11 Weeks Old

The chickens (technically they look nothing like chicks so it's hard to call them "chicks") are 11 weeks old now. We think we have a rooster, his comb is much bigger than anyone else. We should start seeing eggs in about 7 week or so! EGGS! Lots of EGGS!

Wow!

I had no idea how long it had been since I last posted until Sherie asked me where I went? Thanks, Sherie, for asking.
Life is just so busy. I can't keep up with anything anymore and really feel like I don't have much to say about anything anymore. I don't know how much talking I need to do on here but I will try to post pictures now and again. As we grow our little egg business I might just turn this into a Farm Website for information, rather than an online journal. We'll see.

The chicks are 7 weeks old tomorrow. They are nearly all feathered. Surprisingly, I have only lost one to death. I gave 5 to my sister-n-law and I'll be selling 5 and giving 12 to Abbot Tryphon at All Merciful Savior Monastery to help them get their start in chickens. So when all is said and done I hope to have about 78 hens to start laying eggs for us in January or so.

The laying hens have free range of the garden now. We picked all remaining produce over the weekend and had our first hard frost Saturday night.
I was excited to dig up 74.5 # of potatoes!! It was like digging for buried treasure. Now to store them. I would like to freeze them into french fries but it takes so much time and space (when you flash freeze them).
So the garden is done. But now comes the fun of reading and planning for the next year to come. I have big plans for next year. Every year gets better and bigger. But I have lots of reading to do. I want lots of herbs next year and flowers. I've never really done either so we'll see what happens.
So anyway. There is the St. Brigid Farm update.
Have a lovely October!

PS...I realized after posting that the new picture of the chicks at the top of the post, is perfectly placed under the blog header which is the chicks at just a couple days old. Look how fast they grow!!!

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Chicks

Today we picked up our 100 chicks from the Post Office. They are the cutest, fluffiest creatures. The kids were giggling as they started to climb on their feet and legs. It was fun.
We have now begun the expansion of St. Brigid Farm egg production. Yeah!

There are 100 chicks piled in this box!

Today's Harvest

Today I had to stay home with a very sick Charissa. So...while she slept I picked,

and picked,

and picked,

and picked! Joseph helped out a little.

And now I'm going to blanch those 2 big bowls of beans for the freezer, steam the red potatoes for dinner and bake a dessert with the blackberries. Maybe Kelsey can bake a pie when she gets home from Church.

Rain...finally!

Some may think it odd that I'm from the Western WA and my blog post is titled "Rain...Finally!" Well, we think it odd as well. It's been 84 days since we've had any significant rain. In the past 84 days we've had rain once (in mid June) and it was only 1/4 of an inch. I don't think it counts for much. It started raining yesterday and it's rained on and off all night but I went out to the rain gauge to find we've gotten only about 1/4 of an inch! They say it's suppose to rain on and off all day and we might get another 1/4 of an inch for a total of 1/2!!! But we have another chance of rain on Thursday. So maybe between this today and Thursday my garden will be well watered. I can only hope and pray!
Otherwise the sprinkler goes back on.

We've had records set now for the hottest week ever in WA (records of 102 I think at Seatac Airport) and for the driest summer EVER...84 days and only 1/4 " of rain...will the dry spell continue?

Starting a New of Phase

We are now goatless. Saturday we sold the last 2 goats to a wonderful woman in Graham, WA who has a LOT of animals and they are all her little children. She has goats, sheep, llama, dogs and cats. She loves animals and they will be loved and spoiled. She was so excited to get them.

Now we move on to our next phase...converting the barn to hold chickens and add to the flock. I hope to order 75-100 chicks by the end of the month. This flock will be in the barn and we should start seeing eggs sometime in January. After that the old hens will start going into the freezer.

On another note the garden has started really producing now. We picked our first bunch of beans yesterday and that should increase a little everyday. I think we might actually be able to get some in the freezer this year.

We picked up our 1/4 side of beef on Saturday (just in time for the Dormition Fast) and it is in the freezer. I'm looking forward to pulling out the first package on August 16!