August was the month that I hit a homesteading wall. After months of pushing myself to the extreme, I crashed and burned, limping my way to the processing finish line. Thankfully, by month’s end and a little restructuring of my workload, I’m in a much better mental place and ready to tackle the rest of the year. Here’s what we accomplished in August:
+ After the big storm back in June, we let our 27 laying hens free range. We mostly had our eyes on them throughout the day and everyone always came back to the coop at night…or so we thought. After a few days of asking, “Does this look like 27 chickens?” we decided to count them and eight were missing! My husband and boys walked the property and could see clumps of feathers in places but no bodies, so we’re assuming a fox was picking them off one by one. So sad. We quickly beefed up the fencing around the coop and that seemed to fix the problem.
+ I harvested corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, and jalapenos. We are also having a banner year for green beans – they keep coming and coming!
+ Fiona finally made it to the processor! We definitely learned some things from the first trip and made a paddock with the trailer inside the Thursday before. (So thankful for a farmer friend who let us borrow it for so long!) Fiona was nervous and skittish, but she eventually warmed up to it once we left her alone. We put all of her meals inside, which forced her hand once she was hungry enough. On the big day, she went in easily, but man, the look on her face! Once we locked the ramp, she was confused and shocked and looked like she couldn’t believe we had just betrayed her. We felt horrible. We’ll sure miss our little puppy pig, but are thankful for the meat she’ll provide.
+ The ducks started laying! We’re hoping for little baby ducklings in the future.
+ After a few months of being together, we separated Fred and Ethel in different paddocks. If Ethel is pregnant (we’re still not convinced that she is…) she needs increased feed for the last third of her pregnancy. Fred can be quite aggressive with food, often pushing her out of her own feed pan, so this arrangement works better. And if it turns out that she’s not actually pregnant, well…she’s just going to be well fed for a month.
+ We worked on the construction of a permanent pig pen that will double as a winter paddock and a place for farrowing. Really excited with how it’s coming along!
+ I amended the spring garden soil and sowed a few things for a fall garden. My heart’s not completely in it (I’m so tired!) but I’m going to try and see what happens anyway.
+ And the biggest August accomplishment: we processed the Broilers 2.0 and are officially done with chicken season 2022! Like last time, we split the processing between two days (this time back to back!) and hired friends to help. It went really smoothly and I felt so much pride for my family. Homesteading requires all hands on deck and the kids have worked so hard. So grateful that we can live this life together.
8 chickens! I am so sorry!!