Farmers

We have found farming to have a pretty big learning curve. We’ve made more mistakes than I would like. And stuff has gone wrong. And there have been setbacks. And it’s been more expensive than I planned. And yet, we’re still doing it and want to do it. 🙂

The chickens have been pretty easy. Except the meat birds. We’ve raised the fast-growing Cornish Cross (Cornish X) twice and both times I’ve been unhappy with how miserable the birds are by the end. Unhealthy, injured. Not what I was going for. There’s another breed that a different local feed store carries that we’re going to try (the White Broiler or something like that) but we decided to take a break since we’ve been too stressed lately.

The garden… well, things sometimes don’t grow that we plant. And sometimes they die after we plant them. And sometimes the slugs eat them or the rabbits or the deer. Most recently, we’ve had some significant loss to our SHEEP. Argh!!! We seem to be slow learners. We have done multiple kinds of deer fence (none of them traditional, because that is expensive) and they keep breaking. We do keep planting and weeding and watering. Watering is a big chore right now, since the soil has lots of clay in it and the hose water just runs off… and the drip system is not installed, because we need to run a water line to the garden. We did get as far as purchasing the parts, so we are getting closer!

The sheep. Well, there has just been so much to learn. Hoof care. Feed. Lambs. Illness. Vet bill. More feed. More supplies. Fencing. I’m still on the learning curve for them. Ask me later.

Bees. Umm… I’m supposed to go pick up a BOX OF HONEY BEES this weekend. That is really bizarre. Honey bees have been dying off really bad lately. Probably related to pesticides. Also, bees have a hard time in our climate due to the extended, cold and wet season. I hope this works. I hope I don’t get stung. (I wrote this last week and only just posted it… will post pics of how it went later)