New chicks

We are on our third batch of broiler chicks. In the short video you can see how Kelli set them up in a kiddie pool, which by the way is sitting on our dinning room table. Also shown in the video are some of our own chicks hatched in our newish incubator. We just got the incubator this past spring. We already hatched two batches of chicks in it earlier. Actually we didn't do it, a Lutheran school were our friends kids go did it as a class project. They got to try it out before we did. We gave one of the batches to our friends and we kept one. We have many breeds in our barn yard so they're kind of a Heinz 57. None of the chicks are a pure breed. They're all mixes of Rhode Island Red, Buff Orpington, Barred Rock, Sunnyside Red and others.

The reason the chicks pictured here are in the kiddie pool is because our brooder is currently occupied with our last batch of broiler chicks. And the reason the brooder is still occupied is because one of our chicken tractors has guinea's in it. Are you wondering why the guinea's are in the chicken tractor? Well, they were eating seeds we planted in our garden!

Planting for the CSA has been a challenge. Up until recently the temperatures have been very cool. I say up till recently because the past couple days it's been in the 90's. But, it's been a slow steady warm up. I mean gee, wasn't it just a few weeks ago that they had snow in ND? So couple a cool spring with guinea fowl tearing up the garden, we are in my opinion, a little behind. We had hoped to already have had CSA pickups by now but, it will probably be in another week or two.

A person can plan all they want but, life happens and has a way of changing plans. A recent example for us was we were going to go out to Prairie Days in North Dakota. My in-laws got it all lined up to come up and take care of things while we were gone. We notified our garbage customers that we would be picking a day late that following week and then Kelli's sister had a heart attack. It happened a little over a week before hand. But, then complications arose and she had another much more serious attack. So we spent the weekend at the hospital instead.

Bill and Jeanette my in-laws, were here in case we went to ND which was good because then they could be with their sister in the hospital. Actually they still did chores for us while they were here which they seemed to get a real bang out of. It was fun watching them have fun feeding the poultry, moving chicken tractors and moving the sheep. In fact they had so much fun their youngest son Jeremiah got to have 4 new born chicks to take back with him. Country chickens turned city chickens.

By the way if you feel so inclined to pray for Kelli's sister her name is Doreen. It was touch and go most of the weekend but, she is now doing better and is stabilized. Actually she is remarkably better than she was, which we account for all the prayers already said for her. But, there was a point when the medical professionals didn't think she was going to make it. She is only 39 years old. It looks like she will have to spend some time in a nursing home for rehabilitation after she gets out of the hospital. Also she has no insurance and the bills have gone out of site. We are praying that God will take care of all that for her somehow. Already people are helping out financially but, as you can imagine lengthy hospital stays can be unreal as far as expenses go.

Well, I have to say blogging has definitely taken a back burner these past couple months. When I have so much to do and think about my mind turns to mush and it gets tough to cough up any kind of blog post. So from time to time I'll cheat and copy and paste some interesting headline related to the things I'm interested in. Or posting a picture or two helps also. Like the short little video above. Something quick and easy. Oh I still unwind in the evenings and check out news sites and other blogs but, putting anything down is a different matter.

So on that note..........

Until Next Time

The people make themselves heard against NAIS

By Henry Lamb
USDA: Can you hear me now?
Posted: June 20, 20091:00 am Eastern© 2009
For the last several weeks, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has been conducting "listening sessions" in a dozen cities across the country. The purpose of these sessions was to find ways to make the proposed National Animal Identification System acceptable to the people who own livestock.
NAIS, as the program is widely known, was announced in 2005. The announced schedule required all livestock owners to register their premises with the USDA before 2007; tag every livestock animal with an electronic tag (or implant) by 2008; and, by January 2009, report within 24 hours, to the federal government, every time a tagged animal moved off the birth premises. Within a year, it was clear that the people were simply not going to comply, so, in 2006, the USDA announced that the program would, henceforth, be voluntary.
As of January 2009, USDA reported that only about 35 percent of livestock owners have registered their premises. But this number is measured against those premises where at least $1,000 profit
is reported from farm activities. It does not include the hundreds of thousands of small family operations that house a few chickens, a cow, hog, goat, sheep, or any of the 29 species named in the NAIS. When these people are considered, an incredibly small percentage of the people affected by the program have registered.
The listening sessions were designed to force animal owners to listen to a one-hour presentation about the benefits of NAIS. Then, two hours were to be devoted to three-minute speeches from attendees whose tickets were drawn at random. Then, after a lunch break, attendees were to be divided into groups where a trained facilitator was supposed to develop "consensus" around seven specific questions.
Whatever happened to states rights, limited government and natural law? Find out in Judge Napolitano's "The Constitution in Exile"
The best-laid plans of mice and the USDA often go awry. The people were having none of it. After the first meeting
in Pennsylvania, the opening presentation was forgotten. The people wanted to speak, and speak they did. In South Dakota, hundreds of people showed up. Of those chosen to speak, the people who supported NAIS could be counted on one hand; all the rest spoke strongly against the program. Bill Bullard, CEO of R-CALF-USA told the USDA that the NAIS "is the culmination of over 10 years of aggressive efforts by the USDA to destroy the very foundation of U.S. livestock."

Click here for the full story

Planted Corn

Today we planted our Painted Mountain corn. We borrowed our friends walk behind planter and put in 19 rows 87 feet long.

We've been getting alot of frost warnings over the past couple weeks. Not every warning has produced frost but, there has been a couple nights were we've gotten some. Our potatoes got nipped one night but, I think they'll be OK. That morning there was ice in the animals water buckets. That was last week. Everyone around here is getting tired of it and wishes they can just plant their veggies without worry. But, that's the way it is in the far north. Just have to live with it or move.

When we planted the corn today Kelli walked behind me to make sure there weren't any kernels that didn't get covered. She'd cover them up as we went since there was a few here and there that sat on the surface.


Been too busy to make any posts this past month. Besides all the farm work, the garbage route has been steadily getting more time consuming. After the holiday last week I think we had the highest increase ever by volume of garbage, due to people having cook-outs and doing spring cleaning. They kicked my butt last week. This week things lightened up substantially as is usual the following week of a holiday, so I'm glad for the reprieve.

Below are some spring time pictures our daughter Ryann took from around the farm I thought I'd add in conclusion to this short post. As the saying goes, " a picture is worth a thousand words".

Until Next Time