Nine, ten, a big fat hen

I wish Spring would hurry up and get here.


Just look at that reflection! I'm all muddy and bedraggled looking.


And now I've stooped to drinking from a pig water dish. Hurry up, Spring!

Weekend Linkity-Link: State Volleyball Edition

Yesterday was a long but fun day watching Olivia's 4th & 5th grade team at the state AAU volleyball tournament. They didn't fare too well, but it was a great experience for them. There are 8 Osage teams altogether in 4th thru 8th grade, and only 1 other of those teams qualified for state. So the girls were happy just to be there. (And Olivia takes every opportunity to remind her big sister that her team did not qualify for state, hee hee.) It's interesting playing the larger schools, where it seems the girls pick one or maybe two sports, and play those all year round. In our little school that's not the case. If you're an athlete, you generally play 4 sports, one for each season. I think it makes for some well-rounded kids, even though it does get tricky for a few weeks where one sport overlaps into another.

So...onto some interesting links from around the blogosphere this week!

Twinville had several neat "chicken hacks": a nest box modifcation, a chicken coop addition, and a chicken playground. Very creative!

Karen at Rurality had a non-traditional Easter visitor. So funny!

The Beginning Farmer's Wife is starting her own sweet potato slips from a store-bought potato. It's been fun to keep track of her progress!

And finally Suzanne, aka The Farmers Wife shared a stunning photograph called Red Stepstool. While you're there be sure to stay and browse a while. Her photographic record of forgotten and decaying farm structures is fascinating!


3 years ago:

g()dn3w$
I'll note that the insurance I talked about in this post has changed somewhat since I wrote this. It's gone up in price quite a bit.

2 years ago:

Hollywood Week Wrap Up

1 year ago:

What we're afraid of

Happy Birthday
Happy Birthday to my dear friends, Mindy and Lisa!

Another new bird sighting

I love it when we see new-to-us birdlife on the creek! I believe this is a male & female pair of Hooded Mergansers. Aren't they the cutest little things?


3 years ago:

Welcome, Rudy!

Good for what ails you

I mentioned in my last post that I'd been sick this week - a nasty sinus thing accompanied by cough and general tiredness. So I took the carcass from the chicken I roasted for Easter dinner and brewed up some broth. The perfect antidote for a case of the yucks.


3 years ago:

Noon scenes

Working the plan

2 years ago:

Disneyland

1 year ago:

Garden, March 28

And so it begins

cabbage seedlings

Ye olde blog has been short on words and long on pictures lately. Last week was a crazy busy week. This week is (thankfully) much quieter, but I've been sick and haven't felt like posting much.

But that's likely to be the pattern here for awhile. As spring cranks into gear here it's inevitable that there will be more photo opps - baby calves, baby pigs, baby chicks, baby seedlings - but less time to write about them. So go the seasons!

This morning we woke up to a new blanket of white snow over everything. It was as if Old Man Winter had turned to flip us the bird on his way out the door.


3 years ago:

Happy Easter

1 year ago:

I spent my evening...

At least somebody likes mud season

2 years ago:

Hollywood Boulevard

1 year ago:

Heartbreak is...

Naptime

Great blue heron

One of the fun things about this time of year is the bird life on Sugar Creek. It seems to be a favorite stop-over along migration routes. Last week I spied a Great Blue Heron out there, hanging out with our ducks. By the time I'd grabbed the camera, threw on some mud boots and ran out he'd already moved on upstream so these were the best shots I could get of him.




3 years ago:

Birds of a different feather

Free range pork
One of our most popular pages!

Seed starting

This weekend I got my seeds started - tomatoes, early cabbage, late cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, celery, peppers (bell, chile & jalapeno) and basil. Getting my hands in the dirt again is so good for the soul - even if that "dirt" is actually seed starting mix and comes in a bag.

I had only a couple of trays left to do when Rafe discovered me in the basement. He wanted to help. He wanted to do more than help. He wanted to do it all by himself. So I turned him loose.



He filled 2 whole trays with pots and carefully filled each one part way with seed starting mix. Then I helped him get the seeds out of the packages, and he gently placed 2 or 3 in each pot.

He claimed several of the tomato varieties that Karl & Tabitha sent us as his own.



He covered the seeds with a little more starting mix, and then sprayed each tray with water. I bottom watered each tray (with some fish emulsion mixed in), covered them with plastic wrap, and under the lights they went.

This morning he was down in the basement checking on the seeds before I was even out of bed!

When I told him his tomatoes are going to taste extra good this summer because he's growing them himself, my little entrepreneur informed me that he's going to sell his tomatoes.


3 years ago:

Inspiration

Anarchy

Things are a bit chaotic in the farmyard at the moment. As I mentioned in the last post, last week the butcher pigs' sleeping area became water logged and we turned them out into the cattle's winter lots.

Then when Madeline's pigs' shed burned down they joined the fray.

Then the feeder calves hatched an escape from their winter lot out into the main pasture.



They're not allowed out there until the ground thaws out and firms up, and the grass greens up. They ran from corner to corner, knowing that their freedom would be shortlived. Matt picked up a new fencer this weekend and that was the end of that.

Everyone's getting along really well, and the pigs are so, so happy. But it makes for a lot of work when it's time to load up hogs for market.

At least one of the cows is starting to bag up. Calving time is near!


4 years ago:

Babies!

3 years ago:

I struggle sometimes...

2 years ago:

What a trip!
This post starts the post-Hollywood wrap up

1 year ago:

It's been a rather exciting bird day

Joy

I love the look of pure, unadulterated joy on this frolicking pig's face. With all of the water running through the place, the pigs' sleeping area was full of water. So we turned them out and let them mingle in the winter cattle lots. They're having a ball.


3 years ago:

Sled of death

Farm art

Despite yesterday's tale of tragedy, today was a good day. First because of all you wonderful people that left such kind and encouraging comments. Second because of a couple of our customers, who were beyond understanding about an issue with their pork. Their compassionate responses left me feeling humbled and grateful. I sat in church tonight lifting prayers of thankfulness for all of you.

So...on to something fun!

I've been playing around with a cross-processing effect in Adobe Photoshop Elements 6. It makes for a cool vintage-y effect. I'm definitely going to be printing & framing a few of these for our own walls.









I especially like this last one.

So anyone reading this have experience selling photographs online? I'd like to give it a try but not sure if I should find a site that will print & ship the photographs for me, or have them printed locally & ship them myself. And if I print & ship myself, should I set up my own site using a Paypal shopping cart of some kind? Or use a listing service like Etsy? Advice, suggestions anybody?

If bad things happen in 3's...

then hopefully we're covered for a while.

First there was Madeline's drowned piglet.

Then, Sunday morning, Matt went out to do chores and found this:



The little shed that we'd moved Madeline's pigs into had burned to the ground during the night, most likely from a heat lamp that got knocked down or something. Fortunately all of her pigs got out okay and are just fine.

Then today while doing chores, Matt found a dead little calf. Apparently our cow Carmel had aborted a month early for some reason. Very strange. We've had her for 3 or 4 years now, and she's never had any calving troubles. Combined with the cow we lost in January, this of course really affects the number of calves we'll have to market 18 months from now.


3 years ago:

Digging out

1 year ago:

Signs of spring

At last

It's been a long, eggless winter.


3 years ago:

No post yesterday

Contemplative

This is one of our neighbor's horses, standing on their hill, contemplating the sunset.

I think we humans could take a lesson, be still, and contemplate the sunset on occasion.

Layover

The first pair of Canada geese to make a stop in our pasture this year. They're even more a harbinger of spring than the robin here at SCF.


3 years ago:

Garden fever

2 years ago:

Sugar Creek Farm goes Hollywood
Can't believe it's been 2 years since that adventure already!

Weekend chicken blogging

I wonder how long she stood there until she gave up and got her other foot muddy.


3 years ago:

Chick fever

2 years ago:

A river runs through it

1 year ago:

Garden, March

Mud puppies piggies

And muddy calves


Cute little muddy snouts!


Mud facial, anyone?


3 years ago:

Head to head

2 years ago:

Perspective

1 year ago:

Weird (and rather boring) things

Thaw

Normally I love our creek. It's serene, and calming, and attracts a wonderful variety of wildlife.

But I don't love it this time of year. All of the land around us drains right through the middle of our farm, water racing to get to the creek.

Here's the creek at a normal level:



And here's what it looked like today:



Here's another view:



Of course to a 6-year-old boy with a stick, it's heaven.



Here's Matt's attempt at using little snowpiles to divert the water around the cattle/hog shed, so that it's not running right through the pigs' sleeping area:



He ended up letting them out of their pen to bunk in the feeder calves' pen, hoping they could find a dry enough spot in there. We so need a real pig barn. But with the cost of feed right now, we might not even have pigs after this year anyway.


2 years ago:

Mid-March Snowstorm

1 year ago:

So close...

Ag Speedlinking: 03.13.08

Ag challenge: Adapt, bring in youth

"An Iowa farmer could raise rice in watery paddies, with ducks and fish. The ducks eat insects; the fish eat certain plants. So no feed or chemicals are needed, and there’s little energy output and good production. The farmer also could raise fruit trees around the rice paddies."

*****

Biofuels future is not based on corn

"Some grasses could provide five times the amount of fuel from an acre as corn."

*****

Duck lounge

The ducks have taken to lounging on top of the cornstalk bales.



The bales seem to make a good launching pad for flying down to the creek, too.



All of the critters seem to be doing a lot of lounging these days, as if they're just standing around defrosting, thawing out from the long winter.


3 years ago:

*sigh*

1 year ago:

R.I.P. Superstar

Ag Speedlinking: 03.12.08

There's a homegrown way to address climate change

"Asked to name climate-change bad guys, most would tag Shell and ExxonMobile before Sara Lee or General Mills."

*****

Deciphering poultry labels

From the USDA

*****

High gas, food prices may spark interest in locally grown products

"And for some people, [CSA's] may be one solution to the double-whammy of high gas and food prices."

*****

Locker day

On Sunday we took the last of the Spring '08 beef to the locker. This has been a weekly chore for the past 5 weeks. It's not my most favorite chore. It can be dangerous, and I always feel like a bit of a traitor.


Here's the group - 9 yearlings plus 1 finished heifer.


We walk them into a sort of roundpen and sort off the one we want.


Here's the heifer we're looking for.


Matt points the way to the chute.


She takes a look...


and heads that way. She's got to walk through the corncrib alley and then into the livestock trailer. Matt runs in after her, trying to keep her momentum going. "Be careful!" I remind him. "I don't want to be a widow!"


She kicks up her heels, wheels around and comes running right back out. Yikes, scary!

At this point I put down the camera so I could be of a little more help. We repeated this start into the alley, change my mind, run back out routine many, many, many times. So then we decided to bring in another calf. Having a buddy that wasn't afraid of the alley got that heifer going where we needed her to go and finally we were off.


3 years ago:

The List

Six

Today you are 6! Six has been less traumatic for me than five. I think because five meant I was soon to send you off into the world on a big yellow school bus. Now, a year later, you're already halfway through kindergarten.

School has been a bit of a challenge for you. Wait, let me rephrase that. Having you in school has been a bit of a challenge for your teacher. You love school, and get yourself up, prepped, and ready to go every morning. Your teacher tells us that academically you're right where you need to be or better. She says you're respectful and kind and popular. She also says you have a hard time sitting still or keeping your mouth shut.

Art, P.E. and recess seem to be your favorite "subjects". Interestingly enough, considering the family you were born into, not music. But I think that's less about a dislike for music and more about a dislike for music class. In fact one day you came home and announced, "Mom, I think my talent is singing. Definitely."



Around home right now your favorite things are...freeze tag with Dad and The Sisters, Legos, football (always football), all implements John Deere, "your" pigs, sledding, hanging out with your cousin Connor, and games - Memory, Go Fish, and Trouble.

We still aren't sure if you're left or right-handed. You write, draw and color with your right hand. You eat cereal and throw a football with your left hand. Very interesting.



You gave wrestling a try this year and loved the practices. We only let you do one tournament, and you didn't love that so much. But when I suggest you might like basketball instead, you get irritated with me and reply, "No, Mom, I'm a wrestler!" All right, fine then, but basketball would be so much easier on your mother. Watching you out there all alone on the mat is almost more than I can take.



You're learning to read, and it seems to come fairly easily for you - if we can get you to sit down and work on it. For a boy who loves to be read to, you sure aren't interested in learning to read for yourself.

You seem to love numbers. Perhaps you'll be the one of my children that takes after me in that respect. You're always asking me, "What's 9 + 9? What's 90 + 90?" And when I explain how 9 + 9 is 18, and how 90 + 90 is just like 9 + 9 except with a zero, you actually seem to get it! You love to build things. The other day I watched you work and work to construct a hollow-centered pyramid with which to entrap a toy dinosaur. And of course, as your mother, I dream big and wonder, "engineer?"



Happy Bithday, buddy.

Love,
yo mama


3 years ago:

More woodchips

Three

2 years ago:

Four

1 year ago:

Five

Small Farm Business: Enterprise Budgeting

The budget is where we start our "number crunching" for the year. There are multiple parts to our budget - a budget for each enterprise (beef, pork and chicken in our case) and an overall budget for the farm as a whole.

[Of course let me throw out the disclaimer that this is what works for us. This is by no means professional advice. I'm looking forward to hearing how some of you budget, so that we can continue to evolve our own process.]

Okay, so the enterprise budgets include only the income and expenses directly related to the enterprise.



As you can see from our broilers budget spreadsheet, it's pretty simple and straightforward. The expenses basically follow the life cycle of the birds. You've got the cost of purchasing the chicks, supplies for brooding and finishing, feed, and finally processing.

Similarly, the beef budget includes expense items such as vet work (castration), the rent we pay for our hay ground, hired labor to make cut & bale the hay and cornstalks, and tractor expense because the tractor is used 95% of the time for beef-related tasks.

In order to be conservative, I budget feed and expenses for the full batch of 600 chicks. But for estimating sales & income I assume a 10% death loss, so out of 600 chicks I figure on ending up with 540 birds at butchering time.

With chickens income is simple to figure:

(average weight of your dressed bird) x (price per lb.) x (number of birds)

Or perhaps you're charging a flat price per bird (though I'll warn you there are labeling issues with this that you have to be careful with.) Then of course it's just (price) x (# of birds).

When it comes to beef & pork things are more complicated - we have on-the-hoof, wholesale, and retail sales. In a nutshell we project how many head we're going to sell in each category, for what price, and add up to a total income. In reality this is more complicated than that sentence sounded! I'll save the details for another post - if I can even manage to explain how we work our crystal ball!

Note that these are cash expenses. So things like depreciation are not included here. Depreciation is a non-cash expense that comes into play later on in the Profit & Loss.

See the category "Contribution to Overhead"? This is the amount that this particular enterprise is going to contribute to the general expenses of the farm as a whole - insurance, taxes, advertising, etc. More on that in the next installment in this series.

Even though we budget a year at a time, you certainly don't have to. The main reason we do it this way is that we send out one newsletter early in the year with our prices for the year in it. Depending on how you do things on your farm, and what enterprises you have, it might make more sense for you to budget over a shorter or longer timespan.

The thing about budgeting is that it's most difficult the first year, when you have no historical data to go on. So sometimes you just have to put out your best guess. Make some notes to yourself right with your budget about what assumptions you made to arrive at that guess. You'll reap the benefits of it next year when you go to do your second budget. You'll be able to see which assumptions were right and which were wrong so that you can make corrections.

So, do you budget? I'm guessing that there are as many ways of budgeting as there are farms. How do you budget?

How many licks whorls does it take to get to the center of a hay bale?











This is the less-expensive grass hay that we feed the cows & bull. The feeder calves get the more-expensive alfalfa hay.


3 years ago:

Spring is in the air

Farm sale

The best things in life are free

2 years ago:

More chicken models

Yearlings

1 year ago:

Modern art

Sows in snow

The farm where I grew up

Installment #7

of "One of these things just doesn't belong here...". This one is pretty obvious, but it just cracks me up! Other installments are here.

So what's been going on around Sugar Creek Farm lately?

We're just about done with our spring "on-the-hoof" beef sales. Next week is our last beef butcher date until fall, and that entire last heifer is going to be butchered into cuts for this summer's farmers markets. Our freezers here at the farm are pretty full, so we'll just store this one at the locker until we need it.

Despite a couple of last-minute cancellations we were able to get those quarters sold. (Though there is still one small quarter. Call it now, or we're going to eat it ourselves! You still have time, it's hanging now and won't be cut until next week.)

Every Sunday afternoon we load one up and take it to the locker. They kill first thing Monday morning. Matt likes to take them in the day before so that they can have the night to relax again and not be stressed at butchering time. Overall we're very happy with how beef sales have gone this year.

We're just beginning our spring on-the-hoof pork sales. We have 15 head, with only 5 and a half spoken for at this point. We'll also have some of these butchered into cuts to sell at farmers market this summer, but haven't decided how many yet. So if we don't get more of these sold on-the-hoof we may finally sell our first pigs to Niman Ranch. Going to have to decide what we're doing in the next few days. (So again, speak up if you want some! March 17, March 24, or April butchering dates.)

I'm getting excited about starting chickens next month! Only about a dozen more and my first batch will be sold out already. That's a good feeling :) In fact we've probably had more early orders for everything this year than ever before. I got on my soapbox in our yearly newsletter a little bit - apparently it worked!

I finally got seeds ordered today. I feel so behind, but keep telling myself it will be okay. We don't sell produce, this is just for our family vegetable garden.

Otherwise the winter tediousness of daily chores continues. Old Man Winter layed another layer of ice over everything again Sunday, and staying upright as you walk across the yard is a chore in itself. The hydrant in the cattle shed froze up, so now a hose has to be run from the yard hydrant to the shed and then carefully drained again after each use. Twice a day. The sows and boar have to be hand watered, as do Madeline's fair pigs who have finally moved outside. Twice a day. Her pigs seem to be handling the transition to the great outdoors well, but I believe she's got another post in the works so I won't say anymore!

But really the winter has gone fast, too fast. I have a list of undone projects that I wanted to finish before we get busy outside. But at this season of my life, what with a busy family, a farm, my part-time work-at-home day job, and the bit of volunteering I manage to squeeze in, those project may just have to wait a good long time. And it will be okay.


3 years ago:

Waning poetic

Q&A Pigs: The Large Black

2 years ago:

Congratulations!

1 year ago:

Powered, the town version

Ag Speedlinking: 03.05.08

Big vs. small organic farmers

"People don’t seem to understand that (barring cooperatives like Organic Valley, which legitimately buy milk from lots of small farms) if the same brand of organic milk exists in grocery stores from Oregon to Mississippi, it probably wasn’t the kind of place where the farmer knows every cow by name."

*****

New organization working to quantify sustainable agriculture

"Just what exactly is sustainable agriculture and how do you measure it? A new coalition of growers, conservation organizations and companies throughout the ag supply chain are seeking to do just that through an index that will measure and track the impact of agriculture in terms of environmental sustainability."

*****

Southeast urban farmer rides bike, not tractor

"Instead of farming acres of land out in the country, Sonnenblume’s “farm” is distributed throughout Inner Southeast Portland. Homeowners allow him plant and care for a crop in a portion of their property, in exchange for produce during the season."

*****

How to Cook : Ham Steak

We will be butchering hogs soon! Choose either March 17 or March 24 butchering date. So many good things to fill the freezer - ham, bacon, sausage patties (I've been eating these every day for breakfast this week), pork roast for kahlua pork. Email themillers92 (at) osage (dot) net to reserve your half or whole hog!

Ham steak is a great thing to have in the freezer. All the taste of ham, less of the cooking time! You do need to cook ham steak to 160 degrees, just like a ham. But whether you bake it, grill it, fry it, or microwave it, it takes a lot less time than cooking a whole ham. Great for a quick and easy weeknight supper, or a Saturday lunch.

I mentioned in my How to Cook : Ham post an easy glaze you can use to spruce up ham steak. But here's another one of my favorite ham steak recipes - Ham and Cabbage.

All you need is this:



plus this:



and some rice and you'll hear your middle child mumbling, "Hm, this is good!"

Start with a head of cabbage. Chop the whole thing up, throw it in a big skillet and drizzle it with some oil. I love sesame oil - it gives a nice Asian flavor. I was out and didn't want to run to town for more, so I just used olive oil and added salt, pepper and garlic powder. Get it started over medium-high heat, and put the lid on to get some steaming action going. Give it a stir every once in a while.

While that's starting to cook, cut the ham steak into cubes. Then you have a couple of options. You can throw it right into the pan with the cabbage. This is what I do, trying to make it easy on my hubby who does the dishes. The water in the ham steak will help cook the cabbage. But you could also fry the ham steak cubes in a separate skillet and mix everything together at the end.

Then just spoon some rice into a bowl, top with the stir fried cabbage and fried ham steak cubes, add a little soy sauce and - voila! - a delicious little rice bowl.


Ham and Cabbage
1.5# ham steak, defrosted and cut into cubes
1 head cabbage, chopped
rice, cooked
soy sauce

Place cabbage in a large skillet. Drizzle with sesame oil. Or drizzle with olive oil and season to taste with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Stir fry over medium-high heat. Fry ham steak cubes in a separate skillet, or add to cabbage and cook with cabbage. Serve ham steak cubes and cabbage over rice and season with soy sauce.

Ag Speedlinking: 03.04.08

My forbidden fruits (and vegetables)

"[C]onsumers who would like to be able to buy local fruits and vegetables not just at farmers’ markets, but also in the produce aisle of their supermarket, will be dismayed to learn that the federal government works deliberately and forcefully to prevent the local food movement from expanding."

*****

The world's growing food-price crisis

"The wild ride in agricultural markets has attracted intense speculation among investors, with billions of dollars being poured into commodities markets. On Monday, the price of wheat shot up about 25% on the Chicago Board of Trade, after officials in Khazakstan announced plans to restrict exports of their giant wheat crop in order to ensure the food supply to their own citizens."

*****

Weekend Linkity-Link: (Late) Volleyball Edition

I know, I'm a day late and the weekend is already gone. I was just so tired last night I couldn't get it together to do the regular roundup. Who knew that watching volleyball is so tiring?

Both girls had Iowa AAU volleyball tournaments Saturday. Matt was on call so couldn't go to either one. I sent Olivia with a friend, and Rafe, Madeline & I left the house at 6:45 a.m. to head to Madeline's tournament in Charles City. At 2:00 she was done, her team having missed the playoffs by just points. So I sent her home with friends, and my parents and me & Rafe headed to New Hartford for Olivia's tournament.

And oh, what excitement! Her team got first in their pool! And won through playoffs to end up in the championship game! They ended up getting 2nd, but it was so close - the final scores were 23-21 and 21-19. And since this was a qualifying tournament, 2nd place earned them an entry into the all-Iowa state tournament at the end of the month! Whew, I was exhausted! We finally rolled back home around 8:00 p.m. A long day, but so much fun :)

Now you're exhausted just reading through all that. And since it's been a couple weeks since I did this, I've got double DOUBLE! the links! Onto the roundup!

*****

Mountain Dweller, a new-to-me blog. Farming in the Alps somehow looks so chic.


The Terraiums Pool at Flickr. I must be craving spring - these tiny indoor gardens are calling me.

Over at Children in the Corn Ang is making yogurt! Yogurt Part 1 and Yogurt Part 2. She makes everything look so easy!

A podcast! About farming! I'm going to have to figure out my daughter's iPod thingy so I can listen to this while I'm on the treadmill. That would certainly make it more fun.

Beef stock by Slow Cook. A little different method than mine. (I think mine would be considered broth, not stock?) Looks yummy. And then later he and his wife make French onion soup with it!

Seed starting pots from toilet paper rolls at Sea 2 Shore Farm. I thought these were cool, and look much less labor intensive than the newspaper pots I've done in the past. Start saving those tp rolls!

And finally, High Hopes Gardens has been posting a series about their agricultural tour of Costa Rica. Fascinating stuff!

(I think I used a record number of exclamation points in this post!)

*****

3 years ago:

Why we do this

Fudge

2 years ago:

Jimmy, male chicken model

Last call!

We have 2 last quarters of beef available this week! Make that one quarter now!

These quarters are split sides - you get cuts from both the front and rear quarters.

Edited to add: these will be custom cut - you get to specify what cuts you want done.

This is a nice little Angus heifer with a dainty frame - these will be small quarters. So you might want to take both. Based on the live weight, we're expecting 135 pound (hanging) quarters.

And best of all, you get last year's price! $1.85/#. (You pay the processing separately.)

email themillers92 (at) osage (dot) net ASAP to reserve one or both!

I think she's got it backwards

The head goes on the pillow, kitten.

(And no, she's not a house cat.)


3 years ago:

Maternity ward

2 years ago:

Baby watch

1 year ago:

The latest