One of our calves, happy to enter a new pasture (about a month ago; I'm behind on my posting!).

Darn, those flies...  We have 2 steers sold and going in to the butcher in a couple of weeks.  We have 4 of the 7 steers sold that will be going to the butcher in December.   That will leave the last 5 of this group to go in June, approx. 

 

Right now, the 12 are all together: after the 2 leave the farm, we will be separating the calves into the groups of 7 and 5.  That's always a challenge and we depend on the Lord's help with that event!

 

 

Higgy Baby and some of his lady friends.



Now, if I only possessed a cherry pitter.....................

I am so excited about picking these many cherries off of our own trees!  I missed picking the cherries last year, and in 2011 I certainly didn't get this many.  I need to do some research & see if there is anyway to find out what kind these are.  They are tart, that's for sure!  

Black Raspberries should be next.

 

This is the first hive in our "bee yard"!  I saw some neat pics online of how people had painted their hive boxes, and painted the one with grass at the bottom.  I intend to paint Chestnut Hill Farm & flowers on the other boxes.  That project just did not meet the bee installation deadline.

 

 

 

Above is a pic taken two days after installation.  First, I was checking to see if they were alive.  I installed damp, sprinkling weather, and was concerned about that.  Secondly, I was checking to see if they needed more sugar water. 

 

 

 

My smoker.  I only had a little bit of trouble keeping it lit the first time. 

 

 

Saturday, I opened up the hive to check on the queen and make sure she was released; with a little help from me, she was.  It was very exciting to see that the bees are drawing out comb.  I don't know if you can see in this pic, the curve up of the little circles - but that is the bees drawing out the comb so they can start doing business!



 

Lots of fun things are happening on the farm now.  These 5 steers think it's fun to get out onto fresh, spring pasture!  Three of these will be going to their new homes (customer's freezers!) in June and the other two in July or Aug.  All of these five are sold, and we are ready to take orders for the other 12 that will be finished toward the end of this year.

I think it's fun (and exciting) that I'm getting my first package of bees soon!  I've got my hive painted and my bee yard cleared out; most of my supplies and my courage are ready for this new adventure.  I dare a bee to get through this bee suit.  

Today I 'fluffed' the hay again.  These are a few of the 12 smaller steers.  It's fun to be in the feeder when they are all around it and distracted by the fresh hay.  I managed to scratch a few heads.  My favorite, the smallest - ear tag #1, usually won't let me touch him.  Today, he was laying in the sun in a soft pile of old hay, chewing cud, and didn't even mind when I was scratching his head & neck.

So cute!

Winter Farm Days are a bit boring & repetitive and can be very cold!

 

Every other day, I lay out & hook up 200 feet of hose to fill the stock tank for the 5 larger steers. After filling the tank, I have to drain all the hoses so they won't freeze up.  Give them a bit of corn mix & fluff their hay. Fluffing is our word for pitchforking out the center of the round bale feeder so the steers can get to all the hay better and finish it all off before we give them another round bale.  When it's cold enough, I need to use the sledge hammer to break their water for them. 

 

The group of 12 smaller steers usually need their water filled every day.  Their tank is closer to the house & has a heater in it, so I never have to break ice on their water. 

 

The chicken's water usually freezes so I bring that waterer into the house to melt it and refill.  The chickens do not like to go out in the snow, so I toss some scratch into their coop & also kitchen scraps, if I have any.  Collect eggs & fill their feeder.

 

That's about it.  I assist Dan when he puts out a big round bale of hay for each group.  We set the bales on pallets so the hay doesn't sink into the mud or freeze onto the ground. 

 

That's about it.  Nothing to exciting in the winter.  No excitement is good.  Last year, we had a couple of jumpers.  They kept ending up in our neighbor's field.  That kind of excitement, I can live without!

It's the little things, really.....that make me so happy.

 

Like new waterproof boots, with no holes!

Especially when I'm in ankle deep mud-manure-mush.  The warmer weather has been nice because my hens have been able to go outside and get some fresh air and peck around a bit.  Chickens certainly do not like to walk around in the snow.  If the ground is covered in snow, I don't even bother to open their door.  But, the warmer weather has turned everything to mud in the pastures. 

Very Messy.

 

 

 



This morning we split up the cattle.

 

It was very windy at 7:45 this morning and so I anticipated a miserable experience coming along, but the wind died down and it really wasn't too bad.  Of the 17 steers, 5 of them are much older and therefore, bigger.  Dan thought we should seperate them from the other12 so we could start giving them a scoop of grain everyday.  He thinks they will be finished and ready for someone's freezer 5-6 months from now.

 

Things went really well.  With Abby & Dan cutting the steers away from the rest of the herd, and me working the gate, things went quickly.  The five are now set up in pasture #1 where the red lean-to is.  They have their own water & hay bale out in that paddock.  The bummer is that waterer doesn't have a heater/melter in it so at least twice a day, I'll be out there breaking up the ice on it for them.  Also, I'll be draining about 200 ft of hose after I fill their water every day, so that the water won't freeze the hose solid.

 

The 12 will be happier now and be able to get to their hay easier.  The 5 bullies would push them away from it quite often, even though it seemed there was plenty of space for everyone.  Steers don't "share" very well.  

My dream for Chestnut Hill Farm

 

Steers & Turkeys raised for meat.

Chicken raised for eggs & meat.

Sheep raised for wool and meat.

Goats raised for dairy products.

Bees kept for honey, beeswax & pollination.

Harvest the maple tree sap for syrup.

Keep various fruit trees & bushes for fruit.

Herbs for health & beauty.

Garden, garden, garden for produce!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



These are a few of our 17 steers & heifers we have now.  In October, Dan took four steers in for our customers and December 18th, he took in eight additional head of cattle in.  Thankfully, one of those sides of beef will end up in our freezer.  I've been out of ground beef for a while and only have 2 roasts & one pound of stew meat left.  Sunday, we will be enjoying the rump roast!

 

Five of the 17 are older and may be ready early summer.  The other 12 are young...and cute! and won't be finished until late fall, probably.  They are doing pretty well, considering the big ones like to push them out of the way when getting to the hay.  Dan is putting out two big round bales of hay at a time so they really do have enough room to spread out.  Now that we got more snow again, it's really easy to find and count the black steers against the white snow.  A very pretty sight, indeed!

Yesterday, I picked all the pears I could reach from the bed of Dan's truck.  There are still a few more, but are way too high up in the tree.  On the Spring To Do List is the chore of pruning the two pear trees, for sure.

 

 

I took a total of 6 wheel barrow loads of turkey droppings & straw up to the garden and will spread that all out tomorrow.  I needed to get that area all cleaned out since that is where my meat chickens will go eventually.  Tomorrow, I will sanitize that area so it has time to dry out.  The 25 chicks are arriving on Thursday a.m.  They will start out in the old stock tank and move into the coop in a few weeks. 

 

The barn was all cluttered and out of sorts so I went ahead and cleaned & organized the barn.  It's feels good to get organized.

 

  

 

 

This photo was taken about a month ago,

 but still wanted to post because I love it! 

Violet helping Gramps with the cows. 

Mostly, just watching them eat hay.

 

 



Our neighbors have been kind enough to allow our 15 steers to graze in their empty pasture this week.  It's been a real blessing.  Since they haven't had any animals out there, there is still grass to be found and that saves us from adding hay to their diet.  Hopefully, we will get some rain from the hurricane remnant. 

This morning I grained the steers, filled their waterers then I started cleaning out the area where the turkeys were.  Next Thursday our 15 meat chicks will arrive and will need to be in that area.  I am using the wheelbarrow to take the turkey manure/straw mixture up to the garden area.  Dan will till it in the the beds this fall. 

I covered the big round bales with plastic sheeting to protect it from getting too soaked...if we get any rain.  I watered my potted plants outside and some of the stuggling plants in the ground, too.  I cut some oregano & thyme, bundled them up and hung them with a strip of homespun fabric from the old ladder I placed across the cabinets over the kitchen sink.  Looks great.

This picture was taken not too long ago.  But, sadly, long enough ago that the pastures don't look quite this green anymore.  Thankfully, we have plenty of pasture for them and the Lord has sent us a bit of rain lately.  The Angus are growing just fine.

Summer is finally here for me!

Our daughter has graduated from high school and we have celebrated with a terrific open house!  My family helped me with getting everything ready inside and out.  Landscaping looks great and even though I don't have to work on that type of thing, I have still decided to rest the garden this summer.  It's been six years of gardening, and this the seventh year I will rest the land (and myself!).   Since it's mid-June already and the garden is grown over I think I'll enjoy going to the farmer's markets and the food auction to collect my garden booty. 

Although it will cost me a more to purchase my tomatoes, beans, onions, and zucs, I will still be canning and freezing.  I'm excited to hit the Saturday markets and such.  I also have a friend who put in something like 50 tomato plants, so I figure we can buy bushels of toms from her.

The steers are looking good & growing well.  We just moved them into pasture three a few days ago and they will stay there for a few more days.  This dry spell isn't the best thing for us.  So far, the pasture is holding up, but rain would be very welcome here on Chestnut Hill Farm. 

My two hatched-on-the-farm chicks, Chelsea & Spot, are growing quick!  Dan said he'd add onto my chicken coop so we can increase our flock and sell eggs again.  Hopefully, we'll get to that soon so we can put Chelsea & Spot in there until they are big enough to go in with the other hens.  They are a bit too big for the cage they are in now.

The other day when I walked past the chick's tub & glanced in, as I do probably 8 times a day, I saw this dark blob in their water.....it was this little toad.  The tub I raise chicks in is an old stock tank for horses or cows.  The sides are 3 feet tall.  There he sat...happy as can be in their water.  Chelsea & Spot weren't very happy about being invaded.  Yes, Abigail and I think that they are both pullets (girls)...we looked at their primary wing feathers.  I'm supposed to do that when they are only a few days old, but they were with their mom then.  I feel confident they are both female.  Of course, there is a 50% chance I'm wrong....



 Don't mind me.  I'm just hanging out, chewing my cud (with my mouth open) and molting.

 Everyone lined up nicely for this photo.  Well, actually this is only 6 of the 15.

Tomorrow is Poultry Moving Day

I hope to post pics tomorrow after moving everyone around.  Abigail's fair turkeys have been in our starter tub since she received them on March 15th.  They are getting pretty big & tall now and really need to move to larger quarters, so today Dan finished putting the turkey coop back together.  Tomorrow, the four of them move in.

I will clean out the starter tub and then move Rockie and her two chicks into that for awhile.  Chester & Spot are less than a week old, but when they are about 2 weeks old, I'll probably take Rockie back to the coop for two reasons.  Number 1) I hope that she will hatch another clutch of eggs & 2) I hope to have more chicks to put in with them.  Will see about ordering them tomorrow!

Dan is going to expand my chicken coop and I may keep as many as 3 dozen laying hens.  I am very excited about progressing with the eggs business so I need to get moving on it!  Dan will help me fence in a very much larger space outside the barn for the hens to roam....I call it "Controlled Free-Ranging".  The last time I let my hens truly roamed anywhere they wanted, I loved it.   So did the neighbor's dog, who killed one before I knew he was the culprit, and then outed himself by walking away with one of my chickens in his mouth...right in front of me.  So much for truly free-ranging my birds.  I think they will really like their big new pen, though.

Can you see the little one peeking out from under her momma's feathers?

Rockie's First Baby

After 6 years of keeping laying hens, we finally got a broody hen!  When I finally figured out that she was trying to hatch a clutch of eggs, I stopped taking them from beneath her.  A few days before Easter, I made moved Rockie and her 10 eggs to a cage, still inside the chicken coop, with her own food and water.  I knew from talking with my friends who've been through this, that I would need to protect the chicks from the other hens.  I put wind protection around the cage & made it a little dark and cozy for her, just the way they supposedly like it.

When I returned home today, Abigail ran up to me saying, "You know you have a baby chick hatched, don't you"?  Well, no, I didn't ~ and am so happy about it!  We have raised a lot of chicks from one day old, but none of them were born on this farm.  If there would be any way I could tell this first one apart from the ones to come, I would name him "Chester"  or name her "Chilly".

Welcome to Chestnut Hill Farm, little one!  (Please be a "Chilly" and not a "Chester....)