We have since sold the remaining two goats and it's amazing how quiet the farm is without them. Now there's only the crowing of the roosters and once those are gone, I can't imagine what it will be like around here. Our chores have been reduced to about 20 minutes and hopefully will be 0 before winter. There's nothing like having to bring in waterers into the house to thaw because they are frozen solid :)
We got a late start, earlier this year, in our decision of whether or not to raise pigs. That late start meant that we ended up deciding to purchase a butcher-ready pig from a local farm. We picked up our pig from the butcher and it feels so good to have the freezer completely full again! We also went and picked up some sausage casings and cure mixes to make our own Italian sausage, pepperoni, brats, bacon, and hams. We had the option of having the hams and bacon sent out to be cured but we wanted to do it ourselves.
The garden has taken on a "Halloween" theme - the tomato plants, which produced nothing, are black and reminiscent of those scary Halloween displays with the dead trees. Since we made our decision, we've let the garden go and do it's own thing...which, thanks to the below-freezing temps lately, has pretty much died. The only sign of life is the planter of oregano that died over the summer and is coming back in full force.
The Marans hen is finally laying again! She's only a year and yet she's only laid a handful of eggs. When she first started laying, she laid about 1/2 a dozen eggs before going "broody". (That's when hens stop laying and want to sit on the eggs to hatch them....yes, they actually STOP laying when they are trying to hatch eggs.) She was broody for about two months (normally it's about a month) then she started laying again. But she only laid about 3 eggs before she went into moult (that's when chickens loose their feathers and grow new ones - and they don't have enough energy to grow new feathers AND lay eggs). All of this started in July and it's now November and we're just now getting eggs again from her! Definitely a novelty chicken...not one that I would choose for egg production. The only other benefit to having a Marans hen is that she gave us the most beautiful 1/2 Marans, 1/2 Rhode Island Red rooster. He is so big - he makes our purebred Rhode Island Red look like a mini...hahaha! Of course, our celebration over her laying will be short-lived as she will be headed to her new home after Thanksgiving.
(I was going to post a picture of him but we sold him before I could get a decent picture.)
Other than that, we're still trying to sell what we can and scour the ads for an RV. We'll have a better idea of what's in store for us after the holidays. The more we sell, the easier it gets to let go of "things"... And we're hoping to take a trip to the local Yurt manufacturer to get a better idea of size and construction. :)
And before I go, I just have to share this link. I follow a farm on Facebook and they posted the following link to a different farm's blog. This idea would be great for homemade Christmas gifts or as a way to save a few dollars: Homemade Liquid Handsoap. I'm already trying to think of a way to use my homemade soaps instead of a store-bought bar. ;)
