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The workload of spring somehow carried over into early summer and then on into the heat of July, and I've completely lost track of time. I can't believe that the box of McMurray Hatchery Silver Grey Dorking chicks shipped back in February are already old enough to produce baby chicks themselves, but indeed...the "test" proved positive and 21 days later, this little guy popped out.
What to do for a lonely solo chick? I rarely, if ever, discuss politics or religion and don't care for controversy. So naturally I'm a little torn as to whether bring up the fact that the US Food Industry is broken or at least the possibility that it could be broken.
I'm fairly certain that people who are intimately familiar with Joel Salatin and his philosophy and ideas and writing know much more than myself as far as the good, bad and ugly that goes with having opinions and publicly voicing them...especially about something so terribly personal as food. I would however at this juncture in our relationship like to introduce you to ideas that could have you consider something that might be just a little larger than you are comfortable with. The New York Times calls Salatin "Virginia's most multifaceted agrarian since Thomas Jefferson [and] the high priest of the pasture". Salatin calls himself an environmentalist capitalist lunatic farmer. I have to admit that those quotes are enough to draw my curiosity and give the article a few minutes of my time. To further bait your curiosity, I have posted a quote from the article explaining some of his techniques which marry the traditional heritage farm with state of the art technology allowing a "better than nature" approach to farming. If you'd like to see more, click the "Read More" button to view the quote and a link to the entire article. Most of the summer, we've been busy building grow out pens in the fenced side yard. This yard also serves as geese breeder pens in the late winter and early-mid spring, so having multiple pens tucked into this space to keep different species and age groups separate will come in handy on a multitude of levels.
Like most retrofit operations, existing infrastructure made the whole plan a little trickier overall, but it has come along nicely in spite of the constant coastal jungle rain forest environment which has set up shop over Alabama this summer. Here's a shot of part of the entry and what will be a fenced yard...
Alabama has 4 seasons: Almost Summer, Summer, Football season, and Christmas.
Period -- no deviations. Real simple. Unless you count deer season...
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Kelley Creek Farms is a small (micro really) hobby farm located in Central Alabama 30 minutes south of Birmingham. We raise heritage and rare waterfowl and poultry along with a myriad of other creatures that give the farm its life. In addition to the birds, we raise heirloom tomatoes and vegetables.
Each day is different and brings a new set of adventures. Some make you laugh and some make you cry. Some are just plain frustrating. But we persevere knowing that tomorrow's set of problems will be completely different than today. Still figuring all this out ....one day at a time and striving for a more sustainable way of life. ALL
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January 2015
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