Chicama Run Farm Blog

I’m just going to write quickly about this because a few people who have called or stopped by have asked if we are “sustainable”.  1st thing that comes to mind is the phrase “I WISH!”

Sustainable means that the farm provides for our family and is our income.  Joe does have a full-time job outside of being a farmer while I stay at home and do all the “home stuff”.  We purchased 32 acres in Loudoun County right at the time when real estate was actually moving pretty quickly.  

To give you an idea (just very basic here)… a $500,000 mortage would mean a monthly payment of around $6000 with a 7% interest blah blah blah (I hate all that stuff). So I would need to sell over 2000 dozen eggs a month just to pay for the mortgage! UGH!  Yeah I know – but it gives you a rough idea of what it would take to be sustainable in this location.  It’s not feasible if you just purchased.

Yes I know some places are doing it – but most likely they purchased before the real estate “boom” here and prices were actually reasonable.   Families who have been around for awhile are here, working the farm and able to do it.  I can understand that and personally I respect that.  But a farm like ours probably won’t be completely sustainable for about 15 years I would guess….. and who knows what will happen by then – but I do know Joe will have retired at that point from his regular job.  Never know – maybe he’ll spend all day out on his tractor or maybe by then we’ll be able to take a vacation!

‘Til next time……

Last week was the large Loudoun County Spring Farm Tour.  Besides the wind, it was a perfect weekend for it!  We had over 290 eggs gathered by visitors which is a TON!  What a blast to see some of the kids faces.

Needless to say, we were tired from it – but it was fun.

Right now it seems like we are going non-stop.  We seem to look at the calendar and don’t see too many open days and that’s BEFORE we have to actually harvest anything.  Joe has worked his rear-end off getting stuff in the garden.  This week he travels to PA to get a plastic mulch layer thingy (yep that’s a technical term) so he can get the rest of the gardens done.  He had been doing it by hand but I think it’s just getting to be too much.  I’m not arguing with this at all – heck I personally am not too excited about rolling out plastic!

It’s amazing how fast it all goes.  All the plants are starting to come up, chickens are about to go and get processed.  And low and behold, we went from 70 degrees to 90+ in 7 days!!

Oh, something really new – even if you were just here you haven’t seen it – the top part of the driveway got paved.  1st thing my kids were thinking was that they can now have sidewalk chalk to color all over it.  Yep – that was what I was thinking too…… uh huh   Amazing what they think about.  2nd thought was the scooters and bikes (which I saw races taking place this evening with the scooter and the skate board)… So it wasn’t in the plan, at least for the immediate future, but it happened.

Sales have been decent at the markets.  The kids and I missed the South Riding market today.  I think they were just too tired from watching the guys pave the driveway last night and then getting up early this morning.  The heat didn’t help at all with it.  I was kinda bummed about it, I don’t like to miss markets if I don’t really have it, but at the same time I have to admit it was nice to be home this afternoon and just relax some.  Took care of the animals, kicked back with a book, and watched the kids play in the pool.  Yeah, I got in too, it’s over 90 degrees, I’m in.  Course now I look like a long haired poodle from the humidity, heat and add in the pool water but I’d do it again.  Just a good thing I didn’t have to go anywhere – I can’t even get a hair band around a pony tail at this point!

Oh, the sheep got sheared yesterday!  I’m sure today during the high heat they appreciated it a lot.  Funniest thing (and I promise to embarrass my llama more by posting the pictures)  my big huge proud llama who hangs out with the boys got completely sheared!  I mean naked!  Now the poor guy looks like an alpaca all skinny and such.  It’s really hard not to laugh at him, so I do.  I know I’m mean but wait until you see him I promise you’ll giggle at the very least about his fate for the summer.

The rams went back in with the girls, so hopefully next year we’ll have more lambs earlier.  More for my sanity of not having lambs born in negative degree weather – I’m not sure I could personally take another loss ratio like we had this year, it was tough.  Detaching doesn’t always work that well for me.

Think that’s it…… at least until tomorrow!

You know, this is supposed to be spring. So why the heck is it 90 degrees outside!?

Tomorrow we have another farm tour, so I am straightening up for that (the brooder was gross to say the least) and at the same time getting ready for this big Spring Farm Tour with Loudoun County this weekend. We just don’t know what to expect so are excited and I think anxious at the same time.

Joe is out planting and he’s been laying black plastic mulch (yeah in this heat)….. now he’s on to plant some tomatoes.

I’m sitting for a minute and then I’ll be out mowing the lawn. I moved some of the 2nd batch of broilers to their new coop – but left a couple up here for the tour tomorrow (kinda boring for a kid to see a brooder with no chicks in it!)…. 150 more birds come this week.

On top of all this – we still have regular stuff to do – like taking care of the animals etc. Gotta tell you, the house looks like garbage at the moment! Man I would love to have someone just drop by and clean it!! Just this once so I can forget getting angry and frustrated and actually grossed out walking through my house. Ok, to a lot of people it wouldn’t be considered bad, but I don’t like it to get this dirty. And I know it drives Joe nuts. I don’t like dishes in the sink, on the counter and everywhere else.

Now – I know what you are thinking – “Um, get off your butt, stop blogging, and clean” Well – I would…. but it’s lunch and I do need to eat something, so I figured I’d blog while I was here. Then I’ll empty the dishwasher and load the next set of dishes, then change clothes (I’ve been in jeans all day) and go mow the lawn. Maybe I’ll get a shower today!! Yep, you know it’s exciting when I get to take a good shower! I’m so easy to please

So, in other news….. the Wii system is awesome. What a power trip when I beat Joe at Tennis and it flashes on the screen “YOU WIN”….. “YOU LOSE” And the boxing is excellent – what a workout. I even found out some people out there actually have a “Wii Workout” and I can see it actually working for people. I loved the boxing – not that great at it, but I worked up a sweat! So I’ll be checking it out more. We spent a good part of Mother’s Day playing. It was a lot of fun with the kids playing. We all “went bowling” which was really cool…. and everyone played a round of golf – right in our room! Well worth the $$ we spent on it. Not like some of the other games we’ve played in the past – this was really fun.

Ok – lunch time is over….. I hope to see a lot of you at the Farm Tour this weekend!

Ok, so I got more excited than I had in awhile when I saw the new Nintendo Wii system at Costco today…..come on – I’d been waiting since Christmas for that one. Joe’s first question, “When will we have time to play it?” (sour-puss) And it went in the cart – Happy Mother’s Day!

Yesterday was our first farm tour! I was excited that it went well. I was very nervous. Joe explained it well I think, we are so used to the animals, egg gathering, etc. that some moments we just take it for granted “Yeah that’s a turkey running around…..” I was thrilled that when I came inside I had another booking. So now I’m focusing on trying to get more. It was fun sharing with the kids and parents about the farm. The kids had some great questions and I loved the look on their faces when they were gathering the eggs. It was like an egg hunt all over again for them!

Continue on my bragging here – we were featured in the Loudoun Times Mirror (Thanks Tracy!) An excellent written article about us and I loved the pictures that Elizabeth took!! I ran out and bough 6 extra copies and framed a set to bring with me to the market and brag more there.

So needless to say, it’s been a fun week and busy!! Tons more plants this week at the market – fingers crossed for no rain! Yeah, it rained at South Riding and Alexis and I froze our butts off, at least it was still a decent day.

What could be better!?!?!?

Ok – one of my favorite things to smell is the lilacs on the breeze. Just walk along in our driveway right now and all of a sudden you’ll smell them…. truly spring is in the air.

Better than that, Joe and I were potting up his plants to take to the market starting the 5th. Yes, his plants. I can’t take any credit for them at all – he does a great job with them and it just amazes me. So I’ve been sticking my nose in the tomato plants and the basil. He just shook his head at me because he knows there is no cure at all for me

Now, quickly onto the Marlboro man. Joe smokes… always has so we won’t go there. However, the man put up a fence last week – amazingly almost all by himself (a friend came over 1 1/2 days to help) so I’ll allow him some liberties and not complain. But I rode out to see how he was doing and sure enough he looked like a Marlboro man. Boots on, jeans, t-shirt, sweat, a cigarette….. whew it’s enough to make me stop before he notices me and just smile. Yeah – I like embarrassing him a little bit. It’s just sometimes I’ve gotta brag because my husband can pretty much do anything I ask….. haven’t found a project that he’s really backed away from as long as he gets the right tools. Not all wives can claim they have that type of husband….not all wives WANT that type of husband – but I will tell you on this farm, it’s the best thing we can have.

To give you an idea. Quoted about $5000 for someone else to come out and do the fencing…. our cost would be about $2500 for the materials and then he would need to do the labor himself. Now, first time out, he needed to get the right stuff to do it (post hole digger for the tractor, some sort of wire fencer holder for the tractor etc) but it can be reused. Now, the fence is up (not painted yet and no wire on it to finish it yet – but usable)…. and we can look at other fencing projects that need to be done around the place and get ready and save up for those. See how the cost could add up to a lot more if we had to keep paying people to do this work? No one should EVER assume farming is a “cheap business”! The labor cost would be astronomical if we paid people to do this…. for now I just need to keep a lot of beer on hand and hamburger & hot dog buns for when friends come over to help out.

Other stuff going on…. yesterday (Friday) I spent all day baking bread – 6 loaves and 6 trays of 6 cinnamon buns plus 1 tray of 5 – to sell at the market today. How exciting that I sold out!! That made my day to tell you the truth. I was nervous about it, but it went over really well.

Jacob helped me move the lambs this afternoon after we got home. 2 are still out in the field with their mom, but I’ll try and get them tomorrow. Poor kid got hit hard by one of the ewes (mom)… getting knocked down by 200lbs is not fun, but give him some credit he did come back out to the barn to help finish up! Hopefully this will give the ewes a break before we out the rams out with them in about 3-4 weeks. Tomorrow a kid from 4-H is coming over to look and possibly purchase 1 or 2. Jacob gets to pick his out tomorrow morning also and we’ll seperate those out later this week.

We start planting this week – it’s a big week for us with this. Joe even planned his vacation to do this! You know you live on a farm when you need to take vacation days to plant seeds. Not as exciting as going on cruises and honestly some days I would take the cruise over this – but then sit out back at night and look up and listen to the quiet……… nah wouldn’t trade this for anything…..

Well my kitchen is incredibly clean at this moment. The VDACS inspector was here this morning to look it over to see about me making stuff for sale in my kitchen.

I passed as a baker!! So I’ll be making breads and cinnamon buns for sale off the farm. That’s exciting for me.

The salsas and spaghetti sauces will wait until we actually have the stuff to make the product as he needs to check the cooking temps which is fine with me – I won’t be able to make the stuff until July anyways since we grow everything.

Joe just wants my kitchen to stay this clean. Ok so it’s sparkling clean but man I can only stand so much bleach smell! This place it germ free. At least that part is over with and I’m happy about that.

So, Joe tells me I sound like I am complaining and whining on here. I hope I don’t sound that way – sometimes I vent that is true – but all in all I’m pretty dang happy with where everything is going. People are well…. people… and that means they are sometimes annoying and I do tell about that. But for right now I’ll try and stop for a little bit.

Next week we start potting up the plants – herbs and such to get them ready to move out and sell or be planted. We will also be planting onions, lettuce, radishes and I believe carrots. Should be interesting. Last year when we tried carrots, well my thumb was bigger than they were. Lettuce was bitter…. so we try again. At least now the chickens or the pigs will eat what we can’t!

I hope the weather does what it says it will. It would be nice to get some plastic down and get some plants in the ground.

The lambs will move to the front pasture soon which should be fun to try and do. Little rascals and trouble makers they are! All the boys except 1 seem to be wethered (castrated)… I guess the band broke. So we will have to keep him seperated from the other lambs because of the females, but that shouldn’t be a problem – I just figure since he is bigger he’ll just be processed a little sooner than the rest. My in-laws ordered a lamb so that should work out well. He’s a little trouble maker as it is! Always trying to escape and get to where the grass is greener.

Joe got in fencing material this past week. So he should be starting to do the fencing I guess when the auger comes in. Apparently we don’t have the right size. I swear the man just wants more tools. I’ll live with that He gets the jobs done and usually they are done really well which is why I married the guy in the first place! I told him, anything ever happens to me, just put “I can fix stuff” on his internet dating ad and he’ll have his choice of women in a heart beat!

It’s supposed to warm up isn’t it???

Something I don’t always think about it what people think of me. It occurred to me though yesterday when someone mentioned that I wasn’t what they thought I would be…

“HUH?”

Ok…. I’m not someone who wears makeup (don’t think I need to really), has her hair done just do (ponytails do just fine thank you), but I am very aware of how I look.

I guess this person was expecting a “hippy-type” person – which I am so NOT. I’m not completely “green” I like organic stuff – but I won’t buy something just because it’s organic. I like McDonalds – very unhealthy foods, but in a pinch it works everytime! My toenails need to be done on occassion – no one really LOOKS at them, but I want someone else to pamper me. I wear jewelry – I’m spoiled that way.

Come on – I was a typical suburbian house-wife. 2 kids, 1 dog, 1 cat, 1 husband, SUV…. it’s what I was! I knew Papa John’s phone number by heart and Domino’s knew me. I can’t give everything up and I don’t expect everyone else to.

Now, I still have 2 kids & 1 husband, but increased the dogs to 2 and the cats to 4 and added all the chickens, sheep, etc. But I’m still me. Spoiled, you betcha! Differences? I drive a mini van and a Ford F350 Dually, Domino’s and Papa Johns don’t deliver here and well it’s just different. I actually cook now, though some days I really just don’t want to – but with no one delivering here my choices are limited. I had a pedicure 2 months ago for the 1st time in 2 years… instead of 1x per month and my nails are real instead of “gel tips”.

Age is an image too. I guess I must look younger than I feel – I do get carded for buying beer and sometimes when I go pick up a pack of cigarettes for Joe, but I’m over 30. Less than 35 though Hopefully this trend will stay put (especially since I don’t want to have to start spending money on make-up!)

Life is different indeed, but don’t think because someone lives on a farm they have no idea what you are talking about. Chances are they “transplanted” from a different life, or even if they didn’t they probably read a lot more than you think. Farmers I am finding out can be more political than any other group I’ve known – so many decisions are made that effect farmer’s (think about corn – ethenol prices? now feed costs?) all of which never crossed my mind 2 years ago. Many may be self educated (myself included in this), but don’t rule them out as “hicks” they could probably teach you a thing or 2 – though I am still learning which I don’t think will ever end…

7am wake up (not that I want to) and look outside….. 3 sheep in the front yard pasture. No one is supposed to be there. Closer look – it’s our pet wether and the 2 rams. Well poop…..

Kids are up – want to search for Easter eggs…. apparently the bunny came last night and hid about 60 plastic eggs in the house. Joe’s not home, has to work the day shift today.

Tell the kids to wait I’ll be back, need to feed the chickens and figure out how the sheep got the where they are.

Go outside, get the sheep at least back in the barn (they didn’t come through the barn)…. watch them walk and sure enough a fence is broken. Well POOP!! I placed a panel there for the time being and locked them out of that area so they
have no barn access until I secure the fence. Ok, until Joe secures the fence later this afternoon.

Next water and feed the chickens (that was easy enough). Walk over to see how the water is for the steers and sheep. Well the steers are standing there staring at the water trough – not a good sign. Water is in there but it’s frozen. And of COURSE the hose is too….. isn’t this April?

Get the bucket and start filling it up and dumping it into the water troughs. Got enough in there to last until a little bit later this afternoon.

8:15am…..

Come back, start egg hunting! So far we are still missing 4 at 9:10am….. good thing the Easter Bunny hid plastic eggs this year.