The Challenges Of Raising Chicks

Young hens at Rivendell Farms

That's Farming, by Jeffie Hardin – Sept. 25, 2012
We have some new feathered friends around our farm now. They aren't actually new ... these chickens are approximately 24 weeks old and are just starting to lay eggs.

When our children were younger, our normal poultry cycle was to buy day-old chicks (also known as pullets) from a local farm store in the spring. There was the annual oohing and ahhing over the cute fuzzy wonders who would be hopping around in a large box at the farm store. We'd figure out which type of chicken we'd want to try out that year. Some chickens are known for being good egg layers, others for having good dispositions. 

Our family liked a variety of chickens, but not the ones who liked to brood. No, that's not a moody chicken, although they often seemed like it. A broody chicken is a hen whose nature is to sit on her eggs to hatch them ... 21 days with only occasionally breaks for water and food. After 21 days and multiple turns of each egg, chicks should emerge from beneath her.  Although that sounds fun, you need the right set-up for hatching eggs. There needs to be enough boxes for your regular layers and your brooders. We opted to just stick with buying pullets every year and raising them once they hatched out of their eggs.

Our children always had a blast raising their cute little flock.  So sweet and soft ... but then they'd grow and start to peck the hand that fed them. These cute little chicks would turn into unruly teenagers who would stretch their wings and try to fly. Suddenly it wasn't all that fun raising this flock, and the watering and feeding people had to be reminded to do their chore. Changing the boxes of soiled straw was something to be avoided at all cost.

After 12 weeks the chickens would be transferred into a holding pen for teenagers.  To put a young teenage chick in the hen house with older chickens would be dangerous for the youngsters.  It's best to transfer them in when they are 20 weeks and are more substantial in size.

Well, now our own "chicks" or children are growing up with less time on their hands to ooh and ahh and even less time to change a stinky mess, so we have opted to let a nearby farmer raise pullets until they are 20 weeks old. We buy them at that time and only have a month or so before the boxes are filling with eggs. No mortality from young chicks and no wild and wooly teenage chicken times. Only mature hens who are ready to do their job of laying eggs.

I guess some parents would love to do the same - skip over those teenage years and slide right into the young adult age children. 

About Jeffie and Chris Hardin – The Hardins left suburban life in 2001 for an 8-acre farm near Mountain Island Lake. Now the Hardins and their children seek to grow half of their family’s food and help others grow food, too.

That's Farming, by Jeffie Hardin – Sept. 3, 2012

Now that we've turned the calendar page to September, there is a great opportunity to mark on the weekend of September 15 and 16: the 4th Annual Know Your Farms Tour!  I can't say enough about this event. It's family friendly, educational, fun and inexpensive. It can even be free if you volunteer ... I'll get to that later.

The Know Your Farms Tour gives the general public a peak at the inner workings of local farms. Maybe you've bought eggs for years from a farmer, but you've never seen the chickens the eggs came from. Now is your chance.  

Buy a $25 pass from the website below and you can visit 40-plus farms participating in the tour. The pass is good for a car full of people – it doesn't matter how many you cram in there. You can visit as many farms as your energy allows in this two-afternoon event during the hours of 1-6.

Learn how we grow hydronic lettuce at Rivendell Farms

Check out the alpacas at the Good Karma Ranch in Lincoln County. Or how about the Sherrills Ford Bird Brain Ostrich Ranch? In Landis, a good choice would be the Cotton Mill mushroom farm. You might even want to come by my farm, Rivendell Farms, in Huntersville, and get some hydroponic lettuce.

KnowYourFarmsTour.com lists all the participating farms as well as directions and indications as to which of the 2 days they are open.

And here is the free part .... if you volunteer by greeting visitors at a farm one day...the next day you'll receive a car pass for free. Even the volunteering part is fun, as you'll meet so many interesting people and hear great stories.

So start your fall off with an enriching time by checking out where your food comes from.

About Jeffie and Chris Hardin – The Hardins left suburban life in 2001 for an 8-acre farm near Mountain Island Lake. Now the Hardins and their children seek to grow half of their family’s food and help others grow food, too.

Too Hot Or Busy To Can Tomatoes Now? Try My Secret

That's Farming, by Jeffie Hardin – Aug. 13, 2012

These dog days of summer actually put me into a frazzled state of mind.  There's so much to get done in the garden as we prepare for the fall crops, but all the while trying to preserve summer's produce for winter eating. 

Tomatoes are a biggie around our house and I try to can or freeze them as much as possible. Sometimes it's hard to stand over a pot of salsa or sauce on a 100-degree day. One trick I've found is to freeze the tomatoes now and then ... later in the fall when you feel like getting back into the kitchen ... make the salsa or sauce with those frozen veggies.

Tips for freezing tomatoes

To freeze tomatoes, select firm, ripe tomatoes and plunge them into hot, boiling water.  After 2 minutes transfer them to ice water. When you can touch them without burning yourself, you should find the skins pull back easily from the flesh of the tomato. Once the skin is off, core the tomato and put it in a freezer bag. I try to get about 10 in each quart size bag before placing them in my freezer.  It's easiest to lay the bags down flat on a shelf so that you can stack them on top of each other. Pull a bag out later in the year to make your tomato product.  It's like money in the freezer. 

I'm sharing a canning salsa recipe from my friend, Veronica. It's not as tomato pasty as one's I've used in the past. If you want it spicier, just add more jalapenos. Or use bolder peppers such as habaneros or ghost peppers.  Just be careful!!

Veronica's Salsa

Veronica's Salsa

30-35 tomatoes, peeled and chopped

4-5 bell peppers (any combination of green and red)

10 cups of chopped onions (use a food processor!! Even with that I was crying up a storm)

10 cloves garlic, chopped

1 cup chopped jalapenos

1/4 cup sugar

2 cups vinegar

2 tsp. pepper

8 tsp. pickling salt or sea salt

2-3 small cans of tomato paste

Combine all the ingredients in a large pot. Simmer for 1/1/2 hours, stirring often to keep from sticking to the bottom of the pot. If you like cilantro, add 1/2 cup chopped at the end of the cooking time. Ladle salsa into sterilized pint-size canning jars.  Attach lids and process in a canner for 35 minutes.  This recipe makes anywhere from 12-16 pints depending on the size of your tomatoes.

Pass the chips and enjoy!

First time canning? Cooperative Extension Service can help you

The NC Cooperative Extension Service is a great resource for many home and garden activities, including how to can all kinds of fruits, vegetables and meats. 
Proper food preparation is crucial to ensuring that your canned produce keeps safely for a long time.
Earlier this summer both the Mecklenburg and Gaston Cooperative Extension offices offered classes in hot-water canning needed for Veronica's Salsa.
Fortunately you also can get easy-to-follow instructions anytime at the Extension Service website. You also can find out about all sorts of courses available throughout the state.

• CLICK HERE for canning instructions
• Cooperative Extension Service website
• Gaston County Center and events
• Mecklenburg County Center and events

About Jeffie and Chris Hardin – The Hardins left suburban life in 2001 for an 8-acre farm near Mountain Island Lake. Now the Hardins and their children seek to grow half of their family’s food and help others grow food, too.



Farmers Welcome Your Support In This Tough Summer

That's Farming, by Jeffie Hardin – July 30, 2012

It's been quite a summer and we still have a month or so to go.  I've been trying unsuccessfully to interview a few farmers for this blog, but as you can imagine this is a busy time of year.  There are still lots of summer vegetables to pick and tend, all the while getting some of the cooler crops into the soil.  Hard to believe that it's time to plant broccoli again.


This summer has been hard on farms due to the swing in weather conditions.  Tons of 90 degree plus days and then wild storms that whip the plants around.  Our corn field looks like a tornado hit it.  Even though our tomato plants are staked up, quite a few of them toppled over due to pelting rain and winds.  Fungal diseases hit a lot of the vining plants because of the dry, hot weather alternating with wet, hot weather.  Cucumber plants that looked fine one week suddenly became stricken with spotty fungus.


Oh ... such is the life of farmers.  One local farmer told me that he's never worked so hard and had so little to show for it. 


I'm not writing all of this to depress you, but to give you insight of your "local food" farmer.  And to encourage you to buy from his or her stand at your local farmers market.  Farmers take a lot of risks each year, hoping for a good yield, but never know what Mother Nature has up her sleeve.  If the average consumer knew how much blood, sweat and tears go into producing that pound of tomatoes, price would never be a consideration.


A few weeks ago, my son witnessed a man trying to bargain down a farmer who was selling green beans at an already reasonable price.  Thankfully the farmer said he wouldn't lower his price.  If the "buyer" had been the one to sow the seed, water, weed, and harvest those beans, he would have realized the price should have even been higher. 


So brave the heat and get out to your local vegetable stand.  The farmer will thank you and so will your taste buds.

About Jeffie and Chris Hardin – The Hardins left suburban life in 2001 for an 8-acre farm near Mountain Island Lake. Now the Hardins and their children seek to grow half of their family’s food and help others grow food, too.

Heirloom tomatoes - odd looks, great eating!

That's Farming, by Jeffie Hardin – July 16, 2012

This is the most wonderful time of the year for vegetable lovers. Of course there is an abundance of cucumbers, squash, beans and peppers, but the star of the show is the tomato.  Hands down that is the favorite summer vegetable. When customers come by our table at a local farmer's market, they scan the whole scene to find the tomatoes.


Of course we have the normal Better Boy, Best Boy, Early Girl and Beefy Boy, which are all the recognizable hybrid varieties. But the new craze is for heirloom tomatoes. Heirlooms are grown from seeds that have been saved from yesteryear's crops. This system has been going on for centuries, but the general public has just recently become aware of these gems.  Tomato heirlooms have names such as Cherokee Purple, Brandywine, Azoychka and Mortgage Lifter. Such great names for tomatoes with character. My husband loves to eat these gems, but when they are yellow such as the Azoychka, he has to close his eyes.  Something about eating a yellow tomato, but tasting red doesn't seem natural.


If you see some funny looking tomatoes at your local farmers market, I bet they'll be an heirloom variety. They are often striped or a deep red or purple. Sometimes the fruit is a little misshapen. Try one out. The flavor and juice are amazing. You'll be back for more.


Here is the Hardin Family's favorite way to eat our tomatoes. No exact measurements.

1. Slice a large tomato.
2. On top if each slice, put a slice of good mozzarella cheese.
3. On top of the cheese drizzle some extra virgin olive oil, sprinkle a little garlic salt and place some chopped up fresh basil on top.

*It's gotta be fresh basil.  Dried basil will not do!


This is so easy, but the most requested appetizer we get from friends who come out for dinner. It just tastes like summer!  
Enjoy.

About Jeffie and Chris Hardin – The Hardins left suburban life in 2001 for an 8-acre farm near Mountain Island Lake. Now the Hardins and their children seek to grow half of their family’s food and help others grow food, too.

Music To A Farm Mom's Ears

One of these youngsters may have grown up to actually like weeding!

That's Farming, by Jeffie Hardin – July 2, 2012

One of my kids confessed something I never thought I’d ever hear in my lifetime.  It was shocking to say the least. This child, who will remain nameless for fear that the other siblings will rise up in protest, admitted that he/she actually likes to weed the garden!   

Gasp!  

There we were, out sweating up a storm amidst the okra, and this bomb gets dropped on me. What should I do? Raise my hands to the sky? Feel this child’s forehead for a fever? Go post this admission on Facebook?  (Well, I guess I’m guilty of making a blog entry about it.)

Actually, I understand this admission all too well. It’s not the actual pulling of weeds that gives satisfaction, but rather seeing the before and after shot of a row picked clean on those menacing weeds.  Neat and tidy … at least for a day or two.

Weeding can actually be good for your brain!

But there are other benefits to cleaning up a vegetable patch. It gives you time to think. Sometimes when I’m trying to figure something out, having my hands perform a repetitive and mundane task frees my brain to come up with a solution. There have been studies done with students who are asked to memorize facts or study material while they bounce a ball, rock in their chair or engage in some other repetitive motion. Their brains are better able to grasp the material when their body is in motion. 
 I know that many a problem has been solved at our farm as we engage in the mundane art of weed pulling. My offspring confirmed this, adding that it’s peaceful in the garden.

As CSA members pull weeds, we pull together

Something else I’ve noticed, especially with our CSA members: weeding builds community. Our group is quite diverse especially in age, and it’s sometimes hard to break the ice by merely sitting around talking. Having a task to perform together allows a conversation to flow naturally.   

This is especially true with quiet types such as myself. Digging a little, talking a little, pulling a little and then talking a little more isn’t threatening and there isn’t pressure to hold up your end of the conversation.  

  If you can get your children out in the garden, you might be surprised what fun and interesting tid-bits they mention to you.  I know it’s happened to me!

About Jeffie and Chris Hardin – The Hardins left suburban life in 2001 for an 8-acre farm near Mountain Island Lake. Now the Hardins and their children seek to grow half of their family’s food and help others grow food, too.

What I learned on our family vacation

That's Farming, by Jeffie Hardin – June 11, 2012


Our family just returned from a wonderful vacation to Whitetop, Virginia where we got our fill of riding the Creeper Trail, hiking a few mountainsides and meadering through quaint towns.

Enjoying family time on a mountain hike

We made a couple of obervations which I thought were interesting.  Amongst the numerous dairy and Christmas tree farms were so many small country houses.  Probably 90% of them had vegetable gardens on their property. Most of the plots were average in size - enough room to provide vegetables for a family's summer needs as well as pantry and canning supplies.  The houses were located on winding mountain roads, far removed from grocery stores.  If the cook needed an onion, a trip to local Harris Teeter wasn't going to happen.  Having a fully stocked pantry and freezer would be necessary during those snowy winter months.  Most city families that I know wouldn't be able to produce a meal without going to the grocery store at least once a week.  Us city-folk rarely think, plan and act ahead for our provisions.


Sarah is a friend of mine who grew up in a small mountain town in West Virginia.  She told me an intersting story about being prepared for any kind of weather.  Whenever a storm threatened her town, a normal practice was to fill the bathtub with water.  If the electricity went out, the well couldn't operate.  The water in the tub would keep the family going with their basic needs until the lines were fixed.  Even as a married woman living in Charlotte, Sarah continued to take this precaution until her husband explained that filling up the tub wasn't necessary in a large city.  Preparedness and self-reliance had become second-nature to her, as I'm sure it is to those whom we passed on the way to our cabin.


Another interesting observation we made was concerning the crops grown in the more mountainous terrain.  While the Catawba area gardens are brimming right now with squash, cucumbers and beans, the mountain area gardens are filled with cooler crops of cabbage, onions and lots and lots of potatoes.  Any corn I saw was ankle high, while mine is mid-thigh right now.  It was a very vivid example of different climates producing different vegetation and planting calendars.  Even though the Catwaba area gardeners have to deal with hard, red clay, we are fortunate to have such a long growing season which produces crops long into the fall.


But the mountain terrain and weather can produce something that we can't....a wonderful supply of Christmas trees.  It almost put me in the holiday mood just seeing them.  Beautiful!

About Jeffie and Chris Hardin – The Hardins left suburban life in 2001 for an 8-acre farm near Mountain Island Lake. Now the Hardins and their children seek to grow half of their family’s food and help others grow food, too.

Eat Your Vegetables – Including Cabbage!

That's Farming, by Jeffie Hardin – May 28, 2012

"I don't know what to do with it."

That comment is not too unusual when members of our Community Supported Agricultural group come out to our farm to get some vegetables. I'll tell them what is ready to pick...broccoli, lettuce, spinach, carrots....but when it comes to cabbage, there's often a slight turn up of the nose.

"Other than coleslaw, I don't know what to do with it."

Au contraire...cabbage is great. There are many ways to use it including stir-fry and soups.  Also, just remember that cabbage is great for you. It is rich in nutrition and fiber, loaded with vitamin C and has been found to lower the risk of developing certain forms of cancer.

So we need to find recipes that you and your family will enjoy.  I often turn to www.allrecipes.com for inspiration. I love the comments people make on that site as well as the changes to the recipe each cook will suggest. The following recipe for cabbage is actually one I've changed and modified from numerous recipes, so now it's more mine than anybody else's.

My kid don't like mayonnaise.  Cole slaw, potato salad, meat salads...anything with mayonnaise goes to waste at our house. So the following is an oil and vinegar salad.  It's crunchy and tangy. I only have to make sure that they eat the whole salad and not just pick out the secret ingredient.

 

Crunchy Cabbage Slaw

1/4 - 1/3 head of green cabbage

1 large stalk of broccoli, chopped

1/2 onion, chopped

2 stalks of celery, sliced

*1 pkg. Ramen noodles (dry) (not with the added spice mix)

Shred cabbage finely.  Add broccoli, onions and celery.  Crumble Ramen noodles and stir into salad.  Toss with dressing.

 

Dressing

1/4 tsp. pepper

3/4 tsp. salt

1/3 cup olive oil

3 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar

2 Tablespoons Water

*The secret ingredient, Ramen noodles, can be substituted with something else else that is crunchy such as nuts or seeds.

Enjoy at your Memorial Day picnic!

About Jeffie and Chris Hardin – The Hardins left suburban life in 2001 for an 8-acre farm near Mountain Island Lake. Now the Hardins and their children seek to grow half of their family’s food and help others grow food, too.

Come Tuesday To Our Community Garden Event

That's Farming, by Jeffie Hardin – May 21, 2012

(Note by editor Rich Haag)

Jeffie is hard at work at Rivendell Farms and in no mood to wrestle with a difficult computer except maybe to throw it into the mulch pile (That's computers!), so she has asked me to write this invitation for her.

Chris and Jeffie

Jeffie and Chris very much want you to know about a program Tuesday evening that they and River District leaders are putting on at Whitewater Middle School.

The meeting, from 6:30 to 8:30, is a chance for you to see the new learning gardens for students at Whitewater Middle and Whitewater Academy next door. You'll also hear about gardens at other nearby schools and a new community gardening program called Whitewater Farms that could expand our access to fresh, local foods. Everyone is welcome, of course.

The Hardins and the River District also need volunteers to help with the gardens, particularly this summer after school ends.You can learn more on Tuesday.

These gardens are part of an ambitious River District effort to boost our students’ learning and interest in science, technology, engineering and math – often called STEM. Similar gardens are under way at Mountain Island, Ida Rankin and Catawba Heights elementary; and River Oaks Academy.

• LEARN MORE: Visit catawbariverdistrict.org.

• DIRECTIONS: Whitewater Middle is at 1520 Belmeade Drive, Charlotte. MAP

• VOLUNTEER: We need help maintaining the schoolyard gardens this summer. Interested? EMAIL River District Executive Director Edna Chirico or call 704-562-8847.

About Jeffie and Chris Hardin – The Hardins left suburban life in 2001 for Rivendell Farms, an 8-acre farm near Mountain Island Lake. Now the Hardins and their children seek to grow half of their family’s food and help others grow food, too.

 

I'm Blessed to be Their Mom

OK, who tells Tom Turkey about Thanksgiving? The Hardin kids "ham" it up.

That's Farming, by Jeffie Hardin – May 14, 2012

Mother’s Day (and even the day after) is a great time to reminisce about family, children and all the wild times that come from them. I love being a mother, from the cute, curled-up infant to the towering teenager/young adult. And I’ve got to say I’ve been blessed beyond my dreams with my crew.

When we started this adventure of farming 12 years ago, the kids didn’t know what they were in for. None of us did. We’ve had some great times living on Rivendell Farms. Witnessing a goat give birth to twins … even triplets. Watching dad try to lasso a cow ... hilarious. Harvesting a huge crop of tomatoes and eating corn minutes after picking it from the stalk.

And there have been some trying times. Times that make you want to go live in a neighborhood. A colicky horse. Raccoons taking all your watermelon and cantaloupe right before they were ready to be harvested. A row of beans to pick that seems to go on forever and ever. A black snake eating your chicks.

The Hardin kids are always there to help on the farm.

Times like these have brought out the best in my children. Perseverance, a work ethic that I’ve seldom seen matched by even many adults. Farm kids have that toughness because they’ve developed it day in and day out. Farm kids have to get up at the crack of down to care for their animals.

Before any showers or breakfast, Sarah is outside feeding and watering her horses. She’ll give them hay and unlock the gate to their fields. Ben is opening up the coop door to let the chickens roam outside. He’s filling their feed bin, checking their water supply and then collecting any eggs the hens have laid. Goats and cows have to be tended to as well. Day in and day out … when it’s freezing cold, raining cats and dogs, or hot and humid, my kids know they have to take care of their animals before they take care of themselves. And then again at night before they go to bed.

Our older two children have gone off to college but help out when they are back home. There isn’t any complaining … it’s just what we do. Consistency. Perseverance. Taking care of your responsibility.

So on this day after Mother’s Day, I want to tell my children how very proud I am of them and how very blessed I am to be their mom.

About Jeffie and Chris Hardin – The Hardins left suburban life in 2001 for an 8-acre farm near Mountain Island Lake. Now the Hardins and their children seek to grow half of their family’s food and help others grow food, too.

A Day In The Life Of A CSA'er

That's Farming, by Jeffie Hardin – May 7, 2012

In a recent blog, I described our Community Supported Agriculture Group (CSA). It consists of 5 families who come out to our farm on a consistent basis to help us tend our vegetable beds. In exchange for their work and a small fee, the families are able to take home lots of produce as well as knowledge about gardening.
 
This past Saturday was a typical weekend morning for members of our group:
 
After a short prayer, Chris and I directed the members to various tasks. Fred and his young children were assigned to water the tomatoes and peppers. With a little supervision, this is a fun and active activity for small children. Of course things can get out of control so everyone needs to be prepared to get wet!
 

Shane covers seeds Fido-style

While the watering was going on, Shane and Kristi prepared one of the raised beds to plant the "3 sisters". This is a companion planting. Corn, squash and beans are sown together because they each have a valuable asset that the others like. 

Corn grows tall and is a great climbing fence for the pole beans. Corn will use a lot of nitrogen in its growing stage, while the beans put back nitrogen into the soil. 

Squash grown at the base of the corn stalks keeps the weeds at bay and also prevents water from evaporating from the soil. It’s been written that the prickly stems keeps raccoons at bay, but unfortunately, I have not found that to be true.
 

Laying a board for irrigation system

So back to our gardening…Shane and Kristi raked out the bed to produce a flat surface. They then pulled a string from one end of the box to the other to get a straight line in which to plant. After making an inch deep furrow with a hoe, the CSAers planted the corn. In the picture you can see Shane, who invented a FIDO method for covering up the seed. 

In a week or so after the corn starts popping up, we will sow the bean and squash seeds right next to the small stalks.

While all of these activities were going on, Chris and a few others were beginning a new "project". After years of hand watering, our farm is going to have water automation!! Woo Hoo! 

Chris bought irrigation tape and various parts and began installing them in our newest growing field. With just a flip of a switch, the cucumbers, beans and zucchini will be irrigated. Another day he’ll be installing the system into more of the raised beds. 

After Fred and his girls watered the tomatoes, they harvested some of the spring vegetables such as radishes, spinach, lettuce, broccoli, asparagus, strawberries and cauliflower. We were able to pick a few peas … they are just starting to come in. Should have peas galore next week.

 
Other tasks we accomplished were thinning out the carrots and getting rid of weeds that had popped up especially around the onions. We were hoping for rain, but only a few drops came down. Oh, but never fear…with our new irrigation system all the vegetables will be happy.

About Jeffie and Chris Hardin – The Hardins left suburban life in 2001 for an 8-acre farm near Mountain Island Lake. Now the Hardins and their children seek to grow half of their family’s food and help others grow food, too.