I got the book in the hope that it could give me some ideas on how to create / market a product or products on my own little 14 acre plot. So far the book has given me some really great ideas, and I’ve barely started reading. Joel has a lot of good information on why we should really understand where our food comes from, how it’s raised and treated, and to challenge ourselves to start relying on local, small-farm produced food and products, rather than the processed crap we’ve come to accept as “normal” food (i.e. chicken nuggets, inferior, mass-produced eggs, etc.). Now I find myself eagerly anticipating reading two other books of his: “Pastured Poultry Profits” and “Folks, This Ain’t Normal.” I think this guy is really going to help change the way people eat and where they start buying their food.
My personal, first farm goal is to be able to just feed myself and my husband, with the food we raise, grow or hunt; and only have to use the stores to provide things like flour, sugar, salt, tea, coffee, oil, some spices, etc. My next goal would be to start selling the excess. Eventually, I’d love to be self-sufficient enough to not have to ever worry about losing my full-time job. To be independent and self-sufficient through farming would be a dream come true. Baby steps… It’s a lot of work and all I can do is try and learn as much as I can each day, hopefully making very few mistakes along the way.
The farm is plugging along as we head into fall, which will officially occur this Saturday, September 22nd. We had a young horse brought to us for 20 days of training / breaking. That went very well. The owner paid promptly when he came to pick up the horse, and the horse trained nicely, with no incidents or accidents. I hope they continue to send us those kind! The chickens and ducks are starting to produce eggs finally, and on schedule, at six months of age. The ducks continually are laying one egg each per day so far. The chickens are laying around 5-7 per day at this point. I have 19 laying hens. I have to say I am surprised at the size of some of the eggs – quite small considering all my hens are large breeds that are supposed to lay large brown eggs. I’m not sure if this is because they’re young, or because they’re free range? If anyone out there has an answer to this, I’d love to know!
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| Greeting me at the door each morning - waiting for breakfast! |
Garden Update: the garden is on the finishing end for the season, with just the pumpkins, zucchini and parsley remaining, and all doing well. I made a frittata? the other day for breakfast, with zucchini and onions from the garden, and eggs from the ducks. I ended up eating the entire thing myself be the end of the day…
