Colonel's Blog, Earthdate 6 Feb 2023...
Hey Y'all! Visit our website at https://www.air2groundfarms.com and check out our products in the Neighborhood Shop and Shipping Shop!
Happy Monday! Shelley and I both chose hats this morning that represent the beach and/or fishing, me a Guy Harvey pirate hat and her a Salt Life. A bit of sunshine yesterday and we woke up thinking it was summer...a quick trip outside reminded us it was, in fact, still February and we needed our hoodies and coveralls. The weather was beautiful yesterday, sunny and 60 degrees by the afternoon. Most of the frozen precipitation melted but what is left is still quite slick. Today started below freezing but will warm to over 60. We did not do anything with milk yesterday, but we did get the trampoline put up. In our final move, the movers chose not to deliver one of the rail pieces for the trampoline, a fact we did not notice until a couple of months ago when we finally decided to put up the trampoline. It was obviously useless without the rail so I ordered a replacement online. We decided to finish putting up the trampoline yesterday and Makaylah had a great time jumping in the sunshine. Then, Shelley and I took a walk. Just she and I with no projects to accomplish, just walking. We explored one of our perimeter fences that we had never seen and visited one of the wildlife ponds, the second pic. We saw an armadillo who quickly hid from us, behind some vines and briars without leaves. They have very poor eyesight and I'm sure it thought it was well hidden--third pic. We also had the opportunity to visit with one of our wonderful neighbors who stopped by to pick up milk and eggs. Today we will spend some more time outside. We have a few spots in the pastures that are overgrown due to trees being down and the previous owners either cut the trees and let them lay or just left them where they fell. During the summer months, the areas are too overgrown with thorny briars to clear them so we are going to do it today. We will also make cheese with 4 gallons of milk.
Congratulations to me as this is my 50th blog entry! I wasn't sure about this entire process when I started but have had so much positive feedback that I am committed to continue. Today, I want to share some of the analysis regarding the posts. The analysis is available through our website and is supposed to be helpful in determining what topics folks prefer, what time of day is best to post, etc. A few tidbits regarding the blog:
Top 3 blogs and # of views: 1) Shipping Update-158, 2) Midwest Nice-131, 3) Too old?-128
Bottom 3 blogs and # of views: 1) Focus on food-32, 2) Number 2-36, 3) Milk Processes-37
Most likes was Happy Birthday with 12, Forested Pork and Time vs Money tied with 11.
Least likes tied with 4 were: Online Farming?, Shipping Day, and Pig Paddock Plan.
Total views: 3,219
Average daily: 65.69 views
As you know, we are also posting daily YouTube videos/shorts. So far, this morning's short, The Original Greg Judy Bale Unroller in Action!, has the most views with nearly 3,000 so far. Second is "Fall" Happy Berkshire Hogs with 1,411 views. Interestingly, folks average about 16 seconds watching, even the 60 second shorts. So, we will try to keep the shorts shorter. We now have 28 subscribers to our YouTube Channel. Check out today's short and don't forget to subscribe!
Local Farm Report for 5 Feb 2023:
Harvest:
18 Chicken eggs
6 Duck eggs
4 1/2 Gallons of milk
Sales:
1 Gallon of milk
30 Chicken eggs
Cheers! Rich & Shelley
It was so wonderful to have seen you both yesterday. The milk is fantastic and the eggs are second to none. I look forward to your daily updates and heading back down again to pick up some more of the fruits of your hard work.
Todd