Laughing Owl Farm

Moving Fence

Dean Mullis — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 03:08:23 +0000

We have rented an acre of pasture land from my dad that directly adjoins us. We had to move some perimeter fence line. It was a one day job on paper that took 4 actual days to complete,

My dad and my brother Mark set the wooden line posts, my dad and I installed the fence, metal t-posts, and hung the gate.

I had forgotten how much walking is involved building a fence. Pulling wire, and walking back and forth from the pick-up truck to get fence staples, insulators. and tools.

I had planned on knocking out the fence by lunch on Thursday. My dad came to help and it was finished at 4:30 pm.

It would of went faster if we had used new stuff, but all the wire, t-posts, and insulators were re-used.

New Ground

Dean Mullis — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 03:07:36 +0000

With the fence move complete, Jenifer and I went out Friday morning with a fist full of orange flag wire stakes and laid it off on how we will work that ground. I spent Friday sub-soiling the new ground and Saturday, doing the initial tillage.

Farm Unfolded

Dean Mullis — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 03:06:57 +0000

Our farm space has always seemed cramped. Our big 310′ X 60′ field ended abruptly at a fence line, followed by a grassed waterway, which we run chickens on and then another fence line of my dad’s cattle pasture.Adding the additional acre of my dad’s pasture land was like opening a book. The left page was our existing land and the new ground was the right hand page. I guess the spine and binder of this book would be the grass waterway.

The chicken wagon is in the grass waterway, there was fence about 30 feet in front of it and a fence 30 feet behind it. The tilled up land behind the chicken tractor is an acre of new ground that has been in pasture for decades.

It is hard to describe how awesome it is to double your acreage with close access to water lines

Spicy Greens and Arugula in Full Flower

Dean Mullis — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 03:04:46 +0000

We had hoped to get a spring cutting off our fall planted arugula and spicy greens mix but when the weather warmed up a bit a couple of weeks ago, they got randy and went into reproductive mode. The bumble and honey bees are digging it because there is little else in bloom. White blooms are arugula, yellow is the mustards in the spicy greens mix.

Sunday’s 1.5 inches of Rain

Dean Mullis — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 03:01:49 +0000

We had planned to plant and transplant this week but Sunday’s rain set us back. We are thankful we did not experience a tornado like folks in Gaston and Rowan counties did.

Levi Runs Away From Home

Dean Mullis — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 03:01:03 +0000

All the way to the greenhouse. Ellie and Levi’s chore is to gather the eggs and clean them every day for the last 1.5 years and they forget every day.

Sunday, it was about dark. Ellie was at church practicing for the Good Friday play and Levi was playing video games in the basement. I barked at him from the top of the stairs “EGGS”. He went and gathered them and then came back and started writing . I thought it was a reminder to remember to gather eggs or an apology for forgetting to gather eggs. Nope. This is what it said.

Dear Mommy + Daddy, I’ve decided to go to the greenhouse until someone comes over and convince me to come back. p.s. It is about the stupid eggs! sincerely, your son Levi

I gave him a 1/2 hour and went over to the greenhouse. Told him I understood, cleaning eggs sucks. Boring work. I offered that he could help us in the garden for two hours each day as soon as he got off the bus. He declined. I said, well, you can tote two 5 gallon buckets of feed each to the pullets and laying hens each day. He said he was not strong enough. A bucket of feed weighs 30 lbs so two would weigh almost as much as Levi. I told him that was not a problem, he could use multiple buckets and make 5-6 trips. He decided that he would stick with gathering and cleaning eggs because it was something he was kind of good at…

Happy Music: Roll Away the Dew

Dean Mullis — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 03:00:02 +0000

Roll Away The Dew

New Life on the Farm

Dean Mullis — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 02:58:21 +0000

She sat on her nest patiently for 3 weeks, only getting off of it for about 30 minutes a day to eat and drink. Now she is teaching them what to eat, how to take dust baths, etc.

Gretchen’s Nest

Dean Mullis — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 02:54:18 +0000

Gretchen made a nest in the north shed of the barn in some gravel. We tried to move her to a dog house with straw when she had three eggs. She did not go for it. She now has about 8 eggs but only sets on them for a couple hours in the morning.

From what we understand, geese and turkeys are different from chickens. They lay eggs, go about there business, and when they decide go broody a week or two later, then they start setting on their nests full time. Chicken mommas set on their eggs from day one and go into almost a trance. Doing with out food or water for days.

We Hope Gretchen’s Eggs are Fertilized

Dean Mullis — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 02:47:02 +0000

Frick and Frack are more interested in each other and don’t pay Gretchen much attention.