Hamberg Family Farm Open House

March 15 11am-4pm

Hamberg Family Farm Open House

* Bonfire * 

* Sap Boiling * 

* Coop Tours *

Bring the whole Family

Come and learn how we feed and handle our poultry. Tour our coop and discover why small scale flocks produce better tasting meat and eggs. 

Taste test the difference! We will be making soup out of a store chicken and one from our farm.

We have a big back yard to play in, so bring your snow gear kids!

Reserve Whole Chickens (ready early summer) and Fall Turkeys with deposit. For more information contact us through facebook: Hambergfamilyfarm

Open House

Harvest Swap

Bring 6 Harvested Items all the same Like 

(Plus 1 to Taste Test):

Jelly

Pickles

Salsa

Apple sauce

Muffins (1 dozen)

Squash

Cookies (1 dozen)

Then Swap them for 6 different items

Prizes for Best tasting 
and Most Unique

November 9 from 2-6pm 
Hamberg Family Farm

2-4 Farm Open House  *  4pm Taste Testing & Voting  *  5pm Potluck Supper

Turkeys and Apples

A local farmer allowed us to pick up some dropped apples from under his trees. The turkeys thought they had died and gone to heave.

List Making

Layers in their new yard 

"Easter Egger" 

...Pig Piling Turkeys...

Silver Laced Wynodette 

"Broiler" Cornish-Rock Cross

In March I posted about our to do list for the spring. It was a little lengthy and quite daunting. This is what our list looks like now!

• Fence in the barnyard :: there is quite a lot of debate on to what that exactly means. The only decided part, put up a fence near the road, and do it sooner than later. -DONE >> read about it HERE
• Move the ducks to this coop area in the dog house - turned duck house - turned chicken coop and now back to duck house. -DONE >> read about it HERE
• Move duck house and turn it into a chicken coop then build a fence around it tall enough so the chickens stay out of the daycare yard.  -DONE
• Decide where the turkeys will go. -DONE
• Move rabbits into Rusty's old stall
• Clean out winter chicken coop to put meat birds in it -DONE
• Get brood box ready -DONE >> read about it HERE

It feels incredible to have some much done! It took longer than we planned, but we all have other jobs to do other than our growing poultry farm.

I was thinking, as I helped Jason with the fence, about our failures and successes over the past year that for people who have no recent experience with poultry, we're doing pretty good. Last year we lost quite a few of our broilers in the first few weeks, maybe half all together before we butchered them. This year we lost one broiler and one turkey, I think that's quite an improvement.

We also have fences. I had no idea how much I would love a fence until we put ours up. We only have one more fence to go, for the turkeys, but we have a little time before it becomes a real problem. The real beauty of the fence and our preparedness is that next spring when we buy chicks they won't need to be on the porch!

Here is the next list:

• Butcher 5 Rabbits (so we can stop feeding them and because I really want to make rabbit stew)
• Move Rabbits
• Plant Garden
• Finish Turkey Coop
• Finish Turkey Fence
• Fix Chicken Coop to fit in the nesting boxes better
• Plant Garden
• Plant New Blueberry Bush

I am assuming that this list will take us through the next few months.

The other day Mom and I sat down and planned out the garden. Our inspiration is this garden from Better Homes and Gardens.

Source

This is what we came up with:

This is in an effort to plant what we can handle, not what we want to eat. We will also have a vine garden in near the poultry yards in the middle of the "L" shape that their fences make.

How is your Spring going?

The Garden '13

Recently Mom and I sat down and made a quick list of what we wanted to plant this year. Then I made her reduce the amount of tomato plants by half. The goal this year; do it well. There is a saying from the series I've been reading ("Rangers Apprentice"). Do several simple maneuvers well rather than one complicated maneuver. Granted we aren't on a battle field like in the books, but I think the principle is sound. We will have a smaller great looking garden rather than a large junky looking garden. 

With that in mind here is our list.

Main Garden

• cukes - one hill of a few plants (last year we planted 4)
• zuchinni - one or two hills of a few plants (last year we planted 4)
• summer squash - one or two hills of a few plants (last year we planted 4)
• beans - two rows (last year we planted 5 or 6)
• beets - several rows, we didn't plant enough last year
• carrots - several rows, we didn't plant enough last year 
• peppers - 6 plants (last year we had close to 20)
• tomatoes - 6 plants (last year we had 24 or more)

Vine Garden - several hills of each. Dad wants to have enough pumpkins to let the daycare kids come out and choose their own pumpkin. 

• pumpkin
• acorn squash
• butternut squash
• blue hubbard squash

My Mom found a garden plan that she wants to base our main garden after from Better Homes and Gardens. It looks like this:

Source

This is what the main garden looks like right now:

This is the vine garden:

As you can see we have our work cut out for us. This is one of the many reasons why the daycare is shut down for the summer. We have a lot of work to get done in a short amount of time. I believe that the changes we are making to the grounds this spring and summer will go a long way to making us less dependent on the supermarket, which is the goal after all.

Ducks or Dogs

We thought we had a pair of ducks, but they act more like dogs. Dogs that won't go away. They snuck under the gate and so Mom had to go and fix the gate. Every time we went outside to play they would come up out the pond quacking and running to see us. 

The mostly white one is called Chicken because it is afraid of new things, the other one still doesn't have a name. Any idea?

New Arrivals

You know that you crossing over towards farm enthusiast when you get excited about a fence.

Thursday after work Mom and Dad put up a fence 3/4 of the way around the pond (the rest will be done soon) to keep the ducks from wandering away. A few years ago when Little Sister had a pair of Peking Ducks they managed to waddle out from behind the house, across the busy street, and to the trailer park across the road. Dad is afraid, rightly so, for the ducks safety. The fence will go a long way to keep the ducks and a certain little boy who likes to help with chores safe. This Mommy worries every time he goes out beyond the daycare yard to "help" with chores; I fear him falling in. With the fence up everyone can breath a little sigh of relief.

We got the call today that our chick order had arrived at the farm store. We picked them up this afternoon. The final tally: 1 White Barred Rock, 2 Silver Laced Wynodettes, 3 Araucana, 25 Cross (meat birds), and 10 Turkeys. The porch is quite noisy. 

Signs of Spring

Blueberry Buds

Sunshine

Ducks in the pond.

Blue Skies

I have been thinking about where to take progress photos from and I've tossed around a few ideas in my head. I think I have come to a conclusion. I will take a photo standing to the left of each our our pear trees. The top photo is of the right hand tree (when the house is to my back) and the bottom is the left hand pear tree. Eventually I think the blueberry bushes and the pears will block our view, but maybe that's not so bad. 

Last month I posted a list of what we need to do this month. I wish we could say that we have it all done, but we don't. The only thing we have done is to move the brood box is out of the snow. It is in the barn drying off. The next step is to clean it out and disinfect it. The chicks are coming the end of this month!

White and Blue

Woke up on Wednesday to a world covered in fifteen inches of new snow.

The next day (Thursday) the morning was bright and the sky a brilliant blue.

I attempted to photograph the beauty of winter, but sometimes words

and pictures don't do it justice.

Under the Snow, Waiting for Spring

This is what our garden and outdoor coop looks like.

There are so many plans in the works for spring. There is a growing list.

• Fence in the barnyard :: there is quite a lot of debate on to what that exactly means. The only decided part, put up a fence near the road, and do it sooner than later.
• Move the ducks to this coop area in the dog house - turned duck house - turned chicken coop and now back to duck house.
• Move duck house and turn it into a chicken coop then build a fence around it tall enough so the chickens stay out of the daycare yard.
• Decide where the turkeys will go.
• Move rabbits into Rusty's old stall
• Clean out winter chicken coop to put meat birds in it
• Get brood box ready

And that it just what needs to be done in April.

(Above) This is where the chickens (the layers) new home will be placed and built,

(Above) This the is brood box turned chicken roost that needs to be changed back into a brood box. It's buried in the snow. We need it ready by the end of April ... no pressure.

(Above and Below) Even though we are feeling a little pressed for time we can still see the light. These little someday blueberries will bloom and grow with out our help. At least we have that taken care of...

And if that is not enough to boost our spirits, below is a photo collage of last year.

Top right :: freshly tilled. Top left :: slowly growing

Bottom right :: a forest of weeds. Bottom left :: fall

Farewell

Edited March 11, 2013

The snow around Rusty is too deep, so his farewell is being postponed for a week or two when the gates have been freed of snow. We met the family and they are wonderful! We are so excited for Rusty's new life!

Edited March 15, 2013
Rusty's last day with us was March 14, 2013. He is already missed.

July 2009 (the month she got him)

Dec 2009

Summer 2012

Every girl wants a horse. When my parents purchased this old farm house in 2004 my sister immediately asked: "Can I get a horse?" My parents surprising answer: "Yes, but you buy it, purchase materials for its barn, buy all its food and medicines, and do all the work." For five years she saved, she worked, and in July 2009 she realized her dream. His name was Rusty, and he was her baby.

Time passes and the little girl grew to a young adult preparing for her future. A future where keeping and paying for a horse would not be a possibility. So a search began for a good home for her special horse.

On Sunday a friend (lets call him George) of a family friend stopped by to take a look at him. George was looking for a family horse for a friend. A horse that wouldn't mind children or other dogs, a horse with patience. Rusty is that horse.

Today Rusty heads off on a new adventure. There will be a new horse friend for him (a 'teenage' horse about 3yrs old), new kids to feed him, and new animals to meet. He will be well cared for and loved. And he here at the Hamberg Family Farm his presence will be missed.