Big Pink Farm - Blog

How does your garden grow?

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 08:22:36 -0800

With the help of worms, of course!

The garden is well established, and if I was a more consistent blogger, you'd know what it looks like now. Very weedy. But aside from the weeds, everything is coming up gangbusters. Potatoes, tomatoes, cabbage, peppers, eggplant, lettuce, swiss chard, beets, green beans...it's all good. I just don't have photo proof yet, because I'm a slacker. So you get to see photos from over a month ago instead.

Gardens don't just plant themselves, of course. They need help. They need worms, bees, chickens and humans.

Spring has sprung and the grass is riz

Wed, 07 Apr 2010 10:37:15 -0800

Spring is for planting. See what popped up in our garden? I wonder if they're edible?

I bet the toes are, at any rate. I'll do a taste test, and let you know in the near future. Deal?

We're branching out!

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:41:03 -0800

You probably already know that farming is not all we do here. Not by a long shot. For instance, we also are hard at work on our plans for total world domination, BWAHAHAHAHA! Okay, not really. I think I've been watching too many episodes of Pinky & the Brain on DVD.

Now really. We also custom make beautiful wood cabinetry. Check out the woodworking page if you don't believe me. Roger does stunning work, doesn't he? He's really quite talented (and handsome, too, heehee). And now he's adding to his repertoire with a new business venture. He's custom making bunk beds, loft beds and trundle beds for our clients in the 330 area code and near vicinity. If you live in the 330 area code and call 1-800-BunkBed, you'll be calling us.

One thing we're experimenting with is Google's AdWords. If you have any experience with this, I'd love to hear from you. Any tips, suggestions, warnings...anything that you think would help me while I figure out how to target ads. I'd sure appreciate it.

Meanwhile, I would really like to get one of those promotional codes that Google AdWords occasionally offer. I found an offer for a free code at this blog. Go there; maybe you can get a free code, too! (The offer is good only for fairly new users of AdWords.)

And, oh yeah, we also make babies here. Romeo child #10 is expected in late summer.

Help for Haitians

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 14:41:37 -0800

The news from Haiti is awful and the images are gut-wrenching. You know you should do something to help. Fortunately, it's easy to give. Perhaps the easiest thing you can do is send a text message to donate $10 to the Red Cross. You'll see the charge on your next cell phone bill.

Text "HAITI" to 90999. So easy! Imagine if every cell phone owner did that!

But you can also donate to these Christian organizations currently working in Haiti:

Compassion International - http://www.Compassion.com
Worl Relief Corporation - http://worldrelief.org/
GAIN-USA - http://www.GainUSA.org
Baptist Haiti Mission - http://www.bhm.org
For Haiti with Love - http://www.ForHaitiWithLove.org
Mission Aviation Fellowship - http://www.MAF.org
Food for the Hungry - http://www.fh.org
CURE International - http://www.HelpCureNow.org
Bright Hope International - http://www.BrightHope.org

Happy NEW!

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 14:46:06 -0800

Happy New Year! New Decade! Chance to Start Fresh!

This entry will have no photos. I struggled with Weebly all day and still can't make my photos upload. Dang Gremlins. Photos or not, I didn't want to let this year end without wishing you a happy new one.

Has anyone decided what we're supposed to call the new year? It's easy enough to type 2010, but how do you SAY it? Until I know for sure, I think I will avoid using it in conversation.

I don't make resolutions for the new year. Do you? If you do, are they different every year, or do you tend to recycle the same resolutions? If I were to resolve something for the new year, it would be to hug my people more often. Life is uncertain; hug while you can. Or perhaps I would resolve to serve God more willingly with less grumbling.

At any rate, Happy New Year! See you in two thousand ten.

We all fall down

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:38:01 -0800

Anybody in there?

It's like I fell off the planet or something. Roger reminded me that I haven't posted anything new here in over 3 months. Oops! We've been busy, of course, so this entry is going to be more like a string of random thoughts with accompanying photos.

The garden is just about spent, and I am glad for the respite. Despite the summer being rather cold and wet, we managed to put up a lot of tomatoes and other garden goodies.

After the cool summer, we're being spoiled with a warm fall. We still have lettuce in the garden! I've lost my enthusiasm for weeding the garden this late in the year, but the good news is that the weeds have lost their enthusiasm for taking over the world. We're peacefully co-existing for awhile.

We also had quite a challenge this summer keeping the poultry from being eaten by various predators. We lost a huge number of chickens - both layers and meat bird - and almost all of our turkeys before we finally won the battle. Hard lessons were learned and we're planning steps to take now to avoid a similar repeat of tragedy next year.

Why is that coop empty?

Perhaps the best proof I can offer that the year is winding down is that we've let the CHICKENS IN THE TOMATO GARDEN! That, my friends, never ever happens unless there's nothing left to harvest. Roger guards that plot of land ferociously. Chickens love to peck at ripe tomatoes and that is strictly not allowed while there is yet one tomato left on the vine.

In other news, we had a little bit of a water shortage scare here at the farm that prompted us to get off our duffs and do something really simple. Finally, we're collecting rain water. It's almost the easiest thing in the world to do, yet it took us years to do it and now we feel a little bit foolish about our hesitation. We installed gutters on both sides of the barn and connected reclaimed plastic tanks to each downspout. It takes less than 1/2" of rain to fill them both up to the top; 550 gallons of water collected just that like! In fact, a 1 minute moderate downpour yields at least 20 gallons of water that would have otherwise gone into the ground. Doh!

Collecting rainwater has become my new passion. Now instead of seeing cute little houses when I drive around the area, I see under-utilized gutters begging to be used for water collection. I'm full of zeal! Do it! It's easy! And eco-friendly! Here's how.

I'll see you next month! Meanwhile, I'm going to go stack firewood. Hahahaha! No, of course not; I'm going to have my minions stack firewood. Just as soon as I can find them.

Do you know where your chicken comes from?

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 07:52:38 -0800

Can you guess what this is?

That was the scene in front of my vehicle one morning a few weeks ago. I'm not sure what processing facility those thousands of chickens were headed to or which large-scale, climate-controlled, factory poultry operation they came from, but I think it's safe to assume that the ride on the back of a flatbed trailer provided them with the most fresh air they'd ever experienced in their short lives.

The stench outside those poultry "houses" is unreal. I smelled them even before I saw them as I was driving around Amish country one day in June.

I think the differences between those birds in the truck and the houses and our birds in the grass are compelling. I have no other deep thoughts than that. We're so thankful for our local customers who purchase and consume our pastured whole chickens. I think they find the differences compelling, too.

Blackberry Warrior and other random stuff

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:46:53 -0800

Last year about this time I posted a photo of two silly Romeos, mugging for the camera with their blackberry-stained faces. I had kind of forgotten about that incident, until they reminded me with this. Yes, they thought it would be a real hoot to paint the baby.

In other news, we hired a guy with a backhoe to knock down our dilapidated old garage that served no purpose other than being a safe haven for wasps. It was creepy and ugly, and we're glad to see it go. There's nothing in its place just yet, but we are envisioning a day when we have a quaint farm stand there. In the meanwhile, it's just a crater. But, oh the possibilities!

We've had a lot of trouble with raccoons this year. I suppose it's about what you'd expect after two relatively peaceful years of the predators leaving our birds alone. But it doesn't make the losses any easier to bear. According to my friend Avis, hell hath no fury like a chicken mourned. She's right about that!

Never fear, the cat will protect the chickens. See? She means them no harm.

Oh, now here's something new to tell you all! Yes, we have bees now! If all goes well (and so far it has), we should have honey soon! Thanks to the Don Meyers Eastern Ohio Apiculture Project (you can google it because I don't have a nice link), we have two beehives in place and a little bit o' learnin' under my belt. Keeping bees has long been a dream of mine. The learning curve is very steep, but I'm really excited to be doing this.

Finally, I'd like you all to observe a second of silence to remember our pet duck who died tragically last week at the claws of a raccoon. We never set out to have a duck for a pet (I mean, really, who does that?), but this silly duck managed to wiggle his way into our hearts. Poor thing seemed to be confused about his species. When our dog was in the yard, he would run full tilt to chase him, nip at his neck, and kind of bark like a dog. When the turkey was his companion, he would follow his every step. When it was just him and the goats, he would cuddle up to the kids. And the chickens always made room for him at the feed trough. We miss him.

Egg Quiz

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 09:53:58 -0800

What's the difference between white eggs and brown eggs? Do you have a preference? Almost everyone I have ever met has a prejudice of some sort when it comes to eggs. I'm here to tell you that there is one truly HUGE difference between white and brown eggs. Ready?

White eggs are white and brown eggs are brown.

I'm sorry. I couldn't resist. Okay, the truth is that there is absolutely no significant difference between the two beside the color of their shells. None whatsoever. So when you buy eggs from our hens, you are getting eggs rich in healthy Omega-3 fatty acids. Our hens, which lay both white and brown eggs, are allowed to roam free, and as such, supplement their diet with whatever tasty tidbits they scratch up in the pasture. Their yolks are richly colored various shades of orange (not that anemic-looking yellow you'll find in the eggs that factory-farmed hens lay).

Just for fun, we took a bunch of photographs one recent morning as we were cooking breakfast. In each example, there is an egg from a white shell and one from a brown shell in the frying pan. Can you see any difference? Which is the white egg? Which is the brown?

And once you cover it with cheese, nothing much matters anymore. Mmm, cheese!

Year Two!

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 08:07:01 -0800

It is hard to believe that it has been one year since our website went LIVE! online. One year ago I was welcoming you all to our little space and now here we are again: one year older and hopefully a little wiser.

I don't have any great words of wisdom right now. I mean, I gave you all my heartfelt wishes for the new year a few weeks ago, so I'm fresh out of thoughts. After all, my track record here on this blog - despite my better intentions - is to post once a month. We're hunkered down and bracing ourselves for the worst that winter has to show us. But I didn't want this month to go by without saying something to you, my beloved and faithful readers.

So I will share with you scenes from a winter farm. This winter has been a real doozy so far, and there's still more to come. The first kids of the year have started to arrive (in -20 degree Fahrenheit weather, but let's not talk about that). More kids will arrive later in the spring, which is a much more sensible time.

See you next month!