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... 

Mother Nature vs Man, Round 1

I came in Tuesday morning after a three day weekend to find this:







Yes.  That's suppose to be a building.  And it's on its roof...                                  
                                                                                                                                                               

Look at what the high tensile wire did!  It sliced the roofing.  Talk about scary.  Apparently Vermont got some serious winds Sunday night, and everyone came to work to find that this entire building rolled over.  And the back of the building is even open, which was suppose to prevent it from flipping!







We spent a while on Tuesday bracing the building and trying to flip it over.  We only lifted it maybe a foot off the ground.  Are we going to be able to flip it back over!? Or are the yearling cows going to be stuck out in the elements this winter!? (Don't worry, I won't let that happen at least!) Mother Nature took Round 1.  Check back to see how Round 2 goes!

Sheep Preparation

This week we got our ewes ready for breeding!  One of the biggest things to do is to make sure that the ewes have nice, healthy feet.  Besides for their own comfort, the addition of ram mounting them adds another (I'd say) 30 lbs on their back.  Though it's only for a short time, it can be painful if they do not have good feet - the increase stress of pain and trying to avoid the ram can cause them not to come into heat.  No heat means no ovulation of eggs, which means no conception, which means no cute little lambs in April.  

It was a fun afternoon with the crew, doing something very different than the norm.   I showed everyone how to take down a sheep (and with our ewes being fat and weighing 250lbs it was NOT easy), what to look for on their feet, and how to trim their hooves.  Everyone seemed to really enjoy the experience.

This guy below is Earl - he's a wether (castrated male sheep).  We keep him around for wool.  He's also really nice and will follow you around the field when you go out there. 

The next day we put the ram out with the ewes.  He was so small last winter that he only bred two ewes of similar size.  But he has put on some weight this summer, and even as started acting like a ram and head butting!  To me that's a good sign, though not so much fun when you are out in the field with him.  I did see him do the deed with one ewe, so here are fingers and toes being crossed for at least 9 lambs next spring.

FarmHer

Check out this photographer, FarmHer recording women and agriculture!  Maybe I can get her to venture over here to Vermont.  Women have a huge impact in the growth of small, sustainable farming.  Lets not forget!

I'll be following her, that's for sure!

 

Learning to Understand

Addiction.  I'm having a terrible time understanding it and understanding the people with addiction.  Many residents at the Ranch have a substance abuse problem, whether its drugs or alcohol.  After multiple relapses in the community this past week, I'm fully admitting that I am becoming so frustrated and defeated by addiction.  

I can (and probably have) complain about it.  How am I suppose to help people who don't want to be helped?  How can I help people who over and over again take advantage of the staff who are trying to help?  All this makes me think more about how I prefer prevention rather than intervention.  What happens if these young adults had the support they needed when they were children - would they be where they are today?

It's a struggle.  And I loose my patience which doesn't feel very good either.  I suppose in a way it makes the whole thing kind of worse, because it allows the addict to believe that they are once again the victim.  But I am a human being too.  I want to tell them all, "You are hurting me just as much as you believe I am hurting you."  Do you think it would be wrong to say that sometime?

It's times like these I miss it just being me and my animals:  an early morning milking, collecting eggs from laying hens, a walk through the quiet woods with Ava.  In the mean time all I can tell myself that I need to have faith; that I have a purpose and my life is on track. 

FDA To Ban Trans Fats

Woo! This article makes me super happy!
article is courtesy of the Huffington Post: FDA To Ban Trans Fats 

PS: Contra dancing was AMAZING.  I will be doing more!!
 
FDA To Ban Trans Fats

By MARY CLARE JALONICK 11/07/13 09:21 AM ET EST

WASHINGTON -- WASHINGTON (AP) — Heart-clogging trans fats have been slowly disappearing from grocery aisles and restaurant menus in the last decade. Now, the Food and Drug Administration is finishing the job.


The FDA plans to announce later Thursday that it will require the food industry to gradually phase out all trans fats, saying they are a threat to people's health. Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said the move could prevent 20,000 heart attacks a year and 7,000 deaths.

Hamburg said that while the amount of trans fats in the country's diet has declined dramatically in the last decade, they "remain an area of significant public health concern." The trans fats have long been criticized by nutritionists, and New York and other local governments have banned them.

The agency isn't yet setting a timeline for the phase-out, but will collect comments for two months before officials determine how long it will take. Different foods may have different timelines, depending how easy it is to substitute.

"We want to do it in a way that doesn't unduly disrupt markets," says Michael Taylor, FDA's deputy commissioner for foods. Still, he says, "industry has demonstrated that it is by and large feasible to do."

To phase them out, the FDA said it had made a preliminary determination that trans fats no longer fall in the agency's "generally recognized as safe" category, which is reserved for thousands of additives that manufacturers can add to foods without FDA review. Once trans fats are off the list, anyone who wants to use them would have to petition the agency for a regulation allowing it, and that would be unlikely to be approved.

Trans fat is widely considered the worst kind for your heart, even worse than saturated fat, which can also contribute to heart disease. Trans fats are used both in processed food and in restaurants, often to improve the texture, shelf life or flavor of foods. They are created when hydrogen is added to vegetable oil to make it more solid, which is why they are often called partially hydrogenated oils.

Scientists say there are no health benefits to trans fats, and they can raise so-called "bad" cholesterols, increasing the risk of heart disease — the leading cause of death in the United States.

Many companies have already phased out trans fats, prompted by new nutrition labels introduced by FDA in 2006 that list trans fats and an increasing number of local laws that have banned them.

Though they have been removed from many items, the fats are still found in processed foods, including some microwave popcorns and frozen pizzas, refrigerated doughs and ready-to-use frostings. They are also sometimes used by restaurants that use the fats for frying. Many larger chains have phased them out, but smaller restaurants may still get trans fats from suppliers.

As a result of the local and federal efforts, consumers have slowly eaten fewer of the fats. According to the FDA, trans fat intake among American consumers declined from 4.6 grams per day in 2003 to around one gram per day in 2012.

FDA officials say they have been working on trans fat issues for around 15 years — the first goal was to label them — and have been collecting data to justify a possible phase out since just after President Barack Obama came into office in 2009.

The advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest first petitioned FDA to ban trans fats nine years ago. The group's director, Michael Jacobson, says the move is "one of the most important lifesaving actions the FDA could take."

He says the agency should try and move quickly as it determines a timeline, "Six months or a year should be more than enough time, especially considering that companies have had a decade to figure out what to do," Jacobson said.

Geesh!

Geesh! I have not been very good at this lately have I?  

Transition is in the air at The Ranch.  Crew change has happened, so I have two new crew leaders.  Luckily I have one who I've been working with the past 6 months - my new niche.  I'm excited about the change, though it's adding more crazy to the crazy.  The old niche on the crew had been in the same position for two years.  He was difficult to work with though helpful too.  But in the end I'm happy he's gone - the negatives of working with him kind of out weighed the positives.

As I stated, it still has been pretty crazy around The Ranch...I don't know when it'll settle down, but I hope soon.

Besides transition and craziness, there's not much going on.  We sent our one lamb off to the butcher.  We started to clean our farm headquarters which I'm actually super excited about.  What is it about old men farmers?  Every farmer I've worked for or taken over for have been absolute pigs (though not really because pigs are really neat animals); they can't keep things organized for the life of them.  And November will brings sheep breeding, and I'm hoping that the Ram is a little more successful that last year - he only bred 2 out of 9 sheep. He has grown and is looking good, but so have our ewes.  Really.  Our ewes are fat.  And it's not like I gave them grain all summer - I gave them none!  They are just chubby mcchubbersons.  Hopefully they'll get bred.

Enjoying a relaxing weekend and plan on taking part of a New England tradition tonight - Contra Dancing.  I'm not sure how I feel about it yet.  I'm a little nervous but supposedly this is the best, friendliest dance in Vermont.  I'll let you know if those facts are true.  

Connections

I'm sorry I've been so M.I.A the past week!  I've been working like crazy on a paper I'm writing for school.  "Which stage of development do you think you're in a why." Yeah, it's really lovely analyzing and critiquing my life.  Because I don't do it on a regular basis already.

Work has been pretty tough the past couple weeks too.  We have gotten some pretty rough residents who are not in a good place.  So much energy is devoted to them.  I'm trying to be patient, but I don't know how long I can last to be honest.  Am I really cut out for this type of work?

When I can't connect with residents, I connect with who I can - animals.  This little girl is named Dotty (for obvious reasons).  I haven't felt this way about a pig since the beautiful pigs we had in NY (specifically Diana).  She loves to be pet.  It one picture she is just flopped on my feet and I spent 10 minutes rubbing her belly!  I don't really want to send her away for bacon.  Maybe she'll be the start of our breeding program!  It's crazy to think that when we got these pigs in June they were so frightened of people.  Now they can't get enough of the love!


 

Fall is Here...the Vet!

Fall brings a whole new list of things that have to get done on the farm.  This week the vet came for vaccinations, castrations, and pregnancy checks.  All 9 cows are pregnant (2 of those being first calf heifers), all the boys were castrated, one little girl had to get de-horned, and fortunately and unfortunately, the mommas were separated from their babies in order to take better care of their pregnancies.  I know, it's hard to watch, hear, and believe me, do.  And there's debate on whether or not it's for the best.  But right now it's done.  And according to our vet, our calves are definitely on the chubbier side of the scale.

Here are our calves on their own with the yearlings:

 

And here are the momma cows - at the lower barn and totally annoyed.  They are starting to mellow out some, but unfortunately they'll be a little sad for about a week. 

Little Chicks

The time has come for some new chicks on the farm.  It's a little late in the year, but it'll be perfect timing for some egg production when the days start to get longer in April/May.  They are Barred Rocks, who will eventually look like this when they are full grown:

 

In the mean time, they look like this! 

 

 
So cute right!? I don't know what that little white one in the picture below is all about, but we'll see in a few months when her (hopefully, we did order a straight run) adult feathers start to come in.

Fall is Still Here...Manure!

Fall is still here.  And I've spent the last week doing this:

Spreading manure! Yum!

After roughly 24 loads, it's done, spreading it on about 3 acres.  It was a little tough because I had to drive fairly far from the barn to the field.  And breathing in diesel exhaust isn't terrible fun either.  But it's done, and the barn is half way completed for the cows to hang out over the winter.  Tomorrow will be spreading the last little bit I couldn't pick up with the bucket of the tractor, and then spreading bedding.  The vet comes next Tuesday for vaccinations, the dreaded castrations, and weaning the calves. 

It's been so absolutely gorgeous this Fall!  I can't believe the colors!  Here's the weekly foliage shot:

 
My foliage shots are really not helping you show the colors here.  Seriously.  Reds and oranges, it's amazing.  Maybe I'll break out my fancier camera and take a picture.  

I hope everyone is enjoying their Fall, and finding beauty in the surrounds, even if it's corn being mowed down ;) 

Cidering! Fall is here

Geesh, I've been trying to upload these pictures since Monday and finally got them to upload.  Will I always have computer issues!?

Here's the weekly foliage shot.  I promise you, it is getting more colorful out there!

Tuesday Farm Crew was a little different.  We made cider!  It was my first time making cider, and I really liked it!  It reminds me of pasteurizing milk (I know, I know.  It's all about cows with me...)

Step 1 was dumping the apples into the cider crusher (very technical name).  When the apples got dumped in, someone hand cranked the machine and crushed the apples into a mash, which fell into a little basket.

After the apples were crushed, the basket was pushed forward and a wooded disk was placed on top.  Someone turned the black piece you see in the picture, so it pressed the apples and all the juice came out.

 

Once we had enough cider, we put it in a sap finisher, brought it up to 170 degrees to pasteurize it, and then shut the heat off.

Then, we bottled!  We made 16 gallons.  Woo woo!  

Fall is really here uh?  I'm loving Fall in Vermont.  

Monday Monday...I mean Tuesday!

I spent all day thinking it was Monday.  It's actually Tuesday, but my Monday because I had a three day weekend.  Woo!

Here's my weekly foliage shot: 
 

Some changes...it's looking a little more brown I suppose...

Today was a festive day at The Ranch.  Our annual Harvest Festival.  It's to celebrate the work of the ranch - the cider that was pressed, the meat that was raised, the veggies grown.  We spent this cool fall (though it's still technically summer) day setting up for the dinner, where past and present Ranchers came to celebrate.  It's a fairly big celebration, and very sweet.  It starts with everyone standing together in a circle, and words of appreciate are said about the the work that the community does all year.  Then we eat!  Everything we ate was from The Ranch which is really, really cool. Yay for eating local!  It may sound funny, but I like knowing exactly the cow that I'm eating (well, not exactly, but I have a 50/50 chance of guessing which cow it was).  I know that sounds weird to many people, but for me it makes me feel better.  I knew exactly what went into that animal.  It's reassuring.

Oh, here's my beautiful flower arrangement for one of the tables!  Very proud of my work.

Long Time No See!

I apologize for not being around as much as I use too!  Things are a little busy for me now playing rugby and taking a class, and obviously still farming.  Here are some highlights from the past week or so!

We finally got our pigs outside.  They were scared at first, but they love it now.  It's so great to see them out there - pigs are meant to be outside!  I feel like they have even grown since taking this picture!
 

We also "tried" to let our turkeys outside to get some grass.  Fail.  We watched them for a good 15 minutes while they explored their new surroundings.  The minute we walked away, they flew up and over the fence (and it is a fence that's even taller than the one showed in this pictures.  These little turkeys are just that - to little to go outside yet.  Kind of bummed about that, but I don't feel like chasing turkeys...

We have also power washed our barn - yay! Hopefully this week we'll be starting to paint.  And hopefully I'll be spreading manure if I can figure out what is wrong with the manure spreader!  That's my mission for the next week.  (hhmm, there are a lot of hopes in those last couple of statements.) 

I don't know if you remembered last year when I tried to take a weekly picture of the foliage change?  I don't think I ever finished that little project, so I'm trying again.  Here's a view of some gorgeous VT hills, and you can very faintly see the beginnings of change.  Fall is coming, and winter will soon be here.  Not sure how I feel about that.

Home Sweet Home

Finally.  I'm home!  Last weekend I moved to a small apartment in the same town The Ranch is in.  I'm so in love with it.  The apartment is beautiful, the surrounding 130 acres that the land lord owns is beautiful, and it has one of the best views I've seen!  It's a good, grounding vision that I see every morning, afternoon, and night.  

It also feels very good to be settled.  I haven't felt settled in about a year.  It's been a long year because of that.

Work is going well.  Haying is officially done.  I did not get a count on the last haying, but it unfortunately got rained on after some mechanical difficulty.  It was given to a neighboring farmer who in exchange will give The Ranch six hours of milling lumber.  Now we'll just break down the equipment, prep it for winter, and get some other projects together that need to get done before winter comes.  And believe me, the list is long.

I should be blogging more now that I have consistent (I hope) internet.  But rugby has started!  We had our first game yesterday, won 55-5 against Morris, NJ.  It was a fantastic start to the season.

TGIF: "Journey to the Heart"

Here is my TGIF post.  How long has it been since I've written one of these!?

How Am I Trusting

I'm trusting the moment.  I've been so caught up lately in my future, in my frustrations.  It's been very helpful for work and my personal life.  I bought this book called Journey to the Heart.  It says, "Let your mind see what your soul already knows: things are working out perfectly."

How Am I Grateful?

I am grateful for where I am in life.  Even when I get frustrated by it.  I'll be quoting this new book of mine a lot I think!  "Maybe you are where you are today for a reason other than you thought."  I need to repeat that to myself over and over again when I'm feeling lost, frustrated, and confused.

How Am I Inspired?

I know I've used this one before, and it sounds like I have an ego, but I am inspired by myself.  Working with how to be comfortable alone and not be lonely.  And to learn how to be myself!  It's always a continual journey right?  And to remember that I have the power to choose everything (or mostly) that's in my life.  "You have the power to create joy by choosing what feels good to you.  The time for joy isn't later.  The time for joy is now."

How Am I Practicing My Faith?

Probably with this book.  I use to be so good at meditating, and have gotten out of the habit of of it.  This book has helped me remember all that and ground myself again.

Summit

I apologize for not being as active as I use too!  My internet connect is not as consistent, but by next week it hopefully will be - I'm moving (again)!  I'm actually kind of excited about it.

This past weekend I had to work.  No it wasn't haying (though my last entry lied, I am not done haying. Long story and I'll get into that later).  But The Ranch had it's Strategic Planning Summit.  It was a good weekend in the end.  Though I don't feel that The Ranch is going to necessarily be supportive of my ideas of work program, it was great to be a part of this.  I've never had a job that's been organized enough to sit down and plan 3-5 years from now.  Kind of crazy, and gives a good feeling of hope that not all jobs are unstable as the ones I've had in the past.

I brought up my opinion on a stronger work program, which I think was received well.  Though I had supporters, I felt that many people thought that our work program was "cutting edge" enough (those words were used).  I wish I had been able to form the following thought at the summit instead of last night, but I finally figured out how to put what I feel is missing into words:

The Ranch was started to support people with mental illness.  It provides a caring, supportive, empathetic, nonjudgmental environment for those individuals. But now we take people with addiction issues.  A completely different population than that of mental illness.  People with addiction issues are not stupid - they have been manipulating the system for years.  Unfortunately the same thing happens here at The Ranch.  I don't believe our work program is providing enough stimulation for the addicts in our system.  While people with mental illness may be incapacitated by their illness and medications, the addicts I've worked with are not.  Why not provide more stimulation for them here?  Work program is the best place to start.  

I know I have to be careful with what I say.  But it finally feels good to have words with the feelings I've felt for a few months now.  Whether or not I can expand the farm program I don't know yet.  I think that I could.

Meanwhile, remember that garden I started earlier this summer?  Here are some yummy veggies from there!  It's done decent with broccoli and green beans.  The tomatoes not so much.  But I'll throw a bunch of compost on it and it should be fantastic next year!