Kindle=BABY BUNNIES. I can’t see them yet but I know they are in there! My daughter’s American Chinchilla and chinchilla cross have both kindled in the last 48 hours. They both created nice straw nests lined with plenty of soft rabbit fur. This morning she came in from chores to breathlessly tell me the piles of fur have tiny moving bodies within! We won’t disturb the nests any more than that. Thank you Carolyn and Crystal! You have beautiful rabbits are are very giving and open with advice.
Fences and Waterlines, Oh My!
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A big thank-you to Randy Cutler, Scott and Chad Ristow, Arik Salzman, and Joseph Zaiger for the fencing, electrical, excavating and plumbing work respectively. It all looks so good. We have a 3 acre pig pasture for rotational grazing in woven wire with barbed at the bottom. Also fenced in is a 1/2 acre paddock for a horse and dairy goat for the girls. The rest of the 15 acres pasture is fenced in electrified high tensile wire. The water line runs to an insulated winter waterer which will service both the big pasture and the horse paddock. There is also a water hydrant from which I will run a waterline out along the length of the pig pasture and out the length of the big pasture for summer water. This will allow us to intensively graze a small section of pasture and the area near the waterer will not be compacted and overgrazed. We are almost ready to get down to business (good thing too, since animals come in about 4 weeks).
Other things going on around here: SlowFood Marathon County should have its charter and 503(c) non-profit status this summer just in time for farmers markets and summer events. We have a few really activated and motivated members-I expect we will do some great things over the coming years! The WOW space art show happens in 2 weeks. I’m not *super* excited about the work I have for the show, but also not embarrassed to hang it next to my much more talented aunt’s work. Parts of the garden are going in- cold tolerant beauties like beets, spinach, carrots and rutabaga. I expanded the garden this year its something like 3,200 sq feet (more than twice as big as my house!). Also experimenting with deep mulch this year -I spread 2 round bales of organic barley straw and then 3 pickup loads of old hay on the garden- 12+ inches thick so all the seeds in the hay can’t germinate (I hope!). I am using the deep mulch concept because 1) I would prefer not to till. I mean it’s easy enough to do with our tractor but i hate how it disturbs the soil ecosystem and leaves a hardpan about 8 inches down and 2) I hate weeding! I would like to grow the biggest majority of our own food this year. I know I can grow it- but the trick is to learn how to store it and spread out the harvest so I don’t have everything at once! ( and oh yeah, getting my kids to eat veggies !)
Chicks on Grass
My hens made the move to pasture last week. They have had a few chilly nights recently but seem to be very happy out there. Or maybe that’s just me! Aesthetically, I love seeing the chickens scratching and walking around against the green grass and blue sky. And objectively I know they are converting the green grass into a healthier egg which is full of omega 3′s, beta-carotene, vitamins A and E. There is already a noticeable change in the color and texture of the egg yolks. I’m loving my ‘orange’ scrambled eggs!
On the down side I have to remember to close up the coop at night! I forgot last night and was hoping NOT to find owl or coyote eaten birds this morning. We did get lucky- all safe and sound this AM. The other downside is cleaning out the winter coop. A two foot thick layer of bedding and chicken poo was transferred to the compost pile and a portion of the garden last week. I have trained myself not to think of it as chicken poop but as material to grow fantastic sweet corn! With the coop empty of sweet corn growth factor (!), the next project is to get it cleaned up for chicks. I have about 4 weeks before the baby meat birds arrive.
My 14 yr old daughter is raising meat rabbits this year. My DH has constructed 3 beautiful rabbit tractors for her herd (ummm, flock?) of American Chinchilla Rabbits. Right now we are only housing her elderly former 4H project bunnies, but my friend Carolyn Kreinke has graciously mentored my daughter and will sell us 2 young bred does. Erin would like to purchase a Californian or New Zealand buck to begin her own breeding program.
Signs of Spring
Spring MUST be here. I ordered chicks today. 120 Freedom Ranger broilers to arrive the first week of May. It sure looks like we are having an early warm spring but this is still Wisconsin, it could still snow in April. No frozen chick-sicles on my farm! We should have 2012 birds by the 4th of July. Can you say -beer can chicken-?
Slow Food Wausau March Meeting Tonight
Pretty excited and kinda nervous. We are having our second meeting tonight at the RedEye Brewery tonight at 7pm. This is my first real experience with organizing a group. And talking in front of people… I’ll have a hard cider first, then I should be ok. 
Slow Food is a global grassroots movement, promoting good, clean and fair food. Food which is culturally diverse. Food which builds community. Food which is nutritious and good for both people AND planet. One of Slow Food’s tenets is also food as a universal right. I am really excited by the people who are becoming involved- Kevin and Megan from Downtown Grocery, Paul from New Grass Farms, Kat and Tony from Stoney Acres and Nathan from the Wright Place. We have stay-at-home mom’s, MD’s. teachers, and extension agents. Eaters and activists all. There is a place here for you too! If the Red Eye is not possible tonight then send me an email at slowfoodwausau@yahoo.com and we’ll get you hooked up for next time!
City Folks
‘Dear, you’ll never believe what those neighbors from town are doing. They want to buy that old John Deere running gear for their pigs. Yep pigs. They are going to put them out in a field and build a fence and move them around that slough. They want to use the wagon to shade the pigs. They’re also building a chicken coop on wheels. Yep wheels,can you believe it? They are going to move the chickens behind the cows. Who ever heard of such a thing?’
My poor retired farmer neighbor! He is a great neighbor, very helpful and goes out of his way for us. But I’m afraid he thinks we’re nuts! I can just hear him talking to other folks at the hardware store or gas station. Whoooee! Crazy city people! Can you believe it?
Crunchy Juicy Fried Chicken
I usually make a chicken each weekend. Fabulous as my birds are things get a little boring and I need to ‘kick it up a notch’ every once and a while! Erin requested the fried chicken she saw on an America’s Test Kitchen show-yeah, no cable or dish dramatically changes the viewing habits of teenagers!
I have to admit I was kind of grumbley going into it. Cut up the chicken, bread the chicken, pan fry, and THEN put in the oven. It sounded like a lot of work, it sounded like a lot of dishes. Why couldn’t I just season a bird and stick it in the roaster? BORING! Time for something new! The pan/oven fried chicken was amazing, really and truly delicious! And all that crunchy breading for this low-carb girl–a huge treat. The only downside to this recipe was leftovers-there were very few.
I was going to include a link to the recipe but the site has changed and now you have to sign up for a 14 day ‘free trial’ using your credit card (!) Sorry folks. To the best of my recollection the cut up chicken was first marinated 1 1/4 cup buttermilk for a couple of hours. The breading was 2 c flour, 2 tsp baking powder, salt, pepper and cayenne pepper mixed together then 1/4 cup buttermilk worked in to give coarse crumbs. Bread thickly then brown each side-skin side down first- in a hot pan of oil. I used about a 1/4 inch of coconut oil ( I have banned nasty oxidized vegetable oils from my kitchen-look it up!)in the bottom of the pan, After browned on all sides move the chicken to the 350 degree oven on a wire rack (i used a broiler pan). Cook until temps reach 160 in the breast, maybe 20 -30 minutes. Kind of a pain but WOW, I will make this again (as long as the kids do the dishes!)
Making Tracks
Yesterday when walking between the house and coop I heard big dog angry barking. I looked out to the neighbors field and saw his big grey dog running through the field, circling back in what I saw as play body language. Thinking on it some more- my neighbors dog isn’t grey, and the barking wasn’t happy. I went out to check on the tracks and this is what I found:
Wow, there were not one but two sets of these big prints out in the field! I was seeing a ‘dog’ playing and another barking angrily because he is a livestock guardian dog locked in the barn for the day! The wolves came out of Dad’s woods to the south of us. Dad was out in the woods cutting firewood, and pretty surprised to come down for lunch and see these prints on top of his morning tracks!
Another fun one :
My prints and the cat’s flanking what I think are raccoon tracks, it wandered up from the south wandered across the back of our house past the wood pile then continued north.
Hot Times In The Henhouse.
There is something interesting going on in the hen coop… 
Over the winter I use a technique called deep bedding in the coop. I don’t empty the coop of shavings, only turn over the old with a pitchfork and add fresh shavings to the top. I currently have approx 12 inches of bedding in the coop, my head is beginning to brush the rafters! Three really cool things about deep bedding are: 1) I don’t have to muck it out during the cold months, 2) the bedding is actually composting in the coop-generating heat, 3) the hens actually glean nutrition from the litter (some really interesting studies from the 40′s showing increased weights of birds on new bedding versus deep litter).
I spent some time freshening up the coop late last week, using the pitchfork to turn over and mix all the bedding before adding new stuff. I was really happy to see clouds of warm vapor rising off the bedding into the cold air. Placing my hand into the litter and it is warm to the touch. I am also seeing alot of new scratching and hunting/pecking through the litter-concentrated in the area which is the warmest. I cannot see what they are after though…fungi? bits of fresh compost? It is interesting to observe and I forgive them for kicking the bedding around and making a big hilly mess. I just need to more the waterer to a different corner so they won’t kick bedding into the clean water and fill the feeder with bedding!
Beef Cow U
Tonight is the first session of Beef Cow University.
From the website: ‘This short-course series is designed to mentor current and aspiring cow/calf producers: those who are considering starting a cow herd to those who are seeking more information for an existing cow herd. The program will cover topics on nutrition, genetic selection, reproduction management, calf crop management, herd health, business strategies in order to manage a profitable beef herd and marketing arrangements. Instructors include UW-Madison Extension Beef Specialist Amy Radunz, UW-Extension specialists and beef industry experts.’
How much fun is that!
