Dairy Farms, The Dairy Stores and C0-OP Food Stores (landscaping, buy)

[notdancingqueen]

Originally Posted by AmericanWoman1964

Cindy,

Anytime you are going to be in the area of Fitzwilliam, you just feel free to stop by and pick out a chicken or two! You can have some eggs free (I get far more than I ever use).

jaqui`

Good - someone who has a clue! My husband wants to raise chickens. Of course, he knows *nothing* about it - But building a coop is on his list of Spring Things To Do.

Any tips on raising chickens, AW1964?

[CometVoyager]

Originally Posted by AmericanWoman1964

LOL Good Morning CometVoyager!

You may be right about the pigs! I started raising my own meats due to allergies but find it to be quite sustaining. Feeding the eight of us, I breed my pigs and make just enough to cover their feed, any necessities for any of the other livestock, put two in my freezers, and maybe even get a little cash left over. So it works really well for my family. It also allows me to be generous to my neighbors.

I heat by woodstove so I have that bill covered. I am now looking into windmills for our energy useage. I still have a long way to go!

I'm a plain old maxwell house girl! Nothing fancy here! LOL

jaqui

You are too Cool and funny AmericanWoman1964! I love Maxwell House Coffee, that is not the decaff kind. Once I was on the Decaff kick and could not get a palatable brewed decaff brand. So I am back to coffee loaded with lots of caffeine, and I can even get a good nights sleep even after a couple of double espressos!

As for those cute little critters, your pigs! Gosh, I love bacon more than my dog does and my daughter knows how to cook and prepare the best darn bacon bits I ever had in my life! And I have traveled around the world! My neighbors had a healthy number of livestock and we would always just buy from them. I never raised livestock mainly because there is a learning curve and I figured I better learn or I would be a "laughing stock!"

Have a great Gobble Gobble!

[AmericanWoman1964]

Originally Posted by notdancingqueen

Good - someone who has a clue! My husband wants to raise chickens. Of course, he knows *nothing* about it - But building a coop is on his list of Spring Things To Do.

Any tips on raising chickens, AW1964?

notdancingqueen,

You know, when my ex-husband showed up with two piglets in the back of my Buick opel Wagon and a cage with a couple of chickens... I flipped out. (Not just the mess the piglets made in the back of my car). It was in the late fall and starting to snow. I didn't know the first thing about keeping any livestock. I had no idea how hearty pigs were so I cleaned out the basement and made two pens down there for the winter. (DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME). The pigs went in at only 40 pounds/each. In the spring they came out at 120 pounds each. What a nightmare THAT was. And the cleanup.....OMG. Ok so after being told by area farmers what an idiot I was... I have learned: Pigs winter just fine and love the snow. A simple house is all they need. Chickens need at least 10 hours of daylight in order to lay eggs and they need to be kept warm. They will die if they get too cold. I simply used heat lamps in the coop and that kept them fine. Here is a link to building coops (which was another mistake I made) and raising birds.

Raising Chickens: Slaughtering Chickens

My first coop was not very efficient and it was hard to collect the eggs. If I can figure out this website I will post some pics of my simple set up.

My pig pen is not a permanent pen. I move it every year to a different corner of the property. In the fall I collect all the mash from the local cider mills and pumpiks from the pumpkin fest etc. After the pigs have digested all this, in the spring I move the pen. What ends up happening is I get a garden I never planted. This year I collected 143 pumpkins, I don't know how many squashes, tomatoes, peppers, etc etc etc. What it does when I move the pen is is grows whatever the pigs have fertilzed (and I highly recommend pig manure for your gardens). And it doesn't waste the top soil. Chicken manure is harsh on gardens.

None of my pens/coops/houses, etc cost me anything to build. I collected pallets from the pallet shop and made simple rustic pens for the pigs, sheep, goats. My girls and I cut down saplings and wove them together (much like we saw on Gilligan's Island). These were sturdy and attractive and held my turkeys/chickens/geese/ducks just fine. But it took about 150 saplings per house so unless you have that kind of access....

Hope this helps.

jaqui

[AmericanWoman1964]

Originally Posted by Cindy, CA

Wow!! Thanks Jaqui- That would be great!!! Such a wonderful thoughtful offer.

Now if I can just remember that in 2012 when we move and I need to find Fitzwilliam.

lol Cindy,

2012 is only a blink of the eye and I am certain to only be exanding by then. (I expect, no, demand, that my girls spoil me with many grandchildren). Being that I am currently in school trying to earn a dual degree to open a residential school/working farm for teenagers, I'm sure I will only have more on the farm in 2012 than I do now.

Fitzwilliam is a tiny little town on the Mass/NH border. Very rustic, small town on the western side of the state.

[AmericanWoman1964]

Originally Posted by CometVoyager

You are too Cool and funny AmericanWoman1964! I love Maxwell House Coffee, that is not the decaff kind. Once I was on the Decaff kick and could not get a palatable brewed decaff brand. So I am back to coffee loaded with lots of caffeine, and I can even get a good nights sleep even after a couple of double espressos!

As for those cute little critters, your pigs! Gosh, I love bacon more than my dog does and my daughter knows how to cook and prepare the best darn bacon bits I ever had in my life! And I have traveled around the world! My neighbors had a healthy number of livestock and we would always just buy from them. I never raised livestock mainly because there is a learning curve and I figured I better learn or I would be a "laughing stock!"

Have a great Gobble Gobble!

Comet,

Thank you your kindnesses. Good for your daughter!c My #3 (I just number them, they do have names...) is the one in our group that makes all the sausage. I don't know her recipie but she has it down to a science.

Livestock is easier than you think. You feed them, make sure they have plenty of water. That's it. It takes me like 20 minutes twice a day tops. I am a little different only in that I treat all our animals like pets. My pigs are all trained (pigs will train and be more protective than any dog). My philosophy: A happy animal is a yummy animal.

jaqui

[Ken E]

Originally Posted by AmericanWoman1964

Comet,

Thank you your kindnesses. Good for your daughter!c My #3 (I just number them, they do have names...) is the one in our group that makes all the sausage. I don't know her recipie but she has it down to a science.

Livestock is easier than you think. You feed them, make sure they have plenty of water. That's it. It takes me like 20 minutes twice a day tops. I am a little different only in that I treat all our animals like pets. My pigs are all trained (pigs will train and be more protective than any dog). My philosophy: A happy animal is a yummy animal.

jaqui

I see where you make your own sausage. Do you do your own Curing and smoking. If not who's doing it over in that area now?

[AmericanWoman1964]

Originally Posted by Ken E

I see where you make your own sausage. Do you do your own Curing and smoking. If not who's doing it over in that area now?

Hi KenE,

I do all my own curing. This, too, has been a learning experience. At first I tried injection curing and lost all my hams. Then I tried a smoker. Now I have a simple smoke house.

The only person's name I know who does the majority of slaughtering and curing in this area is Pelto's. I've used them a couple of times but prefer to do it myself. We know our tastes and doing it myself is a matter of perfecting the process to my personal tastes.

jaqui

[Valerie C]

American Woman, you become my hero all over again with every one of your posts... This is a GREAT quote, I may start using it

Originally Posted by AmericanWoman1964

My philosophy: A happy animal is a yummy animal.

jaqui

[Ken E]

Originally Posted by AmericanWoman1964

Hi KenE,

I do all my own curing. This, too, has been a learning experience. At first I tried injection curing and lost all my hams. Then I tried a smoker. Now I have a simple smoke house.

The only person's name I know who does the majority of slaughtering and curing in this area is Pelto's. I've used them a couple of times but prefer to do it myself. We know our tastes and doing it myself is a matter of perfecting the process to my personal tastes.

jaqui

Your right there. Curing and meat somking are an art in itself. We had a small butcher shop and meat smoking business in Deerfield when we were in N.H. We did a lot of custom smoking for most of the meat cutters in the area. We did quite a bit of smoked sausages and salmon also. It was a lotta fun.

[buck naked]

hey Ken E! howzit going! the Blue Bowl finally closed it's doors



chickens are easy, but you have to protect them. We have very smart fox and extremely crafty weasels that raid the hen house.


Also, they carry lice, so just one more thing to be aware of...