See Where The Chips Land

I have not been able to blog on the schedule I would like. When we get into production season I want to be blogging 8 times a month, so twice a week. That is obviously not currently happening and with our first child, Hazel, due in a little over a week, April seems doomed to be a little thin on the posts.

On the upside, things have been very busy around here. So I will give a run down on what has happened since the last post. I sold the John Deere 2010, purchased an old 5 ton Parker barge wagon, treated the boards to go into the lid I will build for the wagon (I treat with linseed oil), framed a building entrance overhang for the retail building and shop, picked-up a load of feed from our new feed supplier, Devan Green of Green Organics (he is in the organic transition process), purchased and hauled a year supply (35 bags) of compressed wood chips from Hawkeye Wood Shavings in Pleasant Hill, set up the first brooder and receive 181 baby broiler chicks (still have all 181), planted some Rhubarb, and used a nice little Vermeer skid loader to do several tasks including: cleaning out half of the all-purpose lean-to and making a massive pile of compost that needs to go to the field someday, fixing the Cobett waterer that I put in crooked last fall, removing an old fence row, and moving some earth piles left over from the well installation. I might have missed a few things, but that is most of it. All while moving the sheep and cattle daily. Needless to say, it has been a rare day that I have made it into the house before 9:00 PM.

Filling the feeders in the brooder

Filling chick waterers

Framed Shop Entrance (Jim Helped A Lot) and Treating Boards

Cleaned up the Rhubarb Patch & Added 6 more Plants

Continuing to Rotate Sheep on Pasture (they will lamb any day now)

I still have a long list of things that do need to be worked on. For one, we have still not released a customer newsletter and updated our website with order information. We have selected all our processing dates, chick order dates, and delivery dates, but we need to communicate that with our customers. We are sorry, it will be out soon. I have a list of things to try to get to this week including the newsletter, planting 100 asparagus plants, planting our gardens and seed starts (one of the house cats destroyed my earlier seed starts), building a lid to the Parker wagon, set-up more brooders (50 Barred Rock laying hen chicks come Wednesday morning), get ready for an INCA board meeting, finish converting the old chicken hauling wagon into a water wagon so I don't have to haul water buckets up the north hill to the livestock (my shoulders look good, but it is exhausting), and sow some grass seed in the torn-up places in the yard. I forgot to mention that we could start having lambs any day now. I am just going to cross my fingers this week and see where the chips land. Wish me luck.