Today was our annual turkey butchering day. We started in June with 10 heritage turkeys, six of which died. We added five generic white turkeys from Atwood's, so we ended this fall with nine turkeys. Two hens and a Tom are being overwintered in the hopes of hatching eggs next spring.
Six turkeys met the chopping block as well as our new chicken plucker. We once borrowed a plucker and otherwise have always plucked by hand. Oh, the agony. Last year, James was ready to give up on butchering because of the plucking. This year, we had six turkeys cleaned and bagged in less than two hours (with three helpers). In addition, five roosters, some belonging to friends, were cleaned.
I'm happy to say the coops are quieter and my chores are shortening up for the winter season. The turkeys, free rangers, were defecating all over the sidewalk, spying on me (Momma turkey) from the front windows, pecking at siding, and otherwise becoming a neighborhood nuisance, so everyone will appreciate a quieter flock.
Until next time, remember, this is not paradise. It's Purgatory Ranch.
After planting 50 cabernet sauvignon grapes last year, we had our first harvest of roughly 7 gallons of grapes. A merry morning was spent removing the grapes from the stems, smashing, and jarring for fermentation. We're going to see what our wild yeast does this year. Wish us luck!
Until next time, remember, this is not paradise. It's Purgatory Ranch.
We have 9 turkeys still in the turkey coop. We tried heritage turkeys this year, and of the 10 we started with, only 4 remain. That's an expensive turkey, my friends, when only 40% survives. We'll return to our Atwoods standby for now, as we've never lost one of them.
Three different coops hold our juvenile chickens. There are 13 teenagers, and it's nearly time to butcher the roosters. Soup's coop, with six chicks about a month behind the teenagers, are just working out who's a hen and who's a rooster. Finally, Ms. Crazy Pants, a first-time mom, have five chicks less than a month old, and I can't wait until her mothering instinct settles down, as she really is crazy.
We have four actively laying egg coops. Some of the juveniles will be introduced to these coops, so they all function at full capacity. I must admit, part of me is ready for the chickens to be in their winter quarters, snugged up near the barn, for my convenience. I'm tired this end-of-summer.
The vegetable garden is a mass of weeds as we pull up drip hose, etc. We need a dose of compost this fall, so we're cleaning up earlier than usual.
Our apple orchard is fighting cedar rust, so next spring we'll be spraying with an organic spray. There are apples this year, but not particularly attractive ones.
James has a mighty harvest of grapes. Can he turn them into wine soon enough? That's an excellent question.
The three big kids are finally old enough to work on tasks outside without one-on-one supervision, so they're learning to weed. Woohoo!
Until next time, remember, this is not paradise. It's Purgatory Ranch.
I've had my solar oven for a LONG time (several years at least), but I haven't used it as our family grows larger, as a whole meal is hard to fit in a solar oven. However, we cleared the deck for scraping and painting, and this pathetic lump needed cleaning, it was a hot day, and I decided to use it!
I used our favorite rice pudding recipe (from the Betty Crocker cookbook, with no alterations), heated my oven and pot, and let the sun do the cooking.
It was delicious, and gone the next morning.
Until next time, remember, this is not paradise, it's Purgatory Ranch.
Here is a visual tour of some of the first fruits of summer when God Provides:
First a video of our apiary:
Here we have the first blueberries. We grow them in a pot to help with the soil requirements. Home grown berries are the best. They taste real and this reality is washes away all worry that is not worth having anyway.
Here is the end of the first day of the Father Kapaun Pilgrimage. It was beautiful if strenuous stroll. I only lasted a day and a half (35 miles) before the blisters on my feet were so bad I had trouble standing. My good friend Kyle M. helped me walk my last mile and a half at a snails pace.
Here are two of my trouble makers at Frank Reese's Good Shepherd Poultry Ranch . Mr. Reese is salt of Earth. He will one day be a legend. He makes money selling free range, grass pastured poultry to fancy restaurants in New York and San Francisco. (He took calls from Chef's whose names I knew while we were talking shop.) He also maintains standard brea\ds of Chickens that are essentially extinct. He does so in a way that is good for the Earth and for the birds.
Here is his ferocious guard dog. Photo credit my six-year-old.
Requisite chick photos from Attwood's.
Can you spot the evening deer?
Former students who did an awesome job painting some rooms in my house. Leave a comment if you wish me to forward their contact info.
My beautiful dog: Hope
Found on the way to my house though not my sign.
All of these things make my to do list worth it.
If Hercules could clean the Augean Stables I can get my to-do list done. Here is my to-do list for June:
(Write) Adoration chapel explanation.
Baby chick house fixing.
Battery core removal
Blue whale crossbeam
Change tractor oil
Chicken Pulcker
Electricity in the barn
Electricity to parents barn
Email Guideline Committee
Finish planting
Fix big weed eater
Fix Fan
Fix hooses
Fix irrigation hose leaks
Fix or ditch Dyson
Fix side view mirror on Chevy
Fix tiller
Fix trailer lights
Fix vineyard
Fix weed eater
Green whale door
Green whale door fix
Guinea fowl roof
Learn to rebuild carburetor
Mow
Mow
Mystagogy Schedule
Organize Desk
Organize tools
Papers for deed
Weld spare tire back on
Planting all remaining seeds
Prayer Evening and Night Prayer
Get Will written
Shed roof
Trailer tires
Weed Stawbeeries at Noni
Weed YJ strawberries
Weld mower
White whale floor and ribs
Write Memaw
Write “Why I farm.”
This blog post is shorter than I intended it to be because my one-year-old can climb.
We knew rain was expected this week, so we prepared by moving all the coops to fresh grass. There seemed to be plenty of room between the chickens and the ditches, so we thought we were okay.
However, the rain began around 8 this morning and continued for another 7 hours, until the rain gauge registered 3.2" of rain. On our way home from therapy at 11 am, in the midst of the endless pouring rain, I passed paved roads through town that were underwater. When I reached out outskirts, I found the road to our neighborhood flooded twice. By the time I turned into the road that ends at our neighborhood, I called my sister to help me decide if I should turn back.
I continued on, and the scene I discovered at home made me nauseous. The three laying hen coops at the bottom of the property were knee deep in water. These pictures don't even express the full severity of it, but know the chickens had to either swim or be on their roosts. I called James home, and I don't think he comprehended the severity either until he drove the tractor down into it.
Thank God for the tractor and a skilled operator.
This coop was by far the worst off. James unfortunately found the rooster dead in the water as well as one soaked hen. We've been able to revive the hen, but here ends the days of A.J., a beloved one-eyed rooster.
See that water behind the strip of green grass? That's the road. Where James and the coop stand was usually on dry ground even in the wettest of weather.
The water is finally receding, but we are tentatively expecting 2+" of rain today and chances of rain over the next three days. We will do our best to provide plenty of dry bedding for the hens and extra food, and then we will all have to sink or swim.
Until next time, remember, this is not paradise. It's Purgatory Ranch.
