I planted my cut flower garden a few weeks ago and have been eagerly awaiting the first signs of life to poke through the ground. The Lows: When I started planting I realized that the ageratum and strawflower seed packets recommended starting the seeds inside and transplanting them into the garden. The seeds are teenie … More Germination: Highs and Lows
Last weekend was HOT! Ryan worked, so I was in charge of making sure the animals had water to get them through the sweltering heat. They all did really well, and we made it through unscathed. Here’s what we’ve been up to! We moved the 3rd batch of broilers out to the pasture. Actually, Ryan … More Around the Ranch-June 21, 2018
Our first batch of chickens is in the freezer! We’ve seriously considered sending our chickens out to be butchered, but after lots of thought and discussion, we decided to keep doing them ourselves. We really like that we’re the only ones that have handled each bird from start to finish. We’re able to treat each … More Thoughts on the First Chicken Processing of the Summer
This year, we’re starting a new venture-cut flowers! When we were in the hospital after having Anne, we received a vase of fresh flowers as a congratulations. I’ve never really been into growing flowers, but seeing how much it brightened up the hospital room and later our house, I thought about how nice it would … More Starting a Cut Flower Garden
As we grow our farm, we’re really making sure to do things as deliberately as possible while keeping things manageable. Last year, we focused on our chicken production which went from 25 chickens for ourselves in the summer of 2016 to raising and processing 300 chickens in the summer of 2017. We only raised 4 … More A New Addition to the Farm
We picked up our pigs last week! This year, we got 5 red wattle crosses. When we first get them, we keep them near the pig shed so they have shelter while they’re little. After they acclimate to their new home, we’ll move them out to the pasture, so they can start really grazing. In … More The Pigs Are Here!
Last year was our first year with bees. There’s a pretty steep learning curve with the first beehive. Ryan does most of the bee work, so he installs the bees and inspects the hive. Last year went really well. Our hive split on the 4th of July, and we weren’t able to recover the swarm, … More Bringing Home Bees
