Can training your hens to lay in nest boxes be as easy as a trip to the golf course?

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sweet little kitten

This is our sweet little grey kitten.  Born April 21st, this little

tyke is only 4 weeks old so we aren't quite sure if its a boy 

or girl yet.  Anyone have any name ideas?

Aquaculture project underway!

Eric and Tony are getting the aquaculture project underway and it looks like it will be  big time operation.

Here is a link to their blog.

A rainy day on the farm

The clouds rolled in yesterday afternoon bringing with them lots of wonderful rain.  Our young passion fruit vines are loving the extra hydration and our grass really needed a drink.   Sadly, our greenhouse did not. The rain came down so fast at one point that it didn't even have time to drain off and it pooled on our plastic roofing.  The weight was just too much for the wood beams to hold.... so down they came.  Thankfully no one was in the system when it fell and the guys say it won't take much to get it all fixed up again.

 The rain brought out all the tree frogs which are breeding like rabbits in the pools of our aquaculture system.  From the sounds of them there must be an easy thousand out there.  I spent a long night in my sewing room working on aprons and quilts and listened to their loud calls until 4am when I finally decided at least a little sleep was needed.

Although, a farm girls job is never done... just before heading to bed I was called to feeding duty by a small gray kitten.   Sake, one of our farm cats, had a litter of 4 kittens on April 21st.  Sadly we lost two of them early on and we are doing everything we can to help the remaining two to gain weight and stay healthy.   Sake is learning the ropes of motherhood but it seems as though she is only producing milk from one nipple so the two little kittens are always fighting over who gets to eat.  Over the past few days we have noticed that one gets to eat much more often than the other so we have started bottle feeding the weaker one to help keep her weight up.  So, after a early morning feeding my head finally hit the pillow shortly after 5.

The thunder rolled back in around 7 and after laying awake listening to it for nearly an hour I decided that two hours of sleep was more than enough.   Another beautiful rainy day on the farm,  the kind of day I would love to spend every second of in my sewing room!

Well its time to plan our the week.  We are very excited because we will be able to candle our heritage turkey eggs this week.    More from the farm soon.



     

Our farm

........

I'd like to have chickens some day.


This was the start of our farm vision.  At the time Eric and I were still living on the outskirts of Tampa,FL with his dad in a subdivision.   The day had come for us to find our own place.  Now we weren't your average couple looking for their first apartment, we wanted LAND!  After months of searching we found our little piece of paradise in Ruskin, FL.    Five and a half acres of overgrown jungle with a lagoon and a structure that vaguely resembled a house.  We were sold!   Within one month we were signing papers and holding the keys to our very own land.

This was the spring of 2009.   Now, merely one year later our land has gotten a complete makeover and our house even has floors!  Eric and I have invested countless hours in fixing the place up and have loved every second of it.  There is nothing more rewarding than sitting down to dinner in a kitchen you built from the bottom up.

Now that most of the house is compete, we have directed most of our attention to the land.  We now have chickens, rabbits, quail, and ducks in a large coop system in the back.  Our three farm cats keep the pests away and Sadie, our Australian Shepperd, stands watch over everyone.

Earlier this spring we moved my brother Tony and his girlfriend Abbey down from MN.  They have been a wonderful addition to our farm family.  Tony and Eric have been busily working on setting up the fish system in the back yard. Currently we are breeding Australian red claw crayfish and tilapia.

There is never a dull moment on our little farm and there is always a project to look forward to.   None of us have ever done any farming in the past so we are learning a lot as we go.  The desire to live a simpler, more self sufficient lifestyle is something that Eric and I share and value in one another.

Much more from the farm to come!