Moving, moving, moving...

This week we moved...all the animals. First, we moved all the chickens out in their chicken tractors into the north field, in one of the areas that was in winter rye cover crop and that the cows went through last week. Meanwhile, we moved the cows across the creek. They’ll make their way through the river field and then up to the hill pasture. We’ve been moving them every 2-3 days when they’ve eaten down the area enough, so I’m learning lots about the portable electric fence, Don bet the over-under on number of times each apprentice would shock themselves on the electric fence at 7, but I think I got 4 in one morning when I put up a fence by myself when it was raining and it took me that many tries just to hook up the alligator clips. Next, we moved the pigs into a bigger pen in the bar. This is them in the old pen, which is where the cows stayed all winter. Since we'll be bringing Chloe, the jersey, in when she calves & when we start milking her, we moved the pigs into a new area (right under the rec room, you can hear them snoring at night).

So a part of the apprentice experience is what I like to call “farm iron chef”. Each apprentice has one day a week when you make lunch and dinner. I cook on Fridays. For each meal, you have 1 hour to make it, and you try to use leftovers and any available veggies. We order grains and staples from the co-op or the bakery supply store. As we go along, Bridget will give us new challenges for each week. So far, we’ve also gotten to try using some wild foods. Last week I substituted ramps in for onions. Ramps are a wild leek that grows in the woods around here. Katie made an amazing salad with dandelion greens (extra tasty since we’ve been craving fresh vegetables). And it goes well with the song “Greens” by Daisy May, from the Michigan State Apprenticeship CD. Last week on our CRAFT visit, we went to Hawthorne Valley, a big dairy & vegetable farm that makes yogurt (you can find it at Harvest), and we got to talk to their cheesemaker. This is where they store the cheese. We make our own yogurt and buttermilk here (OK, so far Bridget makes it, but i'm excited to learn).
As for the farmer tan, I’m working on a watch tan, a nice stripe on my lower back from bending over and a lovely wrist brace tan on my right hand, since I’ve gotten carpal tunnel in it. My poor right hand, I’m supposed to keep the swelling down and so far I’ve gotten the back of it sunburned, figured out i was allergic to the SPF 85 sunscreen I put on it next, and then this week I got stung by a yellow jacket right between my 3rd and 4th finger! Grrr.

Last week we planted strawberries with a tried and true method: paint sticks. You go through the bed with a harvest knife and cuts slits for each plant in the black plastic, and then you walk down the row with a bucket of transplants sitting in a water & agar gel solution to keep the roots wet. At each hole, you put the end of the long roots over the slit, put the end of your paint stick on top of them, and push straight down, which pulls the roots down so they’re not bunched up. Then you firm up the soil around the top and keep going. Pretty nifty.








Next entry: all about greenhouses!