a chicken by any other name...

A chicken by any other name wouldn't grow so slow. Well it's time to come out with the story of the freedom rangers that are not freedom rangers.  This spring Noah and I ordered what we thought where 100 freedom rangers from Black Creek Farm and Feed and after a few months ordered another batch of 120 "freedom rangers". Turns out these are not Freedom Rangers but what Black Creek Farm and Feeds calls traditional chickens that take 24 weeks to grow! WHAT! That is a lot longer than our 14 week plan. After calling Black Creek Farm and Feed I thought it was the supplier who had made the mistake, they told me I had never ordered freedom rangers and that "their suppliers don't even know what a freedom rangers is". After trying to understand how this misunderstanding could have happened I heard from two other farmers on the island saying that the same thing had happened to them. They also had ordered a chicken that they had called a Freedom Ranger and had ended up with the same Traditional bird. Lesson learned always do everything in writing and get a chicken supplier you can trust. We have already slaughtered first hundred and they tasted great, but had more bone than we had hoped for. Right now we still have 120 in the field, I have to say it's a little creepy when you hear the pitter, patter of 120 chicken feet following you. We also have the broilers that we are raising to make up for the loss on raising the "traditional" birds. But as the old saying goes there is never a loss without some gain, our fields and garden's are getting a poop load of chicken mature. 

Training our newest farm hand
Here at Hillcrest Farms we take these early years very seriously with identifying farm species in black and white as a top priority:) 

the days feel about this dark lately, eating popcorn with the light on 

missing an hour

It's even darker now with that hour missing, where did it go? It's now dark when Noah get's home from work, so getting the garlic in by head lamp was the only way it was going to happen this year. Lyra helped prep the soil, got nice and dirty and came in covered in dirt and smelling like something the tide washed up, mmm the smell of a few days old seaweed. It's hailing right now as Noah is out finishing up the chores and both of my children are asleep. I have taken to blogging instead of tackling the steady pile of dishes and laundry, I'll call it journaling and feel much more noble about it.

Only a few days ago it was warm enough to be outside in a tee shirt. The colder weather has moved in over the last few days. Here Lyra is showing me the seeds in the buckwheat and that you can eat them, imagine discovering something like that. And for her it was just as it was for the first man(woman) who ever ate buckwheat. We dug the potatoes finally the other day and it looks like we'll have enough for winter. Noah went through all our seeds yesterday leaving a note for me this morning with that list for order for next years seeds and it's fairly short.
Noah is going down on saturday to pick up the rest of the beef from this year's slaughter. I'm excited to have a some in the freezer to eat and another freezer full for freezer sales. We are going to be at the QCC Winter Market this winter and if it's not happening we are going to be here most saturday's from 10-2 with freezer sales. I also set up a facebook page so you can now "like" us on facebook. I will post all new available product on that page as well.

"shopping at local farmstores and establishing relationships with local farmers can answer question about safe practices and helps support a prosperous farming community" Quillisacut Farm School 

fall beauty 

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days are getting shorter

milk sitting out to get to room temp to make butter and yogurt 

a nice walnut harvest with help from Nanna

After serval weeks of sickness, I'm back again. Of course the farm never sleeps. The rain is here to stay, farming is a rain or shine kind of job. The days are getting darker and we are already excitedly thinking about the garden next year, while still harvesting from this year. Fifi is back, without little Gordon, so we are back in milk.  Butter, yogurt and some simple soft cheese are back in the fridge. I'll never tire of seeing that milk from our cow sitting there with a nice seperation of cream. A lot will make it the garden and feilds this year, last year we had pigs who where heavily milk and whey fed. The chickens are really free range now with garden #2 full of meat birds. 

We went to the Winter Market a few weeks ago for the first and time and it went well, so I'll be there tomorrow with Grass Fed Beef by the piece. Thank you for supporting local food the more you support your local farms the more good local food you get. I better go I'm off to pick by head lamp for the market tomorrow. 

Baby's & Pumpkins go together like peaches and cream 

Happy to be free in the garden #2

Meat Time

bacon, say no more. 

scrubbing the  counter with salt to sterilize was the only job I took on

Meat Time 

With the smell of bacon on the stove and an entire deer carcass on the kitchen counter it was "meat time" last night. Noah shot a nice fat three point buck last week, now we would have more than enough meat for the winter, we where able give half the deer away to our friend, Hilary and his family. Hilary had never done cut and wrap before. Noah is no expert but he always gets the job done and it looks perfectly fine to me.

getting ready to start in 

The venison is all in the freezer and Noah is at, Hughs, right now using his grinder to get us a bunch of ground. If all this meat talk makes you hungry we are going to try out the winter market tomorrow at the QCC with freezer sales of beef and pork.

Harvest Time

Off to Market 

The cattle are off to market. Now is maybe a good time to become a conscious carnivore if you aren't already. Thank you to all our customers who pre-booked sides and quarters this year, we hope you enjoy our first year of Hillcrest Farms beef. To those who would like some beef but a quarter is to much for you we are doing freezer sales right now. So give me a call and book a time. I would also love fed back for ideas on the easiest way for you (the customer) to shop freezer sales. Would you like a day you could just drop by once a week? Or does appointment work better for you? We also have freezer sales pork for sale from our pigs we raised. We are getting more meat birds and hope to have those for you in the new year, 2013 is just around the corner!

Morgan "helps" Dad corral the cattle

I have to say I'm more than a little proud of the basil Noah started this spring and I planted. It just kept giving and I just kept topping, it made it's way to the Saturday Market a few times this summer and hopefully I'll have more for you next year. Thank you to my sister boys for helping us get our last load to market, we'll make you the leaders of the child labour work force anytime. 

the house smelled wonderful that day 

We had a local food harvest Thanksgiving get together with friends, the food was amazing. The topic of the evening was chicken poo, I'd leave breastfeed come and back and still chicken poo talk. That's what happens when you get a lot of food growers together, oh the glories of chicken poo. 

A Thankful Heart

On August 15 our we had a son. A beautiful boy, still and without breath or pulse. All time stopped and the world moved in slow motion. How could I get my baby to breath? I knew his little soul had yet to enter his body so while people rushed and whirled about me, sirens went.. I just called him to come to us. He had a big choice to make, with oxygen being pumped into his little blue, grey body and the sound of people counting and calling, after about ten minutes and what seemed like forever and a moment. He took a breath and about five minutes after that a pulse.  Whatever I had been through in life nothing can prepare you for a time like that and nothing but my faith and my loving husband could have brought me through the next few weeks. Not being able to hold your newborn child and seeing them in so much pain is like having a part of you slowly die. The light goes out of your eyes and you feel almost unable to move your body because it feels like most of it is missing. After seventy two long hours of waiting I was able to hold my little boy, skin to skin, and the light just flowed through me and him and in that moment we both knew life was now sweet and the healing had just started to begin. Over the next two weeks in NICU with our son who we named, Morgan James, many miracles happened. Either Noah or I was always by Morgans side firmly holding his hand softly singing to him or talking  to him in a hushed tone, letting him know we believed in him. Every time a machine would come off,  the day he first moved, the day the feeding tube went in and he got his first golden colostrum, the day I could start trying to breastfeed, the day we were moved out of the red room, the blue room and finally the green room, the day the feeding tube came out, the oxygen monitors came off. The day his sister, Lyra,  got to see him without any IV or machines attached and kiss him on the check. I can't express thanks enough to our friends who showered us with love and support at this time. I felt like death eating hospital food, the food that was brought from near and far to nourish us made all the different to my mental and physical  state. After exactly two weeks to the day in the morning, Morgan, had a MRI. That afternoon the first results came back as, normal, and half an hour later we were discharged. In the past weeks we have had so much love come our way through unselfless service and support from family and many friends. It fulls my heart to over flowing I am amazed by all of you. Life has never been so very sweet, I have never felt so full of love, gratitude, patience and strength. My family has recieved a great blessing and I will ever be so thankful for my mother and father for teaching me about a loving Father in Heaven and for the gift of prayer. Now we are home and things are starting to go back to what life used to be but nothing will ever look the same to me as I have been there and back again and I truly know how blessed I am.

holding sisters hand 

the day after we came home 

Eight weeks, such clear blue eyes. 

Surprise Twins

With so much going on I have been to busy to blog. Here is a photo story of the newest happenings on Hillcrest Farms. 

The Sheep are living down the road. Two days ago I went to check on them and found two little lambs snuggled up to our Southdown , Flower, I was really shocked, although we should have guessed we got her from a farm in Duncan about five and a half months ago and she has been getting fatter and sleeping all the time. Of all people I should have figured this out when she was having trouble walking down the road the other day, short of breath. We have no idea what the breed they are, but two heathy looking little ewes. We are excited to grow the flock. If anyone thinks they might know the breed from looking at this little lamb please comment. 

Lambs are the sweetest of baby animals. 

 I ordered blueberries from Topcliff Farm this year. Great choice they didn't last long,  I sneaked a few into the freezer don't tell Noah. 

The Longhorn cattle arrived yesterday morning from Courtenay. As unwelcoming as it may seem my first words where "what are they doing here?" They promised me only for a month. With a new baby arriving shortly I'm warry of more work arriving in the shape of an animal. A bean and zucchini invasion is one thing, two large animals is another. They come from the rodeo so they aren't very tame but maybe they will grow on me. We are breeding them at the end of the month and moving them to another farm location for the winter. 

Noah gets a nice dust bath early in the morning. He was out there in the dark last night planting buckwheat in the old riding ring. This is our first crop we have planted for our bees.

This is the buckwheat at Paul's house in full bloom 

Our buckwheat after 2 days, it will bloom in 29 days 

The Barn is getting a full  renovation after the fire, it's starting to smell ok again and it's exciting to see it so clean and mouse free.  

I still remember it looking like this went it was first built, one the greatest spots to play and sleep when it is fully stacked with hay

Lyra gets her Dad's attention while helping him build more chicken tractors for the next growing batch of meat birds

 Something she may have learned from one of the animals, Gordon (previously Ferdinand) I'm thinking of you! 

That's all folks 

the harvest begins

The new Freedom Rangers

With meals coming in from the gardens every day, all that spring work is very rewarding. It is very satisfying for us to sit down to a full farm meal.

raspberries for dessert 

Noah tops basil for pesto 

Zucchini is here in full zuc glory. I'm not sure why but Noah always feels a need to plant out fifteen or twenty zucchini plants, good thing it's early in the season, we are still enjoying eating lots and friends are eager to take it away Any favorite recipes or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Please leave them in a comment form for everyone to see as I'm sure I'm not the only one with surplus. I've already thought of feeding them to the chickens and cows. 

We moved most of the flock back down the road as the rain has kept the grass growing.
We had to leave poor ,Brother, behind he is getting to big to be with the other ewes and was not happy.  Old William  is with him for company and he took about at day to settle down. Here he is crying until hoarse. It really pays to be a ewe around here. 

And what goes better with lamb than garlic. Noah pulled the first of our garlic last week. Last September CBC radio interviewed a garlic farmer from Denman Island he said to plant your garlic on the full moon at midnight fully naked to get a good garlic crop. Noah and Lyra planted it at about ten at night last October full moon ,fully clothed, it seemed to work out just fine. I do tease Noah about how much better it would be doing if he had planted it naked. All he says is it's to cold in October.

keeping the vampires out of the feed room

Rain & Sun

rose petals for drying

The friendly cow all red and white,
I love with all my heart:
She gives me cream with all her might,
To eat with apple-tart.

She wanders lowing here and there,
And yet she cannot stray,
All in the pleasant open air,
The pleasant light of day;

And blown by all the winds that pass
And wet with all the showers,
She walks among the meadow grass
And eats the meadow flowers. 

Robert Louis Stevenson

We don't have a red and white cow or a meadow, but I still feel the same way about Fifi. Our little calf who is named" Ferdinand" is doing great. Thank you to Sarah for the name suggestion. Growing, frisky and has figured out how to nurse all four teats.  I shook up some butter last week, of course it's all gone, just look at the lovely golden colour. Lyra would go into the fridge and just ask for a little spoon full. Custard is on the to do list. It's really nice to have the fridge becoming more and more empty and the garden fuller and fuller. I'm pretty sure my fridge is just for dairy in the summer anyway. 

Garden #2 grows

Another 123 freedom ranger chicks arrived yesterday evening. I still have a few left for sale so give me a call or email to get on the list. Thank you to Anna for picking them up, my back thanks you and my three year old for not having to spend hours in the car. The chicks are snug under the hover and hopefully just as healthy as the last batch. I drop another fifty off at South End Farms as well. Where Jill and I had a chance to chat about some exciting  ideas for next year. Because we both are going to have so much time on our hands soon with our due dates two days apart. Here are some farm pictures from the last few weeks, haying took over there is still seven sheep, two hives, milking cow and calf, two veggies gardens, greenhouse, a hundred meat birds and fifteen laying hens to care for here at our place. 
 It's summer want to go swimming? 

in all it's golden glory

The bees are doing great in the heat, I got to try a bit of warm honey, very good just a little smokey from Noah's finger. They love the new frames we made them. 

Lyra learns how to trim hoofs 

Freedom Rangers at four-five weeks