Summer on the Farm

My typical summer day starts about 4:30 am when I get up.  I like to run when it is dark out, so three times a week I rise at 4 am to get my run in before starting the farm chores.  5:30 am I'm out working the birds, changing their water, topping off their feed and watering the garden.  I then feed and milk the goats.  I'm usually back in the house with the fresh goat milk by 7 am, strain it and let it set in the sink in an ice bath.  Our goal is to get the milk chilled to about 40 degrees within an hour, then it goes into the refrigerator.

Runner Beans

Potatoes and Sweet Peas

Our garden is doing okay this year, below average.  The runner pole beans are looking very good and we should have a good crop this year.  We grow two beds each year letting the beans mature and save them for the future.  Runner beans are very large and we use them in recipes that call for Lima beans.  Two beds of 8 sets of poles will give us about a gallon of dried beans plus our seed for next year.  The flowers attract humming birds and the honey bees love them.

Corn is way behind this year

Our corn is usually knee high by the 4th of July - today is the 11th of July and they are only half way to my knee.  I fertilized them this morning and watered.  Unless we have a very worm summer I don't believe we'll have fresh corn.  Potatoes are looking very good, as is the garlic.  The garlic will be dug up by the end of this month, tied together in groups of six and hung under our porch to cure.  Sweet peas are late but starting to produce well.

The Meat Birds are doing very well

 

I'm just about done with the inside of the new chicken coop - I still need to put an electrical outlet in the main room so we'll have winter light.  Once the days become shorter I'll put in a timer so the light goes on about 4:30 am until the sun rises.  The idea is to get the chickens to eat more (with the light on they wake up and eat).  The more they eat the more eggs they lay.

Our newest Mother with 12 day old ducklings

Yesterday our newest duck came out with 12 ducklings.  Moved her to the duckling pen where they will grow until feathered out.  We give them free choice grain during this growth period.  We have 26 ducklings living here now and have sold 10.  I have one duck on a nest and one laying eggs in another nest.  The Muscovy will usually set twice during the summer - so we get a lot of ducks!  I will sell all of the females and most of the males - keeping 10 or so males for the freezer.  We sell the day-old ducklings for $5, once they are feathered out the price goes to $7, full grown females are $25.

The New Coop, with siding still to do

The Egg Condo

We bought a new dehydrator, one with a fan and temperature control, and large enough to put my cheese in.  In the past I have been letting the cheese set a warm oven (warm when I first put in the milk) but with the new dehydrator I can set the temperature at 90 degrees and it stays there.  My last two batches of Chevre have been excellent.

Cheese setting in the dehydrator