OUR HOUSE - farmy life blog

2019/04/22 22:50

Wanted to share a bright musing for farming from today’s Earth Day…

¿Is it possible… conceivable… that farmy day at ourHouse happens after a flash flood warning and rain postpones it…? Yeaaahhh! Yes, yes, and Yay! As was overheard in Sunset… ¡Hao mei! ¡Hao mei! …Flowers of trees, charcoal, sunshine and doggies and fire, chickens, 'n…

We’re going to keep steady, and reconvene: 27APRIL will be the first day we ask you to take part again in FarmyDay. ¿What would you like to participate with in the realms of a tiny farm in Flatbush? Usingg one of the most dangerous tools safely, composting, etc.? Or ¿maybe you can show us something too!? Like New York so nice…

This Sat, (¡uh-huh!) we’re gonna kick off Farmy, every 2nd and 4th Saturday ’til November. Come thru this Saturday 9am-2pm — there will be a veg/An BBQ (maybe something for us meateaters) for lunch!

Much has happened this past year:
We got 10 new chickens, some that lay *BLUE* eggs and have mustaches so all-in-all fit in in BK these days. Yet little do ppl know they are direct descendants of the Mapuche area. We'll have some of their eggs to crack on burgers or egg-y dishes! 🍳 we might finish their chicken castle or make them an castle wall.

we decided to take a step back from beekeeping as after a successful 1st year, our bees didn't overwinter their 2nd winter. ask xtian all about it and what he is doing about it so we can get better at stewarding these lovelies. join us this Saturday as we attempt to extract the honey from 5 supers (aka A LOT!) and maybe go home with tasty hyper local honey. 😋 🍯

Currently, we are amending the plots from squashmania last year and have started seedlings and some greens + herbs in soil. Saturday, we'll hopefully start the rigging of the rainwater catchment system and the solar-powered irrigation.

Finally, we continue to host our neighborhood CSA this season as last season was great. Early sign-ups have opened so check it out. We get all the veggie leftovers and have been distro-ing to our ppl--please keep us in mind for any projects of yours that may need fresh veggies weekly (Wednesdays)! Give us some notice tho coz we need to coordinate with block grandmas.

We filmed an impromptu fun music video last year that we will screen and would love your opinion on deck dreams for this summer!

Feel free to bring your compost to come rot!

Hope to see you here and there.

xL

IN Updates, Announcements, Event, Calendaring | TAGS chickens, farmy

2017/10/03 13:48

Chickens move house!

We doubled our flock! Now the chickens have a lovely chicken penthouse to live in. Thanks xtian for all of your hard work! photos to come.

rendering of four views of chicken house

TAGS chickens, construction

2017/09/02 13:40

Reaping what we sow. Sweet Harvest!

There was a plan, this was the result--we ated it!

table full of cucumbers, radishes, greens with a clipboard and scale.

2 foot tall stack of cucumbers balanced precariously on a digital scale reading "error" because it is maxed out!

TAGS veggies, chickens

2016/08/19 22:18

On Integration and Who Lays the Eggs?

_So much has happened. the devastation. it breaks my heart._

When I went down this morning, the smallest of the reds was loose in its old turf and clearly on the prowl. While we humans were in the run, she ran at and dove at the buffs, who just ran around, headless, no defense. I held them in my lap for a while and on my shoulder. The smallest red was always the leader said Cristian. I agreed.

Realising the RIR didn't have a nestbox, cristian and i made makeshift nest boxes with plastic bins and the bedding, the chaff. The bigger red, who was alone in the far side immediately started nesting and pushing around the chaff and bin. We put the bins next to each other, only separated by a plastic curtain and they sadly kept diving down the crevice between their boxes in an effort to be near one another.

We left them alone to duke it out and we can hear them squabbling from upstairs. The Red under house arrest had made no egg yet but there was one we picked up during midnight adventures, it could have been hers.

In the afternoon, the large "Oppressed One" had already laid, ruling itself out. Red under house arrest, no egg.

When I came back at night to put them to bed, it was raining fat cold droplets ruining the street fair and outdoor movie night; the smallest red had mounted to the apex of their chicken house and sat, beady-eyed. I didn't realise they could fly so high. The two buffs were cowering in the corner on top of each other. Their cage door was propped open so there was no apparent reason why they couldn't make it inside their bed-box like every other night, promptly by 8:30pm. I lift them one by one inside. The smallest red had laid an egg and pushed all the chaff out of the nestbox. The single egg sat starkly against red plastic, freely rolling not cradled in chaff; it was clearly a political statement. The smallest red was unhappy with her living arrangements. I get the fat sharpie and draw lines on her exposed toes. She didn't like that any better but too catatonic to peck but once.

I do the same to the Big Oppressed Red, she doesn't peck nor protest, before I move her back into her run, in the box with her chaff nest, switching the buff's cage back into theirs. When I leave, the Big Oppressed Red left her box and was heading to her house, under the watchful gaze of the most high Red Chicken.

I check on the red under house arrest on my way out and she has not laid yet.

She has till dawn.

TAGS chickens

2016/03/31 14:52