Turkey!
Hi, I hope you’re having a great day.
Over here at Berry Grange Farm things are beginning to move into spring prep. We have three batches of our fantastic pastured poultry ordered and I am about to make a second chicken tractor so we can supply you better this year. However, the star of the show is that our long awaited pastured turkey project is a go! We weren’t able to get birds last year as it was a bad hatch year apparently. I don’t to disappoint you again, I have sourced birds from a different hatchery (that we are very excited to have found) Even better than that, they are not the usual white commercial birds! I know that combining that with the life on fresh grass and in the open air, they will be super happy and super tasty.
The prep has been going so well that I have been able to take a little time away from the rigors of the farm and complete a few things in my workshop. My bench is now complete and so is the shooting board (I’m a hand tool guy as the shooting board attests)
All of the artificial insemination is done now. I feel that although it was a fairly steep learning curve, I have gotten it down now. We had considered it as an alternative to feeding a boar al year but not everything is about saving money. It just feels like a better fit for us on the farm to have a boar, George in our case, to “take care of business.” I learned a long time ago to listen to my gut feelings and this one is no different. Having said that, if you have pigs yourself and want to save the cost of a boar get in touch, I am more than happy to help in any way I can.
It has been warm enough on a few days this past week that the bees have been flying. This is always good to see especially as we have no winter losses so far this year (last winter was a bad one for us) The girls look strong and healthy and the hives are still heavy with the excess honey we left them. We decided that we wouldn’t take all of the honey and give them sugar syrup to keep them going. I feel like I’m not keeping my end of the bargain if I take it all. I believe that it harms them some and will only do it during the season if there is a dire need. The hives look like a fresh coat of paint is needed this year, another job on the list! I make sure on these flying days that they have water available to them too. Did you know that while they are inside they don’t drink or poop? They wait, sometimes all winter in the case of a cold one, before they tale care of themselves.