One great aspect of buying locally is that you can actually get to know the farmer who grew the tomatoes or raised the chicken you buy from him or her. If you go to your local farmer’s market, talk to the farmer – ask about how the animals are raised (grass-finished?) or if pesticides are used on vegetables. Give feedback about products (e.g., “best chicken I’ve tasted!” or “I told my friend to buy your awesome strawberries”). Farmers are proud of their wares, and most will willingly answer your questions and be pleased that you care enough about your food to ask. Continue reading “Get To Know Your Farmer…And Challenge Your Assumptions”
Category: Homesteading / Farming
A Breath Of Fresh Air
It’s oddly warm today – sunny and 64 right now. Quite a change from this morning, when the ground was still frozen. The rabbits’ water crocks were rimmed with ice in the morning, but now it’s warm enough for the ducks to bathe in their tub without risk of frozen feathers. Continue reading “A Breath Of Fresh Air”
Incubating Duck Eggs and Warmer Days
We candled the Muscovy eggs last night and of the 7, saw 2 that concerned us. One was damaged – there was a tiny impact point and a crack that spanned about half the egg. Not good. Since we didn’t have any plain wax for sealing the crack, we painted it with nail polish. Sounds weird, but some people claim they’ve successfully hatched cracked eggs this way. Worth a try. Note: only “five free” polish was used (no Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate, Formaldehyde, Formaldehyde Resin, or Camphor). Continue reading “Incubating Duck Eggs and Warmer Days”
The Duck Eggs Arrived…Finally
The Muscovy eggs ordered last week were shipped by the seller on Monday by Priority Mail. Unfortunately, they were mysteriously delayed in transit and didn’t arrive at the local post office (and strangely, went to a different PO, rather than the one to which we’re assigned) until today. We’ve been watching the tracking carefully, so as soon as we saw that they had arrived at the local PO, we called and asked them to hold the package for pickup.
The package was in good shape, and the eggs were carefully wrapped, individually, first in paper towel, then bubble wrap, and placed in a box, which was placed in a bigger box and surrounded by paper to cushion the eggs. The eggs appear to all be unbroken.
Taking Time To Evaluate
It’s a gray day, with lots of mud created by the snow melt. Seems appropriate for a bit of reflection.
So many of us lead ridiculously busy lives, barely having any time to just sit and think. What happened to those long summer breaks from school where it seemed like summer would go on forever? You could just stare up at the blue summer sky and daydream about the future. We need those moments.
Sometimes people get stuck in a rut. Many of us go through the motions, doing what we think is the “right” thing to do: go to college, get a corporate job, work the 9-5 (really, more like 8 to 6 or more for many), buy a house and cars, contribute to your 401(k). You do it not because it’s what makes you want to get out of bed in the morning, but because it’s what society says you should be doing. You work long hours, spend little time with those you care about, let yourself get out of shape, eat unhealthy meals at your desk or on the road, and collect your paychecks. You probably don’t or won’t take much in the way of vacation because work is ever-present – you have to check your email on vacation or deal with a thousand messages in your inbox when you get back. Maybe the office even calls you when you’re on vacation. So much for boundaries.
Take Two: Breeding Rabbits
Warning: this post discusses rabbit procreation. Reader discretion is advised.
So, both the New Zealand does (Ava and Loretta) were not pregnant after the first attempt to breed them about a month ago. There were several possible reasons it wasn’t successful, but the most likely one is that the bucks didn’t exactly know what they were doing. In fairness, the does may have had a part in that, too.