the GreenHouse..

Well here it is the end of July. I have not had alot of time to keep updates on here the way I should. But will see if I can catch everyone up.
First.. the greenhouse...
We did not have tomatoes the first week of June this year. But the first week of July we did. Our tomato trees are growing quickly and are heavily producing. Many of our plants we started from seed in the aero garden. This worked very well for us, and actually our plants started from seed have been more productive than the bought plants.
Our red peppers, also housed in the greenhouse are HUGE. averaging 1# each. And the tomatillos have THOUSANDS of fruit per bush. We have already made salsa, and in actuality, I should be doing tomatos instead of sitting here typing. But.... I will get to it in a few.
Out side the greenhouse has been pretty productive as well.
We decided to try broccoli, cauliflower and brussel sprouts this year.
Initially, I was very disappointed with the broccoli. the heads were not huge like we get in the store. But of course were quite tasty. I didnt pull the plants, and they have continued to HEAVILY produce. They dont make MAIN heads again, but put up hundreds of stalks of tender and flavorful sprouts. harvested a couple times a week, I am putting ALLOT of broccoli in the freezer. I highly recommend this plant if you like broccoli. some soils dont do well with it, but ours seems to be doing great. Our brussels are just taking off, and the cauliflower plants are huge but still no heads. Im told that doesnt happen till more toward fall.
Cabbage.. HOLY WOW.. we have 12# cabbage. They really seem to enjoy the dirt.
Our first batch of lettuce bolted in the recent heat. But luckily I had already planned ahead and replanted for the next batch. How could be enjoy BLT's without our own fresh lettuce.
Our beans came and went fast, for the most part. We do still get small amounts but we already canned the majority. Our peas also did quite well. I am not so sure I will mess with them again tho. even tho I have frozen up several batchs, they are just SOOO time consuming to shell.
Bumper crops of swiss chard.. has lots of vitamin packed greens in the freezer for winter.

February

Welcome back again...
February is here, and with it came the biggest snow storm of the year! We were blessed with 11" here on the farm. We spent the day digging out the chickens and sheep. Sheep didnt mind the snow so much, but those poor chickens hopped into the snow and POOF! they were gone! LOL so shoveled so they could get out and play in the sun that followed the next day.
We are still waitin on lambs. Due in Mid march, we are starting to prepare. Lamb pens are getting bleached AGAIN.. we bleach after each lambing season and before each. getting all the heat lamps and boxs in place and cleaning the clippers so that I can cruch the ewes before lambing. a couple are getting pretty round. Looks like multiples for sure from my Winnie. I am HOPING to attempt to milk this year as well. WISH ME LUCK ON THAT ONE.. grin..
We have already been in contact with the elevator for chicks, and feed. April is the month there.
Also called the farmer with the pigs. we are on the list for earlier piglets this year. We may have to pen them in the barn for a few weeks and have a heat lamp, but it will be easier to do that than have them so late in the year again. Depending on the amount of meat required we are debating on doing 3-4 hogs this year. it will be a little more costly at the beginning, but will even out more per pound in the end.
This is of course just a game plan..
I have finally learned how to knit socks! yep.. I am actually wearing a pair. I have posted a photo of my HAND spun socks. That is I spun the yarn and knitted them. They turned out beautiful and so very warm. This is something one can do with wool! We have started a spinning/knitting group. If you are interested in joining us please contact me. There is NO charge. we just get together and help each other and have fun. It takes place on Sundays. Next one will be in March, so you have pleanty of time. We would LOVE to have you.
Happy Shoveling to you all..
T

The birth of spring

January is quickly leaving and feb. is knocking on the doors. With that comes preparation for spring and summer and even fall here at Woodspryte Farm.
In October of 09, we coated all our sheep. This is to keep the VM (vegatable matter) out of the fleeces. This small and simple step will make hours worth of difference in cleaning and preparing for processing for me. The over all end product also tends to be much nicer for the clients that purchase it.

Our ewes are bred, and lambs are due to hit the ground in mid March. Shots have been given to the sheep as well as their garlic/cayenne mix for worms.

We had only one injury, it was to our Ram, Lem. It would appear that he was bitten, and our best guestimation would be a coyote. The llama and alpaca kept there from being any further injuries or losses of stock. however now everyone in the pasture is on alert all the time and the sheep are flighty. The wound is healing nicely.

It is also time to start looking into our summer projects. What are we going to raise this year.. what changes will we make

#1
First of all its not time to contact the farmers for piglets. If you plan to raise pigs this summer, you should be considering contacting him VERY SOON. alot of the early piglets are sold to 4H kids. you want to get in on the best. Also if you want to be able to process before winter, you want to get early pigs. you will have to keep them under a heat lamp and out of drafts for some time, but TRUST me.. it will be much easier for you in the long run.

#2
Chicks
You should also be making final determination on your meat chicks. How many will you get. will you pasture raise or cage raise. Do you know of a local processor that will be able to process your order, wether it be 5 birds of 500. Find them now. talk to them.. how do they process.. what is their costs.
~what kind of chicks will you get? you should be contacting the local co-op elevators or ordering online soon. with the economy in the condidtion it is in, many people are resorting to raising their own. for this reason you need to get MOVING..
The early bird gets the worm.
I have found I prefer to raise them in slightly cooler weather vs. in the heat of the summer. I can put in a heat lamp and keep them warm, but a fan gets really gross, not to mention the draft can cause URI and pnumonia.
Do you have enough pasture for the amount of birds you want to do?
When you call the elevator for chick prices, find out how much it will cost for feed.
we have discovered its much easier to purchase ALL the feed ahead of time when getting the chicks. Its much easier, as well as time and cost effective.
You should approach raising your food for the following year like a business.
Is it cost effective..Is it healthy.. do I have the means (money, time, drive and space)
You will find in the long run, raising your own meat is NOT cheeper than buying from the store. However, what you get will be strong healthy animals, without hormones or drugs. you know how they have been raised and where, as well as how they were handled. Just because your going to eat it, does not make it elegiable to be wrongly or miss treated. Im not saying to cuddle your animals or give them lovy names.. but do keep in mind they are one of gods creations, just as we are. Respect should be given as well as mercy when needed.

#3
turkeys.. Much of the same rules applies here as it does to the chickens..
What kind of turkey? do you want a slower growing, more flavorful (gamy) turkey that is smaller and SLOOOOW growing, or do you want one of those turkeys that is all boobs and butt? We raised the heritage last year. it took 7 months to get them to butcher size. they ate alot in that time. But they are so tasty. we purchased 7 poults and had NO losses and I now have more turkey than I care to have in my freezer.
This year we will do I believe only 4 turkeys, and we are going to do the BB type. they are faster growing. BUT my main reason, is I want ground turkey. I will keep one for my freezer, one to my mom and dad for thanksgiving, and 2 to be ground into burger for the freezer. I am going to be ordering eggs and hatching.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TURKEY POULTS TO RAISE.. CONTACT ME ASAP I WILL HATCH THEM FOR YOU, YOU CAN RAISE THEM. I WILL BE TAKING ORDERS FOR TURKEY POULTS. I PLAN TO ORDER APX. 2 DOZEN EGGS, WITH AN EXPECTED HATCH RATE OF 50%. THIS MAY BE LOW BUT I WOULD RATHER ERROR HIGH. IF YOU HAVE A LARGER NUMBER YOU WANT OR A SPECIFIC TYPE LET ME KNOW.. YOUR RESPONSIBILITY WILL BE TO PURCHASE THE POULTS YOU ORDER.

Also remember... chickens and turkeys CANNOT be in the same pen together. be sure you have a place where they will not be living together.

if you have questions.. please contact me. I can help you with finding many items.

I hope this post finds you all weathering winter well.
when we have moved to our next step I will advise.
Happy planning..
Love and light
tiffany

Mushrooms Mushrooms Mushrooms!

Several weeks ago I decided I was tired of not having fresh mushrooms, and due to the immune enhancing properties I wanted to have them at my disposal. So I started yet ANOTHER venture.. Growing mushrooms!
We have Shiitake logs in the house, and outside. I have oysters in a bucket in my laundry room growing, and portabellas in my back hallway! The shiitake logs are slow. they fruit only a few at a time until the mycellium can spread thru the log. the older the log gets the better fruiting we will get each time. I also bought 300 spawn plugs and inoculated logs for out doors. they will sit and do their thing from 6-9 months before producing, but I should get several hundred per fruiting, and they can fruit ever few weeks. so I will have plenty (I HOPE) kinda like counting your chicks before they hatch, it never works well for me).
They oysters are recycling our old coffee grounds. This is a NEW project i am attempting without the use of purchased mycellium. so far it looks promising.
Now the portabella, I splurged and bought a kit. I found the best price available on the net and took the plunge. They started slow.. but then I moved them from the hallway to part time in the dining room. LITERALLY over night last nite they grew over an inch! its so exciting when you can literally SEE your project taking off right before your eyes. I took the biggest in the photo to my dad, as there was not enough to feed our family of 3 with it. the mushroom measured 6" across the top and weighed 8.1 ounces! How kewl is that a mushroom that weighed over half a pound!!
I have included a photo of our son holding the BIG mushroom just this am. If you would like more information on our mushrooms please email me!

PIG Project comes to an end

Yesterday was a bitter sweet day. After spending Monday morning loading the pigs, they slept in a nice warm trailer, full of fresh straw. We got up yesterday, as usual, to get our son off to school. I went out to feed the pigs, But much to my surprise, they were in NO distress, they were passed out all over in the straw, snoring and sleeping like babies. I actually got off 3 pictures before they woke.
Wig, walked up and wanted her head rubbed. I think they were trying to butter me up.
I decided not to feed them, as we were going straight to Ionia to the "packing company", and they usually sleep in till 10:30 ish anyway. So off we went. The trip went smoothly. As soon as we arrived, I went back to check on them. They did look a bit LOST but otherwise quite content. When it was time to unload, the gentleman was VERY patient with us. I had told him some time ago that even tho they were going to be meat, they were still a living breathing thing with thoughts and feelings, and I would not tolerate cruelness. I dont get the impression that he would have been even without the lecture. We expected the pigs to BOLT as soon as the door was opened, but they just stood there. Pig stuck his head out and went back in to lay in the warm straw. I opened the 2nd door, no change. I had to actually get up in side and push them out. They then quietly followed my husband to the back gate, then the other man into the holding pen. He called them by name and scratched their backs as they walked past. The probptly began ruting in the dirt and were not in anyway upset or frightened.
He guestimated they are about 200# we could have gone another month. These were VERY lean hogs. they were not skinny but lean. We will have little weight in fat.
Due to the calmness of the pigs and the man helping, we will also have no surge of natural hormones. This can cause your meat to taste different or be more tuff.
Imagine, adreanalin running full wide open just before hand! eewww.. so we took every precaution, not to mention.. they are still a living creature.
Now Im a pretty tuff person. I doesnt bother me to take the chickens or turkeys, but I have to admit, I have thought about it alot. Today is actually the kill day. Probably as I type actually. Pigs are very intelligent. The first one will not know what is going on, but the one that has to see it, will be scared for MOMENTS only, but still. If you cannot seperate yourself from these feelings, do NO do pigs. I was just as ready as any of us to be done with wading in the mud, and hauling feed and water. But I have to admit.. I will miss Pig and Wig.

Anyway, moving along.. after the pigs were in the holding area, we went to the front to speak with another very friendly and helpful lady. She had her job cut out for her. We had to tell her WHAT we wanted. And tho I had researched, I still was not sure what the best cuts for us would be.
We ended up with something like this:
all hams smoked
shoulders into boston butt
center cut ham steaks (from the center of the ham area, leaving large ham) 3/4" cut
Instead of pork chops, we went with pork cutlets, again 3/4" I HATE pork chops!
1/4" bacon from one side and 1/4" side pork from the other. (Bacon is smoked side pork is NOT)
2 racks of spare ribs
I took all the hocks, no one wanted them from the other hog, so they will be smoked for soup.
the jowls into bacon as well
scraps into sage sausage
and requested the lard from both hogs.

We are keeping one, which ever is the largest, for our family, and the other was sold to friends of the family for half and the other half is being seperated into half of a half for my folks and Mikes as well.
Our friends requested the hearts and tounges. this was not a problem for me. I like venison and beef heart but not crazy about pork heart, and the tounge, naaa I have seen them eat some nasty stuff. grin..
Thursday I am to call and they will give me hanging weight on the pigs.
as soon as I get this I will add to THIS blog as well as other information.

UPDATE: The pigs had a HANGING weight of 136# and 138#. Here is the Breakdown

Pig purchase $30.00/2=15$ each
DeWormer $17.00
Feed $80.00 X2= $160.00
-----------------------------------
$227.00
Kill fee 40.00X2 80.00
processing .44 lb x274# $120.56

It has definately been worth it.

October progress and Projects

Hi all... October has been a very busy month here on the farm.
First of all.. We finally called the butcher and the pigs go for their ride tuesday October 27th. Of course the weather has done anything but cooperate! We have had nearly 2" of rain in the past 3 days. The hill to get to the pigs is IMPOSSIBLE to walk let alone to try to drive a truck and trailer down it! With some brain storming from my dad, we have come up with a way to WALK them to the trailer. LETS hope it works. Tomorrow am we will be attempting this feat.

MUSHROOMS MUSHROOMS MUSHROOMS!!

Im not sure about everyone but im not sure how everyone cannot just LOVE mushrooms! I have started some Shiitake logs in the house, as well as a box of Portabellas.
We have had the first fruiting from the logs. it was very small but non the less tasty. The Portabellas have HUNDREDS of tiny pinheads and will soon be full blown portabellas for stuffing! YUMMM

Since I am into recycling.. I have found another MUSHROOM project!
So today I sent to Quality Dairy and got their days worth of coffee grounds and filters. fill a 5 gallon bucket apx. 1/2 full with grounds and filters. drill several small holes just about 2" above the coffee line.
Then.. get some Oyster mushrooms. You can get spawn if you like, but its not cheep. Instead, get the freshest oyster mushrooms you can find. tear into small peices and bury JUST below the surface of the coffee grounds. lightly cover the bucket.
In time, you should start to see the mycelium spreading. This is essentially the TREE. It looks like a vein work of white fuzz spreading thru the substrate.
keep the grounds moist, but NOT wet. soon the entire surface will be covered with this white fuzz. Next comes the shrooms. They are the fruit to the tree.
Oyster mushrooms produce alot of CO2 so be sure you have put those holes in your bucket. Remove the lid is growth is slow. Experiement with your garden to see what it needs the most.
In order to keep this going, you can get another bucket of grounds and remove some of the white fuzzy stuff and place into the bucket. It will n turn grow and spread.
You can basicly have non stop gourmet mushrooms all year around! What a money saver!
I purchased some from Horrocks for this purpose, and they are NOT cheep. $6.99 a lb! so.. you do the math!

AVOID THE FLU!
Well Im not sure we can actually AVOID the flu. I am of course talking of the H1N1 virus. I prefer to NOT call it the Swine flu, it is really quite inaccurate.
I have connections with a wonderful Shaman healer, who is also connected to a holistic healer.
Recomendations for avoiding the flu are of course some obvious and others NOT so obvious.

#1 wash hands.. yes BUT dont use that nasty antibacterial stuff. a good soap and hot water will take care of most of it. We need some bacteria and germs in our body to remain healthy, if we KILL everything with antibacterial.. well we damage part of our immune system.

#2 Avoid crowded spaces as much as you can. Of course we have to go to places on occasion, and many people work inside with constant battering of the virus, but dont go looking for it! And for GOD SAKE.. if you get the flu stay home! I was actually and well I guess still am INFURRIATED with a good friend of the family. I thought she had morse sense than this but... she had been cooped up since tuesday with her tennage daughter with the flu. Now keep in mind, she works at a Dr. Office. so I talked to her FRIDAY.. she was horriably ILL with the flu. Saturday afternoon, we get a call, her vehicle died at TARGET! WHAT! TARGET dont you have the flu. YA.. but she was sick of being stuck in the house! Well.. sorry all you Target fans! hope you were not on saginaw location saturday morning! Of course I refuse to shop Target, due to the military support that they dont lend! But thats neither here nor there.

#3 Air out your home DAILY.. Now I know the cost of heat is high, but you only need about a 10 min air out. open the doors and windows. exchange the stale stagnent air with fresh air.

#4 Get outside.. even if you ARE sick.. and have a fever, wrap up in some warm clothing and get OUT! You will feel much better for it.

now the not so obvious!
Maintain INTERNAL health.
Stay away from pop and artifical drinks, and replace with lots of water, gatoraid or sport aid drinks. Be sure you are HYDRATED so if the flue does hit you, you are not already fighting an uphill battle.

Eat pleanty of Fresh fruits and veggies, maintain any vitamins you may already be taking.

Add benifical bacteria and immune boosting foods to your diet.

Good items to have and start injesting NOW are

~Keifir.. fresh or from a health store..
~Kombucha tea.. This is NOT cheap to purchase at the health store, but it
contains many benifical nutrients and lends its self to the immune system
~ and what do you know.. medicinal Mushrooms!
There are several different varieties of mushrooms and tinctures that have
been proven to boost the immune system. If you are interested in a list
email me and I will tell you where to go to get them and what they are.
I can say one of my favorite sites for INFORMATION is www.fungi.com

MUSHROOM SOUP RECIPE Natural immune booster

make some broth or use store bought if you like. I made a fresh vaggie broth from carrots, onion, green pepper, small cabbages and garlic.
Some of the mushrooms to use are Shiitake, portabella, Oyster, shaggy mane, turkey tail. of course not limited to this.
You can easily get portabella, shiitake and oysters from many stores, Horrocks again had all 3 today.
I went hunting for the shaggy mane, and found several, (this is shaggy mane season)
I also used buttons. Of course I had extra of all so I sliced them up and put into the dehydrator for soup later.
Add the mushrooms to the broth, add salt pepper and fresh garlic.
I put some of the veggies back into the broth, but did strain MOST out.
Becuase no one in my house is sick YET.. i put some cream and starch as a thickner. VIOLA cream of mushroom soup! Make a BIG pot, and put some away for later. If you can eat some once a week.. this is a great immune booster!

IF YOU ARE KNOWN TO BE ALLERGIC TO MUSHROOMS PLEASE STEAR CLEAR..

Use the other methods. I hope this post finds you all happy and healthy!
As always.. if you have any questions or comments, please contact me I am more than happy to chat.

September/October Happenings

It has been a while since my last post, so I will bring everyonw up to speed.
Its currently October 5, 2009. Today was spend flushing the water heater so that we could fire up the outdoor burner and heat the water. Nothing like that hot water. I have been holding out washing the Merino fleece I have for the HOT water.

We attempted to get measurments on the hogs yesterday. As close as I can figure,the wiggley weighs 169# and piggly is 192#. I think that is actually a bit on the heavy side tho. We decided to call the butcher in 2 weeks for a first week of November delivery. HOWEVER.. weather will be a big determining factor.

My Husband has now been officially laid off for about 6 weeks. Thank god we had already purchased all the hog feed ahead of time. Coming up with the cash to butcher will be done over the next several weeks.

The hoop house had to have new plastic. The old tore just before the frost. EEKK
so hurried and got that repaired. The tomatos are slowing, but still getting ripe. have several plants with blossoms still on them.

I have transplanted many of the herbs into pots for the winter. they are still outside but in the hoop house slowly warming to house temp. I have to get them in soon as we have had the fire going in the house and it will be hard for them.

My parents offered their very fertile soil for my garlic for this year. Together with my folks we put in little over 800 cloves. I will add a photo of the garlic garden.

All the sheep that I purchased thru the summer are finally home. The ram is fattening up and preparing for his duty. the ladies are currently being flushed, (fed grain to increase egg production and multiple births)
One of the ewes came to us with a heavy worm overload. she is in quarantine from all others, and has currently had a good dose of garlic/cayenne. tomorrow she gets another dose. I am planning to breed the others in about 2 weeks. The last ewe, the one I MOST anticipated, WAY too small to breed, much to my dissapointment! She is only 24 days younger than MAY, the lamb we kept this spring, who is pushing 125#, the new ewe, is about 30#. its going to take some time with her.

We are in the process of building a COLD FRAME for the winter. this will grow lettuce for salads thru the winter for us.

Tomato canning is complete.. PHEW..

My newest and MOST exciting purchase (other than the garlic) has been shiitake logs.
I received them October 1st. One is currently sprouting "PIN HEADS" or baby muchrooms, the other is still on hold for another week, I will push that one then and will rotate the two logs. I also have a portabella mushroom kit coming. we will of course be eating mushrooms, BUT I will also dry the left overs for cooking with.

I think this about catches us up for the time. Photos will tell some of the story. If you are interested in the Muchrooms, let me know and I can send information.