Life, Truth, and Cackleberries: "Spring"ing Into Production

Happy May! Spring is here and we couldn't be more relieved and excited! The trees are finally green way up here on the mountaintops, the grass is growing faster than ever, and the warm sun rays are already making a big impression on our white winter skin. Spring is one of the best times of year here on the farm. After going through a hard, cold winter (although we only caught the last of it since we were in Florida), there isn't much that is more beautiful than green grass, blooming trees, and Spring flowers. One of my (Rachel's) favorite things to do in the Spring and Summer is gather fresh wild flowers for the table. My first picking was the other day from a gorgeous Dogwood. We also picked flowers from a Red Bud tree and ate them in a salad...it was delicious! Spring is also the time to kick things into high gear as farmers. One of the amazing things about farming and living off the land is that you are constantly in tune with the seasons. Typically, Winter is the time to relax, enjoy family and friends, sit by the fire and read or write, and reminisce over a (hopefully) successful year. There are still chores to be done and a few animals to keep alive, but that's the general pattern for Winter. As soon as Spring starts to peak it's head around the corner, it's time to start moving! Animals come in, grass needs grazing, shelters need building or fixing, vegetables need planting, and the warm weather and sunshine make for a big appetite and deep sleep at night! Thankfully we decided to start small, especially since this is our first year of farming on our own, so we haven't been overwhelmed by too much of a work load.

Beautiful view of Virginia from a Jefferson National Forest scenic
view near the farm

Our Freedom Ranger broilers ranging through the tall grass

Currently our biggest enterprise is our broilers. Each morning we simply let them out of their roostmobile as soon as the sun rises, feed and water them, and every 2-3 days move them to a new spot. We feed and water them at lunch, and again in the early evening. Around 8pm we go out and shut the roostmobile up and shimmy in any straggling birds who haven't gone inside yet. On the days we don't have to move them, we spend a total of about 45 minutes to 1 hour taking care of them. Since we are sort of pioneering a non-mainstream style of free-ranging our broilers, there are a few kinks here and there that we have to work out in order to make it an efficient system. For example, when we first took the birds out of the brooder, we only left them inside the roostmobile for 2 days before we let them out to pasture. Although we knew that in order to establish a coop as home for chickens they need to be in it for a week, we were so excited to get them out onto grass and thus had to pay the consequences! For 2 weeks we had to go out right before sunset and wrangle the birds up to make them go inside. We did get a system down and the birds learned pretty quickly, but it still took extra time. So for our next batch, we will take them out of the brooder a little bit earlier and leave them in the roostmobile for a week before releasing them out to pasture. Even though we have had to spend a little extra time on this batch due to the fact that we are figuring it out as we go, it really has been very enjoyable! We both love to sit out in the field and watch the chickens peck at the grass and chase bugs. There is something so relaxing and therapeudic about watching animals do what they were created to do. Watching happy and content animals makes people happy and content. Like listening to cows rip at the grass and contentedly chew their cud. Or watching goat kids chase each other and see who can climb the highest on a tire or a pile of wood or whatever object they can find. Even sitting in the woods with pigs as they root around searching for fallen nuts and roll around in the mud on a hot day to cool off is relaxing. Everyone should have at least one chance in their life to sit and observe one of these things, if not multiple opportunities. That is why we welcome anyone to come out to the farm and try it for themselves. Just sit in the field and watch the animals do what they do...it really is some of the best therapy out there!

Freedom Rangers eating breakfast

Our Roost-mobile that the broilers roost in at night

New laying hen chicks

We have also started a laying hen flock. We received 50 day old chicks 3 weeks ago from a hatchery in Ohio. We got 25 Barred Plymouth Rocks and 25 Black Australorps. Barred Rocks are black and white with a "barred" feather pattern. They are very popular among pastured egg producers as they are known to have a high egg production and good hardiness. They are a dual purpose bird meaning they are good for egg production and as meat birds. The Black Australorp is a recent breed derived from Australia. When they mature they will have all black feathers (with a green sheen) and black skin. Very cold and hot hardy. They are docile and quiet birds and are great around children so they are perfect for a family-friendly farm like ours. They can lay up to 250 eggs per year! We have never worked with the Black Australorps so we are excited to try out the breed.

Day old chicks!

One of the cows' first days on the property. We kept them in the corral
for a few days until they got used to us and their surroundings

As for cows, we purchased 5 yearling heifers from a local grass-fed beef farmer 2 weeks ago! \The man who we bought them from is a wonderful and knowledgeable Norwegian farmer and does 100% grass fed, natural, antibiotic free beef, and his gorgeous farm is only about 5 miles down the road from us! We visited his farm several weeks ago to see the cows and his whole herd is beautiful. He even has several 10-15 year old cows who are still producing healthy sturdy calves. We are already in love with our cows! Josh and Lena bought 6 yearling steers and we split a 4 year old cow with them which we will be processing as soon as she gains a few more pounds on the rich Spring grass. There is nothing as peaceful and enjoyable than moving the cows to a new paddock in the cool evenings. They have already learned that when they see us approaching around that time of day it means they are about to receive a whole new "salad bar" of fresh grasses...and they literally jump for joy and run around waiting for us to move them! They each have their own personality and they are just a joy to work with. As much as we love them though, we understand we are raising them for food so we don't allow ourselves to get too attached. That being said, we can't wait to be able to provide our customers with grass-fed/grass-finished beef and stock up our own personal freezer as well!

Their first day on our grass

Being rotationally grazed

We have been blown away by the kindness and hospitality of all our neighbors. This is the most "rural" we have ever lived and it has been a really good experience. The connections we are making with our neighbors will last well into the future. These people out here will do anything for you, everyone always makes sure to say before they leave a conversation, "If you need help with anything just let me know." And they mean it. We look forward to becoming more established so we can help them in turn. We are getting to experience a sense of community that has been generally lost in America as a whole.

Processing equipment that a neighbor is renting out to us to process our
chickens

Josh and Matt have also been given the opportunity through Josh's business Sustainable Design Solutions to not only make some extra money but to apply permaculture methods on someone elses property. The past 5 to 6 work days they have cleared an acre of unproductive forest with chain saws and a woodchipper, keeping all the woodchips on site to contribute to the organic matter in the soil. Then they dug swales (a water catchment ditch and berm that is dug on contour with the land to slow water down and saturate the soil). After accomplishing this with a back hoe they planted a productive perennial, life-sustaining food forest. In this food forest they planted different tree and bush variaties of apple, peach, apricot, pear, cherry, mulberry, elderberry, chestnut, hazlenut, raspberry, blackberry, blueberry, korean nut pines, persimmons and alder. They are excited to be instituting such a restorative and productive system that will provide food for hundreds of years.

More exciting news: the concrete was poured for our living quarters! We have installed plumbing, framed up all the interior walls, and have electricity to the building. Now we are working on insulation and finishing in the interior walls. We are just waiting on a well to be dug, the doors to be put on, and it will pretty much be livable. The walls may not be fully finished, but if there is water, electricity, and exterior walls and doors, it is livable to us! We are currently still living in the camper, and are still grateful for it...but the owner will be needing it back soon, and we're ready to be in our new home!

Rachel working on framing our bathroom

Even more exciting news: {RA} Bistro in downtown Lynchburg, VA is going to be featuring our free-range, pastured, non-GMO chicken for this year's Lynchburg Restaurant Week! The dates are June 21st - 28th. This is a huge deal for us because it will get our name out there and we have the opportunity to work with {RA} to provide Lynchburg with some of the healthiest, most nutrient dense, sustainably produced chicken on the market! If you are anywhere near the area, be sure to come out that week to support us and {RA} and celebrate local farmers and restaurants.

Our spotted Freedom Ranger "Spock". She is the biggest and most beautiful broiler we have!

We hope you are still enjoying our posts. Let us know if there is anything in particular that you would like to hear about. We try to put a little bit of everything that's going on at the farm in the blog. We would love to have people out so let us know if you want to come see us and the farm. Don't forget to like us on facebook at www.facebook.com/restorationacres and visit our website at www.restorationacresfarm.com . We are also taking pre-orders for our pastured chicken and will soon be taking pre-orders for 100% grass-fed beef! Check our website for dates, pricing, contact information, etc. We love you all and are so grateful for all the support from our friends and family! We hope all the mothers out there had a wonderful Mother's Day. We are so grateful for our amazing mothers Cindy Pesce and Mary Lynn Palma! We love you and are so thankful to have such Godly and loving mothers :)