Hey everyone! We made it to 2021 and are ready for new beginnings here on the farm. In the past month, we’ve doubled our duck flock, watched our piglets grow into devious “teenagers”, and really jumped head first into planning the year.
The holidays were quiet here, with much time spent reading by the fireplace and snuggling with the dogs. I relish the pace of winter and the time we are given to reflect and look inwards. Danny and I started the year with 30 days of yoga practice, with each day focusing on a word or intention. I’ve found such strength and peace in our practice – I don’t think I’ll stop after 30 days!
Out on the farm, the piglets are growing fast. Their diet of kitchen scraps, spent grain, and protein-rich pellets are making for some strong and curious piglets. They still live in the garden, but will be moving soon so the land can rest before planting in a few months! It is remarkable how the mixture of leftover food, pig waste, hay, wood chips, and detritus from last year’s garden have really mixed together and made beautiful dirt. Those pigs (and microbes) sure are working hard for us! We did have a few piggies escape one day, but luckily they’re still small enough that we can scoop them up and lift them over a short fence pretty easily. They’re not quite professionals at following the food bucket yet.
We improved the duck yard with a thick layer of wood chips and a second story “walk up” in the house because our numbers are growing! They love hunting through the wood chips for sunflower seeds and other goodies. I know they can’t wait for springtime to get back out into the pasture. Right now, they stay in the yard all day because coyotes started hunting them! After we kept them closed in for a few days, we caught a coyote hunting outside their fence at noon (very unusual). Luckily, Danny and Ulla are incredibly fast and chased it far away across the fields. I rewarded them with an ATV ride back to the house because I am nowhere near as fast as them.
If you’ve come to get eggs from the farm recently, you’ve probably noticed the bright blue coop making its way back up towards the driveway. It’s really fun to see our neighbors stop and talk to the chickens whenever they drive past, and we do it too. We still have a tom and turkey hen, and they do quite a bit to protect the chickens from predators (especially when Tom puffs up). New chickens have been ordered and should arrive here in early March! We’ve actually started a fundraiser to help fund a second mobile coop. The chickens would love to see you in Bluebird Sky hats, t-shirts, or hoodies come springtime while they’re eating bugs in the sunshine! If you’re interested, watch the promo video on our Facebook, website, or click here to go straight to the fundraisers. The way it works is we get x amount of money for each item sold, and you get some organic cotton swag! https://linktr.ee/bluebirdsky takes you to a page where you can click on any of the campaigns. Each campaign is a different piece of apparel.
Thank you to everyone who supports us daily, we farm for you. Looking forward to safely welcoming y’all out to the farm this year – the pigs never get tired of ear scratches and belly rubs!
Annaliese Danckers – Farm Manager at Bluebird Sky Farmstead