When Spring is here...

It seems like words that come out of our mouths so often.  When spring comes we will do this.  When spring comes we will do that.  The list is going to be never ending.  The picture above was from last spring and boy to look at it makes you long for the day.  Today we look at the same landscape and see a few feet of snow.  Can be depressing to say the least.  We have to keep looking back at our pictures from last year to keep our hopes of a green lawn in our future.  We know it will come but right now it seems like it has been forever ago.  Winter is pretty, don't get me wrong, but at this point I say it has been long enough and bring on the spring.  We are ready.  We have a roof to fix.  A house to side.  Some paddocks to build.  Hopefully a barn to build.  And so much more.  All of course if we can afford it.  We will have to do it slow and Russell has to be able to do the work himself.  So some of the list may not even be possible but it all needs to be done. So while we wait lets all just think spring, think spring, think spring.

Growing Excitment

Our Fodder System is working beyond our expectations.  This is day three and we are so amazed on the progress.  

It is just so exciting to be able to grow your own organic food for your animals.  To increase the nutritional value and to save money while doing it is amazing.  I have now found a local source of Barley seeds that will be a great savings.  Our local  http://www.johnnyseeds.com/t-stores.aspx they have a great supply of Barley seed on hand and I pick up my first 50 lb bag of it tomorrow.  So far the rye and sunflower seeds have been doing great.  The wheat seeds have not sprouted yet.  So I will do more research on them.  They might just take longer to sprout.
We are confident that on day six or seven we will be giving our livestock their first hearty helping of fresh fodder.  We just cant wait for the benefits.  We have modified the shelving because the one we started out with was going to be too small with the amount we need to grow.  But we had another larger shelf in a loft area that I borrowed for this trial period.  If all works well we will purchase the Fodder System its own shelf.  For this trial I do not want to spend any extra money until I know it is proven to work.  We are confident at this time it will and the process is so easy everyone who raises animals should be doing it.

Fodder Food

We are always trying to find  more nutritious ways to feed our animals.  Feeding animals better food for them and trying to make it cost effective would be an added benefit.  We have had the thoughts of a fodder system in our heads for quite some time.  The whole process of hydroponics is amazing.  When you look into it the cost can be expensive.  I am sure in the long run it does pay for itself.  But of course it makes the wheels in our heads turn.  Just like everything else in life there has to be more than one way.  An expensive way and a way of doing it yourself.  So with some research and now some experimenting we are off and running.
Yesterday, I will say we started our Fodder System.  No we didn't spend money buying all the expensive equipment from the farm stores or online.  We used what we have around the house.  Just like most other farming projects I am sure you have everything you need right here at home.  The only thing we did have to buy was some seed. 

After doing research I have found that barley seed is the best fodder to feed.  To get barley seed you have to order it online.  I have not been able to find a source for it around my home, so far.  I will not give up.  So while I wait for the barley to come in.  I will get the whole process going with what I was able to find at the local farm store.  Rye seed is something that is readily available.  Also wheat is something you should be able to find if you look hard enough.  I have also incorporated some Black Oil Sunflower seeds.  I think this should make a great, healthy mix of fodder.  I will be feeding this to my pigs, goats, chickens and bunnies.  From my research the fodder can be 90% of their diet.  The goats will still need some hay, they say they will not need as much.  The pigs I will still feed hay as well and maybe some dairy.  The chickens will get some added calcium and grit.  I have to do some more research on the bunnies on what other supplements they will need.  I will find out before they are switched to a fodder diet.
So yesterday I took a pan and soaked an equal amount of rye and wheat seeds.  I think I put in about 2 cups each.  Then I added 1 cup of the black oil sunflower seeds.  I added 2 tsp of bleach to the water. They say the bleach will kill off any bacteria in the seeds.  I have also read you could use peroxide if you did not want to use the bleach.  This will keep mold down also.  I let this sit overnight.  Eight hours of soaking is long enough.  This should be my starter mix of my fodder in 7 days I should be able to start feeding fodder to the animals.

I placed the seeds today in pans or Tupperware containers I had around the house.  

Before I put the seeds in the containers I drilled holes in one end so the water would drain.  I have the fodder system on a wire shelf I had in my kitchen.  Yes I did have some pots and pans on it but I found other places for them.  So I have each pan set up at a slant with the holes I drilled at the bottom part so it will drain well and water will not sit in the containers when I water a few times a day.  If you do it this way you only have to water from the top of the shelf and the water will drip all the way down to the bottom trays.  The bottom tray is an empty tray to collect the leftover water.  This will need to be emptied often.
After I filled my first trays now I have to get a new batch of seeds ready to soak for tomorrows fodder tray.  Everyday you will need to fill a new tray with seeds to keep your fodder system working for your farm.  You will have to figure out how much fodder you will need for your animals.  They say 1 pound of fodder for every 100 pound of animals.  Seems pretty easy to calculate.  My pigs are about 100lbs a piece and I have 3 of them so I will feed them 3 lbs of fodder.  My goats are 60 lbs each and again we have 3 of them.  Because we are trying to breed them I might just feed them the full pound each but they could have less.  At first I will ease them into the fodder.  I will start with small amounts and gradually get them up to the full fodder feeding amount.
The fodder takes 6-7 days to get to the point from seed to feeding stage.  From what I have read day 6 has the most nutritional value for the animals.  After day 7 the nutritional value goes down.  I find this all so interesting and if it works out I just cant see why everyone doesn't do it.  I will keep a day by day journal of how it is going and post.
We look forward to the benefits of a fodder system for our livestock.  We look forward to the savings it will bring our family.  Just one more FYI by switching to a fodder feed you increase your protein value from 15% to at least 30% for your animals.  Just think what that will do for there growing.  To feed your animals an organic food that gives them 30% protein WOW.  I want to eat it.  I would stop being anemic I bet.

Building a smoke house out of recycled materials

On the farm we started raising pigs as soon as we could make a place to keep them.  We have had a lot of fun with them.  They really are easy animals to raise.  We have been raising them for the purpose of feeding our family.  For myself that is not always an easy thing.  I have said in other blogs that I don't eat meat.  I have not eaten meat in over thirteen years.  I don't think I ever intend on eating meat again.  I really don't miss it.  The animals we raise on our farm I spend a lot of time with.  So the thought of seeing them every day  and knowing that they will end up in our freezer gives me mixed feelings.  I have to look at the facts.  I treat them humanly.  Every day of their life I give them the best quality they can have.  I treat them like I think they should be treated.  We make sure they have plenty of food, water, space, shelter and whatever care an animal should need to live a happy life.  It's funny the children don't seem to be bothered by the fact of raising the animals knowing that in the end the animals will be slaughtered and the family will end up eating them.  They have no problem naming them.
We did raise two pigs that we slaughtered over the fall.  With slaughtering pigs there is quite the process to it.  I will have to say most everything we have done to this point on this farm we learned from a book or from and online video.  YouTube has been our best friend.  When it came to learning how to process a pig that was the first place we went.  There are hundreds of how to videos.  We found one we liked and watched it over and over again.  Felt confident we new what we were doing.  When I say we I mean Russell.  Then we did it.  With the first pig it went well.  It took a little time.  But went OK.  We were able to slaughter and process our own pig.  Now with doing this you have to make sure your meat is cured properly.  We brind it for 24 hours and then smoked the parts that needed to be smoked.  We smoked the hams and bacon for 24 hours.  Well it turned out great.  They say they have never tastes pork so wonderful.  Its March now and we are all out of fresh pork but two pigs did last a long time.
We built our smoker from all recycled materials.  Everything we picked up from the local dump.  Basically the frame of it is made out of pallets.  Then the rest is made out of other salvage wood we found at the dump week after week.  Then we picked up an old wood stove from the auction for $25.  But I am sure you could get one from the dump if you kept a good eye out.  The pipes we picked up from a salvage yard for only $5.  So the total cost of our smoker was only $30.

The best smoke house!

Breeding time, so much to learn

Owning a farm has been a daily lesson.  Before we purchased our first animal we purchased about five books about animals and farming/homesteading.  It is something you just don't open the door of a home and say, OK I want a farm and lets do it.  It takes some planning.   Some things you find out along the way.
We have found out farmers are very friendly people very willing to help out other farmers.  They are willing to give advise to get you started.  To talk to an ole timer is interesting to say the least.
Their whole mentality is why we wanted to take this journey on in the first place.  A farmer has an inner peace, I think like no other profession.  Farming is a job that is never ending, 24/7 days a week.  You are always on call.  But the pride you have from your bounty is unremarkable.  The way you feel about your family, homestead and all your sweat equity gives you a better quality of life.  I truly believe this.
In our plan we have vegetables, compost, rotation, animals, breeding, butchering, meat, eggs, milk and whatever other uses we can think of our land can provide us.  Now we would love to add more to this like grains in the future but we have some work to do on our land to provide the quality soil for this to happen.  This will take equipment we don't have at this time.  Our limited funds hold us back from doing things fast.  We must take baby steps on every process.  But we are doing it.  This home and farm need a lot of work.  We did know this when we bought it.  But we took on the task because my husband is handy and we have a strong son that can help him.  They work well together.  It takes a family to make a farm work.  Most of all takes time nothing happens overnight.
First we started with some chicks.  But first we had to build a chicken coop.  That cost money.  We try to use recycled materials as much as possible.  With chicks soon came eggs.  With eggs and chick also came compost for the garden.  This helps with our organic homestead.
Next we purchased pigs.  I have written some post on our pigs.   We have butchered a few of our pigs and stuffed our freezer with the finest pork we have ever tasted.  Now we are in the process of breeding two sows for a couple of litters of piglets.  Our plans are to sell some and to keep some for our meat for this years freezer.  We look forward to the bounty of raising pigs.
Now our goats.  We have blogged about our goats.  We just love our goats.  Recently we added a new goat to our herd.  We call him Master Billy Goat.  He is our Buck and will do our breeding for our two girls.

We have been so lucky with our animals.  He is just the kindest buck.  Most people say bucks can be mean or ornery but not him.  We are lucky, I think he has done his job so if all goes well we will have two baby goats coming in July.
With babies coming that means we will have two goats in milk.  That just thrills us.  We have been waiting for goats in milk for a while.  It will be in the plan to get at least one more goat.  But we must take things slow.  So with goats milk we will be able to have of course milk but also we can make cheese and soap.  This will help the farm out a lot.
So by July we should be full swing with piglets, baby goats and maybe even baby chicks all over again.  Our garden should be full swing by then also.  We are hoping it will produce even better this year.  Day by day the hard work that takes 24/7, 365 days a year does pay off.  When you sit at your table and eat your own grown food and drink a fresh glass of milk I don't think you can get any better.

Pigs

Last fall we were so excited when we purchased our first piglets.  We purchased two male piglets that had been, what they call, cut.  That means they had been fixed.  The breeders of the piglets will do this when the piglets are just a few days or about a week old.  The breeders state this will make the temperament of the pig better during the process of raising them.  Plus it will let you keep them together with the little girls without the problem of breeding happening.

Our two boys we picked up from a local farmer and we put them in a crate in the back of my SUV to bring them home.  At this age they are small enough to do this, if it is a short ride.  They will go to the bathroom so you will want to make sure you have a bottom on the crate and shavings in the crate.  But for a short ride it works out fine.  

Our plan for these two pigs were to raise them for the meat.  The plan was a five or six month process.  When we brought them home they were placed in our garden area.  It was spring before planting time.  We had plans of the pigs tilling the area and doing some composting of the soil before we would plant our garden.  That plan worked out well.  

Just before we were ready to start our garden we set up some electric fencing in a wooded area with some grass section for them to make their new home.  Then we would rotational graze them every week or so when they would till up the land.  They would grow and thrive that way.  

The process of raising pigs was going so well we decided to purchase a couple of sows ( female pigs).  Our plan is to breed them when they are old enough and have piglets of our own.  Then we found the right Boar one day and brought him home.  This will be our daddy pig.  He was so gentle he came home on Russell's lap.

We named him Big Red.  He is the cutest and the nicest pig ever!  Now lets count we have five pigs on the farm.  Well the town of Skowhegan has a fair every year.  During this fair they have what is called a pig scramble.  I had never heard of that before.  But to let you in on it if you have never heard of it either, its when you put about 4 piglets in an area with about 10 children and if you catch a pig its yours.  Well my daughter had to go with her friend in hopes she would catch a pig.  

Well the results were, my daughter did not catch one but her friend did.  Her Best friend lives in town and they don't have a place for the pig to live.  So we became foster parents for her pig that they named Betty.  So now we have six pigs on the farm.  Six pigs with three of them being raised to be butcherd.  

Three will be raised for breeding purposes.  Here on our farm we are trying to raise all of our animals as organic and natural as possible.  We believe in rotational grazing all the animals and organic food whenever possible.  The owners of Betty happen to own the Grist Mill in the town of Skowhegan that process all the grain for Maine.  So for raising their pig they supply our farm with the natural grain for the pigs.  You cant get any better than that.  Our pigs eat better than we do.  They love it.  

Time has gone by and the growing and slaughtering process has happened for three of our pigs.  Please let me tell you the quality of meat that was raised here on the farm.  I would say like no other meat that my family has ever tasted.  I can not speak because I eat a vegan diet and did not try any of it but I cooked it all and I have never seen anything so juicy and you could just tell it was the best quality pork.  

Humanly raising animals make all the difference in the end result.  What you feed them and how you treat them and how you let them live gives you the best quality of meat.  

Today we have our Big Red, Lilly and Lola our two mommas that we hope will be due in the spring with piglets.

Going through the winter has not been easy raising pigs.  Not on them, they don't seem to mind.  It is cold on us to feed them and make sure they have fresh water.  Water freezes here so fast.  So making sure they have fresh water is the most important thing.  And if someone ever tells you that pigs don't eat hay well they are wrong.  Pigs love hay.  They love to eat it in the winter when the ground is frozen and it is hard for them to till the ground.  It helps keep them busy.  I hope you liked the information about our pigs and please ask questions and I will keep you posted on the status of the litters of piglets.

A lot has happened in a year!

Well it has been a whole year now and we have survived. We made it through the coldest part of the year, at least I think. So much has happened since my last blog. I will write to catch you up in a few blogs over the next couple of days.

But one thing is for sure this has been the best move for my family. The children are doing great in school. They both are making great friends and doing great academicly. They have stated they are very happy living in Skowhegan Maine and that they are happy we made the move. 

Round House Farm continues to grow and we work on improvements as we can afford them. All the animals seem to be doing fine through the cold winter, so far. We do our best to keep them as Warm and dry as possible with plenty of fresh water. That's the biggest chore, water freezes so fast around here. 

Well it's late so I will write in the morning!

This is our newest goat master Billy Goat, we hope he will bring us some summer babies. 

Silly Chickens

Today we found a nest in some brush in the woods near the chicken coop. Well when we looked closer, to our surprise, there was 17 eggs in it. Those silly chicken made their own nesting box outside the coop.
We took all the eggs out. Then cleared all the brush away. We hope this will make the chickens use the coop's nesting box.
I will see if there is an increase in eggs in the coop then I will know if it worked. If not I will search the woods for another nest, ugg.

Round House Farm, it all begins :)

It is funny how time flies.  When I decided to start this blog I was so excited to write everyday.  My mind would not stop thinking about what I wanted to write about next.  Well I still think that way but with one thing or another it just does not seem to get posted. 
A lot has happened since my last post.  So I will, hopefully, get you all caught up to date soon.  But for now let me tell you about our farm.
We moved here with some intentions on getting some animals but well might I say we have kinda gone hog wild.  First we all as a family thought long and hard on a name for our new home and farm.  We came to agree it was fitting to name our farm- Round House Farm.

The reason for the name is part of our home is a round house.  It just seemed to fit.  We all love the name.  First we were really wanting to start with chickens as our first animals.  So we started with a lot of research on the internet and by reading books.  When we thought we had enough knowledge we made the purchase of our first six chicks.

Within the first few days we soon realized six would not be enough so we went right out and bought six more.  We soon fell head over heels  in love with our new flock of babies.  Chickens are one of the greatest part of our home, we just love having them around.  They can make you smile and laugh they just bring you joy in so many ways. 
My husband worked hard and made a great chicken coop for our new chickens and they seem to love their home.  Our chicken flock now is about 30 chickens, some babies and some full grown layer hens.  Fresh eggs for our family is the only way.  The daily droppings they give us provides us with the best fertilizer for our garden.  It all just works out perfect.

My husband and son worked hard on our garden.  We decided to place the main garden in our front yard it is were we have sun for most of the day.  We want our farm to have an old time look and we want to use our resources wisely so we decided to make the fence around the garden with the timber we cut from our land. 

The garden has come along way and we watch it grow everyday. 

Our main goal for our new farm is to have it provide for our family.  We are well on our way.  It takes a lot of work.  My husband works every minute on one thing or another, we have a list that is never ending.  But I am sure it will pay off for our family three fold.