The Goings On
It's August! How is it August already?! The Walnut Hill Farm has been busy these past few months. Here's a little recap of the goings on here at the farm!
chicken coop
Kyle has worked his booty off getting the coop finished enough to put chickens in. Well we are finally at that moment! Our coop has a roof, walls, a fenced in area... AND chickens! Yes. Chickens. We have two RedStars and four Ameraucanas. All the gals seem to be doing well other than the fact that none of them have any feathers on their rear. They came to us picked on and they don't seem to be doing much to grow those tail feathers back. Maybe this winter they will work on that! We have named a few of them. There is Betty (RedStar), she's the boldest of the group and looks like a rooster.... we swear she's not one! Then there's Rosey (RedStar), she is also pretty outgoing. Last one we have named is Agnes, one of the Ameraucanas, though we don't ACTUALLY know which one is Agnes because all the Ameraucanas look the same! What we do know is that they LOVE treats. Now that we have the chickens housed, our late summer/fall goals are to complete the chicken coop. That means, siding, windows, inside wall, fixing the door, adding vents... I'm sure I could go on...!
Land: The trees or should I say brush has gotten out of control. Our driveway was to the point where our car could barely make it under the branches... Our. Car. Needless to say, we started trimming away. We know this isn't the greatest time to be trimming trees, but everything we cut was brush and not any trees that we care to keep. Family came over and helped clean up brush piles by burning them, lugging huge logs from abandoned piles, cutting wood and stacking for future burning. It feels great to have all the brush that was getting piled all over cleaned up and trees that needed to be removed gone.
corn
Our corn has been doing its job. Growing! And Kyle has been busy thwarting off raccoons and deer, I'm sure you saw his videos if you follow us on Facebook. His efforts must be working because we still have corn! It is taller than me now and has ears ready for picking and eating. Our goal this year is to sell to a restaurant and/or co-op along with family and friends. We will probably plan on freezing some as well so we can enjoy it all winter long. Here's hoping we have a bountiful harvest!
Organic: What?! We are certified organic. It's official! Kyle worked tirelessly at making sure that we meet all the criteria to be considered organic. We had logs to fill out, audits to pass, and research to do. I cannot count how many times he was on the phone with the certifier sorting out the details and ensuring what we use is allowed per the certification guidelines. So... in a nut shell (or shall I say walnut shell), our corn, chickens, eggs and land are now all certified organic. Nice job Kyle.
It's pretty awesome to see what has changed in just the last few months. As much as I love seeing the progress we've made, I am looking forward to the lull that winter brings.
