Lee was on NPR last night:
A Year at the Farm In Photos
12 years ago
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
Broken toes, farm tours & growing older
As always not a dull moment at the Menius household!
We have been preparing for a farm tour on Saturday. The Bread Riot, which is a group of families in our area who appreciate locally grown produce & meat toured our farm along with Correll Farms and Bame Farms. It was an opportunity for the families to meet the farmers and see our farms. We (all 3 farms) enjoyed the group coming out to visit and fellowship. We ended the day at Sloan Park with a "local meal."
Since we had so much going on at the farm I told Lee I would go to the Salisbury Farmer's Market so he could finish up some last minute things at the farm. About an hour into the Market another vendor accidentally knocked my price board down and it fell onto my toe. The price board is a very sturdy dry erase board with a metal frame all the way around. The metal is what hit my toe. The worse part was that I was there by myself and couldn't leave (and was in pain) and I did not have a chair to sit in. After the market we had the Farm Tour so I was on my feet all day long- which didn't help with the swelling.
I figured nobody wanted to see a picture of my toe! It's not pretty.
I have 2 sweet little boys who prayed for "mommy's toe to feel better" so I'm sure it will!
As for getting older.......
Lee told me this story yesterday. Rosty told his daddy that he did not want to have anymore birthdays. When Lee asked him why Rosty replied that after 5 his clothes wouldn't have a T in them anymore!!!
For the guys reading this that are clueless.....children's clothes comes in sizes 2T, 3T, 4T & 5T- the T meaning toddler.
I had bought Rosty some new clothes that were XS & he was so sad that the T was not on there anymore..... I have always said that Rosty is my sensitive child!
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Keepin' Busy!
We have definitely had a busy week at the farm!
Earlier in the year we received an Animal Welfare Approved good Husbandry Grant
to build a Mobile Processing Unit (MPU).
Here is the link to the Animal Welfare Newsletter:
Once the MPU is completed I will post pictures.
In case you are unfamiliar with what they are it is basically a mobile unit where chickens can be processed. It has all the equipment necessary to easily process chickens (stainless tables, plucker, scalder, etc.). It is actually an interesting process to watch if you have never seen it.
The plucker is much more efficient than me having to pluck chickens by hand. If you don't know this story and want to let me know and I'll post it later!!
I have also added on this blog links to where you can find information about the farm. We do have a website that I have been working on but I am not a web designer by any means. I would appreciate any constructive criticism or ideals of what you think I should include on the website.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
A special visit
We were very fortunate to have Congressman Howard Coble come to visit the farm Monday (April 20th). He was in town visiting constituents and we were asked to show him around the farm and tell him about our farming operation.
Here is the link to the article in the Salisbury Post:
Monday, April 20, 2009
Farmer's Market prep
The Farmer's Market has started!
We had opening day on Saturday in Salisbury. The Davidson Market , which is the one I attend does not start until May 2nd but this was the last Saturday for the Winter Market so we actually did have 2 Farmer's Markets.
So many of you tell me that you really enjoying hearing all of our adventures on the farm so I thought I would share what it is like the day before the Market. Remember that me and Lee both work full-time jobs so the farm work gets done after 5 o'clock everyday. We do all the work ourselves we don't have any farm employees.....just Rosty and Charlie. We also do not live on the farm we live about 4 1/2 miles away so there is travel involved everyday.
All the animals still have to be fed before we can start preparing for the Market. If we have produce that needs to be picked it usually has to be done the night before. There are a few exceptions like potatoes but for the most part we pick on Friday night. Presentation is everything and we don't won't dirty produce so we must wash/rinse the vegetables. Lettuces take a little more time to wash and dry and then bag. Then they are kept on ice for the night.
We also sell fresh, free-range eggs. The eggs are collected throughout the week and put in a refrigerator at the farm. We then take the eggs home and wash them each by hand, dry them off and then put them in the cartons. Did I mention that we have over 200 laying hens?? This takes some time. We try to wash eggs every couple of days so they are not all waiting on us Friday night.
We also have two money boxes so someone has to make sure there is enough change for both boxes and that the money from Saturday's Market gets deposited sometime during the week.
Most Friday night we do not get in bed until after midnight and then we are up at 5 AM on Saturday mornings.
Saturday mornings are very hectic! We load our freezers with meat to sell at the Market, we divided the eggs up between the two of us, we load up our money boxes, tables, signs, price boards, table clothes, etc. We wake the boys up and get them dressed and decided who is going with mommy and who with daddy and then we are gone.
Once at the Market everything has to be unloaded & set- up. This is usually when I make sure my price board is updated and if I am out of anything I cross thru it on the board. Both Market's close at noon. So then we are loading everything back up and heading back to our house to unload once again.
I'm not done yet though. This does not conclude our day. I usually get the boys to lay down for a nap and do all my cleaning and laundry while they are napping and Lee heads to the farm to do whatever should need to be done that day.
This Saturday we were in the garden planting until 8:30.
Did I mention that we were up at 5 AM......
So if I don't return a phone call or an email just bear with me because chances are I'm just beat!
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Growing up at Wild Turkey Farms
This is Cupcake's mom- I refer to her as Mutton.
Rosty is feeding her corn so we can let Cupcake nurse.
This is Cupcake- only 2 days old.
Holding Cupcake so Charlie can pet her.
Charlie riding in the truck at feeding time.
Rosty & Charlie playing in their dirt pile
Holding Cupcake so Charlie can pet her.
Charlie in a pig hut.
Charlie riding in the truck at feeding time.
Rosty & Charlie playing in their dirt pile
which has a sand pile beside it.
Sometimes they have to work!
Sometimes they have to work!
Cupcake the lamb
If you are on Facebook you know all about Cupcake the Lamb but for those of you not on Facebook here is Cupcakes story:
Lee decided that we needed to add lamb to our Farmer's Market fare so we bought 3 bred ewes (moma sheep) about a month ago- I'm pretty sure I posted about that.
They have all had their babies now. The first was a little black lamb which Charlie named Blackie. Next came a set of twins which for some reason have not been named and lastly Cupcake & her twin brother Brownie (Rosty named them).
Cupcake & Brownie were born last Friday/Saturday. For whatever reason Cupcake's mom has rejected her and will not let her nurse. In order for Cupcake to nurse without being butted by her mom we would have to halter the mom and make her stand still. We were doing this at least twice a day. Cupcake was able to drink to her little heart's content and was thriving.
Let me back up here and say that on Sunday night/Monday morning Rosty came into our bedroom saying he had just thrown up & Lee was also not feeling good. They both had a stomach bug which I got by Tuesday.
We have had some really nice weather here until Tuesday.
Since Tuesday was going to be such a cold night we had a moma pig that decided to farrow. She had 9 babies. Animals always know when it's going to really, really cold or when you are going to be out-of-town!
Lee had made sure that Cupcake had eaten and then went to check on the pig.
I had been in the bed all day long sick and really did not think about Cupcake and how cold it was going to be on Tuesday night.
When Lee got to the farm on Wednesday morning Cupcake was not well. I guess her mom would not let her sleep near her and be warm but there was plenty of straw in the barn for all the animals. Lee called me and said she wasn't doing well. I said to bring her to me at work and I would nurse her back to health.
Cupcake did not look good when she got to me. Lee brought her in a laundry basket along with a bag of electrolytes and a makeshift bottle (water bottle). A co-worker did not think she would make it through the morning. There were 2 other people in the office and they helped me fill bags with warm water. I took some rags and lined her laundry basket and then wrapped her in my coat, we then took the warm bags of water and put them around her. The big concern was that her mouth was cold and she was not eating/drinking because of this. I took another smaller bag and filled with warm water and placed under her mouth/chin.
I continued to check on her and check the water bags. She was very lethargic and would not move, at one point I thought I had lost her. After about an hour I checked her mouth and it was warmer. Then a short time later my co-worker (a female who is a mother also) came back to check on her and when she lifted the coat from over her head Cupcake raised her head and tried to stand. We were so excited! We tried to feed her the bottle but she wasn't interested.
She eventually took some of her bottle (picture above) & actually relieved herself on me when I had her out of the basket. I was so excited! She continued to get warmed up and show some signs of life. Later in the afternoon we had her on the floor so she could stretch her legs. This is when Lee came in with the milk replacement. He made her a bottle & she chugged it down!
She came home with us last night and slept in the bathroom and I am happy to say is bright eyed and bushy-tailed this morning.
I was concerned that she would keep us up all night along but I fed her before bed and she slept all night long. I checked on her once during the night and she was snoozing. This morning when I went in the bathroom she was trying to nuzzle me so I made her a bottle that she chugged once again.
She is at the farm today in a pen by herself . I will go over at lunch and feed her. We will let her stay with us a few more nights and bottle feed her. Then we'll just see how it goes from there.
I have decided that she is a permanent resident at the farm now and her mother will soon be mutton!
Lee told me that he never thought she would have made it through the day. I told him a mother's love......
A Mother's Love
Helen Steiner Rice
A Mother's love is something that no on can explain,
It is made of deep devotion and of sacrifice and pain,
It is endless and unselfish and enduring come what may
For nothing can destroy it or take that love away . . .
It is patient and forgiving when all others are forsaking,
And it never fails or falters even though the heart is breaking . . .
It believes beyond believing when the world around condemns,
And it glows with all the beauty of the rarest, brightest gems . . .
It is far beyond defining,it defies all explanation,
And it still remains a secret like the mysteries of creation . . .
A many splendoured miracle man cannot understand
And another wondrous evidence of God's tender guiding hand.
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