The Brown Dog, Kona, is another year older and showing grey in her muzzle, and this year at the farm added several strands of white to my head from stress instead of age. As I look back on 2011, I can say we did some things well and some things not so well. We fell victim to circumstance and nature and yet; we continue to do.
We did loofah gourds really well. Our best garden crop was inedible loofahs. I hope they dry well, and I can trade with a soap maker friend of mine. We had a couple of plants that took over a corner of the fence where the watering system had a small leak. A little water went a long way. Sweet potatoes were our next best garden crop. The vines went every where also, and they did well with small amounts of water. I learned that once you pull a sweet potato from the ground it takes 30 days to cure before you can eat them. Our favorite method of eating them is to cut them like french fries, brush them with olive oil, dust them with some cumin and bake them. Then we make an dipping sauce of sour cream with cumin added. Yummy! The rest of the garden fell to the drought and heat. Even the okra, which loves heat perished one plant at a time with a few pods here and there. We irrigated, but probably not as deeply or as much as was needed. The tomatillos looked great, but the fruits never really filled out and set properly. The peppers did fairly well, but they are a spice, not a food. We prepared another batch of Brown Dog Farm hot tobasco pepper sauce. (For the very brave~a little goes a long way)
The drought hurt us. There were very few blooming plants, so our bees could only produce enough honey to keep the hive for the winter. We didn't bother to raid the hives, we left them alone doing bees things and keeping the colonies as strong as possible and hope for a better spring. Ball Clover is priced at $140/25 lb bag and with existing poor rain, I cringe at spreading seed that might not grow. That decision hasn't been made yet. I spent a great deal of time and money watering my horse pasture. It's the only reason I have more than bare dirt for the cow and the horse. Thankfully, we were able to get some winter rye grass seed spread just in time for the rains and it's coming up nicely. My flower gardens held on, barely. They got much less water. I love my Peggy Martin Rosebushes. This variety survived Katrina and the Texas drought. I didn't get the second bloom, but I didn't lose my plants. The herbs managed as did my Hojo Santos plants. Those are highly drought tolerant plants! Some of my trees are gone. We will see what just went dormant versus what actually died when the spring comes back.
We got really good at raising Mallard ducks. Too good. We topped out at about 70 ducks, and we thought we had all but our breeding stock (15 or so birds) sold. Our buyer backed out. Totally backed out. These are not the best eating variety of ducks. They are a bantam breed, lean, and hard to cook. We are thinning them down, and I am open to suggestions. Anyone interested in some ducks? Lesson learned. Get a deposit when custom raising an animal/birds for clients you don't know well. I just may make dog food from the lot of them. Key point: Dog food production is as heavily regulated, perhaps even more so, than human food production. So my dogs will eat well.
We learned about pigs. Of all the animals/birds, pigs keep themselves and their pens pretty neat. They have a designated bathroom. Best of all, they are the best kitchen recycling unit EVER! They eat anything. Eggshells. Leftover bread. Pasta. Salad gone bad. They are tasty and we are able to use most of the pig. We even made head cheese. It's a texture thing for me. I tried it. My Dad loves the stuff. Not me. Jowl bacon is the best. And real cracklins', not the stuff in a plastic bag...amazing. And probably not good to eat in quantity. We were able to actually raise two pigs; one for us and one that we able to as a "community project" with two other families.
I almost forgot to elaborate on the cow, Freezer. She was an orphaned heifer that we were able to purchase very cheaply. We bottle fed her for a couple of months and she's halter broke. She's food. No ifs ands or buts...yes, she's cute. Yes, I feed her from a bottle. Yes, I have to hip check her into the fence to get her out of my space, but she's still beef. And our timing is going to be about right. The prices on beef are going to get pretty high in the next year. Another unrealized effect of the drought. Hay prices are through the roof and growers in other states are price gouging and sabotaging hay being brought into Texas.That's another story.
And another story which I will include here because it's part of what we learned at the farm in 2011. There are chickens and there are chickens. We normally purchase our meat birds from a hatchery in Cameron, Texas. Normally. Late this summer, a friend of ours came across a "deal". Meat birds at a ridiculously low price per week old chick. He bought 100. We took 25. Thank goodness we only took 25. These birds were aggressive, ate lots of food, and didn't put on weight. They got bigger and meaner and ate more, but no meat production was happening as we expected. As they feathered in, I can only speculate that there was a fighting rooster somewhere in the hen yard mixing in with probably a leghorn variety. But we finally gave up on feeding them and butchered them. We used them to make chicken stock, and we pulled the boiled meat and froze it for future King Ranch Casseroles and other chicken dishes. Lesson learned: Buy only from reputable breeders. Period. I repeat, buy only from reputable breeders.
I have enjoyed sharing my farm with my friends and family. My nephew loved to listen and follow the chickens to get their eggs. A friend's 7 year old took great delight in leading the heifer around the pasture. We enjoy hosting our friends at our table with food from our farm labors.
So as I look into and plan for the coming year, I drool over the seed catalogs, Burpees and Seeds of Change, being my favorites. I am studying some different varieties of ducks and chickens for some new markets. We will continue to raise the Muscovy Ducks in a smaller flock (no more Mallards!), chickens, and quail. We are looking at simplifying our quail pens, so that I don't have to fight the nasty water system. Two more pigs are on the way; one for us and the other as a CSA pig. More meat chickens later in the year. Maybe some turkeys this spring for fall.
Whatever 2012 brings, we are here, and we will keep doing what we do. Maybe I will get fewer white hairs, maybe I will get more, but regardless I will keep life at the farm real! Thanks for reading and I wish all of you the best in 2012!
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