Is This My Once a Year Update?

Howdy!

I actually found myself googling, "Do people still read blogs?" before I sat down to write this. And whether they do still read blogs or not, I found myself compelled to add another post... even if only for my own "story keeping." 

Yes, we are still YouTubing as well, but here's a quick update as to all things TwelveAcres.

With the CRAZY stuff going on in the world today, I'm withdrawing deeper and deeper into our little farm. We are making growing our own food a bigger priority this year than ever before. The fragile food system that is crumbling before our very eyes, has jolted a lot of people out of their slumber. 

The fresh meat sections at our local supermarket. 

Because of that, we've upped our game. 

The garden is a little bigger this year, our incubators are constantly running, the rabbits are perpetually kindling... you get the idea. 

 Our "pig venture" is still proceeding. Darla, our York/Blue Butt cross is pregnant and should be due in July. Frank, the Hereford boar, is still as sweet as ever, and even teaching Darla how to love being scratched. They are growing ever bigger and we hope to be able to expand their pens yet again this year. And I'm learning all I can about hog pregnancies and birth!

Handy Husband has seen some employment difficulties this year, so another new venture of ours is making home décor and furnishings from reclaimed wood and pallets. We've opened up an Etsy shop for the smaller items; if you get a minute, we'd love to have you take a look at what we offer. 

One of our handcrafted "noodle boards," aka stovetop covers.  

Some new critters on the farm this year, are (FINALLY) turkeys! We've been talking about getting turkeys for years now, and we finally bit the bullet! We have 12, 4 day old poults: six Narragansett, and six Bourbon Red. We plan on raising a few of these for the freezer, and the rest will be kept as breeders to hopefully keep us in turkey for years to come. 

 I can't think of anything else new. We are still recovering from the housefire, believe it or not. The siding is about 90% done, and we have still have to paint. We also have two massive piles of debris to remove from the property, but without a truck it's not that easy. One day at a time! We'll get there eventually.

Thanks for stopping by the blog. I may update more frequently as the mood hits. Take care everyone and I'll see you back here next time! 

Blog Update!

Good afternoon! I suppose it's time to update you all as to WHY I haven't posted on here much lately. We've decided to switch over to primarily doing YouTube. I try to post new videos at least once a week, but sometimes I upload as often as every couple of days! 

Here's the link, in case it is not visible elsewhere on the blog:

Twelve Acres Homestead on YouTube!

And here are a few links to some of our most recent videos:

Day 31: Siding and Window Replacement Project

Quail and Chicken Egg Incubation and Hatch - August 2019

Update on Goats + the Miraculous Recovery of Our Very Sick Buckling

I hope that you can all check it out, and thanks for stopping by here!

Farm Updates, and NEW Chicks!

It's hard to believe that it's already May!

We've had some very busy months recently, but I am going to try and post some farm
updates in the upcoming days.  

For starters, we have some new chicks and ducklings, hatched from our incubator,
with our own eggs. The chicks are all barnyard variety, and the ducklings are Pekin/Cayuga mix.

Incubator Overview

Our incubator is Rite Farm Products' Model #3600 Complete Pro Digital Incubator Kit. It was just under $100 and has proved to be pretty reliable. I do use an additional thermometer and hygrometer to make sure my levels are just right.

One of our first bigger hatches was a combination hatch with quail, chicken, and duck eggs. We had decent results, but it was difficult to give the ducks as much moisture as they needed, without drowning the other eggs. Check out the video on that hatch:

Here lately though, I've been sticking to just uncubating quail, and I generally get

around a 70% hatch rate with them.

Our Quail Project

Our jumbo Coturnix quail project is sure doing well! These guys have grown up so fast and we're inundated with SO many eggs every day. The extra eggs make a great supplemental feed for the chickens!

The big indoor/outdoor pen is working out okay, though with them being on the ground, the eggs tend to get dirty if they're not gathered immediately.

We try to fill up the incubator at least once a month. Getting our numbers up to a comfortable level where we can regularly butcher the quail is our goal. So far it's working great!

March Farm Update

Since I didn't post much (if at all?) in March, I thought I'd give a rundown of some of the farm activities. It was certainly a busy month, and it seems as if we had no spare time at all... which is understandable considering the season. So much to do in spring...

Chickens and quail alike have started laying really well.

We bought the first purebred chicks we've had in years:

Lavender Orpington and Black Copper Marans.

We did a major cleanup around the farm. And I mean MAJOR.

Started lots and lots of veggies from seeds in my wonderful greenhouse.

Tested our brand new incubator (more on that coming up in a future post).

Started preparing our garden plot. It'll be the biggest garden we've ever had- a quarter acre!

More eggs.

We planted some grape vines, raspberries, blueberries and strawberries.

Worked on replacing the horse barn roof (more on that in a future post).

Repainted one of the upstairs, kids' rooms.

Did I mention lots of eggs????

Snakes are coming out!



And last but not least, we are incubating more eggs. :)



A Barn with No Purpose

Our beautiful old barn is about 90% empty. I have yet to figure out a good use for it. Inside the all-wood structure are some "stalls" which would indicate to me that they were originally used to house some sort of animals... but what? I'm using a small corner of this barn for my chickens, but they rarely go in because it's so dark. 

I may use one of these stalls as a brooding area when I get my chick order in.

The kids like playing up in the amazing loft.

So.... any suggestions?