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Author: Kiley Morrison

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It's a Farm Update - 04.12.24

Life Lately We are in the busy season – a farmer always stays busy but when springtime hits everything is thrown into overdrive. If you follow along on social media and watch our stories, you know we’ve had a few setbacks this past week. From busted tires to busted waterlines, we almost feel like we’re treading the water left by said busted waterline. Thankfully those days are outnumbered by the good days and we can try to laugh at it and count it all joy. The boys and I spent a few days last week planting seeds around yard. From wildflowers to other types of flowers and vegetables. We’re ready for warm to come and stay for the season! We still have a few bigger projects to wrap up on the house garden side of things, and then we’ll be able to plant the rest of what we have planned to get in the ground this year. What do you have in store for planting this season? The Meat Chickens We’ll start out this animal update with the long-awaited meat chickens aka meat birds. They went on pasture on Monday and will live their best lives in the on green grasses with fresh air for the next month. When will ERF pasture raised chicken FINALLY be back in stock? We’re shooting for the third week in May so mark your calendars! It’s wild to think that May will be here before we know it… it seems like ages ago we sold out of our pastured chicken and like the time would never come. We’re ready too! The Cow& Sheep Crew The gang sure is loving the green grasses and great pasture they’re getting now. We have worked hard on fencing around the farm the past year and a half, and have finally gotten to a point where our paddocks are easier to lay out which makes it easier on us in the long run. We aim for 2-3 days tops per paddock. This allows the grass time to bounce back for when they’ll be back around to that paddock. They eat too low; it has a harder time recovering. To help break the parasite cycles, they don’t go back to a paddock before it’s had a month’s rest. With the new fencing we’ve put in place, we’ve been able to break bigger areas up into smaller paddocks that allow even longer rest than that before they’re back in an area they’ve already been in. Locust Fort, our ram, has a few more weeks in with the girls before he gets taken out to allow us a certain window for lambing. The weaned ewes will go back in the rotation with everyone else to learn the new system. The Pigs The 2024 batch of pigs are in and they are coming along great. Our main goal when we get a new group of piglets in is getting them use to us. This makes it easier to move them or call them in if some were to get out for some reason (been there). They have been enjoying Clora’s milk (they get any we don’t keep and the skim milk from making butter, as well as any whey from making cheese) and they are ready now to start the rotations through their paddocks. Our goal is to get them moved next week. We’ve got a great selection of pork in stock now but we’re running low and won’t be back in stock until the fall so don’t miss out! Honeybees It’s officially swarm season and that means we’re on the lookout for swarms of bees around the pastures. We caught the first one of the year last week. It was an easy catch, thankfully they had landed on a low branch right next to one of our hive areas. We were able to get them in a box and settled in in no time. With the temps warming up even more in the next week, we anticipate more to show up. More bees means more honey for you this fall!

It's a Farm Update - 3.08.24

The Laying Chickens The girls are grand - they tell us every morning when we collect all the eggs they're happily giving us! Last week, we had 2 more losses to a hawk(s) so we acted fast. We got them moved another rotation away from the trees and placed some ropes/shade cloth within their portable fencing to help keep the hawks away. Since then, we've been in the clear! DID YOU KNOW? Our eggs are from pasture raised chicken fed SOY FREE/GMO Free Grain? They're living the best life on pasture, grabbing all that vitamin D and nutrients that are going right into their eggs. We have no order limit on eggs, so for all of our meet in person and on farm pickup orders, we've got you covered! The Cow Crew We currently have beef at the processor and hope to be back in stock within the next two weeks! We know it's seemed like a long wait - it has for us too! After this break, we should regularly have beef available, so hang in there. We appreciate it so much! The Sheep The male lambs we weaned and castrated a few weeks ago have really grown! There are five of them and they are thoroughly enjoying their rotations around the pasture in the mobile sheep pen. In a couple of weeks, we'll wean the females - all of our ewes had twins in male/female pairs. We left the females on their mammas so they grew a bit more - and so mom's milk could adjust gradually from feeding two lambs, to one lamb, to weaned completely. If you've been with us for the journey over the years, you know about ENOCH, the ram. He’s been with us for 5 years and we have some stories about that guy. But, as we transition into a new ram and hope to gain more parasite resistant genetics, it was time to let Enoch go. But it’s not a sad story as we kept reassuring the boys, who very well understand the lives of the animals we raise and most of their sole purposes here on the farm. Enoch went to another farm of friends of ours who are building their sheep herd. He will fit in wonderfully there and bring them many beautiful lambs, I have no doubt. The Pigs In 2023, we raised more pigs than we ever have and we're so grateful you gave us that opportunity! Most came in at the same time and went out around the same time. We had six come in later and they will be wrapping up their fantastic life with us in the coming week. They are what we call the last of the "2023 Batch". Two days later, the "2024 batch" of piglets will arrive and we'll do it all over again. The majority of the paddocks have been on rest and growing, just waiting on the new guys to have a go at it! Meat Chickens We’ll receive our first batch of '24 IN JUST A FEW WEEKS. The feeders have been washed and cleaned from last year and we've got a few things to do to the shelter to get it ready, but it will be here before you know it. We are currently working on getting the brooder tidied up and squared away from housing the latest laying chicks we hatched a few weeks ago. When the meat birds arrive, they'll stay in the brooder a couple of weeks (until they grow some feathers) and then out to pasture they’ll go for the rest of their time. We anticipate a restock in early May. Honeybees We were able to get a look at the bees last weekend and it was a great experience. As you can see from the picture above, Augustus was able to suit up with us and we were able to show him loads of things we've been teaching him and talking about over the months. We saw lots of Bee Larva and got our eyes on the queens as well, which is a fantastic feeling. If we have a good honey flow this year, we'll be back in stock this fall. Our beehives are something we're slowly growing, and we just launched our honey line last fall so it's still pretty new. Thank you for being so supportive of us and selling us out as fast as you did! Beeswax candles and lotion are available now!

It's a Farm Update - 2.23.24

The Laying ChickensWe gave you an overall rundown on the laying chickens and the story leading up to where we are now. If you missed out on that update, you can catch it all HERE.The laying hens have been moved and are back into the routine they’re used to – rotating around pasture and giving us nutrient dense eggs while simultaneously providing the soil with optimum fertilizer. Maverick seems to be doing a great job with the ladies and we’ve had no signs so far of hawk attacks. Egg Production has really picked up this past week with the longer days, so make sure to grab a dozen on your next order! The Cow CrewThis past week we were able to work the cows and sheep together. We weighed all the cows coming up to be processed soon and took records. We are currently working on adding a few more fences throughout the farm to break the pasture rotations up more and make life a bit easier on us when we move everyone to new paddocks. We still have some great cuts left in stock and will be fully restocked in the coming weeks. The SheepWe castrated and weaned the male lambs and tagged all the new babies. The ewe lambs (females) will stay on the farm and will allow us to grow the flock. We are excited to see how our new ram will do with the flock this year. The PigsWe spent Monday evening dividing the pig paddocks into smaller paddocks since there are only 6 pigs left from the ’23 season. This will allow the paddocks to rest more before our new batch of piglets for the ’24 season arrive. We also spread seed out to prompt quicker growth as pigs love to eat grass! We have so many great selections in stock with our pork including many great bundles!Meat Chickens We got the mobile chicken shelter moved into place this week and will start doing small things (like cleaning and hanging feeders) to get it fully prepared for the chickens. We’ll receive our first batch of '24 IN JUST A FEW WEEKS. They’ll stay in the brooder a couple of weeks (until they grow some feathers) and then out to pasture they’ll go for the rest of their time. We anticipate a restock in early May.  Honeybees  The hives are getting busy with all the warm weather and plants/trees blooming. We were able to check one of the hives out a couple of weeks ago and they are healthy and FIESTY. We both encountered a few stings but thankfully the memory of them do not last too long. We plan on checking the rest of them out on Saturday to see how they faired through the winter. If we have a good honey flow this year, we'll be back in stock this fall. Our beehives are something we're slowly growing, and we just launched our honey line last fall so it's still pretty new. Thank you for being so supportive of us and selling us out as fast as you did! Beeswax candles and lotion are available now!