Our First Livestock (Besides Chickens)
Our First Livestock (Besides Chickens)
As temperatures warm, we find ourselves spending more and more time outdoors. Sam has been going fishing with Brandon and Uncle Keith in various locations around the local area.
After a couple times of going with the boys, he decided to bring Rylee and I along one evening. We packed Rylee up in a hiking backpack and went fishing. Uncle Keith and Lucy dominated, catching 9 keepable fish each. Sam caught three, including this big Perch. I caught 6 sticks but still had fun!
One of the first fish Sam caught was super tiny! He held it up for Rylee to see, and she decided to pet it!
Back at the farm, we have been doing a mix of indoor and outdoor projects. Most of my indoor projects include tutoring. Rylee enjoys keeping me company while I do.
Also, as a side note, her hair has gotten long enough for me to braid. Look how cute!
Sam's been fighting with the pond drainage system. He keeps getting air in from some of the joints, but it drains great when it's actually working!
Though, it did suck up this little fish. Poor little guy. Luckily, we were able to rescue him and throw him back in the pond.
After several weeks of waiting out the bees, and several attempts at rounding up the stragglers, we finally decided it was time to move the hive. We snuck out to the hive after Rylee had gone to sleep and duct taped a wire mesh over the entrance. The hope was to keep the bees in but still allow air flow into the hive.
The next day, Sam and Rylee installed the base for the beehive at the new location, making sure that it was level so the bees would draw straight comb inside the hive frames.
Taylor helped Sam strap the beehive together and load it onto the lawn mower trailer. She and Dad helped Sam move it out of the trailer and onto the base. From there, it was 72 hours of waiting, forcing the bees to stay in the hive at their new location.
Finally, it was time to release the bees. Typically, it's recommended that if you are going to move the bees under 3 miles that you only move the hive 3 ft at a time so as not to confuse the worker bees. The recommendation was a foot a day until reaching the new location, which would have taken us well over 300 days to move! The alternative method is to trap the bees in the hive (ensuring good ventilation), wait 72 hours, then place a tree or branch over the entrance so that the bees recognize their location has changed and they reset their internal gps home location. We cut down a Bradford Pear and placed it over the entrance before removing the duct tape. Wait until you hear how loud they were! The bees were not angry at all, but to say they were happy to be released would be an understatement.
We relocated the hive to the field in front of the house over near the septic tank because of it's close proximity to our mysterious fruit tree grove.
Speaking of the mysterious fruit tree grove, I was surprised to see that the strange cold spell we had a couple weeks ago didn't kill all the fruit. The fruit isn't round, so I expect my suspicions that they aren't Bradford Pears are correct. Now I'm just waiting to see what they end up looking like!
Taylor came out during the cold spell to take pictures of Rylee while the fields were still bright yellow. She didn't cooperate super well, but we did manage to get a few good pictures of her!
Around the same time, our lone rooster Harper decided that he wasn't too sure about people after all. He started chasing us, including our mail lady (which thank goodness is my aunt). After the first couple of times of lightly attacking Sam we decided to take action. At the suggestion of my friend Sara from Georgia, we separated him from the flock to give him a sort of time-out. We plan on leaving him in there for another week or so then letting him rejoin the flock, being sure to feed him plenty when we do so that he recognizes we are not a threat. I think his aggression was triggered from residual intimidation habits we had from when Wilson was still around. Should his aggression not be fixed, we will likely keep him penned up in a permanent breeding coop. Unlike Wilson who was a mutt, Harper is an Easter Egger Rooster, and we have several Easter Egger hens. He will be more valuable to us as a breeder than as chicken stock.
Trulee and Brett are still working to get their old house sold, and asked a bunch of us to come help them replace the pool liner about a week ago. While we waited for the liner to fill up with enough water to hold it in place, we stripped Rylee of her clothes and plopped her in with Daddy. While he scraped air bubbles out from under the liner, she had a fun time following him around and trying not to fall. Here she is practicing her "I don't know" pose.
And she's been stubbornly refusing to eat in her high-chair--wanting instead to either stand in a chair beside us or eat in our laps. We purchased her a new booster seat that just came in, and I'm hoping it helps with the eating situation because it's been difficult getting her to eat as of late.
Perhaps one of the largest problems we have been dealing with here at MinIsland Farm is that our chickens have been disappearing. Since letting the chickens roam out of their coop, we have lost 4-6 of the teenage hens and 3 of the 5 chicks that we hatched ourselves. In an attempt to figure out what was taking them, Sam set up several game cameras around the barn lot and surrounding property. Here's what we found.
While there's no guarantee that raccoons and hawks were also not responsible for the chickens disappearing, these videos as well as the three day sightings that Sam had convinced us that coyotes were a problem here at the farm that needed to be dealt with ASAP. We've invested a lot in these chickens. We toiled around with the idea of putting up a fence for a few days before deciding that we really couldn't afford $2,000-$10,000 and about a month of labor (if we installed it ourselves).
We decided to get a guard donkey, and after a few days of searching Craigslist and various farming groups on facebook, including the Lawrenceburg Chicken Swap, we found the one we were looking for. Meet Pancake!
Pancake is a 3-5 years old , standard size gelding (that means a castrated Jack). He is about 44 inches in height with light brown coloring all over except a patch of dark that forms a cross right over his shoulder blades. During his early years he had exposure to children but these last two years he worked in a field guarding cattle. Pancake was exactly what we were looking for--a gelding (known to be less aggressive towards people than Jacks) that would like attention but still be good at kicking some coyote butts.
We've worked hard over the past two days since bringing him home (from South Shore, Kentucky) to get him to warm up to us--bringing bits of food and petting him multiple times a day. Today was the first time he willingly walked up to us to be petted!
He was feeling rather lonely this morning after two days of being cooped up in a barn stall (to learn his new home), so I tied him to a rope and let him wander outside of the barn a little bit. He and the chickens (his new wards) were a little weary of each other at first.
Sam worked this morning to put up boards in places where the fencing was down and installed two lines of electric fence (currently awaiting the solar battery to be charged by our grow lights) to keep him to the right side of the barn lot until we feel more confident about letting him wander the entire property.
He was so happy to be able to wander freely and eat all the yummy grass rather than the corn and sweet feed we've been giving him these last couple days. And for those curious about his name, I named him Pancake (it was Barney) after a wonderful christian book series called Troublesome Creek written by Jan Watson. I highly recommend it!
While supervising Sam and his fence building this morning I snapped a picture of this pretty gal. She's a Russian Orloff chicken--one of the new breeds we introduced to the flock this year.
After getting Pancake settled on Saturday we decided to spend Sunday kayaking with Trulee and Brett. While we didn't make it out to their place until well into the afternoon (we pressure washed the cattle trailer and baked an apple and pear gullet as a thank you to the friends from church who let us borrow their trailer to go pick up Pancake), we had loads of fun!
The boys put Trulee and I in the canoe with the babies while they got to tootle around in the kayaks.
Perhaps the highlight of the trip was when we spotted this owl. Trulee and I had already floated too far downstream, but the boys stopped by to take a closer look. Interestingly, he was still there on our return trip.
Lastly, Matthew and Kenzie stopped by the farm yesterday to bring us some tobacco sticks we were hoping to be able to use for the fence for Pancake. While they were leaving, they found this giant snapping turtle in the middle of our driveway. Watch how he reacts when Sam attempts to put a stick in his mouth!
Apple Cinnamon Galette
Ingredients:
1 pie crust recipe
2 apples
2 Tbs sugar
2 Tbs flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbs lemon juice
1 egg (beaten) for wash
sugar for sprinkling on top
Instructions:
1. Peel apples and slice into the thinnest slices you can manage
2. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl until apples are evenly coated.
3. Roll out pie crust until 1/8" thick.
4. I never end up sprinkling enough flour on the table to roll the pie crust out on so at this point, I pull the pie crust up (being careful to scrape up the sticky parts so that I don't tear my crust), and flip it over. I sprinkle flour on the sticky parts where raw dough is showing and then roll the dough back out to the desired thickness.
5. Using pastry cutters, cut the jagged edges off the pie crust and try and make it round.
6. Spread apple mixture in the middle of the galette, leaving 1-2" of space around the edge.
6. Fold the edges of the pie crust over so that it overlaps the apple mixture.
7. Move the pie crust to a cookie sheet and brush the crust edges with the egg wash. You want even coverage without pooling egg wash.
8. Sprinkle sugar on top of the galette crust and middle.
9. Bake at 400*F for 45-50 minutes.
Optional: drizzle on a...
Maple Glaze
1/3 cup maple syrup
2 Tbs butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup of powdered sugar, more until reach desired consistence.
Instructions:
1. Melt the butter and mix with the maple syrup and the vanilla.
2. If you want a smooth glaze, sift the powdered sugar before adding it. If you don't mind some small amounts of chunks, add the powder sugar unsifted and stir together. If the mixture is too runny, add more powdered sugar. If the mixture is too thick, add more maple sugar.
As temperatures warm, we find ourselves spending more and more time outdoors. Sam has been going fishing with Brandon and Uncle Keith in various locations around the local area.
Back at the farm, we have been doing a mix of indoor and outdoor projects. Most of my indoor projects include tutoring. Rylee enjoys keeping me company while I do.
Also, as a side note, her hair has gotten long enough for me to braid. Look how cute!
Sam's been fighting with the pond drainage system. He keeps getting air in from some of the joints, but it drains great when it's actually working!
Though, it did suck up this little fish. Poor little guy. Luckily, we were able to rescue him and throw him back in the pond.
After several weeks of waiting out the bees, and several attempts at rounding up the stragglers, we finally decided it was time to move the hive. We snuck out to the hive after Rylee had gone to sleep and duct taped a wire mesh over the entrance. The hope was to keep the bees in but still allow air flow into the hive.
The next day, Sam and Rylee installed the base for the beehive at the new location, making sure that it was level so the bees would draw straight comb inside the hive frames.
Taylor helped Sam strap the beehive together and load it onto the lawn mower trailer. She and Dad helped Sam move it out of the trailer and onto the base. From there, it was 72 hours of waiting, forcing the bees to stay in the hive at their new location.
Finally, it was time to release the bees. Typically, it's recommended that if you are going to move the bees under 3 miles that you only move the hive 3 ft at a time so as not to confuse the worker bees. The recommendation was a foot a day until reaching the new location, which would have taken us well over 300 days to move! The alternative method is to trap the bees in the hive (ensuring good ventilation), wait 72 hours, then place a tree or branch over the entrance so that the bees recognize their location has changed and they reset their internal gps home location. We cut down a Bradford Pear and placed it over the entrance before removing the duct tape. Wait until you hear how loud they were! The bees were not angry at all, but to say they were happy to be released would be an understatement.
We relocated the hive to the field in front of the house over near the septic tank because of it's close proximity to our mysterious fruit tree grove.
Speaking of the mysterious fruit tree grove, I was surprised to see that the strange cold spell we had a couple weeks ago didn't kill all the fruit. The fruit isn't round, so I expect my suspicions that they aren't Bradford Pears are correct. Now I'm just waiting to see what they end up looking like!
Taylor came out during the cold spell to take pictures of Rylee while the fields were still bright yellow. She didn't cooperate super well, but we did manage to get a few good pictures of her!
We also found daisies blooming!
Rylee being adorable.
Around the same time, our lone rooster Harper decided that he wasn't too sure about people after all. He started chasing us, including our mail lady (which thank goodness is my aunt). After the first couple of times of lightly attacking Sam we decided to take action. At the suggestion of my friend Sara from Georgia, we separated him from the flock to give him a sort of time-out. We plan on leaving him in there for another week or so then letting him rejoin the flock, being sure to feed him plenty when we do so that he recognizes we are not a threat. I think his aggression was triggered from residual intimidation habits we had from when Wilson was still around. Should his aggression not be fixed, we will likely keep him penned up in a permanent breeding coop. Unlike Wilson who was a mutt, Harper is an Easter Egger Rooster, and we have several Easter Egger hens. He will be more valuable to us as a breeder than as chicken stock.
Trulee and Brett are still working to get their old house sold, and asked a bunch of us to come help them replace the pool liner about a week ago. While we waited for the liner to fill up with enough water to hold it in place, we stripped Rylee of her clothes and plopped her in with Daddy. While he scraped air bubbles out from under the liner, she had a fun time following him around and trying not to fall. Here she is practicing her "I don't know" pose.
She's also been learning to "help" me with the laundry.
And she's been stubbornly refusing to eat in her high-chair--wanting instead to either stand in a chair beside us or eat in our laps. We purchased her a new booster seat that just came in, and I'm hoping it helps with the eating situation because it's been difficult getting her to eat as of late.
Perhaps one of the largest problems we have been dealing with here at MinIsland Farm is that our chickens have been disappearing. Since letting the chickens roam out of their coop, we have lost 4-6 of the teenage hens and 3 of the 5 chicks that we hatched ourselves. In an attempt to figure out what was taking them, Sam set up several game cameras around the barn lot and surrounding property. Here's what we found.
While there's no guarantee that raccoons and hawks were also not responsible for the chickens disappearing, these videos as well as the three day sightings that Sam had convinced us that coyotes were a problem here at the farm that needed to be dealt with ASAP. We've invested a lot in these chickens. We toiled around with the idea of putting up a fence for a few days before deciding that we really couldn't afford $2,000-$10,000 and about a month of labor (if we installed it ourselves).
We decided to get a guard donkey, and after a few days of searching Craigslist and various farming groups on facebook, including the Lawrenceburg Chicken Swap, we found the one we were looking for. Meet Pancake!
Sam worked this morning to put up boards in places where the fencing was down and installed two lines of electric fence (currently awaiting the solar battery to be charged by our grow lights) to keep him to the right side of the barn lot until we feel more confident about letting him wander the entire property.
He was so happy to be able to wander freely and eat all the yummy grass rather than the corn and sweet feed we've been giving him these last couple days. And for those curious about his name, I named him Pancake (it was Barney) after a wonderful christian book series called Troublesome Creek written by Jan Watson. I highly recommend it!
While supervising Sam and his fence building this morning I snapped a picture of this pretty gal. She's a Russian Orloff chicken--one of the new breeds we introduced to the flock this year.
After getting Pancake settled on Saturday we decided to spend Sunday kayaking with Trulee and Brett. While we didn't make it out to their place until well into the afternoon (we pressure washed the cattle trailer and baked an apple and pear gullet as a thank you to the friends from church who let us borrow their trailer to go pick up Pancake), we had loads of fun!
The boys put Trulee and I in the canoe with the babies while they got to tootle around in the kayaks.
Auntie Chu and Leia!
Daddy and Rylee!
Perhaps the highlight of the trip was when we spotted this owl. Trulee and I had already floated too far downstream, but the boys stopped by to take a closer look. Interestingly, he was still there on our return trip.
Lastly, Matthew and Kenzie stopped by the farm yesterday to bring us some tobacco sticks we were hoping to be able to use for the fence for Pancake. While they were leaving, they found this giant snapping turtle in the middle of our driveway. Watch how he reacts when Sam attempts to put a stick in his mouth!
And because I've been making them a lot lately, here's the recipe for a galette.
Apple Cinnamon Galette
Ingredients:
1 pie crust recipe
2 apples
2 Tbs sugar
2 Tbs flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbs lemon juice
1 egg (beaten) for wash
sugar for sprinkling on top
Instructions:
1. Peel apples and slice into the thinnest slices you can manage
2. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl until apples are evenly coated.
3. Roll out pie crust until 1/8" thick.
4. I never end up sprinkling enough flour on the table to roll the pie crust out on so at this point, I pull the pie crust up (being careful to scrape up the sticky parts so that I don't tear my crust), and flip it over. I sprinkle flour on the sticky parts where raw dough is showing and then roll the dough back out to the desired thickness.
5. Using pastry cutters, cut the jagged edges off the pie crust and try and make it round.
6. Spread apple mixture in the middle of the galette, leaving 1-2" of space around the edge.
6. Fold the edges of the pie crust over so that it overlaps the apple mixture.
7. Move the pie crust to a cookie sheet and brush the crust edges with the egg wash. You want even coverage without pooling egg wash.
8. Sprinkle sugar on top of the galette crust and middle.
9. Bake at 400*F for 45-50 minutes.
Optional: drizzle on a...
Maple Glaze
1/3 cup maple syrup
2 Tbs butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup of powdered sugar, more until reach desired consistence.
Instructions:
1. Melt the butter and mix with the maple syrup and the vanilla.
2. If you want a smooth glaze, sift the powdered sugar before adding it. If you don't mind some small amounts of chunks, add the powder sugar unsifted and stir together. If the mixture is too runny, add more powdered sugar. If the mixture is too thick, add more maple sugar.
Pax Domini cum spirito tuo temper sit,
Torey, Sam & Rylee
Do you or someone you know live near Harrodsburg, Kentucky?
Do you want to eat farm-fresh eggs from happy, healthy hens? ($3/dozen)
Check out our shop!
Do you or someone you know live near Harrodsburg, Kentucky?
Do you want to eat farm-fresh eggs from happy, healthy hens? ($3/dozen)
Check out our shop!
Comments
Post a Comment