Turkey Lurkey

We got four bronze breasted turkey poults a week ago. I love their wise brown eyes! We are hoping for a tom and three hens, but we will see!!

Cooler temps equal Projects!

Cooler weather and rain inspired us to get to work on the farm! It has been in the mid hundreds for the last week! Today a high of 80!! We are setting fence posts for new Serama enclosures.  The farm boys were busy cutting down overgrown bushes. We sure are thankful for the help of our sons!

We are getting Legit!

Each small step for our farm is so thrilling. We have been approved by the Farmer Veteran Coalition to proudly display the Homegrown by Heroes label on all our goods!

In Bee Business

Summer has been busy to say the least! After going to a Texas Agribility Conference we are more confident in our farm direction. A focus on bees and poultry is where we are heading. We are offering hives for lease to interested land owners and installed four this weekend at a local olive orchard. Will be installing two more at a heritage turkey farm in a couple weeks.

Fodder works..pretty much!

Well at first try we had a sour smell and horrific fruit flies.. After consulting with folks on a homesteading Facebook page I'm on I drilled many more drainage holes..rinsed more and..Voila! Nicely sprouted barley. Chicky approved!

Fodder System

We finally got every last teeny hole drilled and the trays are tilted just so.  We will soak barley seed overnight and start our system up first thing on the morning. Woo woo fresh barley greens for our chickens!

Taters!

We planted potatoes in our towers this morning. Tommy built the towers from fence wire. We lined the inside bottom with old straw and a layer of good composted garden soil. Next came the seed potatoes that we cut into chunks and rolled in wood ash. The ash prevents rot.. Next a couple more inches of soil and a nice watering down. Fingers crossed as we wait and watch!

The End Result

We have a garden. My husband Tommy is getting a load of compost garden soil today for my herb garden box and potato towers. I am so blessed and praying for a bountiful harvest.

Garden dreams

Spent a fun night with seeds, paper & pencil, and my trusty companion planting chart. Certain plants are very beneficial when planted together..some not so much. The chart keeps me on track and not making mistakes. Apparently sage and cucumber are a big no no!

Beans and Peppers!

We have our first successes! Beans and jalepeno peppers are up and looking good in our first hugel kulture beds. We are busy getting more beds ready for planting. I love spring!

Hugel what?

Hugelkultur. A big funny word for a scandanavian gardening technique. We are going to give it a shot! The premise is to put old rotting wood on the bottom with layers of compost and old papers and cardboard and straw. Then soil on top. The boys helped me maneuver big packing crates into position by our greenhouse. (Can you believe we got them for free off Craigslist?) Then we layered all the stuff like a big lasagna. So far we have peas, beans, cucumbers planted. Going with hubby to get lots more crates on Monday. The big advantage is the beds are raised so no crouching! Get out in the earth and plant something..it will do you good.

Rodeo Time

Every February we take a day off from the busy-ness of farm life and school and head to the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo. This year was splendid with exceptionally mild weather and sunny skies. The boys loved the Lego tent filled with displays and chances to create.. We watched the Swifty Swine pig races Next we went to all the exhibition barns and headed to the carnival. A great time had by all. Until middle son threw up after riding the same ride three times in a row after drinking a soda....then we were done! See you next year..

Spring Color!

Fire cracker plant is showing off! Crepe Myrtle just starting to leaf and a gorgeous butterfly bush for your viewing pleasure!

Trailer Time

Our farm trailer was in sad shape. The decking had rotted away in several spots and my husband Thomas was holding things together with bailing wire and ratchet straps. Not safe to say the least! So he set about to redeck it himself..alone! The kiddos and I were away for a day and just look at what he did.. Here he is cutting wood for the new deck. And the first board is in. Did I mention that the whole time he was working on the trailer he was suffering from what is known in these parts as "Ceder Fever"? it is the painful result of a North wind that blew for two straight days here. Cedar pollen is truly one of the most unpleasant things on God's good green earth! Cedar Fever brings a runny nose like Niagara Falls, coughing up yucky junk as a result of the nose and feeling weak and feverish. What a guy! I made him homemade Chicken Alfredo as a reward. And then he went to bed.

Ahhh... Spring!

The view from atop my first bluebonnet! It is feeling like spring is finally here. Nights are still a bit cool, but days are warming up rapidly here on the farm. The bee hives are in a sea of pink phlox... And these yellow flowers are all a buzzin! We are so excited to be splitting our hives this year. in the picture you can see we have two types of hives, one is a traditional hive and the other is a top bar bee hive. my hubster built the top bar hive, and hopes to do an even better one this year. That will bring us up to 4 hives with splits..and did I mention the wild hive in the back of our woods? It is in an old gas tank and he is planning on cutting it out and re-homing it in another hive. I think we will film that! Either way it is one step closer to having enough honey to supply ourselves with sweetener and be able to sell some as well. So get outside and take a few deep breaths of springtime... and if you are somewhere cold just hang in there... Springtime is on its way!

No better friend!

Our good friend is here for the second day digging with my hubby in our back yard and beyound trouble shooting our septic. We have had issues since we bought our place and it was..ahem..not pleasant!  I am telling you these poor guys are not having fun. They believe they have "unearthed" the issues and are putting a temporary fix in until we can get a backhoe to dig a new trench for our lines.

The Molt is on..

Well it isn't pretty around here! The new chickens appear to be molting. Feathers abound. Sigh..must be why production dropped off..here's those lemons I promised!

Beauty is in the eye..

Beautiful home grown lemons and a Serama frizzle who I suspect will become a rooster!

On Strike!

Today we had rain and high gusty winds. Skies stayed dark and it was stormy for most of it. We got a grand total of 6 eggs! What a disapointment. Obviously I need to get busy and install some lights in the coops! Let me tell you...6 eggs hurts after what I have been getting.  But on a happy note, we are up to 7 Serama chickys! I am so proud of my broody girls. Three tiny hens..Peanut, Juliet and Ivory. Sharing the duties and hatching some sweet babies!  My silver lining. Weather supposed to breakup and be sunny and warm again by Thursday...and not a moment to soon! Egg orders await.

The Golden Girls (and Guys)

So our Golden Girls are happily installed. Tomorrow will mark one week here and we will give them an hour of free range before dark. We will extend the 'ranging' time daily until we are sure they all know where home is. I delivered six dozen today and have my first standing order for a weekly dozen! Starting to feel a little like a farmer. Found a duck egg and thought I'd snap a pic so you could compare. I have four duck eggs in the incubator and hopefully next week we will get Ducky's!

Forward Motion

As we move forward in our adventure towards self sufficiency/self sustainable life, we have made another stride! I have opened a farm page on Facebook. Hoping it will generate some business interests. Currently I am offering fresh eggs, chicks (Serama and Golden sex link) and ducklings soon I hope. Hoping to expand into herbs in the spring. I am currently working two part time jobs and would love to cut that down to one!

Eggactly!

We got up bright and early and headed over two little towns away to do some chicken 'wrangling'! All went well and I followed hubby home and we installed our Golden Girls with their 4 Manly Men Roosters. They must like it here at Seven Pines....
We had over a dozen by 10 am. Can't wait to see what we have later in the afternoon. Tonight will be working on our labels for egg cartons. More pics later!

New Arrivals!

It is getting egg- citing around here! This week we have had 4 Serama Chickie's hatch out. Seramas are the smallest chicken breed in the world and come from Malaysia. They are difficult to hatch in an incubator. This time I let 3 broody hens do the work and Mother Nature knows best! We are also preparing for a huge blessing. We are being gifted 47 Golden Sex link hens for our egg business. Today is all about coop prep and cleaning. Will post pictures of the Golden Girls when they arrive..but here is some Serama adorableness!!