As the growing season comes to an end, we use this time to observe and reflect upon what worked well and what needs to be improved or changed next season on the farm. Over the last few years, after learning about permaculture, we have made a lot of observations and discovered a lot of wisdom and knowledge through this process. As Alena wrote in her Permaculture article, “Permaculture is working with nature instead of against it. It is also making thoughtful observations before putting useless labor into a project. Instead of thinking that things need to be done a certain way, permaculture is remaining open to new ideas.”
Over fifteen years ago, we bought our first laying hens. We were told by several well-meaning people that our chicks would die and suffer a terrible illness if we didn’t give them medications in their feed. Without hesitation Cory and I both agreed that the reason we were going to the work of raising chickens was to avoid medications and toxic feed. We were convinced that good quality feed, sunshine, green grass to forage on, and clean living conditions would produce healthy chickens. We took a risk and we are so glad we did. From our observations our chickens have thrived in these conditions and the flavorful eggs with dark yellow yolks speak for themselves. We have lost numerous chickens to predators over the years and a few here and there to unknown causes, but we will continue to strive to decrease these losses, and continue to improve our practices.
More recently, a new batch of piglets had scours. We were not aware of this until two very knowledgeable men walked in to see our new piglets one day at different times. They could both smell the trouble. We were told that our piglets would be dead by the next day if we didn’t medicate. My husband and I both knew that medication was not an option. We prayed and did a little research but didn’t find much for natural treatments. We decided to cut back on mom’s feed and give her extra apple cider vinegar in her water and extra kelp in her feed. The next day the piglets were alive and they quickly recovered. The farmers were so excited they decided Continue reading “Farm Happenings in September, 2018”
