News and blog
Greetings from Nature's Harbor Farm!
It's hard to believe that it is August with this amazing break we are having from the record heat. Feels a lot more like fall but here on the farm it still tastes like summer. To me, that means a fresh picked brandywine tomato, fresh mozarella cheese, fresh basil, a little salt and some olive oil. Its like a little bit of heaven on my plate. I love all the wonderful varieties of heirloom tomatoes but the brandywine is my favorite. It might not be the prettiest looking tomato. It is huge, lumpy, and tends to split. It would never ship well, couldn't be packed neatly into boxes, and would probably be left behind if it made it to a supermarket shelf but to me it is perfect. Summer would lose some of its character if this tomato didn't grow in our garden.
I haven't gotten out a newsletter in awhile partly because we finally took a long awaited family vacation. Its the first one since before our second daughter was born! It is very hard to get away from the farm. Thank goodness I have a great friend who took care of everything while we were gone. Believe me, the animals threw every trick at her too.
We could never take a vacation that wasn't somewhat farming related. We headed into Virginia to the Field Day at Joel Salatin's Polyface Farm http://www.polyfacefarms.com/ . This is the Mecca of sustainable farming. Next we stopped at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. We loved the tour of the house and the gardens were just as amazing. They have been painstakingly recreated from Jefferson's notes. He grew over 300 varieties of vegetables! We also managed to eat locally for much of the trip, stopping at farmstands and orchards and purchasing hot dogs and ground beef at Polyface. A cooler and some charcoal and you can eat like a locavore even on vacation. Other fun and educational stops along the way included the beach at Nag's Head, the Jamestown Settlement, and James Madison's Montpelier.
There is a wonderful event happening this Saturday, Aug. 20 in Covington. It is the third annual Farmers' Fair. I have decided to come out of my farmers' market retirement and set up. Farmers' Fair is a great event with a huge farmers' market, great speakers, local restaurants, and booths about sustainable eating and living in the tri-state. I will be selling eggs and answering questions about backyard poultry and beekeeping. Come out and enjoy a great day and say, "Hi." http://www.farmersfair.org/ I look forward to seeing you there.
Finally, to leave you with an amusing image of just how much trouble the animals can get into....
Something you never want to see. A horse's hind end in the door of your chicken coop. That would be Rocky, the 30 year old quarter horse. He might be older than dirt but he has quite the adventurous streak.
Sincerely,
Heather Redden
www.naturesharborfarm.com
Another eventful week has gone by at the farm. We were unable to have our work day because of rain (big surprise) so the perrenial garden is still awaiting rescue. We are at the point that machetes will be in order to hack down the jungle. Ugh. I've set a tentative date for rescheduling the day to July 31. Let me know if you would like to participate. A warning to those of you who grow your own tomatoes. Early blight has been found in the area and I've seen it on my own plants.
The story of this year with the animals is the ongoing sheep saga. It's been quite upsetting for me suffering so many losses in one spring and summer. This week we lost our wonderful old Shetland ram, Big Red. It appears he just laid down and died. He was a sweet and gentlemanly old boy. He was my first ram and I will miss him. He gave us many nice lambs including 4 ewe lambs this season. On a happier note, the two bottle lambs are growing like weeds. They think that it is perfectly acceptable to push their way into the house and basically make a nuisance of themselves. Lately, it seems we have more than free range poultry. I was standing in our driveway the other day marveling at a front yard with the girls in the kiddy pool, lounging lambs, turkeys, guineas, chickens, cats, dog and Rocky, the 30 year old horse who occasionally decides to take himself for a stroll outside of the fence. Everyone seemed perfectly happy with the communal arrangement.
I am planning a drop off in Ft. Thomas at 7:00 and Independence at 8:00 for Wednesday July 6. Please place your order for delicious pastured chicken eggs by noon on Wednesday.
I'm adding options to the chicken order newsletter of last week. I've had some requests to brood ducks and bantams as well as the standard size chickens I normally raise for sale. I have raised both ducks and bantams in the past and am happy to expand what I can offer to you for your urban farms :) I'm also extending the deadline for orders to the night of Monday July 4. The cost for the purchase and brooding of bantams will be $10 each and the cost for ducks will be $12. Standard size chickens will still be $9. Also, don't forget to get your orders in for the heritage meat chickens by Monday night as well.
I'm looking forward to hearing from you and hopefully seeing some of you Wednesday.
Sincerely,
Heather Redden
www.naturesharborfarm.com
The longest day of the year has come and gone and it wasn't exactly a bright start to summer. Dark skies and torrential downpours made it hard to enjoy the solstice. The rain is helping our gardens and our late plantings of squash, cucumbers, and basil seeds are all coming up. A reminder that we are having a work day on Sunday June 26. The project of the day is rescuing the perrenial garden from the weeds. Please contact me if you can attend by Friday night so that I can plan the food.
Now on to business. It's the much awaited newsletter about chicken ordering. If you aren't interested in laying hens or meat chickens then turn back now. This is a long explanation. I hope it won't get too confusing but I'm going to be taking orders for both meat chickens and laying hens at the same time. I'll try to explain this as clearly as possible. First though, a bit of information on the breed of chicken I've chosen to raise for meat this year and why. I will be raising the white laced red Cornish. This is a heritage breed that is in need of conservation. Please check out the wonderful website of the American Livestock Breeds Conservancey to learn about endangered breeds of livestock and the reasons for saving them. http://www.albc-usa.org/ Also, the link to the description of the Cornish. As you'll see, they are the source of the large amount of breast meat in the commercial meat chickens. http://www.albc-usa.org/cpl/cornish.html
I am no longer interested in raising any commercial hybrid chickens for meat. The cornish/rock cross and the Freedom Ranger are both 4 way crosses. It takes two particular line crosses at the grandparent level and then a cross of those offspring at the parent level to result in the chick that is raised for meat. These birds are only produced by a small number of hatcheries that maintain all the proprietary lines and must be shipped through the mail to farmers like me. A farm that uses a heritage breed chicken for meat can breed their own stock and provide food for the farmer and the community even if hatcheries stop servicing small farmers or USPS stops shipping live chicks. I see this as a more sustainable farming model.
Heritage breed birds grow more slowly, forage more, produce a smaller but more flavorful carcass, and do not have any of the health problems such as bad legs and hearts that the commercial birds can have. The downside to this is that they are much more expensive to raise. This is why most pastured poultry producers stick with commercial crosses. Here is where the sticker shock comes. The price will be $8 to $9 per pound. The chickens will weigh 1.5 to 2.5 lbs (this is the true cornish game hen). I will take advance orders until July 3. If you order in advance, you will need to make a deposit of $6 per chicken and your price will be $8 per pound. Any extra chickens not preordered will be $9 per pound. The chickens will be processed at a USDA inspected facility and available for pick up in late October.
If you are interested in laying hens and our brooding service then now is also the time to order. Go to Privett Hatchery http://www.privetthatchery.com/home/default.aspx and pick out the breeds you want. Let me know your order by July 3 and I will brood the chicks for you until they are ready to be off heat lamps and go into your backyard (usually around 6 weeks). The cost is $9 per chick with a $4.50 per chick deposit required at the time of the order. The chicks will arrive at the farm in mid July and be ready to come home in early September.
This is a lot of information to digest and please let me know what questions you have. I'm looking forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Heather Redden
www.naturesharborfarm.com
I am up either very late or very early depending on how you look at it. I am planning another work day on the farm for Sunday June 26. Brandon planted way more than I've been able to take care of in our perennial garden since we did not expect the intense work schedule he is now on. This huge garden is planted with strawberries, blueberries, asparagus, pawpaw trees, hazelnut bushes, gooseberries, elderberries, currants, raspberries, garlic, and some potatoes and it is disappearing in a thicket of weeds. Thanks to a very good friend, our much smaller vegetable garden has been rescued from the thistles and ragweed. The sheep absolutely love to eat ragweed and I've been using them to clear it from the pastures and backyard but I can't put them in the gardens. I tried to mow around the edges of the vegetable garden with some of the sheep but darn Lily kept figuring out ways to prune my tomato plants.
So why the title "Wanted: A Crop Mob" you ask? Its the name that's been given to a group of people who come to a farm for a day to tackle a big chore. It's the garden version of a barn raising. The concept has even made it into a New York Times article http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/magazine/28food-t-000.html . Our first work day in the spring where we tackled some fence building was a lot of fun. When you have a group of people together chatting away no task seems as big or as hard. I'm hoping that there will be some of you who would like to spend the day on a sustainable farm weeding and laying down mulch while surrounded by new friends and lots of nosy animals. The bottle lambs will be around begging for attention and lots of chickens, guineas, and turkeys to entertain you as well. And we can't forget about the silkie/ameracauna cross chick with the 6 toes on one foot. Who wouldn't want to see that? Oh, and I provide yummy food and lots of refreshments to keep you going and send you home with some farm goodies as well. It is also a great learning opportunity if you want to know more about sustainable farming and gardening.
Please let me know if you can help out by Friday June 24 so that I can plan accordingly for the food. If you are coming and can bring garden tools such as rakes, hoes, shovels, weedeaters, and wheelbarrows that would be great as well. I'm also searching for anyone who wants to donate newspapers to the cause. Newspaper laid several layers thick works as a good weed barrier in pathways.
Last newsletter I mentioned bartering for dog cages and cat carriers. I also find guinea pig and rabbit cages handy as well for brooding chicks and safe havens for broody hens. In this picture, you can see my silkie hen sitting on some guinea eggs in an old guinea pig cage of my sister's. And she is using a cat water bowl as a nestbox. I love to repurpose things : ) Every morning I let her out for a constitutional and when she is done she comes and finds me and I pick her up and put her back with her eggs.
Sincerely,
Heather Redden
www.naturesharborfarm.com
I knew it would happen like this, once the rain finally turned off, we were hit in the face with August like temperatures and little rain. There is nothing like shearing sheep or suiting up for the bees and working with sweat dripping onto my glasses. Those of you that missed the first beekeeping class, let me know if you would like me to put together another one. If there is enough interest I will do it again. And let's all enjoy the brief respite of cooler temperatures and lower humidity while it lasts.
The animals are always busy finding new ways to confound me and keep me busy. We ended up with a total of 4 ewe lambs and 5 ram lambs. Just when I was breathing a sigh of relief that lambing was over and all was well, one of my ewes died and left me with twin 11 day old ram lambs to bottle feed. Cake and Quarter took to the bottles pretty quickly and now follow us around the farm and come up to the front porch and let us know when they are hungry. They have even managed to follow us in the door a time or too and explored the house. I'm hoping they have nice fleeces because I already know there is no chance that we will be sending these boys to freezer camp. We've definitely become to attached to them.
I am trying to take another step towards sustainability and allow some of my hens to set eggs. One of our turkey hens sat on 6 eggs very diligently, she hatched out three, but is just down to one poult. Considering that she is a first time mom and was from a hatchery and raised by me, I think it is pretty amazing what she has accomplished on instinct alone. I have an Ameracauna hen with one chick. She is an amazing mother and it is really fun to watch her teach the chick how to forage. Three of my adult guineas have sadly disappeared but I have 21 guinea eggs and one turkey egg under some broody chicken hens in the hopes that they will successfully hatch some replacements. If any of you have dog crates or cat carriers that are collecting dust and would like to trade them for some eggs, future classes, or farm tours please let me know. I use them to allow the broody hens to sit their nests and raise their babies in peace.
I've already managed to miss a drop off date. Last Wednesday was the second of the month. I have added another piece of technology to the farm now in a smart phone. One of my favorite features is the calendar that is helping me to get onto the straight and narrow so that dates won't sneak by me anymore. I program in reminders for things like "pick strawberries" and "cage broody hens" and "send out a newsletter, stupid". I am going to go ahead and do a drop off tomorrow evening, June 15. I'll be in Highland Heights at 7:00 and Independence at 8:00. Also, if these times or locations don't work for you, please let me know if you want to meet up at another time. I make multiple trips a week into Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati so I'm sure we can find something that works for you. And as always, on farm pickup can be arranged as well. I have pastured eggs and spring garlic for sale right now. Please have your order to me by 4:00 PM Wednesday afternoon.
I'm going to send out a separate email with information on the next farm work day and ordering pastured chickens for your freezer. It seems like too much information to put in a single newsletter.
Sincerely,
Heather Redden
www.naturesharborfarm.com
Saturday (as in today), I will be at the Granny's Garden Plant Sale in Loveland answering questions about backyard chicken keeping from 1-5 PM. They have lots of wonderful veggie plants and flowers for sale and the proceeds support the school education programs they do. http://www.grannysgardenschool.com/403-00-0-party-springwebpage.html
The lambs continue to trickle in. We now have 4 ewe lambs and the first boy came a few days ago. Shamrock decided to have her cute little girl the evening of April 28 under a beautiful full rainbow. The baby's name is Goldie. We have three ewes left to lamb. It is loads of fun watching the lambs run races in the pasture and harass the chickens.
I am happy to announce two upcoming events at the farm. The first is a Shearing Day on Sunday, May 29 from 1-5 PM. Come out and learn to shear a sheep using hand shears (I do it the old fashioned way), ask your sheepy questions, and learn about sheep husbandry. Admission is $5. Oh, and you get to see the lambs!
The second event is the much requested Beekeeping Class on Sunday, June 5 starting at 1:00. This class will be very hands on. We will spend time looking inside my hives and learning about the biology and art of beekeeping. We will then have a follow up question and answer session. I am limiting the class to 10 people so that everyone can have plenty of opportunity to see and ask questions. I will plan a second date if there are more people interested. It will be geared mostly to beginners although if you already have bees but would like to see how hives are managed using absolutely no chemicals then you are more than welcome. You will need your own veil as I don't have extras. Veils are relatively inexpensive ($20 or less). No fancy suit is needed; long pants and long shirt with gloves and veil will keep you protected. No one will be allowed in my beeyard without a veil so don't even try it! The cost for the class is $15. Please let me know of your interest as soon as possible. Payment will be necessary in advance via mail or Paypal to hold your spot.
Finally, and I apologize that this became ridiculously long, the schedule for summer drop offs. I will be coming to Ft. Thomas and Independence on the second and fourth Wednesdays of every month. That means this Wednesday, May 11 to start. I will be in Ft. Thomas at 7:00 and Independence at 8:00. I'll need to find an alternative drop site in Ft. Thomas so as not to interfere with the farmers' market at that time. Suggestions? Orders will be due by Wednesday at noon. We currently have available:
1. Pastured eggs-$5 a dozen
2. Lamb-riblets, steaks, liver, heart-quantities are very limited and the price is $7.50 per pound.
3. Chicken feet at $2.50 per pound
4. Spring Garlic-$0.50 per stalk
Lots for you to think about and I hope to hear from and see you soon.
Sincerely,
Heather Redden
www.naturesharborfarm.com
Spring is here but it hasn't brought us very many warm sunny days yet. I hope everyone has been surviving the torrential rains and wild winds. We are pretty used to wind on our farm. We sit up on a ridge so wind is a given. Since we like to use portable shelters for our chickens and sheep, this can sometimes present a challenge. We have two hoop house shelters for the chickens that we drag around the pasture. They were both built last spring and up until a few weeks ago always stayed where we left them. The winds of late have moved them three different times! The adult hens seem to just ride along in the shelter on their roosts but we had a small disaster when the shelter the four week old chicks are in moved. It only moved about 6 inches and didn't crush any chicks but some chicks were killed when the whole group panicked and piled up against one wall. It was not a pleasant thing to find in the morning. Strange that these shelters went through many wind storms last year without incident and now they are moving.
Everything is turning green and blooming which is always wonderful to see. We have been eating some delicious asparagus. This large asparagus bed was planted last spring. It is only lightly producing this season but watch out come next spring! We should actually have some to sell. The garlic is also up and so we currently have spring garlic which is wonderful in omelettes or anything else you like to put garlic in. We have had another lamb born here since the last update. A cute single black ewe lamb to a first time mom. The pair is doing great. It is wonderful to see how instinctively these sheep know how to mother. Also and update on Callie, the ewe that had the lambing problems. She is up on her feet again and doing fine. You would never know by looking at her what an ordeal she went through.
I promised some time ago that I would let you all know as soon as I decided which farmers' market I would be setting up at this year. It has truly been something I have agonized over. There were many pros and cons for me to work through and in the end I've decided that I'm taking a year off from farmers' markets. I need to devote more time to my children and to developing programs on the farm. This in no way means we're giving up on growing products for market. I just want to handle it a little differently. I will continue making drop offs in Independence and Ft. Thomas. You will be able to place an order and get your items and not have to worry about whether you can make it to the farmers' market before the eggs sell out. I would like to come up with a semi regular schedule for this and would love to hear your input as to whether a week day evening time or a weekend time is better. Obviously, I can't please everyone but I would like to try to find a time that works for most of us. Also, you are always welcome to make an appointment and come to the farm to pick up your order. It's a lovely drive in the country and you can spend a little time hanging out with the animals.
I know this is short notice but I am scheduling a drop off for Saturday afternoon. I want to make sure that anyone who wants eggs for Easter Sunday can get them. I will be in Ft. Thomas at 1:00 and in Independence at 2:00. I will meet Independence customers in the parking lot behind the courthouse so as not to interfere with the vendors packing up in the farmers' market space. I have the following available to order:
1. Pastured eggs $5 a dozen
2. Lamb-riblets, steaks, ground, liver, heart-quantities are very limited and the price is $7.50 per pound.
3. Chicken feet at $2.50 per pound
4. Spring Garlic-$0.50 per stalk
Please email your order to me by 8:00 AM Saturday morning.
Thank you to all of our supporters. We hope you'll stick with us as we continue down our path of figuring out what sustainable farming means to us and I hope to create some interesting educational opportunities here at the farm. Stay tuned for meat chicken preorder info and future work at the farm and educational programming.
Sincerely,
Heather Redden
www.naturesharborfarm.com
I've adjusted the time of the drop offs this Sunday. I will now be in Ft. Thomas at noon and Independence at 1:00. I was able to change my schedule so I wouldn't conflict quite so much with church times. If you'd like to place an order, please have it to me by 8:00AM Sunday morning.
Thanks,
Heather Redden
www.naturesharborfarm.com
Greetings!
Spring finally seems to be in the air here at the farm. The peach tree and star magnolia are just letting a few blooms open up. We have the first batch of layer chicks in the brooder. They are three weeks old now. Brandon has already planted (with some help) some blueberry, currant, gooseberry, and elderberry bushes, raspberries, 90 asparagus crowns, and about 750 strawberries. We decided to put a lot more focus on perrenial food crops this winter.
The first set of lambs arrived on Saturday. Twin Icelandic/Shetland cross 
girls. They are quite adorable. More pictures are on the website. We also experienced the downside of lambing. For the first time we had a ewe have lambing difficulties. She was carrying triplets. I learned (with the help of a friend) how to reach in, find all the body parts, get them lined up properly, and help pull the lamb. Unfortunately, she had suffered complications and all the lambs were born dead. The ewe is recovering with some assistance from our vet and should be on her feet soon. I learned many valuable new skills but it was a very heartwrenching experience. Not that we needed it really, but it is a reminder that farming is not all just collecting up eggs and watching the lambs frolic. For the play by play of the drama as it unfolded, you can read it on the farm's Facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Natures-Harbor-Farm/216328054616
I am planning drop offs in Ft. Thomas and Independence for this Sunday, April 10. I will be in Ft. Thomas at 11:00 and Independence at noon. I have lots and lots of eggs. This is the time to stock up on pastured eggs before the farmers' market season starts. They can be frozen without the shells. You can crack enough into a freezer bag for a scrambled egg breakfast or for baking or you can make personalized omelets. Mix the eggs with each family member's favorite ingredients, mark the bag with the person's name, and freeze. You can then grab your omelette from the freezer and cook it up in a jiffy at a later date. I have the following items available:
1. Pastured eggs $5 a dozen
2. Lamb-riblets, steaks, ground, liver, heart-quantities are very limited and the price is $7.50 per pound.
3. Chicken feet at $2.50 per pound
Please email me your order by 7 AM on Sunday morning. We are out of pasture raised whole chickens for now. We are considering how we want to proceed with the meat birds and will keep you posted.
Sincerely,
Heather Redden
www.naturesharborfarm.com
Greetings!
I've decided that it not only takes a village to raise a child but it also takes one to keep a farm going. From supporting us by purchasing products and services to friendships to physical labor, all are part of the recipe for successful farming. We are excited and nervous to see how the first work day on our farm goes. This is a reminder that the work on the farm day is Sunday, March 20. The weather is supposed to be beautiful and the first chicks will have arrived on Friday so there will be babies to ooh and ahh over. Every time I go outside I expect to see the first lamb but no sign of one yet. Maybe by the weekend?
Our plan is to get started around 9:30 AM and work until we are worn out whenever that might be. We plan to keep this flexible and just see how the day goes. If you can't come in the morning don't worry, we can put you to work whenever you arrive. We will get started with a little breakfast and then split up for various tasks depending on how many people we have to work with. We'll break for lunch and some enjoyable conversation and then back to the projects. Thank you to those of you who have already committed to coming. If you would like to help out please let us know with an email by Friday night so that we can get a head count for food. If you can bring along tools that you think might be helpful, that would be great. We will be fence building and doing other clean up chores around the farm. Hand tools, weedeaters, chainsaws, garden tools might all come into play. Please do not bring power tools that you are not confident in using. One Air Care flight from our farm is enough for a lifetime, believe me. If you'd like to bring a dish, we can turn lunch into a potluck. We will be providing the main dish and drinks for the day along with breakfast. We'll send you home with Thank You goodies as well. Hopefully, this will be a great learning and community building experience for all of us.
Sincerely,
Heather Redden
www.naturesharborfarm.com