What a difference a week makes!

Last week, we were walking around in slushy mud. Today we are planning for 85 degree weather!

I swear I can hear the plants (and weeds) growing.

I compare it to putting on a play. The preparation is a busy time and you are are anxious to get going - then the play starts and WOW! Busy, busy, busy.

Now that the sun is out, I can see what a mess my yard is in. I've been trimming bushes and pulling weeds and moving things around all morning.

Marvin has been planting root stock. Root stock is the "bottom" of a fruit tree. The quality of the fruit tree is largely dependent upon how strong and healthy of a rootstock you begin with. We belong to a group called the California Rare Fruit Growers Association. They recently obtained and sold some really great root stock. We purchased 200 of these at a very inexpensive price. We will plant these and allow them to grow all season. Next spring, we will graft healthy scion (buds) onto them to add to our fruit orchard.

We had guests for dinner (actually they brought the pizza) on Wednesday night. We were outside just after dark. When we came back to the house, there was a baby hummingbird eating from the cape honeysuckle plant by the front door. The picture above looks like a moth, but really is this hummingbird.

The other picture is one of the baby chicks. My sister Colleen has named him Elvis. There are actually 3 of them and they are sooooo cute.

Last night we went to the Bradley School for a free spaghetti feed. As you can see, our grandson Landon REALLY likes spaghetti.

Time for me to head to town to pick up supplies and take egg cartons to Cliff. He is my 84 year old step dad. He separates them and puts the labels on for me.

Have a wonderful day!

What a fun weekend!

I thought I'd sleep in on Saturday. I forgot to tell Tuck, my little yorki-poo puppy. He was greatly concerned that I wasn't up at 5, so he proceeded to bite my nose until I paid attention.

On the farm, we don't just get up and relax - even on the weekends. We have to let the chickens out of the barn, feed and give fresh water to the baby chicks, feed the pigs, feed and water the turkeys, drive the Kabota up into the field to let the chickens out of the portable chicken coop, feed and water them, check the water for the horses, feed and water the lambs, check the cattle - make sure their water is full so they don't drink it dry and kill the goldfish........ After that is all done, we make our own farm breakfast with homegrown bacon and fresh eggs.

We had feed and various materials to pick up in town, so that took a good part of the morning.

Saturday afternoon we had a ball. The little community down the road is called Lockwood. There really isn't a town, just a post office, little quick market and a restaurant that is open a few days of the week. Behind that is a trailer park and a school. This beautiful valley is home to many small farms and ranches, each with its own personality. My cousin and her husband have donated property to build the Nacitone Regional Interpretive Center. After 10 years of governemental red tape in order to build the structure, they are hoping that they are getting close. Each year, they hold several fun events to raise money to complete their task. Saturday afternoon was their DOG. This is short for Dutch Oven Gathering. It has become quite a large event with close to 100 amatuer and professional chefs. They all line up and fix their favorite dish over coals in a dutch oven. Those attending are invited to eat to their hearts' content and encouraged to try everything. There are many main dishes, breads and lots of desserts, all cooked on site. There are kids running around - all looked over by the entire community. Everyone says hi and old friends and new mix together at tables. This event is country hospitality at its best. Check out a 2004 article about the the museum at: http://www.preservationnation.org/magazine/2004/september-october/house-rules-patterson.html. We cruised home the back way on Interlake Road where you can see both Nacimiento Lake and San Antonio Lake at the same time. We saw a beautiful bald eagle sitting right next to the road - takes your breath away.

Back home and time to do evening feedings and put everyone to bed.

Sunday broke clear and beautiful (finally). Our daughter, Meghan, is getting married in May, so I went into town to a beautiful wedding shower given by her cousin Brandy with the help of Aunt Licia. Back home and some time with favorite little man, Landon (not cheating - he's my grandson) and our son James and daughter in law Melissa. We jumped in the Kabota and took a ride up the hill. It was pretty out, but the ground is still very wet. Marvin tried to turn around and sunk the back wheels. James and I got out to help push while he gunned the engine. I was in my dress shoes and wasn't very quick to react - SPLAT! I went flat out into a muddy bog when he stepped on the gas. Everyone got a great laugh - even me. It's hard to be in a bad mood when the sun is shining and the view is great.

Have a wonderful DRY week!

Super Chickens

We have super chickens! The smaller of these 2 eggs is normal sized. The other was a REALLY big egg laid by one of our chickens. Of course they were both yummy because they come from our happy free range chickens.

Our baby chickens are really growing quickly. I know that the chicks we received in June did not grow at this rate. This new batch includes some meat chickens and some more egg layers. Our egg stand by the road has become very popular.

I think the end of the tunnel is in sight! The weather forecasters are calling for rain tomorrow and then sunny for the following 10 days. Yipee!!!! I really do like the rain - honest. I'm just getting a little water logged.

We have miles of fences to put up, but we can't set posts until the ground dries up a bit. The veggies are holding up fine, but a bit under water. The fruit trees are leaning from the wet ground and wind. My poor husband has to go readjust them daily. The olive trees are growing faster than we expected. As soon as it dries out, Marvin will need to get taller supports.

The berry bushes are loving this wet weather. They are covered with little buds.

I have a couple of chickens that have been pecking at the eggs (end eating them). I ordered 6 ceramic eggs that look just like the real thing. The idea is to put them in the nest and hope that they try to attack them. When they realize that their beaks are sore, it is supposed to break the habit. They look SO realistic that I put little red dots on the bottom of each one. While I was gone today, Marvin decided to collect eggs for me. Thank goodness I realized that he hadn't checked them before I put them in cartons. Can you imagine if one of our customers tried to make an omelet with one?

Marvin built new pig pens yesterday. Our boar Chuckles now has his own pen under the oak tree. Pork and Chop have new Hilton Hotel style pens behind the barn and Piper (Marvin calls her Pifer) has her own pen next to Chuckles. As soon as it dries out more, we will redo the two pens under the tree. Then they'll be in "pig heaven". HaHa.

We had a couple of guests this past week from Wayne's office. They didn't get up here until about 11:00 pm. We had a great time - the three of us worked on the blog until 2:00 am!

More to come soon!

Nacimiento Lake is just down the road from us. Because it is a recreational lake as well as a supply of drinking water, we are always concerned with its level. For the first time in a long time, it is at maximum level. These pictures show the water going over the spillway yesterday. Water is so powerful in so many ways. We can do without a whole lot of things, but not water. It is the most basic of our needs.

We had a beautiful day yesterday. We spent the morning in a staff meeting. I love staff meetings. Each person has good ideas. When a talented group of people get together in the same room, these ideas become great planning. There is such power in this. Especially when the group is committed to the same things - being good stewards of the land and supplying safe food that is raised in a safe, sustainable way with the maximum quality and the taste of old fashioned home grown fruits, vegetables and eggs.

The baby chickens are growing REALLY fast. They are a mixture of several different breeds and its really fun to see how they are changing. My friend Paula and her mother, Nel, came to visit yesterday. Although Paula was raised in Paso Robles, she now lives in Virginia. They wanted to see the baby chickens and brought yummy muffins for us.

I would like to supply some recipes for those that are buying our free range eggs. If you have any good recipes, please email me at kblackbu3@yahoo.com.

The Beauty After the Storm

What an amazing weekend. Our average yearly rainfall is around 18". This past weekend, we measured just under 4-1/2". It rained and it rained and it rained some more. Then Sunday evening around 6:30, the setting sun came out under the clouds. The pictures above were taken by Colleen Andrus (better known as my OLDER sister). That's her husband Del with the eggs in his hat. If you forget the basket, you improvise. Colleen and Del are frequent visitors to the farm. Del is also Del Andrus Handyman and we hire him to do many of the projects around the farm like building gates, the egg honor stand and the brooder pens.

The ground is pretty saturated right now. It is calling for a day or two of dry weather before the next rain, so we will take advantage of the sunshine and get some more projects done.

We have been here for just almost one complete year. It doesn't seem possible until I look around and see all of the changes. This beautiful piece of land had been primarily used for grazing a few cattle. There was the house which was originally built in the early 1900's but remodeled over the years, the barn that is also very old and in very good shape and about 7 acres of the coyote fencing around them. That and exterior barbed wire fencing completed the beginning inventory.

We now have almost 200 fruit trees of early season, mid season and late season varieties. There are 400 olive trees - with another 100 coming this month. Almost 19,000 vegetable plants including 3 types of cabbages, onions, butter lettuce, iceberg lettuce, romaine lettuce, cauliflower, broccoli and artichokes.

We have brought a new 220 electrical service in, had a very successful well drilled, placed 2 water tanks, ran thousands of feet of water mains and feeder lines, valves and faucets. There are 3700' of interior 3 rail wooden fence. We have stretched 3000feet of 4' non climb wire exterior fences and installed 5 gates. There are two new creek crossing (still not sure if one of them survived the storm) and 65 acres of oat/wheat/barley mix.

We've accumulated 2 baby calves that we bottle fed for 3 months (now a year old), 5 pregnant heifers that have since calved and one middle aged bull. There are 3 sow pigs and one boar. An adopted ram and his 5 female ewes, 6 turkeys and 100 hens with 3roosters. Our newest bunch of 100 chickens are growing bigger each day in their brooding pens. I can't forget Ben and Angel - the beautiful Great Pyrenees dogs that protect all the livestock. Their first birthday will be April 23rd.

Wayne's vision for a sustainable farm that can supply safe and naturally good food while being a positive member of the community is what drives us. We hope to have the opportunity to include many others in this dream.

Enjoy the day!

Thursday was a magnificent day. The sun was shining and it looked like spring. Fast forward to Sunday. It started raining Friday evening. As of this morning, we have collected 3 1/4". This may not sound a lot to some, but it is 1/5 of our annual precipitation.

I had visions of sleeping in. Ha Ha. Marvin woke me up to come help him build a new shelter for the pigs. Their existing spot was under water. When I walked out the door, I came face to face to one of our lambs. They had torn down their electric fence and all 8 were wandering around the yard.

Since it was only 7:00, I climbed back in bed to enjoy the one day I can sleep in. Our home phone rang. Our home phone NEVER rings. It was a very nice guy that drives past our house each day to work. I had been conversing with him over email for the last few days. He stops and buys eggs from our honor stand at the bottom of the driveway. On his way home this morning, he was going to stop, but the egg stand was in the middle of the creek - that is, the creek was flowing around the egg stand.

We jumped in the Kabota and went down to check it out. Our creek is a very small creek, about 5 feet deep and 5 feet across. It only flows when we get a large amount of rain. This morning, it was 25 feet wide and covering our crossing and the county road as well as a big portion of our field. Thank goodness we have heavy equipment on site. Marvin's brother owns a construction business and we have been leasing a backhoe. Marvin quickly came to the rescue and cleaned out the creek - the culvert was full of tree limbs and leaves and all sorts of items from upstream. The damage to the crossing looks pretty bad, but he assures me that he can fix it when things dry out. At least he built it correctly and we can use it.

Time to relax - not! Two of our little bull calves decided to do a walkabout on the neighbor's property to the east. The fencing is existing from about 50 years ago and needs to be replaced. Fortunately, their property is in the CRP. That means that it cannot be used for anthing. It is left in its natural state for wildlife. If they had gone through any of the other fences, our guys would have been mixed with the neighbor's cattle and we would have had a hard time finding them. Anyway, Marvin thought he'd drive the Kabota up the hill and go get them. He really needs to listen to his wife (me). The Kubota got stuck in the mud and he had to take the backhoe to pull it out. He finally walked about 3 miles to round up the bull calves and get them back where they belong.

This was all before 10:00 am! The rain has let up a bit, but the doppler shows more heavy rain coming in by 11:00 and continuing all day and night. We will just have to get ready for the next challenge.

It's funny - rain gives us an opportunity to get a break from building fences and putting in water lines and planting trees and veggies, but gives us tons more to do, just maintaining things.

We have been here for almost a year now. Although we have trials and tribulations like this, it really is a blessing. By having these "worst case senarios" now, we are able to plan for them and find ways to overcome them.

Of course, I can't end without saying that being on the farm far outweighs any chores that need to be done. My chickens are still laying eggs, the sheep and cows are still grazing on the beautiful green fields, the dogs are doing their jobs. Besides, there is always something to be thankful for - we don't have to water the veggies!

Spring has sprung

The two eggs above have an interesting story. The egg on the left is a turkey egg. turkey eggs are very large compared to chicken eggs (normally). Today, Marvin found the chicken egg on the right. It is actually much larger than the turkey egg! We had it for breakfast this morning - double yoke.

I have been told that pigs may kill chickens if they can get to them. Obviously that doesn't happen on the farm. This picture shows our hens eating out of the pig feeder. I guess nobody told the pigs this.

Burner is the little gray dog on the left. She is a yorkie shitzu cross and is almost 9 years old. Tuck is now 5 months old and is a yorkie poodle cross. They keep us in line in the house.

We had a surprise last evening. When checking the egg stand at the bottom of the driveway, we found a delivery of fruit trees that had been dropped at our gate. We were expecting them next week, but they were shipped without notice. Marvin has his days very full with planned work on the farm, but he always seems to land on his feet when something unexpected is thrown at him. I swear I don't know how. He somehow got them all planted today as well as all the rest of his list. They are beautiful trees with leaves and blossoms intact. The other 140 fruit trees we planted throughout the last few months are blooming right now too. What a beautiful sight!

Life (and wildlife) is so beautiful this time of year. Yesterday I was coming back from town. As I crossed over the Nacimiento River, I looked down and saw the cutest mallard duck standing like a statue on a rock in the middle of the water. It looked like a photo op, but of course I didn't have my camera with me.

Another couple of miles and there was a scroungy looking coyote next to the freeway trying to find his lunch. There is a large population of coyote in our area. Unfortunately they can be very pesty to farmers and ranchers. They love to steal chickens and other barnyard animals and harass pets. On the good side, they help keep the squirrel and varmits population in check.

When I crossed over the San Antonio River, a beautiful little doe and fawn were standing in the water having a refreshing drink.

Tonight, Marvin and I went for a ride in the Kabota on the back 300 acres. Across from our house, there are 6 elk living in a little strip of property between the road and their livestock fence. Although there is a valley between us, they are at the same elevation as we are so they are really very close. Everything is so green right now that the light colored elk stand out beautifully.

After we went through the back gate, a ground owl flew across the big sandy valley looking for mice and gophers.

Up and over another knoll and we spotted a herd of 6 deer. Of course, they took off running when they saw us.

Over to the left a very large red tailed hawk was sitting on a fence post.

Little yellow wild daisies were popping their heads up and searching for the sun.

Life is good.

Gopher Hunting

Hi to all our friends.

The baby chicks are all doing well and we haven't lost a one!

I was a little confused as to how Ben and Angel keep catching so many gophers during the night (their workday). Marvin went out last night and caught them in the act. They hunt them down when the gophers come out of the hole. If they miss, they simply dig up the hole - a make a new one big enough for an elephant! I guess that explains why they look like little mudballs in the morning. Fortunately, they have really cool fur that seems to shed dirt throughout the day and they start a new work night as clean white polar bears.

Our grandson Landon came to the farm today. He is 14 months old and getting to be quite a character. I let him hold one of the baby chicks and Grandpa and I took him for a ride in the Kabota. He always eats animal cookies, so it seems only right that he went out to the cows and petted the heifer Maybelline. He loves watching the chickens, which is kind of sad 'cause he is allergic to eggs!

Marvin is busy on the entry. We are taking out the pipe fencing that was originally there and replacing it with wooden planks. The big plan is to fence the entire 3100' of the front of the property. This will be a very tall non-climb fence to keep the critters out of the road.

I had such a busy day yesterday. It started in the moring with a Central Coast Lavender Association meeting, then buying buckets at the Dollar Store for livestock feeding. After about 40 more errands, I rushed home at 5:30 and was beat. Marvin and I jumped into the Kabota and went to collect eggs. It was so peaceful up in the field - we have a huge number of meadowlarks. If you haven't heard these birds, you are missing out. Their song is one of my favorite sounds. There was no wind and the temperature was right around 65. We let Burner and Tuck run around and just sat there enjoying the peace and quiet and unwinding. Nothing like ending the day on the Farm. This is really a very special place.

Plan to come a visit us one day!

Oh baby baby

Well, those baby chicks that we ordered arrived much sooner than expected. We had a phone call from the post office this afternoon that they had a box for us to pick up. We brought them home and put them in their brooder pens. To prepare for them, we had to line the brooder with clean paper towels. Then we sprinkled chick starter (food) down on the paper. If you put anything else on the bottom of the pens, they will try to eat it. Their water needs to be 98 degrees for the first day so they don't get too cold. They don't always know how to drink, so you have to dip each of their beaks in the water. They are all put to bed and we will now check on them every couple of hours and refresh their water.

I have a request to make. The Bradley School is a cute little school of children from Kindergarten through 8th graders. They are looking for donations of used baseball and softball equipment. They really could use ball gloves. If you can donate, please call Deena Dill at 805 472-2310 or email her at ddill@monterey.k12.ca.us.

We had our gate open this afternoon and had a surprise visit from a very nice couple. I always love to share the farm and our vision and plans for the future. Marvin spent an hour talking cattle and farming. They bought two dozen eggs while they were here.

When I gathered eggs today, I found a little bitty egg in with the chicken eggs. I believe it is from a wild bird. Too cute.

We have four wonderful big barn owls that live in the trees surrounding our house. Each evening they fly out of the trees just at dusk to hunt throughout the night. Natural varmit control.

Off to bed. Hope you enjoy the stories of our farm life.

Berries

The new planting of the week is our berry patch. We received a bunch of cuttings of blackberries from Betty Mankins from the Huasna Ranch. She thinned hers and sent up a few buckets of them for us. We have also planted blueberries and raspberries. Yum!

Our "little" orchard (about 150) of fruit trees is busting out with blossoms. They are small trees, but look so beautiful with the buds from white to dark pink. By next year, we should have a nice little crop for "U pick".

We also have almost 400 olive trees - Arbequina, Arbosana and Frantoio. These will be trained in hedgerow style (similar to grapes) for ease of harvesting.

I talked Marvin into purchasing a male and a female kiwi plant. We will plant these on an arbor (as soon as I talk him into building one). We only need one male and can add more females.

The veggies are really taking off. I can see their little green heads from the house now. Getting ready to place an order for some summer vegetables.

We have been missing one of our hen turkeys for about 2 weeks. I was so afraid that she had wandered away and gotten eaten by a coyote. We found her yesterday when she flew off of the top of the container (box from a semi truck) that we have in the barn. She is sitting on a bunch of eggs - maybe we'll have baby turkeys too!

Can't wait for time to change this weekend. Another hour of sunshine in the evening.

I will be going to the Bradley School at lunch today to help with the lunch duty on the playground. I love volunteering over there - the BEST kids and great staff and faculty. Small town life you know.

Well, I had better get to work and get some paperwork sorted out before I go.

Make sure you share our blog address with your friends.

In case you haven't noticed, we have changed the name of the Farm. Formerly Heartland Meadows Farm ( I know, I loved it too), we had to make the change because Heartland Meadows was taken by about 40 other people. After a much thought, Wayne and Wendy came up with a great new name - HZ Harvest (pronounced His Harvest). Since He has blessed us with this beautiful property and continues to look over us and protect us, it is only right to give credit where it is most deserved.


What a difference a week makes! Last Saturday we had snow all around us - today is in the mid 70's and beautiful. I swear I can hear the grass growing.


So many people have been telling me that their chickens have stopped laying eggs. I don't know what we are doing right, but we are still getting several dozen a day. Our little honor egg stand at the bottom of the driveway is doing quite well. We seem to have several return customers and new people are finding it every day. So far, everyone has been very honest and left the $2 per dozen in the slot. I love living in the country.


Fertility is abounding. We should be getting a new bunch of sheep, pigs and cows born on the farm in the next few months. the bees are starting to come out and do their jobs. The owls are taking care of most of the squirrels and we even have a couple of young eagles. Of course, the eagles also take a chicken every few days, but that's the price you pay. I have 95 baby chicks coming in the mail. They should be shipped from Moussori on Monday, so we will have them Tuesday or Wednesday. The post office is quick to call me (I have to go 20 miles south to Paso Robles to pick them up). They are very noisy and ready to be put in the brooders. We have great brooders that Del Andrus Handyman built for us. They are on legs and varmit proof with warming lights.


Ben and Angel have begun showing more of their natural Pyranees tendensies. I understand that the breed likes to collect their prey thoughout the night and pile it. We go out in the morning and find little piles of anything (boxes, brooms, binoculars) that have been left out, plus dead gophers, mice, rats, squirrels, etc. They have now become trash patrol too!


The baby vegies we planted made it through the cold weather just fine. The lettuce took a hit, but the brocolli, cauliflower, cabbage, onions and artichokes look great. This nice warm weather will make them even happier.


We had friends over the other night. They brought pizza for dinner so I put it in the oven on "warm" (I thought). An hour later, we opened the oven to find pizza jerky. In my defense, I have a very old and very basic oven. It only has a knob for the temperature - no read out and not even a light to tell you that it is on. Anyway, it wasn't half bad as long as you didn't expect it to have the texture of pizza. We giggled a lot and ended up eating the whole thing along with a nice pasta salad I had made. Sometimes the biggest mistakes are the most fun.


I am the co-chairman for the Paso Robles Chamber of Commerce Agribusiness Tour this year. We are having our 49th annual tour. Bob Tullock and I were on the radio for an hour talking about the tour Thursday. The tickets had just gone on sale on Tuesday. We sell approximately 320 seats. By the time the show was over, we had sold out. This is a great tour and will be held on May 4th.


Another group I am involved in is the Central Coast Lavender Growers Association. This is really an intersting crop to grow. Lavender not only looks nice in any yard, the deer don't usually mess with it and it has many uses - medicinal, culinary and cosmetic. We are currently planning our 3rd Annual Lavender Festival which will be held in the Paso Robles downtown park on July 9th. Vendor booths are only $45 so if you know anyone that would like to book one or if you would just like information about the event, check out the website at: http://www.centralcoastlavenderfestival.com/.


Well, it's too nice of a day to stay inside at this computer, so I am going to go outside and watch the chickens for a while.

Farm Life

Brrrrrr.  I know we Californians are wimps, but it is really cold.  We have been feeding all the livestock a little extra each night to help keep them warm.  Our area is pretty much snow-free EXCEPT for Saturday.  The hills were covered with a light dusting of the pretty white stuff (if you aren't a farmer).  We were fortunate that the snow didn't fall on The Farm, but Sunday morning's temperature was 21 degrees.  We checked on the 18 THOUSAND baby vegetable plants we put in the ground the past week.  Even with all the cold, they were happy and healthy.  We will have broccoli, cauliflower, romaine lettuce, butter lettuce, iceberg lettuce, 3 different varieties of cabbage  and onions this season.  Lots of artichokes plants that will yield a great crop next year.

Things have been busy around here this past week - lots of planning meetings along with the everyday chores.  I have found that I am really ready to sleep at bedtime - very tired and very happy.  Farm life is the best.  There is something about the animals and the ground and birds and nature.

Ben and Angel have been busy.  They patrol the fences all night long, barking and keeping varmints at bay.  They go to sleep at dawn and get ready for the next night of work.  They are the best watch dogs.  Many of their breed are raised with the animals they are guarding and left 24/7 in the field and do not interact with humans.  Because we will have visitors to the farm, we have raised them to be social.  This doesn't stop their natural instinct to protect.  Of course, they are cuddly too (except for the slight skunk smell).

Have a great week and I will update you again soon!

-Kathy