The New Portable Poultry House

Well, we finally got the new portable poultry house up and running. It certainly has been a learning experience, but all the chicks are now outside, with thier adopted mama hen. (Long story short: I had a hen that I had to bring to the house to nurse, and instead of putting her out with the breeding hens and roosters, I stuck her in with the new chicks. She immediuately took on  the role of mother hen, to 100+ chicks!) They all made it through their first night outside, and we have figured out how we are going to feed and water them as well as move the pen for the next 5 weeks until processing day.

I finished cleaning out the garage, and have decided no more chick brooding in the garage, too messy, too much humidity and I risk divorce if I continue that trend!

Here is a couple shots of the new mobile house.

Watering the group.

A closer look at the chicks.

Cheesemaking Class

Well, after two full weeks, I figure it is about time to get caught up here. Last week from Monday to Thursday was the first Kentucky Cheese School. The first day was classroom training, but Tues. through Thurs. we moved into the hands on portion. Dr. Steve Zeng, from Langston University in OK was our guide through the three days of extensive training.

http://www.luresext.edu/GOATS/goat_szeng.htm

The hands on took place at the farm and creamery of Bleugrass Chevre in Lexington. I drove down every day, that was a long drive - even longer than my usual daily drive to work! The farm was beautiful, Susan, the owner, has dairy goats and does all milking and processing there on the farm. Many thanks to her for all the wonderful lunches and great conversation...I might just have to get a couple goats now - her kids are so cute! In addition to many slide presentations, we made a lot of cheeses, including: cheddar, colby, brie, camembert, chevre, cream cheese and parmesan. Here are some of the pictures from the last day of class.

Colby cheese curds

Pressing the Colby curds

Display of all the cheeses we made and tasting.

I am so excited to get my hands on some fresh milk and work on practicing at home. Of course, I need to order a press and some cultures and rennet - I want to try a Camembert (which I love), that's pretty easy, and a parmesan, but that one will be a long time before tasting as it ages for a long time. So many things to do - so little time.

Duck, Duck...Chickens!

So much going on! Not enough hours in the day to do everything - or report everything. When last we met, we were snow bound and wild bird scouting....onto the domestic birds! I have been keeping up on things - but more so through my Facebook page, with daily little tidbits. But I need to do better here -and so I will! For those of you who might want daily (almost) tidbits, follow us on Facebook at: Napoleon Ridge Farm

Last weekend I attended the OEFFA conference in Granville, OH, just outside Columbus, OH. That was a wonderful experience. In addition to spending time with some of the most important people in my life, the seminars were (for the most part) amazing. While there, Gretchen, from Greensleeve's Farm bought two ducks and three chicks, which I am babysitting until they get about 6 weeks. The ducks are so funny - they LOVE water, so I have built them a little water complex, a few pictures here of their bathing so Gretchen can check them out.

Getting their feet wet.

Then getting everything else wet!

Gretchen's three chicks.

My five new chicks, hatched Sunday.

Cardinal Rules!

With all this snow, the feeder is covered(!) with birds. There are so many cardinals, I can't count them all. In addition, the robins and catbirds are around, and they are the reason I leave the crabapples on the trees over winter, as they have been eating that fruit non stop in this weather.
Also spotted yesterday at the feeder was a red-winged black bird, grackles and starlings and tufted titmice, red finches, gold finches, rufous sided towhees. Also german sparrow, chipping sparrow, and song sparrows. And of course, the chickadees, nuthatches, carolina wren, downy and red bellied woodpeckers.

The cardinal on the ground looking for seed.

The cardinal hanging out in the trees.

Peach was not even remotely interested in birds.
A nap was more his speed.

Snow, Snow and More Snow

Okay, a bit of a stretch after having lived in Upstate New York and New England for most of my life, but we have had a couple of storms one after the other in the past week. Today's was about 6 inches so far, with another couple being predicted for tonight into tomorrow. Had to cancel my egg delivery for Chalk Restaurant until later this week, and take yet another day off of work. And because neither I nor my husband has a 4 wheel drive vehicle (other than the Rhino utility vehicle at the farm), we walked to the farm this morning to take care of the chickens. Fran took a couple pictures as we approached the farm, included here for verification of our snowy day.

Heading up the road toward the barn.

Rounding toward the barn, lettuce in hand for the hens.

Once we got the hens all taken care of (that includes their daily lettuce since they are not going out on pasture and several leaves of straw for them to scratch through which keeps them entertained), we did take the Rhino back to the house just in case. It is about 4/10's of a mile walk from the house to the farm, and it was a chilly walk! Had a cup of hot cocoa once we got home, and enjoyed watching the other birds at the feeder. I sure am looking forward to spring.

Lots of cardinals in the trees.

New Chicks on the Farm

So far, 11 hatched, 2 died, and the other 9 appear happy and healthy. They are living, for now, in the upstairs bedroom until they get about two weeks old, then they will move into the garage brooding pen with their 4 older siblings that were born in December. I will then start another batch for February hatching, and keep on going until I get back up to about 100+ chickens. They sure are cute when they are little, I have attached a little video clip of them.

This afternoon, the ladies that comprise the board of Earth Mother Market, our Wednesday farmers market in Fort Thomas are coming over for dinner and conversations about the upcoming growing season. There is so much going on it is hard to keep up! I fresh roasted some organic Costa Rican coffee, an making several fresh pastas (spinach ravioli and garlic and herb fettucini) with our farm tomato sauce to go over it. And a lemon tart with hazelnut crust topped with fresh fruits for dessert. Should be a fun night of talking farming!

2010 CSA Memberships Are Available

This year we will be offering Community Supported Agriculture memberships in addition to our farm and farm market sales. With the expansion of growing acres, this seemed like the perfect time to start this program. I was a little behind in getting my informational brochure and application done, but everything is now ready to go...if you want more information on joining just email me and let me know and I will send along the brochure and application. The farm email is tricia@napoleonridgefarm.com. I have lots of ordering complete, with the remainder going in this week, there are going to be so many great selections this year! Already in is our potato order, we will be doing 4 varieties. We have a large fruit and berry order, with gooseberries, currants, 3 types of raspberries and new blackberries placed. And I have spent weeks perusing through the Fedco, Johhny's seeds and High Mowing seed catalogs. Now if it would just warm up a bit so I can get going on the hoophouses. And - a really big surprise for the next post!

This big old oak lives in one of the side fields, it is a huge tree up close.