So, this weekend I had the good fortune to be asked about my little farm. The person who asked was considering keeping a few chickens and wanted to know more about them in particular. There were the usual questions like - what kind of fence do you have for them, can I keep them in my garden, and do I need a rooster if I just want eggs. This all led me to think I need to do a chicken keeping 101 post but for right now, I'm going to rant about the concept of a no kill farm. And yes, it will be a rant so if you'd prefer not to read one while you enjoy your morning tea or coffee, please scroll down to my lovely post on greywater or feel free to dip into the archives. For those of you who are up for a rant... let's go. As is too often the case, the conversation came around to "do your chickens hatch?" and then "do you kill the roosters?" which was followed with the predictable "I never would". Now, to give this person credit, she is someone who is a vegetarian who works hard to better the lives of animals. She buys eggs from local people who have good relationships with their chickens and milk and cheese from people who have good relationships with their cows. She truly tries to live by her code and I do respect that. It's also um... well... wrong. Here is what I said to her: "I truly don't believe you can have a no kill situation when you have any animals in your life and I certainly can't see how you can with farm animals. You might not kill them but you're definitely part of ending a life." She was horrified and you may be too, so let me share with you some of the realities. Oh - bona fides first. Not only do I come from a long line of farming, I have been keeping farm animals for about 10 years of my adult life. The Reluctant Goatherd, had a long tenure as an animal control officer during which he was certified in humane euthanasia (spoiler alert - a well placed shot is the most humane way to kill an animal) as well as (funnily enough) being a paramedic. LG (aka the Young Man) is neither of those things but is a very capable teen who has had to euthanize beloved animals (by his choice -never by our coercion). For most of his life, this has been our lifestyle. We do process our own poultry and have been part of raising and transporting pigs for slaughter. Ok - back to the reality. In my experience, when you have animals in your life, you also have death. Now there are the horrible accidents when a dog (or other animal) is hit by a car and suffering and you need to put it out of it's misery but more specifically, when you're talking about livestock, there are other factors at play. The obvious one for me, when talking about poultry (which we all know is a gateway livestock) is that roosters kill or be killed. There's no way around it. Even if you have laying hens, you are part of something dying. For me this is especially poignant because I just had to take a favourite hen over to the funeral spot as a result of a bad rooster/hen ratio. For those who don't know what that means, rather than the 8 or 10 hens to 1 rooster I prefer to have, I have about 3 hens to 1 rooster. This means hens who are favourites of the roos tend to have a rough go of things. This hen was so badly misused that she was put into isolation a few days ago but succumbed to her injuries over night. It was especially tragic because yesterday it seemed she turned the corner. She was a beautiful blue laced red Wyandotte. Now, I take full responsibility for her needless death. It's a shameful result of not having enough time (or making the time because let's just be honest - here I am blogging and they're still running around) to process my surplus roosters. How did I get surplus roosters? That's simple - a lot of chickens come as "straight run" from hatcheries. And when you have roosters and good heritage breed hens, inevitably you'll end up with someone on a nest. When they hatch you often have about 50/50 hens to roos. So, the roos can kill the hens and they'll kill each other, if you don't have enough space for them and sometimes, even if you do. We have lost a few that way but fortunately, we have a lot of space so they generally can keep away from each other. Now you might be reading this and thinking: "no problem, I'm not going to have roosters so I won't order any straight run chickens, just hens. I won't keep roosters so no fighting or baby making and therefore no killing." But no, that's not really how it works either. Keeping hens means there are roosters out there, somewhere, and I can pretty much guarantee they're part of the surplus. If you buy them from a backyard producer, that producer is doing something with those roos, likely eating them. If you buy from a commercial hatchery, most of the roos won't make it past the first couple of days. Some are sent to people like me, who have ordered straight run or actual roosters from the hatchery. The straight run chicks almost always come at a disproportionately high ratio of roos to hens- I'm often in the 75-80% roosters to 25% hens range. So not what happens in nature but once I understood what happens to the roos that don't get sold, I was less upset about it. The hatcheries also send the surplus along for extra warmth with the babies being shipped. This is a good thing given how cold they can make it on their long journey from hatchery to home (which is a post for another day). As I understand it, the hatchery assumes that if you're ordering straight run or roosters, you've got a plan for your own surplus roos so they feel ok about sending more along. Some of our favourite roosters have been a result of the "bonus" roos they have included. Who could blame them when you consider that the ones they don't find homes for get sent along a conveyor belt to be killed (I will spare you that pic though a quick Google search will uncover it). Some supposedly go to wild animal rehab centres and other such places to feed the animals which, to my mind, is definitely a lesser evil. Dairy animals are no different. How many of us are horrified at the thought of eating veal? I know I was until I learned that the alternative to veal is killing the bull calves from dairy cows at birth. Not nice. And now there is a move to have rose veal (which really started in the UK). Rose veal? Dairy bull calves are raised not in a crate but in larger pens with other calves where they're able to play and have a much greater quality of life. On higher welfare farms, they're given a great deal of space -that's what makes them a rosy colour which historically, was undesirable in raising veal. And then there are the other brutal realities - like when your goatling has some sort of abnormality that causes an intestinal obstruction that in turn causes massive, unrepairable pain in the middle of the night. Do we call out the vet to euthanize him with sodium pentobarbital which then renders the carcass a risk to anything that could come across it, never mind prolongs his suffering, especially if the vet is already at an emergency? Or, do we do it safely, humanely, and quickly at home? I guess I just hope that people stop shying away from killing and learn to accept death as part of life - and certainly as part of farming. Learn more about it so that when the time comes, you can be as humane in death as you will are in life.
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So, I live in a place that's gifted with abundant water. And I do mean abundant - there are lakes and streams and ponds. Some years we have more abundance than we want and everything is water logged. This year has started off a bit spooky. The forest and ground have been painfully, frighteningly dry for over a month with just a little rain here and there. We do have a few tricks in place for times of drought. Our whole family has been known to run around the house like loons, placing every single bucket we have under the eves to catch the rare July or August drips. That water gets used for dyeing and in the garden. We also do this: Yep, that's a hose that goes from my bathtub to the garden. The water from nightly bathing (part of my sleep routine and not to be missed except in the most dire of circumstances) is kept overnight and reused the next day to water the garden and/or the greenhouse.
As far as water goes, it's one of the ways I've come closest to having my cake and eating it too. It's been raining here and I am so glad. It was frightening to see the forest so dry so early in the season. We had a good day of rain yesterday and today, we woke up to overcast skies. Here's hoping there's more today. It's funny how we crave the sun and forget that water is every bit as important to our gardens.
Also it can be beautiful and such a gift to be curled up with a good book while the rain comes down. Such a great day. I was lucky enough to share Saturday with my family and some wonderful friends. And then we rolled right into Sunday with a quiet, early morning of writing and tea (bliss), followed by reading a new book, lunch out at one of my favourite places, and then, the greenhouse. There may have been impulse purchases but really, is it a bad thing when we're talking about food plants? I think the most splurgy splurge was the massive tomato that's a total cheater and going straight to the greenhouse. It came home with fruit on it! Yes, it's probably been given miracle gro and whatever else but really, at this time of year we're all so desperate for those sorts of things that I think it's an ok cheat! And, when I look at what I'm paying for organic tomatoes when I have a craving for them that I just have to satisfy... I think it's an ok trade off financially. I know it's not coming to my house organic but it won't be pesticided etc. now. So, not organic but probably less interfered with than a conventionally grown tomato at the grocery store. And frankly, I was eating chips this weekend so... Let's not think I have too much of a halo when it comes to being organic! I did want to share with you my berry planting experience. I think people don't realize some key things about berry bush planting (I didn't until fairly recently) so, let's go through it step by step. First of all, select your site carefully. Perhaps you're a bit like me (that is to say Scottish - I'm a MacDonald by birth) and, as my husband likes to remind me, that informs the basis of all accounting. For exmaple - I have a garden with some patches of poor soil (none really, dust and rocks) and some lush, rich places. I see that the wild raspberries, currants, etc all do just fine in these places so what do I do? In the past I did not pick the rich, lush soil for my plants because I'm always saving that for... I'm not sure what. Right now it looks like a healthy crop of cleavers in some of those beds to be honest with you. And then I would be surprised when, imagine this - my plants had the crummiest harvest ever or just gave up and died. I realized last year that outside of my stinginess, I was basing this decision on flawed logic. First of all, the wild plants are meant to be where they are -in a few generations of keeping my poor plants alive they may have adapted to the conditions. But, second of all, even if that were to happen, they rarely give us much fruit. Now, what they do give is delicious and packed with flavour but not abundant or an easy harvest. So, for a wonder, I have selected lovely sites which I am determined not to neglect watering-wise this year. They're right in the usual path of sprinklers etc. So, we have good soil and water - off to a good start. Berries (and fruit in general) usually want a bit to eat to get it started. The phosphorous is essential to forming the fruit and balancing out nitrogen. Lots of people think "manure, manure, manure" which is great but if you have too much nitrogen and not enough phosphorous, you will end up with lopsided soil that makes lovely leaves and no fruit. You don't want to get carried away mind you, they do need some nitrogen (as well as a bit of potassium) but blueberries especially will usually get what they need if you soil is generally healthy. If it's a bit poor or played out, and you would rather not use bone meal, I'm told you can bury a banana peel with it and that will provide both potassium and phosphorous in small enough amounts. If you buy a commercial fertilizer, you would no longer be considered an "organic" grower. That might be just fine by you - like I'm fine with my tomato choice - but it may not. You now know and can make the call. The other very, very, very important thing about most berries is that they want an acid soil. So, we have our site and our soil and our amendments (more important in well used soil). Now let's get some plants. First of all, your family may select a beautiful looking bush like this: This blueberry is a bit leggy but that actually makes it perfect for where I wanted it to go. It's a happy, full of fruit and blooms little plant. It could stand to be a bit leafier and a bit bushier but it's early in the season and it's very healthy - not a speck of an unhappy leaf on it. There is one major problem with this bush though. Can you spot it? That's right, it's the berries and blooms. The very thing a lot of us think we want when we buy plants are really not a good idea. When the plant is fruiting, it's not worrying about establishing good roots. So, the general rule is that if you buy a plant that is fruiting, you pull off every bloom and fruit to let the root system dig in. My Scottishness won't allow that by any stretch so I will be leaving this baby in the pot until the fruiting is done, with a plan to plant it in the autumn. This means (especially with a blueberry) that you must ensure a good supply of water to it. Pots dry out quickly as it is but blueberries are inclined to more moisture than not so I see twice a day watering for me though it will be worth it. So, leaving our lovely blueberry behind, let's plant some raspberries and blackberries. Raspberries and blackberries are a bit less fussy than the blueberries - especially when it comes to moisture. They want to be watered, of course, but they prefer a well drained spot and while they will do ok with some shade, they'd rather full sun (unless you're in an area that's much hotter than mine). My in-laws have always had the best raspberries of anyone I know - for production, flavour, and size. They have a fairly open site for theirs but lots of trees give some shade at various points throughout the day. It's not a huge patch but it keeps them in raspberries through the summer with enough to freeze and jam as well. I'm aiming for that. So, we have four raspberries - so cute. One is a heavy fruiting, hardy June bearing one (with a second, August crop likely), one is a golden (and I think autumn bearing), and two are everbearing. I was going for an assortment. And the spot I picked as my raspberry patch has room for one more to climb up along the fence so... if I notice any gaps in my raspberries, I'll have a space to fill it. This is another long-known, recently-learned lesson. If you don't crowd everything in, they have room to grow and, you can even add in when needed. So, this is a lovely hole for a berry plant - a chicken dug it earlier in the day. Sheesh! It's not really lovely - that was sarcasm. Right now I have a chicken/garden problem. Don't let anyone tell you chickens are all good in the garden -sometimes they do horrific damage. Here is a much better hole. You can't see the amazing worms in that picture so here's a close up of them. There were so many I killed a bunch by accident just getting the hole dug. This is dirt that's been made over the last couple of years. It's the old manure (which includes straw and the hay they have rejected) from the goats on top of the previous sheep pen. It's pretty lush. When I need to add nitrogen to my soil (almost never, just ask my carrots), I just grab some of this stuff. It makes a great, slow release mulch. Goat manure (as well as sheep and rabbit and, I think, cow) are all considered cool. That means, they won't burn the plants they are supposed to be helping. A lot of people still compost their manure because of the concern for pathogens. I figure I'm around them all of the time and handling them so... I'll take my chances. Most of it is old anyway but, your mileage may vary. Anyway, back to the berries! I like to really soak the plant in its pot and the hole before the meal goes in. I find the plants tend to come free much easier and, especially when it's been so dry here, a bit of moisture to start things off never goes amiss. Add your bone meal (or banana peel, if you'd rather). I didn't leave that much in there - check what the instructions say. A side note on bone meal - I'm not a fan of the whole industrial food production industry - and especially not of the industrial meat production. I do feel more comfortable using things like this than buying a commercially reared steak simply because if the animal is being killed, I hope every part of it will be put to good use and not wasted. I also suspect strongly that they're not going to be killing cows just for their bones to make bone meal anytime soon. So there's the raspberry, all tucked in and heavily mulched with old straw. I did the same thing for all of the berry bushes - except the blueberry.
Happy planting! Is this not the season of the sprout? In the greenhouse, so many things are finally coming up. These are from a few days ago - Thursday, I do believe. There are pea shoots, broccoli and cauliflower. The peas went into the garden this past weekend. The broccoli and cauliflower should be getting divided into their own wee pots this coming weekend. These ones are corn - a gorgeous, multicoloured kernal corn, angelica (which I have never yet been able to start from seed), and artichokes (never before attempted for the garden).
I know it may seem like we're behind compared to where you are. Here, there is still frost on the water buckets when we get up in the morning. And, while we don't worry about stuffing the fire up, we do have a fire before bed and one again in the morning to take the edge off. This is Zone 4. I am a maker. I love to make things -whether yarn, garden beds, bread, books, or messes. It's taken me a long time to figure that out. I love to have my farm and I love to write and I love lots of things but at the end of the day, I love to learn the process of making things; and I don't care about finishing them
It's also more than being a craft person or artist - I feel like it's a bigger thing. I first started thinking about this when I looked into a Craft Council membership. They had a questionnaire about how you identify - craft person, artisan, artist, maker, crafter, etc. I often use craft as a descriptor but I think there is something deeper than that and different. And, I'm told, when you say "craft" people think "arts and crafts" and glue sticks and glitter. While there is nothing wrong with glitter and glue sticks are important in book making, I can see what they're getting at. Craft person seems pretty specific and I used to identify with it - but what about all of the things I am making that don't have a purpose beyond art? That's not (technically) craft. And writing? Some people say that writing is a craft, some say art. And then there are textiles. For a while I was happy to call myself a textile artist but then I had a well intentioned friend tell me paper crafts aren't really part of textiles. And sure enough, she's right. So, back to the drawing board. Artisan has a kind of "old world" connotation that appeals to me but that's not quite right either. And while some of what I do is really old world, a lot of it has a really new world kind of spin on it. Beyond that, there is a whole bunch of social weight to all of these terms and you have to be prepared for that, no matter what you call yourself. If you're a crafter, you get the 'little kid, glue sticks, and glitter' vibe, an artist shouldn't be making things that are functional, an artisan must be using old world techniques. And what if you're a potter who makes textile items to add texture to your pottery or glazes? And maybe you sell some of the textiles as art? How do people make sense of that? And, congruent with my personality, I have no interested in being penned up in a box where I should or shouldn't be doing anything. There are some great debates on art vs craft here and here oh, and here too. Maker is just coming into the discussion. I don't love the word actually but it seems closer than anything else I've head in English. Right now, I'm settled on maker. Happy Beltane! Although the Autumn is my favourite time of year, I do love Beltane, I think most of us do, even if we don’t have pagan leanings. What’s not to love about the returning warmth, animals being born, food starting to grow. There is both joy and relief, at this time of year. In addition to all of the above, this is traditionally the day that the folks in various parts of Northern Europe turn their animals out to the fields. It’s also believed to be the day the faeries return from their winter hideaways. My sprouts were a bust (due to negligence) so we won't have those for tonight's feast. I do think I'll grab a chicken from the freezer and see what's up around the yard. Alongside the chicken we'll no doubt have some new potatoes (not mine, they're not ready yet) and carrots. Probably we'll have some fairy cakes and oat cakes and asparagus (the season just started here) along with a lemon tart (to symbolize the sun) or an apple pie (or both, because yum!) and loads of cream. But for now, I’m jumping on board the Suzuki Foundation 30X30 campaign. I’ll be playing with goats, weeding (maybe collecting cleavers for cleaver beer), watering the greenhouse and hanging out laundry. Are you up for the 30X30? |
AuthorI'm a 40-something writer and smallholder living in the wilds of BC with my family, our small herd of Nigerian Dwarf Goats, chickens, ducks, dogs, and cats. Archives
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