Morning Chores on the Farm in Fall

(So, I'm way behind on my blogging.  I've had this one in the hopper a while and decided to just finish and post it, despite it being at least a month "old"...)

Chores.  Everyone has them, but for some us, the word specifically means the daily tasks related to caring for the animals on the farm.  At the height of things, we're doing chores three times a day. These are repetitive, daily tasks -- certain things that need to be done at certain times.

In general, Milan does all the poultry chores, and since he's already "out there", often feeds the horses, too (the horses aren't "farm animals", in Milan's opinion.  They are my hobby, so I try to feed them myself as often as possible).

Jack often accompanies his daddy in the morning, and knows all the ins and outs of what has to be done.  Being three years old, he's still in the stage where he really enjoys helping out, for the most part. He especially loves anything to do with water, although we'll see if he's still as enamored with that portion of things as colder weather sets in!

I followed Milan and Jack out one morning to get a few shots of the morning chore routine.

And they're off!  Down the lane and around the bend to the turkeys they go!

Jack, looking intent (followed by our happy-for-the-daily-outing Pyrenees-Maremma mix, "Cash"). It's a good eighth-mile out to the turkeys, and another eighth-mile and back from the turkeys to the chickens. Not a bad start to the day for a three year old...

First, let them out of their night quarters.  Nowadays, the first thing they do is dance around, puff out their feathers and reestablish their pecking order.

This way next!

Milan carries the water can in and Jack gets to fill it.  The mornings are just starting to get brisk (it's been the most amazingly mild fall), so we'll see how long his love of all water-related chores lasts... although from what I hear from other moms, temperature is rarely a consideration against getting wet!

Milan carries in a full can of fresh water every morning.

It's a ways from the hose to the trailer! Gotta have at least as much determination and stamina as muscle to get that heavy can from Point A to Point B every morning.

Free range!  For a while they were *really* free-range, as in they kept escaping so had the run of the whole property.  Then we wised up and purchased 5ft kennel fencing and clipped their wings (oh yes, turkeys can fly -- can they ever!) so they would stay in their intended pasture.

A Narragansett hen in the foreground, a Bourbon Red in the background.

Next, care for the chickens (I failed to get a photo of Milan feeding the turkeys -- he fills the tube you see over his shoulder and pours it in the feeder each morning).

First, untie Coda.  We stake him by the runs every night to discourage nosy foxes, coyotes, raccoons, weasels, and even bears and mountain lions.  Wildlife is usually interested easy pickin's.  Coda's presence gives the impression that "it ain't".

Next, move the runs.  The runs are moved morning and evening to new grass.  This involves putting on and removing the wheels each time...

Coda's a big help training the chickens to move forward with the run.  At this age, the chickens mostly know the drill, but when they're first learning to move with the run, they often pop out the back, which, due to the wheel, is raised a good 6 inches off the ground.  Coda shoos them back where they belong.

Milan designed these pens himself, integrating the better parts of multiple pen designs he read about and saw online or in person.  His handle is a bar with cables off each end.  The cable ends are designed to mount into brackets on every corner of the run, meaning he can attach his handle on any side of the run and move it toward him.  Jack likes to help pull, of course, and behind, you can see Coda doing his job, running back and forth shooing the chickens forward.

After the runs are moved, Milan fills the feed troughs with another contraption of his own design.  The tube consists of a 6" funnel into a 4" pipe necking down through a valve to the inch-and-a-half pipe you can see really well here.  With the valve controlling the flow of feed, Milan can very accurately dispense the feed into the long, narrow feeding troughs.  The design minimizes waste and makes feeding hungry, pushy chickens flocking to the trough (and into the way of filling it) much easier.

 Once the chickens are moved and fed, it's on to feeding the horses.  Here, Jack helps feed Henry, a mustang we borrowed from a friend for a few weeks this summer.  

It's apple season, so in addition to their alfalfa-grass hay, everyone gets plenty of apples in the morning.

Jack just loves Henry, for good reason!  Henry is the most amazing horse I've ever met.  Our friend bought him in Texas at the Extreme Mustang Makeover, and he is just the gentlest, kindest, most careful and easygoing horse ever.

What a beautiful, fall morning!

After the horses are fed, it's time to head back in.  Jack got lucky this morning with a wheelbarrow ride!  Usually, it's hoofin' it out and hoofin' it back...

Oh, and a stop along the way for a few blackberries is always in order...

Around the bend and up the hill... here they come!

A stop to check on "Daddy's Whiskey", as Milan calls it.  It's actually hard apple cider in progress.

And to finish off the morning routine?  A back rub, Jack style!

"Ahhhh!" ... kind of. :)

Weddings at the [Sojourn!] Farm

This year, it will have been five very eventful and busy years since Milan and I were wed, on a beautiful day in May, here at the farm.  "Back then" it was still called The Flying Horse Ranch.  I was never sure where that name came from, but when my family first moved here in 1990, we liked it, so we kept it.

We have been Sojourn Farms for four years now, and that glorious May day was the beginning of a chapter that is growing substantially this year.  Our reception took place in our beautiful, turn-of-the-century (some say even earlier) dairy barn.  We spent the six months before our wedding day working like crazy to make it both safe and worthy of the event, removing animal stalls, pouring footings underneath the main floor, rebuilding the foundation along the east wall, putting on a new roof... it was quite the undertaking.  And that was just the barn.  We did mountains of other clean-up, pick-up, spruce-up and improvement projects around the rest of the property as well, removing half a dozen wire-and-junk piles, removing and/or replacing falling-down fences, building new flower beds, reviving the "lawn" out of the weeds, trimming the fruit trees, organizing the "bone yard"... the list went on and on.

Happily for us, we have enjoyed the fruit of our labor many times since our own wedding day.  Not only have we hosted our annual Harvest Party in the barn every year, there have been more weddings, as well as family and class reunions, birthdays and movie nights.

This year, we are thrilled to announce that Sojourn Farms is officially available as a commercial wedding venue!  We have wanted to open our doors to this business ever since our own wedding, when both our wedding coordinator and our caterer strongly recommended we do so.  For 2012, we are booking Fall weddings/events.  In 2013, we'll be booking dates May through October. 

So, here are some photographs of Sojourn Farms from an event/wedding venue perspective.  Hopefully we'll have more to share in the near future.  Enjoy!

The barn yard.  Photograph by Matt Connell Photography.

Looking into the west aisle door onto the main floor.  Photograph by Matt Connell Photography.

Walking through the Front Yard, northwest of the Barn.  Photograph by Matt Connell Photography.

The Front Yard.  Photograph by Matt Connell Photography.

The weather vane was made by our neighbor, Denny Hare.  Photograph by Matt Connell Photography.

The silos, originally installed and used for grain that was harvested off the farm. Photograph by Matt Connell Photography.

The Tackhouse. Photograph by Matt Connell Photography.

The view from the barnyard to the south. Photograph by Matt Connell Photography.

Tackhouse sitting area, north east of the barn.  Photograph by Matt Connell Photography.

A view of the barn from the south west, across the field of clover and rye.  Photograph by Matt Connell Photography.

A tractor pulls the hay ride shuttle bringing guests from the parking area up to the barn.

Dressed to impress, the main floor of the barn awaits guests for the reception.  Photograph by Matt Connell Photography.

Cupcakes and burlap in the east aisle, which is set up banquet style.

Banquet style seating in the west aisle.

Banquet tables set up in a horse-shoe shape on the main floor.

Beautiful Leah on the north side of the Barn Pond. Photograph by Matt Connell Photography.

Leah and David on the north side of the Barn Pond.  Photograph by Matt Connell Photography.

Photograph by Matt Connell Photography.

Leah and David in one of the east side windows.  Photograph by Matt Connell Photography.

Clover background.  Photograph by Matt Connell Photography.

Dancing in the barn.  Photograph by Matt Connell Photography.

Late July wedding when the rye had matured.  Photograph by Photography a'la Tara.

Bridal party on the east side of the barn.  Photograph by Photography a'la Tara.

Photograph by Photography a'la Tara.

Photograph by Photography a'la Tara.

Groom and guys on the north side of the Barn Pond.  Photograph by Photography a'la Tara.

Photograph by Photography a'la Tara.

Photograph by Matt Connell Photography.

Horseback getaway!

The barn looks the most stunning after dusk when the twinkle lights really shine.  Photograph by Matt Connell Photography.

The barn's east side, all aglow.  Photograph by Matt Connell Photography.

Our wedding day!