July 2020

Usually in Winter, we write one blog post combining all the activities of the season. This year, there has been so much on the go, we need to be writing weekly!

Lock down has launched many small scale farmers forward in leaps and bounds as customers are ordering directly, avoiding supermarkets and wanting healthy, ethical food. This has kept the small and nimble farmers on their toes! The increased demand has afforded us the opportunity to expand and develop our enterprises with some exciting, Nature driven expansions in between!

Pasture Raised Eggs

Our laying hens are going through their first moult. At about 18 months, hens will systematically lose their feathers in Autumn and replace them with new feathers. Some hens do this in just a few weeks, others cane take up to 16 weeks! Our egg supply has suffered as we sit with about a 50% lay rate! We have increased protein and provided natural tonics to boost the hens during this physically draining time. The younger hens also lose vigour and slow their laying naturally for winter due to the cold and need to conserve resources, as well as being less likely to have bred in the wild during winter. We are grateful to our patient customers who have stuck with us even when we can’t supply their full orders!

We’ve been offered this huge egg mobile… just trying to figure out a way to transport it to us now!

Pasture Raised Chicken

Our “compost chicken” experiment came to an end at the end of July - wow did we learn a lot - from predators to hygiene - and just look at the state of that grass! More like a free range style of raising chickens, we used an old shed to raise broiler chickens both with the purpose of using them to make compost for spring planting, and for keeping them warmer during the cold of winter. Coming out of this experiment, we are even more convinced of the importance of pasture raised systems!

We also raised our biggest batch of broilers so far in this way which compounded the learning, and enforced the need to be adaptable and nimble with daily management decisions to be made.

Our next batch of broiler chickens are snuggled up in the brooder while they grow their feathers. In the meantime, Andre and Chikondi have built 5 new Salatin style pens for this batch of broilers (designed by Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms - the grandfather of pasture raised chickens!). We are using the design described by Richard Perkins of Ridgedale Permaculture in his book, Regenerative Agriculture.

We are opening up accessibility to some of the flatter areas on our land where we can use these pens. Our previous pens were a Suscovich style and worked well in Summer and were more forgiving on a slope, the Salatin pens need to be on flat land but being small and compact, they will hopefully keep the chickens warmer. You can see our old pens in the background of the last picture.

These pens have taken weeks to construct but are relatively cheap to build, a good starting place for new farmers without high investment. Joel Salatin always says - start with copying an exact design that someone else has tried and tested, and then make changes.

Chikondi’s help has been invaluable as Andre flits between managing other tasks on the farm and delivery days.

Goats

Our goat herd has also grown! We bought 10 more female goats from Swissland Cheese. We are very excited to have them roaming the hills and keeping brush and shrubs under control without any effort! And they are very friendly.

Here they are in their stable, then exploring their new home, giving some cuddles, herding in and Pineapple and Van-the-Ram checking out the action in the stable next door!

Pigs

And we have had some unplanned, natural expansion! Our first litter of teeny tiny pink piglets! We’ve been watching one pig for a little while, suspecting she was pregnant. One evening when we were feeding them, she began digging and bedding down in the wood shed, a sign that she may be going into labour. The wind was howling and a massive cold front was pulling in, not the best timing! Thulas, our animal whisperer said that often animals will give birth when they sense a change in the weather. We have heard plenty stories of sows farrowing in the snow! And true as nuts… the next morning, 11 little piglets were climbing all over a very tired Mommy Pig!

It has been indescribably beautiful to watch the relationship with the other female pigs. Lady, our adopted Duroc, played midwife and sat with her snout peeping into the wood shed for days. She would grunt warnings to anyone coming too close. One evening I even caught her snuggled up with the piglets while Mommy Pig got a few well-earned zzz’s in! The piglets have grown so quickly and are so active already. Just three weeks later they are trying to eat their Aunties’ food, climbing all over them, escaping and generally living a very happy little piglet life!

While the ladies are safely tucked up closer to the house for protection, the male pigs are continuing to enjoy their shrubby forage.

Photos: Featuring Sweet Lady Petunia - on piglet duty while Mommy Pig snoozes, Andre catching a lift!

Snap Shots

Some signs of spring on its way - peach tree in blossom, Jasmine starting to fill the air with its sweet fragrance, a visiting chameleon, weird hail-sleet called Graupel… but still the odd icy day and of course, dreaded fire breaks!

My backyard flock of chickens huddling from the chily wind, and coming to the kitchen to remind me to feed them!

Sourdough fails of the month! Oops!

The first Midlands cell of Regenerative Agriculture Association met in July for a very informative presentation by Peter Ardington, veld walks comparing high density rotationally grazed land and fire managed land, as well as networking opportunities.