- the life cycle of our turkey

Last summer we purchased 3 turkey poults; only two made it out of the brooder to the field, and only one made it to adulthood.  While we enjoyed having her around, we never lost sight of her real purpose for being on the farm - food.

I had processed quite a few turkeys in the past, but I had never done it at our home...  I knew our lack of proper processing equipment would make things a bit more challenging for us.  I opted to skin her rather than scald and pluck; it went ok, but I hope I don't have to do it that way again.  She turned out fine, but didn't look quite as nice and it took me much too long.

My wife opted to put her in the stock pot and let her simmer for about 6 hours.  This method of cooking allows us to get EVERY scrap of meat off the bird and also makes great stock to be used in other meals.

I must admit that I miss her a little bit; it was always fun to see her come running (along side the goats) when I was moving them to new pasture.  She followed us around sometimes, like a pet and was all-around entertaining, but she is in the freezer now and we are all looking forward to eating her.

It is hard to explain, but it is very gratifying to have raised an animal, taken care of it for its whole life, and then used it to provide for my family.  Knowing exactly how it was cared for, what it was fed, and how it was processed.  One of our goals for this year is to provide all of our own meat, which will be mostly chicken, with an occasional goat and turkey.  I encourage you all to raise/grow your own food if possible; if not you should at least make an effort to find out how your food is being raised and processed - if you want you can come visit our farm and purchase some from us.  :-)

After just arriving at Liberty Pastures

Running free in the field

Protecting the farm against a new "intruder"


Getting ready to "say goodbye"












Beginning to skin













Almost finished processing

The finished product in the stock pot













The 6 quarts of "stock" she produced for us

- way too much logic

I just got this in an e-mail from my father and I thought I'd share it with you all.   As I told him, it makes so much sense that even if it were to be formally introduced, it would NEVER get passed and ratified...  It is nice to dream a little though.  It would cross party lines and if it were added as an amendment, I think it would solve most of our nation's problems.

-- Proposed 28th Amendment to the United States  Constitution --

      

"Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators and/or Representatives; and Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators and/or Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States ."

- game camera

I broke down and purchased a cheap game camera.  It is mounted in a water-tight case that mounts on a tree, has a motion activated camera that takes a burst of 3 photos or 9 seconds of video, has an infrared flash for darkness, and records moon phase and temperature.   A few years ago this package would have cost a thousand dollars, technology is absolutely amazing!!!!

I bought it too late and missed dear season, but it is still interesting to see the activity throughout the day around our property.  I got one fuzzy picture of what may be a coyote, I have seen a rabbit, and a whole lot of deer (no bucks yet).  By the time dear season comes around next year, I should have their patterns down - in the mean time we will just enjoy seeing the activity of wildlife.

- my other career

If you follow the blog or know anything about me you know that I a reservist in the Marine Corps.  In addition to my required Marine Corps duties, I have taken to volunteering for many different opportunities, some of these take me around the country, but most of them involve military funeral details.  I just thought I’d share a few pictures my life when I am not working in the fields.

- woodworking

In my constant (and constantly unsuccessful) effort to get organized, I decided to make a little “tool box” to store my hoof trimming gear.  It would also allow me to easily transport  my stuff  and not have to throw it into a 5 gallon bucket or milk crate on the back of the tractor.

I did not really have a plan (like most projects of mine), but I had a vision of what I wanted.  I bought some sanded pine from Lowes and assembled a box that was 8” tall, 6” wide, and 14” long.  I wanted to ensure that it was just large enough to hold my shears, file, knife, etc…  The edges even got sanded/rounded to make splinters less likely.  I also opted to make a little divider to hold my bottle of Iodine; that stuff makes a horrible mess if it spills. 

Anyway, I was so happy with the way it turned out that I decided to make a few more.  They are not as pretty or sturdy as my dear friend would make, but for my level of woodworking skill, they are perfect.  I am sure that if you wanted a nice one with your family or farm name engraved on it, Jim could make you one; he can make just about anything.     :-)

- indian winter

I  got this 3rd hand from a friend and loved it,  so here you go...
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It's late fall, and the Indians on a remote reservation asked their new chief if the coming winter was going to be cold or mild.  Since he was a chief in a modern society, he had never been taught the old secrets.  When he looked at the sky, he couldn't tell what the winter was going to be like.  Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, he told his tribe that the winter was indeed going to be cold, and that the members of the village should collect firewood to be prepared.   But, being a practical leader, after several days, he got an idea .  He went to the phone booth, called the National Weather Service and asked, 'Is the coming winter going to be cold?'

'It looks like this winter is going to be quite cold,' the meteorologist at the weather service responded.

So the chief went back to his people and told them to collect even more firewood in order to be prepared.   A week later, he called the National Weather Service again. 'Does it still look like it is going to be a very cold winter?'

'Yes,' the man at National Weather Service again replied, 'it's going to be a very cold winter.'

The chief again went back to his people and ordered them to collect every scrap of firewood they could find.

Two weeks later, the chief called the National Weather Service again.  'Are you absolutely sure that the winter is going to be very cold?'

'Absolutely,' the man replied.   'It's looking more and more like it is going to be one of the coldest winters we've ever seen.'

'How can you be so sure?' the chief asked.

The weatherman replied, 'The Indians are collecting firewood like crazy.'
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{This is obviously a joke, but this is how they work sometimes, remember this whenever you get advice from a government official!}

- the ant and the grasshopper

this was posted at the Rural Revolution, but I wanted to share it with you.

OLD VERSION:
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself.
_____________________________________________________________________

NEW VERSION:
The ant works hard in the withering heat and the rain all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while he is cold and starving.

CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper and everybody cries when they sing, 'It's Not Easy Being Green.' ACORN stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, “We shall overcome.” Then Rev. Jeremiah Wright has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake. President Obama condemns the ant and blames President Bush, President Reagan, Christopher Columbus, and the Pope for the grasshopper's plight. Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share. Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Actretroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government Green Czar and given to the grasshopper.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper and his free-loading friends finishing up the last bits of the ant’s food while the government house he is in, which, as you recall, just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around them because the grasshopper doesn't maintain it.

The ant has disappeared in the snow, never to be seen again.

The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident, and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the ramshackle, once prosperous and once peaceful, neighborhood.

The entire Nation collapses bringing the rest of the free world with it.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be careful how you vote in 2010.

- life and death

In addition to our one indoor cat, we have two outdoor cats.  We got Hank and Hunter to be "farm cats", to kill mice, moles, etc...  The one thing we did not plan for was how the two mousers would affect our bird watching.

They do primarily catch mice and the like, but occasionally they will hunt at our bird feeders.  We do our best to chase them away, but inevitably they do grab a bird once in a while.  A couple days ago, I walked in to the garage and found an Oak Titmouse sitting on the floor.  The two cats were only a few feet away keeping a close watch on their captor.  The bird was not dead so I naturally scooped him up and chased the cats away.  Despite any obvious wounds, I could tell that the bird was severely injured.  He was alert, but sat calmly in my hands as I brought him into the house for the family to see.

I planned to shoot the bird and put it out of its misery, but after we all held it, I got a little attached and decided I couldn’t do it.  I placed him in the brooder with our new chickens, hoping he would recover.  It was not to be; I found him dead a few hours later.  It was sad, but I think we were all grateful to hold and pet a beautiful little species that we have admired, but never been able to touch.  Just another life and death experience at Liberty Pastures.

- green eggs

In an effort to grow our farm we continue to buy chickens; our hope is to start selling eggs in the spring.  We have always purchased breeds that are known to be prolific egg layers, but we recently decided to add a little variety instead.  We purchased five, 14 week old Americanas (Araucanas) from another local farm.  They don’t look much different from our one existing Black Star (Black Sex Link), but they should eventually look and lay very differently.

Their mature appearance is rather unusual for a chicken; their “cheek feathers” tend to sort of stick out and they have a longer beak causing them to look like a chicken with the head of a Hawk, or some other raptor that likes to eat chickens.  In addition to their hawk-like head, they will lay smaller eggs that are blue/green in color. As with all animals at Liberty Pastures, they are in constant jeopardy and two died the first day we had them.  We are not sure what happened, but my best guess would be that they accidentally got trampled by a goat.  The three remaining birds are now in a brooder in our garage; I am not sure when they will go back outside, but for now they are safe and warm.

- snow

It has snowed several times this fall/winter, but we finally had a snow storm in which it came down heavy and accumulated a little bit.  It was a lot fun for the children to get outside and play in the snow.  True to Indiana weather, it only stayed a few days, but it was nice while it lasted.  We look forward to the next opportunity to go sledding.

- a deere in the snow

I know she should be in a barn or a garage, but since that is not really an option for me, she gets to enjoy the snow.  It amazes me how it fires right up no matter the weather.  Good old fashioned American craftsmanship; true to their slogan "Nothing Runs Like a Deere".  And I think she looks pretty too.

- new additions

Last week I responded to an ad and purchased two more goats.  These ones are different than our others; primarily because I bought them with the express intent of slaughtering them as soon as they hit the 1 year old mark.  Despite knowing my plan, the children could not resist naming them; they came up with Bud and Temple, I refer to them as Dinner 1 and Dinner 2.

The white one is about 7 months old so he should be ready for me to butcher in the spring, the smaller one is only 4 months old so he has a way to go.  It is a little sad, but amusing to watch them try to fit into the existing order of goats.  As soon as they were placed in the paddock, the head butting began.  It is their way of determining where they will rank in the “pecking order”.  It was also very interesting to watch our turkey (yes, she is still alive) respond to the new-comers.  She puffed up like a Tom and actually chased the new goats around the paddock.  For days, she would run up to the new goats and “challenge” them with all sorts of interesting clucks and trills.  She seems to have accepted them finally, but even today she was challenging them again.

The little goats were treated cruelly, by the older goats, for the first couple days, but every day they accept them a little more.  As for Bud and Temple, I mean Dinner 1 & 2, I hope they enjoy their lives here at Liberty Pastures; at least until it is time for them to fulfill their purpose.  :-)

- a new visitor

I guess I need to start by saying Happy New Year.  It amazes it me that it is now 2010; seems like we just passed the big 2000.

Anyway, I wanted to share a couple photos I just took.  It is a beautifully clear morning with no wind and a brisk temp of 15 degrees.  I happened to look out of our back window toward our creeks and saw a Great Blue Heron sitting adjacent to (what we call) Phillips Creek.  The photos are not the best, but hopefully you get a good idea of what this magnificent bird looks like.  We have seen them flying low along the water of the larger creek that acts as one of our property boundaries, but this is the first time we have seen one "on" our property.  The first 3 pictures are from about 10 minutes ago, the bottom one is a stock photo in case you don’t know what they look like up close.

Great Blue Heron: The largest North American Heron, with a head-to-tail length of 36-55 in, a wingspan of 66-79 in, and a weight of 4.4-8 lbs, it is blue-gray overall, with black flight feathers, red-brown thighs, and a paired red-brown and black stripe up the flanks; the neck is rusty-gray, with black and white streaking down the front; the head is paler, with a nearly white face, and a pair of black plumes running from just above the eye to the back of the head. The feathers on the lower neck are long and plume-like; it also has plumes on the lower back at the start of the breeding season. The bill is dull yellowish, becoming orange briefly at the start of the breeding season, and the lower legs gray, also becoming orangey at the start of the breeding season. Immature birds are duller in color, with a dull blackish-gray crown, and the flank pattern only weakly defined; they have no plumes, and the bill is dull gray-yellow. (from Wikipedia)