Chicken Fencing

We really wanted to have free range chickens, but alas, I couldn’t stand it!

We fenced in the big garden, but we have a lot of gardens around the yard. Every bed had to either be fenced or repaired almost everyday as chickens are diggers.

The new rhubarb looks like poop as the chickens ripped away the soil everyday, I had to cover it with deer fencing as the chickens were eating rhubarb leaves, which are poisonous to people so I didn’t think the chickens would eat them. Jokes on me they ate them…and they all lived.

The chickens started ranging further afield as well, on the edge of the neighbors property and I didn’t want them to become nuscince to the neighbors.

We also have a fox skulking around. I scared it away one evening, she was definitely close enough to kill one of the chickens that were out. It was a nice evening so I had the window open and heard the chickens getting riled up, looked out the window and saw the fox. T and I went out and rounded up the chickens and they went right in…few.

A fox will come back if they see easy pickings so our best bet to keep them alive is to keep them caged as we don’t have a rooster. We have had roosters in the past, they were loud and they all got mean at some point and ended up in the stew pot.

We had some chicken’s that were jump/flying the fence and some that found the darndest holes to squeeze out of around the base.

Roosting in the honeysuckle

We tried electric fencing, which was a flop and plugging holes and running a higher string around the top of the coop. They were getting out of everything. Finally we took some fencing that we had used to create extra run space last summer in an attempt to give them fresh pasture often, without free ranging, and River attached it to the top of the other fencing, making the fence between 8 and 10 feet tall in some places. The Littles and I staked the bottom of the fence about every foot with tent stakes. I am happy to say that for the first time in months, the chickens stayed in the run all day! Whoot! I was so happy, I didn’t need to do any bed repairs yesterday and I can start building up the rhubarb bed again!

Hopefully the chickens have done enough damage to the tick population in our yard that we won’t have a major recurrence this year, our yard has been remarkably tick free.

Here’s to garden beds that don’t get dug up and ladies safe from the foxes!

Food For Sale!

We have some items for sale! Our little store is not ready yet, and we have a limited quantity of some items available, which I will pick fresh as requested. Call ahead if you would like them ready for pick up. 207-400-9898

I will be home all day today to fill orders.

Rhubarb $4 a pound

Yummy Rhubarb

Red Winecap Mushrooms $5 a pound

These are a meaty mushroom when used fresh, that takes on the flavors of whatever it is cooked with

Kale $3 a bag

This is kale that grew back from some of last years stems. The kale is so tender, we use it for salads, delish!

Chaga $2.50 an ounce, bulk pricing available

Locally sourced within 20 miles of Firehouse Farm, available for shipping, call or text me with questions 207-400-9898

Dried Mushrooms $4.50 a Bag

Available for shipping, quantity pricing available

 

Maple Syrup $23 a quart, Amber or Dark available, get it well it lasts!

Amber on the left, Dark on the right

 

 

Mother’s Day Weekend

We squared up our away field this weekend now that it has been dry for a bit. It was lovely to see it looking like a garden not just a big pile of manure! River worked really hard, laying down cardboard and spreading it out to about a foot deep in a 30 X 40 foot garden. We planted 45 pounds of potatoes of three varieties and some onion sets and shallots. Our away field is in a beautiful location not far from our home, overlooking the Kennebec River. We feel very fortunate to have the space to use. Our neighbors want to improve the soil in the field and we needed space for our farm garden so it is a win/win.

The boys helped cut up seed potatoes, some of them might have been a little small, our five year old was very enthusiastic. He even planted his own little garden.

On Sunday we gathered seaweed to use as a mulch on the beds.

Seaweed provides many nutrients to the plants; 60 trace minerals including nitrogen, potassium and magnesium. All these minerals help grow healthy plants and a healthy plant resists disease just as a person with a strong immune system will resist becoming sick.

Seaweed mulch also helps keep the soil moist which means less watering is needed. I recently read that slugs and birds dislike gardens with seaweed in it because of the salt and the sharp edges when it dries.

I have heard that some people leave the seaweed for a bit to lesson the salt content before putting it on the garden. I personally put it right on the garden to make sure all the nutrients go right to my plants.

You can buy seaweed fertilizer at your local garden shop, but if you live near the sea, it is a good excuse to go to the beach at low tide, the children enjoy the tide pools and you will enjoy the benefits of seaweed on the garden. I love multifunctional options!

Asparagus! And Big Breakfast Muffins

Asparagus, fresh from the garden this morning, less then 10 minutes from picking to plate, so tasty! I also put some in these Big Breakfast Muffins…

https://iquitsugar.com/recipe/big-breakfast-muffins/

I never have everything in the recipe at the same time, so as a (mostly) seasonal eating family, I put in what I have, caramelized onions are fabulous as well as a dab of goat cheese (my brother has goats, so I usually make my own when they are milking) or sour cream add a creamy texture. We usually have Firehouse Farm breakfast sausage in them as well. I have also used whey leftover from making Greek yogurt or goat cheese in place of milk, this gives a slightly different flavor and is also delicious.

My oldest, who does not like eggs, will eat these, just don’t call them mini quiche!

This mornings muffins had sour cream, Firehouse Farm breakfast sausage, asparagus, chives and rosemary harvested this morning and eggs from our chickens. I use gluten free flour as I have celiac disease and they taste delicious. The nice thing about these are they are customizable, someone doesn’t eat meat, no problem, this one doesn’t like asparagus, leave it out of a few. So easy and quick, also good as leftovers.

My muffins have never looked like those pictured in the recipe. But they sure taste good!

Pruning

I pruned our gooseberry and raspberry plants the other day. I am always hesitant to cut too much even though every you tube video shows many of the canes being cut.

We have both summer bearing and ever bearing raspberries and black raspberries . They are all pruned differently.

These are all mixed together in our beds because I didn’t know when my first plants were given to me that one was a black raspberry and later didn’t realize that everbearing and summer bearing were pruned differently either.

Now that I am a farmer, I am trying to sort this out a bit to make it easier harvest and care for the plants, some of the plants are well established so I don’t like to move them too much.

I did a little reorganization, not too much, I should really just go for it , and I pruned things like a wild woman. My Aunt Willow always said that you had to hurt the plants a little bit to remind them they were alive. She was right, we get a much better harvest of fruit on all our trees and canes when we prune them.

The gooseberries are at the point where they have been so badly pruned that many of them were laying on there sides. It seems they form new plants by growing roots off the ends just like black raspberries do, so we have a long line of gooseberry bushes now. This is lovely and I will try to keep up with my pruning in the future to establish a better growth and harvest program for our cane fruit.