Save our country - Homeschool!

A few weeks ago I had three experiences that left me a little disconcerted. The first occurred at the USDA listening session that I wrote about in the blog before last. At the session, after the initial comments were made, we broke off into two groups for "discussion". This was an informal discussion where we all sat around in a circle and talked about our concerns and ideas for the program. The discussion of the the group that I was in ended up being more argumentative than anything. It did get uncomfortably close to personal attacks, which was not at all helpful. Fortunately it remained civil, but it is an issue that stirs up passion and I could see how it could have gotten ugly. Among those in our group were two young people. One was a young lady attending college, studying agricultural sciences and the other was a young man who worked in the cattle business. I would guess that they were both in their early twenties, but as I didn't ask it is only speculation. The thing that bothered me was that both of these young people argued strongly in favor of NAIS. They believe that the program is necessary, must be mandatory, there should be no provisions for small farmers, and the government is the institution that needs to run it. They were definitely the strongest proponents for the program in our group.



The second was a visit we had from a young man to our farm. We were looking at the animals and had gotten to the meat chickens. I commented to him that we were getting ready to process the birds and he asked if we did that ourselves. I told him that we did. His questions were saddening, he asked, "Can you do that? Don't you need some kind of a permit or something?"



And the third was a conversation we had with some friends about homeschooling. We were talking about our philosophy of education and such and they asked the same questions that come up time after time, "Who do you report to? What about testing? They will let you do that?"


All three of these were within a few days of each other and I got the feeling that I had lost my country. I have been reading The Libertarian Reader edited by David Boaz and one of the essays is by John Stuart Mill. I haven't read much of Mill's work, but I believe that many of his writings have been destructive to our culture. His ideas on Utilitarianism are very dangerous and his attempt to separate God and morality is absurd. However, in his essay on individuality this passage caught my attention


"That the whole or any large part of the education of the people should be in State hands, I go as far as any one in deprecating. All that has been said of the importance of individuality of character, and diversity in opinions and modes of conduct, involves, as of the same unspeakable importance, diversity of education. A general State education is a mere contrivance for moulding people to be exactly like one another: and as the mould in which it casts them is that which pleases the predominate power in the government, whether this be a monarch, a priesthood, an aristocracy, or the majority of the existing generation in proportion as it is efficient and successful, it establishes a disposition over the mind, leading by natural tendency to one over the body. An education established and controlled by the State should only exist, if it exists at all, as one among many competing experiments, carried forth for the purpose of example and stimulus, to keep the others up to a certain standard of excellence."


Obviously this is exactly what we have gotten. People have become conditioned to government control in their lives to the point that they ask for more - NAIS, Universal Health care, Clean Energy Bill, etc. The other day I saw a bumper sticker that made me smile, "I will keep my guns, my money, and my freedom, you can keep the 'change'."


This past weekend, Bryan, Jared, and I went to Long Beach for the CHEA (Christain Home Educators Association) Homeschool Convention. What a wonderful time. We have been home educating our kids for 5 years and have settled into our philosophy and methods, but we still enjoy going to the conventions for the encouragement and reinforcement that we get. This year's convention did not disappoint. The keynote speaker was Dr. Voddie Baucham (http://www.voddiebaucham.org/) and we really were motivated by his talks on the importance of a strong, Christian worldview. It is always a blessing to be able to get together with literally thousands of fellow homeschoolers who share the same vision of education. Throughout the year the temptation comes up to just put the kids in a school so that we would be able to get that second income that would ease the crunch. But after a weekend of so many inspiring speakers and being around all those wonderful families, we are reminded that we would rather live in a tent and be able to raise our children "in the fear and admonition of the LORD" than to allow our government schools the opportunity to indoctrinate our children with a worldview that is in opposition to everything we believe. For anyone that stumbles across this blog, I hope and pray that you will strongly consider bringing your children back home for their education. It is a sacrifice and it is daunting, but we only get to raise our children once and how we raise ours will affect how they raise theirs. Dr. Baucham has an excellent blog about making the decision to homeschool - http://www.voddiebaucham.org/vbm/Blog/Entries/2009/6/25_Top_Five_REasons_Not_to_Send_Your_Kids_Back_to_Govt._School.html

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.

Proverbs 22:6 (NIV)

And I thought I loved you then

Today Bryan and I celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary. The picture isn't that great, we were married before digital cameras were the rage and my scanner doesn't do the best job ever, but boy we sure look like a couple of kids.

Our years together have been nothing short of wonderful. I have been very lucky to have married a man who is even better than he looks! And even as we explore the "for poorer" part of our vows, I am so happy to be married to him.

I have thought a lot lately about what makes our marriage so great. We met when I was 8 and he was 7. His family started attending the church that my family attended. This church was more than a church, it was a lifestyle and it took over every part of your life. We both attended the church school all the way through high school and so we knew each other well. We weren't "high school sweethearts", Bryan is a year younger than I am and I thought he was too young for me. Bryan and my brother David were close friends throughout their childhoods and my youngest brother Joe and Bryan's brother Greg were also good friends, both of our mothers worked at the school, and both of our fathers were involved in the church as ushers, etc. Needless to say, we each knew the other's family very well. The great thing about so much shared history is that there have been no surprises. Neither of us can say that we didn't know what we were getting into. One important thing that we have had going for us is that we genuinely like the other's family. That is so crucial as it is a package deal.

Our relationship blossomed from a friendship. We started going out with some of the other young people after church and the group got smaller and smaller until we found that there were no others whose company we enjoyed as much. He is still my best friend and I would still much rather be with him than anyone else! The fact that we enjoy our time together has also been important to our marriage.

And we have so much in common. We share the same values, we hold the same worldviews, and we have similar interests. We each have things we like to do that the other doesn't, but the big things - the kinds of trips we like to take, the lifestyle we like to live, the types of people we like to be around - we agree on.

Bryan has been a wonderful husband, I am blessed every day. He is kind, dependable, thoughtful, steady, funny, supportive, agreeable, hard working and I could go on and on. He is truly my whole life. I thank God for the wonderful 15 years we have had and I pray for many, many more!

Big Brother!

As a follow up to my last few posts, I read this article (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/magazine/17foreclosure-t.html?_r=4&hp=&pagewanted=all) today and found it interesting and somewhat comforting to find that we are not the only ones who should have known better. Not that I would ever wish hardship on another person, but as the saying goes, misery loves company.

Recently we spent the day in our local mountains. We were out hunting for wild berry bushes for some foraging later in the season. We did a little hiking and then let the kids try to catch some fish. We had a wonderful day, we slowed down and just enjoyed our surroundings and really took the time to notice the beauty all around. It wasn't all beauty, as we were walking along a creek, stepping from rock to rock, Bryan was leading the way and noticed in the spot he was getting ready to step in there was a large rattle snake. The snake was as anxious to avoid us as we were him, so we all went our separate ways. But the encounter reminded me of trip that the kids and I had taken to Devil's Punchbowl. We have gone out there several times and it is a great spot for an easy and fun day hike. This particular day we found another group of people at the stream when we got there. They were having a good time, playing in the water and climbing on the rocks. I overheard one of the kids say to another that they should be careful, there could be poison ivy or something. The other kids response was disturbing to say the least. He said, "This is government land, there can't be any poisonous plants here." Yikes! The complete trust in the government to keep them safe, to keep them from any and all worries.

Which brings me to my day today. Today the kids and I went to a listening session with the USDA in regards to NAIS http://animalid.aphis.usda.gov/nais/feedback.shtml. I am vehemently opposed to this program and found this a good opportunity to stand with the opposition. It was a very disappointing event. There was a minimal turnout, only 40 or 50 citizens. There were nearly as many representatives from USDA as there were normal people. The main problem was that there was very little notice given of these sessions, I happened to hear of it through another yahoo group, Californians against NAIS. The other problem was that the session was in Southern California, not exactly a hub of agriculture. To get a better turnout it should have been held where the producers are. Of those there, I would guess the there were 60% opposed, and 40% in favor. Those in favor were representatives of large, confinement type operations.

I had gone for several reasons, one was that since the kids and I have been discussing government and the difference between old style common law and the change to majority rule, political law this was a great opportunity for the kids to see the system in action. But we could have gotten that at a city council meeting or some other local government function. The main reason was that I was interested in finding out "from the horse's mouth" what the vision for this program is. There are many claims out there about what this program is going to do, the huge expenses, the burdensome reporting, the invasion of privacy, the ability of the government to quickly locate your healthy animals and destroy them whenever there is a disease outbreak. All of the information provided by the USDA about these sessions is that NAIS is a foregone conclusion and they are just looking for ways to shove it down our throats. There was no overview of how the program will work. There was a comment about all of the "misinformation" out there, but no real answers about what the program will look like. In the statement by the California State Veterinarian he said that our comments would be read and carefully considered "before we move forward in developing an acceptable system". The question that was raised over and over again is why does there need to be a new system. The gentleman from the USDA that was representing the NAIS program claimed that it has never been about food safety. And yet that is how it has been touted. He said that it is about animal health and traceability in event of a disease outbreak. But there are already numerous programs in place for this very purpose. One lady who was there as a supporter of small, family farms brought up the point that we would be better served in being proactive in promoting animal health instead of being so worried about tracing back after something has gone wrong. By that point it is too late and the government is going around eradicating entire herds. A comment from a poultry association representative cracked me up. He said something along the lines of, "We need to get our industries to buy into the program. If we don't, it will no longer be a voluntary system, it will be mandatory". You don't have to sign up for the program, unless you don't sign up for it.

There was a dairy farmer present who said that for him the program was not much additional burden, they already have plenty of regulations and tracking that they are required to do. He said they are already paying over $100,000 per year in fees and permits, but he is concerned about how it will affect other types of producers. I don't have anything profound to add to the discussion. There have been plenty of things said and written by brilliant people, to get some really great information about NAIS I suggest http://www.nonais.org/. I just wonder why this has to be implemented, why another government program? There are already programs to track animals for various outbreaks. There are required inspections to transport animals across state lines and to take your animals to fairs, etc. Responsible people are already ensuring the health and well being of their animals. We do not have huge outbreaks of diseases on a frequent basis, and they usually do a pretty good job of containing them when there are. There are already businesses in the market place that provide tracking for producers that want that extra reassurance.

If they want to provide a program such as NAIS so that producers can dupe the public into believing that the animals are healthy, allow producers to opt into it like they do with the "organic" label. If it is for the export market, only require exporters to participate. My big question is with the amount of time and energy our current administration has spent denouncing the bad and failed policies of the previous one, why would they continue trying to push this unpopular and unworkable plan?

Our toughest cut!

In all honesty we have been pretty irresponsible with our money. As I listen and read about the budget problems of the local, state, and federal governments as well as the banks, corporations, etc. I can see how easy it is to get into these situations, not that I am excusing them or suggesting that it is our responsibility as taxpayers to bail any of them out. I read an article in Newsweek magazine about credit cards and how much more people will spend if they are using a credit card to pay for the purchase and are much more willing to spend if they are not actually spending their cold, hard cash http://www.newsweek.com/id/172592. It is so easy to pull out a credit card and figure that there will be more money to pay for the purchase in the future. Of course the extra money never comes and before you know it you are borrowing from one card to pay for another. Then comes the day that the piper must be paid, not a good day!





Bryan spent a couple of years working solely on commission for a pest control company as the real estate market was beginning it's free fall. For those two years the pay was abysmal. He was job searching during this time and switched to a new job as soon as he was able to find one, but in the meantime we sank further and further into debt to meet the shortfall and, yes, we also overspent. Then reality started to sink in and we realized that our financial situation was out of control and it was time to put a stop to the money hemorrhage. The first thing to go was the television. We turned off the satellite a year and a half ago and haven't regretted it for a day. Then we started canceling things like our http://www.audible.com/ subscription and not renewing our magazines. We went from two cell phones and a land line to just one cell phone, we switched to a less expensive internet supplier, cancelled the kid's music lessons. We have started really watching every dime that we spend on groceries and have stopped buying things we can make ourselves; bread, tortillas, cookies, laundry soap, etc. We have utilized the services of a credit counseling agency to help us with our credit card debt which means that we have cut up all of the credit cards and we are now on a plan to get our card payed off in 4 years. There have been no sacred cows in our personal budget, even the life insurance went. So as I listen to all of the hand wringing from government officials about how they don't have any money left and they are going to have to cut programs, well, I don't have any sympathy at all. The state workers have already had their pay cut by 10% and now they are talking about an additional 5% pay cut. While I am not excited about the prospect, I understand that there should be no sacred cows in the government either. And, of course, a pay cut is much better than a layoff!



I must admit that I am not a big fan of Bryan being an employee in the "public sector" (neither is he, it was a difficult decision to even apply for the job to begin with). As a firm believer in free-market economics and Adam Smith style capitalism, I really prefer the idea of working to actually produce something. Which is why we started raising animals to begin with. My ideal life would be agrarian, kind of "Amish Lite", our family on a bunch of acres, working the land, raising animals, etc. What more basic need is there than that of food, especially responsibly, sustainably raised food. And that brings us to our toughest cut yet. We have made the decision that we can no longer afford the pigs, meat chickens, and turkeys. We will be selling off our breeding stock of pigs and turkeys and this will be our last batch of meat chickens. Hopefully we will be able to continue with our dairy goats, egg chickens, and meat rabbits as these animals do not cost as much to raise. If anyone is looking for registered Berkshire pigs, we have a boar/sow pair that we are selling for $1,200.00. We will be selling our Gloucestershire Old Spots females for $600.00 for the pair (they are available for breeding only). And we are selling our adult Blue Slate Turkeys for $50.00 each, we have 3 hens and a tom. If you would like any further information about any of these animals please contact us at stephanie@dirtcreekfarm.com or (760)249-8871.

Not the best picture, but a recent shot of our boar "Ego Trip.

The kids and I have been reading some really excellent books by Richard J. Maybury called the Uncle Eric books http://www.bluestockingpress.com/ . The books are very well written and easy to understand, I cannot recommend them highly enough! In the study guide on economics that goes along with the book Whatever Happened to Penny Candy there is an article called Dear Mr. Ag Secretary, author unknown, that I thought was very entertaining in light of our recent decision.




Dear Mr. Ag Secretary:


My friend Mort Wilson received a check for $1,000 from the government for not raising hogs. So I want to get into the "not raising hogs" business next year. What I want to know is, in your opinion, what is the best type of farm to not raise hogs on, and what is the best breed of hogs not to raise?


If I get $1,000 for not raising 50 hogs, will I get $2,000 for not raising 100 hogs? I plan to operate on a small scale at first, holding myself down to about 4,000 "not raised" hogs, which will give me $80,000 income the first year. Then I can afford an airplane.


Now another thing: These hogs I will not raise will not eat 100,000 bushels of corn. I understand you also pay farmers for not raising corn and wheat. Will I qualify for payments for not raising corn and wheat not to feed the 4,000 hogs I am not going to raise?


I am also considering not milking cows, so please send me information on that, too.


In view of these circumstances, I understand that the government will consider me unemployed, so I plan to file for unemployment and food stamps.



Be assured that you will have my vote in the coming elections.


Patriotically yours,




A. Prospective Farmer

Kansas



We are hoping that these cuts will be enough to get us through these tough financial times. Especially as we are running out of things to eliminate. Our goal is to get ourselves out of this hole we have dug ourselves into as honorably and responsibly as possible. We were irresponsible with our money and the blame is completely ours. We are looking forward to the euphoria that will come after toughing this out.

I hate ground squirrels!

The squirrels are out of control. If you look closely you may be able to see at least two squirrels in the pile of brush in the picture. There were more than two of them there when I was taking it. The yard has been overrun with ground squirrels and they are becoming more than a nuisance. They have dug lots and lots of holes which is a cause of concern should an animal or a person (me) end up tripping in one of those holes. They are taking complete advantage of all the animal's feed out there and are very brazen about making sure they get all they want. And to top it all off, they are stealing our eggs. I had thought the chickens were eating them and we had been doing what we could to discourage that behavior in the hens. Then I noticed that the golf balls that I had put in the nests were disappearing too. I found one of the balls outside the coop right next to a squirrel hole. The huge problem of no balance. The squirrels have abundant supply of easy food and no threat from predators so the population has exploded. And even though they seem like such cute little critters they are really very destructive rodents. Now we have to find ways to reduce their numbers.

The other big problem that we have been facing is the problem of when to cry "uncle". The picture here is of the tree that I tell the kids is our money tree. We have struggled many times in the past with our decision to keep animals. We raise them because we love it, we have never made a profit and it is usually a pretty steep loss. In the beginning we financed everything with our credit cards with the intention of paying them off when the animals were sold, but the money from the sale usually went toward paying for the next animals and didn't even cover that, so more credit card debt. That, of course, is not sustainable and we got to the point where that had to end. We have gone into a program to help us get the credit cards payed off and that is an excellent thing. We have cut up all of the cards and have become cash only consumers. We are learning to be frugal and not live beyond our means. The question becomes are the animals beyond our means? This month our feed expenses are over $900 and we are out of pig feed again and have to get more. Such a tough decision, we have tried to cut back in the past and then we find that we end up with more than ever. I love having all of the animals, they bring me so much joy. I don't know what I would do without them, but when the decision is buying food for the animals or the kids, well....


On a lighter note, Brianna was taking pictures the other day and took this one. I thought it was too cute. Our cat had three kittens in April. They are getting really funny and are starting to explore and play outside. Who doesn't love baby animals?

Soap Conference 2009

I made it to the soap maker's conference in Palm Springs, CA last week. I had such a great time. Nothing like getting away for 3 days to such a beautiful place to get relaxed. Of course I learned so much while I was there.
The conference was held at the Miramonte Resort in Indian Wells, CA. The resort is a beautiful place and very luxurious. The staff there did an excellent job of taking care of us and the food they served was delicious. What a treat to not have to worry about groceries, cooking, cleaning, etc. for 3 days! It was definitely warm, the one day that I did see a thermometer it was 93 degrees. Of course all of the sessions were inside in the frigid air conditioned rooms. It sure felt nice to get back out into the sun after an hour and a half in those cold rooms.
On Tuesday evening we were absolutely spoiled. One of the suppliers, Essential Wholesale, earned huge amounts of good will by sponsoring an incredible event. We had a renaissance themed evening of cocktails, dinner, and entertainment. They brought in a juggler, stilt walker, and jester. They also provided an open bar all evening, goodie bags for everyone, and comedians. I felt like an employee of a bailed out financial firm! But in all seriousness, Dennis and Kayla Fioravanti were incredibly generous in sponsoring such a fantastic event and I can only hope that they will see huge increases in their business as a result. I have not bought from them in the past but will definitely consider doing so in the future.
The educational part of the conference was not what I was expecting. I had gone hoping to learn more about actual soapmaking; tips, techniques, formulating, etc. What we got was more about the business side of it. How to market your products, make a profit, set up shop, trademark, e-commerce, etc. There were a few sessions more along the lines of what I was expecting, I went to sessions on colorants in soap, lotion making, and creative design. I learned quite a bit, the business information was very helpful above and beyond just making soap. The actual soapmaking classes were good and inspiring. I came back with lots of good ideas and hope to be able to kick up my soap making and I would really like to try to make it more of a business and not so much of a hobby.
Anyway, I will try to post again soon with more farm stuff. Things have been going gangbusters around here and I have lots of blogs rattling around in my head. Sorry this post has no pictures. Blogs with no pictures are no fun, but I didn't take any while I was at the conference. Shame on me! More later. Take care.

Oh, wow, I am so far behind. Keeping up with the blogging on top of everything else is not as easy as I had hoped. There is always so much to do and sitting down at the computer during daylight seems like goofing off. But trying to stay up and get it done at night is getting more difficult as the days are getting longer. Someday I will be more organized and productive, someday.....

Annie's babies are just over a week old now. They were born on Friday, April 24th. She had been walking slow and "funny" when I went out to feed her in the morning and so when we got back home in the afternoon I rushed out to check on her. She had already given birth to two girls and one very large boy. Bryan and the kids came out and we stayed with her until she got to number 7, by then it was getting late and we still had to get down the hill and clean the church so we started getting ready to go. Before we left she was at 8 and seemed to be finished. When we went to check on her before we went to bed she finally had finished with 13 babies! Poor Annie, to give birth that many times and then have all those squirming babies fighting to nurse. Annie is an excellent mother and much more patient than I would ever be!
Unfortunately Saturday brought much colder temperatures. We went from 80 degree temps on Friday down to the 40s and 50s on Saturday. On Sunday morning when we went out to feed we found two of the babies dead. We lost another one Sunday afternoon and another Monday morning. These losses were, of course, heartbreaking and we have been trying to figure out what went wrong and how to avoid this in the future. Piglet mortality is not unheard of and is considered a normal part of the process. Records are normally kept of how many live births with another entry for how many weaned. As new "farmers" this is difficult for us, but it is common enough to warrant lots of studies. One article that I found http://mark.asci.ncsu.edu/NCPorkConf/2002/lay.htm gives several reasons for such losses and among those are the fact that piglets are unable to regulate their body temperature. The article states that small pigs are more susceptible to cold and the babies that we lost were the four smallest. Maybe they were just not strong enough to compete for a "place at the table", they may have gotten too cold, or Annie may not have been able to feed that many babies. From all that I have read mortality increases with larger litters and their chances may have done better if we would have provided a heat lamp. That is a lesson learned the hard way and we will know to watch for that next time. They are in an enclosed shelter with lots of grass hay for burrowing into, we assumed this would provide adequate shelter from the cold. The surviving 9 babies, 5 males and 4 females are doing great. They are putting on lots of weight and are very active. And they are exceptionally cute!

We also added more goats to the farm. They are not quite as cute as the pigs. We bought La Manchas since they do not have as much "personality" as the Nubians. They are much more compliant and easier to work with. But they don't seem to have any ears! They are productive though. We are getting more than a gallon of milk a day from one of the girls and the other is producing enough for her baby and a little for us as well. We are giving the milk to the pigs as part of our attempt to move away from a grain heavy diet. The downside is the additional demands on my time required for milking twice a day. Fortunately milking is a quiet and relaxing exercise and the baby boy does his part to keep it entertaining.

Other news: We are finally getting the garden going. Some of the plants are starting to come up and we are still planting other seeds. We are getting a later start than we had hoped, but our weather here is so unpredictable and last year we had a hard frost in May. Hopefully I will have better luck keeping up with the weeds this year. We still have so much to learn about gardening!

I am also trying to get caught up on my soap making. There has been quite a bit of interest in soap and my supplies have just about dwindled. I will be attending the Handcrafted Soap Maker's Guild conference in Palm Springs in a few weeks and I am looking forward to learning all kinds of new techniques and getting all sorts of ideas.

The pigs from our last litter of Berkshires are now in the freezers of our customers and so far the comments have been pretty positive. If you are interested in reserving one from our current litter please contact us. We have had several inquiries and we expect them to sell quickly. The piglets will be available July 25 for those looking to raise their own, they will sell for $120.00. If you would like us to custom raise one for you they are $2.50/lb. hanging weight. This price does not include the processing costs. We will have chicken available in July, we are also taking reservations for these. The chickens are the Colored Range Broilers and are free-range and fed organic grain. We are selling the chicken for $4.00/lb.

Baby rabbits, turkey eggs, piglets coming.

Our Silver Fox Rabbit kits were born 2 weeks ago and are getting over the uglies. Boy, they aren't much to look at in the beginning! We are very new to rabbit raising and have a whole lot to learn. Fortunately the rabbits have a good idea of what they are doing. First thing we had to figure out was the cages, I got the design job and my wonderful husband, Bryan, did the building. I read all the books I could find and looked at tons and tons of websites to figure out the best design for the rabbit's home. I wanted it to have solid floors, it seemed that standing on wire floors all the time would be miserable. I wanted lots of room, I don't like the thought of caging animals at all but free-ranging rabbits doesn't work very well. And for the nest box, I wanted one that was "underground". Rabbits usually give birth in the deepest part of their burrows for warmth and security. The cage that we ended up with has the solid wood floor covered with sheet metal to keep the wood dry, it is about 6'x30" with a door at each end, so it is all accessible, and, of course, the nest box. The nest box has been my source of consternation with the mama rabbit. With the floor being solid we filled the cage with shavings to absorb all the urine. All went well in the beginning, but as the due date approached and Valentine (the rabbit) began pulling fur and making her nest she also began filling my wonderful box with all of the shavings from her cage. The box was completely full. I couldn't figure out what on earth she was thinking, so I pulled a large percentage of the shavings back out. Next day the box was full again. Ok, I thought, shavings rationing it is. This worked really well, except that now all the shavings that had been absorbing wet stuff were now in the box and the cage was no longer pleasant. I relented and gave her more shavings. Shortly thereafter her babies were born and again she had completely filled the box with shavings. I finally came to the conclusion that she has been a rabbit all of her life and I haven't even tried it, so maybe I should stop interfering and just observe. And wouldn't you know it, they have all done really well. The babies all have nice, fat bellies, they can climb right out of that box to eat and then snuggle deep down in there to stay nice and warm. We ended up with 4 babies out of this litter. We will be keeping two of them to increase our breeding stock.

The Blue Slate Turkeys started laying their eggs about a month ago. Of course we were really excited about this development and waited anxiously for them to decide to set on the eggs so we could have baby turkeys. The orders for Thanksgiving turkeys have been coming in and we were counting on these birds to get the show on the road. And so we waited and waited.... We left the eggs in the nest and hoped they would hurry up and figure out what they were supposed to be doing. But no such luck. We had found a local hatchery that has Bourbon Red poults available and, as we had received a special request for a Bourbon Red, we decided to go ahead and order 10 poults to ensure turkeys ready for the holidays. I called the hatchery, placed the order and scheduled the time to pick them up. We got everything under control! And wouldn't you know it, the next day I was missing a turkey hen. I went looking for her and there she was, happily ensconced on her nest of eggs. I guess we will have plenty of turkeys available this year. What would be really great is if her eggs hatch about the same time we bring the other ones home and we can get this mama to raise them all for us. Fingers crossed!

Annie, our beautiful Berkshire pig, is preparing for her second litter. Her due date is April 21st and she is sure looking large. She is not moving around much and has to work harder to get comfortable. There has already been quite a bit of interest in these babies and we are already putting together a list. The 5 that we raised from her first litter are getting ready to go to processing next week and we are really excited about trying the meat. But already we are trying to figure out how to do it better. We had a call from a really nice guy asking about how we raise the pigs, what we feed, etc. He was interested in organic pork. I told him that we would dearly love to feed the pigs organic grain, but they eat ALOT, and feeding organic grain would nearly triple the cost of raising them. There are no local sources for organic pig rations, the only grain available locally is commodity grain. We have tried to get the best feed that we can for the most reasonable cost. But this conversation made me think. Is better than the big guys really good enough? Just because we are doing better, the animals are treated well, we are not feeding them garbage, we are not pumping them full of antibiotics, etc. should we be satisfied? And the conclusion that we have come to is that we really need to try harder. We have been reading everything that we can find on alternative feeds and looking for local sources of non-gmo, poison free feeds. Of course we are at a bit of a disadvantage in Southern California. There is not a lot of agriculture here 90 miles east of Los Angeles and we are in a desert with very little rain. We have learned that pigs do not require grain, in the latest Acres magazine there is a reprint of a 1997 article written by Charles Walters and he writes about his dad producing hogs on alfalfa or peas, and never feeding more than 10 percent corn. The article is fascinating, and for us, timely. After all that we have read some of the things that we are planning to try are planting oak and mulberry trees, getting more dairy goats, feeding the pigs some of our eggs, finding quality, high-protein alfalfa hay, and planting lots of extra stuff in the garden. Of course most of this will take time to get off the ground, some of it will implemented sooner. We may be able to get some freshened dairy goats in a few weeks, the local feed store just got a shipment of high protein hay, we have stopped feeding soybeans, and we will begin scrambling eggs for the pigs daily. We will also be ordering organic grain to supplement them until we can get the rest of this figured out. I would love to hear from anyone with more ideas or suggestions. And if you know of a local farmer that would be willing to grow some feed for us, let us know!

Baking bread

People have been grinding grains and making bread for eons, and yet really good bread has not come easy to me. I have been on a quest to learn how to bake that really special bread for a few months now and I am still not there! But I am getting a little closer. Today I was finally able to bake bread using only flour that we had milled ourselves. We bought our Country Living Grain Mill in January and we bought our first 50 lb. bag of whole grain at the end of January, but we just now got the mill mounted securely enough to do serious grinding. Right now it is still enough of a novelty that the kids are volunteering to help. That doesn't usually last real long!

I bought a copy of Laurel Robertson's "The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book" and have found some really good recipes in there. I have made the "yogurt bread" the last few times and have been pretty happy with the results.



Sponge ingredients:

1 tsp. active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water


3 cups whole wheat bread flour
2 tsp. salt


3 tbsp. honey
2/3 cup yogurt
1/3 cup cold water


Dissolve the yeast in the 1/4 cup warm water. Mix the flour and salt in a bowl; add the honey, yogurt, cold water, and dissolved yeast, making a stiff dough. Knead about 5 minutes, and set aside in a cool space, snugly covered to keep the dough from drying out, but with plenty of room in the container for the sponge to rise. Put in refrigerator for 10 hours.

Dough Ingredients:

1 tsp. active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water


the sponge
1/4 cup oil


3 cups whole wheat flour


Dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Soften the sponge with the liquids and work in the rest of the flour measure, adjusting the consistency as required. Knead until silky, about 15 minutes.
Form the dough into a ball and place it smooth side up in the bowl. Cover and keep in a warm, draft-free place. After about an hour check to see whether the dough is ready. Gently poke your wet finger about 1/2 inch deep into the center of the dough. If the hole doesn't fill in at all or if the dough sighs, it is ready for the next step. Press flat, form into a smooth round, and let rise once more as before. The second rising will take about half as much time as the first.
Press the dough flat and divide it in two. Round it and let is rest until relaxed, then deflate and shape into loaves. Place in greased 8"x4" loaf pans and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until the dough slowly returns a gently made fingerprint. I make a long vertical cut along the top of the bread. Bake 45 minutes to an hour at 350 degrees F. I highly suggest Laurel's book, it has lots of great information in it about all of the steps involved, how it should look, etc. in addition to all of the wonderful recipes.
The two loaves that I made today will be gone by Friday!



Today I received the whole corn that I had ordered, my next adventure will be grinding corn and trying to make corn tortillas.

And of course there is the bread oven that I need Bryan to build for me.



Marie, of Edith and Marie our GOS pigs, has learned how to get out of their yard. These girls LOVE to eat and they have definite ideas about when they should be eating. Should we be running late to feed, Marie thinks it is her responsibility to round us up and let us know that everyone is hungry. We had put a latch and a bungee cord on the gate, but that didn't seem to be enough as she was out again this afternoon. We have chained the gate now, hopefully this will be enough to keep her from wandering off. I think we will be trying to get them moved out to one of the big yards in the next few days. This will give them an opportunity to meet Annie and Big Daddy through the fence before we put them all together. And hopefully with a bigger herd it will help quell her adventurous spirit.

Other than baking bread and rounding up pigs, today was filled with such glamorous jobs as going to the dump and picking up yet more grain for the pigs. We just picked up 1000 lbs. 8 days ago. We bought another 1100 pounds today, guess we'll see how long that will last. I guess that is why they call them pigs!

All the signs of spring....

From my recent observations in the turkey yard, I am certain that turkeys make a compelling argument against random evolution. I cannot figure out how they have survived as a species up until this point. I am, of course, referring to "turkey love". After watching the shenanigans going on out there I had to pull out my copy of Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" and reread the passages on turkey reproduction and laugh myself silly. (I highly recommend the book, if you haven't had a chance to read it.) I understand that most of the turkey's confusion is a result of the selective breeding that has been done and that breeding for natural instincts and mating abilities has not always been on the list of priorities. All that being said, the turkey show has been a good one this week. We should start getting eggs in a few weeks. I am sure hoping that our hens will brood, turkey poults bought from the hatchery have a notoriously high mortality rate, and I am really curious to find out whether or not "mama raised" birds are as fragile.

As for other signs of spring, the garden seeds came in this week. I cannot wait to get out there and play in the dirt. We are planning on planting lots of veggies this year, planting in both of our garden areas, as well as trying some grains. This will be our first experience growing grain so that should be interesting. The other thing we are going to try this year is a "three-sisters" garden (http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/teach/2003045238014436.html). Now if only it were warm enough to plant.....

Check out our new listing on local harvest (http://www.localharvest.org/farms/M27331). Local harvest is doing such a great job matching up people that are interested in good, clean food with farmers that are working hard to produce a quality product. Most small farms do not have a huge advertising budget and getting the word out there is tough. It is wonderful to have organizations like Local Harvest to make it all a little easier.

Take it easy!

Steph

New pigs, new rabbits, and yummy chicken!

Life has been all sorts of fun for us here lately! We have been adding lots of new critters to our little mix here. Our "big" addition was our Gloucestershire Old Spots pigs. These have a really great story to go along with them, so I will try your patience and add it here. Hopefully I can make it interesting! A few weeks ago I was browsing other farmer's websites and ran across a picture of the Old Spots pigs, the picture was of a sow with a litter of piglets, and it was love at first sight. They are soooo cute, little "dalmatian" pigs. I decided that I must have some of those pigs. But then reality struck. They are not so easy to find. The closest breeder I could find in my preliminary search was in Kansas, way too expensive to ship from there. So it became a "some-day" dream. Then, a few days later, there was a post to one of the yahoo groups that I have subscribed to:

"Here is a request from the anonymous Zoo - Please reply directly to them if you can help. - Thanks, name removed
I am contacting to see if you might know of anyone currently looking for GOS pigs. We have two females born in April 2005 that we are looking to find a home for, but they cannot go for slaughter. Currently they live in our farmyard at the anonymous Zoo in Southern California and we are looking to downsize our animal collection in the farm. We already have some other pigs and it would be helpful to our budget and staff to find a new home for the GOS pigs. We raised them from piglets and they are pretty docile, we go in with them and such. If you know of anyone for one or both or want to forward my information it is appreciated. They were purchased from Winter Creek Farm in Oregon we can possibly help with transportation."

WOW! I immediately jumped on it. I got in touch with the people in charge and they were almost as excited as I was since we are as close to them as we are. They got everything approved and within 10 days we have two beautiful, old spots pigs. I have just had the warmest, fuzziest feeling possible when I think about how much God loves us that He will answer even our "silly" prayers. And that is how we came to have our Gloucestershire Old Spots pigs, Edith and Marie. We are giving them a few weeks to get used to their new surroundings, feed, keepers, etc. before we introduce them to the other pigs. We are planning to breed them with our Berkshire boar for now. At some point we hope to be able to breed some purebred GOS pigs and help to continue this great heritage breed.

We were also able to get some Silver Fox rabbits! Another great story. We have been hoping to add rabbits to the mix for almost a year now. We have been doing our research, reading up on rabbits, joined the ARBA (American Rabbit Breeders Association), and reading information on yahoo groups (again with the yahoo groups). We had decided that we really liked the Silver Fox rabbits, they are listed as critical on the http://www.albc-usa.org/ website. They are a dual purpose rabbit, excellent for both meat and fur. They are the only rabbit whose fur, when stroked from back to front will stand straight up, until it is stroked in the opposite direction. Again, a great breed, and again, very difficult to find. There is a huge rabbit show in October or November, the ARBA nationals, and we figured that would probably be our best bet. And then, another post to another group:

"I may have to drive to So Cal (Orange County, Anaeheim/Cypress) in the nextweek or two... Family health issues, and should have some Silver Foxavailable and be able to transport.. Please email me if you are interested in either."

Excitement again! I emailed her and, voila, we are the proud owners of a silver fox buck and a bred silver fox doe! We should have babies in about 30 days!

And, finally, we processed our Dark Cornish chickens on February 6th. To say we were amazed with the final results would be an understatement. I am hoping to hear from others who have tried them, but we were so pleased with the way they taste. We have already eaten two of them and they have both been the most delicious chicken we have ever had. Homegrown "frankenchickens" are very tasty, homegrown heritage chickens are even better. We will be getting some "Colored Range Broilers" the first of March. The breeding stock for these birds is from the birds used in the French "Label Rouge" free range program. They are "healthy, with a succulent flavor and texture". We will be keeping some of these along with the Dark Cornish that we kept as the beginning of our own breeding program. We only expect to have 12 chickens available out of this batch, we are planning to process them mid-May. If you would like to get some of these chickens, we would suggest that you reserve early!

Well, that is all of the big news for now! Thanks for reading.