Farm yet?

Colonel's Blog, Earthdate 17 Jan 2023...

Hey Y'all!!

Good Tuesday morning from the farm! All is well on the farm this morning. The sickly ewe is still with us, she has to decide whether she wants to stand up each morning, but again decided to go ahead and keep living. All of the other animals are great, especially the new beef calves. The two photos above are of the heifer calves playing in the freshly unrolled hay yesterday. We didn't make anything with milk yesterday, which puts us behind now. That said, the dentist visit was a success for all of us. No cavities, clean teeth, and an appointment for 6 months from now. The farm is in the very capable hands of a sitter today as Shelley and I are making a mad dash to Birmingham to deliver some pork and pick up our Bluetick Coon Hound pet that has been hanging out with our son-in-law's folks for about a year. He went to live with our daughter and son-in-law and when they went to RAF Lakenheath in England, he moved to The Villages in the Orlando area for a bit of retired life. Now he is going to join the farm.

Speaking of farm, we often asked ourselves "Are we a farm yet?" When we moved to the property it was just us and our two pet dogs. About 2 months later, we got 3 livestock guardian dogs and were very sure we were not yet a farm. The next week, we got 30 guinea fowl and 12 ducks. Not a farm. Two weeks later, 35 chickens. Still not a farm. About a month later, we got our first 30 sheep and still didn't feel like a farm. Within four more weeks, we had 60 more sheep and had dealt with about a dozen sheep deaths from the first group. Turns out the first group wasn't what we were told, but were a sickly bunch of culls straight from a market when we thought we bought a closed flock of pasture based, parasite-resistant, healthy sheep. Live and learn. Even with 75 sheep, still not a farm. Within a week, we added a dozen pigs and two weeks later our first beef cows. About three weeks later, we added 7 bottle calves. You guessed it, we still didn't feel like a farm. We now have two dozen beef cows, two dairy cows, 60 sheep, 10 pigs, two dozen ducks, around 50 chickens, 6 barn cats, 7 livestock guardian dogs, 7 guinea fowl, and a rabbit...we have processed almost 30 hogs and two beef steers...we have a tractor and a side-by-side...and it took a passing question from a perfect stranger for things to click. Standing in the parking lot of the local tire store/mechanic shop, a stranger asked "You're not a farmer, are you?" It clicked. Joel Salatin (multi-species regenerative farmer guru) says it's the farmer that makes a farm, otherwise you have a zoo. It wasn't until Shelley and I considered ourselves farmers that we began to see this as a farm. So with confidence, I say: Good morning from the farm!

Local Farm Report from 16 Jan 2023:

Harvest:

25 Chicken eggs

14 Duck eggs

2 1/2 Gallons of milk

Sales:

1 Pit Master Bundle

1 Breakfast Bundle

Cheers! Rich & Shelley