She was a good lady....She will be missed.

Egg-Opers
We had a loss this week. 

One of the New Hampshire Reds ladies.  She was not looking good, lethargic and not eating.  I dipped her beak in the water several times and she drank so I was hopeful, but as things went along, she just got worse.  Before the time of euthanasia on Saturday evening, she died.

So now our flock count is 28 ladies and two fellas (Foghorn and Egghead).  I think the lady who passed might have taken one for the team for Tom – because you gotta think, any guy that sorts his M&M’s by colors before he eats them, has to hate odd numbers. 

Still, I am impressed that we only lost one so far this winter.  I expected to lose between 3 and 5 just because of the weather and hard conditions.  All the others are looking very healthy.

The egg production lately has gone down, if you are wondering why the eggs aren’t coming as fast and furious as they were.  I assume the ladies are sick of the cold weather.  They have threatened to strike and take over the Capitol Rotunda, but I settled them back down by agreeing to not take away their Collective Bargaining.  Last night we had 21 eggs again. I must have appeased them and I assume the warm weather will get them laying heavy again.

Egg Cartons.  We are getting low on them, so if you have any saved please return them at your convenience.

Gro-Opers
So it’s nearing the time that we order seeds to get the early bird discounts.

I need to know a couple of things with the next week.  7 days.  Please respond.

Or for you work people I’ll put it like Frenchy does in his e-mails:

READ                 READ                   READ
1 – Who is taking what type of share?  Emily posted last time about Single Shares and Family Shares.  I need to know what type of share you want.  Ordering seeds is dependent on how many Family Shares/Single Shares we have.

2 – Is there anything you don’t want or want more of?  We will order accordingly based upon the majority response.  If I receive no response, then I will order about the same as last year.

3 – Matt and I have discussed planting corn at the Co-op South location (aka:  his house).  He has a fenced garden, and the deer here just won’t leave the corn alone.  If we moved the corn to the South location - it would add on a slight charge because Matt will have to rent a tiller to till up his soil for the garden.  This would be divided amongst the shares.  Some of the DeJong's time would then be spent working the corn garden.  Is this something that people would want to do?  Let me know.  We’ll go on the majority responses on this.

That is all.  I have nothing else.  There’s way too much snow on the ground yet to think much more about gardening.  Please reply to Emily on the above 3 points.  bluefarmhousetrade@gmail.com.  Thanks!

Later all,
Haus

Spring 2011 Housekeeping

"Gardening is about enjoying the smell of things growing in the soil, getting dirty without feeling guilty, and generally taking the time to soak up a little peace and serenity."  ~Lindley Karstens, noproblemgarden.com

We are now gearing up for our 2011 Blue Farmhouse Garden & Egg Co-op season.  Thanks for all your hard work in the 2010 season and we are looking forward to an even better 2011!  Below is some food for thought for the upcoming season:

+ EGG CO-OP Only:  The ladies will need a fence in April.  There are 3 options that co-opers can chose from.  1.  Fence Building day on Saturday April 30 (rain date Sunday May 1)  2. We will have 2 opportunities to muck out the coop this summer.  This is a 2-3 hour job.  3.  Contribute an extra $25 to the feed fund. 
+ Family Share vs. Single Share:  We have a couple of shareholders who may benefit from a single share option.  A single single share would be ½ the cost, ½ the produce and ½ the man hours of our traditional full family share ($40-ish/4hrs per month).  If interested, let us know.
+ We have the capacity for 8 full family shares in the co operative.  If all shares were identical to last year, this leaves us with one open share. This share will be given out on a first come first serve basis.
+ As in years past, a calendar will be sent in April/May  for weeding week sign ups.  Emily will be sending an email this week asking for suggestions on crops that you would like to add or take out from the garden.  We need to place our seed order next month in order to get a discount from the nursery.
+ Added this year, will be a MAN garden.  This area will be comprised of all hot peppers and veggies that only men would enjoy.  Chiles, jalapenos, hot banana peppers.  This MAN garden will be separate from the other more flowery peppers so that the hots aren’t mixed with the mild.  The man garden is optional.  If you don't want hot peppers you may opt out. 
+ Share money is due on Plant Day .  Please don’t forget to bring a check/cash with you.  Plan on around $45 (probably less) for a family share and $25ish for a single share.  Plant day will be Saturday May 28 with rain date of Sunday.  If you can't make it either of those days notify Emily and you can come up a week before or a week after.
+ This season, we are going to ask that on the Monday that your weeding week begins, you let us know what day and time you plan to come up.  First, this will ensure clear directions are left for the co-oper or that Hoss is there to help you.  Second, that the harvests are timed accordingly so the crops don't spoil on the vine.  Emily will send an email Sunday to remind the co-opers that it is their week to weed/harvest.  Please reply and let her know the day and time you plan to come up. Emily has been nominated (self nominated) the new recording secretary of the co-op.  Most communication will be coming from here via blog and email.
+ All GRPD harvests will be put in the Fulton level fridge.  If you don't need, want or can't get to your share (vacation etc), please notify us.
+ Is there anything we could do, from a communication standpoint, that would help you in regards to weeding instructions, harvesting, produce distribution etc.?  Please use this as an opportunity to give any general suggestions on the co-op.  Send Emily an email back with any thoughts or comment directly on this post.  bluefarmhousetrade@gmail.com

Thanks - and looking forward to great 2011 season!

The Ladies - A Winter Update




 



As of yesterday we have collected 1,474 eggs. 

No wonder Chickens only lay for about three years, because if it was me, I’d be done already.  I mean seriously, that’s an average of almost 51 eggs per Chicken in just under four months (and most of them have come in just the past three months).  This 1,474 number also doesn’t include the eggs that are already cracked, which seem to be about three or four a day in this weather.  Not all of the eggs are getting sat on, so they freeze in the nest box and then crack.

That gets us to an average of .34 cents an egg and $4.03 per dozen.  We are almost to that break-even point of $3.75.

The bad news is, the ladies (and two fellas) have really gone through the food this winter.  I can’t blame them; it’s really about the only way they can build fat to stay warm.  I had hoped the last re-up would get us until 1^st of March.  That has not happened and we are now due for another re-up.

The good news is that darn Woodchuck in PA predicted an early spring.  Then again, it also snowed 16 inches on that day, so I’m pretty sure he was drunk that day and may have slipped on some sushi.  If you don’t know the story yet for the non-GRPD people, remind me to tell you sometime…it’s a good one huh Tom? 

Anyway, an early spring means less food we have to use because I can let them out again, which we can’t do in the snow because their feet will freeze.

So another $25 when you can get it to me please.  I am at work all this weekend for the GRPD people and for the others, you can get it to Emily sometime soon.  This next re-up will get us below the break-even point by the time we need to re-up again, which I hope won’t be until May.

Speaking of May, if you’re in the Gro-Op, Emily has been working on a blog for it.  It should be done soon.  Once it’s done, we’ll send out a message to everyone to see who wants to do it again this year.



Plant Day - May 2010

the weather outside is frightful....

which is all the more reason to start thinking about spring and the blue farmhouse garden co-op.