Farm Report for June and July

 

Our farm has egg (and other farm product) email orders approximately every other week.  When we send out our email notice, we try to include some farm news for those who receive it.  A kind individual suggested that some people might also like to see these updates in the blog - so here are our farm updates from the past two egg emails!  

Note: if you live in the Waverly or Waterloo/Cedar Falls areas, you can certainly request to be on our email lists by using the contact form on the the right of this blog.

Anyway, this certainly seems like a good idea for a Friday blog post!

June 26, 2023 Farm News

Life on the farm is like it always has been.  There are moments of triumph and moments of grief.  Times when we celebrate and others filled with annoyance.  In other words, it's just like life for everyone in this world, but maybe on steroids.

We sometimes joke with ourselves that if we don't like how we're feeling about the farm now, we can just wait five minutes and it will change with the current circumstance.  While we might be doing less in recent years with the farm than we used to, we're no less invested in it and the day to day events that color our lives.

For example, we are coming off of the triumph of getting several things into the ground that have been waiting for us to recover and combine available time with energy so we could get it done.  It is likely that some of these crops will fail because they are in too late, but they most certainly would have failed if we never did plant them.  We're pleased because we have a chance with them now - something we didn't have the last time we sent an egg email to all of you.

On the other hand, we're dealing with raccoons attacking our chickens in the middle of the day, something we haven't dealt with for several years.  So, of course, dealing with this problem has multiple stages and it suddenly becomes a top priority, despite plans to accomplish other things.  Needless to say, we are applying ourselves to this problem to defend "the ladies" and the eggs we know you all enjoy.  We have lost some chickens and we don't know what the long-term effect will be just yet.

But, swinging the pendulum back, our flock of hen chicks now have feathers and they are doing very well.  In fact, they are doing far better than last year's flock (which are now our laying flock).  It does make a difference when both farmers can be involved in the work of raising the birds.  If you will recall, Rob was on his own last year after Tammy's Achilles surgery.  We expect the new ladies to start producing eggs in mid to late September at the earliest - so any dip in production that might come after losses in the current flock will be short-term.

Through it all, we remain grateful to all of you for your kindness and support.  Thank you for all that each of you does in this world.

Rob & Tammy

July 11, 2023 Farm News

In our last email, I mentioned how life at the farm is a pendulum, swinging back and forth between things that feel like success and others that feel like failure.  It's a normal thing, but it can be alarming when that darned pendulum swings all the way in both directions multiple times a day!

I am pleased to report that both of us are physically feeling so much more like ourselves, with the past two weeks being pretty good.  Tammy seems to be past the headaches and regular PT appointments are helping with the hip/leg stuff.  And I don't find myself out of breath and tired after what seems like very little activity.  We appreciate all of the kind words and thoughts sent our way as we fought to get through all of that.

We are fighting a battle with varmints (deer, rabbits, woodchuck and raccoons) which has required a number of adjustments and extra tasks.  But we are doing a decent job (so far) of addressing the problems without resorting to drastic measures.  The laying hen flock has been reduced a bit by the raccoon issue, but we can still get about 3 dozen (as opposed to four or five dozen) a day.  So, we do have eggs, but we might occasionally have to say "no" now.  However, we know from our history that vacation time usually sees a dip in orders as well, so things will probably take care of themselves.

The new hen flock is looking REALLY good right now.  With two of us able to give them attention, I think the temperament of this group will be much better than the last one.  The current batch has given us more trouble than other flocks in our remembered history.  Perhaps I have just conveniently forgotten a flock that was really bad?   I don't know - that's why it's called "forgetting."  The young hens will probably begin laying eggs in September and I suspect we'll have more eggs than we know what to do with about that time.

We are also entering the time of year where we might be offering some excess produce.  Yes, everything at the farm is late for all of the reasons we've mentioned in prior newsletters.  But, we've managed to do some good things despite the struggles.  I wouldn't be surprised if we offer summer squash and zucchini or maybe white onions in the not too distant future.  Perhaps even a Boothby's Blonde cucumber or two?  

Have a good day everyone and we hope to see you tomorrow!

Rob & Tammy