Long-awaited spring is here.  I'm glad it is, but. . . it's always a little hard to really enjoy when so much work is staring me in the face.  April and May are always the busiest months here at Lil Bitty Farm.  The barn needs to be cleaned out (more so than most years because it was to wet to haul manure in the fall).  In April I focus on hauling manure and readying the pig pens for soon coming piggies.  In May I concentrate on the garden which needs to be prepped, tilled and planted with a host of vegetables.  In June a new batch of broiler chicks arrive and Mimsy the beef heifer departs for her appointed purpose in life.

Can you guess what the above pictured buds are?  They are from Marla's Pussy Willow bush.  At the time the picture was taken the buds are about a week to 10 days passed what you typically think of when you think of a Pussy Willow bud.  Quite a few years ago she planted this little twig looking thing beside my shop.  For years it didn't do anything, except cause me frustration when I had to weed-wack around it.  Then all of a sudden, last year, it started to perk up a bit.  This spring, after many years of waiting we finally got the real-deal Pussy Willow buds.  

This little scenario reminded me of a story I read a few years ago in one of my farming magazines.  The author is an Amish farmer from Ohio.  The story is about a yellow cherry tree that his mother planted in their home orchard back in the late 1960's.  The cherry tree was planted properly and well cared for but hardly any cherries arrived - for almost 22 years! !  The farmer believes the turning point came when as a young man he married and brought his new bride to live at the home farm.  He claims that his beautiful brides daily trips to the mailbox, which was right across the fence from the yellow cherry tree, encouraged the tree to begin bearing regularly.  For many years the family harvested an average of 30 to 40 gallons of cherries from the tree each June (except for a few years when frost and early summer storms took their toll).  A few years the tree bore 70 gallons and twice it bore over 100 gallons of cherries in a single season.  All this, after being dormant for over 20 years.  The moral of this story is that nature will do what nature will do.  It does not always cooperate with our plans and timetables.  Our Father created the natural world to be marvelous and mysterious.  There is much to marvel at and we like that, what we don't care for as much is that it is also mysterious.
No matter how much we study and dissect it, it will never be fully known and therefore never fully controlled.  We humans like to be in control.  Maybe that is why the modern world holds the natural world at arms length - because we know that when push comes to shove we have very little control over the world of nature.  Most of us would prefer to spend our time and energy on things that are much more controllable and predictable.  

Reading this story about the yellow cherry tree brought back some good memories from my own childhood.  My grandfather had a very extensive orchard as well, it fact it was his primary income source during the summer months.  His orchards comprised many acres but In between the house and barn was one large sweet cherry tree.  I spent many pleasant hours of my childhood in that tree eating big, dark red cherries by the handful. Of course I also spent a considerable amount of time in the bathroom but that was a trade off I was always willing to make. 

Now that's a big pile of "nasty stuff".  A fairly good amount of time is spent forking this nasty stuff each spring.  I must be honest - I don't really enjoy it but I do enjoy growing my own beef and pork and you can't have "that" without having "this".  Plus "this" is the fertility of next years garden and pasture. .  

Here is what the big pile of nasty stuff looks like after is has broken down and mellowed out for a year.  It would probably break down faster if I turned it a few times but I don't.  I just let it sit under a tarp for 8 to 12 months and nature does the rest.  One of my favorite agrarian writers once said, "don't waste your time or money on doing anything that nature will do for you."  Pretty good advice I think.  

Since I spend a pretty good amount of time forking this stuff around I have lots of time to "ruminate" as I work.  Sometimes I pray as I fork but this spring my thoughts turned to a familiar passage of scripture - I Corinthians 1: 26-29

"Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world's eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you.  Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise.  And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful.  God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important.  As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God." 

My mind drifted to these verses because I can't think of anything more foolish or despised in our culture than a nasty pile of animal manure.  Many years ago man in his infinite wisdom decided he could do better than what God had designed for providing fertility to this earth.  So he invented chemical fertilizers made from petroleum-based products to provide needed fertility.  It worked so well that a new term was coined - the Green Revolution.  Yes, crop production increased but after a while it became apparent that these crops are similar to drug addicts.  It takes more and more "drugs/fertilizer" to reach the desired effect.  There are many problems with chemical fertilizers but one of the biggest is that while the chemical may give the plant a temporary boost it basically destroys the unseen, biological world within the soil.  The God-created life within the soil is being sacrificed for the sake of a synthetic, man-made  drug.  The cumulative effect is that where chemical fertilizer is the norm, soil biology is in steep decline and essentially the soil is dying.  That is not good news for farmers who own this land or for the consumer who relies on this farmer's land for food.  Unfortunately, when faced with depleting soils many farmers do the only thing they know to do - apply more chemical fertilizer.   

I'll pass on the bag of fertilizer - give me a pitchfork.

Blessings to you my friends,

Todd

 

It has been many months since my last blog post.  I was thinking that I would pass quietly into blogging retirement but I have recently had a number of folks who have let me know that they miss the Lil Bitty Farm blogs - so, thanks to those folks (you know who you are) who gave me the figurative kick-in-the-pants, here we go again.  And just in time for the busiest part of my farming year! !

The above picture shows one of my small winter projects - a new nest box for the egg laying chickens.  In the past I have always made my own nest boxes out of scrap wood from the woodshop for, as this was the cheapest way to go for me.  But there were a few factors that made these homemade nesting boxes less than desirable.  One of the things I didn't like about the old nest boxes is that they had to be cleaned out every few week.  This was usually a pretty yucky, smelly job so I tended to put it off which of course made things worse.  This new nest box will not have to be cleaned out near as often because it does not contain the traditional hay or straw for the bird to nest in.  Instead they lay their eggs on a sort of astro turf type of material.  But the main difference (and the real reason I bought it) is that the floor the chicken lays the egg on is sloped.  This means that when the chicken stands up, after laying the egg, the egg automatically rolls into a compartment that the chicken is unable to reach.  This is important because there is always a percentage of chickens who will lay their egg and then turn around and eat the egg.  This makes quite a mess in the nest box plus the obvious issue of egg loss.  So I am looking forward to cleaner eggs (of course I will still need to clean them anyway) and way less cracked and eaten eggs.   

Here is what it looks like when you go to collect the eggs.  After gathering the eggs the metal flap (hanging down and to the left) is flipped up so the chickens can not access the egg compartment and the wood bar is flipped down giving them access to the nest behind the red curtains. If you have chickens and you are interested in this type of nest box you can go to:
bestnestbox.com to check out their products and order.

Last week Marla went back to Ohio with her girl friends for their annual rug-hooking convention.  It's nice that she can go to this because she can also visit her family at the same time.  While there, my brother-in-law, Rick, gave her something to give to me - and it is blogworthy.  So here it is - a bumper sticker.

There it is on the back of my "farm truck".  I've seen this bumper sticker before and thought - "yeah, I like that.  I wouldn't mind having one of those."  And now I have one.  While I like the bumper sticker, it was the back of the bumper sticker that really caught my attention.

There it is - does it catch your attention too?  According to the American Farmland Trust, America loses 3 acres of farm and ranch land a MINUTE. So if we lose 3 acres a minute how many acres do we lose a year.  Well, lets do the math.  There are 1,440 minutes in a day x 3 acres = 4,320 acres lost every
day.  So, 4,320 acres lost every day x 365 days a year = 1,576,800 acres lost to farming and ranching every year.  That's not just 1,576,800 acres of lost pretty scenery but it is 1,576,800 acres of lost food producing acres a year.
So what does that say about what America does or does not value?  I think it primarily says that America values "economic development" while at the same time devaluing locally produced food and most sadly local farmers.  While this is indeed sad it is not hopeless.  In the last few years the tide has begun to turn.
I'm sure you have noticed.  Local farms and farmers are slowly but surely increasing in numbers.  And have you noticed something else?  Next time you go to your local mall / strip mall take a look at how many of those store fronts are sitting empty.  E commerce is beginning to take it's toll on the traditional brick and mortar store fronts.  Are we beginning to see the "beginning of the end" of mall upon strip mall in America?  Instead of pillaging prime farmland to build malls maybe we are on the precipice of tearing down malls to return the land to fertile, food producing farmland.  Now there's a novel and exciting idea! !

Thanks again for taking the time to read.  Lots more happenings here at LBF
to come.  Take care my friends.

​Todd

I love this time of year when everything is so green and beautiful.  That was reinforced to me just the other day after Marla and I had spent considerable time "mulching" her flower beds.  Many of the flowers are blooming and it is very enjoyable to see the beautiful colors of the flowering plants along with the deep green leaves and freshly spread dark brown mulch.  That evening we sat on the back deck to eat supper together.  As I prayed and thanked God for the day and our evening meal I found myself also praying "thank you that we get to take care of this little piece of land that You have entrusted to us".  Almost immediately I was reminded of a sermon our youth pastor, Matt, gave at our church a few years ago.  I'm not sure if it was the main point of his sermon but I remember it as somewhat of an "A-HAA" moment for me.  He was talking about the daily practices of reading the Bible and praying (some call it devotions or having a quiet time).  His point was that it is so easy to fall into the mindset of "having" to read the Bible/pray instead of having the mindset of "getting" to read my Bible and pray.  Of course it is a priceless privilege to read God's Word and speak to him in prayer but because of our fallen human nature and daily sins it is easy for us to view those things as somewhat of a burden, something we must do in order to gain His daily approval or "stay in HIs good graces".  Ever since this sermon I try to remind myself often that I get to read His Word and pray to a good and gracious Heavenly Father.  

I think the same is true when in comes to our mindset of caring for whatever slice of the created world that God has entrusted to us.  For most of us, caring for our little corner of the world is relegated to our "spare time" which we have very little of to begin with (because we have all been conditioned to believe that working for money is the "important" work).  So it doesn't take long to develop the mindset of creation care becoming a burden (have to) rather than something that brings us joy and fulfillment (get to).  Another reason creation care doesn't register very high on most of our agendas is because we remind ourselves often that this world is under the curse of sin (weeds, thorns, thistles etc. etc.)  We tend to think, "why bother caring for something that  just takes more and more work"?  Another excuse we use is the "it's just going to burn in the end anyway" excuse.  As Christians we believe that in the end God will destroy this present world and take us to heaven to be with Him forever.  So if that's true, why bother with all this back-breaking work now?   

But make no mistake about it - the scriptures are clear,  that even though God has created an unbelievably beautiful world He has entrusted it's care, maintenance and stewardship to all mankind.  This care, maintenance and stewardship is a good and wonderful thing to be involved with because it is a "God thing",  It was and is His idea, His design for all mankind to partner with Him in caring for what He has so wonderfully provided for us.  When you stop and think about it - it really is amazing that He allows us to participate with Him in the beauty (how things look) and bounty (food production) of this earth.  It is particularly glorious when beauty and bounty are intertwined with ecological practices that regenerate the earth rather than deplete and deface it. 

So wether you have a huge farm, a lil bitty farm, no farm, big garden, little garden, no garden, a lawn to mow, a few tomato plants in some pots or just a few flowers indoors - whatever part of this created world that God has allowed you to care for - lets do it well because we "get to" not because we "have to".  

Thanks again for taking time to read !

Blessings to you my friends !  Have a great growing year ! !

​Todd

A few weeks ago I bought this little gal.  Grandson Henderson decided to name her "Mimsey".  I bought her from a local farmer in Lancaster County and she weighed in at 298 lbs.  This is the smallest beef I've ever bought so she probably won't be ready to fulfill her purpose in life for another 13 or 14 months.  She will have her own room, plenty of good feed, clean water, green pasture and other friends (pigs, goat and chickens) to keep her company.  She'll have only one bad day in her whole life.  After that she will nourish the Frey family for many, many months.  Welcome to Lil Bitty Farm Mimsey! !   It gives me great satisfaction to see a new beef grazing a green pasture that a little over a year ago was just a big jungle of brambles, vines and weeds.  

These little guys (and girls) arrived yesterday.  I also bought them from a (different) farmer in Lancaster County.  To tell you the truth I don't even know (yet) how many are boys and how many are girls.  I used to try and select all boys but have learned that it doesn't much matter.  They both taste VERY good! !  I picked them out of a room full of baby pigs (maybe 200), out of a pen of about 25.  Actually it's hard to "pick" the one you want because when you step into the pen to pick one, what results is total mayhem.  So "picking" one is really just grabbing the back leg of the closest little piggy.  When I get home with them "the Big Dawg" comes over to give me a hand.  We've been doing this quite a few years so he knows exactly what to do.  Before we release them into their new home we "ring" them.  We clamp a metal ring in their nose so that they do not use their nose to dig big holes in the dirt floor of their pen.  We have our little system down so it takes only a few minutes.  Pretty soon they are frolicking in their new straw-filled pen.  A few hours later I notice they are all eating so it seems like all is well - sort of - one has a cough so I'm hoping he grows out of that.  (I apologize for the above pictures. 
Both are old pictures, not of the new animals - for some reason the computer didn't want to cooperate and give me the pictures of the "newbies" that I loaded.  Oh the joys of this techno stuff! !)

May is the month of garden work.  The lettuce, spinach, radishes and onions in the raised-bed are up and doing well; asparagus, rhubarb and red raspberries are up and coming on strong.  But the main garden work is still to come.  Tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, cucumbers, green beans and sweet corn will all be planted in the next couple of weeks.  We are so blessed to be able to provide much of our own food from this "Lil Bitty Farm"! !

Thanks again for stopping in friends - here's to a great growing season! !

​Todd

The 2018 growing season is here! !  Spring arrived a few days ago according to the calendar but I don't pay to much attention to that.  I primarily pay attention to the condition of the soil in my garden.  That's what tells me that it's "go time".
I had a mornings worth of work to do in the shop Saturday morning but after lunch I couldn't wait any longer - I had to get out there and get in my first garden work of the new growing year.  The first thing I did was pull some weeds in the raised-bed garden.  After that it was down to the compost pile to get a load of new compost.

This beautiful pile of "black gold" is actually last years stable manure.  It's important to know that stable manure is not just plain manure but it is a mixture of manure and bedding material (straw, some wasted hay, leaves, sawdust etc).  There are many ways to make good compost but I opt for the simplified version - fork it on a pile, cover it with a tarp and let it rot.  In a year you have beautiful, finished compost, ready to nourish the garden, pasture or flower bed.  Another important part of compost making is that it needs to be "covered" (thats the reason for the blue tarp in the photo).  If your compost pile is not covered it will become sodden (or soaked) from rain water and the biological activity that drives the decomposition of all this organic matter will come to a halt.  A good compost pile needs to be moist; not dry, but definitely not soaked.  Turning and mixing the compost pile will speed the decomposition process but it is obviously labor intensive and not really necessary - I usually don't do it because I have plenty of other homestead projects to keep me busy.

As you can see in the picture above my raised bed has three main sections.  I just planted the left section today.  First I got all the weeds out, then lightly disturbed (loosened) the top two inches of soil then planted the seeds.  Lettuce, radishes, spinach and onions (left to right).  After planting I applied less than an inch of new compost directly on top of the new seed.  Lastly, I covered the whole raised-bed with a double layer of plastic.  This will act like a green house effect and warm the soil, helping the seed germinate a little faster.  The down side is that I have to be very careful not to "burn" the new seedlings.  Once the seed germinates and there is new green material there it can burn if it becomes to hot under the plastic.  Once the seed germinates it is best to remove the plastic during the day and cover it up again for the cold nights.  

Another sign of spring for me is a load of wood chips sitting at the back end of the driveway.  Oldest son, Ryan, works for a landscaper off and on throughout the winter and was able to deliver these a few days ago.  It is important to note that the wood chips DO NOT​ get mixed into the garden soil.  Their purpose is to lay ON TOP of the soil, in between the garden rows.  This 3 to 4 inch layer of wood chips accomplishes a few different things:  - it suppresses weed growth in the garden walkways, keeps the soil from becoming compacted in the walkways, acts as a storehouse for moisture and over the long run it slowly breaks down and adds organic matter to the garden soil.  

Two more sure signs of spring.  Inhabited bluebird boxes and goat hair on the fence indicating the goat is shedding his winter coat. 

All this spring work to do and the weatherman is calling for snow late Sunday night into Monday morning -  possibility of up to 5 inches.  HERE WE GO again! !

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter - HE IS RISEN INDEED! !

Take care my friends and have a good spring! !

Todd
​

FYI - For those who may be interested in homesteading/small-scale farming; I recently found a new YOUTUBE channel that I find very interesting.  It is called "Swedish Homestead".  It is about the homesteading/farming activities of a young Christian family in Sweden.  Very well done, and interesting. Just go to YOUTUBE.com and type in "Swedish Homestead".  I think you'll like it.

Stay tuned for lots of activity in the future weeks,  A new beef, new pigs, new chickens...

Some time ago I read something that I have been mulling over ever since.  It's a unique idea that I had never considered before, but I think it is worth pondering at the very least.  (I'm pretty sure I read this from one of my favorite agrarian writers that I've mentioned here before, Gene Logsdon.)  So here it is - here's the big "what if".  WHAT IF. . . growing food was meant to be a personal /family endeavor, a daily routine - sort of like taking responsibility for your own personal hygiene or like other routine household duties?  What if food production was not intended to be a business, a corporate endeavor or an industry?  When God gave specific instructions to Adam and Eve back in the Garden of Eden concerning how they were to care for the garden and eat of it's abundance I seriously doubt that His intention was for mankind to make "a business" and an industry out of these clear personal directions.  In the same way that Christian ministry is not just to be engaged in by the "clergy", in the same way I believe food production and creation care are not just for the "professional" farmer.  Also, there is today ample evidence that agriculture is at it's best when it is in the hands of individuals who are careful, thoughtful, and act kindly toward the natural world.  While food "production" has greatly increased in "quantity" under the rule of industrial agriculture, the quality of food has noteably decreased, the loss of topsoil and soil fertility have been unparalleled and the steep decline in farm communities and farmers themselves have been unprecedented.  When individuals, families and small farmers engage in agriculture they are free to focus on the health of soil, plants, animals, people, communities and the ecosystem.  When "agribusiness" leads the way and sets the agenda their primary interest is the money/business end of things.  When this happens the health of soil, plants, animals, people, communities and the ecosystem take a back seat and eventually suffers.  The time has come for individuals and families to reclaim what has been usurped from them by the corporate conglomerates.

                           HOMESTEAD​​​ HAPPENINGS

On Friday morning Maybell took a one way trip.  This is the second beef that we have sent to the butcher from our little farm.  Our freezer will soon be "bursting at the seams" as just a few weeks ago we added half a hog to the freezer as well.  Many people ask me if "it pays" to raise your own meat and vegetables - I believe it does but that is not why I do it.  I do it because I enjoy this kind of work and because it gives me great satisfaction to provide healthy food for Marla and I, for my kids and grandkids.  When "departure day" comes I try to carry on with the proceedings like its "business as usual" but inside, I must confess, I'm a little sad.  For the past year I have fed, watered and cleaned up after Maybell.  I've greeted her every morning as I step into the barn, I've watched her graze contentedly in the pasture and I've watched my three year old grandson talk to her and call her by name.  Yes, it does make me a little sad to see her go, but it also makes me thankful for the way God provides for my family.  

Every time I send an animal to the butcher it reminds me of a little comical story.  About four or five years ago Marla was down at the barn with our little neighbor boy.  He was curious about the different animals that were in the barn so she was showing him around.  After taking it all in for awhile he turned to Marla, looked up at her, scrunched up his little freckled nose and said, "how come you guys kill everything"?  Our little neighbor boy was just stating what our pet-crazed culture believes - that humans are here to meet the needs of animals not the other way around.  

Even though butchering day can be a little sad there is a quote from Wendell Berry that helps me put things in perspective.  "To live, we must daily break the body and shed the blood of Creation.  When we do this knowingly, lovingly, skillfully, reverently, it is a sacrament.  When we do it ignorantly, greedily, clumsily, destructively, it is a desecration.  In such desecration we condemn ourselves to spiritual and moral loneliness, and others to want."  Here at Lil Bitty Farm we strive for the former.  We recognize God as the creator of all these critters so we do our best to ensure their health and safety while they are with us.  But we also realize He has given them to us so that we may live and flourish on this earth.
   

Thanks again for stopping by friends.  Hope you have a good winter - stay warm and dry.  Spring is on it's way! !

Todd

The BIG FREEZE is on! !  Temperatures in the single digits with wind chills below zero have been the order of the day here in southeast PA for the last two weeks or so.  I suppose  the "bright side" is that we have not had to deal with a lot of deep snow.  All snow falls this winter have been of the 2" - 4" variety.  Fortunately, we have not had seen the volume of snow that New England or Erie, PA has had.  I heard that Erie received 65" of snow in a relatively short amount of time.  Now that would be some shoveling! ! 

I suppose every season has it's positives and negatives but winter especially is a time of great contrasts.  The temperatures may flirt with the 60's one week while plummeting to below zero the next.  The snow may fall gently and silently as daylight wanes or a "Noreaster" may come roaring through with howling winds and piles of snow.  The bone-chilling cold that produces frozen ponds for the kids to skate on produces frozen water pipes and rock solid water containers here at Lil Bitty Farm.  The snow that provides so much fun to kids to sled on produces lots of shoveling here at the homestead.  But I wouldn't really want it any other way.  I think living in Hawaii would be rather boring.

Yes, the cold does make things more challenging here on our little farm.  A little over a year ago Ryan and I installed a water line to the barn so that I wouldn't have to carry water from the house for the animals.  Well my new "frost free" hydrant is not turning out to be very frost free.  Guess I'll have to come up with some modifications for next year.  In the meantime I go back to carrying 5 gallon buckets of water from the basement.  At times it has been so cold that the pig's food freezes in their trough before they eat it.  Consequently, chipping frozen pig food out of their trough has not been unusual this winter.  But that is coming to an end very soon - because they are coming to an end very soon.  I take the two remaining pigs to the butcher Monday morning.  I felt sorry for the pigs in this cold weather because they don't have a "winter coat" like other animals so I took the time to install a heat lamp for them.  But for the most part it appeared as if they could have cared less about the heart lamp.  They gave very little evidence of needing or appreciating this artificial heat source.  They seem to get along fine, no matter the temperature, as long as they have dry straw to nest in and each other to snuggle up to.  Maybell the beef heifer and Thor the goat seem unfazed by the cold as well.  As long as they have their "winter coats", dry bedding, feed and unfrozen water they are snug as a bug in a rug.

Even though winter is producing record setting cold, I am preparing for spring.
In between Christmas and New Year's I had some extra shop time I could devote to other projects so I decided to build 7 raspberry supports for the garden and 4 bluebird houses.  The raspberry supports, made of locust wood, are simple devices that go in the ground to help support the bramble plants and keep them from going where they don't belong.  It will also make picking the luscious berries a lot easier.  The blue bird houses will sit atop the fence posts as an invitation to more blue bird families to come and take up residence here at Lil Bitty Farm.  The colorful blue bird is a delight to watch and a wonderful partner in keeping unwanted bugs and insects at bay.   I'll send pictures of both as spring makes it's entrance in about two months or so.  

Until then - stay warm my friends,

​Todd

I know the holidays are fast approaching but one of my favorite "seasons" is deer season.  The above picture was taken a few years ago - obviously it was a very successful season that year! !  This year was not very successful - if you count success as bagging a buck.  But it was a success as far as just getting away for a few days to reconnect with my boys, brother-in-law and nephews.  Sometimes I wonder why I bother driving 3 1/2 hours each way to a place that has fewer and smaller bucks than are a few minutes outside my back door.  But then I remember that deer hunting is about much more than simply putting meat in the freezer, as much as I enjoy doing that.  For me, its about hunting the land that my father and grandfathers have hunted since 1963 and that I have hunted since I was 14 years old.  It's about slowing down for a few days and and listening to the "quiet" of the woods (although sometimes the squirrels make that "quiet" pretty noisy).  It's about trying to be as observant as I can while waiting for a deer.  It starts with a beautiful sunrise in the east, then the chatter and activity of the squirrels begins.  Soon the crows take flight and begin their "cawing" and the chipmunks scurry about.  I once had a squirrel climb the tree I was in and when he reached my height he realized he had other things to do and flew away.  That was the only time in my life I've seen a flying squirrel.  Other times I've seen wild turkeys and have even seen bear tracks and droppings.  A couple of years ago son Ryan saw a mama bobcat with her two little kits! !  This year he saw a coyote.  The day ends with a beautiful sunset on the western horizon.  When I'm not in the woods I'm eating some good food that Marla has sent along and watching football.  (My grandfather would roll over in his grave if he knew of the electronic gadgets that have invaded deer hunting camp.)  But mostly it's just taking a little time to hang with my boys.  And every once in a while God blesses us with a deer to bring home.  Maybe next year! !

Another season I look forward to is "butchering" season.  (No I don't actually do the butchering.)  Every year I raise a few hogs, this year I raised four of them.  It starts in April or May when I buy them as 30 lb weanlings and it culminates in early November when I take them to the butcher at almost 400 lbs.  Ryan and I will split one and the other three are sold to customers.  Not only do they fill the freezer with good eating but they also leave behind "the other good stuff" that will be composted and put on the garden the following year.  So when I count the income I receive from the butchered hogs mine costs me very little and I have some extra cash left over to put toward future Lil Bitty Farm projects. 

Of course the most important "season" of all is Christmas.  Although "Mrs. Santa" is baking up a storm in the kitchen and "Santa" is spending extra time in his workshop it's really not about more food and more toys - it's really about taking time to ponder the wonder of the newly come Christ-child.  The wonder of the Son of God leaving the glory of Heaven to take on human flesh.  The wonder of God humbling himself to the point of being willing to be born in a smelly cattle shelter.  The wonder of the whole purpose of His life being to die for sinners like me and you - so we can find freedom and cleansing from our sin through His life, death and resurrection.   

"For a child will be born to us,
a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,
On the throne of David and over his kingdom,
To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness
From then on and forever more.
The zeal of the Lord of Hosts with accomplish this."   Isaiah 9:6&7

From the Freys at Lil Bitty Farm to you and your's - have a blessed and Christ filled Christmas this year.

Stay warm my friends,

​Todd

Two blogs ago I recounted a short fictitious story of George and Mabel Cottager and Marvin Grabacre.  (If you didn't get a chance to read it before this blog will make much more sense if you go back and read it before continuing with this blog.)  George and Mabel are the quintessential small farm agrarians while Marvin is the quintessential large-scale agribusinessman.  While the story is fictitious it is by no means unrealistic.  Everything about this story is very realistic and possible.  I think it is interesting to compare and contrast these two different mindsets.  

Early in the story we see that George and Mabel are looking to buy a few acres of a 160 acre farm that is for sale.  They are looking to make a "life" for themselves and their family on this small acreage while Marvin is looking to purchase the whole 160 acre farm to add to the 3,000 acres he has already amassed. It is obvious that Marvin is looking to "increase his living" while George and Mabel are more interested in "living from" their land.  Marvin looks at his acreage simply as a way to make more money, George and Mabel look at their acreage as a way to derive their daily sustenance and make a life for themselves and their children. 

As we move through the story we see that Marvin thinks that George and Mabel (and others like them) are "dingy-dongy idiots" that are "all gonna starve someday" because they don't plant corn and soybeans like all the other high-powered agibusinessmen.  George has swallowed the line that it is America's responsibility "to feed the world" (and of course the only way that can be done is if everybody and their brother grows corn and soybeans for the commodity markets).  Marvin seems to have forgotten that the world did just fine feeding itself before agribusiness men like himself and industrial agriculture came down the pike a little over 50 years ago.  While Marvin focuses on "feeding the world" he and his family drive to the grocery store and purchase every single bite of food they put into their mouths three time a day even though he owns and "farms" more than 3,000 acres of land.  On the other hand George and Mabel focus on feeding their family (and friends and neighbors with surpluses)
from the small gardens, orchards and fields that surround them.  

Toward the end of the story we see how Marvin is absolutely dumb-founded at the low cost, simplicity and practicality of cattle grazing in their natural setting as nature intended.  Instead, like all agribusinessmen, he thinks that it is more "efficient" to bunch hundreds and thousands of cattle together on concrete in poop a foot deep.  When cattle are "confined" the feed must be brought to the cattle instead of taking the cattle to the feed (free grass).  Now stop and think about all the expense of bringing the feed to the cattle - hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of farm machinery to till, plant, fertilize and chemicals to spray.  At harvest - many more thousands of dollars for harvesting equipment and labor.  Then many more thousands of dollars for manure management.  The bottom line is that when cattle (and hogs and sheep and chickens) are raised on pasture as nature intended the costs drop dramatically and the health of the animal and the finished product rises exponentially.  I'm always amazed at what kind of problems we get ourselves into when we try and "improve" on something that God has alreay designed.
​
​Thanks again for stopping by friends.  

​Todd

In October of 2013 a bunch of my buddies from church came over and helped me frame up the Lil Bitty barn roof.  The roof frame included a "hole in the roof" because I knew that some day I wanted to put a cupola on the top of the barn roof.  Well, that day has come.  The cupola is now in place.  The past few months, whenever I would get a couple hours here or there I would work on building the cupola.  It is made of white oak and painted black.  The roof is copper, thanks to my neighbor Tom (who does copper work for a living and also helped with the installation).  The crowning glory is the chicken weathervane that Marla bought me for Christmas a few years ago.  It has been waiting patiently in the upper part of the barn for it's time to shine - and that time is now.  
   Kudos to two friends who most likely saved my life.  If it hadn't been for them I'm sure I would have ended up in the hospital - or maybe worse.  Dave allowed me to borrow his "Pettibone" - a giant forklift type machine that delivered two men and a cupola to the top of the barn roof in one fell swoop.   Another friend, George, operated it safely.  Thanks guys - you REALLY​ made my day! !  (I had planned on posting a picture or two of the Pettibone in action but the computer didn't cooperate tonight - sorry.)  I'm very thankful that this job is done and done safely! !

Last weekend Marla and I took grandson Henderson to the Oley Fair.  Oley is a small farming community and is located in central Berks Co., about a half hour drive north or here.  One of the things that I like about this fair is that it is staying true to it's agricultural roots.  The showing and judging of livestock, tractor pulls, agricultural exhibits/displays and good old Berks county food continue to be the mainstays of the fair.
   Another thing I like about going to the Oley Fair is that it brings back a lot of good memories of my grandfather taking me to the same fair when I was a little shaver.  What little boy is not entranced by sparkling clean cattle, hogs, sheep and TRACTORS?!!  But the fair memories have their origin in something that took place before we arrived at the fair.  Now my grandfather was not a smoker but he did enjoy a good cigar twice a year.  (I still have his leather cigar pouch - and it still holds a few of his old cigars.)  One of those occasions was on the way to the Oley Fair.  After getting in the backseat of the old Buick (no car seats or seatbelts in those days) we would turn left out of the driveway and head up the hill.  After we crested the hill, with the farm at our back, he would begin to fiddle for his cigar pouch.  Before we got to the first stop sign the tangy smell of cigar smoke filled the back of the car even though he had the window open.  I guess that's why today, even though I don't smoke cigars I do like the smell of them.  Another good memory is climbing aboard all the new tractors that I could while Pappy chewed the fat with the equipment dealers.  

When Henderson, Marla and I got to the fair, one of the first things we saw was a duckling that was hatching out inside an incubator.  Next it was time for the tractor pulls.  Henderson wasn't quite sure what to make of it at first but by the end of the day it was his favorite.  Then onto the livestock exhibits, vegetable displays and the domestic arts displays (baked goods, canned goods, quilts etc).  Soon it was lunch time and then back to the tractor pulls again.  I think he had a good time because for the next few days much of the talk with Mommy and Daddy was all about what he saw and did at - as he put it - the HOLY Fair.

Yes the Oley Fair, and many like it in rural America, is at it's core a celebration of the values and way of life of those who choose to live close to the land.  But it is not solely about showing animals, produce and equipment.  For those who know and love our Heavenly Father It is a time for remembering that it was God, who in the Garden of Eden, told Adam and Eve to be the caretakers of His delightful creation.  It is a time to reflect on the goodness of our Father as He again proves His faithfulness to His children through the bounty He provides from the fruitful fields around us.  And it is a time to rethink how we personally can partner with our Creator in caring for this magnificent world that He has created for our good and His Glory.
I suppose, in that sense, it really is as the little boy says, a HOLY FAIR.
 . . . "and a child shall lead them".

Thanks again for stopping by! !

​Todd

Sorry I don't have a picture of them but George and Mabel Cottager are my new friends.  Even though I don't have a picture of them I'd like you to meet them as well.  I ran into George and Mabel a few years ago - in a book written by one of my favorite agrarian authors; Gene Logsdon. (Gene passed away within this past year but I still get great enjoyment out of reading his witty agrarian writings.  I hope you will enjoy these few paragraphs I found in his book ALL FLESH IS GRASS.  Yes, George and Mabel are fictitious characters in a short "tongue-in-cheek" story but this little account brings a smile to my face every time I read it.  I hope it does for you too!  (I hope you will forgive the one or two instances of "salty language" but it does add a little flavor to the story)
​ 

   George and Mabel Cottager bought five acres of land in rural central Indiana because they wanted to live, and wanted their children to live, the happy and meaningful life they experienced growing up on their parents' farms.  Because of the wolfish nature of farm economics, their home places had been gobbled up by industrial grain producers, sending people like George and Mabel to Indianapolis to find jobs.  Now they were coming back home - buying back some of what they considered their birthright.  The five acres that they purchased were part of a 160 acre farm that had gone on the block after its farmer-owner died.  As has become customary, because of the demand for rural residences with a few acres, the farm was split up into relatively small parcels instead of being sold as one unit.  Marvin Grabacre, who had planned to buy the entire 160 acres to add to the 3,000 he already owned, was furious.  He knew that most likely the total price of the parcels sold to various home buyers would be higher than he could afford to pay for the whole thing.  "The dingy-dongy city people will bid the price up too high for us land-poor, millionaire farmers to afford," he grumbled.  Sure enough, that happened.  Garden farmers, looking for a place with a little land to raise their families, or beetle-browed executives, looking for a place to show off their wealth, could afford to bid $5,000 to $10,000 or even more per acre because they wanted only a few acres.  The commercial farmer, wanting the whole thing, did not dare to bid much past $2,500 per acre because corn and soybeans weren't profitable enough to pay for it.  So Marvin fussed.  He conveniently forgot that in former years, when he was amassing his three thousand acres, he could outbid less-well-heeled farmers and city people alike.  In those days he said his ability to bid up the price on a farm was just "the good ole American way."  Now that economics no longer favored him, it was no longer the "good ole American way" but a "bunch of greedy, sonsabitchin' land auction companies trying to squeeze every cent out of a farm that they could get."
   George and Mabel paid $5,400 an acre for their five while Marvin fumed.  He was not able to buy any portion of the farm.  "There goes more land outta corn and beans," he growled under his breath.  "Them dingy-dingy idiots are all gonna starve someday."

   George and Mabel knew exactly what they were going to do with their five acres.  They had planned their move for years while they saved their money.  They had been reading about managed rotational grazing, and although they really wished they could afford at least twenty acres to practice it on, they believed they could do it on five acres by making every square  foot of their land productive.  First they fenced off a quarter acre for their house along the road.  Then they put a fence around the rest of the property.  Their plot of land measured 544 feet deep by 400 feet wide and, give or take a little for around the house, that meant about 1,800 feet of perimeter fencing.  For that they chose permanent, woven wire fence.  Marvin, passing on the road, scowling at what he called "white fence lawn maniacs," was surprised.  Why were the dingy-dongies putting up a good farm fence around their place?  It wasn't long before the tractor farmer was cruising past the Cottagers' place every day, curious as to what was going on.  
   George and Mabel next built a little barn right in the center of the property that again mystified Marvin.  Then they funneled the rainwater that would wash off the roof into two big watering tanks, one on either side of the barn.  Marvin almost went into the ditch rubbernecking at the hard-working couple and their children.  The Cottagers divided the rest of the land into four more or less equal plots, each a little more than an acre in size.  All four accessed directly to the centrally located barn, and each water tank served two of the plots.
   The Cottagers decided to go to the extra expense of using cattle panels for the interior fence instead of electric fencing.  They felt that the cost of a little over $1,000 for the heavy wire panels was justified because as fencing they would last at least as long as the Cottagers and could be easily moved if they needed to change the number and size of the paddocks.  And they didn't have to worry about electric fences shorting out or shocking the neighbor children.  Marvin noted the lavish use of cattle panels and muttered as he drove by: "A fool and his money are soon parted".
   When the Cottagers planted fruit and nut trees around the fence line and sowed one of the fenced-in plots to improved bluegrass and white clover, Marvin smirked.  "All lawn and trees on land that oughtta be growing corn and beans."  When he saw the Cottagers lay out another of the plots in garden vegetables and corn, he frowned.  "Must be some of those pinko, commie, organic nuts."  But when the Cottagers broadcast oats, clover seed, and timothy on the other two plots, using only a garden tiller lightly over the plots before and after seeding, Marvin was totally mystified.  "What the h___ is going on here?" he muttered into the steering wheel.
   Soon a horse appeared on the acre of grass.  "Coulda guessed that." Marvin said, sneering.  "Urban horse nuts."  He was surprised when a calf, a flock of chickens, and a pig joined the horse.  But then he thought he had it figured out.
"Probably a petting zoo.  Be a hundred school kids swarmin' over the place every week.  At a dollar a head. Hmmm.  Why didn't I think of that?"
​

   He watched through the summer.  The Cottagers would move their animals from one plot to the next as the forage was eaten down and then back to the first one to start the rotation over again.  They made hay from one plot in June, mowing with a little sickle bar mower attachment on their garden tiller.  The used leaf rakes to windrow the hay and then forked it into their pickup and hauled it into the barn.  Marvin was amazed.
   It took him until August to figure out what the Cottagers were doing.  He had to admit that it was quite a trick.  Especially tricky was how after one of the plots of oats went to seed, the animals grazed it and the clover to the ground. As the clover came back up, oats seeds that had been knocked to the ground by the grazing animals sprouted and grew another crop for oats, too.  "By dingy dongy, did they do that on purpose?" he asked himself out loud.  "Might be these people know a thing or two."
   But it took him until December to get up enough nerve to stop and pull in the driveway.  He had spotted something really weird.  Parts of the garden plot had grown up in some very strange looking weeds, especially where they had dug the potatoes earlier and among the cornstalks, which the stupid organic nuts had not cut and fed to the animals.  The thing about the weeds was that they were very green in December.  
  George was on his way to the barn.  "Okay, okay, I give up," Marvin said, grinning ruefully.  "Just what the Sam Hill is that stuff out there?"
   George laughed.  "Turnips and kale.  Good winter grazing for the animals.  I was just about to turn them into there.   C'mon, I'll show you."  He led Marvin to the barn, opened the door that allowed access to the garden plot, and, to Marvin's amazement, the animals took to the green growth with great enthusiasm and then went into the dry brown standing sweet corn, gobbling up fodder and corn.  
   "Well, I'll be dingy dongied," Marvin said.  
   "I kind of bet your great-grandfather grazed turnips in the winter in the old days," George said.  "I know mine did."
   Marvin just kept staring at the steer tossing down turnips and gobbling corn fodder, and the hog, whapping down stalks of corn with a sideswipe of it's nose to get the ears.  In December.  His mind was racing.  Two Thousand acres of corn and turnips.  Hmmm.  Maybe feed out a couple thousand head of cattle over the winter without so much as running one gallon of gas through the corn combine.  Hmmmm. . . . . and then out loud:  "What you figure it would cost to fence a couple thousand acres?"  
   George laughed.  "I'd have to get out a pencil."
   I think I know what you are doing," Marvin said, changing the subject slightly.  He already knew about how much it would cost, and he wasn't about to do it.
"Next year, you'll move the garden to the plot where your animals have eaten the clover down to nothing, right?"  
   George nodded, appreciating his neighbors genuine interest.
   "And the one this year in garden you'll rototill a bit and plant to oats and red clover next spring."  
   Again George nodded.
   "And then the garden will move to the next plot the year after that, and then to the fourth, and start over again."
   "Not to the fourth," George said.  "That's permanent bluegrass, clover and fescue.  Will rotate just the other three plots."
   "Fescue?  Sounds like a disease."
   "It's a grass that'll stay kind of green and grazeable all winter.  I'm trying to work out a system where the animals feed themselves nearly year-round.  My motto is: "Don't do anything that you can get a cow to do for you."
   Marvin chuckled.  He thought he might get to like this pinko, commie, organic nut after all.  "I was wondering', he said.  "That's a mighty fine steer you got there.  Gonna butcher him yourself?"
   "Yep.  Actually more meat than we need.  Know anybody who would want to buy some of it?"
   "As a matter of fact, I do.  And, if you need any help with the butcherin', I can handle that, too.

​

Hope you enjoyed this little story.  Next post we'll explore the different mindsets of George and Marvin.  

Thanks again for taking the time to read.  

​Todd

The 2017 gardening season wrapped up today so I thought I'd give you a little rundown of how things went this year.  First of all I want to say that God gave us a wonder growing season this year.  There was always ample moisture but not to much moisture.  The grass never turned brown and we didn't have a break in the mowing so that tells you there was plenty of moisture, even during the hottest part of the summer.  Besides the cooperative weather there was two things that I was encouraged by this gardening season.  First of all, we had very little damage from the deer.  They did nibble off some newly planted raspberry plants early in the summer but after that they seemed to leave the garden alone.  I believe this was due to a few different factors.  
- The neighbors got a dog - that is the very best deer deterrent of all.
- I spread a repellent in the yard and close to the woods called "Repels All".  This is a commercial granular mixture that supposedly causes a mild irritation of the nasal passages for many animals.  They don't care for the smell so they go elsewhere.
- I made a motly looking scarecrow and most evenings when I was done the garden work I would hang my sweaty tee shirt and hat on the scarecrow for the night.  Seems to me that the human smell was a good deterrent.
- Prayer   Now I know that seems like an unusual pest repellent but I was encouraged to hear another farmer tell a similar story this summer.  Back in July I was at a two day farm conference.  One of the speakers I listened to was a blue berry grower from Kentucky.  When someone asked him what he does when the birds start devouring the blueberries, he said, "the first thing I do is pray! !  Now that was not the only thing he did but it was the first.  I tip my hat to him for that and tried to follow his advice the rest of the summer. 

The second thing I was encouraged by this growing season is my "new" gardening method.  For many years I, like most others, simply rototill the ground and then plant in rows.  This is ok but leaves a lot to be desired.  One of the biggest concerns in this type of garden is weed control.  The first half of the summer I can pretty well keep things under control but the second half it usually gets away from me.  So a couple years ago I tried a new approach.  I call it "mini raised bed gardening".  For every row I take treated 2 x 4's, stand them on edge and make a long frame (as long as the row).  Every 6 feet or so I put a 2 x 4 cross member to hold the long pieces together.  I lay this 2 x 4 frame on the ground, fill it with compost and plant my seeds into this "mini raised bed".  The frames are spaced approximately 32 inches apart.  The "walkway" in between the frames is then filled with wood chips (not sawdust).  This 3 to 4 inches layer of wood chips is pretty good at keeping the weeds at bay.  Not perfectly of course but a VERY significant difference from a traditional garden walkway which must be continually cultivated/weeded all summer long.  At this point all of my "mini raised beds" have been made out of treated 2 x 4's.  From now on I will be using 1 x 4 locust boards.  The locust is not injected with chemicals like the "treated" stuff and it will probably last longer.  You can't buy these at Elverson Supply but I know an Amish guy that has a sawmill that I can most likely get them from.

Overall the garden did well this year - the two biggest contributors to that were ample rain and ample compost.  The cucumbers, zucchini, peppers, green beans and sweet corn all did well.  I believe we harvested between 4 and 5 hundred ears of sweet corn from two different plantings.  The first picking all went in the freezer so we can have "fresh" sweet corn all year long.  The next picking distributed to family and friends for fresh eating.  As far as I am concerned there is nothing better than "homegrown" hamburgers and corn-on the-cob on a summer night! !  The only thing that did not do well this year was the tomatoes.  For some reason the plants started dying from the bottom up before the fruit (is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable?? You tell me) ripened.  Not sure what that was all about but I heard some others were having the same problem.  Fortunately we were still able to harvest what we needed for our year-long supply of tomato sauce

Another thing I like about my "mini raised beds" is that the compost or manure can be targeted specifically to where the plants are growing.  After the garden season the spent plants are removed, along with any residual weeds and fresh stable manure is then placed on top of the ground inside the mini raised bed frame.  This should only be done in the fall.  Fresh manure should never be applied to a garden in the spring or summer while plants are growing.  But applying in the fall serves two purposes.  It protects the soil through the fall, winter and spring and it has time to decompose and nourish the soil in preparation for the next crop.  This type of gardening focuses on "feeding" the soil" instead of the plant.  In contrast to this natural type of farming and gardening industrial farming/gardening focuses on feeding the plants the petroleum based chemical components they need.  This may (or may not) be ok
but it also does something else that is NOT ok - it makes war on the microbial, biological life of the soil.  Now I am not even close to being a soil scientist but it is no secret that a handful of healthy soil is FULL of millions upon millions of microscopic life forms that all contribute to growing healthy plants.  Interfering with, Interrupting and dismantling this biological activity is a mistake of gigantic proportions.  Many are fooled into thinking that chemical fertilizers "work' - well actually they do, for awhile.  The problem is that as chemical fertilizers are used the biological life of the soil decreases and more and more artificial fertilizers are needed to produce the same amount of yield.  You can see that the problem then begins to compound itself.  In effect, the crop becomes like a drug addict that needs more and more drugs to support his ever growing habit.  Unfortunately, this is but one of the problems of modern, industrial agriculture.  But all is not doom and gloom - many, many thousands of farmers have and are "opting out" of the industrial model, returning the the real "roots" of farming - a more natural, wholesome and wholeistic approach.

My brother-in-law Jon gave me this old agrarian tool the other day.  It is called a scythe.  Before the days of hay balers it was used to cut meadows and grasslands for harvesting forages for winter feeding to cattle. It's cousin the grain cradle was used to harvest the grain crops. A well tuned scythe with it's razor like edge and a well experienced scyther are a wonder to behold.  (I remember my grandfather using a scythe to keep the weeds down around his farm before the days of weedwackers.)  I have heard (or maybe read) that grass that is mowed with a scythe instead of a weedwacker or power mower will regrow nicer and more quickly due to the razor sharp edge that slices the blades of grass rather than beating them off with sheer force.  (Another example of "old time farming" being better than it's modern counterpart.)  I'm hoping that someday I'll have enough time to sharpen/refurbish this old tool and actually use it in my newly reclaimed pasture. Until then, it will hang off a beam in my barn awaiting it's rebirth.  Thanks Jon!

Thanks again for stopping by friends.  Agrarian blessings to you! !

Todd

Last month I posted a blog or two announcing that Marla and I would host a 
"Farm Day" here at Lil Bitty Farm on June 17.  It was designed to be a day of helping empower those who have an interest in gardening, back-yard farming/ homesteading.  Most plans do not turn out "as planned" and neither did this one.  There were some folks who expressed some casual interest but in the end the "as planned" Farm Day did not happen.  But that's okay - God knows what he is doing and I am undeterred in my passion for God-glorifying agriculture and backyard farming.  

Instead of the "as planned" Farm Day we had an "impromptu" Farm Day.  A very good friend called last week and asked if she could bring her grandchildren over to Lil Bitty Farm on Saturday morning for a little tour. Because I was already committed to a church deacon project that morning Marla served as the tour guide (and was assisted by the ex-marine).  At 10:00 am Lil Bitty Farm welcomed it's first Farm Day visitors - 12 grandchildren and 5 adults came cascading out of three vehicles.  (Someone was heard to be asking about the whereabouts of the elephants and had to be informed that this was a farm tour, not a zoo.)

The first order of business, before entering the pasture, was for the tour guide to instruct everyone to "watch your step when the chips are down"! !
Once inside the gate everyone was soon greeted by the two goats - Carmel and Thor.  C & T love to entertain visitors because they know that treats (Honey Nut Cherrios being their favorite) usually accompany the visitors.  I didn't take long for C & T to wipe out all the treats.  Once they did the group moved inside the barn to take a look at the pigs.  Everyone always wants to know the names of the pigs and these visitors were no different.  I usually have three pigs and every year I name them the same thing - Bacon, Pork Chop and Ham Bone.  But this year I decided to buy the 4th pig so I needed to come up with a new name.  I opted for Droopy since his one ear is just that.  Just looking at the pigs is not terribly exciting so the tour guide asked everyone if they wanted to feed the pigs.  I have two antique corn shellers  (only one is in working condition at this time) so Marla got the kids involved in hand-cranking the corn sheller.  Everybody took their turn at helping to prepare a little snack for the piggies.

Next the group moved out behind the barn to have a look at the meat chickens,
laying hens and the cow.  Here they would "feed" the chickens and Maybell the beef heifer.  But I think the highlight of the farm tour for the kids was when they were given the opportunity to help gather the eggs from the laying hens.  The highlight of the farm tour for the adults was the door prizes - a dozen fresh eggs from the hen house and a fresh lettuce from the garden.

No, the scheduled Farm Day did not turn out as planned but the "unplanned" Farm Day turned out pretty good.  I'm glad that these kids had the opportunity to do some farm things that they do not normally get a chance to do.  Who knows what kind of "seeds" were planted this day.  Maybe some of them will want to know the wonder and beauty of their own garden someday.  Maybe some will want to have their own fresh eggs someday.  Maybe one or two will want to engage in the fascinating world of the backyard farmer.  Maybe some, though unable to have their own farm, will see the importance and value of buying natural, healthy food directly from the farm.  Maybe some will eventually come to see the benefits of eschewing the industrial food system with all its chemicals, synthetics, gmo's and other nonsensical raz-ma-taz.  Hopefully all will come to know the beauty and importance of a close connection to the natural world as part of having a close connection to the One who created the natural world.

                           OF WEEDING AND WATERING

Tonight after church I came home and changed into my farmer clothes.  I went down to the barn to do the evening chores and then back up to the garden to give it a little attention.  The weeding is pretty well under control but wanted to do another round.  It's best to do it once or twice a week instead of letting it go to long and then "paying the piper".  My primary weeding tool is the little contraption pictured in the main heading of this blog.  I love weeding with this tool.  Instead of weeding being slow backbreaking work I can weed at the speed that I walk.  Two passes per row is about what it takes.  I can weed the whole garden in less than 20 minutes.  Another reason I enjoy this weeding operation is that I am weeding with the same piece of equipment that my grandfather and great-grandfather used anywhere from 100 to 150 years ago.
This gives me great satisfaction.  After the weeding is done I turn to watering.  Watering is another favorite activity especially when it is a lovely, cool evening which it was tonight.  What makes it so enjoyable is that I can enjoy the simple pleasures of the farm while I water.  I watch Lil Bitty Kitty act as the guardian of the farm and chase a cottontail into the woods.  She returns a few minutes later playing with a field mouse.  I listen to the tinkle of the goat bells as they play "king of the mountain" on a big rock in the pasture.  I watch the first light show of the summer put on by the lightning bugs.  And most satisfying of all, I watch Maybell graze contentedly under the big Walnut tree.  Yes, the simple pleasures of the farm are what draw me in and keep me coming back for more.  After dark I close up the chicken coops and head back to the house.  The last thing I do is take off my sweaty tee-shirt and hang it on the fence post close to where the deer come out of the woods at night to attack the garden.  This little tactic SEEMS to be working for now - of course that could all change tonight, you never know.  

Thanks again for taking the time to read of my rural ramblings.
Agrarian blessings to you my friends.

​Todd

It's been a good spring growing season.  Ample rain and cooler than normal temperatures have helped everything sprout nicley - seems that all the world (at least this corner of the world) is emerald green right now.  As you can see in the picture above the onions, lettuce and radishes are all up (and this is the second planting) and prospering.  The asparagus has been up for almost a month and it seems like I pick a good handful of it every (or every other) day.

Pictured above is the main part of the garden.  From left to right I'll go through what is planted here.  Far left is a row of raspberries (15 plants).  I bought these from an Amish nursery in New York state.  These were planted in April and it was touch and go for a few of them for awhile, but they all survived and seem to be thriving at this time.  I'll need to get three more plants to finish out the row next year.  The next row is peppers, cucumbers and zucchini.  The cucumbers are planted beneath the wire trellis.  Cucumbers like to climb and it keeps the fruit off the ground and encourages them to grow straighter than if they just lay on the ground.  Next row is all tomatoes.  Varieties are Grape, Roma, Amish Paste, Brandywine and Big Boy.  Next is two rows of green beans (Jade) and then 4 rows of sweet corn (Providence).  I still have some garden space left so I will probably plant another two or three rows of sweet corn in a few weeks.  If I end up having to much sweet corn I can either sell some or give some to the pigs or both.  

You will notice that some of the rows are planted in what I call a "mini raised bed".  In between these "mini raised beds" are wood chips.  The point of the wood chips (about 3" thick) is to suppress the weeds and the point of the "mini raised beds" is to concentrate the compost in close proximity to the plant.  I am hoping that this experiment results in less weeds and healthier vegetable plants.

The other part of Lil Bitty Farm that is really green these days is the new pasture.  Back in March I posted a blog with pictures of Henderson and I seeding the new pasture.  What was once all brown dirt is now a nice green carpet.  It is not as thick and full as I'd like it to be in some places but overall I am pleased with the new growth.  I'll probably do another seeding in early September to help fill in some of the thinner parts.  Under normal conditions this will be enough time for this new seed to sprout and get established before winter sets in. 
​ 

Other parts of the farm are moving along nicely as well.  The chicks are here
(50 of them) and growing.  (Although Henderson doesn't look terribly excited to hold or pet them.)  Four little piggies arrived a few weeks ago.  They are acclimated to their new home and thriving.   The chicks will only be here for 10 weeks, the pigs until late October.  

In my last blog I announced that Lil Bitty Farm will host it's first "Farm Day" on June 17.  Please go back to the last blog to get the details for the day.  Sign-up deadline is June 10.  Please contact me via Facebook/message or email if you would like to be a part of this special day.  (classiclinesww@gmail.com).  Please forward this info to anyone you think may be interested - Thank You!!

Thanks again for stopping by to see what's new down on the farm.  Blessings to you my friends.

​Todd

LIL BITTY FARM is proud to announce it's first annual LIL BITTY FARM DAY!
On Sat. June 17, 2017 Marla and I will host our very first farm day right here at Lil Bitty Farm in Elverson PA.  

The purpose behind the farm day is to encourage, help and empower anyone who is interested in learning more about vegetable gardening and backyard farming/homesteading.  Do you have the desire to begin growing some of your own food but don't really know how to get started?  Interested in raising animals on a very small acreage?  Want to learn how to raise you own chickens for eggs or meat?  How can I begin to build healthy soil?  These topics and so much more will be covered at the Farm Day.

The agenda for the day will look something like this:
9:00 - 10:00   Welcome / The Dominion-Stewardship Mandate / Building Healthy Soil
10:00 - 12:00   In the garden: exploring different types of vegetable garden models, different vegetable crops and taking a look at compost.
12:00 - 1:00  Lunch will be provided
1:00 - 3:00  In the barnyard learning about raising chickens, cows, pigs and goats.  Walk the pasture to learn about different types of pasture grasses.

Don't be fooled into thinking that this Farm Day is for people with "lots" of acres.  Lil Bitty Farm consists of only 2 1/2 acres yet we have a fairly large garden and raise all our own chicken, beef and pork right here.  This Farm Day is geared primarily at those who have anywhere from 1/4 acre to 10 or 15 acres and want to make it wonderfully productive.   Even if you own 0 acres but are interested in learning you are welcome to join us.

The cost for the day is $25.  This includes lunch and a door prize for every person that attends - one dozen Lil Bitty Farm fresh eggs! !  Registration is limited to 15 people and closes on June 10.  If you would like to register you can Facebook "message" me or email me at:   classiclinesww@gmail.com
If you know someone who might be interested in attending this event please pass this information along to them.  Thank you! !
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Looking forward to seeing you at LIL BITTY FARM DAY 2017

Agrarian Blessings to you my friends,

​Todd

I love my job, custom woodworking, but I love Saturday's too.  (Who doesn't?)  A little change of pace does the mind, heart and body a world of good.  I didn't set the alarm for Saturday morning but my internal alarm goes off a little after 6 am.  I snooze a little but roll out of the sack around 6:30.  I dress and go to the barn to do the chores - I'm not in a hurry this morning.  I don't have to leave the house for another hour.  I go through the usual routine; feed and water the chickens, feed and water the beef heifer and the same with the goats - yes, goats! !  This week I bought two goats.  The idea behind the goats is for them to eat the WEEDS and the heifer to eat the grass.  The goats are having a little trouble getting with the program though.  But it's probably not totally their fault.  I bought them from a petting zoo where there were no weeds to eat and they became accustomed to being fed by zoo keepers and zoo patrons.  But they seem to be coming around to the realization that they are now going to need to work for their keep.

After chores I head off to a church deacon project.  Two other guys from church and myself are helping an elderly widow this morning.  She has a few items around her house that are beyond her so we are there to lend a hand.  It's a good trade.  We bless her with our muscles and she blesses us with a meal.  A hearty breakfast casserole, sausage, fresh fruit and an assortment of baked goods for desert.  After that breakfast I wasn't hungry for another ten hours! !  

When I arrived home from the deacon project Kyle and I get to work moving a pile of wood chips.  I'm trying something new in the garden this year.  In the walking path between the rows I am putting a 3" - 4" layer of wood chips.  The hope is that this will help suppress most of the weeds that normally grow there. 
This is another experiment so we'll see how it works.  (Probably an even better approach would have been to lay black plastic on the ground and then cover that with the wood chips - oh well, there is always something that can be improved on! !)

After moving wood chips Kyle did the mowing and the weed-whacking.  It's nice to have the help of the ex-marine now that he is home again.  He doesn't pay any rent so he "works it off".  While he was busy with that I planted another round of lettuce, spinach and radishes in the raised-bed garden.  

By this time it was mid-afternoon and pretty warm outside so I headed inside to take a one hour siesta.  By 4:30 I was up and outside again - on to the next project.  This one not so pleasant but certainly necessary.  The small chicken  coop needed to be cleaned out and readied for the next batch of 50 chicks that will be arriving Wed or Thur of this week.  These will be meat chickens that will find their way into our freezer for the year.  Now that the perimeter fence is up these guys will be "free-ranging" from about 4 or 5 weeks old until they meet their demise at about 9 - 10 weeks of age.

After the chicken coop is cleaned out I return to the barn to do evening chores and collect the eggs - 5 dozen today.  On my way to the house I decide to cut some asparagus, pull some weeds, water the raspberry plants and the newly seeded raised bed.  Finally I call it quits after I hoe lightly the compost in the new mini raised beds.  I walk into the house as the last light of day fades.
Marla is in OH this weekend with some girlfriends so I'm on my own for supper.
Fortunately she has made me some stuff I can heat up in the microwave while she is away.  

With supper over around 8:45 I go to the couch and prop my feet up on the walnut and tiger maple bench I made a few years ago.  Normally I read Lancaster Farming on Saturday evenings but tonight I get my Bible out and peruse the first few chapters of Genesis.  I enjoy reading the accounts of God giving Adam the command to subdue and rule over all of creation (Gen. 1:28).  Some believe this gives mankind the license to use and abuse God's creation in any way they chose.  But of course Gen. 1:28 is not the end of all God has to say about our relationship to this physical world.  He follows this command up a few verses later with another directive.  In Gen. 2:15 He tells Adam (and all mankind) HOW to subdue and rule when He explains to Adam that He put him into the Garden of Eden to "cultivate it and keep it".  These are not words of harsh domination but are words that reflect careful stewardship of all that God has made for us to enjoy.  These are not trite words, nor are they words to be ignored as irrelevant by 21st century mankind.  These are words to be reckoned with and lived out every day.  May God grant us the grace needed to rightly live out the Dominion/Stewardship mandate He spoke into existence many millennia ago. 

Around 11:15 I head up to bed.  It's been a good day.  It started by serving a sister in need, was followed by a lot of "by the sweat of your brow" (Gen. 3:19) and ended with some quality time in God's Word.  It's been "my kind of day"! !

Stay tuned folks.  BIG NEWS IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER! ! !

Thanks for stopping by.  Many agrarian blessings to you my friends.

​Todd

 

HAPPY EASTER everyone! !  I am so very thankful that my Savior and Lord Jesus Christ took my (our) sin upon himself and paid the penalty of death on my (our) behalf.  And to seal the deal and verify that he indeed did what he said he would do He conquered death by rising from the grave! !  THANK YOU JESUS!

It's been more than a month since my last post so I'll try and give you a little run
down of what's been happening around here.  Last time I told you about how the boys helped clear "the jungle" and about the fencing contractor I hired to fence in the little pasture area I have around the Lil Bitty barn.  A few days after the fencing was complete I began to broadcast the seed onto the bare ground.  The hand-cranked seeder I used once belonged to "Pappy", my life-long farming grandfather.  I remember driving his tractor across a freshly tilled field while he sat on the back and cranked the seeder.  Below is my helper, grandson Henderson, helping me scatter the clover, rye grass, meadow fescue, orchard grass and timothy grass seed.

Other Lil Bitty Farm activities I've been up to this past month are as follows:
- forking and hauling manure has been my primary activity lately.  I don't have any "big equipment" so it's all hand work.  And now that I'm not a "spring chicken"
anymore I accomplish this task by pacing myself, about 3 loads per evening is about good for the old geezer.  It's not particularly pleasant work but it's good exercise and I try and make it enjoyable by envisioning lush gardens and pasture as a result of God's natural fertilizer.  I wish everyone had the privilege of scooping a little poop.  It helps us stay in touch with the natural life cycles that God established many millennia ago -life, growth, death, decay and repeat.
- I planted 17 raspberry plants.  Most are doing good but two are struggling and one was chewed at the top and then pulled out of the ground by a deer.  I didn't see it right away and so it was pretty dried out from laying on top of the ground.  I replanted and have been watering it but I don't think it is going to make it.  Those who read this blog regularly may remember that last year I had deer issues in the garden as well.  My plan this year is to spread liberal doses of human hair (not mine, I don't have any to spare! !) to try and deter the deer with human odor.  Marla's hairdresser is saving it for me - Thanks Sharon! !
- Marla helped me plant part of the raised-bed the other day.  That consists of two kinds of lettuce, spinach, radishes and onions.  We'll plant more of the same in another two weeks, that way the harvest is more extended and not over all at once.  
- the asparagus is up and we are starting to pick it.  I wish you could hear Henderson try and say "asparagus" - cute as the dickens.

But the most exciting news at Lil Bitty Farm is that Maybell is out of confinement and out on fresh grass.  i've waited a long time to see this sight on my own property! !  Somehow it settles my spirit to watch contented cattle grazing peacefully.  But this is not primarily about backyard therapy. Her primary purpose is to some day grace our dining room table. Raising my own food in my own backyard helps my family appreciate where their food comes from, what it takes to put food on the table and the natural rhythms of life that God has created to provide for those He has created.  I count myself as very blessed to be able to provide our own pork, chicken, beef and many vegetables from our small 2 1/2 acre Lil Bitty Farm.  Thank you Father! !

Here's something else I've been up to this winter.  I made some new cabinets to go along with some new appliances that we purchased this winter.  We don't go out to eat very often and the lovely Mrs. Frey spends a lot of time in the kitchen making a lot of GOOD home cooked meals so I wanted to upgrade things to help make life a little easier for her.   

Stay tuned - much more news to come.  If all goes as planned 4 pigs, 2 goats and 50 chicks will soon be here.  

Thanks again for being a part of this "Lil" on-line community.  I count it a privilege that you take your precious time to read these humble words.   Hope that you are somehow blessed and encouraged by stopping by.

Agrarian blessings to you my friends! !

​Todd

In October of 1995 Marla, the boys and I moved onto this property here in Chester County, Pennsylvania.  The 2 1/2 acre property and house were a fixer-upper for sure.  The weeds, in what was suppose to be the lawn, were three feet high, the scrubs were higher than the porch roof, the roof leaked, the basement frequently got water in it and the mold was so thick on the kitchen cabinets that my Mom actually thought they were black!  And these were just a small sampling of the challenges we faced in binging this house and property back to respectability in the 21 years that we have been here.  During this time about two-thirds of the acreage has been cleaned up and receives regular mowing, trimming and cultivating (in the flower and vegetable garden).  But there has always been this other one-third of the property that has been a veritable jungle of brambles, brush, vines and thorns - until now! ! !  A few days ago The Big Dawg borrowed a small machine from a friend of his and he went to work on cleaning up "the jungle".  About 8 hours later nary a bush is to be seen.  The only thing left of "the jungle" is some nice Walnut and Ash trees and two big brush piles that await some diesel fuel and a match. What a difference! Watching "the jungle" disappear has truly been a monumental moment that has been a long time coming! !

The purpose for all this work is so that I can have the animals out on pasture instead of cooped up in the barn all the time.  The fencing contractor will complete his work in a day or two and then it will be time to plant the pasture grasses - at just the right time - the middle of March.  For the past six months I have been reading up on what kind of pasture grasses to plant.  The laymans research I have done points to the fact that clovers (both white and red) are the foundation of a quality pasture.  So I will be planting 25lbs of white and red clover and 25 lbs of a grass mixture - 30% perennial ryegrass, 30% meadow fescue, 25%orchard grass and 15% Kentucky bluegrass.  I have no "farm equipment" so all this seed will be broadcast by hand on bare ground that has only been "prepared" by the machine that did the land clearing.  No plowing and no tilling as on a conventional farm - this is all a very low-tech, low budget approach.   

All the spring work is just around the corner.  A partial listing of what is in front of me this spring is. . . hang the gates on the openings of the new fence, plant the pasture grasses, haul LOTS of manure, make compost piles, plant 15 new raspberry bushes, cover the garden pathways with wood chips, rebuild some of my aging raised-beds, plant the raised beds, till and plant the garden, start 4 new feeder pigs and start a new batch of meat chickens just to name a few items.  This should keep me out of trouble for awhile! !

Thanks again for reading and a special THANKS to my two boys for helping out the Old Man again! !  Love ya guys! !

​Todd

As you probably know winter is the "down time" on the farm.  On a "real" farm there is still plenty to do but at Lil Bitty Farm not much is happening except keeping up with the daily chores (which I spoke about last time) and ordering some seeds and raspberry plants for the coming season.  So when there is not a lot to write about from the homestead I like to turn to other sources to fill in.  Today I'd like to share a few paragraphs from one of my favorite agrarian authors, Gene Logsdon.  Gene passed away within this past year but his writings are still thought provoking, humorous, challenging and heartfelt.  The following paragraphs are taken from his book LIVING AT NATURE'S PACE, the chapter title is "Green Fields, Red Ink".  These few lines are a microcosm of his writings - showing the up's and down's, joys and sorrows of real farm life.  And he doesn't shy away from writing about the cultural issues and government farm policies that have helped shape his and his family's farm life through the years.  

As a boy, some forty years ago (this was written in 1986), I could walk to Upper Sandusky (Ohio), five miles from our farm, and never leave the land of my maternal kinfolks except for one small stretch.  Rall family land.  Good only for raising Ralls and Canadian thistles, people once said - a statement Uncle Carl loved to repeat bemusedly after his farm became the envy of any farmer with an eye to profit.  There were sixteen Rall farms, if I remember, fourteen of them contiguous, averaging  about 120 acres each in size.  They had been divided up out of the acreage amassed by Great-grandfather and his four sons in an earlier era of big farming fever.  I could walk, hunt, swim, fish, or play over that whole domain with my cousins and never fear a NO TRESPASSING sign, something I took for granted until many years later in Philadelphia, where I learned only the very rich could afford such a luxury.  On those farms, about seventy-five of us, the fourth generation, were raised.  We, our parents, and grandparents formed the society I knew.  We played, worked, schooled and churched together, and though there were ceaseless jealousies among us  and a certain narrow-minded disdain for people who lived differently - or even farmed differently - it was a securer life than most of us can hand our grandchildren today.  And in the sense that ignorance can truly be bliss, a happier one.  The self-reliant traditions by which the Ralls lived and farmed were more closely akin to the nineteenth century than to the twentieth century.  The Depression meant little to most of them - the farms either paid for or the notes carried comfortably by "Pop".  Everything else we needed, the farms provided.  And then there was always softball and Uncle Carl's fiddle. 

The striking difference between that time and now is that today on the farm we anticipate change, are even surprised sometimes when its is not as cataclysmic as we feared it would be.  But back then, no one suspected that in the twenty years between 1930 and 1950 the old Rall way of life would undergo more change than it has in the preceding one hundred years.  Pistons would replace horses, electronics would replace thought.  That earlier innocence brought tranquility to our lives, turned our focus inward.  In the assurance of stability, false as it was, the Ralls generated an amazing cornucopia on their little farms.

What I remember is farmsteads absolutely burgeoning with the thrum and cadence of life.  Not only a passel of children underfoot, but a barnyard crammed with cows, horses, pigs, sheep, chickens, ducks, geese, cats, dogs, bees.  From the woodland and the fields came the meadowlark symphonies, bluebird poetry, owl nocturnes, and the thrill of the hunt - pheasant, rabbit, squirrel, raccoon, opossum, skunk, groundhog.  There were orchards groaning with fruit, truck patches laden with potatoes and strawberries, kitchen gardens overflowing with vegetables, smokehouses full of meat, fish in the creek and the horse-watering tank, pigeons in the hayloft.  Every nook and cranny of the farm pulsated with life.  Not only  did this life press us with an eternal round of chores, but it also provided a kind of circus atmosphere of entertainment.  On top of it all, peculiar (perhaps) to Rall farms (the other characteristics were part of most farms then) was a propensity for singing. Above the cackles, mooing and squeals of the barnyard, a visitor might be startled to hear a bellow of human song, or a more feminine lilt from the kitchen.  I often wonder now; if our lives were as drab and endlessly toilsome as the sociologists would have a modern world believe of farm life, why were my parents always singing? 

The singing began to stop when the hucksters followed the plush prosperity after WW II to the farm, selling farmers a life like their "urban counterparts" supposedly led.  (A farmer no more has an urban counterpart than a doctor has a crane operator counterpart.)  As farmers expanded their acreage in the promise of living like urban counterparts, their young people left the farms and the land to become urban counterparts.  Great-grandfather Rall begot four sons who farmed.  Of their offspring, sixteen took to the land.  These sixteen begot seventy-five children, but by 1975 only eight were farming Rall land.  Three of the farms were sold out of the family, a travesty of the old Rall philosophy.  One farmstead was abandoned, and several rented out.  When the livestock were sold, the barns stood empty or were used to store expensive machinery needed scarcely a month out of the year.  Groves and orchards were cut down to make way for more cash grain, the plow licking closer each year to the dooryard in a piteous vain effort to wring a few more dollars worth of grain from the land.  (And this all according to USDA doctrine that rung through the land at this time and since).  Who needed orchards and gardens, anyway, when Kroger was there, already serving the urban counterparts?  And then Uncle Carl, like my mother a few years earlier, fell out of his empty haymow, broke his neck and died.

By 1975 the transition seemed complete.  My father walked an empty, desolate barnyard, listening for the long-ago songs of life.  He heard only a loose sheet of tin roofing, curled over, scratching itself distractedly in the wind.  He cried.
He cried because he no longer had the energy  to keep the barn full  of life himself.  He cried because none of his children were willing to fill it full of life again.  He cried because he could not die here on the farm amidst life, as his forebears had been able to do, but might soon, too soon, have to shuffle off to the county home like his urban counterparts.


I find it interesting that the "fingerprints" of official USDA farm policy is all over the decline of these Rall (and so many other) family farms.  
- agricultural "change" was supposedly a "good thing" to be embraced, but in the end the primary change for millions of farm families was the change of moving off the farm into the suburbs and the cities.
- the "get big or get out" policy that the USDA has spouted for decades encourages farmers to go into debt for buying land and expensive machinery, work longer hours in fields farther and farther away from home and put a higher value on their neighbors land than on their neighbor.  
- cultural under-tows were/are like powerful oceanic tides drawing the next generation away from their home farms so they can have "more opportunities" (being interpreted. . . make more money).  And of course, implied in the "more opportunities" is notion of "more important things to do".  
-  the "farming-as-a-business" mentality the USDA pushes sucked the life and the joy (singing) right out of these family farms.  When you do something because you love it the joy and the singing are there.  When you do something because because it's your "business" the monetary rewards soon loose their luster and the daily grind is just that.

The good news is that out of the ashes of the farm crisis that the USDA helped to create is rising a new kind of farming.  That is why you are hearing about things like "organic, all-natural, pasture-raised, chemical-free this and that.  
Farmers are beginning to realize anew that growing healthy land, healthy animals and healthy farms is more rewarding than just doing "whatever" to increase their bottom line.  Another good sign is the number of young people who are looking to get into farming.  And often these folks are not even from farm families or backgrounds.  The bad part about that is that they have absolutely no experience so the learning curve is extremely steep for them.  The good part about this is they have fewer preconceived notions about "how" to farm and are willing to break out of the conventional mold and try things that are not the status quo.

Many blessings to you my friends.  Stay well and warm! !  

Todd   

This day begins like most others, I go downstairs and watch a little news and weather while I eat breakfast, then some spiritual nourishment from my Heavenly Father as we spend some quiet moments together in His Word and in prayer.  After that the first order of the day is morning chores.  A thin sliver of pink peaks over the eastern horizon and through the naked treetops as I walk to the barn.  A fast moving "clipper" system sends some snow flakes gently to the earth.  It's late January but the ground is not frozen nor is there any snow on the ground.  But the ground is firmer this morning, starting to dry out a little after a run of rainy days.

The first one to greet me, before I enter the barn, is the cat, Lil Bitty Kitty.
She lays right in front of the barn door and rolls over and over on her side waiting for me to open the door.  As I step into the darkness of the barn I am engulfed by the earthy smells of hay, straw, feed and manure all mingled as one.. The inhabitants begin to stir.  The heifer rises from her bed and the rooster, not really crowing, makes some cackling noises as if to say, "I heard you come in the door".  

The first to receive my full attention is the beef heifer, May Bell (or as Henderson says, "Mabel").  May Bell has only been at Lil Bitty Farm for two weeks so she is still very shy.  She is a cross-bred, which means she is a mixture of two breeds.  Her mama was an Angus and daddy a Hereford.   I open her pen door, grab her water bucket and go back outside to empty what remains in the bucket and refill it with fresh water from the newly installed yard hydrant.  I put the full bucket of water back in her pen and then head to the feed box where I dish out a generous portion of feed for her and pour it into her feed trough.  Then check her hay supply.  If she needs more I cut open a fresh bale of alfalfa hay and fill her hay rack.  Lastly, I scoop the messes that have been left behind since the last time I've been there. 

Next I move on to the chickens.  Same routine, clean out the waterer and fill with fresh water.  Generous helpings of chicken feed in the feed trough and then a little bonus - I throw a handful of "scratch grain" onto the floor for them to scratch and peck at.  Funny how they would much rather scratch and peck for their food on the floor of the barn instead of eat "clean" feed out of their feed trough.  Then I open the little trap door to allow them access to fresh air and sunlight for the day.  This is Saturday morning so I have a little extra time so I do a "chore" I don't particularly enjoy - cleaning out their nesting boxes (where they lay their eggs). Necessary tools for this job are a good pair of gloves and a hand scraper.  Yeah, it's dirty and smelly but once the old stuff is gone I fill the nest boxes with clean, fresh straw - sort of like a fresh set of sheets on the bed for them.

The pigs aren't here right now, they will arrive in April or May.  If they were here they would be starting to squeal about now.  Funny how they don't make any noise til I start working on preparing their particular rations, then the squealing begins.  The whole time I am moving about my routine the cat is either rubbing up against my leg or just "underfoot" in general, incessantly reminding me not to forget her and her ration.  I don't want her to go hungry but I want her to be a little hungry as motivation to continue doing what she was brought here to do - control the rodent population.  And she has done a very good job of that I must say. Occasionally I will inadvertently step on her foot and she lets out a sound that I have no idea how to discribe.  The whole routine takes me about 15 minutes if I move with purpose, if I decide to dwaddle a little (which I like to do from time to time) it may take 25 or 30 minutes.

If I am working from home (which I usually am, in my woodshop) I will go down to the barn after lunch to gather the eggs.  An average daily collection is approximately 4 dozen per day, some days more, some days less.

Just before supper time I repeat the above process.   After supper I clean the eggs, crate them up and put them in the basement refrigerator awaiting future egg customers..   After dark I will return to the barn again to make sure all is well for the night and close the little chicken trap door so no marauding critters can enter the chicken coop during the night.  I enjoy this little nightly trek (assuming the weather is cooperative), especially when it is full moon - and on the way back to the house I look up into the star-filled night and thank my Father for another good day here at Lil Bitty Farm.

To most people "chores" are a chore, but not for me, I rather like it.  I like caring for the critters that God has entrusted to my care -  maybe because it is a daily reminder of how my Heavenly Father cares for me.  Every morning He comes to me with fresh nourishment.  His love, grace, peace and faithfulness nourish and fill my soul each new day.  And He also "cleans up my daily messes" when I come to Him in repentance.  Thank you Father for this little farm that teaches me so much about you and your goodness to me.

Many agrarian blessings to you my friends.  Stay well and warm.

​Todd