Mother's Day and Farmers Markets

Feels like Mother's Day on our farm as our mama hens have been very "motherly"!  I wrote about the distress one turkey hen displayed; now there's a second mama that just won't give up on finding her lost babies.  She hatched 15 chicks last Friday that my husband gathered up to put under a heat lamp in the garage bathroom.  She was so unhappy that she attacked him and, later went after one of our dogs but no serious injuries. We moved a flock of three week old chicks into a pen with a gate so we let her in with them thinking she might settle down.   She walked around and through all 23 chicks but knew none of them were her babies so she walked out.  I marvel at that maternal instinct.  We'll have to take our neighbor some chicken eggs as an apology for all the noise these turkey hens are making.

The garlic is enjoying the spring weather as the temps are warm mid-day and we've had some drenching rains.  Some plants are over 2' tall but height just depends on the variety.  They will start to separate and bulb pretty soon.  I'm looking forward to selling this summer at the Gorge Grown farmers market as I enjoy seeing returning customers and making new friends.  I've been saving recipes featuring garlic all winter to share as our recipe of the week.  I've had to buy garlic from the supermarket to test the last few as we're all out of our own bulbs.  I'm careful to see where the garlic comes from as most sold is from China but some is from California in our market.  Not too local but closer than China and I hope they're paying a fair wage to their workers.  It's so hard to know the answer to these and many other questions when you can't talk to the farmer so, hurray for farmers markets!  There will be one opening soon near you. Join me in supporting those hard working folks. 

Can't have too many babies!

Happy news tonight as one of our mama turkey hens brought us 6 brand new babies.  Well, it wasn't her intention to bring them to us but, since she was showing them off, we scooped them up and put them in a brooder.  She's very distressed and her calls tug at our hearts but we know from experience that predators will take their toll and she'll lose most of them.  She had her nest up in the woods, stayed with it for four weeks and hatched all but two eggs so she's done a very good job.

The 15 chicks we ordered from the hatchery (plan B) arrived on time.  Those plus the first 3 a turkey hen hatched make 18.  One of the babies died (17), plus these 6 make 23 chicks.  There are still two hens sitting and we think one is in the process of hatching as she's all puffed out instead of sitting tight like the other hen.  Hopefully, we'll have a lot of turkeys to choose from when it's time to butcher in November.

Tomorrow I'm teaching two workshops at the Gorge Grown Food Forum in White Salmon; one on raising backyard poultry and one on canning.  I'd love to take a couple of these chicks to show off but they're just too new to be without a brooder for a whole day.  Besides, they're really noisy calling for their mama!  I was also going to take equipment as an example but that's the last of our extra lamps and feeders.  Pictures in a Powerpoint presentation will have to do.  One interesting note - White Salmon zoning doesn't allow backyard poultry so I've got a little information to help change the city father's  minds if folks are so inclined to ask for a zoning change.  Every backyard ought to have a chicken or two in my opinion!  Happy birthday, baby chicks.

We've tested our turkey eggs for fertility in the past few weeks and either the eggs failed to develop completely or they weren't fertile. This is disappointing but we haven't given up and will keep incubating eggs once a week. Our tom is inexperienced and he's not quite connecting, although he's trying so hard. We have ordered chicks from a hatchery but we're were hoping to be able to cancel that order as it's a cost we'd rather not have to pay.

I had the pleasure of talking about our little farm with a group of Master Gardeners this past week. I really enjoyed showing pictures and sharing the sex, drama, violence, miracles and joy of living our lifestyle. Several MG's said they like to talk to me more and I welcome those conversations.

I also had a little skin cancer removed from my face last week. I wasn't concerned about the procedure but it is a warning to all of us who love to live in the sunshine to keep that sunscreen on. I'm pretty sure I'm going to hear my husband ask me several times a week this summer "where's your wide brimmed hat?"

Pocket gophers and pine voles have impacted some of our garlic beds so I ordered a new product that's a granular form of predator urine. Doesn't that sound icky? Fox for gophers and a blend for voles. How do they get that urine, anyway? I'm not going to think too hard about it but I really hope this works.

Snow has fallen here two days in a row but not enough to make any difference, just enough to remind us that winter is still here. I love the warmer afternoons but it's good to have seasons. Find the joy!

Time to Prune

There's a new predator in town. Our turkey hens are very broody and doing their best to find a safe, dry place to nest. Bourbon Red turkeys are known for their maternal insticts. Because they're free range, they travel into the oak woods, under the landscape bushes, into the garden cart, and under scrub oaks along the driveway laying eggs. If we spot them going to a nest, we will gather their eggs for future hatching in our incubator. Occasionally the dogs will find an egg and enjoy a little snack. Today I spotted a big ol' raven stealing eggs. She swooped in and landed by the nest, picked up that big turkey egg in her beak and flew off. A few minutes later she was back for another. We'll have to do something about that raven if we want to have any chicks. Last year a raven killed a good number of the babies before we caught her in the act.

We never seem to hit the late winter pruning tasks at just the right time before the trees and vines break their dormant sleep and the sap starts to run towards the sky. This year has been particularly difficult to gauge as the day time temperatures are unusually warm. The fruit trees just need a little trim so being late isn't a problem but the grape vines need over half their stems cut back so that fruit will form on the new growth. We started making cuts and they started weeping, so we stopped to make a decision - to prune or not to prune?

Pruning can be risky when done incorrectly. Sometimes pruning is necessary to prevent disease or to cut out dead weight. Done carefully and with thought, pruning forces new growth and produces more fruit. I feel that way about life. Like plants, people need to prune in their lives. Trouble is, when the weeping starts, we stop to think it over. If I think of this philosophy in terms of my relationships, job, mental and physical health, and priorities, "pruning" can be a very effective way to take control and focus on the joy in life.

The sun is shining this afternoon. I think I'll get out the pruning shears and ignore the weeping. Those grape vines need some tough love!

January's Back

Freezing temps and snow have returned to the farm this January afternoon.  I've been thinking about our garlic and how this unusual winter might affect our harvest dates.  We are careful to plant the cloves by Halloween to give their roots a chance to grow before the ground freezes and, then, cover the beds with straw mulch to keep the soil from freezing solid deep for too long a time.  Garlic roots contract underground during the winter, pulling the cloves even deeper for protection from the cold.  If garlic leaves emerge in the fall and freeze during the winter, the plant won't be harmed as garlic leaves grow from the base of the plant unlike other plants that put out growth from the top.  I'm always amazed at how garlic grows and these survival mechanisms seem like a miracle to me.

There are lots of miracles on the farm if you take time to think about it and don't take the farm for granted. Veggies start as seed, grow into plants, put out fruit to reproduce (and to feed the farmer), and when they're done, the plant composts into soil that seeds left behind will grow in.  Hens lay eggs, get broody and sit, then hatch babies.  They will lay their eggs every day for weeks until they think they have enough eggs, sit on the eggs for four weeks and all the eggs will hatch within 24 hours of each other - another miracle.

One of the not so pleasant realities of the farm is dealing with death, either intentional by butchering or the unintentional when an animal dies unexpectedly.  My head understands the physical part but my heart always aches, especially when a death seems senseless.  One year a neighbor's dogs maimed every turkey in that small flock.  There was nothing to do but put them out of their misery.  I was angry and sad at the senseless death of these turkeys.  The dogs weren't hungry, just had an instinct to kill.  When we raise meat chickens, I understand that their death is to feed my family and, while I don't like the process, we make sure the birds have the best life possible until the very last day when we make sure their death is as humane and swift as possible. 

Death is part of life.  Winter is the end and the beginning.  As I sit here watching the snow pile up, there must be 15 seed catalogs piled up on the table and I'm optimistically thinking about starting seeds for the spring garden.

Looking forward to Spring

We're a week into 2010 and I can't wait for Spring! While waiting for the garlic greens to peek out of our frozen ground, I'll pass the time by sharing things that are happening on our little family farm. I know it's winter but you'd be surprised at the little things that bring me joy. Luckily we live in the Gorge of central Washington State so our winters are only moderately cold. Now and then our temps dip into single digits, and we have been known to have several feet of snow at any one time. That's a typical winter. The old timers can remember when typical meant -20 degrees F. but that's too cold for me.

It's the muddy season - frozen ground, then thawed and muddy - repeat, repeat, repeat. The poultry pen is muddy, the dogs track in muddy paw prints, and we have to wear calf high boots everytime we go out. Yak Traks are never far from the back door where we leave our shoes in case the ground is frozen. Oh yeah, I was going to talk about what brings me joy. Well, that would be when it's not the muddy season ;o)

Our heritage Bourbon Red turkeys stay close to the poultry pen in the winter and this year we have a new comer. A wild turkey hen went lame and her flock left her behind. I guess she decided it would be safer to stick with our turkeys. We have this "gang of six" hens that rush around to see what's happening so, when she decided to stay, they rushed around her and scared her into the oak tree tops. She can fly 50 feet up to roost even though she's gimpy on the ground. We named her Gimpy Girl. She's been with us over a month and we leave some poultry feed out for her but she's pretty self-sufficient. She's getting used us, the gang of six and even the dogs who pretty much ignore our poultry unless we ask them to help us herd them into the pen.

So, welcome to the first blog from High Prairie Garlic farm where the oak savannah and towering pines meet the tall grass of the High Prairie.