Egg Mobile is home to 75 surprised chickens

We drove down to Elmira to pick up the layers and all the trimmings to make them feel at home. The biggest surprise was that they were raised in a factory setting and when we first saw them they were in wee cages (eight to a cage) with hardly any room to move. These chickens were about 19 weeks old and beginning to lay the occasional brown egg.

So they were stuffed into five plastic cages and loaded into our van with feeders,waterers, egg cartons etc. We also stopped and picked up a pile of Ontario milled Omega 3 layer feed. Our chickens will have access to tonnes of grass, worms and plant material and this special feed that is spiked with flax seed. This makes the eggs extra special...soon we will able to sell free range omega 3 eggs, YUM!

When we got home to the farm we literally pored them into the coop that had been so diligently built for them. It truly was comparable to five star accommodation. They were locked in for the night with lots of feed and water. When the door was opened in the morning they very tentaviely all came out. It took them pretty much the whole day to get used to their freedom. It really was incredible. By dusk we had a really hard time to get them back inside...and we found four small brown eggs!

Egg mobile or port-a-potty look alike!

Our Egg mobile is almost ready. It was put together in the barn on rainy days and now has been hauled outside where the finishing touchs are being added. We have had folks ask us if it is our new port-a-potty! It does look a bit like one!! What a hoot. The Egg mobile is built on a trailer that hooks to a tractor that will haul it from pasture to pasture every few days. Our brown egg layers arrive either Friday of this week or Tuesday after May 24. The eggs that our chickens will produce will be truly free range and the best! We are very excited.

Farewell feed with farm fare to our Aussie lad!

So Stephen our Aussie intern has taken off after living on the farm with us for 3 whole months. It was great having him here. He ad planned this trip for over a year and came to Canada to learn all about making maple syrup. How he is hoping to partner with the Botanical Gardens in Sydney and try and make Maple Syrup down under. Apparently they have about 15-20 sugar maple trees in the Blue Mountains! So we sent him off on his next leg...exploring British Columbia with a fabulous feed of fresh asparagus, shitake mushrooms, potato wedgies and good old hamburgers with all the trimmings.

The most Amazing potato - YUM!

We planted 600lbs of potatoes today. This was the first planting...3 to go. Lots of color, organising and work. We focus on heirloom varieties which pack a nutritional punch, fabulous flavor and please the eye. They should be ready for the pot/oven or BBQ end of July or so. New potatoes...YUM!

The most AMAZING Orange - what we all eat -YIKES!!

This is a story that I want to share because it blew our minds away.

Most of our full time help on the farm live here with us in the old farm house. The house was closed down for the winter last November when Liam and Geneva took off for Kiwiland. We opened it up again in April and turned the water on etc. Lo and behold on the kitchen table was a fruit bowl full of falling apart dried out gourds, the seeds of which the mice had been feasting on! Yikes!! These once upon a time beautiful fall deco pieces had been grown by us on the farm last season. People don't eat them, but I don't blame the mice! They are clean, wholesome and nutritious - by mice standards that is.

But then bigger YIKES...also in the bowl was an intact orange in its mesh bag from South Africa. It was soft and firm and seemed as though someone had just placed it there. In fact it had stayed in the bowl from sometime in October till we found it in April!! We actually cut it open...it seemed pretty good...Steven our Aussi intern even tried it! Verdict...absolutely tasteless! Question...what did they do to that fruit so it did not go bad???

Rain gets in the way of new sign and second pair joins the first

What a hoot! Started installing the new sign on the barn and it started to rain again. Its too slippery to go back on the roof. So we have to be BROO for a while! The rain is great for the newly planted berries though. We are in for lunch and enjoying the view of the gardens and the rain through the kitchen window.

So later in the afternoon the rain eased and we got as far as the D.The S will go on as soon as the rain stops! But then as the skies turned grey and we heard all this familiar ruckus and looking up we saw a second pair of Sandhill Cranes fly in to join the resident pair!


(click on photo to enlarge)

Unexpected Strawberry plants!

Life of a farmer...never ending routine with unexpected surprises. Purolator rolled in with 4000 strawberry baby plants from Quebec. Some new varieties that we want to try out in this northern zone this year. So everyone HAD to change gears and plant. Into the ground they went...all planted and safe! Irrigation was hooked up and after 3-4 "small" glitches worked like a charm. The last thousand will be planted first thing in the morning. Thank goodness for flexible hard working lads who persevere through thick and thin. 14000 more will be planted next week. And the Sandhill cranes watched us through the whole thing!

Pair of Sandhill Cranes grace the farm

(clickon photo to enlarge)
For the last couple of years we have seen a Sandhill Crane visit for a few short days in the spring and fly away. However this year three cranes appeared and stuck around for a while. What a ruckus they made. Lovely sight and amazing sounds. We figured they were either one female and two males or the other way around! Which do you figure? Anyway as of yesterday there are only two left - one has left. We now have a distinguished pair in residence and are fortunate to witness early morning dances and all. I hope they stick around and have chicks! We don't possess any fancy cameras so you have to be happy with this picture above. Enjoy!

This week has been filled with preparations for the upcoming season. Ken and the lads...we have three strapping young men on the farm helping now...have all the oats and clover planted into last years fields. These will be plowed down in the fall as green manure.

The garlic, chives and rhubarb is all about 5 inches tall. Have been enjoying the chives with the potatoes.YUM!

On Sunday we visited Severn Sunset Eco Farm to learn a bit about raising chicken. Oh boy we learnt a lot. Andy and Heather were very welcoming and spent time with us showing us around. We have ordered our laying birds and they arrive in the third week of May!