classes

Austin signed up for a farm training workshop that started last Wednesday. He found out about it through the extension office in Hillsborough. It is being put on by Breeze Farms, a nearby CSA (community supported agriculture). There are seven more in the succession, once a week through February. The first lesson focused on whole farm planning and business plans. He came home having met some of the locals we’ve seen around town, and even came across someone who put a bid on our house as we were buying it! Most of the notes are posted on line, as so many people do these days to save paper. However, Austin did come home with a sample business plan from one of the neighboring farms called Tumbling Shoals Farm. It will be a good reference even though looking through it he found several things that could be done differently. Austin has written a few business plans in the past, one for school and a collage of some for the ever changing future we have coming up. I’m sure we will be commencing the updated composition fairly soon. He also mentioned how they focused on the importance of the appearance of one’s farm stand at the farmers markets. As obvious as it sounds, I guess it is an important point. Hopefully our marketing department has a unique, chic, tasteful style that attracts a plethora of respectable consumers.
Chris and I are signed up for a beginner beekeeping class. It begins January 14, and is also a once a week class for nine weeks. I am so beexcited. At first it appeared as though the Orange County class was full and so I was going to drive a bit further to a class in Burlington, but then Chris ran into one of the gentlemen who teach the course, and he happened to come across two more seats. Sweet.

big barn

before



after

Austin has begun some much needed clean-up and fix-up of the big barn. He removed some rotting wood and neglected metal scraps. He also salvaged some of the old windows from the house that were poorly stored in there. He wants to make space for the tractor and its implements on one side, and gardening equipment under another spot that currently houses an abandoned boxed in truck. The truck will be moved along the fence line and because it has a good amount of sealed, dry, closeable space in it, Austin wants to convert it into a turkey shelter. It can also be used to store hay or feed until then. And I haven’t pitched this to him yet but it could possibly be buried and transformed into a meat cellar.

chicken moving in day!

The coop is at a point where we felt the fowel could move in. Austin and I still have some fine tuning and tweaking to do. We plan on wrapping the coop in a plastic we found in a barn, and finishing the outside with metal siding that we also have acquired with the property. This should be a pretty nice seal and provide a bit of insulation too. The nests will need to be built and installed by the end of February or March. We plan on installing hopefully 24 of them. This will bring our coops maximum capacity to approximately 85. According to the books, there should be a nest per four chickens, and about nine inches of roosting space depending on the breed. We currently have about 890 inches. I have some automatic waterers that are on order and will be attached to an interior wall. They are supposed to be much more sanitary, as they require a chicken to peck at a nipple to dispense the water, therefore, alleviating any drips in the litter and any soiled water. We also have to put up a temporary fence as it is the chickens’ first time free range without a chaperone. The coop is currently positioned along the tree line of the western pasture, facing the house. We hope the trees will provide some shade when they need it, and also an ample amount of bugs for food. We are unsure of the predators we may have lurking around, and we pray there are few, but as the rumor goes, foxes like chicken.