Chickens and Strawbery Rhubarb Crunch!

I am currently taking orders for meat chicken.  I have a limited number this year so call to reserve.

Also the Rhubarb is ready!!  $2.00 per bunch (approx 5 stocks).
Eggs for farm pick up available $3.50 per dozen.  Tueday and Friday pick up 12 - 6pm or by appointment.

I have also posted a recipe for Strawberry Rhubarb Crunh if you don't know what to do with Rhubarb!  I have used this recipe with mixed berries as an alternative!  Supper yummy served with ice cream :)

Rain, Rain, and more Rain

No I'm not going to complain about the rain (as much as I want to) as there are places that are worse off than we are.  I just can't get into my gardens, unfortunately.  We get nice weather for couple of days and as soon as it dries out enough to get on with the machinery...it rains again.  We are on clay loam soil with old drainage that is starting to fail so when it is time to go we have to get going.  So today (as it is raining) I thought I would bring you all up to speed as to the goings on around here.  We finally made a mini greenhouse to get the indoor seedlings outside and I have had to start more in pots so they will be along far enough to plant when I can get into the gardens.

My 4 yr old broke his collarbone at the beginning of May and that has been quite an adventure for us and him.  For us it is a new experience as we have never had to deal with broken bones till now!  For the 4 yr old, learning how to manage with something that is so painful but there is little they can do for you.  It's like breaking your toe...not much they can do.  He is in a light brace to keep everything aligned while it heals and that's it.  He is almost back to normal and giving his mom, me, and dad constant anxiety.  We go next week to see the doctor and x-rays and hopefully get the brace off!

The Dexters out on a newly opened pasture enjoying the fresh grass.

I'm thinking Xander, our Dexter bull, did he job as Willow and Whisper haven't shown being in heat lately, so hopefully they are bred and will have our first calves next spring.  I can't wait!!  I hope everything goes well and we have some happy health calves!

Hey any bugs on here!! One of the layers checking out the newly planted  Red Pines.

We have gotten our meat chickens for the year.  We are doing the White Rock Broiler and Bonnie's Meaty Reds (I think that's what they are called).  We are using Bonnie's Hatchery this year to give them a try!  The chicks are doing well and the Reds have moved to the outside run to get the fresh grass and bugs.  Once they get a little bigger they will be let out to graze freely for a couple hours each day.  We were disappointed in the weights of our meat birds last year and we are thinking that they were allowed to free range a little too much thus getting too much exercise!  So this year we are going to try controlled free range.  The Chicken Tractors get moved daily and near the end of the day they will be let out to go about freely but not walk miles and miles like they did last year!  The White Rocks are about a week behind the Reds but they should finish at the same time by the end of June!!

Layer and Rooster enjoying the outdoors!  Yum Yum Bugs.

Also in May we had the 1rst Renfrew Scouting Troop out to plant 200 Red Pines.  The Beaver came here and Cubs and Scouts did another property.  It was a really good day!!  Although it pretty much rain the week prior it was an absolutely gorgeous day.  Bubble, one of the Beaver leaders, showed up in shorts!!  She was heckled a little bit in the morning as it was cloudy but 1/2 later was laughing at all us hecklers as the sun came out to stay!!  We hosted the lunch afterward and a good time had by all.  Most of the Beavers got to check out the new baby chicks and some got to check out the Dexters!

Our littlest beside one of the new plantings.

Well I see the clouds are starting to break up a little so maybe there will be a break in the rain and I can get the rest of the chores done!!

Spring Clean Up and Chickens

As we all know it is that time of year when we get our yards already by cleaning them up, raking, etc, etc.  Well today being colder but nice, I decided that I had to get some done before this next stretch of rain hits...they are calling for a weeks worth...yuck!  I am letting the chickens out in the afternoon after most of them have done with laying....saves me a lot of time trying to find them when they are free to lay where they want....the best of both worlds I think.  I get my eggs in one spot and they get to freely go about their business after.  So this afternoon after doing the egg collection I let them out and I grabbed my rake and proceeded to the work area...only to have a bunch of chickens follow me like they were going to get grain?? But it wasn't feed time??  So I had to ask " Do they remember me digging around in the dirt to get the potatoes and carrots?"   I always had a chicken or three right beside me when I was digging those root crops up, they were not after the crops but all the bugs and worms in the ground.  So I got to where I was going to rake and as I moved the rake past a spot...the hens would jump right in there looking for bugs!! I'm surprised some of them didn't get a good wallop as my job had to get done.  Well then I moved on to another section where some scrap wood had collected and I swear as soon as I had my hand on the wood, there were chicken heads waiting... I had to laugh and I am probably well known in the chicken world (mine anyway) as...the bug lady...just follow her and you will get bugs!  Amazing what they remember seeing as they have been in the barn the whole winter!  I'm sure we will have some very tasty eggs in the next couple days!

Cooking the Syrup

This past weekend was another work weekend mixed with boiling the sap down and not a finer weekend to do it till the rain hit!!.  Years back we stopped using the wood furnace due to safety issues but had held on to it for I don't know what reason.  Well last year it was decided that it was never going to be used to heat anything anymore but Carl had the idea that it might make a good boiler for the sap!  Well he was right...the only issue we had was that the chimney wasn't high enough but it worked good enough.  We tended the sap while finishing breaking up the old summer kitchen that had to be torn down last fall!  We were also doing some general clean up and finishing the last of the siding that we didn't get done last fall.

Carl is tending the new syrup cooker on a beautiful Saturday

Our old wood furnace is getting a second life as syrup boiler

Sap starting to boil

 

Carl's solution to the afternoon rain that came on Sunday.  Hopefully next year there will be a shack for the boiler :)

The aftermath of the storm that hit Sunday night !

Rhubarb is Emerging

Things are starting to happen as I walked the gardens today to see how they were doing.  I came across the rhubarb patch and noticed that it had started to poke through!  It won't be long before we will be getting fresh rhubarb!  The strawberry plants are looking good and I am hoping we didn't get too much kill from the early rain we got near the end of winter.  The ground is softening up and hopefully I can get some areas dug up that we couldn't get to in the fall due to other commitments.  In most places the snow has left...thanks to the rain we have been getting, the days are getting longer and warmer and you can start to smell the spring in the air.  The first seedlings are coming along and have turned to little plants and the new seeds have sprouted.  We are building a greenhouse this year so I have a place for the plants to go once they are out of seedling stage so we are going to have to get to that real soon!! 

Seedlings!

Pepper newly emerging

Tomatoes and Peppers

Here we are with all the new seedlings.  I have tomatoes already getting their true leaves and will have to plant into larger container in a couple of days!  I have more onions, tomatoes, lettuce, and spinach getting started today  so I can get a really good start to the year!  We are working on an out door greenhouse this coming weekend and if we can get it done I will have pictures next week.

Xander is doing really well and would like to meet the rest of the herd but he still has to stay in to get use to me.  I want him to know that I am not going to harm him and also if I notice if something is not right then I don't have to try to get him into a strange barn!  I am hoping by the weekend to let him out as long as thing stay good and he is eating and drinking well.

My mini greenhouse

Welcome Xander (aka XXX or Triple X)

Xander in the barn

Whisper hearing Xander bawling in the barn

Whisper at the barn trying to figure out who is in there!

Boy what a beautiful day for March Break and exciting news.  We have a new addition to our Dexter herd...a wonderful bull named Xander (aka XXX).  I like his real name Xander but DH thinks it should be XXX like after Xander Cage in the movie XXX. It is his turn to do the naming so I can't complain as I got the name I liked for his registered name.  His father is Saturn's Galaxy and his mother is Royle Nora.  He will be our herd sire for the next couple of years!  We hope he will produce some great offspring in the future.   We picked him up yesterday in Alfred, Ontario. It's a 2 hour trip when we have to pull a trailer behind our van with kids in tow.  All went well though and we had a good trip home.  Xander is adjusting to his new home very well and even let me give him a rub this afternoon!  He has such a docile temperment for a bull it still quite amazes me.  I had to keep the girls out in the field yesterday as we had to open the gates so that we could get Xander in the barn.  So this morning I let them up to the barn for water and a treat of grain, when Xander bawled!  Well our herd boss ,Whisper, heard this she was quite concerned and ran to the barn doors and started bawling back.  They won't get introduced right away as I like to quarantine new animals and get them use to me before they get out with the herd.  Well after the bawl fest, which means Whisper is satisfied for now, thing went back to normal for the rest of the day.

I took the boys to the library to learn about the Science of Flight and a Magic Show using Chemistry!  They sure had a lot of fun!  As they were doing this I was entertaining our youngest so that he would not be tempted to take all the books off all the shelves!!  This is a favourite pastime of his at home and it is one that he itches to do every time we go to the Library.  The rest of the afternoon they played outside making a rocket that the "magicians"  showed them how to do at the Magic Show.  They took a film canister put some baking powder in it, then added a bit of water, put the cap on, turned it upside down and then waited for the gas to expand and then shoots the canister up in the air!  I kept an eye on them while they did that and I finally managed to get some of the maple trees taped.  Nothing is running yet, so I will try and head up to the bush to get the couple of trees tapped up there before it starts to rain!!