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Fall at Nature's Harbor Farm
Posted 10/4/2009 10:47pm by Heather Redden.
Greetings Everyone!
Fall is here, yipee! This is our favorite season. It probably seems hard to believe that any farmer would like fall more than spring but it just speaks to us. So much so that we were married outside in the fall. We are coming up on 9 years together in a few more weeks. Fall is the beginning of another type of growing season for us. Brandon is in the process of cleaning out the greenhouse. He used it to start plants this spring and then it was left to it's own devices over the summer. The result was our own semi-tropical ecosystem consisting of volunteer tomato plants, weeds, and three goldenrod plants that were over 13 feet tall! That has to be some sort of record! Lots of little animals were living in there too. Brandon attempted to save all the praying mantises that he could find and also saved 5 mantis egg cases so we will have lots of baby praying mantises come next spring. The chickens figured out what was going on and started waiting by the door to see what Brandon was chasing out. Chickens are omnivores, not vegetarians, even though some egg companies would like you to think that they are somehow doing the hens a favor by feeding them a 100% vegetarian diet. One of the hens caught a large praying mantis and another one caught a baby milksnake. We weren't quick enough to save the mantis but we did save the milksnake.
Our three turkeys continue to entertain us at every turn. They are extremely curious and always want to see what we are doing if we are outside. They escort us to the car if we are leaving and come running when they here us pull in. Sorry guys but the hen is smarter than the two tom turkeys. All three turkeys roost on top of the chicken coop at night. However, if the weather is bad, the hen sleeps inside the coop. The toms don't have enough sense to get out of the rain!
I wrote the previous paragraph Friday night. Today the tom turkeys proved they do have some sense. I was in the house when the turkeys started making a noise I had never heard before. I didn't know what it meant but it definiteyly sounded upsetting. One of the toms was calling repeatedly and behaving oddly. I ran out the door just in time to see a hawk swooping in low over the backyard and heading for the young chickens' pasture. I was able to run out and scare the hawk before it made a kill. I know that chickens have a specific call for a predator in the sky and now I know that turkeys do also. Animals do talk and if you pay attention you can learn to decipher some of what they say.
We will be taking the last batch of chickens for processing the end of October and will have them at the last farmers' market of the season. We have learned a lot about raising chickens for meat this summer. A lot of the lessons have been very painful both emotionally and economically. I would still like to do them again next year but we will have to make some changes in order to make it work. The good thing we've learned is that there is just no comparison in taste between grocery store chicken and those raised on pasture. We will always raise chickens at least for ourselves from now on. The hard lessons we've learned are that we must seriously revamp our shelter and fencing system and that we will probably have to change the breed of chicken we are raising to make this economically feasible on a scale for selling to others. Don't worry though, we still refuse to raise frankenchickens and we won't ever compromise the health or well-being of the chickens we care for just to make a buck. Farming is all about making mistakes, learning from them, and moving forward.
We have been very surprised and pleased at how well the wheatgrass has been received by those of you with indoor cats. We will continue to grow it this winter in the greenhouse. We would also be willing to grow it in larger quantities for anyone who wants to make their own juice. Just let us know if that appeals to you.
One of the members of this list wanted to buy some eggs for incubating for a home school project. Please contact me because I have a couple of "working" roosters now if you are still interested. Also, a few of you expressed interest in stew hens. We will be taking a few to be processed. The number of these will be very limited. Contact me if you would like one.
Enjoy the beautiful fall season!
Heather and Brandon Redden
www.naturesharborfarm.com
Fall is here, yipee! This is our favorite season. It probably seems hard to believe that any farmer would like fall more than spring but it just speaks to us. So much so that we were married outside in the fall. We are coming up on 9 years together in a few more weeks. Fall is the beginning of another type of growing season for us. Brandon is in the process of cleaning out the greenhouse. He used it to start plants this spring and then it was left to it's own devices over the summer. The result was our own semi-tropical ecosystem consisting of volunteer tomato plants, weeds, and three goldenrod plants that were over 13 feet tall! That has to be some sort of record! Lots of little animals were living in there too. Brandon attempted to save all the praying mantises that he could find and also saved 5 mantis egg cases so we will have lots of baby praying mantises come next spring. The chickens figured out what was going on and started waiting by the door to see what Brandon was chasing out. Chickens are omnivores, not vegetarians, even though some egg companies would like you to think that they are somehow doing the hens a favor by feeding them a 100% vegetarian diet. One of the hens caught a large praying mantis and another one caught a baby milksnake. We weren't quick enough to save the mantis but we did save the milksnake.
Our three turkeys continue to entertain us at every turn. They are extremely curious and always want to see what we are doing if we are outside. They escort us to the car if we are leaving and come running when they here us pull in. Sorry guys but the hen is smarter than the two tom turkeys. All three turkeys roost on top of the chicken coop at night. However, if the weather is bad, the hen sleeps inside the coop. The toms don't have enough sense to get out of the rain!
I wrote the previous paragraph Friday night. Today the tom turkeys proved they do have some sense. I was in the house when the turkeys started making a noise I had never heard before. I didn't know what it meant but it definiteyly sounded upsetting. One of the toms was calling repeatedly and behaving oddly. I ran out the door just in time to see a hawk swooping in low over the backyard and heading for the young chickens' pasture. I was able to run out and scare the hawk before it made a kill. I know that chickens have a specific call for a predator in the sky and now I know that turkeys do also. Animals do talk and if you pay attention you can learn to decipher some of what they say.We will be taking the last batch of chickens for processing the end of October and will have them at the last farmers' market of the season. We have learned a lot about raising chickens for meat this summer. A lot of the lessons have been very painful both emotionally and economically. I would still like to do them again next year but we will have to make some changes in order to make it work. The good thing we've learned is that there is just no comparison in taste between grocery store chicken and those raised on pasture. We will always raise chickens at least for ourselves from now on. The hard lessons we've learned are that we must seriously revamp our shelter and fencing system and that we will probably have to change the breed of chicken we are raising to make this economically feasible on a scale for selling to others. Don't worry though, we still refuse to raise frankenchickens and we won't ever compromise the health or well-being of the chickens we care for just to make a buck. Farming is all about making mistakes, learning from them, and moving forward.
We have been very surprised and pleased at how well the wheatgrass has been received by those of you with indoor cats. We will continue to grow it this winter in the greenhouse. We would also be willing to grow it in larger quantities for anyone who wants to make their own juice. Just let us know if that appeals to you.
One of the members of this list wanted to buy some eggs for incubating for a home school project. Please contact me because I have a couple of "working" roosters now if you are still interested. Also, a few of you expressed interest in stew hens. We will be taking a few to be processed. The number of these will be very limited. Contact me if you would like one.
Enjoy the beautiful fall season!
Heather and Brandon Redden
www.naturesharborfarm.com
2 Comments »
George Kelbert said,
need a more direct way of getting to the red yeast rice listings.
Heather Redden said,
I'm sorry but red yeast rice isn't one of our products. Did you find a listing somewhere that said it was? If so, I'd like to know what it was so I can correct it. Thanks, Heather