Well, it's been awhile- almost a year and so much has changed it's not even funny. We are winding down our first full year on the farm; one that has been full of learning and growing (sometimes painfully!)
Here's some counts to put things in perspective:
# of chicken housing units built - 9
# of pastured, organic eggs collected - 9102
# of unsaleable, slightly dirty eggs of unknown age found in grass nests - 128
# of laying hens currently employed - 150
# of broilers pastured and harvested for meat - 307
# of chickens killed by our 'bird' dog - 4
# of raspberry canes planted - 3000
# of heirloom apple trees planted - 60
# of 'interesting' garlic vareties overwintered - 12
# of miles walked between the barn and chicken coops in the pasture - 986
# of barn cats added to the mix - 1
# of evenings that someone had to go out and shut in the chickens - 365
# of mornings that someone had to go out and let out the chickens - 365
# of egg cartons donated to us by generous people - 639
# of kilowatt-hours generated with solar panels in the field - 1162
# of square feet of grass mowed (tractor, mower or scythe) - 125,000
# of feet of installed irrigation pipe in trenches - 900
# of gallons of chicken offal (guts) composted - 57
# of times we wished we were working in an office - 0
Well, after the end of our chicken harvesting season (2 more weeks) we will assess our first year in business and our plans for next year. Soon thereafter we'll update the blog with our 2009 plans.
Susan, Ken & Margaret
Rogue Valley Brambles
