Chicks, Cleaning, And Canning

Reader Contribution by Keba M Hitzeman
Published on October 30, 2020
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Golden Buffs join our motley crew of free-range chickens

Time flies when you’re having fun, or in this case, when you’re working through the farm project list. These last few weeks have been filled with lots of “getting ready for winter” activities to make life better for humans and beasties, along with some cleaning up and clearing out of items no longer needed on this farm. That last part makes life better for me because I don’t have to move those unneeded things around!

Speaking of beasties, we got a batch of chicks from one of the Ohio hatcheries at the end of July. Our laying hens are getting up there in age, and egg production was beginning to drop, so instead of waiting until April or May of next year to get chicks in, we decided to get a late summer batch. I’ll be feeding them all winter while they grow, but hopefully, they will start laying once spring comes. I had heard good things about the Golden Buff (aka Golden Comet, depending on who is selling them) being a good chicken for pasturing/free-ranging, so we got two dozen of them. They’re not even two months old and are already ranging around with the older hens. They are active little chickens, they stay close to the buildings (well, at least right now – we’ll see if they get more adventurous as they grow), they know me as the Food Bringer, and they all go in the coop at night. I like them a lot so far!

Cleaning and canning have been the other two big-ticket items on the list. It constantly amazes me how I can cut piles and piles of brush in the spring, and have to do it all over again in the fall. It simply doesn’t end. Ever! More honeysuckle to cut down, more trees growing next to buildings, more spaces that have grown up that need cleared out. I had to start a new brush pile to handle all the debris that has accumulated in little piles here and there. I’m glad the temperatures are dropping below the 80 degree mark – makes it much easier for me to work outside, although I now need to be mindful to not overwork myself on any given day.

Food preservation has been going well – the shelves are starting to fill up with a little of this and some of that. We have an orchard nearby where I can get peaches and apples. A friend gave me a box of pears from her family’s orchard. I had the onions and jalapeños from my garden, but had to buy some local tomatoes to put up salsa. Zucchini went into the dehydrator and also the freezer. Another friend has a pawpaw patch at their home. I went picking there the other day and tried my hand at a pawpaw butter recipe I found on the internet. Didn’t turn out too bad! Being on Facebook helped a lot to find “tried and true” recipes and sources for local fruits and veg. Each time I stand in my kitchen with canning supplies all around me, spatters on the stove, sink full of pots and pans to wash, and a load of food debris to take to the chickens, I am very thankful for both the ability and means to preserve my own food, as well as the abundance of local foods I have to choose from to do so. I’m also thankful for the availability of grocery stores and the variety of fresh, frozen, and canned foods on the shelves.

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