Friday, October 14, 2011

5 months and a summer have passed...

Five months and a summer have passed since my last post and what a summer it has been.

Since I last updated the blog I have been busy farming, rebuilding after the past years storm damage, traveling, and meeting the love of my life.  It has been a busy and otherwise preoccupied season if I may say so.

Most of my time this season has been spilt between rebuilding the farm after our previous season of incredible weather and the management of the Java Recovery Project for ALBC  www.albc-usa.org

The Java Recovery Project has allowed me to sleuth out all the known Java chicken flocks in the US, write several articles on the breed for poultry magazines, collect and hatch eggs from the major bloodlines, raise those birds on farms across the state of NC, and evaluate those birds and keep the best for next years breeding program.  But most of all it has taught me an appreciation for another heritage breed of livestock and it has allowed me to meet some great folks...

In addition to all my work with ALBC on the Java chickens, I had the pleasure of speaking at the Mother Earth News Fair in Puyallup, Wa.  It was mt first trip to the pacific north west and the weather was beautiful, as was the culture of Seattle.  The Mother Earth News Fair was simply the icing on the cake with a conference of like minded folks discussing their experiences on the various topics that surround sustainable living.

After an amazing time in Seattle, Wa. I met an amazing woman...yep...went down to Florida and met a hippie farm girl who continues to inspire me and motivate me to be the best farmer and person I can be.  Thanks to a Hurricane named Irene, she moved in with me here at the farm and well...it is pure bliss and we are loving the farm lifestyle together.

Stay tuned for all sorts of plans and ideas we have brewing for the coming season.  2012 is going to be our best year yet on the farm...just you wait and see!

Friday, May 13, 2011

Green pastures and black soil...all thanks to rotational grazing...

Consistantly one of the most common compliments I get here are about my pastures.  Folks are always saying how lush and green my pastures are, even when everyone elses are brown and dry from drought.  They ask, "How do you do it?"

My answer is always the same..."It's actually really simple and easy.  You rotate a mixed herd of multiple species over the pastures in low numbers, let them graze graze it down, then move them on to new forage..."

It may be a simple answer, but you would think it was mission impossible for most farmers... 

So here after all these years I get to talk about it to the largest and most divers group of folks I've ever spoken to...I get to speak at the Mother Earth News Fair...  http://www.motherearthnews.com/mother-earth-news-fair/puyallup-speaker-spotlight-steven-moize-seventh-generation-farmer.aspx

The best part about this experience is I get to go to the Seattle area and the San Francisco areas to speak at the two West coast MEN Fair events!  I have never been to the Pacific North West and am so excited about the trip in a few weeks...I haven't been to San Fran in decades and am looking forward to going back as an adult, plus I have two great friends in the Oakland area to hang out with...ahhh  September in the Bay Area...

But I digress...the topic is rotational grazing and lush green pastures. 


 This Rhode Island Red hen knows the grass is greener on either side of the fence around here.

So I will post more bits and peices about heritage breeds and rotational grazing leading up to the Mother Earth News Fair...stay tuned and come out to the events to hear the presentation...no spoilers before hand...gotta come see the presentation...

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

All the chicks I've met lately...

Well, lets just say that I be a dead to rights scoundrel if this were a reference to 'chicks' of my own species...but alas, I am a farmer in the middle of nowhere and that complicates the dating situation a bit...my lifestyle is more hermit than playa'...so here is a tribute to the chicks that I am getting to know this summer...

I have always had a weakness for blondes, and this is a good example.  My favorite chicken breed is the Buff Orpington.
Now these cuties are Mottled Javas and they came here all the way from the corn belt of the Mid-West.  The Java is the second oldest breed of chicken in the US and comes in four colors...Mottled is my favorite...

 These beauties are Buckeyes, all the way from Ohio originally.  They are also the only chicken breed developed by a woman.  Thanks to Nettie Metcalf (creator of the breed) for creating these beauties...

These are Auburn Javas...cute little chicks aren't they?

Well, that's all the chicks that I have met so far this summer.  It is still early in the season and I promise to introduce ya'll to some more Javas (Black and White Javas) soon. 

In the mean time keep it between the rows and watch out for hoes, 'cause they chop off toes...if ya farm barefoot and ain't paying attention...

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

A turkeys trip to Thanksgiving dinner. Part Two

The irony is not lost on this farmer that the second leg of these turkeys journey to Thanksgiving began on another holiday...Easter. Yep, these turkeys hatched on Easter Sunday.

Here you can see in the first photo they have just hatched and are ready for the small temporary brooder in the incubator room. There they will continue to dry out and fluff up, strech their legs from being in that egg, and have their first meal...Easter Sunday dinner of starter crumbles...yum!




Here you see the same turkeys on Tuesday as they get moved into the big brooder. They will stay in the big brooder for the next few weeks until they grow their feathers and are strong enough to handle life on the lush green pastures of the farm.

Stage two of the jurney is underway, the poults have hatched very successfully and are in the brooder. I'll post an update from the brooder after the birds have grown up and have some feathers. Stay tuned for the brooder update and then it's on to the third leg of the journey...life on pasture...

A Turkeys trip to Thanksgiving dinner.

In my neck of the woods the statement 'Turkey Season' refers to hunting wild turkeys. However, on my farm it means collecting and hatching eggs for the eventual Thanksgiving Holiday season. I will be blogging over the course of the season about the process of going from breeding flock to Thanksgiving dinner as a turkey farmer.

I have raised several heritage breeds of turkey in the past (Narragansett, Bourbon Red, Midget White) but I fell in love with the Black turkeys. Now the Black turkey is the breed of choice on my farm.

The Black turkey is listed on the ALBC conservation priority list as 'Watch' status... http://www.albc-usa.org/cpl/black.html

In managing my breeding flock of about 30 birds, I keep them out on open pasture until February when I know it will soon be time to start collecting eggs for hatching. At that point the birds are moved into portable hoophouse structures where they are secure from predators and the eggs are clean and easy to collect. This year the turkeys began laying a bit late and kept me waiting until the first of April before they really started to lay well. That delay was starting to become a concern because with turkey production for the holiday market you have a short window of opportunity to hatch your poults in, if you hatch too late in the season then your birds do not have enough time to grow and mature to the desired market size.


I like to hatch as early as possible in the season and don't hatch turkey eggs after early June. Any later than June and the birds don't have time to grow to a good market size and put on a little fat. A minumum of 24 weeks is what I am looking for as far as a grow out time.

So this seasons hatching egg production began a few weeks ago and we are collecting eggs for us to hatch out as well as to sell to a local/regional hatchery that specialized in heritage poultry breeds. When we collect the eggs we are looking for clean eggs that are not oddly shaped. We then store the eggs in a controlled manner until we have enough to set in our incubator or send to the hatchery.


Once we have a two week supply of eggs collected it is time to package them for transporting them to the hatchery. Hatching eggs are fragile in more ways than one. We do not want to have the eggs broken in transporting them, nor do we want them shaken up too much, disturbing the potential hatchability of the egg.

The eggs are carefully wrapped in tissue paper and placed inside an egg carton with the small end down.



The cartons are then taped shutand placed in a box with generous ammounts of packaging material to further protect them during shipping. Ideally they will be shipped with the box upright. Once the eggs arrive at the hatchery they are allowed to sit and rest from all the motion for a day and then placed in the incubator to hatch.

Once in the incubator the waiting and monitoring begins. A precise balance of temperature and humidity must be maintained for the next 28 days while the embryo develops and turns into the turkey poult. On day 25 the turning of the eggs will stop and they will be placed in the hatching tray for 3 days. On or about day 28 the poults will hatch out of their eggs and beging the next phase of their journey towards Thanksgiving.



Stay tuned for the next blog post following our turkeys journey to Thanksgiving dinner...hatching and brooding of the turkey poults...

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Out with the old and in with the new...

I have been farming and homesteading for over a decade now.  The farm has been in my family for over 230 years now, I am the 7th generation to be blessed with this beautiful place to live.

Farming and being a steward of the land has redefined me as a human being.  I have done lots of jobs in life and experienced a great deal of lifes best adventures.  I have worked as a diver and SCUBA instructor, a teacher, a carpenter, and an EMT...but none of those things is as rewarding as living in such a beautiful place as the farm... and being a farmer.  The way I now look at the world and society is based upon what I have experienced as a farmer and steward of the land.  I care for my livestock as if they were family and for my land as if it were my own Mother...for the livestock are more than family, they will feed me, sustaining my own life...and the land is my Mother, Mother Earth, and she sustains my life just as I care for her.

The place I live and the lives around me are a part of who I am, just as I am a part of their lives, we are facets of a whole.  We are always striving to better ourselves and the world around us...