Please visit our new home

As the calendar shows, we've been away for a few years. We moved off the farm to try life in New England, and it's been lovely. Despite being a bit more crowded with people than southern Oregon, the landscape is beautiful (especially in fall) and there is such a rich heritage of farm life all around. The roads are not wide and straight like out West, but rather meandering and narrow like the old livestock paths under the pavement, and barns from the 1600's make our 1890's barn on the farm seem downright modern. The rock walls, gentle coastline, four seasons, Colonial homes and maple syrup are worth seeing and experiencing for yourself.

But we always knew we might eventually return to the Oregon farm, and we think the burgeoning hemp industry may be our opportunity. To this end we started a new brand for the organic hemp products we make called Oregon Organics. We're growing all of this on the same Sojourn Farm you would remember, but thought the new brand would help establish us a bit better for folks who didn't know us before. We probably won't return to the poultry business, but will likely open the place to events again as we get moving. Please let us know your thoughts by reaching us on the contact page. Hope to see you soon!

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. :)

Cider and poultry and weddings! Oh, my!

Harvest time is such a busy time on the farm (kind of a "duh", right?!).  The pear and apple crops were so abundant this year.  Last year, it was all we could do to squeeze barely 50 gallons out of every, single last sorry-excuse-for-an apple we had.  This year, Milan spent yesterday pressing about 6 cart loads of apples that he easily harvested by hand, without a ladder.  His harvest didn't even make a dent in the loads on two trees (we have somewhere around a dozen mature, producing apple trees and six mature pear trees on the farm)!  Apples, anyone?!

On the poultry end of things, we are harvesting our fall crop of chickens next Friday, Oct. 12th.  We have one hundred "Heritage White" birds, all of which are spoken for (yay for being sold out!).  We have just a handful of our free range, organic, heritage Bourbon Red turkeys still available.  They will be harvested the Monday before Thanksgiving.

October also marks the month that brides (and grooms and parents and coordinators, as the case may be!) start calling to book weddings for the following year.  We are open for weddings (and other events) May through October.  Thanks to this year's couples, families and guests for a successful and fun 2012 season!  We look forward to more great events in 2013.

Harvest Time!

Thank you to everyone who ordered chickens this round!  We will be harvesting them next Tuesday, July 10th.  As usual, pick-up is here at the farm from 2 to 7pm.  Chickens will be dressed, shrink-bagged, labeled with weight and date of harvest and chilled.  They are ready to go home with you to be cooked or frozen.  They freeze well for up to a year.

If you didn't get your order in but would like some chickens, please give us a call.  We have availability and would be glad to get you on the list.

See you next Tuesday!

Chicks' New Digs: The Vegetable Garden

Our first batch of chickens is here and growing fast.  This year, instead of putting the chicks out in their field runs at 2 weeks old, Milan made new chick housing in our vegetable garden!  It all started when I was lamenting the bug population in the garden -- one of the big "joys" of being an organic gardener.  I told Milan I would like to get about a dozen laying hens and turn them loose in there once in a while to peck up some well-fed, organic bugs.  He suggested putting the meat chickens in the garden for a week or two instead.  Well, why not, right?  Worth a try... as long as we still get to eat some of the strawberries ourselves! 

Daddy and his little helper.  It's not Milan's style to "just get 'er done", but this time, his goal was to use all scrap wood and not have to cut a single piece.  That way, he did get 'er done in under 2 hours.

And there they are, all 125 still doing just fine.  We moved them 20 at a time in a box to their new digs, then locked them inside the coop for a day just to let them adjust to the idea that this is home.  On day two, the door was opened, and here they come!

Wheee!  I can *almost* fly!  Who said White Cornish X were lazy?!

Turkeys Arrived Today!

Twenty-five little Bourbon Red poults arrived today.  The breeder brought them from Roseburg to Cave Junction.  Milan picked them up at the Chevron this morning.

Of course, the first and most important point about raising any kind of animal is to BE PREPARED.  How many people have you watched get puppies, kitties or even horses because they they thought they were "cute" and would "be fun", without having the slightest concept of how to care for and train them?  Easter bunnies are probably the worst (seriously: how many actually go to educated owners that will really care for them well?), although getting a horse without any education in horse husbandry is potentially a lot more dangerous for the unprepared-to-deal-with-a-large-animal-that-can-kill-you-as-the-result-of-poor-training owner.  I've seen that first hand, too.

Well, enough of the rant.  It's just that a big part of our farming ethos is to give all animals that sojourn here the best life possible.  They die to feed us, but while they live, we want them to live well.  When they die, we want to administer a quick, as-humane-as-we-can-make-it death.  We nurse the sick ones and give special treatment to poults/chicks that look a little weak or stressed.  We mourn over every one that, despite us doing all that we know how for it, gives up its tiny life before its time.

So, to be prepared for the turkeys arrival, we spent the weekend doing the "trailer shuffle". We brought the turkey trailer out of its winter mothballs, parked it in the yard where we can check on the little fuzz balls several times a day, cleaned it out and set it up for the new arrivals.

The turkey trailer, an old stock trailer we converted to be a safe big-bird house on wheels.

Inside, we set up a refrigerator box with dry shavings, a heat lamp, a generous watering can (with another radiant heater hanging off it), turkey starter feed (28% protein!), and a few little perches, or as Milan called them, "turkey jungle gyms".  The poults will live here for the first few weeks.

A refrigerator box is a good first home for 25 Bourbon Red turkey poults.

And here come the poults!

The poults arrived in 2 boxes.  The boxes had 1" diameter holes punched up both sides for ventilation.

Filling the food tray.  Milan has it set up on a rack so the birds don't get as much dirt into their food.

Milan dunked every one's little beak into the water and made sure they drank before letting them go in the box.

Jack, now 3 years old, watched intently as we placed the poults in their new home.

Bourbon Red and Narragansett poults at a couple days old, checking out their new digs at Sojourn Farms.

We are raising Bourbon Reds, but we took orders for others in the area that wanted to raise their own turkeys.  They requested Narragansetts so we have a few of them, too.  They are the darker poults you see in the photo.

It's great to be able to teach Jack about animals!

So far, so good!  The whole rafter (that's the turkey word for "flock", I found out!) looks to be in good shape.  Let us know if you want one for Thanksgiving!

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!