra help from anyone interested. I'll be rebuilding a wall, installing windows, installing cabinetry, and more. Let me know if this sounds like fun.

And, we're in business!

We're International!

I was shocked to see that my blog got 137 views since I posted about the farm yesterday only to find that some of those view came from places like Germany, Ireland, and South Korea!  So I decided to look into my blog's lifetime traffic and look at what I found: United States 930
Sweden 11
United Kingdom 8
Russia 8
Canada 8
Germany 5
Ireland 4
Singapore 3
Japan 2
Philippines 2 South Korea 2

I love this feature of Blogspot!  What a cool thing to see that people in other countries are reading my stuff!  If anyone from one of these other countries wishes to reveal themselves, I would love to know who you are.  If you're willing, post a reply to this post and just say hello.

Thanks for reading,
-Jay

February on the Farm



Doing what they do best! (2/19/2013)



As promised, here's the pigs!  The last I checked they were well over 200 lbs. by Hog Tape.  It's not a very accurate way to measure, but it gets you an idea.  Mr. Grant said that the boy (pictured in front) will probably dress over 200 lbs.!  That's going to make for about 160 lbs. of meat (normally you get 125 lbs. per pig).  They are extremely healthy, and they seem very happy.  The love visitors and enjoy sprinting around their pen.  They've composted 14 bales of straw and 2 buckets (a bucket is about what would fit in a standard pickup truck) of sawdust. And if you look closely you can see how far their hooves set into the straw.  So as you can see it's composted down pretty good.  I can't wait to get it spread over the gardens!

Closeup!

Eating, eating, and eating!

Unfortunately, the chickens don't seem to be enjoying life as much as the pigs.  They're thriving, but if you asked them I think they would answer differently.  The damn roosters are back in the coop.  I didn't really have anything else to do with them, and I was getting sick of dealing with their freezing water dish everyday while they were out in the outdoor coop.  If any readers don't already know, Elaine wouldn't let me... get rid of them... She had a bit of a meltdown just thinking about it.  I'm bracing myself for April 1st when I take the pigs in.  We're not getting very many eggs.  I'm looking forward to having more hens this summer.  Mr. Grant is getting me 25 more, and Christian is taking 10 of them, but I have a feeling I'm taking them back in the Fall when he moves away.  Hopefully the 5 that we have boost their output when the weather warms up.  Having 20 that are fully operational will be nice.  We will be selling them at $3/doz.  Pretty cheap! 



They're really only consuming, not producing!



One egg.  And that's after 2 days!  Worthless hens...



 In other farm news, we've started our seeds!  We're pretty excited with what we've got this year.  Nothing out of the ordinary, just good eatin'!  So far we've started tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, leeks, celery, watermelon, and herbs.  This is just the first seed starting though, we will start seeds every month until June when we begin direct planting.  We're looking to be able to can, freeze, cellar, pickle, and eat!  Can't wait to see how we do!

 

Our version of recycling!  We kept containers for 6 months!

  

Elaine got fancy with the ceramic pots!



And last but not least, our efficiency renovation is still plugging along.  I have a tenant at the end of June!  So the clock is ticking.  I'm waiting for Chris to be done with school before I ask him for his help again... that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it... Actually I've just been really busy and it's been REALLY COLD!  



My trailer full of kitchen cabinetry.

Yesterday I took advantage of a sale Home Depot was having and I picked up almost all of the cabinetry for the efficiency AND the apartment!  I'm very excited.  I'm still loving that trailer.  That was the best $550 I've ever spent. So now, as soon as I get some more time (and hopefully some Winter relief) it's back to work on the efficiency.  I'm thinking the next four-day weekend I have I'm going to get working.  We recently found out that this year is the 150th anniversary of the Horse Racing Track.  If that's not incentive enough to finish our rentals, I don't know what is.  I might even try to get the barn looking decent just for some asthetic appeal.  I would like to get it painted if I can manage.  There's a lot of work to be done, and not a lot of time to do it. 

Thanks for reading.

-Jay

Sorry it's been so long...

Sorry it's been so long since my last post.  The pigs are huge!  I'll try to remember to post a picture of them.  And I'm sorry to report we lost a chicken in December.  They are Elaine's girls, and she is very sad.  Rest in peace Mrs. Buttersworth.

The farm is moving forward toward a great year.  I ordered 15 heritage turkeys that will arrive sometime in late June.  I also talked to Mr. Grant about getting me 6 more pigs sometime in May, and I will be talking to him again soon about laying hens and broiler chickens.  The goal is to have enough layers to accomodate anyone that wants eggs, and enough chickens to freeze for the year, plus some to sell.  The 6 pigs should produce about 600 lbs. of pork for sale after we take ours.  We'll be raising them in the woods to allow them a more natural environment.  Also, our seeds are on order and should be here soon.  The pigs have produced some extremely high-quality compost that is ready to be spread onto the gardens, and I expect a great harvest this year.  We've got seeds for eating vegetables, canning vegetables, freezing vegetables, and root cellar storage.  We're very excited to see what we can produce this year!

Thanks for reading,

-Jay

So God Made a Farmer