Chickens!

When I started working on the farm this summer I was not surprised to see movable chicken “tractors” on my initial visit to the farm.  Each of the four handcrafted movable hutches had about a dozen four week old chicks aimlessly pecking around and staring at me with little beady chicken eyes.  When I first peered in at the chickens and exclaimed, “Oh, Barred Rocks,” I think my soon to be boss was a little surprised.  His immediate response was, “So you know about chickens?”  I smiled politely, shook my head yes, and said, “Yes, I know a little about chickens.”

Quite frankly, I have a history with chickens.  As far back as I can remember we had a small flock of chickens and a rooster (mostly Rhode Island Reds for you chicken folk out there).   I think my mom just liked them for being, well, chickens.  The fresh eggs were a nice added bonus.  In fact, I vaguely remember seeing a white egg for the first time and asking my mom if it had been bleached.  I think I was at least twelve.

Somehow the chickens my mom enjoyed so much became my job– I guess she thought feeding and watering them everyday would teach me responsibility. 

Instead, it taught me to despise chickens with a passion.

I’m not really sure what went wrong.  I think it was some combination of one very mean rooster and the fact that I loved to run barefoot through the yard, something that didn’t mix well with our “free range” chickens intent on also fertilizing the yard.  I still clearly remember the little squish and slip of chicken poop between my toes – yack!  It’s probably a good thing I didn’t know any curse words at the time or I’m sure my mom would still be washing my mouth out with soap.

The roosters added an extra element of adventure to the chickens.  We had one beautiful mostly white rooster for a long time named Lucky (I think my parents named him, I didn’t get it until a few years ago – oh, the innocence).  Lucky was really very friendly for a rooster, he just milled around his hens and did general rooster business.  I think he eventually died of old age, or maybe was killed by a fox, I don’t really remember.  In fact, I don’t really remember how any of the chickens died.  Hmmm, I’ll have to ask my parents about that.  Anyway, when Lucky died we replaced him with Ernie.   To say Ernie was mean is to put it lightly - Ernie was evil, and I’m still convinced he was out to get me.  My dad gave me a cane to carry for a while when Ernie was out in the yard “just in case.”  Well, that didn’t last long, and neither did Ernie.  I do know how he died, and it wasn’t from old age.

Despite my rocky past with chickens, I somehow became a member of the poultry judging team for my FFA club in high school after we moved to Arkansas.  I think it was mostly because I was new to the school, they didn’t have enough people on the team, and I at least knew a beak from a tail feather.  Judging involved everything from grading eggs to looking at chicken carcasses to determine if they were “plump” enough.  Fairly needless to say, I wasn’t very good at poultry judging.  I’m pretty certain the team probably would have done better without my score tallied in the total.  For whatever reason, though, I stayed on the team for at least two years and looked at a LOT of chickens.

So here I am again, my life intersecting with chickens. I only occasionally feed and water the chickens on the farm if it hasn’t been done before I get there in the morning.  Sometimes I collect eggs, sometimes I move pens and fencing, and sometimes I chase and catch the ones that get out, but other than that, mostly I just get to watch the chickens be chickens.  It looks like a decent life – eat chicken food, wander around, look for bugs, eat bugs, drink water, dust yourself, lay an egg when you feel like it, repeat.   

There is one chicken, though, that has a much more interesting life – Queenie.  She’s the only chicken on the farm with a name, and the only chicken consistently allowed to roam wherever she wants.  She gets her food and water out of dishes especially for her, finds her own worms in the compost pile, and lays her eggs behind an old truck door leaning against the garage. All the chickens on the farm have a pretty good life – plenty of space to run around, organic feed, and shelters, but Queenie really does live like royalty. 

Well, I think that’s enough chicken talk for one night.   I’ll try to keep you updated on the chickens at the farm and tell a little more about Queenie at some point.  I’ll just leave you with one last chicken thought:

You know that brown spot on top of chicken shit?  

Yeah, that’s chicken shit too.

Queenie

One of the roosters - much nicer than Ernie from my past.

Some of the hens....

One of the chicken tractors below next to a real tractor which has no relation to the actual chicken pen, just happened to be parked next to it.

Harvesting

The sun is shining, the bees buzzing, and it's harvest time!  It seems almost everything is ripe right now and we've been busy harvesting squash, zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, green beans, potatoes, peppers, and blueberries!  Needless to say, it's been busy and my little fingers are getting quite the workout :).  

I also finally remembered to take my camera to the farm......and then the battery died - bah!  I did get to take a few pictures though to share today.  I hope to take my camera again soon and get the back fields (with much more produce) and the chickens.......

A portion of the hoop house and garden with squash, tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce (about 100 feet long) and a little closer to see the squash below

Blueberries!  They look and taste fantastic, but gosh are they time consuming to pick!

The barn, one chicken tractor, and hoop house from a distance

A row of tomatoes and a few squash plants

Romaine lettuce above and red leaf below

Community Garden Plot

I rented a plot at Meadowcreek Community Gardens this year.  Charlottesville Parks and Recreation Department manages two community gardens (Meadowcreek and Azaela Park) each with about 50 plots available for residents to rent for $40 a year.  Only two plots were available to choose from when I went to sign up - wonderful for the gardens, so not wonderful for selecting an "ideal" plot.  We'll just say it's making an interesting gardening experience!

My triangular plot is at the end of a row where I was told the city previously kept a brush pile.  They neglected to mention much of the brush was still on the plot......  thankfully it only took a few hours to remove all of the branches and the half decomposed leaves left behind made a nice little pile of mulch.  The little bit of mulch was a welcome gift, but I still needed to work on the rest of the rock hard Virginia red clay in the plot.  Fortunately, there is an enormous compost pile on site for gardeners to use.  If you dig deep enough into the pile, there's plenty of

 nutrient rich "black gold" hummus or fully decomposed leaves.  After adding about as much as I could shovel into my raised beds, I began to plan my plantings.

After about two months, many smashed squash bugs, and a few replantings due to deer "damage", things are finally coming along.  I've only harvested radishes thus far, but I'm anxiously awaiting zucchini and tomatoes that are coming along.  Later in the season I'll hopefully have purple runner beans, melons, okra, and cantaloupe if the deer and groundhogs will leave them alone long enough to let them grow!

Zucchini plants and radishes.....

The garden two months ago (above) and two days ago (below)

Deer damage!

and deer control.....(fencing over transplants)

A day on the farm...

Since I started interning three days a week on the farm this summer, several people have inquired about my experiences.  My initial response is usually, "Oh, I do a little bit of everything," but I've gotten enough quizzical looks to realize that this does not sufficiently answer the question.  In fact, I'm not sure there is a short answer to explain what I actually do on a nearly daily basis - hence this blog to share some of my experiences. For good measure I'll share daily activities, include some of the adventures (like chasing chickens!), and hopefully some pictures if I can ever remember my camera!

Twin Springs Farm is located in Shipman in Nelson County, VA - about 45 mins. south on 29 from Charlottesville.   The total farm is 76 acres, but only about 2 acres are currently in cultivation (the rest is mostly wooded).  Along with seasonal produce and blueberries (yum!), the farm also has about 60 laying hens in movable "chicken tractors" (more on the chickens in later posts). We sell produce at the Lovingston Farmers Market on Wednesdays and the Nellysford Market Saturday mornings.  We also have a handful of CSA customers and sell to a few local places including Devil's Backbone Restaurant  near Wintergreen.  

I'm the only hired employee on the farm - I'm still trying to decide if this is a good thing or not.  On the up side, I have the opportunity to learn a lot and do everything; on the down side, I do everything.  Each day is a little different, but usually involves some seeding, planting,watering,  weeding, and harvesting.  For example, a typical day (this was my actual Tuesday this week):

8:15 - 8:30:  check in with the owner and go over the to do list for the day

8:30-9:30:  harvest cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, and squash

9:30-11:30:  transplant lettuce (about 300 plants)

11:30-12:30:  weed, rake, and fertilize a bed for planting tomorrow

12:30-1:00: lunch!

1:00-4:00:  seed broccoli trays (over 500 seeds)

4:00-5:00:  water lettuce beds and check chickens

5:00-5:30:  harvest cukes and squash again

5:30: head home - tired, dirty, and happy!

And that's a day on the farm......