State of the Farm Address

Things are finally starting the long descent toward settling down. We finished up moving everything from the old place in Monroe last weekend, so we officially have everything HERE. It took many trips--it's amazing how much stuff you can accumulate when you have a little bit of land and storage space.

The farm has been pretty quiet for the last four months. We've been spending most of our time working at our other jobs, traveling,resting, fretting over buying farms, and moving to farm. After the Thanksgiving Baskets and turkeys were sold and picked up last year, there wasn't much to do. Daily chores have been light, consisting if mainly feeding the pigs and giving them fresh bedding, feeding the rabbits, and feeding the chickens. Things are about to change.

Firstly, our sow and one of our yearling gilts are about to farrow. You can see some big bellies below

The farrowing is coming later than we had initially hoped for. I put the boar in with the ladies in early November. The normal gestation is the traditional 3 months, 3 weeks, 3 days. As soon as we have piglets, we'll start taking orders for half and whole pork.

The current living quarters for the pigs include a dry bedding area in the barn with a small outside pen delineated by a single strand of hot wire. I learned in Monroe that there is no reason to make the winter pen overly large as the pigs will only use a small area once they root everything up. Once we have piglets that are a couple weeks old, I'll move the pigs to the back pastures.

This is a view of the barn from the house. We'll be running the Chuckanut Farmstand out of the small building at the right of the barn (the trailer is in front of it).

We transplanted our herbs from Monroe and made a small herb garden next to the Chuckanut Farmstand. The plan is to allow free picking of herbs with any purchase from the stand.

We have small, somewhat rickety but functional greenhouse in the backyard.

Inside we're starting onions and a few tomatoes. We'll be starting Brussel Sprouts and a few other goodies soon.

The vegetable plan for this year is to grow a large number of varieties of just a few types of vegetables well-adapted to our NW climate: onions, carrots, cabbage, squash, pumpkins, cucumbers, and green beans. We've decided to forgo organic certification this year after receiving assurance from the WSDA that we will have no trouble getting certification next year as long as we document all our inputs to the farm to make sure we are still growing organically.

In addition to the Chuckanut Farmstand, we're also tentatively planning on going to the Mt. Vernon farmer's market on Saturdays, as well as participating in the Northsound Wholesale Market.

Of the two beehives that made it to fall, only one survived the winter. The one that survived was the wild swarm that volunteered itself in an empty hive, while the one that died was one of the five package bees that I ordered (the rest died in the spring and summer). The package bees came from California, and my theory is that California bees are not well adapted to our climate. I'll be looking to repopulate our empty hives with local queens.

We also have the beginnings of an orchard started by the previous owners and added to by us. It's mostly apples and pears and will take a few years to come into any sort of serious production.

There is a small chicken coop at the back of the barn...

...with access to a fenced and eagle protected yard. Well be getting a few more layers this year, but we don't expect or want any significant production. Egg economics are (mostly) a losing proposition.

The rabbits are doing fine. We currently have two does and one buck all living together in a deeply bedded pen. The does were born last summer and from the looks of the next box, they'll be kindling soon. The only feed I give the rabbits is local hay and occasional grass clippings, fruit tree trimmings, and bolting brassicas. They look happy and healthy to me.

At this time, the rabbits are only for our own meat consumption, but I'm not opposed to selling rabbit in the future if I can figure out a legal, low-cost way to slaughter on farm. In the meantime, I'm always willing to sell live rabbits.

And...the mess. Now that everything is moved in, we need to start organizing.

So, in summary, the 2013 plan is to sell half and whole pigs and to sell vegetables. The plan is also to make a profit, so we have to keep our costs as low as possible and minimize expenditures on equipment and infrastructure. Hence why we ultimately decided against spending the $500 on organic certification for the year. As always, we'll be completely transparent with the business side of things.

Here's looking forward to a successful 2013!