American Meat

It was a great night for a community film. It was a great night to meet local farmers and consumers.

It was a nice night to sit under the stars and see how the food system is in crisis and how we can help.

We shared desserts, popcorn, coffee and cocoa. We visited and discussed and learned a lot about each other.

Kids played and had fun and made new friends.

By the time the sun set and the film started, we had over 100 folks here to watch and partake.

I know any who left inspired to learn more about grass based farming and Joel Salatin.

By Sunday I was wiped out from the very busy weekend and had to take an afternoon nap. Ditto with Monday.

Today I am refreshed and ready to get my farming plans down on paper so we can be prepared for spring pigs, chickens, lambs and calves.

If you missed it, you can buy a DVD copy of the film American Meat here. If you need a great resource book, just order anything by Joel Salatin, especially "You Can Farm."

If you ask me about hosting another community night next year, I will say, "YES!"

It was wonderful to host this event and I will happily do it again!

A BIG THANK YOU to everyone who came out and to everyone who brought a dessert or snack to share! It wouldn't have been a success without you all and your contributions and participation.

Portable Outdoor Movie Screen

Tonight is the community screening of American Meat!

In preparation for this event, we decided to take our outdoor down from the back deck and place it on a portable frame. We have it situated in an area of the back yard that will accommodate more viewers.

I will post a You Tube video and hopefully this will help some you all who want to make the same type of screen.

We bought some of the parts from the local hardware store and some (including the tarp) from Creative Shelters

If you are in the area, please stop by and enjoy this very informative documentary featuring Joel Salatin. Starting time is 6:30, but the film will not start until it dusk, about 7:30.
We will have lots of homemade desserts and kettle corn popcorn.

Have a fabulous weekend!!!!

Ready, Set, GO!

Fall has arrived!...at least until it gets super hot again for a spell. This week, though, has been very nice with low humidity and lower temps. Today it will hover around 80 with a low in the 50's.

It's time to get fall chores done. This means the bees need a grease patty and the pool deck needs to be cleaned up. Shrubs need to be trimmed and the front porch needs to be swept. The sand box in the back yard is begging for fresh sand so we will also need to clean it up a bit and load some fresh sand up to its brim. Fall weather is the best for sand playing!

Most importantly, however, are the two movie nights coming up! This weekend we are showing an outdoor movie for fun but the NEXT weekend is when we will host the community screening of American Meat.

The next two weeks I will be posting some facts from the documentary on Facebook.... facts such as each year the average American eats 48 pounds of pork, 60 pounds of beef, and 82 pounds of chicken. This is over 59 billion pounds of meat total in America!

While we prepare for what we anticipate to be a nice and large turnout, I wanted to share some pictures of a few happenings here.

My hens are now spending all of their time on the front pasture thanks to electric poultry fencing. An occasional bird escapes, but they stay close. I keep the roosters out of the fence so that they can focus on finding their own food (eating bugs and foraging) and leaving the laying ration for the hens.
We still have not built an egg mobile, but we plan to work on one in October when Devin gets a stretch off from work.
In the meantime, they are using my pasture chicken tractors. I move them every 2 days and they are happier than I have ever seen them. This field is full of grasshoppers!
The plan is to start moving salad bar cattle this spring and having the hens follow. As you can see, we are blessed with many acres and lots of grass!

Lucy is dried up! Okay, she is full of milk but we are not milking her. She is due to calve in early December. I always give her a longer than 2 month break from milking because she is an old mama cow. We also love having some free mornings without milking chores!

Baby Ivy is getting big and sassy! She is being haltered trained by Indiana and that is going very well. She is a sweet cow and will someday be a super milking cow. My plans are to keep her as my next milking cow, after Lucy retires.

Ivy has a favorite scratching spot under her neck. She loves to be scratched there. Look at that beautiful face!!! (She even drools when she gets scratched!)

The lambs have been separated from their ewes so that the ewes and my ram can breed. The babies sure miss the other sheep and Tiger Creek here follows me around every where! He looks good with his haircut! All the sheep were sheared two weeks ago and I think they appreciated the trim! I went ahead and sheared off their dreadlocks in front because they were so mucky and tangled. They should grow back quickly.

Now I want to talk about my ducks. I love my ducks! The kids love the ducks! We have mallard, khacki campbells , and runner ducks.
Now, most folks despise ducks because they poop. A. Lot.  That's all you hear from many is how they just eat and make messes.
Well, my ducks happen to be fantastic egg layers! We get large white eggs every day which are fabulous for baking.

They are also great at tearing up cow patties, as you can tell by this picture! I know this is kind of gross but cow patties are part of having cows and ducks (and chickens) are the master of spreading out those patties!

Old MacDonald had it figured correctly when he kept a diverse grouping of animals on his farm.

Hope you have a great week! If you are in the area, consider joining us for the American Meat film! It's all about sustainable farming and that's a good thing! Email me if you need more info!
mybarefootfarm@catt.com

Here Horsey, Horsey

School is just around the corner! We have been busy collecting and organizing.

Journee will complete another year (her senior year) as a dual enrollment student at the community college. In fact she will be on campus this year for her classes. She has a full load and so it will keep her very busy.

In the meantime, she is working a job. Actually she is working for me by giving her younger sisters riding lessons. I pay her by the hour.

Athena has had an easy summer of grazing and an occasional ride. It's good to see her worked and it's good for her.  Here Willow is learning the fine art of turning a horse around.

Indiana has become skilled in grooming and getting Athena saddled up and ready. You really could not ask for a better, more patient horse.

Mary has decided every single day now that she prefers to stay outside the fencing. Her wool is so thick that the electric shock just doesn't affect her. She doesn't wander but rather grazes and rests near the fence. Crazy ewe!

The outside farm chores seem to be adding up! The rain this summer has really been a *damper* as far as keeping stalls and areas dry enough for animals. The chicken coop has suffered the greatest.
This past week we collected about 10 roosters and found homes for them. They were simply eating up my food and pestering my hens. We then placed the hens into my pasture meat bird pens. I am monitoring their food intake and trying to determine which birds are laying.

In a few weeks we hope that we can build a small egg-mobile in which to run them through out the entire property. I am also hoping the coop area will dry out some. I plan to bed the ground down thick with hay.

This week I hope to de-clutter a bit and get some things organized. It's going to be a busy fall!

October 4th we are hosting a public screening of the new documentary American Meat. It features Joel Salatin and explores the failing farming food system in the US. If you are local, come on out! It will be on the outdoor screen so bring a snack, a chair and a friend! I hope for lots of folks to see this wonderful film! Go check out the trailer!

Have a fabulously wonderful and productive week!!