Long Time No Update!

Life often pulls me away from online things, especially when it’s busy. If I don’t update, it probably just means I’m so distracted by everything else that I forgot 🙂

Our sales shack is complete – complete enough for the winter, anyway. The entire structure is done and painted/sealed up. Only some minor framing-in of doors/windows is left and can wait until spring. The sides are a nice barn red, with a clear Thompsons coat on the front near the ‘sales window’. I decorated up with some milk bottles, horseshoes found when plowing, and so forth. We sold out of it over the course of a couple months this summer, ending in mid-September after the corn harvest stopped. Sales were best on weekends and holidays, as expected, and we will continue to focus our efforts on the weekends in the future, especially since those are some of the only days we have free from our ‘real’ jobs. We actually ran out of corn around Labor Day, as one of our big picks was poorly timed and we ended up having too much earlier on and weren’t prepared. A lot overmatured on the plants, but we remedied this problem by picking it later and hanging it to dry for cornmeal… still waiting to make the first test batch of that, whenever we get the chance.

I had a bout with food poisoning near the end of our market season, too, making it necessary for others to sell my stuff for me more often at that time. I also had to make a hospital visit, which I never really love to do. I’m better now though! Be warned of my presence, cucumber-haggling lady. I know my cucumbers were already less than anywhere else and it causes me great frustration when you come when I’m not here in order to con my poor mother into giving you such things for even cheaper. (Said jokingly, but in all seriousness, I don’t consider haggling acceptable on my fresh items. If it’s in my free pile, just take it, or donate if you really want to. If it’s in my bargain bin or bargain bags, then maybe you can try to haggle, as that’s stuff I’m just trying to move out so someone can use it before it goes bad. But haggling on the stuff I just picked… :\ What do you guys think?)

RE: Corn, things seem to sell a lot better when I also have corn to sell. When I don’t have corn, almost nobody stops to the point that it’s almost useless to sit out there. I’m not sure why this is; I guess everyone is really just that in love with my corn. Guys, I promise that the other vegetables are amazing too…! Also, I noticed more roadside stands than ever this year, so that could have a lot to do with it. I’m not upset by that; I’d rather sell nothing and see every single house have a roadside stand if it meant that more people were eating locally and getting a healthier diet.

RE: my eggs, I kept selling out all the time this summer, not even having enough to meet daily demand. It was to the point I had to take them off Wholeshare, too. Now that winter has come, my stand is closed, allowing supply to build up more as only the ‘regulars’ come to get them… but the hens are laying far less, too, and Wholeshare is getting them again, so we’ll see if it all balances out. I could always get more chickens… 😀 Except no, because then I’d need more coop(s). I’m hoping to move toward getting a small barn again, so I can have some other stock instead.

Our dog has reached roughly her adult size at around 40-45 pounds. She loves the snow, mud, and outdoors in general. Definitely the right choice for us, even if she tries to herd the wheelbarrow and shovels when we clean out the coop.

I took an adult doe this deer season (11/20) and got about 55 pounds of meat out of her. Froze a lot as roasts, around 15 pounds as ground, and mixed 6 pounds in with other ingredients to make korv. Korv is one of our yearly traditions anymore, as long as we get a deer. We’re getting a whole processing setup made here, with a new cable hoist added to the list with our commercial meat grinder, vacuum sealer, and Excalibur dehydrator.

The more self-sufficient I can be, the better it is to me.

A Break in the Weather

After weeks of flooded conditions after constant rains, we have been graced with a hot, dry week of upper 80s. We got a good start to the hay season, and our crops started to turn around and grow better, appreciating the lapse in the cold and the wet. Some of our corn is already past knee high. 🙂

We have a number of herbs and greens available for fresh sales now, in addition to the eggs and maple syrup we were offering before. Other crops will be coming very soon. Peas are in full flower, zucchini plants are getting massive, and the potatoes are the best (plant-wise, anyway) that I have ever grown. Crossing my fingers that below ground will be just as amazing.

Our 5 new pullets are now starting to lay. It started with just one tiny, dark brown egg in the coop, which I thought could’ve been a ‘fart egg’ from one of the old hens. The next day, I got another. Then there were 2 the day after that, and I knew it was not the old mommas. Now, a week or so later, here are 3 in lay – not sure which ones exactly, though! As the biggest and most mature looking hens, I thought the Amberlinks were the culprits, but now I am sure that one of them is one of the Reds as I caught her in the box and saw her lay one! Though still on the small side, the eggs are a beautiful hot chocolate color right now, and add another dimension to my assortment. They’ll get bigger soon enough. Until then… pullet eggs for breakfast, yes please.

Our work on a sales shed is going well, though we have quite a way to go. Door is on, floor is done, and sides are mostly together, with trusses built for part of the roof. Still need to pick up metal roofing materials. We plan to plant grapes on one side of it and let them grow up it, as well. We also have another extra old tractor tire that we may fill with soil and put out in front of it, like we did with other old ones further up our lawn. We will see.

We also have a couple of chive divisions and a few seedling apricot trees available, and some cuttings of various plants for those interested. It isn’t too late yet! Cuttings available include meyer lemon, key lime, pineapple sage, various mints, various blueberry, trumpet creeper, and native elderberry. We will prune them up, dip them in rooting hormone (4 available, your choice) and pot them up for you for an extra charge. Aftercare and final success is up to you either way.