Day 1: Chickens for Meat

This week has been quite the week indeed!

Firstly, Christopher and I have turned in all of our paperwork to become Certified Producers. This certification through both the state of California, and Sonoma County, will allow us to sell all of our produce at the Farmers Markets. It's a huge step in the right direction for the two of us and it's one more thing we can check off on long (and seemingly never ending) list of things to do.

Another check we can mark on the list is learning to raise our own animals for meat, more specifically, raising our own chickens for meat. This morning we went and picked up our first two CornishX chicks, (#1 and #2 is what we like to call them. One has one spot and the other has two spots, can you guess which is which?) from The Western Farm Center here in Santa Rosa. We got help and advice from the infamous JP, AKA "the Chicken Man" or "The Turkey Guy" who works at the store and is an all knowing chicken genius.

Originally I only wanted to raise a single Cornish X because I didn't want to be put into a horrible situation where we slaughter one, hate the process, then have to repeat the horror for any more. But, JP suggested that we raise two because they are "flock birds" and if they are singular they will stress themselves to death (literally). We're not into having our animals die on us for lack of friendship so we agreed upon two, JP also gave us the option of selling #1 and #2 back to him upon their "due date" if we decided that the task was just too much for us to handle, Thanks JP!

We are both having mixed emotions about the adventure at the moment. Christopher and I want to be able to provide for ourselves and also stop supporting the commercial chicken industry but, we're also very nervous and upset about taking these cute-little-yellow-fluffies lives from them. I'm pretty positive it will be the most difficult thing I have ever done so far in my 21 years of life to end their lives only at six weeks, myself.

So, while #1 and #2 are with us we're going to treat them with the utmost respect and care, right now they're both adorably peeping in our household for the next week or so until they're old enough to live outside. I really hope that these next six weeks don't move too quickly!

Until next time,

Samantha Rosebud

Along with our garden at home, we also farm in Petaluma

The location in Petaluma is about a half hour away, we are being rented the land, all we have to pay is the electric bill for the pump (well water). So, far the first two months have cost around 35$. About two months ago we laid the irrigation and planted right away. The irrigation has 3/4 drip tube connected to 5/8th drip tape. The first patch of land we worked on had been tilled, the only tilled portion in our half acre. The tilled portion seems to have way more weeds than the rest of the area. The first planting was of cabbage (from transplants given to me by another farmer, Jill), fava beans (seed), pea (seed), peppers (transplants), and onion (small bulbs). The picture above is of five rows not tilled. The first three rows are peppers and eggplants from transplants. Most of the starts were grown from seed at our house. Potatoes cover the fourth row and the fifth row is left unplanted but we plan on growing melons and winter squash. There isn't nearly as bad of weed problem in this area compared to the tilled area. To start the row, we have been weeding the row, raking the soil as even as possible, then spreading a compost that is high in nitrogen. We then run the drip tape down the middle and put metal U stakes to secure the tape. We also have two long rows of tomatoes that consist of varieties like Nyagous, Pineapple, Yellow Pear, Sweet 100, Early Girl, and San Marzano. All of the plants except for the nitrogen fixing plants such as fava beans and peas have received fish emulsion with kelp to help the plants put on leaf growth and recover from transplanting.

How many pounds of food can you grow in 300 sq feet?

I decided we should get a scale to start weighing most of the plants and eggs we gather from the garden and chickens (soon, ducks too). Another blog I was looking at displays their harvest totals on the side, I liked it so I decided to do the same. We're getting a late start, we've already harvested lots of greens, broccoli, cauliflower and more. The totals on the right represent what we've harvested since June 4th, 2010 to the present day. We're are gardening with about 300 sq ft. of space split between a narrow backyard and a small front yard. We have a coast live oak covering half the house and some of the yard. We have arranged for our chickens and ducks to scratch underneath the oak. This allows them to have shade on hot days in the summer and adds nutrients to both the tree and animals. I'll talk more about them in another post.

Bran Muffin Recipe

When you are in need of fiber, bran muffins are always a great choice. They're easy and quick to make. Here is the basic recipe given in a great book I found at a Kauai bookstore called Kathy Cooks Naturally by Kathy Hoshijo. Thick book full of great recipes that are healthy and most of them are easy to make. Although, some recipes include tropical fruits, you may be able to supplement with fruit grown here in the mainland. This book is no longer in print but if you ever find a copy, I recommend picking it up.

Basic Bran Recipe

1 Cup Bran

1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour

2 tsp. Baking Powder

1/4 Cup Honey

1 Cup Milk

Combine first 3 ingredients. Mix in last two. Pour onto oiled muffin tins and bake 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

This recipe doesn't make a lot, so if you want more than 12 full size muffins you may need to double the recipe. I also like to include fruit such as blueberries, gives it some flavor. It's always nice to top it off with some local honey.

Dawn and Dusk

We decided to stop at a local feed store called Larsen's just to look around. We ended up with the great idea of getting ducks. There were a lot of ducks to choose from ranging from English Call Ducks to Rouens. Some attributes I looked into were: if they made good pets, make less noise/more noise, and if they are good egg layers. We decided on two Indian Runner Ducks, these ducks are on the quiet side, they can't fly (at least very well), and they are also good egg layers. The ducks were not sexed when we purchased them so there is a chance we could get two males. Hopefully, we will get at least one female, two male ducks might not get a long and we wouldn't be receiving any eggs. We decided on two because we like there to be at least two of the same animal, so they can bond and were told they would make less noise if there was another duck. A plus when you have neighbors close on all sides. We plan on growing some type of grassin the garden box next to them.