Change is Brewing: Brood Farm Site Will Launch Soon

This picture is unrelated to the content of this post, but I think posts without pics are dull.  ;)

If you're one who enjoys the blog but avoids change at all costs, you may want to crawl into a hole right now or mentally take a little visit to your happy place.

As we prepare for our farm to grow, we feel it's time for the blog to move.  We will soon be launching a full-fledged Brood Farm website.  And, if I may brag on my techy hubby a moment, it's a pretty cool one.  It's still under construction, but I'm loving the way it looks and reads!

We want the blog to feature prominently there, so its web address will need to change.  This is not a big deal.  The blog may look a little different.  The way you have to get there may change, but its content, pics, and all my crazy ramblings will be business as usual.

If you, say, access the blog daily via a button on the home screen of your iPad (Mamaw, I'm talking to you now ;), you'll need to create a new button using the new web address and delete the old one.  Or, ask one of your super-handy grandkids to help you out.  ;) 

When the new site goes live, I will feature a link to it from this blog.  We're looking at some time next week most likely.  This will give those of you who've visited the hole or your happy place some time to adjust to this new reality.

Now, those of you who use FaceBook to link up to the blog each day are probably getting all snooty right now as you think, "This doesn't affect me, I just click in FB and it magically takes me where I need to go, so I'll barely even notice this change."  Not so fast.

We will also be launching a Brood Farm Facebook account. This is something I've been wanting to do for awhile now.  It will allow me to separate my farm dealings from my personal life a bit.  If I want to share with you the funny things my kids say, I'll do that as Ashley Carroll Beller, as usual.  If I want to tell you about how the chickens got out yesterday and our lawnmover friend and I had to herd them all back into their pen using soccer nets, I'll probably do that via Brood Farm.  All blog posts, which are really about farm life (with a healthy dose of personal life because, let's face it, it's hard to keep them entirely separate) will be posted via Brood Farm. 

So, if you think my human kids are really cute and would like to see pics of them at dance competition, on the soccer field, or in their superhero costumes, but could do without all the commentary regarding my goat kids in the backyard, continue to be friends with Ashley Carroll Beller and enjoy your newly decluttered newsfeed as you'll no longer have to endure daily links to the blog.

I have a pretty strict FaceBook policy which I've used for awhile and think it serves to protect me well.  I can be friends with any woman all day long, but I am only friends with men who are related to me.  Sometimes, this has seemed like a policy that's a little over the top (like when one of my good friends' 60-year-old dad friend-requested me), but I feel like it's a policy that I self-employ for my protection and once I start making exceptions, things get muddied. 

So, having a Brood Farm FB account makes it possible for anyone to "like" what's happening on the farm, get farm updates, schedule egg delivery, and more without necessarily also having to be my "friend."  And, let's be honest, just because you'd like to have fresh eggs delivered weekly, doesn't mean you also want to have to endure my posting about how my too-juicy burgers fell through the grates of the grill last night.

So, we're headed toward this next big stage, but for those of you who have a nostalgia for the past, www.broodingon.blogspot.com will remain available with all its 602 past posts.  Additionally, all the posts to date will be imported to the new site, so you can search for them there as well. 

We are really hoping to use the Brood Farm FB site to generate lots of interest in our egg sales, so when you see it go live, please "like" and "share" it to your little heart's desire! 

Okay.  Enough for today.  Don't be scared.  Change can be good.  I think once you see the new site, you'll agree!

Homemade Organic Chicken Feed

Our hens live a pretty cushy life.  They get lots of goodies, including garden goodies, kitchen veggie scraps, and fresh ground to forage.  And, though, we've always made an effort to use feed that is antibiotic free, we've never taken it the extra step and gone full-out organic for their feed.  This is for two main reasons, I guess:

1.  It's VERY expensive.  We're talking 3 to 4 times as expensive as the feed we use now.

2.  It's not readily available to us, so to add to the already high feed cost, we'd have to pay for shipping. 

 

I did, though, find a recipe for homemade organic chicken feed that I wanted to try out.  I was able to get all ingredients but two from my food coop (which means that this feed is actually human food!).  The last two ingredients came via Amazon.  You gottta love Prime!

The recipe is a mix of 10 different ingredients, so we had to use shovels and our hands to mix it all up in our giant feed bin.  I was a little bit afraid that Girl 2 might fall in, but she was a big help in getting it all mixed together.

The recipe calls for the following wholesome ingredients:

oat groats

sunflower seeds

hard red wheat berries

soft white wheat berries

hulled millet

sesame seed

flax seed

rye berries

brewer's yeast

kelp granules

 

And, of course, all ingredients are organic. 

It just looks like a bunch of seeds -- which, if you think about it, is what chicken feed ought to look like.  They are birds, after all. 

 

The gals are absolutely loving their new feed.  So far, I can't tell that they're picking around any of the ingredients, so I assume they like it all.  How it will affect their laying habits remains to be seen.

 

This particular mix cost us a pretty penny to put together and is just intended to be an experiment for now.  I would have to figure out a more economical way to source the ingredients before I could entertain continuing with this recipe in the long-term.

http://www.gardenbetty.com/2012/06/garden-bettys-homemade-whole-grain-chicken-feed/

A Fence-Building Weekend

Brrrr.  It's cold out there today.  Looks like the cooler weather may now be upon us for awhile.  This just makes me even more thankful for the weather we had this past weekend. 

We were able to make use of our long weekend together by stringing up about a half-mile of electric fencing at the new farm.  It was our first attempt at working with these new fencing materials, and we had a lot of fun together figuring it all out.

We were able to make use of these cute little pigtail posts (can you see the tops of the white posts?)

And these reels of electric wire and polywire

And, of course, the solar energizer that makes it live.

Here you can see the pigtail posts as they await use in the garage.

 

This fencing is designed to be temporary.  We put it up along the road and property line until we can get the permanent fencing complete.  We're steadily working on that as well, but with corner posts that need to be 4 ft. deep to accommodate high-tensile fencing, it's a slow process. :)

 

Of course, the three youngest of us bounced between helping with the fence and exploring the farm.  I wonder if I'll ever get over the sight of them coming up over the hill toward us with their hands full of walking sticks, binoculars, field guides, and hand-drawn maps of all their secret trails. 

The New Chicken Wagon

Here's a sneak peak at the new chicken wagon we'll be bringing home next Saturday (along with the 100+ chickens who sleep inside). 

This amazing contraption is large enough to provide sleeping/egg laying space for nearly 200 chickens and is easily moved from place to place so that we can allow them constant access to fresh foraging ground. 

 

These chickens are happy and healthy and on the cusp of egg-laying age.  What a very exciting enterprise!  Brood Farm egg production.  Ready or not, here we go!

Deer Season Is Upon Us

It's getting to be that time of year again -- when early morning runs are accompanied by a soundtrack of leaves crunching underfoot and rifles firing in the distance. 

 

The new farm is home to a good-sized group of deer.  I've seen two separate bucks and several does.  I happen upon them nearly every time we drive the road, but I love to come up on them when I'm on foot, running the road.  That's when I'm able to hear them talking to each other, warning one another of the approaching danger.  Things about them remind me of my goats.  They're beautiful and strong. 

 

And, yet . . . I know that when we establish our orchard and gardens, they will become my enemy.  They'll become my new squash bugs.  So, I'm not completely against inviting hunters to the farm this fall.  If the menacing deer can be removed AND provide food for a table, I'll get on board.  But, I do still feel a twinge of sadness for the strength and beauty that is so easily and quickly snuffed out -- for all the Swirlers I've shared a moment with on our farm.

 

Thinking of Swirler: a poem by Mary Oliver

 

One day I went out

into a wonderful

ongoing afternoon,

it was fall,

 

the pine trees were brushing themselves

against the sky

as though they were painting it,

and Swirler,

 

who was alive then,

walking slowly

through the green bog,

his neck

 

as thick as an ox,

his antlers

brushing against the trees

his three good feet tapping

 

the softness beneath him

and the fourth, from an old wound,

swirling.

I know he saw me

 

for he gave me a long look

which was as precious as a few

good words,

since his eyes

 

were without terror.

What do the creatures know?

What in this world can we be certain about?

How did he know I was nothing

 

but a harmless mumbler of words,

some of which would be about him

and this wind-whipped day?

In a week he would be dead,

 

arrowed down by a young man I like,

though with some difficulty.

In my house there are a hundred half-done poems.

Each of us leaves an unfinished life.

 

 

 

 

 

Brood Farm is Growing . . . to Include YOU!

Yep, we're growing . . . big time!  While we've been producing eggs in our backyard for about 2 years now, we're about to REALLY expand that operation so that we can make these amazing eggs available to you, too!

In about 2 weeks, our new farm will be home to over 100 pastured egg-laying chickens, and we couldn't be more excited about it! 

We've done our homework to find out what we have to do to legally sell our products and are pleased that we now have a marketing plan. 

Basically, eggs have to be refrigerated up until the point of sale.  Luckily, we're in a pretty handy location for people to stop by and pick up a dozen.  We plan to make it even easier for customers by having eggs available in a mini-fridge on the front porch.  You won't even have to feel like you're interrupting us -- just drop your $3 in the jar and grab a dozen farm-fresh eggs! 

We are also toying around with a small-scale CSA so that local folks could sign up for once-a-week delivery.  (I'm open to suggestions about how this ought to work.)  So long as the homes we're delivering to are close enough to our home/refrigerator, we're cleared to do this.

Additionally, I can arrange to bring eggs to the many folks I see throughout the normal course of my day (school, dance, sports practices, etc.).

For now, we plan to reuse as many store-bought cartons as possible.  So long as we make a clear attempt to black out the previous markings on the cartons, this is acceptable practice.  Additionally, we plan to affix our own sticker, claiming the eggs as ours. 

That said . . . ALL DONATIONS OF USED EGG CARTONS WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!!!  Drop them off on my doorstep, gather them for me in your classroom, bring them in big bags to me at church!  Seriously, we need them all! 

So, to recap:
1.  We need egg cartons ASAP.
2.  We'll have eggs available in a couple weeks.
3.  Do you have any thoughts on the weekly delivery idea?

Brood Farm Soap now for sale in Ashdown, Arkansas

If you can't get in close enough to read the sign, it says . . .

Hi, my name is Razz!!!

My owner's name is Ashley Beller.  She is the granddaughter of Alma Carroll, one of the favorite friends and customers of the Flower Shoppe.

We live in Cave City, Arkansas, and Ashley milks me everyday to make this wonderful goat milk soap and lotion.  These products are not harsh or cause any drying of the skin.

Please give it a try and let us know what you think!

Thank you, Mamaw, for networking for me and getting my soaps into the Flower Shoppe.  I love you!

And, thank you to Becky at the Flower Shoppe in Ashdown for giving my soaps a chance and for putting together such a fun sign and nice soap display!

Also, in soap-related news:    I've ordered some new scents and am looking forward to trying them out on some new soap that should be ready in time for Christmas sales!  

And, remember, for those who are local and won't be making any trips to Ashdown in the near future, Brood Farm's soaps are now available at Olde Towne Mall in downtown Batesville, as well.  :)