I’ve been getting a lot of calls lately from people saying they saw “on the website” that I have ducks for sale. I don’t. I’m not sure where they’re getting that idea. But presently, I have no animals for sale and no meat for sale.
I have only two goats, both males, so I’m not expecting babies anytime soon. The buck is a good, sturdy breeder, so I’m keeping him. The wether is there to keep him from getting lonely, so I’m not selling him either. They keep the pasture mowed.
My hens are barely laying enough eggs for my family, so I’m not selling eggs or hens right now. I’m hoping they’ll be more productive once I move them into new facilities, but that’s going to be a while, and by then, I’ll probably have to replace them anyway. So yes, even if I don’t buy new chickens, I’ll probably have some spent hens for sale in another year or so…but not now.
I do have two Kunekune pigs for breeding, with the intention of selling piglets, but so far, I haven’t seen them breeding, and I can’t tell if the sow is pregnant or not. They are not for sale. Right now they’re in the barn. Maybe they’ll get feistier once they’re out on pasture, but I have some fencing issues to attend to before I can move them out to the pasture. Once I have piglets for sale–or grown-out pigs ready for slaughter–I’ll advertise them here. If you don’t see any mention of pigs for sale, I don’t have pigs for sale.
I’m not selling hatching eggs, and I don’t think I ever have. If I hatch any, I’ll be keeping the babies. When the day comes that I have adult chickens for sale, I’ll say so on this website and on Facebook.
I have no ducks. No turkeys, either. No guinea fowl or pea fowl (I’ve never had those). My one, mean, old Sebastopol goose, who hated people and bit my daughter whenever he could, has finally died, apparently of old age. I would like to someday raise some sort of geese and turkeys, but I do not presently have plans to get any. Once I have a secure place the foxes and raccoons can’t get into, I’ll probably buy some mixed breeds of layers–what my Nepali customers call “local chicken, not white ones”–to grow out for sale, but again, it’s not on the schedule.
In March and early April, someone broke in and burglarized the farm repeatedly, so my efforts lately have been on repairing the damage they caused and improving security (installing new doors, windows, fences, alarms, etc.). I did get a lot of new trees and bushes, but most of the farming is on the back burner for now.
I do have a small plot of garlic planted and will likely have scapes for sale in June (unless I decide to dry them and powder them, which I may). The mulberries will be ready next month, but I won’t likely bother spending time picking them unless I get a request for them. Raspberries will be ready next month, but we’ll likely eat all those ourselves. My plantings of peas, onions, kale, and potatoes are so small that I do not anticipate having any surpluses to sell. We’ll see whether I can get enough carrots and sweet corn planted in time to have any to sell. Probably a 50-50 chance of that happening. The tomatoes and peppers are just for us this year, and I haven’t even planted any squash or sweet potatoes yet.
I did plant a couple new aronia berry bushes and honeyberry bushes last year. I didn’t like the aronia berries. They’re supposed to be super nutritious, but they taste pretty bad, so if you’re into them, shoot me an email. Otherwise, I’ll probably feed them to the chickens. I have yet to taste the honeyberries, but given the limited number, I expect we’ll eat them all if they’re any good.
We have a lot of new plum and persimmon trees. Check back in about 4 years.
No horses, no cattle, no petting zoos, no hay rides, no corn mazes, no goat fudge or venison jerky or bobbing for apples, no campgrounds for your company picnic, no dog park. and absolutely, positively no ducks. A pair of stray dogs killed the last of my ducks a few years ago. And then our neighbors shot one of the dogs. No, we don’t have the other dog. No, you can’t come check.
What DO we have? Right now, a place where you can drop off wood chips, sawdust, leaves, and straw. I’ll use them as garden mulch, animal bedding, and cover material for my compost pile. Do you have a coffee shop or other restaurant needing kitchen scraps (especially coffee grounds) hauled away weekly? I can do that, for a fee. I do have plans to mill some trees into boards. Some of that might be ready to sell in about a year. My daughter and I have talked about making grapevine wreaths this fall. But there’s nothing for sale right now, other than food waste hauling services.
