Thursday, October 29, 2009

"How we eat determines, to a considerable extent, the way the world is used."
-Wendell Berry

Today the hog are being slaughtered. All 12 and we are glad in a way and sad in others. The pigs will go and feed friends and family. The farm is slowing down heading straight for winter. Projects are being figured, and finished.

The series of pictures below are of one little black kitten herding the sheep- pretty funny as she is maybe 2 pounds and she worked them about 300 feet back from the farm where she resides. Guess sheep respect the little ones.

Lambing caught on tape

video
I have wanted to share this with you since early this spring. This year was the first year we let the ewes lamb out in the pasture, it was amazing and I think it is important to pass along to you. What an amazing event to be able to watch, and this is all done with out any human intervention and without any drugs and right out in our wonderful grass!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Did you hear?


A pig that attended the MN State Fair has H1N1.

At this moment I wish everyone would just take a step back take a deep breath and think about what is really going on. Why is this happening, what can we learn from this, and what is the right way to go about making sure this never happens again?Why is this happening? I truly believe our confinement farm way of raising livestock, coupled with our monoculture farms and the fast pace way we want to raise these animals is changing them in ways we can't even imagine. Making them susceptible to all sorts of diseases, and allowing mutation of existing diseases.What can we learn? So I heard not to worry they were working on a vaccine to give to the pigs. Oh, what a great idea, modern medicine can fix anything! Seriously do you even know the regime that confinement cows go through. In order for them to live in confinement they have to hop them up on modern meds to just keep them alive- and of course milking! Is this what we want to happen to all things that we consume- well it is and unless WE the consumers do something about it.What is the right way to go? Well I know I have already said this a hundred times but when you buy from a local reputable farmer, one that is possibly using heritage breeds, not injecting them with hormones, vaccinations and other crap, grass fed, pastured, maybe even organically raising, then you can be sure you are getting meat, milk, cheese, veggies that are safe and good for you. It is up to you the consumer- us non conventional farmers keep saying it but until the conventional system feels it nothing is going to change! Animals are being put into a system that goes against nature and they are put there by us and we are the only ones that can get them out of this horrible system before something worse happens. By then even those farmers that are farming the way they should are going to loose everything because you can't stop the spread of what is to come.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Where the heck did fall go?

I still have veggies in the ground not to mention garlic to plant! The Sandhill Cranes are on the move and I love to hear them- but I am not ready for winter yet! We have truly been busy and now it is meat harvest time. Last week two cows were slaughtered here and then we drove the carcasses into the butcher. We should have beef later this month!!! Then the pigs are to be taken and then the lambs!



On a more pleasant note our kids is now 2- I can hardly believe it. She is growing and changing almost every second of the day. We are so lucky to have such a wonderful child.


Until next week you will be unable to publish a comment- sorry but send me an email if you have to say something duskwindfarm at gmail dot com.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

The Wrong Place at the Wrong Time

I am sure everyone has heard the saying but have you really ever been in the wrong place at the wrong time? Well on Monday that is just where I was.
I had left gymnastics with the kid and was heading into the cities. On the way there were a few cop cars with their lights on heading south, same as me. When they came to my car they slowed down driving parallel to my car, they were looking in at me then driving off. I thought it was kind of weird and wondered what was going on.
Then, just south of Forest Lake before 35 divides into E and W another cop car flashed its lights behind a vehicle that was behind me. When that vehicle moved over the lights went off. I too moved over and the cop moved behind me. It’s 70 mph on 35 but with the cop right behind me I had slowed to 65, I wasn’t sure what was going on. A minute or two passed (or so it seemed) and the cop turned on its lights from behind that car two other cop cars fanned out to block the far right lane, I pulled over. I wasn’t sure that was going on looking behind me I saw them grabbing the shotgun type guns from the gun racks in their cars- again still not sure what the Hell was going on they yelled something at me, I thought they said get out of the car, so I did. Then I heard them yelling for me to get back in the car so I did. I rolled down the window; all three were pointing these big guns at me. They told me to open the car door with my right hand and step out of the car- I did. They told me to put my hands up- I did. They told me to turn around- I did. I was shaking and crying I had no idea what was going on. They told me to walk backwards toward them; again they were pointing those shotguns at me all the while. I was moving backwards I have no idea how my legs were able to move I was shaking so much. One of the officers yelled to me to move left (into traffic) I did and then another yelled for me to move right. I was almost there; I can’t really remember what exactly happened when I got to the cops. I remember they told me to put my hands on the car I felt a pat down and the one cop talking right next to me told me to listen: there had been a bank robbery in North Branch, my vehicle matched the description except mine was not a Ford, he told me the officer was just doing her job, that I have short brown hair so she could not tell my gender from behind. The time that I drove through and my speed were all factors.
At this point I said my little girl was in the car- Thankfully she was sleeping and did not wake up. One of the officers went and checked on her.
I stood there- I was shaking I thought my legs were going to give out. I just stood there.
Bits and pieces are hard to remember. I remember talking about me being free to go-I don’t remember how they said it. I just told them there was no way I could drive I was shaking so much. I mean I had my kid in the car.
I eventually did leave- the two officers that were waiting for me did not offer an apology or an escort to my car. It was over and that was that.
First off I am okay and so is the kid. I am still in shock and wonder what would have happened if I made a wrong move. It was certainly traumatic. I keep playing it over and over in my head. I keep seeing those guns pointed at me.
Yes that officer was doing her job and yes I am grateful for the police. But I have to wonder could she have done her job better, YES.
All those other cops on the road that morning probably had a moment where they thought my car could have been the one even though the wrong manufacturer- but instead of jumping they chose to drive up beside me noticed I was not the one they were looking for and drove off.
Not one of those three officers that pointed a gun at me said they were sorry all one said was “she was just doing her job”. All those cars that drove by as this was all happening thought I was a criminal- all those cars thought those cops heroes for catching the bad guy.

I know in time it will just become a memory and I wont think about it so much. But for now I just want everyone to know I did nothing wrong. They made a mistake and a big one!

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Can't catch a break

With this cooler weather it is easier to get things done. And there are tons of things for us to do. I am still canning like crazy, I canned some apples for pie and then with extra tomatoes we were given I made ketchup. I actually tried to make ketchup a few years ago and it was horrible, this time it was much better, but 8 pounds of tomatoes a whole day and just shy of a pint.
Today it is raining and although we need it and today it is okay but we could use a bit of dry weather for the weekend, the forecast doesn't look so good. Yesterday I dug up potatoes and pulled some onions. I still have 3 more rows of potatoes (30 foot rows) to dig and cure and about 300 onion plants to pull. I also pulled all my squash- something chewed on almost everyone! But still 80 squash for fall. Summer is like a whirlwind, it feels as though we never got a break. It is strange how long winter feels but how fast spring, summer and fall goes. Last week our friend Adair and her husband David and their grandson came to the farm. You might remember when she came last year, this time it was a little rainy. She still took some pictures but will be back when the fall colors come in a little more.In a couple of weeks 2 of our cows will be going into butcher and our freezer will once again be full, then we have 2 pigs and some lamb to squeeze in. Plus all that I have frozen for veggies and fruit for the winter. The kid will be two this month- how weird it still feels to be someone's mom!
This weekend Brad and Jamie will be here to help put in a root cellar. I will do my best to document. I am not sure we actually know what we are doing. Ahhh, another adventure!

Thursday, September 17, 2009

The incredible egg- are yours edible?


Since we have discussed milk with some detail I thought I would talk about eggs. First off raising your own eggs is much easier then milking a cow a couple times a day, and if you live in a city and they allow you to keep hens it is worth it for the eggs alone.
Again I have to mention how it is important to know where your eggs come from- a running theme- know your farmer.
We have just under 50 hens and get about 3 dozen eggs a day. Our chickens are locked up at night and let out around 10 am (most if not all eggs are laid by then). The chickens have full access to the farm, and they do take advantage of this. We have a mobile coop that moves behind the cows, the idea is that they will eat the fly larvae in the cow manure. Okay now into the interesting stuff.

Did you know:

Each egg has between 6000 and 8000 pours? Each egg also is laid with a protective barrier called a boom, this boom protects the egg from bacteria and other outside toxins that would otherwise seep in through the pours. It is important that this boom stay on the egg. When you buy eggs from the grocery store they are sterilized- the boom is remove exposing all of those pours to bacteria and other germs that are found in the processing plant, the truck, the grocery store, your fridge. Our eggs are each hand check by us and spot washed if need be, but our nest boxes are kept clean with fresh bedding so there is little need to wash the eggs.

Eggs truly raised on pasture are 20% higher in Omega 3 and are much better for you then commercial eggs. Just because a carton tells you that your eggs are free range means nothing-unless you have actually seen them running around you do not know they are free range. The rules to be labeled as free range are really lenient. Check out this article about free range eggs in Australia, I am sure it holds true for the US too.

Chickens are not vegetarians. Lets just set the record straight niether are cows, sheep, horses, ducks, well anything that it on pasture. Now that does not mean that you should buy commercial feed that has meat-by-products in it, because in fact many do not eat what we call meat. But they do eat bugs and bugs are not plants, so not vegetarian! So those that claim that thier chickens are eating a vegetarian diet are missing a key protein in the chickens diet. Those chickens are producing inferior eggs, unhealthy eggs. Chickens will also eat meat, they will actually cannibalize if given the opportunity.

Chicken eggs come in all sorts of colors, there is no taste difference, although I have a hard time buying white eggs- to clinical for me. The color of the egg depends on the color of the chickens ear lobe. No joke! Here is an article on what really matters- not the color.

Unhappy birds are unhealthy birds- don't buy your eggs in the grocery store without knowing about the eggs and the birds. Better yet find a local farmer and buy from them. They don't have to be feeding organically to be better eggs then you have ever had. If you want to know you are getting the best eggs, raise your own chickens. Read Joel Salatin's book Pastured Poultry Profits before you start, this is our textbook for raising our hens.