Monthly Archives: May 2018

I’m Not Gonna Wait To Tell You

Reflections

I was looking at my blog stats this morning  and this is what I saw – 9891 views, 3994 visitors, from 86 countries over the life of my blog. Wow! Nearly 4000 people have visited my blog. Many of them returning for more than one visit and even signing on as followers. This may seem like just a drop in the bucket since there millions of potential readers of my posts as they are published on the World Wide Web, but to me this is huge.

I thought, “I should do a special thank you post when I hit a magic number, 10,000 views perhaps”. Then it hit me, “why should I wait? What makes 10,000 that much more special then 9891? What if something happens between now and the time that number reaches 10,000 that prevents me from writing or publishing that post? Should not all those individuals who are reading now know how much I appreciate them?”

I decided not to wait, because I really want to say “Thank You” to everyone who reads my blog. Yes, if you are reading this I am talking to you.  Just like with potential readers, there are millions of potential blogs to read on the World Wide Web, so it humbles me when you take the time to read my words. Honestly, even if I did not have readers I would probably use this blog to journal bits and pieces of our life, but knowing that you are reading my posts and like what you read motivates me to keep writing. When you take the time to leave a comment or sign on to follow my blog I can’t help but think that my words matter. To think that you have found value in my blog is a great feeling – it makes me happy, and it inspires me to keep writing.

I would love to return the favor, to in some way inspire you. Perhaps this post can do that. Is there something in your life that you want or need to say or do ? Are waiting for just the right time?  Would you have regrets if you never got to say or do it? If so then why wait for the perfect time? I encourage you to say or do it while you have the opportunity. I believe you will be happy you did – life is just too short to live with regrets.

Until Next Time My Friends – Be Well!102_0895

 

Blueberry Patch Upgrade

Blueberries, Fencing, Reflections, The Farm,

If you read my recent post about how we work with nature on the farm you may recall that we have had problems with birds eating our blueberries. Birds have an unfair advantage over us as they can seemingly sit perched on the nearest tree branch or fence post and wait until the berry reaches the perfect degree of ripeness then swoop in and gobble it up. We on the other hand schedule blueberry picking in between all of the other chores that need to be done in a day and it seems if we leave a partially green berry to ripen for one more day the birds get it before we get back.

For the last few years we have used netting over the bushes to keep the birds from eating the fruits of our labor. Our methods have worked to some degree but for various reasons have been less than ideal.

For a couple years we just wrapped each bush with the netting. The problem with this is  that  every time we went to pick berries we had to unwrap each bush then rewrap it after we were finished. As you can imagine this was not very efficient.

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Last year we used a different approach. My husband put wooden stakes around the outside of the blueberry patch and covered the whole patch with netting.

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This was also largely effective, but again less than ideal as in order to pick blueberries we crawled under the net on our hands and knees. With both of these method an occasional bird might get in and steal a few berries, but we were able to harvest most of the berries for our own sustenance and enjoyment.

The netting that we have been using for these projects came in a large roll, maybe 150 feet long by 20 feet wide, (it’s hard to tell because it is stretchy) and was something that my husband found sitting along the roadside at a neighbors house waiting for the trash men to carry it away. He picked it up and brought it home thinking we would probably find some use for it. We have used it over and over for project like this.

This year we decided it was time to give the blueberry patch an upgrade. We needed a screened, fenced or netted structure to keep birds out but allow us in to pick berries (standing up).

We first thought that we would need to use chicken wire as fencing to get the grid small enough to keep the birds out, but when my husband went to the  farm store he discovered a plastic fence that he thought would work well. This fence had a small grid, was light weight, and more affordable than chicken wire.  He also bought 12 – 7 1/2 foot t-posts. He set the t-posts around the perimeter of the patch with each side having two corner posts and one post midway along the side. On one side he set an additional two posts about three feet apart where we wanted our entrance to be.

The plastic fence was light weight and easy for my husband to manage by himself. He started at the t-post to the left of our entrance he attached the fence to the t-post using zip ties. (They are so very handy.) He then rolled the fence to the left and attached it to the corner post again using zip ties. He continued rolling the fence and attaching it to each t-post until he arrived back at the starting point. The plastic fence fit snuggly and looked very nice. When he was back at the final t-post he cut the fence leaving just a small amount to over lap. Instead of using zip ties to secure it at this point he clipped the fence to itself using clothes pins (also handy to have around). We can now enter the blueberry patch (standing up 🙂 🙂 ) by unclipping the clothes pins and opening up just a three foot section of fence.

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To keep birds from flying in through the top we used the same netting we have been using all along. Before draping the netting over the top my husband placed one taller t-post in the middle of the blueberry patch to keep the net from sagging too much. He also wrapped the tops of the t-posts with duck tape, or maybe it was gorilla tape, I’m not sure, but it was to keep the metal t-post from snagging and ripping the netting.

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Once he had the netting draped over the t-posts and fencing, with at least a few inches of overlap on each side, he tied the netting to the fencing with string. He placed ties  wherever he noticed there might be a gap.

While I won’t be surprised to see a determined bird finds it’s way in now and then, at least we should be able to efficiently and comfortably harvest most of the crop. We will keep this fence up year round and hope that it will last for many years – at least until the blueberry bushes out grow it. 🙂

 

Our Off Grid Irrigation System

With the temperatures warming and many dry days in the forecast it is time to get our irrigation system set up. Since I have many new readers I decided to republish this post written in 2016 to show you our irrigation system at the farm.

Don't Eat It! Soap and Skin Care

Since the farm does not have electricity hooked up, watering the gardens is not as easy as hooking up a hose and turning on a sprinkler.  One of the reasons we put in the pond four years ago was to have the ability to use it for watering.

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Our pond was dug according to the township requirements. I don’t remember the exact slope ratio but it has a gradual slope for the first 30 feet all the way around the edge. We gave it less of a slope at the beach area because we anticipate grandbabies playing in the water. After the first 30 feet it becomes a deep hole dropping down to 20+ feet. The clay bottom helps to retain water. So there is not much likelihood of it drying up.

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In the spring of the following year we put up the windmill. Like the pond the windmill has…

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Chickens Come Home To Roost

Chickens, Chicks, Reflections,

The idiom “chickens come home to roost”  may be difficult to understand. It is used to relate the fact that actions will always have a consequence and normally applied in a negative way. https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/chickens+come+home+to+roost Making a connection between chickens roosting and consequences to your actions can be quite a stretch. In order to make this connection there is one thing that you need to realize – chickens always come home to roost.

I admit this was one of my fears when we first started raising chickens – how are we going to get all on those chickens in the coop every night? Well it really doesn’t take much training for the chickens to learn that the coop is their nighttime home.  If chicks are raised by a hen then the hens does all of the training. When we raise chicks this is what we do – we introduce the chicks to the coop at the farm once they have feathered out, usually around four to six weeks. We set up a small pen near the coop where the chicks can spend their days.   You can read about that here. At night we can then gather them up to put them in the coop. The young chicks huddle together at night usually in one of the nest boxes. We continue this routine for about 5-7 days or until the chicks learn to get into the coop on their own. After that when darkness falls the chicks will naturally go to the coop each night. It will become their safe space.

Eventually they will outgrow the nest box, and the need to huddle together at night, and will spend their nights sleeping perched on a roost within the coop. Our coop has roosts at various heights and the chickens tend to seek out the higher roosts. It is a chicken’s instinct to roost high up at night.

We have been raising chickens on the farm for five years and it has been our experience that with few exceptions the chickens always come home to roost. Exceptions – every rule seems to have them so let me share the exceptions that we have found for this rule.

Why The Chickens Don’t Come Home To Roost:

Each night we do a head (beak) count to assure that all of the chickens have returned and are safely inside the coop. If any are missing we do a search. Occasionally we have discovered that a hen has fallen prey to a wild predator and we have found either a headless body or a pile of feathers.

On other occasions we have found that one or more hen(s) have gotten into one of our fenced garden areas because someone, either intentionally or (oops) unintentionally, left the gate open. If given enough time they will usually find their way back to the gate and out of the garden, but when darkness is closing in their instinct is to head in the direction of their coop (the gate is in the opposite direction) and they keep running into the fence trying to get home. (You may have heard that chickens are stupid.)

One other thing that we have experienced, that is really only a partial exception, is when the a hen decides that rather go into the coop she would rather roost in one of the trees outside the coop for the night. The reason that this is only a partial exception is that we have never had a hen try to roost in a tree elsewhere on the farm. They first return to the coop area, then fly up onto what ever tree branch they can get to. Possibly because the branches are higher than the roosts inside the coop, they think this is a good option. It is not! Some nighttime predators can climb trees and we have lost a couple of hens when we have allowed them to roost in a tree at night.

There is one other scenario that, although we have not experienced it, I think is worth mentioning. It is a broody hen. A hen may lay several (or even a whole bunch of) eggs in a secluded area and when she thinks the time is right will begin to brood (sit on the eggs). She will not leave the nest at night to return to the coop. I have read stories of hens disappearing and then showing up three weeks later with a bunch of chicks. What a surprise that would be.

Now if you were thinking about raising free range chickens but worried about having to play chicken rodeo every night, do not fear – chickens come home to roost.

Thanks for reading. 🙂