Fall has arrived (Sort of), hay is put away, time for some Pumpkin Spice Fun – Check out our latest YouTube video and see if a Toddler will like Pumpkin Spice Treats or rather stick with cheese sticks and goldfish crackers?
Sep 30
Toddler Tries Pumpkin Spice Snacks for the First Time – Will He Like It?
Permanent link to this article: http://oursweetwaterfarm.com/toddler-tries-pumpkin-spice-snacks-for-the-first-time-will-he-like-it/
Permanent link to this article: http://oursweetwaterfarm.com/hay-now-how-goats-and-sheep-help-make-organic-square-bale-hay/
Sep 09
Community and Farming
As I write stories and adventures in Sweetwater Diaries, you will read a lot about Nate, Ollie and me. That is to be expected since I am journaling about our experiences farming and raising a toddler in today’s time and culture. But the truth is, our successes and growth have not always been or will not always be done by the 2 1/2 of us alone. We have come this far because we have been very lucky to have each other, the support of our families and some really great neighbors.
Throughout the centuries farming has relied on community – from barn raisings, bartering, and getting in the field to help a neighbor harvest a crop before something threatens its success. Often the only reward being a good home cooked meal and the knowledge that the neighbor you are helping will be there to help you when you need it. Certainly, payment is still a standard part farm help, but most farmers are happy to pay good reliable help (within their means of course because small scale farming is a slow growth business).
Every hay season, I am reminded of how lucky we have been to find great neighbors, who are always ready to work for us and help us load and stack square bale hay. Let me be clear, this is HARD work. Lifting 400+ itchy square bales that weigh around 50 to 80 lb each out of the field and stacking it in the barns during 100+ heat is not easy, even for the strongest folks. Although we have a Stackliner that helps pull bales out of the field, sometimes it needs maintenance or we are working against a pop up storm and have to get bales out of the field quickly. It is such hard work, that turnover in hay help is pretty common. This is where we have been lucky because we have two families that have always been ready and willing to help throughout the summer (if they are available). They know what to do, work hard and boy we sure appreciate it. (I’m looking at you “P. Family” and “M&M”).
But it doesn’t stop with just them, we have a great community of neighbors (including the ones mentioned above) that help each other. Of course, Nate and I help where we can, whether it be providing small farm jobs to help during financial/job changes, equipment/auto/electrical suggestions, helping with fields when equipment is down, watching critters, providing supplies and water, just to name a few. And they help us and each other finding lost or loose critters (or returning naughty goats who sneak out of fences), checking on each other during crazy weather, coming together to deal with dumped animals, trash and automobiles. And even helping during times of personal need, like when we lost our pregnancy or when Ollie decided to make his arrival a month early. It is a great community of neighbors that makes those curve balls that life throws a lot easier to handle. Farming can be hard and extremely frustrating. Some days you feel like every step forward and all the hard work you put in to a project or animal was all for nothing. So having good support, not only in your partner, but your community and family is such a wonderful asset.
I cannot end this post without mentioning our families. It was a leap of faith on both Nate and my part to start our farm and we definitely have had days we wanted to throw in the towel and call it a day. It’s hard work and can be a lot of strain on anyone. It is full of great moments and successes, but it is also full of a good many failures and disappointments. We have faced things we never expected, wouldn’t wish on anyone and losses we will carry always, and yet here we are still standing. A good portion of the strength we needed to carry on we found in each other and our families. Our families have been physical, emotional, financial and positive pillars ready to hold us steady when we looked like we needed it. They have been there for us physically cutting down trees, painting, building, pouring concrete, helping with hay, building structures and caring for critters. They have been there for us emotionally, providing advice, moral support, an ear to listen to problems, hugs and lots of laughs. We are truly grateful for all their love and support. Ollie is so lucky to be surrounded by so much love and support both near and far.
With each year we live here our community has widened and we have met so many wonderful and interesting people. So thanks for being part of our community, supporting and following us along this journey.
Permanent link to this article: http://oursweetwaterfarm.com/good-help-is-hard-to-find-but-we-have-been-lucky-google-com-pub-1133338938393991-direct-f08c47fec0942fa0/
Sep 05
Balancing Summer Time & Toddler Time On The Farm
For most people, Summer time is a time to relax and sneak in family trips and adventures during the nice weather. Of course most people still work too, but the kids are off school and we all try to keep them entertained and enjoy the summer weather as best as we can. This year as Ollie approached two, I had grand plans of lots of play dates with his friends from his weekly class and adventures around the area. I even grabbed a bunch of numbers at the beginning of the summer to set up those play dates, but alas I only was able to sneak in a few play dates this Summer. And although we had a bunch of adventures, I had to reevaluate the reality of Summer Farm Time and Toddler Time.
You see the reality is, summer is our busiest time on the farm. We have to prep the fields, cut and bale fields, arrange/manage farm helpers for storing hay, be available on a moment’s notice to sell the hay and deliver the hay, and sell some of our goat and sheep herd to maintain healthy genetics and population control. Plus most of the hay and field work is based on the weather, so we cannot plan designated hay days. We have to look for a minimum of a 3 day dry weather window to cut/bale/store the hay. We have to deliver the hay on dry days. Usually this all occurs in 100+ heat. So often our plans can shift on a moment’s notice in order to meet the demands of the farm. Plus we cannot exclude, all the machine prep and maintenance that Nate must do in order to be ready when a weather window presents itself. Making square bale hay is rough on equipment and it needs constant maintenance to create quality organic hay.
So this means plans with Ollie for play dates and scheduled events can be challenging. Of course we spend A LOT of time outside playing and exploring the farm and we LOVE to do this every day. BUT, on 100+ temperature days with humidity, we have to limit how long we can be outside. So we have been finding ways to make inside play fun too when we are stuck on the farm for the day. I’m not ashamed to admit, we watch our fair share of PBS kids, Signing Times, & Peppa Pig, but all of us, including Ollie, can only take so much before we feel brain numb. So I follow some cool kids groups on facebook and try some of the ideas they suggest and show (Fun with shaving cream in the bathtub, texture play with foods, blocks, puzzles, lots of books and songs…oh and dancing…we love to dance). Recently, grandma sent us a cool dinosaur egg that we spent four days observing and helping the egg hatch and grow. It was so much fun, and Ollie loved checking on the egg every day. He was able to observe how an object can change in water and practice patience. It has been over a week since we did this project, but he still talks about the Dino Egg all the time. Plus it was a fun way to help expand his very active and growing lexicon of words. You can check out the video below to see this cool little science project and Ollie’s reactions.
So this is one fun activity we have found to do during the summer when we are housebound and it is just too hot to be outside for a very long time. I hope you enjoyed this video and please be sure to subscribe and like our Youtube videos and channel, Sweetwater Diaries. I plan on posting some fun and interesting videos about goats & hay. Plus we have a lot of projects happening on the farm that I am recording and hope to post on our Youtube channel soon. If you have anything you might be interested learning more about the farm, please send me a comment or a message. Maybe I can turn it into and interesting video. Until then, the three of us will keep finding a balance between farm, family and fun.
Permanent link to this article: http://oursweetwaterfarm.com/balancing-summer-time-toddler-time-on-the-farm-google-com-pub-1133338938393991-direct-f08c47fec0942fa0/
Aug 26
5 years later…lots of updates
Hello Folks! We’re back with lots of updates.
Now we are three with little Ollie! (Nate is still silly as ever) |
I cannot believe it has been five years since my last post! A LOT has changed in those 5 years:
- We bought our own 80 acre farm across from the old family farm.
- The family farm was sold.
- Nate and I got married on our farm! Yay!
- We met and lost our 1st baby (Thomas) at 20 weeks.
- We had our second baby successfully (well he did do it on his own schedule) a year later. We love our sweet, smart, silly Ollie more than words.
- Nate started his own successful electrical business.
- Over the 5 years since we moved on the new farm,
- We have redone 40 out of 80 acres of 15 year old fencing. Goat proof chain link.
- Made major improvements on a very unfinished 5 bay garage/workshop- Now a dream workshop with guesthouse.
- Currently renovating the old farmhouse.
- Planning for our future house on the hill.
- Continue to produce and sell high quality organic mixed grass hay and have established an amazing clientele. (Plus a big shout out to our regular hay crew…best crew around!)
- Continue to raise goats (and now sheep). We have a herd of a hundred goats and sheep who help manicure our hay fields – weeding and fertilizing during the off season to help produce quality organic hay.
- Lots of dirt work and cleaning up of our farm which was unlived in for 15 years and just used for cattle before we purchased it from a lovely neighbor couple.
- Happily been added to the modern times with fiber internet this past year thanks to our neighboring county and Nate digging a very long trench to our house. Boy, you don’t know how good you have it – being forced to live on satellite internet is ridiculous – no bandwith, slow speed, and high price.
- Plus lots and lots of other things I know I am forgetting…but it has been 5 years worth of stuff.
Permanent link to this article: http://oursweetwaterfarm.com/649-2-google-com-pub-1133338938393991-direct-f08c47fec0942fa0/
Apr 08
Totes Ma Goats! Has It Been A Year Already?
Back in the 1950’s, Bob & Sue Palmer purchased a beautiful piece of land located in the heart of the Mozarks – now better known as SweetWater Farm. The Palmer family settled in at the homestead and paved the way for future generations to appreciate & nurture the vision of Bob & Sue Palmer. Today, we are ever so grateful to Grandpa & Grandma Palmer and the whole Palmer family for giving us the opportunity to bring life back to the farm in hopes to revitalize Bob & Sue Palmer’s vision of creating a home for future generations to come.
Well, truth be told, it all started with 13 chickens. Most of which turned out to be roosters! Those silly chickens sure did teach us a lot in a short amount of time. I remember the first time we lost a baby bird, I was devastated. I was adjusting to being part of a world where I was no longer so removed from life & death. As our chicken population has grown (oh and how it has grown) I have been able accept the nature of life and loss on a farm. Nate & I have been able to take comfort in the idea that we are now aware of the value of the food we eat. It took a while to butcher our first set of roosters and it will never be an easy thing to do, but I know they had one heck of a life – Spoiled and loved. Each of the animals of this farm is appreciated for the role they play in helping it grow into a thriving homestead. We never take lightly a loss; whether it be planned or unplanned. We are grateful for each little life that crosses our paths. (Of course you probably figured that out by the ridiculous number of animal pictures I have posted over the year).
Well if you have 13 chickens, you most likely need a tractor. Huh, say what? Actually a chicken tractor comes in handy, but forgive me I just had a “Give a Mouse a Cookie” moment. Anyway, it became apparent to us early on that we needed to invest in hay equipment sooner than we had planned. So thanks to Nate’s many talents, we were able to find cheap used equipment. Honestly, I still marvel at how talented Nate is when it comes to bringing life back into those old rusty machines. Anyone who knows him knows what I am talking about when I say he is one smart cookie! Nate pulled apart each machine piece by piece and rebuilt them better than before. I honestly think we could sell our $800.00 tractor back for almost 3 to 4 times as much after he fixed and improved it. I think probably one of the coolest things I have noticed when we have visitors is how much we both have learned. Both our farming lexicons have grown exponentially. We can tell you more than you ever wanted to know about chickens, goats, ducks, gardening, different types of grass, hay equipment and so on. Most of it we learned as we went, but neither of us is afraid to do a little homework on a topic, read up or ask someone with experience.
So after one successful trial run in hay cutting this last fall, we are prepping the grounds for our
first full fledged cutting. Nate cut back the dead grass and it is now growing back healthy & strong. We are excited to spend this hay season putting extra time & love into the fields. We hope to till, aerate, and seed the land where needed in order to help it produce quality organic hay. We understand that it will take a lot of work and may limit our production this year, but establishing a good foundation in the beginning will lead to many years of top quality hay to come.
In fact, as I write this Nate is out checking & greasing up all the equipment. Every little extra preparation step you take on the farm not only can save you money, but make or break your success for the season. So as the weather begins to warm, we are out prepping machines, soil, plants, shelters and so on in order to keep our busy season manageable and successful. Of course, I make sure we still find time for fun!
Speaking of fun, we have been so lucky to have lots of visitors this past year. We love how supportive and interested our friends and family have been in what we have done so far. It really motivates us to keep pushing along in order to make this a place for family and friends to visit. We know there is still a lot of work to do, but we have learned to take it one project at a time. Of course we love all the compliments and smiles we have received from our family & visitors, but we love to hear their ideas, suggestions, and questions too! So thanks to the family and friends who visited us so far (Even those who could only visit via this blog).
Plus Nate & I are excited about more visitors coming this year. It is going to be great! (The chickens promise to keep the ticks away from the house if you don’t mind wearing your muck boots).
Oh my, I barely touched the surface of what we accomplished this last year. We built a 60 foot greenhouse, patched fences, cleared out dead trees, hatched our own chickens, improved our water system, started preparing our hydroponic/fish tanks for watering the greenhouse, fixed the ponds, haying & equipment of course, found great deals on equipment for the farm, started prepping for the sea crate house and equipment garage, improved temporary housing for various animals, & of course assisted in the birth of baby goats.
How much did I miss on that list? Probably more than I realize, but now it is time for the future.
We have lots of ambitious goals this year and I bet we will surprise ourselves at how much we get done. So once we sit and plan some of this with the family, expect to hear about a pole barn for the hay/equipment, plans for a barn for our critters, the sea crate house and work space, plans for a family lodge, abundance of vegetables from our greenhouse & outside garden (hopefully we can grow our own feed for the animals), more trees and bushes planted along the creek, in the orchard and various places where they are needed, incorporating solar & wind energy onto the farm, running a waterline to the house, fun projects like goat milk soap, goat cheese, homemade toothpaste & deodorant (already did one of those)…
whoa..I get excited and a little overwhelmed thinking about it all…but we are a good team so I have faith we will do a pretty decent job this year too!
So far we are off to a great start. The first warm day, we did a dance of joy for having survived the winter. Then we got back to work. Having started seeds indoors from our Heirloom seed collection, we were ready to start prepping the garden and greenhouse. Nate tilled the garden area and I let the chickens do the tilling, aerating and fertilizing of the greenhouse. Once I finally kicked the chickens out, I started planting. I have half of the plants in the greenhouse planted and should be done in the next day or two. Nate has one more tilling of the garden area and we have a rock throwing date in our future. Then we string some electric fence through the old fence. We need to keep those naughty goats out of the garden. I expect there will be a few unwelcome breaches in the future, but every win for the goats and chickens is a learning experience for us. (I am pretty sure Nate will groan and possibly cuss when he reads that line – haha). Once the fence is ready, we have some planting to do. Oh and my smart Nathan already has the irrigation lines set up and watering system more or less ready to go. Plus we just might be cutting hay in the next month! Woohoo! I cannot wait to try out the new hay wagon. As you can see, we are already on the ground and running for this year. It feels good to be outside and getting our hands dirty again.
I cannot end this post without talking about how lucky we have been to start developing great relationships with our neighbors. As we finally settled in and got our footing, we were able to start turning our gaze away from the farm for a bit. We are so happy to report how supportive our neighbors have been. I cannot tell you how helpful it is to have a good local support system when living on a farm. We have been able to share ideas, equipment, our time, animals, and produce in order to help each other out. We have been able to sneak away from our daily chores and have fun playing games, discussing ideas, plans, life beyond the farm. So many thanks to our wonderful neighbors.
Having heard many wonderful stories about Grandpa & Grandma Palmer, I think they would be and are pretty happy with SweetWater today. When I think about Grandpa “Bob” Palmer looking down on SweetWater, I think about my own dad, who I lost 2 years ago yesterday. I am pretty sure they are both up there smiling at our hard work and dedication this past year. I know they would have their sleeves rolled up and helping us if they could. We are pretty lucky to have such supportive grandparents, moms, dads, uncles, aunts, brothers, sisters, cousins, nephews, nieces, and friends. Thanks for joining us so far on this journey. We hope that you continue to follow our adventures in this next coming year.
Thanks for visiting us on the farm!
Permanent link to this article: http://oursweetwaterfarm.com/totes-ma-goats-has-it-been-a-year-already-google-com-pub-1133338938393991-direct-f08c47fec0942fa0/
Feb 13
Our Backs Thank You…Now Could You Bring A Little Sunshine Our Way
This post is dedicated to all of you!!!
Our New “Used” Hay Stack Liner Purchased With Your Help – Many Thanks! |
We are happy to report our first GoFundMe campaign for bail baskets was a success! Thanks to Nate’s ever vigilant research skills we were able to find a used Stack Liner for $2000.00. This is 1/4 the cost of our GoFundMe goal request which means that even though we did not reach our original goal we were able to find a better deal and use the donations toward a little more than 1/4 the cost of the Stack Liner. That is AMAZING!!! Thanks to you, Nate and I will not have to haul by hand over 2000 bales of hay this next hay cutting. We are very excited because the Stack Liner saves us even more work than the bale baskets because it collects, stacks and neatly places the hay. I will be adding lots of pictures of it in action once the hay season begins.
With one success to share with you, we are on to our next goal and we would love and appreciate your help! One of our earliest plans for the farm was to incorporate alternative energy resources – solar panels & wind turbines. Now that we have successfully prepared for the upcoming hay season and have a field full of equipment eagerly waiting to begin cutting, we can focus our energies back to energy! That being said, we have set up a new GoFundMe Page in hopes that we will be able to purchase a Solar Power Kit and help make SweetWater Farm just a little bit greener!
Please visit our new GoFundMe page (http://www.gofundme.com/6v4a0g)to read more about our plan, goal, and find out how you can donate. We have even added a little incentive for those of you who are interested in donating.
Please remember any donation is a big help to us. The donations we received for our last GoFundMe request helped contribute to a large portion of the costs. Please feel free to share our page with friends and family. We love sharing our experiences on the farm with friends, family, and even your friends & family too!
Speaking of friends & family, we have been fortunate to have many visit this past year and all of them have been amazed at all the hard work and progress we have made. Many of them are planning their next trip back to the farm because they loved their time enjoying the natural beauty of Sweetwater and escaping the hustle & bustle of the cooperate world. Hopefully, this solar project will help enhance their next visit by providing them with those ever needed creature comforts, but without all those pesky “footprints” we leave behind.
Not only will your donations help support our goal of creating a sustainable farm, but it will help make a little impact on conserving and protecting the world around us.
Thanks for your support & no matter the donation amount you can give, we appreciate it.
Always Nate, Lily & Our Critter Crew
www.oursweetwaterfarm.com
SweetWater Diaries
GoFundMe – Solar Kit
Permanent link to this article: http://oursweetwaterfarm.com/our-backs-thank-you-now-could-you-bring-a-little-sunshine-our-way-google-com-pub-1133338938393991-direct-f08c47fec0942fa0/
Feb 08
Arctic Blast vs. SweetWater Farm
As Nate and I have settled into farm life we have begun to establish our routines, chores, and projects to be completed for the coming year. Fortunately, Nate and I are pretty organized and like to lay our plans out before we get started. Funny thing about “planning” on a farm is it is better to call it a “wish list” and sometimes just “a wishful thinking” list. Soon your list is full of different tasks that need to be completed and if you are lucky you can pick which one you would like to focus on for the day. Realistically, you do what needs to be done as dictated by the weather, animals, broken equipment, or whatever else heaven & nature throws at you at the moment.
…Which brings me to this “Arctic Blast” business we have been having recently. Upcoming plans of building the sea crate house, pole barn for hay, & barn for animals have been blasted a few notches down on the list. Instead, I have been running around winterizing & re-winterizing chicken coops, lugging hot water to frozen over buckets, scooping up eggs before they freeze, tending to frost bit chicken combs, chilled animals and making sure pregnant goatie mommas have enough to eat. Nate has been at war with frozen pipes, heat tape, broken water pumps, fixing a fussy Ford truck, getting firewood, keeping the fire stoked, building a birthing shed for our very pregnant goats and installing heat lights in the coops. We have had a few lucky warm days and have been able to sneak in some of our planned items on our to-do lists, but we are coming to terms with the fact that during the winter our list should be written in pencil.
OR
We go with “Nate’s Plan” for next winter…
Sailing to Mexico!
Are there any takers on babysitting some goats & chickens next winter?
Thanks for visiting us on the farm! Be sure to check out our next blog about gifts, visiting, & the dreaded butchering day.
Nathan, Lily & Our Critter Crew
Permanent link to this article: http://oursweetwaterfarm.com/artic-blast-vs-sweetwater-farm-google-com-pub-1133338938393991-direct-f08c47fec0942fa0/
Nov 19
A Farmer’s Work Is Never Done
In spring he plows and tills the field,A farmer’s work is never done,
All day long, thru dusk from dawn.
His back is sore, his hands are rough,
There never is quite time enough.
Hoping for the biggest yield.
Makes neat rows, through aching heels,
Strings the nets and pounds in steel.
Warmer weather time to plant,
No more frost he prays and chants.
The soil is rich, his will is strong,
Together these two form a bond.
Summer brings a frantic drought,
Carry water, do not stand and shout.
The zucchini blooms but so do weeds,
Our farmer protects every seed.
Falls cool breeze brings cooler weather,
Many hands are quick to gather.
Pick and dig, peel and shuck,
Before it spoils, quick to pluck.
Even winter brings no sleep,
Time to plan and tend the sheep.
A farmer’s work is never done,
All day long, through dusk from dawn.
As I finally steal some time to sit down and write this blog, I am thinking about the goat fence I need to finish, the pullet brooder I need to set up for baby chicks, vet visits for kittens and puppy, hen lights, humidity levels in the incubator, owl protection plans, goat birthing supplies, greenhouse harvesting and the list goes on and on. I can only imagine the long “to do” list in Nate’s head right now. The farmer’s work is never done, but every crop we pluck, chick we hatch, bale we sell makes it worthwhile. There is something to be said about creating with your own hands and being able to provide for yourself. This is what we set out to do on SweetWater and we now are finally seeing all our hard work starting to come together. As I said, it is hard constant work, but absolutely worth it -blisters and all.
Speaking of hard work, I cannot go one step further in this blog without mentioning that we sold all our first batch of hay!!!! WOOHOO!!! Big praises to Nate for bringing life back to all the used tractor and hay equipment. We were hesitant to even bale the one section that we did, but we are glad we did because it was such a great learning process.
Let’s see here are few things we learned in the process. 1.We must use stronger waterproof twine next time…oy we lost a few bales to cheap twine. 2. The clothes you wear while lifting bales are important. Smooth long sleeved and fully covered clothes are best. The seeds from Legend Lespedeza can be a real pain to get off fabric. Plus I paid the price of wearing shorts one day with some hay rash and poison ivy. A mistake I will not make twice! 3. We will have to build the pole barn before our next big cutting. Tarps worked fine to cover the 500 bales from the weather, but we definitely will need better storage come Spring. 4. We need help loading and unloading the bales. Considering we only baled one small section of fields and that yielded about 500 bales…having to load and unload over 2000 bales with our own two hands is going to be quite a task! So we did some research and found some bale baskets that would make loading 2000 bales easier. If you can spare a dollar or two, you can donate to our bale basket wish list on our GoFundMe page http://www.gofundme.com/4jyjj4 . Thank so much for the donations we have received so far!!! We have received over $300 on our GoFundMe page and some generous face to face donations from our friends and families. THANK YOU SO MUCH! Every dollar makes a big difference for us.
Besides the joy of our first successful haying, I loved how much fun we had selling the hay. Although most of our sales came from our Craiglists’ posting, we did load up the truck once and stand with signs and sell some out of a parking lot. Fortunately, we finished haying just in time for Halloween and Fall decorating time, so our parking lot venture was a small success due to eager decorators. Mostly I loved all the people we met when we sold the hay. We made some new friends along the way – a cool young couple raising Alpacas, a kind Italian gentleman growing figs, some fun couples living off the grid and wanting to do some hay bale gardening, a nice family with the cutest little girl, who had a blast meeting all our critters, and of course I was super excited to come full circle dropping off our last load of hay at the house of our new friends who got this whole farm thing underway for us by selling us 13 silly chickens. What a great surprise!! I knew I remembered the address and when we pulled up I knew for sure that about 8 months prior we purchased our first farming endeavor at this house. It was great fun catching up about the chickens and seeing how their farm has grown since we last saw them. I love how life works sometimes. We decided to go forward with baling despite some reservations and because we did our little farm’s world opened up in great ways.
Despite the success of our first hay venture, we decided not to do one last cutting. Granted nature helped with that decision bringing us a surprise cold spell and frost. We probably could have squeaked out one more cutting still, but we felt it is time better spent taking the lessons we learned from our first cut and prepping for our next cut in the Spring. A little time spent prepping and fine tuning means a whole lot less headaches come Spring. Winter is coming, the weather is changing and a farmer’s work is never done. We have plenty of other tasks we must do before the cold weather decides to come and sit for a while. I guess it all part of the circle of life on the farm.
A circle we have come to know very well these past two months. It is amazing how much more in tune we have become with life and death on the farm. Sure we both have experienced those moments when we were part of the regular workforce, but it is seems so much more constant living on the farm. Although that sounds like a bad thing, there is something powerful about being able to embrace loss and rebirth in such a natural way. Having lost my father a little over a year ago, I appreciate how much farm life has helped in the healing process – in all its brutal and pure honesty.
October brought loss to the farm. We lost our sweet turkey tom, who would follow me around during feeding and sneak little bites out of the bucket. The greedy owl tried to pluck him from the tree, but of course the owl couldn’t hold the turkey’s weight. I found him on the ground the next morning during feeding. The guineas and mamma turkey were lost for a few days without him. It was sad. We lost our egg bound guinea. We did things only farmers would do to help her get the egg out, but she still struggled to walk. We nursed her until she could wattle around and put her back with the other guineas. She did well for a few weeks and seemed very happy to be back with her flock. In the end the Phoenix rooster did what I had trouble doing and culled her. He pecked her head because she was weak and sickly. I am happy she was able to be with her flock before she died quickly at the rooster’s beak. A far better death than alone in a cage. It was sad. Finally and perhaps the one that hit the heart the most was the loss of Xander, our beloved German Shepherd. He was 14 years old and had been all over the US with me. I thought I would have to put him down a year ago when I was living in NH, but SweetWater brought life back into his old bones. He ran, swam, played and followed me all over the farm for another 8 months of his life. It was probably his favorite place he has ever been and the best way to end his days. Although he is still missed by all of us, I love that the last thing he was doing was running with his buddies and having a good ole time. Sometimes our bodies just are not as young as our spirits. So now he rests in a beautiful spot overlooking the creek and sweeping farm views. Oh and he has the sweetest turkey tom to keep him company.
“Life and death are one thread, the same line viewed from different sides.” ~ Lao Tzu
Although death is a part of farm life, we have found that life has a way of overshadowing the loss. November seems to have been a balm for our wounded hearts as we are now bursting at the seams with baby critters! I call them demotivators because it is hard to get out of the house with all their cute little antics. Of course, new life translates to more work for the farmer. Our work is never done and it does not hold to a schedule.
Just ask our 12 brand new baby chicks, who decided that the best time to hatch was between 2 AM and 6 AM while my mom and Sam were visiting! We knew they would be hatching on day 21ish, but we didn’t know when. Well Nate & I were awoken to bird chirping which is not that uncommon a sound in our household of 20 something grown chickens and game birds roaming the property. This time we were on alarm and we knew we had a brand new baby chick awaiting us in the incubator. So the rush to get the little lady into the brooder under the heat lamp began. I ended up having to stick some black socks in the small plastic tub in order to keep the first little girl company. That worked for a bit until I decided to put a feather duster in the box. The chick cuddled up to the feather duster and seemed to calm down quite a bit.
I was desperately hoping we would have at least one more chick to keep her company. Quite honestly, I was convinced we wouldn’t have any hatch because I put the eggs in upside down initially. Fortunately for Backyardchickens.com and one of my many farming books, I came across the tidbit about how to place the eggs. You would think there would be more specific instructions about that. I guess I turned them over in time so I didn’t ruin their air pocket. Phew…this baby making can be stressful stuff. Placing the eggs the right way, turning them, watching humidity & temperature…how on earth do the chickens do it without all the technology!?!?! Somehow we managed to hatch 12 out of 18 successfully. Of course I probably woke my poor mom up a million times as I trudged throughout the living room in the middle of the night moving newly hatched chicks to the brooder. It got to the point where I would call out, “We have a black one. We have a yellow one..” Even with the interruptions, we had a great time during the visit and I know they got a kick out of all the baby critter cuteness. We had to make sure Sam didn’t sneak Hercules (our new kitten) into his bag when they left because they hit it off so well.
So our 1st generation hatch was a success. We love the fact that half of the chicks are black and our dominant rooster, Agatha, is black. There is no doubt he has been busy! Of course we have to mention that with life is death though…we lost one who was positioned badly in the shell and too weak to hatch all the way. Even with help, she did not make it in the end. We had two that never made it to the hatching stage and three that were not fertilized. Overall, the whole process was just amazing, even with a few losses. Now we have 12 little fluffy chicks living in our bathroom (well for a few more days and then they move to the garage) and making us laugh.
“Chicks living in the bathroom?” Well, with a cat and two playful kittens roaming the hallways, we could not leave the chicks unsupervised. We don’t have to willingly invite death to farm if we can help it. So until they are about a week or so old the chicks will stay behind the closed doors of the bathroom. Meanwhile, our brand new little tumbleweeds (kittens) are on the other side of the door participating in a never ending play session.
Here is the quick back story on why we ended up with our new kittens, Hercules & Hazel. Edgar,our 14 year old cat and kingpin is in his retirement years. The mice got word that the resident cat only hunts when he feels like it. So the garage became a scene from a Disney movie with Simon doing his best at catching the mice. He is not quite as graceful about it though. So he also redecorated the garage while he was in hot pursuit. With that, Nate said, “barn cats!” A few weeks later we have two cute as can be fluff heads, who spend the majority of their day pouncing on our feet, wrestling with each other, and practicing mousing. Of course, they are too little to be outdoors in this cold weather…so we just have to cuddle them inside for now. Edgar is less than impressed by these two little minions invading his territory. Give it a month and I think we will see him playing with them too! (The whole time I have been writing this section of the blog Nate has been snuggling on them and laughing at their silliness).
Oh, but we cannot escape the silliness by going outside because we have the prettiest little lady awaiting us with her sweet older brothers by her side. We had planned to wait until after Christmas to get another pup, but our pup had other plans. We were on our way to get some more turkeys from this nice Vietnamese couple that sells us exotic and game birds.
We purchased our new turkeys, Polish (fluff heads) & Sebright chickens to add to our new Phoenix chickens in the truck when the woman mentioned they had Pyrenees puppies and did we want want one for free. Our hearts sank a bit because Xander’s loss was still so close. We declined and went on our way with our new batch of birdies. Well a day or two passed…Nate did some research on the Pyrenees and we just new she would be a great fit for the farm. They were raised to protect livestock. Plus Simon needed a friend to help expend some of his energy. Truman is a more low key buddy and Xander used to run with Simon. The poor guy has been going stir crazy. So we picked Ms. Ginger up 2 weeks later and she now rules the roost. She is a smart little lady and is so sweet. She can be stubborn, thus the name Ginger Snap, but that only means she will fit in well here.
Before I finish this post, I wanted to update you on more life we have been nurturing on the farm. Our greenhouse has been blooming like crazy. The temperature may be in the 50s or 60s outside, but usually holds a 90 degree temperature in the greenhouse. We might use it as our personal sauna during the chilly temperatures. We have some big plans for installing a water system that involves fish (Tilapia), but I will elaborate on that in our next update.
I’ll have to mention the new toys we found or heard about on Craigslist in my next post too.
Here I have been talking about new baby critters and I almost forgot to mention we may have a new baby goatie on the way. We think Brigitta is going to be a momita sometime in December!! So I am reading up on birthing babies. A farmer’s work is never done. We will keep you posted on this exciting news!!! (A big thanks to Mica for being so helpful as I learn how to raise goats!!!) Nate & I have been so lucky to have so much support from our new and old friends and of course our families. We hope you enjoy our updates! Thanks for dropping by and catching up with us. Happy Thanksgiving to you all! We know we have a lot to be thankful for during our first year as farmers!
Thanks for visiting us on the farm!
Nathan, Lily & Our Critter Crew
*Remember to donate on our GoFundMe page (http://www.gofundme.com/4jyjj4) if you like what we are doing and can spare a few bucks.
Permanent link to this article: http://oursweetwaterfarm.com/a-farmers-work-is-never-done-google-com-pub-1133338938393991-direct-f08c47fec0942fa0/
Sep 29
Help Our Farm & Save Our Backs
Hello family, friends, & supporters, (DONATE HERE: http://www.gofundme.com/4jyjj4)
We are posting this because we need your help. Read on to see how you can help. We have been working hard over the past few months here on SweetWater to develop a sustainable farm. Our hope is to create a place that family and friends will want to visit and be part of as the farm grows. We have accomplished a lot so far by reusing, recycling, and searching for free or low cost options to build items such as a greenhouse, chicken coops, goat pens, and rebuilding hay equipment. We love finding ways to accomplishing our goals that require a little “do it yourself” and “thinking outside the box” methods, but sometimes we realize we could use some help.
After finishing our first hay cutting we realized we need your help. We opted to only bale a small section of the property in order to test the used equipment that Nate had fixed and rebuilt. In the end,the two of us collected and unloaded over 500 bales of hay by hand in about two days. Normally, we would bale all the fields; which would give around a total of 2000 small square bales (approx 50-60lbs each). That is a lot of lifting for two people!!!
How can you help? Nate and I have researched options and found one of the cheaper, but effective hay helpers known as a bale basket. This basket is attached to the back of the baler and the hay drops directly into the basket. No need to lift and load it from the fields by hand. Ideally, we would like to buy two so that we could switch them out as we are baling. This would allow one of us to continue baling; while the other unloaded the full basket. Brand new, one bale basket would cost about $4000 including transport costs. So our goal is for two bale baskets would be $8000. Of course we would be grateful to acquire one (new or used), but since haying is very weather dependent the faster we can bale and load the more likely we are to get quality hay. (DONATE HERE: http://www.gofundme.com/4jyjj4)
In order to grow this farm and continue our goal of sustainable living is largely dependent on funds received from hay sales. We want to use the money from the hay to put back into this beautiful farm. Your donations will help support that goal and also save our backs & shoulders. Plus, you will save us a few hay rashes at that too!
Thanks for your support & no matter the donation amount you can give, we appreciate it.
Visit GoFundMe or click link to DONATE: http://www.gofundme.com/4jyjj4
Always Nate, Lily & Our Critter Crew
www.oursweetwaterfarm.com
SweetWater Diaries
How the bale basket works:
Click Here to see bale basket in action in this YouTube Video.
DONATE HERE: http://www.gofundme.com/4jyjj4
Permanent link to this article: http://oursweetwaterfarm.com/help-our-farm-save-our-backs-google-com-pub-1133338938393991-direct-f08c47fec0942fa0/