Dog Tired

It has been one busy week - my only excuse for not posting.

The weather has been incredibly spring-like. Yesterday was practically Junish around here - in the high 70's. I've been spreading mulch, prepping beds, transplanting trees and overseeding lawn and pasture areas. I even managed to pop some cute little pansies in the ground.

The animals know it's spring. The fish pond has been cleaned and I found lots of little fish eggs, so maybe I'll have new baby comets this year. The eggs that we put in the incubator should be hatching (keep your fingers crossed) Wednesday. All the kids in Monkey's class are so excited I'm worried they are going to pass out or wet themselves. Seriously. New chicks, ducklings, goslings and turkey poults arrive in two weeks.

We've ordered all the materials to build fences around the garden and about a quarter acre for the poultry.

This past weekend I attended the Organic Growers School. I picked up a lot of good ideas. I attended the dairy goat class taught by Chris Owen of Spinning Spider Creamery (lovely, delicious fresh chevre and hard goat cheeses!). I thought/hoped it would discourage me from wanting dairy goats (what with the milking, breeding, lots of work...), but it didn't and now I want some so bad I can taste chevre rolled in cracked black pepper. Her farm is not far from us and she was very encouraging, so I may give her a call and see if I can come up and check out the herd and breeds and the more serious day to day work. Her suggestion was that I get two dry yearlings or a pregnant doe. We have enough room for a couple of goats, I would love the milk and things I could do with it. I have to decide if I want the extra work and responsibility. My cowboy grandpa must be rolling in his grave thinking I want to be a chicken and goat farmer...

I took two classes on marketing - Being a Local Food Activist and Value-Added Production and Marketing. The local food class was fun and enlightening. It was amazing to see how many "organic" companies are owned by the giant conglomerates. I don't think I can buy anymore Horizon products. It was nice to network with other growers, students, and those interested in locally grown food. I sat next to a guy who works for a local produce distributor that deals mainly with farmers in the area and distributes to restaurants and groceries here in Western North Carolina. Everyone wants eggs - another reason to up my production. The value added production - sauces, jams, jellies - various processed foodstuffs was also intriguing, but it would mean the need for a lot of start up money and jumping through a lot of federal regulation hoops. Something I'm not quite ready for.

The last class I sat in on was Pastured Poultry. I was hoping to pick up a few hints and insights to make the "girls" even happier. However, the class focused on meat production and meat class birds like the Cornish Cross - a chicken monster mutant, if there ever was one. Those birds are ready to be slaughtered in 8 weeks. They feather out in one to two weeks. In contrast, my good old-fashioned multi-purpose layers take about 4 weeks to feather out and months to mature. The class did cement for me that I don't want to do meat production. And "pastured" basically means they get rolled around in a cage on a pasture. That's not for me.

Anyway, that's what I've been up to. I'll be doing some more planting today and enjoying this weather while it lasts. I just know it's going to snow again...