Farm-sitting, Day 5

Farming with live animals is a 7 day a week legal form of slavery.  -- George Segal

The last day of farm-sitting....

   

The bell at Beech Hill Farm by Vicki

We found out how to herd turkeys the right way.

After one evening of picking up 30 to 40 turkeys by hand and putting them in the coop, we discovered the secret. 

It's called a stick.  So, all you folks who are planning to farm-sit with turkeys, write this down.  You start early evening, make "cheep-cheep" noises and walk around with the stick poking into the bushes and then holding it low to the ground doing a slightly majestic sweeping motion, and all of the junior Jurassic Parkees will run into the coop.

Barry herding with stick

Icons of the farm...

Hens de-cooping

Garden

Not your mama's "Farmies."

Yo Mary Lou, these babies never made it out of the trunk.

Farm sayings/observations...

    *  To laugh is human, to moo is bovine.  -- author unknown

    *  Something about a just-born egg that commands you to do something with it.  - Vicki Lathom

Impressions....

Farming is a mix of science, art and sweat.  It smells like a mix of vinegar and wood chips.
A farm table is as likely to have a Gun and Garden magazine as a book on how to make Kombucha. 
Farming gives you a sense of awe to see how food is made and how dependent the animals are on humans.  . 
A farmhouse is arranged so that things are functional and not for "looks

Now, back through the portal....

Now we need to hire some humming birds for our new Annapolis feeder.

That's all folks.  Until the next adventure.

Farm-sitting Day 4

Today, it's time to showcase the artistic side of farming.

Images by Barry

Ta-dah.... 

Beech Tree Farm at 7 am

Cows in fog

Humming birds 

Bee on sunflower

Vicki's attempt

Das abandoned gas station

Muck-boots 

Yo Vicki:  how about getting some muck-boots so your pretty sandals don't get farmy?  just sayin'...Mary Lou Baker.

Yo Mary Lou:  Here are my "Farmies" by Merrell from Nordstrom's. 

The farm that keeps on keeping on...

Compose a caption contest...

Enterprise rental car, Lumberport, W. Va.

(I know, corny)

Well, that's all folks.  I'm starting another post.  (Oh no)

Farm-sitting, Day 3

How now, black cow?

We got a call Sunday night that a cow was out on the road and can we come get it.  Sure, no problem, we shrugged.

"What are we going to do if we find it?" I say. 

"Chase it back I
onto the farm," Barry says, as he roars off in the BMW.

"Don't damage the Beemer," I say.

Update today: This is the runaway caught on video.  The end of the story is that he's still an outlier.

And, when there's an outlier, there's a Deep State.

And a Deeper State.

Chicken factoids:

1.  Why some eggs are white and some are brown.

White-feathered chickens with white ear lobes lay white eggs and red-feathered ones with red ear lobes lay brown eggs. (And sorry, you Whole Food-ers, both brown and white are equal nutritionally.)

These hens lay brown eggs.  I haven't gotten a photo of a white-ear-lobe chicken.

2.  Meat chickens eat a lot and don't move around much.  

They grow so fast that their feathers can't keep up.  (see photo below).  They eat high protein feed, poop a lot and don't like bananas.  If you want to grow such critters in your back yard, know that there are things called tractors, which are different from static coops.  Tractors can be moved so the chicken poop rests in different places. Write that down.

3.  "Meaties" are always in a bunch.  Like Tribbles, their purpose in life is to eat.

Also ran

Vicki actually did some work.  Finally, the masters degree paid off.

Filling water container for chickens.

Gathering warm eggs

Most of the time, I looked like a journalist photographing and taking notes while Barry did the work. 
             Although........

I did help put about 40 baby flying turkeys back in their coop one night.  As you can imagine, not exactly an expert-looking effort.  We tried to open our arms like giant birds and herd them, but that didn't fool them.  Mostly done turkey by turkey.  There has to be a secret.  Update: secret is long stick moved horizontally along ground to herd.

Beech Hill Farm even has a bucolic pond.  

It's swimmable, but Barry would not demonstrate his cannonball dive. 

"Welcome to Our little Paradise"

It has catfish (to be fed, of course)

"Jaws" looking for food.

Reader response to my plea for egg recipes:  San Diego friend Erika made this recommendation.  Shakshouka, the "apex of eggs-for-a-meal" recipe.  It's eggs baked in a tomato-red pepper sauce and spiced with cumin and paprika.  It's either that or chocolate chip cookies.

That's all folks.  We never made it to the movie.  We're too tired. 

Oh, and if you find yourself depressed because of a lack of purpose in your life and the antidepressant isn't working, buy a farm.  --  Vicki

Farm-sitting, Day 2

It's raining eggs at Beech Hill Farm....

This morning's output. I need recipes to make things out of eggs that don't taste like eggs. 

Three things that hit you first about farms:

1.  There's a lot of dirt

2.  There's a lot of smell

3.  The ground's not level

Altogether sort of funky exotic.  On thinking, I can't imagine what it was like to be a pioneer farmer.  Dealing with all the dirt when you have to get water from streams and wells.  Plus, no air conditioning.

Hen House Coop.  The thing about feeding, watering and rounding up chickens to go back to the coops is you start feeling responsible for them.  Eggs, not so much, but the chickens are vulnerable to some unwelcome critters.  So you have to put them to bed and lock the door.  I have to say all the fluttering, chirping and "buck-buck-baah-ing" is endearing, even while we're stepping in mud and chick poop.

"Foo-foo" Shelties, Skipper and Kota, visit Beech Hill Farm.  It's great not to worry whether their barking bothers the neighbors.  The boys seem to know we don't care, because they're not barking any more.  (Skipper just threw up some grass.)

Riding John Deere.  Barry about to check his sister's farm up some rough terrain. 

Electrocuted.  Not the miniature horse.  Me.  I petted him and didn't realize the fence was "hot."  I got a neural transmission that I have only had with an EMG.

No, this is not a farm animal.  It is the latest movie about the Planet of the Apes which we are going to see tomorrow at the local 10 Cinema.  Possible review coming.

THAT'S ALL FOLKS.

Farm-sitting in West Virginia

Greetings from Lumberport, W. Va.  Pop. 876, including chickens.

Lots of Chickens...

"Meat Chickens"  - they live to be eaten

J

Trainees for Jurrasic Park (baby turkeys, actually)

What the heck are we doing here? 

Barry's family has a working farm and they wanted to take a vacation, so we volunteered to farm-sit.  And here we are.  In addition to millions of chickens, this farm has cows (they babysit themselves unless they break out and wander to the road), a rooster (complex personality), catfish in a pond, cats (hiding so far) and humming birds. Our caretaker instructions arrived by email last week.  They are at the end of this blog because.....well, you'll see why.

Farm Art.  Otherwise known as home-grown food, including the morning's catch of eggs.  There will be a dozen by nightfall, we're eating eggs as fast as we can.  I used to love them.

Hen at work.

Barry and sister, Judy, with more eggs.  Judy has her own farm across the way.

Man Cave, West Virginia style.  A small "conference center" in back of the house for man of house.  Has 1800 square feet with tables, couches, grills, giant flat screen TV.

Das Kitchen.

Well, that's all folks.  The following is our caretaker instruction list in case you are ever asked to farm-sit.

                                        

Instructions for Taking Care of Beech Hill Farm

Boy, that’s a big responsibility – taking care of the farm!  LOL  The main idea is that animals get hungry and thirsty, so taking care of that will take care of most of the tasks.

Hummingbirds

You’ll probably have to feed them every day. We’re getting around 10 a day. I guess the “word is out” we have a good feeding station!

mixture: 1 cup sugar and 4 cups water + one drop of red food coloring.

I divide that between the two feeders and then mix a new batch in the peanut butter container and put in fridge in laundry room (second fridge).

Enjoy them and their antics. That’s an order but shouldn’t be too hard to achieve!

Laying Chickens

Their food is in the trash cans in the chicken house. I do about a scoop or so of each crumble and scratch grains ONCE A DAY and usually at night. There’s a chicken who is “broody” and thinks the eggs she is laying on are fertile. Just reach up under her and get the eggs. You could also just take her out and then get the eggs. She forgets to eat and drink, so taking her out is actually helping her. You should get about a dozen eggs per day.

Their water: I’ve been using the big white jugs in the laundry room and usually do this at night. I use one of the clothes in the chicken house hanging by the fan in there. I dump the water outside and then wipe them out, rinse, and fill. If you want to put a few drops of oil (oregano and thyme), you can. It’s not a deal breaker, though.

If you want to let them out at around noon, that is fine. Then, make sure you go out and SHUT THE DOOR AT NIGHT. The raccoons and other varmints are brutal.

Egg care: I use a damp paper towel and wipe off any manure. Then, I put them in a carton in the second fridge. Please take all of the eggs since we’ll get more!  J

 Cats at Barn

The feed is in the wooden feed box right inside the hay mow door (reddish two gates fastened with a chain and orange tape marking). You can put two “drink” cups of feed in the pans on the round bales ONCE A DAY. The cups are in the bags.

Cats at the House and Grain House

The three “house” cats (gray Fluffy, black with white “trim” Flash, and dark tabby with large white bib Teensy) can eat on the porch of the cellar house (look for orange tape on railing). I’ll fix them up to stay in one of the rooms off the porch. They go in there a lot so they will be comfortable. We still can’t get rid of the solid black cat.

Bella, the petite white cat, eats at the grain house. You’ll see an orange piece of tape where you can feed her.

Catfish

The catfish can be fed every other day in the late afternoon to early evening. The feed is in the bench on the left side. I haven’t gotten the lid fixed yet, so you have to move the boards to get to the container. Feed them about ¾ of the coffee container. Throw it out as close together as you can since they like to skim the water with their mouths and eat that way.

House Stuff

If the power goes off, the generator should kick on automatically after about 30 – 60 seconds. When the power comes back on, it should go off automatically. Hopefully, we won’t have any more storms.  

Please help yourself to what’s in the garden, pantry, fridges, and freezers.

WEDNESDAY – Janie Hardesty will come to clean.

SOMETIME – Shane Snider may start weed eating on the bank by the road.

Mail and Newspaper

Please put on the dining room table. We’ll sort it out later.

Turkeys

Nathaniel will be coming to help with them. They are beginning to fly more and also enjoy roosting on the tomato structures.  L I think Parker’s going to have a new fencing system by the time you come. We’ll have their feed source marked, and you can see more on Friday.

Meat Chickens

Nathaniel will be coming to help with them. The chicken tractors have to MOVE EVERY MORNING OR EVENING, too, since they are getting bigger and producing more “fertilizer.” He can tell you if you should move them twice a day now or not. Their feed source will be marked, and he can tell you more details.

Cows, Calves, and Heifers

Hopefully, everything will stay where it should be. Phil is having someone check on things, but I don’t know when Colby is coming.

Mom’s Chickens, Barn Cats, and Lucy

She’ll send you a listing of her chores. She has chickens in the main barn and in the little building by the house. Lucy is pretty good about staying in, but you have to keep all gates shut.