Goodbye Turkeys

The turkeys finally went to their final destination yesterday.  I'm still not sure if they were the right kind of bird or not (I had ordered Broad Breasted Bronze...but they never really got broad).  But it was a fun farm experience and I'm excited to do it again next year!  I will be ordering them earlier and just processing them earlier, to avoid the fear of them getting too big.  I also want them to be out on pasture.  I'm curious how the second year will go!

The largest was just over 20lbs, the smallest 8lbs.  I'm not sure what the head cook is going to do with those, but maybe I can swipe them for myself!  The down side of the Ranch, unlike the other two farms I've worked on - the employees do not get the product.  Which kind of stinks.

I'm always grateful for the animals that we raise and eat.  I always thank them for the gift of food.  It's never easy sending animals; my heart always breaks.  But I remind myself why I raise this food: to give and educate people about healthy, safe meat to eat.  That's important too. 

Yule

The Ranch celebrated a beautiful tradition last Thursday.  Yule Night, to celebrate the winter solstice.  We followed the path, as you see below, to the Yule Log to burn through the longest night of the year.  We didn't set the log on fire (though that would have been cool!) but we sang some Christmas songs and had big torches lit to brighten up the cold night.  Then we spent an evening with an open mic.  We had the lights shut off, and after each person performed they lit a candle, so the room gradually got brighter and brighter.   It was a really beautiful night.  I'm happy I was a part of it.   

Goats Escape!

No, not the silly little pigmy goats at The Ranch.  But wild ones.  Check out this video from NPR. 

 

Mother Nature vs Man, Round 2

I promise, I was not leaving you hanging, nor did I forget to let you know the final result.  I didn't have the pictures to show you and had to track them down after a couple of weeks.

As you know, Mother Nature won Round 1 of the fight.  But in the end, we were able to defeat Mother Nature.  We were able to flip over Motel 6 with the John Deere 2355.  It was pretty amazing, but with the right leverage I suppose you can do anything!

Woo!  This was a great feeling, getting this building off it's roof.  This was the hardest part, and the next part of getting it right side up was pretty easy.  

For this never (hopefully) to happen again, we pounded post in each corner of the building and drilled two rods through each post attaching it too the building.  This baby hopefully isn't going anywhere! 

The crew also has enjoyed replacing part of the roof on it, since it was damaged in by the fence it landed on.

Oh, the story of farming...