Colonel's Blog, Earthdate 7 March 2023...
Hey Y'all!
Happy Tuesday from Air2Ground Farms! It's another mild temperature morning with rain in the forecast starting tonight. The farm animals are doing really well this morning with Nothing Significant To Report (NSTR). Wow, was yesterday a busy one! My dad (Papa) painted exterior doors while my mom (Nana) made 4 pounds of cheese then she and Makaylah started seeds in trays for the garden. The rest of us spent the majority of the day clearing fence, 1750 feet of it. I'm not getting old, but...this morning my lower back sure does ache and my lower ribs feel like someone used me as a punching bag. That said, we have wanted to clear that particular fence for a year and a half and it sure does feel good to have it done. The weather was beautiful and the time outside was amazing. If you are local to the Ozarks and are wondering when the ticks are going to hatch this year, the answer is yesterday. Luckily, though we yet again proved the farming theorem that all bushes in fences have thorns, the chiggers are still in bed enjoying their winter nap and we don't have the summer-normal million bites from the chiggers that live in the briars. After we finished with the fence clearing, we moved the cows to a new pasture. We decided it was time to let the 'hay bombed' pasture begin to rest. New grass is popping up everywhere from all of the seed distributed from unrolling hay and the cows were starting to pick at it. We want it to have the opportunity to take root and really start to grow. We had an interesting conversation about whether or not to make this move. We came to the conclusion that this, like many decisions in life, was not a case of right and wrong, but of better or worse...and it is a matter of opinion, not a matter of fact. So we decided to move the beef cows onto a pasture that has been resting since November when we moved the sheep off of it. It is also starting to turn green with grass, but this grass is established and well-rooted. On our way to move the cows, round bale in tow, the fuel pump quit on the side-by-side. Of course, we were halfway up the fairly steep driveway and I had to back the bale unroller down the hill. We got it unhooked and hooked back up to the Jeep and continued the task. Today we will go to town and get a replacement fuel pump. While there, we will get pine shavings and chick starter feed for the chicks showing up this week so we can finalize brooder prep. We will also do things with milk.
The pics today are an example of what happens when you decide to take food choice into your own hands. The top pic is eggs on the counter. Here in the USA, we are used to eggs that are washed (normally includes bleach, by the way) and refrigerated. When we were stationed in England, their eggs are unwashed and not refrigerated. We wait and wash our farm eggs immediately before use, which means they are 'shelf-stable' for a few weeks and don't need to be refrigerated. The next pic is 4 gallons of fresh raw milk that we will use to make about 4 pounds of cheese today. The bottom pic is the kitchen peninsula with seed starts and camera equipment added to the chick incubators I showed you last time. It's a good thing we decided to build lots of countertop space! Speaking of food choice, I'll continue my thoughts on food freedom. Why does the government have to get in the middle of a food transaction between two willing parties? What do I mean? I've discussed that we received our Poultry Processing Exemption from Missouri Department of Agriculture that allows us to process up to 1,000 birds on farm for resale. If we have customers that want a total of 1,001 birds we cannot oblige. The government steps into the middle of that transaction and shuts it down. We are not exempted for that many birds. Another example, we can sell 1,000 whole chickens but we cannot cut up (government calls this 'adulterating' it) any of those chickens for our customers. If a customer wants their birds cut up, or just wants chicken breast, the government steps in and forbids that transaction. If you would like me to cut up your chicken for you, and I am willing to do so, why does the government step in and shut down that transaction? In order to sell 1,001 birds or cut up poultry, we would have to request a different exemption that requires us build an entire facility to include a government inspected industrial kitchen, a large initial investment. Our water source and septic system would have to be government certified. (Even if we did all of this, we could process up to 20,000 birds and would still be restricted from selling outside of the state of Missouri.) 1,000 birds, good-to-go...1,001birds, no-go. Whole chicken, good-to-go...cut up chicken, no-go. This is absurd. The government limits your choice of chicken breasts/wings/leg & thigh quarters/etc to the companies that can afford the start-up costs and from which the government says is ok for you to buy. You cannot be trusted to make the choice for yourself, the government will make it for you. Don't worry, I'm not finished on my soap box. More to come...
Shelley's YouTube Short for today is another in the Farm Sounds series: Guineas hollering about sunset.
Local Farm Report for 6 March 2023:
Harvest:
31 Chicken eggs
9 Duck eggs
0 Goose eggs
5 1/2 Gallons of milk
Sales:
N/A
Cheers!
Psycho & Shelley
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