You probably know that ducks are very, very messy. One reason is that they love water, and will splash it everywhere. Another is that they have very wet poop, and they do a lot of it.
The Runner/Pekin family (mom and 9 ducklings) have been spending their nights in the larger coop that looks like a bit like a jumbo doghouse. It’s made of an eco-friendly plastic material*, so it can be hosed out when needed…invaluable when you’re housing ducks. With 10 ducks in there all night, it gets messy in there fast. To keep abreast of the rapidly-generated waste, we’ve been using the “deep litter” method, basically adding clean bedding atop the dirty. At some point, it all comes out and you start over. It was time to redo it all. Continue reading “Cleaning Out The Duck Coops”
It’s that time again – this year is coming to its end. We like to look back at the year because you can forget how much you learned and during that period. We also like to recognize our accomplishments, as well as identify needed improvements. We characterize 2016 as our year of learning on the farm.
If you’ve read earlier posts, you know that I make (lots of) kombucha tea. With each batch, a new cellulose pellicle is formed, starting as a thin, cloudy-looking film and growing bigger and thicker with each successive batch. The Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast (SCOBY) isn’t strictly necessary to properly culture a batch, if sufficiently strong tea from a previous batch is added to “inoculate” the brew…but it looks really cool in a jar (scare your friends!).
Rabbit meat is delicious, low in fat, and high in protein. It’s mildly-flavored and can easily substitute for chicken in recipes. Since we grow our own here at the farm, we’re always looking for creative ways to prepare tasty rabbit-based meals.
Well, there won’t be a white Christmas here this year (again). The temperatures have risen and it rained last night, so everything that was previously frozen is thawed and soggy. The ducks, of course, are happy…they love mud and it’s warm enough for their pools to be out. Some of them couldn’t even wait for the pools to fill before they jumped in this morning. Others were more interested in dabbling in the holes that had filled with rainwater runoff and making them even bigger.
After a few frigid days (including wind chills that drove the temperatures below zero), the temperature has shot up into the upper 50s; at this exact moment, it’s 60 but feels like 57 due to the wind chill. Almost shorts weather again. Well, not really…but it was warm enough to wear just a shirt under a rain jacket this morning.