Harvest Time

A catch-up on the last few weeks here at Terrabyte Farm.

Sheep and Goats

They were all sheared and had their “mani-pedis”.  We got some very lovely fleece, despite the fact that a freak rain storm drenched the animals right before the sheaer got here.  Our female Angora goat Flora had been suffering from hoof rot for the last few months due to the extreme rain we had this summer.  Our shearer  gave us some advice on how to treat her and after a round of Penicillin (5 days IM injections), Koppertox (2 weeks daily hoof treatment), and Iver-On (2 treatments) she seems to be doing so well.  Within 24 hours of the antibiotic, she was on her feet and out of the barn with the rest of the herd for the first time in weeks.

Cows

Our Hereford steer “the boss” went to the butcher today.  Considering how many problems he has caused, getting him in his stall earlier this week, and then loaded in the trailer or a local farmer was so easy.  From the time the farmer pulled in our drive to the time we left the butcher, it took exactly one hour.  Can’t beat that!  ”Farmer John” is a local Hereford breeder, and our steer came from his stock, back a few generations.  He has lived in our town his whole life and raises beef cattle, hays, and cuts firewood.  He lives a few miles from us and we were given his name by the woman who manages the butcher.  She knows all the problems we have had with the boss, and she told us that no one can manage a cow like Farmer John.  She was absolutely right, he had him right on the trailer with no problems and right off again at the butcher.  We really appreciate meeting other farmers, especially those who have been here for generations.  We spent a while talking with John as there was a line for unloading at the butcher.  He raises cattle so well, he has so much concern for their well being, it was clear what a passion he has from talking to him.  He sells six-month old Hereford weanlings.  We are thinking about getting one or two from him to go with our Dexters and their calves, once the boss is back and we see what we get for meat we will decide.  Also, we decided not to breed our cows this year, too much on our plates, next year will be soon enough.

Bees

Our bees had done so well building their hive that we put on a honey super hoping to take advantage of the fall goldenrod crop.  It is not expected to get honey your first year, but we figured we would try since they had stored a sufficient amount to last through winter.  We used a queen excluder so as not to have larvae in our honey.  It might as well be called a honey excluder, I puller the frames off today and the bees had not even touched them.  Good learning experience, next spring when we are trying to get a honey crop for real, we will use the method of hive body rotation to keep the queen out of the honey for us, the excluders are officially sand sifters for the kids!

Rabbits

The new litters are getting big.  They will be ready to butcher before Thanksgiving and then we will let the mommas rest over the winter.  We may get another trio next spring, that way we can cross breed another generation without worrying about inbreeding.

Poultry

All of the ducks, geese, chickens, and turkeys are great.  In the next week, we will be deciding who makes the cut and who gets the ax.

Pigs

They are so big.  They will go to the butcher at the end of this month.  It will be nice to have them in the freezer and not have pigs over the winter.  We will start again next spring, not yet sure how many we want to raise, at least two, maybe as many as four depending on demand.

Garden

The crops we planted in August are coming in really well.  We just pressure canned 18 pints of green beans and will likely get another round that size before the frost.  We are enjoying lots of greens and root veggies.  We harvested our last row of potatoes and got some huge tubbers, 1-2 lbs apiece.  Our squash and corn were almost complete failures, the ragweed really got ahead of us.  Next year we will be doing a lot more mulching.  We have almost finished our grow tunnel, it will be really nice to have a place to start seeds in the spring and also start some crops very early in the season.

Kitchen

We have been preserving like mad, applesauce, pear sauce, peach sauce, corn, etc.  We have one last major canning project (rabbit stock) and then the canning equipment goes away until next year.  I keep thinking how amazing it will be to have such a store of food over the winter, food that we grew or that we picked form local farms.

Kids

We officially started homeschooling our oldest this month.  It is going well, our life on the farm offers endless opportunities for learning.  Our youngest really benefits from having her older brother around all the time.  And, with a third baby on the way (due in April) it is nice having both kids around.  They are such amazing help and are (mostly) such tremendous fun to be around.

Enjoy Harvest Time where you are!