Spring is almost here!

It is crazy to think about but the above headline is kinda true.  Even though Christmas is a week away the spring rush is closing in upon us.  That means that planning for next years crops is already in the works.  We just recieved our first shipment of seed from Gurney's.  We got enough to get us thru the spring and summe rplanting seasons.  Next thing on the list is to find a tiller that we can purchase or one to rent so We can plow up the fields.  We currently have the cows out on the plot where we will have the garden and they are doing some fertilizing for us but we will soon have to rope them out of the area to give it a little less hoof preasure.  Again as we stated earlier it is our goal to grow all of our own meat and veggies for 2011 and beyond so we have been working extra hard to prepare the ground in the right way.

As with our cows we will be practicing a sustainable approach to our garden meaning no pesticides for use.  We will do all of the weeding either with a tiller or by hand (both is more likely) and will plant in aoordance with the organic practices to take natural allies together (e.g. tomatoes and cucumbers).

Spring also means that we can hear the chirping of little chicks in our future.  We will be getting about 100 broilers in the mail to raise and use for chicken (yum!). Out on pasture of course in a salatin style pen.  If anyone of our friends in Tennessee would like to buy some feel free to drop us a line on the blog or at littlefeetfarm@yahoo.com.  Since we are not looking to get into too much federal regulation we will sell you the live bird and then dress it for free if you so desire.  Again, in order to do this you must pre order the birds otherwise we fall into all sorts of govt regulations.  As we all know the government is good for about nothing and food inspection is unfortunatly not any diffrent.  Note the egg salmanila breakout earlier this year.  Again this is why we have stuck out on this path and hope that we can grow a good customer base to support Logan's goal of staying at home with the kids.  If you like what we are doing than support a family like ours in your local area. You can find people who believe in sustanable agriculture at eatwild.com or do a goole search for grass fed.

Animals and the snow

Well it has finally happened. We have gotten our first patch of that wintry goodness known as snow. While we have had some in the air before this was the first that stuck to the ground. What a joy it was to wake up and find our five acres covered in a blanket of wintry white. The joy of the moment was immediately offset when I took my first step out into this winter wonderland and was hit by the 20 mph wind and the 24 (but feels like -10) degree weather. Why would any human subject himself to such a harsh treatment? To feed the animals of course. As with all things in life the farm doesn’t stop being a farm just because you are tired, or sick, or at work. No it goes on in its drumbeat low and steady. The first worry was whether or not our beloved hens had survived this clod snap. While we have been at these temperatures a couple of times this year it had never gotten this windy before and of course had never snowed with such vigor. Usually we are awoken every morning at 5 am by the sweet serenade of our rooster beckoning the sun to come up over the horizon. Well much to my surprise the only noise that arose me this morning was my alarm clock going off at 5:15 drawing me from my deep slumber under the warm sheets. The thought immediately raced thru my head about the chickens and the cattle having turned into blocks off ice like you would see in a bugs bunny cartoon.




So it was with this image instilled in my head that I trotted out to the chicken coop. usually as I am leaving for work at 6 the chickens have already ventured out form the coop and occupy the back yard looking for breakfast. As I glance around hoping the the snow had somehow came lodged them my sense of worry began to deepen. Then right as I turned to open the first hatch I heard the most joyous noise of clucking as the hens had surely been alerted to the presence of a stranger outside. I opened up the door and found all my ladies huddled up but looking rather chipper as if the too had longed to sleep in without the rooster stirring them from their slumber. I quickly fed the brood some corm mash and while that did peak the interest of a few to come down from their roost most remained tucked away from the elements. By this time all the commotion from the hens had drawn my cattle into the front pasture for a closer look.



The guys looked good as they had a thick layer of snow covering their fur but were showing little signs of not being well fed. I broke the ice in their trough and laid out a bale of hay for them to much on. We ended up sticking a deal with the neighbor for some good cheap hay that I am using as a supplement. After laying out the hay I opened up the next section of winter pasture for them to graze on. As usual they had a great time trouncing around in the fresh pasture and despite the snow cover they dove right in and began pushing snow out of the way to unearth the delicious forage below. While I had read that they would do this it was great to see that they actually would eat thru snow given the opportunity to graze good quality grass. It reinforced even further the idea that what we were trying to accomplish going the all natural sustainable route was already working!.



So animals are more resilient than we give them credit for. The have taken this snow in stride and seem no worse for the snow!.



P.S. We have changed the settings where anyone can comment so fell free. You need not be a member.
 
  Grazing on stored forage.

How to follow this blog

In this new era of facebook, twitter, and the like it is easy to get caught up with how many friends or followers you have. You can find yourself measuring your stature in society based off of 2 simple social network numbers. We here at the little feet farm blog are no different. We look with obsession on how many people are following our blog. Some of you have asked how to do this so here is a quick recap of how. Also in order to comment you need to be following us. SO get our self esteem up a few points and click follow.

Step 1.) Right under the picture of our cows you will see a tab that says follow this blog. Click it.
Step 2) A second browser window will open up and you can at that point do 1 of 2 things
a.)If you have a yahoo, google, or any account listed in the tab you just need to click those and sign in using your info. e.g put in your yahoo! id and password. You will then click follow this blog (either publicly or privatly)
b.) if you do not have an account with one of the 3 services you can create a google account by clicking the link at the bottom of the window. THis will give you g-mail and all sorts of other fun stuff but most important you will get to follow us (so we feel good) and make fun of us in the comment section
Step 3) get e-mails when we post new stuff and go back and add comments to past links.

Thats all it takes. Please share your memories with us and the world wide web. i have heard so many nice things from some of you and look forward to those being shared with friends and future customers!!