Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Farm Happenings...

Our goat herd's kidding season turned out pretty well!  First of all, we didn't even know if we had any goats pregnant.  We had let the bucks in only once, but it turned out to be enough! We had 3 goats that gave birth…2 of our Alpines, and our baby from last year, Jesse!  Here she is, her first time kidding, to a buck who we named Joseph.  This was the first time we had to step in and help with the birth itself…I'm very grateful we were there and noticed what was going on.   The kids watched it all!
 So sweet!
 Joseph is a favorite!
There were 4 kids born, but we sold one Alpine buckling.  Joseph, as cute as he is, will be sold as well.  We will keep the 2 girls to breed and eventually milk.  Tamar is on the right, and Miriam in the middle.
 One of our bee colonies had 3 swarms within a week! The first swarm landed low in our grapevine, and we were able to capture it.  We simply put a box under it, sprayed the swarm with sugar water, then gave the vine a really good shake that made the bees fall into the box.
 The following day after we had assembled a new brood box for the swarm we opened the box, put it upside down on top of the brooder and let them move themselves.  It was a success!  

 We have a barred rock laying hen who has gone broody…she is sitting on 18 eggs!!  Hopefully they will hatch and our flock will grow!
 Back in March we started some seeds inside.  Everything has been transplanted into the ground now.  This year we added rabbit droppings to the soil to boost plant growth.
 Peas already grasping the trellis handmade by Megan and her friends, Taylor and Olivia!  They put it together and planted the entire garden for us on a service day for school!…thanks girls!  Now please come help me weed it all!
 Cait's onions!
 Ben's corn!
 Gracyn's tomatoes!
 We have also planted…
potatoes
okra
spaghetti squash
zucchini
peppers
green beans
cucumbers

Meet Cotton, one of 2 great pyranese livestock herding dogs we have now!  Our other one is her daughter, Candy.  We've lost several laying hens to foxes and coyotes…these dogs will put an end to that!!
 We currently have 2 batches of pastured broilers growing…first batch will be processed this month, and the next in June.  We will continue to process once a month, each month, thru October.    To place an order contact us through email or Facebook or give us a call!
kornerstonefarms@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/kornerstonefarms
754-581-3711

1 comment:

  1. So cool the kids got to watch the birth!!!!! We have a broody hen too - hoping for lots of baby girl hens!!!!!

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