Another thing about farming...

...you need versatility.  What ever you  invest money in needs to be multipurpose.  This van has turned out to be a great multipurpose vehicle, it can handle a lot of tasks. It has a big engine, stiffer suspension and it's higher which is great for the water crossings.  It's almost like a great wife who can do all kinds of things (Tonya: "Really?  I'm like a van?  You're sleeping on the couch tonight.")

There are also some luxuries that don't seem like luxuries until you experience them.  There is nothing like getting out of bed (or off the couch) in the morning and having a cold glass of extremely creamy whole raw milk.  I'm not kidding. The girl in the back is a Jersey and has been proving awsome milk. The goat in the front is a Nubian and also provides very nutritious milk but it is not as creamy.  (Did you know that raw milk can actually hinder or suppress bacterial contamination unlike pasteurized milk because of an enzyme it contains? http://spiritfoods.net/health-benefits-of-raw-milk/)

It is now clear to me that Liberty is from around here.  On the way back from church we saw deer right on a spot where the sun was breaking thru the trees (looked like a scene from some Disney movie), and Liberty said "Oooh, deeer" and then after a pause she said "if we had a gun we could just shoot 'em."

We've made some upgrades to the back-woods water attraction. It's longer (I got another advertising tarp from a friend I've made out here) and Blaise added the trampoline to the beginning of the ride. Water is dumped out of a tub on the top of the trampoline and helps propel you down the hill.

We had another bee swarm.  So far we've captured four swarms and I need to get additional parts for hives soon.  Here we're checking on the progress of a new hive.  We check to see if/when they need expansion bodies and if they've been infected with parasites and add/maintain some passive devices to kill the parasites. Unfortunately there isn't enough honey yet to harvest from any hive.

But if we ate flies, there would be plenty to harvest. These guys can't wait to get in the house and bug Tonya.  We're still paying for not having a good fly mitigation technique months ago (arranging rabbit poop so the chickens can scratch thru it and eat the larve).

We're currently working thru some big challenges and re-thinking strategy.  One thing discussed months ago was the need for wisdom gleaned from successful farmers (those that are farming traditionally full time). Since I had plenty to do, we thought that Caleb could look into a 6 week internship at Rockin' H Ranch, a very respected and successful local farm, and come back to advise us in particular areas.  Caleb was eventually accepted along with TJ.

We dropped them off on Monday, it was very hard to do... but, we've learned that the knowledge you glean from those who are where you want to be saves countless hours and lots of money.  That is the biggest lesson we've learned so far.  (There are a lot of ways to do farming, it's amazing.  The big benefit of the wisdom is it enables you to mitigate some financial risks and build efficiency in early, so you don't needlessly consume hours later, it will also help keep one from getting burned out.  The challenge is if you don't know much about farming, who do you listen to?  You have to talk to a lot of farmers and consumers, observe farms and how they sell product, and slowly it becomes clearer what approaches one should take.)

So with our two oldest out, it was a great time for a bee swarm.  Keena was the first to alert me while my attention was consumed with other things "Dad, the bees are swarming."  Me: "What?  What are you talking about?"  I went to investigate and found a cloud of bees.  I asked Blaise to put on the gear (Caleb has been tutoring him) and this is what we found (actually I kind of yelled at Blaise to suit up, I didn't want to lose the swarm).  I don't have a suit, and I've been told that when they swarm they are very docile so I took a chance.  In this pic I've already trimmed limbs and I'm about to cut the branch so we can carry it over to a hive body.  I'm wearing a t-shirt with no gloves, it felt like I was in the middle of an indoor shopping mall during the holidays wearing only tighty whities.  Amazingly I never got stung.

Blaise successfully put them into a brooder hive body.  Here he is spraying the frames and bees with sugar water to encourage them to stay.

He later provided his assessment, it was the Italian hive that swarmed.  I'm very proud of my 12 year old homeschooled kid.

Getting back to the statement I started the post with.  A friend from church who is a human version of a search engine (he should have had a part in the Matrix, he could have been some kind of side kick for the Oracle) sent me this link (thanks Ralph): http://www.artofmanliness.com/2013/06/05/9-rules-for-starting-your-own-farm/.  I think it sums up farming very well.  But despite some significant challenges we're encouraged.  We now have a much better understanding of what it takes to produce food and a lot more confidence that we can do it.

Hay Day

Smart phones are awesome, I'll update the blog while waiting for this train to pass...

Whoa, check that out, a fan tagged this rail car (if that was you Mom, spell out the URL so we'll get more page views).

On to farming.  We spent the day with another farm family learning hay.

Caleb and Calvin have found comfortable farm boy poses. TJ had a pose malfunction.

Blaises' pose is a little more sophisticated.

Gloves would have been nice.  I asked Calvin to clean out the van before we left and he cleaned out the van - even the pairs of gloves I had set aside. One time I asked Trins to remove tools from the van before a trip to AR and she removed the tools - even the ones that came with the van, the ones that allow you to change a flat tire. I didn't realize it until... I had to change a flat tire in AR!

This cat smells fresh.  (Sammy: "Do cawts poop each odder out like goawts?")

Babysitting cows for friends is awesome, they mow the lawn and we can drink their milk (Sammy: "Dats wight, fwesh mik fo my sippy cup.")

A fun and interesting place to get stuck (A little more on this pic: this was taken in the AM but we got stuck the night before around 11pm on Sunday.  I had to check the animals but I wanted company and Tonya was in her PJs ready for bed but I talked her into going along (Tonya: "I'll just wait in the van in my comfy PJs while he's checking, what's the worst thing that could happen?")  The walk back to bed was at least a mile long, no kidding.  (Thinking back about what that was like makes me laugh as I write this, don't tell Tonya).

At the farmer's market.  These two did extremely well answering questions and selling product, I was impressed.

We greatly appreciate the feedback from friends and family.  I've struggled a little because I've wondered if  the way I present things would make one think it is so easy, almost magical, like raising a herd of unicorns that poop butterflies.  Unfortunately, there are all kinds of challenges, here are a few...

The septic failed.  Don't worry, typically there isn't an audience.

Flies, thousands of them (maybe tens of thousands). You want to arrange animals so that one will mitigate or eliminate the effects from another. Our problem is that we've got rabbits against the back of the house but no animal to scratch their poop.  If we spent some time re-arranging things we could have chickens eating the larvae flies are laying in the rabbit poop (they make the poop look like it's alive, hard to explain and I won't post a pic).  Sammy: "I hate fwies, time for a paci bweak."

Surprises (well, shouldn't have been a surprise). Feed bin empties on a Sunday and Monday is a holiday.  We buy from the Mennonites ("Are they going to be open tomorrow?  Do they recognized the same holidays we do?  Maybe not, I know they're exempt from things like the Socialist inSecurity tax.  I would love not to pay that uncon stitutoinal ponzi scheme theft.  Are there Reformed Presbyterian Mennonites I could join?")

The incredibly trustworthy Toyota tractor broke down. Turns out it is the starter which is low to the ground, I think it failed from too many water crossings.

Liberty got a nice mayonnaise hair treatment thanks to lice a few of us got when we brought a goat into the house after a cold night to revive him.

Thankfully the van helps us recover some problems. The Lord cuases all things to happen for good (Rom 8:28), can't forget that.

The van is used a lot (oops).

One way to relieve stress is to handle wild animals (Blaise cornered a wild rabbit).

And use them as air guitar props (or trying and communicate telepathically to them).

Or study this new breed of pig.

That reminds me, the other ones need water.

So for others who are thinking about doing this here are some initial lessons learned to reduce stress and help accommodate challenges:
-Fencing is paramount, have enough paddocks in place before collecting animals.
-Start slow, perfect your techniques for producing meat, milk, produce, etc. before ramping up.
-Learn from the mistakes of others, seek out other farmers to learn from before making major investments.
-Study an animal you are interested in before purchase, you could be buying someone else's problems (and quarantine them before introducing them to your herd).
-Eat lots of bacon, fat is actually good for you, the food pyramid is a lie (seriously).
-Farm raised pork chops are delicious.

We're trying something new...

...a pollen collector on the Italian hive,

and here is the pollen after it's stripped off of the legs of bees as they enter the collector.  This is amazing stuff, it is packed with nutrition (protein, vitamins, amino acids, enzymes, the list goes on and I bet it even has bits of chocolate).  Some claim it has cured them of allergies.  It has a very pleasant sweet taste and it's becoming the 2nd most sought after household treat.  (2nd is not a trivial ranking, standards are high, number one is German dark chocolate).

Off on a mission.... to do chores.

Picking up sawdust.

The chicks are brooded in the trailer in the background (that's where the sawdust is used).  This pic was taken after a long day of home schooling. I'm sure the girls probably learned something about Roman soldiers and asked Blaise if he'd help them with a small experiment.

This is how the new chicks show up.

I'm not taking a snuggle break.  If I let go this lamb will scram and it could take hours to catch her again. Sometimes animals that are new to a farm need to acclimate to the surroundings and people before becoming more controllable.

Nope, ain't gonna pull it, wheels keep breaking lose... ok, let's move on to something else.

Un-rolling giant hay bails over the garden to kill weeds, this also puts nutrients back into the soil. Another one of those farm tasks that makes a gym membership useless.

Building frames for honey boxes with my trusty assistant.

Another really nice morning to wake up to.

I've had another revelation... older sisters don't beat you up or irritate you (one of my hobbies was bugging my little sister), they just dress you up in girls clothes.

Here is a cheap red-neck water park attraction.  We live near a highway that has billboards and we've discovered that billboard wraps make an excellent slip and slide.  We plan on upgrading to a 60 foot wrap.  (Note how big sisters have no mercy, these girls are relentless.  If you click on the pic you'll notice that Fabio is dressed in a girls swim suit over a diaper that's holding about two gallons of water, good thing he's not old enough to know what he's wearing).

What should this post be about?

Keena: "I know, the meet ball bath tub!"  Liberty: "That's silly, how about bottle feeding baby wabbits?"

Here are 203 Cornish crosses placed in a cattle trough for transport to their new home in the pasture.

One of the wabbits had 15 kits.  The doe died and the kids tried bottle syringe feeding for days but unfortunately the extra kits we couldn't place with other does eventually died. We later lost five more to the recent cold so we currently have 30 being raised for meat.

Close-up of the babies.

Cornish crosses have only two things on their todo list every day: eat and poop.  Some kind of bedding is needed or else disease will spread and ammonia vapors will form.  We collected sawdust from a local pallet company but we needed to dry it before storage (bedding is used before they go out to pasture).

In pasture the crosses are placed in pens that are moved every morning.  They'll spend 3-4 weeks in here before being butchered.

Go karts are a lot of fun, that's also a problem because you drive them hard and get more mechanical failures.  TJ took a turn so hard that the rear tires lifted off the ground and when they landed the mechanism that adjusts the chain tension broke.

Early morning chores, getting breakfast for the crosses (you can tell the difference between bad feed and good feed by tasting it.  Cheap feed makes you want to spit it out, the stuff in this pic is expensive, I've caught TJ eating a handful.  He needs to bring milk, a bowl and a spoon next time.)

An example of some of the rules that have been established to keep the peace (well, they're more of what you'd call guidelines than actual rules).

And more new kids on the block, they just keep coming.  Giving birth is always a tense time for me so while I smoke a cigar to take the edge off Sammy reached for a pacifier (Sammy: "Whooowhie, dat goat just pooped out two goats... I'm gwad dats over.")

See, it's crazy, this one showed up last night.  Since it was so cold outside Calvin decided to give his teddy bear a rest and make room for this new kid.