UPDATES: THE FALL SHARE & THE CAT.
Sorry for the lack of farm or garden related updates lately....but that is pretty much how it goes around here. Aside from being in limbo - this time of year simply doesn't require as much work up in the field. So, you will just have to make do with an update on the Gladdie cattie. She is still a tiny, sickly thing, but it has all been worth it because she has turned out to be an excellent mouser.
Speaking of the neglected garden, our very last main-season CSA delivery is this week! Hard to believe it has been 15 weeks already! We still have garden full of food...but as much as we would love to announce our FALL SHARE, we just don't feel confident enough in our situation. It is still unclear when we will have to be gone from our house/garden, so until we do know for sure - we are going to be selling food week-to-week. If you think you will be interested in getting a CSA basket of food in the near future and live in the Versailles/Danville/Lexington-ish area, make sure you are part of the mailing list! (You can sign up using the link at the bottom of this post or email us at roughdraftfarmstead@gmail.com) We will send out a message each week with the harvest and deliver on a first-come-first-serve basis. It is not ideal, but we are hoping this allows us to continue to feed our friends and family and make the most out of our beloved garden.- Hannah.
WENDELL WEDNESDAY.
It has been a rainy Wednesday. My drive home from work was a terrifying journey through some crazy flash flooding and powerful gusty winds. Hard to even remember those dry days of the drought.- Hannah.
LAYERS.
Every three or four days we pull the posts up, drag the chicken wire fence to another spot, and set up new paddock for the chickens. Then we push the chicken coop in and the next day we let them out into a fresh space.Rotation, we learned at Bugtussle, is the best way to manage almost any animal system: lowering impact, spreading out fertility, and keeping the animals healthier.So last night, when the chickens had all put themselves to bed for the evening, Hannah and I went out and started taking down their portable fence when we noticed a little white egg on the ground, then another, and a third in the nest box itself. Pullet eggs! Our first! And since we only have a few birds who will be laying white eggs––the Leghorns––we know who won the race! We had noticed their combs becoming bright red, which Hannah read was a sign they're about to start laying, and sure enough, we're going to be eating some eggs this morning.Anyone who has ever had chickens can attest to the excitement you enjoy in harvesting your first eggs, even if they're roughly half the size of what they will be. You pamper the birds for months, checking daily to see if they've left you any sustenance, and just before you give up on them entirely you find three white eggs. But that makes complete sense, too: if there's anything we've learned in this business it's that you move a bunch of heavy stuff around and at the end of the day, somehow, as if by magic, food happens.- Jesse.
WENDELL WEDNESDAY.
