It’s been awhile..

Last week it donned on me that I haven’t written since August and when I put some thought into some of the reasons why:

1) September was jam-packed with us getting back into the fall groove with the boys going back to public school and extra-curricular activities starting,

2) we took a little vacation (luxury for a farmer, I know!),

3) there was a flurry of activities that needed to be done to shut down things at the ranch before the cold,

I came to the conclusion that it's likely because a lot of the activities at the ranch at this time of year are a lot less exciting and a little sad:

We closed up all of the broiler (meat chicken) structures, cleaned them up and stacked them so that they are ready to house our chicks next April.

The gobbledygo (turkey house) was cleaned up and tucked in amongst the bushes.

We pulled out and processed everything that was left in the vegetable garden and tarped it up. Everything underneath the tarp is regenerating to accept some natural fertilizer and more soil within the next couple of weeks.

I put away all the outdoor furniture and cleaned up all the outdoor plants.

It’s not all doom and gloom though… Our hens are still out roaming on pasture and egg production yields are high and steady. Our egg subscriptions are going up every week and it is so rewarding to see families integrate eggs into their diets (we’ve even had a few families increase their order quantities because the kids like the eggs so much and eggs are so easy to make!). So grateful to be providing families with nutrient dense food grown from happy animals.

We were extra grateful at Thanksgiving when we received pictures and messages from other families that were enjoying our turkeys! We even had a client sous-vide a 32lbs turkey!!

In addition to reviewing our 2023 Lessons Learned list and starting our 2024 planning, we are now about to embark on a HUGE ranch project (yup, there is still a week or 2 before the snow flies!!) …stay tuned for more details!!