So what happens around Sand Holler on a typical day? First, that depends on the season. But even then, each day is different from the next, except for the routine daily chores (mainly taking care of the animals). This weekend I spent a little time recording what everyone was up to so I could give an example of daily life at Sand Holler Farm.
7:00 AM - Rise and Shine! Mom and I are up to take care of the animals. The goats are let out of the barn and feed. The donkey and the boys (male goats) get their hay and water checked. We mix "mash" for the chickens - extra milk stirred into their laying rations - and dump any kitchen scraps in the run. The sheep get the goat "leftovers" (I have no idea where the stereotype of goats eating anything - even tin cans - comes from. They are the pickiest eaters! They nose through the alfalfa hay and take the choicest bits and then complain that they have nothing to eat until we put more out! Fortunately, the sheep are not so discerning.) Then it's back inside until things warm up a little!
These days we typically make a hearty breakfast. When Mom is on the farm, it usually starts off with a fruit smoothie as soon as we come in from the animal chores. Then it can be anything, but favorites are buttermilk pancakes and breakfast tacos.
We stick around inside, mainly working on the business side of things until it thaws out a bit outside. A fire is usually going in the farm house and sometimes we just laze around preparing for a hard day of work ahead.
50F - Garden Work. Yup, there usually isn't a time for me to get started in the garden - I like to wait until it's either 50F or sunny and a bit cooler. Some days that just doesn't happen, but usually it does warm up. In the garden, I spend time weeding, planting and harvesting vegetables. Right now, we are picking broccoli, turnips, greens and lettuce. The carrots are looking might tasty but still a bit small. Hopefully soon!
Mom and Pops have been working diligently on the caretaker's cabin. It's ALMOST done! I'll post pictures of the progress when all is said and done. They are painting, trimming out doors, laying the floor and all the other final jobs to get it ready for moving in soon.
1:00 - around this time we all take a break for lunch. We've been eating a lot of soups lately - turnip soup or winter squash soup being frequent rations - and homemade bread. We allow ourselves just a little relaxing before getting back to work!
Other chores for the remainder of the day include mucking barns, chipping dead fall, rotating sheep pastures, trimming animal hooves or more work in the garden. There's an endless list to be tackled!
Just before dark, we start the evening animal chores. The sheep are given grain and some additional hay to keep them happy through the night. The chickens are tucked soundly in their coop. The goats are all feed individually so we can check on them and make sure their pregnancies are progressing properly!
At night, we sit by the fire and try to keep our eyes open long enough to finish any business chores or an the rare occasion when we have enough time to watch a movie we settle in for that. By 9, everyone is dragging and by 10 there's usually not a soul awake!
Friday, February 19, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
NAIS Program Abandoned
This might be the first time you have even heard of this. I don't pretend to know all the ins and outs - especially since the proposed program went under revision after revision. But it appeared to mainly be an enormous pain in the rear for small producers like us.
The goal of the National Animal Identification System was to be able to track animals in the event of a large food borne illness outbreak. For instance, let's say Mad Cow shows up in hamburgers - well, where did the meat come from? In the past, it's taken months to track down where infected animals might have come from - if they ever can figure it out. NAIS would eliminate that and make the source of the meat transparent to the authorities and an outbreak could be stopped in it's tracks by only removing contaminated meat. Sounds like a pretty good idea on paper!
But the rules seemed pretty rough on the little guys (well, the big guys too, but they might have been able to absorb the costs better). The producer would be responsible for marking the animals and reporting all movement. It was a common fear among small farmers that we would need to purchase expensive identification systems (either tattoos or ear tags) and keep track of and report every single trip away from your farm - to the vet, to the breeder, etc. While this might not sound like a terrible burden, a lot of people wondered if stricter rules wouldn't be imposed on how or where you could take an animal.
Well, the people spoke and spoke loudly. The USDA has changed the entire plan to basically just track interstate commerce of animals. Since we don't deal over state lines, looks like we are out of the loop on this one!
Read more from the NY Times article
The goal of the National Animal Identification System was to be able to track animals in the event of a large food borne illness outbreak. For instance, let's say Mad Cow shows up in hamburgers - well, where did the meat come from? In the past, it's taken months to track down where infected animals might have come from - if they ever can figure it out. NAIS would eliminate that and make the source of the meat transparent to the authorities and an outbreak could be stopped in it's tracks by only removing contaminated meat. Sounds like a pretty good idea on paper!
But the rules seemed pretty rough on the little guys (well, the big guys too, but they might have been able to absorb the costs better). The producer would be responsible for marking the animals and reporting all movement. It was a common fear among small farmers that we would need to purchase expensive identification systems (either tattoos or ear tags) and keep track of and report every single trip away from your farm - to the vet, to the breeder, etc. While this might not sound like a terrible burden, a lot of people wondered if stricter rules wouldn't be imposed on how or where you could take an animal.
Well, the people spoke and spoke loudly. The USDA has changed the entire plan to basically just track interstate commerce of animals. Since we don't deal over state lines, looks like we are out of the loop on this one!
Read more from the NY Times article
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
RIP Miss Priss
It was heartbreaking when we lost 8 chickens over the course of a few days to raccoons last summer. Many of them were named and one in particular was especially wrenching. Honey Pie was one of two turkens we inherited from the first farm caretakers. They are quite ugly creatures (I called them the Gruesome Twosome) and none of the other chickens accepted them into the flock. So they were outcasts, loved only by their human flock. Those two were our special birds, hanging around the front yard and begging for treats. It was a shock to lose Honey Pie. I wasn't sure the other half of the duo - Miss Priss was going to survive her companions departure.
But Miss Priss prevailed. She continued to be persecuted by the other feathered farm members. But she was let out of the coop early in the morning, hours before the others were freed. She spent her breakfast eating granola and drinking goat milk saved especially from the morning milking for her! At times, she had to chase the cats away from the bowl though! So Priss became the yard mascot, and found better company amongst the cats than she ever did amongst her own kind.
It was with a heavy heart that Mom found her in the coop one cold morning last week. No signs of distress, she simply passed away. Priss was probably about 4 years old. A ripe old age for a chicken (I've continually wondered about the life expectancy of chickens - I've found reports from 5 to 25 years but most people say "until they stop being useful!")
RIP Miss Priss. You will be missed.
But Miss Priss prevailed. She continued to be persecuted by the other feathered farm members. But she was let out of the coop early in the morning, hours before the others were freed. She spent her breakfast eating granola and drinking goat milk saved especially from the morning milking for her! At times, she had to chase the cats away from the bowl though! So Priss became the yard mascot, and found better company amongst the cats than she ever did amongst her own kind.
It was with a heavy heart that Mom found her in the coop one cold morning last week. No signs of distress, she simply passed away. Priss was probably about 4 years old. A ripe old age for a chicken (I've continually wondered about the life expectancy of chickens - I've found reports from 5 to 25 years but most people say "until they stop being useful!")
RIP Miss Priss. You will be missed.
Stray Kitty
We've had a true feral cat on the farm for almost 6 months now. I don't think he's ever been a pet - he is not neutered and will not let you get near him. We would love to catch him one day and get him fixed but even if we put food in a trap (and no where else), we can't get him. Doesn't like enclosed spaces at all. So we put up with Riley...especially because he's a good mouser!
I always read stories about true pets being dumped in the country or just let loose and abandoned. I figured maybe our part of the country was a little more civilized than that. Well, looks like I might be wrong. Mom was staring out the kitchen window in the pre-dawn light and asked if I thought that was an animal - nope, surely it was a plastic grocery bag stuck on the bush. Went about our business and noticed the bag was gone a few hours later...but it hadn't been windy. Mom mentioned she thought she saw a flash of white heading under the back porch a few days ago - Riley is partially white, so I wondered if it wasn't him. Well, finally in the afternoon we saw a very interesting looking white cat running down the driveway towards the street. I thought "good, we don't need yet another mouth to feed around here!". I even figured on taling the dog on an extra long romp in the front pasture to make sure she scared away the pesky critter.
Well...the pesky critter stuck around. That night, I saw her head pop up at the back porch door (where we feed Riley). I banged on the glass but it didn't scare her off. I grumbled a little...and then saw the collar. Ok, she's a pet...and she's in trouble. She had stepped through the collar with one leg and it was tight around her body. Oh boy, she knew the right place to come. It's one thing for me to try to shoo off a completely feral cat in the hopes they take up residence elsewhere. It's entirely another for me to see an animal that needs help due to human actions. That collar had to come off.
I sat on the door mat, slide the door open just a little and began sweet talking the little thing. Ha! No need for all that! She burst in the door and jumped into my lap before I could even blink! I was actually a little startled and thought she was coming to claw my eyes out! She was a whirling dervish in my lap, meowing and purring and rubbing on everything. We had 4 people in the living room that night - me, Mom, and my in-laws. The cat had to make sure she rubbed on every single person's leg and get a head scratch from them all. Meanwhile, I'm trying to get the collar off. She wouldn't stay still! So I figured I might as well cut it - finally got the scissors in place without danger of cutting the kitty and made the snip. She took off to explore the house...and the collar dragged behind her, stuck to the armpit.
Utter dismay on my part. I admit to watching way too many Animal Cops shows and have seen the gruesome aftermath of a tight collar that has become embedded in the neck of an animal as they grow. I finally got the little kitty under control locked with me in the bathroom. Took a deep breath. And peered at her arm. Yup, the collar had cut into her skin. BUT, it had not actually become embedded - the blood just made the collar stick to her fur. I got it loose - meanwhile, the kitty has not stopped purring and rubbing all over me.
So she has found a nice warm spot to spend some time while we see if she is a missing pet or a dumped stray. While I do hope she finds her home if there is one looking for her out there, I can't help but want to keep her - she is the friendliest little critter!
Mom said we can't give her a name since we don't know if we are going to keep her. Well, Mom is calling her Azure, Chad has picked Blue and Jana came up with Crystal Gayle! :)
I always read stories about true pets being dumped in the country or just let loose and abandoned. I figured maybe our part of the country was a little more civilized than that. Well, looks like I might be wrong. Mom was staring out the kitchen window in the pre-dawn light and asked if I thought that was an animal - nope, surely it was a plastic grocery bag stuck on the bush. Went about our business and noticed the bag was gone a few hours later...but it hadn't been windy. Mom mentioned she thought she saw a flash of white heading under the back porch a few days ago - Riley is partially white, so I wondered if it wasn't him. Well, finally in the afternoon we saw a very interesting looking white cat running down the driveway towards the street. I thought "good, we don't need yet another mouth to feed around here!". I even figured on taling the dog on an extra long romp in the front pasture to make sure she scared away the pesky critter.
Well...the pesky critter stuck around. That night, I saw her head pop up at the back porch door (where we feed Riley). I banged on the glass but it didn't scare her off. I grumbled a little...and then saw the collar. Ok, she's a pet...and she's in trouble. She had stepped through the collar with one leg and it was tight around her body. Oh boy, she knew the right place to come. It's one thing for me to try to shoo off a completely feral cat in the hopes they take up residence elsewhere. It's entirely another for me to see an animal that needs help due to human actions. That collar had to come off.
I sat on the door mat, slide the door open just a little and began sweet talking the little thing. Ha! No need for all that! She burst in the door and jumped into my lap before I could even blink! I was actually a little startled and thought she was coming to claw my eyes out! She was a whirling dervish in my lap, meowing and purring and rubbing on everything. We had 4 people in the living room that night - me, Mom, and my in-laws. The cat had to make sure she rubbed on every single person's leg and get a head scratch from them all. Meanwhile, I'm trying to get the collar off. She wouldn't stay still! So I figured I might as well cut it - finally got the scissors in place without danger of cutting the kitty and made the snip. She took off to explore the house...and the collar dragged behind her, stuck to the armpit.
Utter dismay on my part. I admit to watching way too many Animal Cops shows and have seen the gruesome aftermath of a tight collar that has become embedded in the neck of an animal as they grow. I finally got the little kitty under control locked with me in the bathroom. Took a deep breath. And peered at her arm. Yup, the collar had cut into her skin. BUT, it had not actually become embedded - the blood just made the collar stick to her fur. I got it loose - meanwhile, the kitty has not stopped purring and rubbing all over me.
So she has found a nice warm spot to spend some time while we see if she is a missing pet or a dumped stray. While I do hope she finds her home if there is one looking for her out there, I can't help but want to keep her - she is the friendliest little critter!
Mom said we can't give her a name since we don't know if we are going to keep her. Well, Mom is calling her Azure, Chad has picked Blue and Jana came up with Crystal Gayle! :)
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