Learning Lessons

This weeks blog is a hard one for me to write. We had to put the new chickens down.

We had eleven that we were doctoring to the best of our ability. Every day and night Zoe and I would go in and handle and love and examine and treat what we could. During these examinations we uncovered more and more horrors with these poor girls. I will not be too graphic, but we weren't even sure how ones head was attached given the hole in her neck, others looked like the carcass that you pull out of the soup pot when your broth is finished. On top of that there was an underlying smell of rot in the coop that was not going away.

We made the very sad decision to have Zoe's friend come over and teach us how to humanely put these hens down. Unfortunately, he could only come while I was at work, but Zoe was able to watch and learn. She was happy to report the technique that her friend used caused no struggle or verbal distress.

We have asked friends and coworkers if there is anything we can do to report the person we got these hens from as their living conditions must have been horrific...and the owners still had many more chickens living there. No research we have done has turned up an organization that takes reports of this kind.

The one bright point to this is when we brought the twelve hens home, one of them ran into the brush and would not come out. The day after the eleven were put down, she came out of the brush and joined our flock. It is as if she knew how sick her sisters were and didn't want to be around them. She looks very healthy and our flock has accepted her in with no issues! Although it is often said that chickens are not very bright...our little pea brains have survival smarts!

I am now working to pest proof a second chicken coop in the barn because I am not giving up. But I cannot bring myself to use that hospital ward again...I can not get the smell of rot out even after washing and bleaching. Zoe and I love our chickens and really do want to expand our flock. But we will be smart. Either inspecting the hens and their coop before we bring them home, or getting day old chicks and and hoping we don't get all roosters!!

It has been a hard, sad few weeks. Lessons have been learned, my naivety has been exposed and my trust has been challenged. However, every day I make a conscious effort to live a positive life. So I have cried, and now I pick myself up and move on refusing to stop doing what I am enjoying. There are people out there who are cruel at worst, or thoughtless at best and they may make me slow down for a moment, but they cannot stop Two Girls and a Dream.

Oaklawn Farm Zoo

Zoe and I continue to love our jobs but they are not Monday to Friday jobs. Therefore with our irregular shifts it is hard to find time that we are both home together.

Today was the first day that Zoe and I had completely off of work together this summer. We made plans to go to the same zoo we had been to last summer when we were here being tourists. The zoo does have zoo type animals, lions, zebras, and monkeys, but there is a large portion dedicated to farm animals. We loved seeing the goats, the pigs, the chickens and horses. It got us very keyed up again to grow our farm!

Similar to last year, Zoe had the biggest smile on her face as she loved every animal that would come close enough to be loved!

A closing note...I want to wish my mother a very happy birthday! I am missing you and dad very much, but wish you the best, happiest, healthiest year! I can not wait to see you again in two months!

And then there were 30...

We LOVE our chickens, and we are unable to keep up with demand for our eggs. So the logical thing to do was go out and get more chickens. After searching, we finally found a dozen brown egg layers for sale reasonably close to us (only an hours drive away!) Zoe and I went and picked them up on a rainy stormy day and brought them home. Because we had such good luck with the first two sets of hens, I didn't think anything about looking at their living conditions, or even at them as they were being dropped in our boxes and sealed in before they could escape. Unfortunately, the next morning we did have the opportunity to really see the new girls. They were so sad. Some were missing toes, two were blinded in one eye, many had been pecked and were missing feathers and there is strong evidence that they have mites. With a deep breathe, and a few tears, we decided we were now a rescue farm and would do everything we could to help these scrawny girls.

We worked to set up a hospital coop in the marketplace. Read up on getting rid of mites, made a homemade version of blu-kote, and set about doctoring. (Then we had to totally clean the old girls coop to ensure none of the mites spread to them.) After day two, the new hens are looking better, more energy, less redness to the pecked areas, they are allowing Zoe and I to pick them up and love them, and even laying a few eggs. From the research we have done, it looks like this may be a long healing process, but Two Girls Rescue Farm is up for the challenge.

If anyone has suggestions or experience in this area, we would appreciate your feedback!

On happier notes...I have enjoyed ignoring the farm and doing some just for joy gardening. I have the perennial beds weeded and pretty with mulch, and the raised beds at the back of the house are full of herbs now. The vegetable garden is finally looking like it may produce something other than weeds (no 22" cucumbers yet though Louise!)

Zoe was yelling at me last night to come quick, and when I did, I saw a mother deer and her baby in the back yard!! Of course this had to be the only time in history that neither of us had our phone in our pocket! But they were absolutely beautiful and calm and peaceful! Loved it!!!!

I remember growing up at our house in Jordan, we had a tulip tree and it was my dad's favourite. I never really understood why, until now. We have one at the side of the house and I had no idea that they have tulip flowers!! I thought they got the name simply from the shape of their leaves. I love seeing and learning about new things. It is so exciting for me to continue to see new wonderful things around the property.

Finally, for my kindergarten teacher of a mother - Zoe and I ate green eggs and ham for supper this week!

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

We might eat in November...

I have spent four days now trying to recover the vegetable garden. I made some mistakes this year. I had the garden plowed and tilled, but never raked it off. I wanted raised beds with new soil, but didn't think I had enough time to put that together. So here we are July 7th, and I finally have 99% of the garden planted!!

Because I didn't rake off the tilled weeds they simply replanted themselves and continued growing until I could barely see my rows. Unfortunately, many of the plants I lovingly started indoors in the winter/spring were suffocated by the weeds and didn't make it. As I mentioned, it has now been four days and I have the garden to soil again. The periphery is still not done, but every time I go in to weed something else, I will tackle a section of that.

I now have green, yellow and purple beans planted. Asparagus, red onion, garlic, two varieties of beets, two varieties of carrots  four varieties of potatoes,  two varieties of peppers, three varieties of tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, two varieties of peas, lettuce, raspberries, blueberries, rhubarb, strawberries, and many herbs. As it is now July 7th already, hopefully we will have something to harvest by November!!

In addition to this, we have loads of blackberries growing around the property, apples, pears, crabapple, quince and I believe I have found a patch of wild blueberries!

The goal was to significantly reduce our grocery bill and feed ourselves. Time will tell if I am too late planting, or if we will still get any quantity of fruit and vegetables.

I feel very sore, but satisfied at a job done!