We woke to snow this morning. Yes, it is May...but that is Central Oregon. We knew that within a few hours the snow would be melted and we would be stripping off layers to keep cool in the sunshine.
First thing, I went out to deliver eggs to my Monday customers. Today was a big day for deliveries...thirteen dozen eggs and a quart of goat milk. I also picked up another customer. We need more chickens to fill all of these orders. Luckily, I have a list of egg producers that I can draw on to keep everyone in eggs. I am also going to be raising the price of a dozen eggs to $4.00 from $3.50. I just cannot keep up with the cost of fuel and the rising cost of feed. Everyone I talk with says that $4.00 a dozen to have fresh eggs delivered is a very fair price. I guess we'll see. I'm going to send an email to all of my clients that starting next week, we will be charging more. If people have pre-paid, I will honor the $3.50 price until the credit is gone...then they can choose if they want to continue to buy from me. If I lose a few customers, I'm confident that I will gain more later...and maybe losing a few will lighten the burden of finding eggs.
Our plan today was to get the potatoes and onions planted. Only before we could start planting, we needed to learn how to plant potatoes.
I started searching the web for information on the best way to plant a potato. There were mixed opinions, from throwing the seed potatoes on top of heavy mulch, to digging 12 inch deep trenches and mounding dirt up about 3 feet. We settled on a more moderate approach - hedging our bets.
Some of the rows that the plow created were about two feet wide, so we took a pick axe and staggered holes back and forth about every 2 feet. We continued down the row for twenty holes. J raked a perpendicular path to delineate where the row ended, and I began placing the white seeds in the holes. We then each took a side and gently covered the seeds up with crumbly soil.
Potato seeds are strange looking. They are about the size of half a golf ball. If you look closely, you may see sprouts coming out of one side. That is the side you want to place facing up in the hole. But often, there aren't any sprouts to speak of. Some websites suggested leaving the seeds out in the sunshine for a couple of days before planting (to encourage them to sprout), but we decided to just plant them and take our chances. There is also a white powder all over the seeds. This may just be something that helps to ensure that the seeds don't get too wet while they're in storage. I wonder if it might also have some nutritional value for the plant once it's in the ground. Either way, these are seed potatoes, so unlike the ones that look like real potatoes, you do not need to cut them up at all before planting. They are meant to have the perfect number of eyes for the size of "meat" in the chunk you plant. We'll see.
By the time we were finished, we had planted 80 seed potatoes, three more rows of carrots, two rows of yellow onions, and a row of lettuce. Whew. Although it's not "hard" work, it sure forces you to use muscles that you don't use daily.
This afternoon, we took a break and let ALL of the goats out for a bit. This was the first time that we had let Asha (our new dairy doe) out with the group. It was also the first time that we had all of the babies out at once. It was a bit hectic at first, but the wonderful thing about herd animals, is that they like to stick together. We all wandered into the grass and brush next to the goat pen and while the kids practiced ollies on the rocks, the grown-ups filled their faces with fresh green pasture. At one point, I watched one of the babies jump off a rock, "run" across the back of a doe who was eating, and land on the other side. The doe didn't even look up.
J thought it would be fun to let the little pigs out too, so he left the gate open. I wasn't so sure. But as the pigs headed for the gate and J had second thoughts, we knew there was nothing we could do from our vantage point but plan how to get them back in. One of our friends had said that pigs will always return to the place that they are fed and sleep. But how long would it take for the pigs to "return" and where would they go in the meantime.
We both walked around the other side of the pen (with 8 goats and two dogs following us), to coerce the pigs back into the pen. It wasn't easy, but after getting all the goats back in, J was able to push the pigs toward the gate. I played goalie and kept the goats from leaving the pen while J snuck the pigs in behind me. Whew. Don't think we'll try that again.
This evening, we finished stretching the fence for the new pig pen. It surrounds the teenage chicken pen, so we decided to let the chickens out in it too. It was another rodeo trying to convince the pigs to run through the chute we created that led from the goat pen to the new pig pen. The goats had no problem leading the way, and quickly jumping into the chicken shanty (a 4ftx4ft box that is lifted 2 feet off the ground). At one point, two of the does were in the chicken shanty together...stinkin' goats!
J chased the pigs around for about fifteen minutes. M tried to help, but the pigs would just run right past him no matter how much he hollered and waved his arms. I finally put M on "shanty protection" (I didn't want the goats breaking my roost), and I went in with a pig board to help. With J pushing the pigs from behind and me running the board along the side, we were able to get the pigs to walk through the gates and into the new pen. They promptly started rooting through the straw for chicken poop. Yum. Then we rounded up the goats - pushed them back into their own pen - and closed the gates.
The teenage chickens and the pigs don't seem to have any issues living together. This may be a great discovery. The chickens clean up after the pigs very well, and the pigs clean up after the chickens very well. While our laying hens will free range when they are older, this might be a great set up for the meat chickens. Once they are big enough to be outside, we can put them in with the young pigs and allow both breeds to benefit from the waste of the other. Just need to make sure that the chicken feeder, roost, and waterer are strong enough to withstand George and Abraham.
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