Apple Trees A-Blooming!

Well, it doesn't look like I'll be making it to the Hamilton market today. Been down for a couple of weeks now. Doc says it's nothing to serious. Got some meds yesterday to try to get me going, but I just have to take it easy for a while longer. Next week, I start working for the Census. It's a flexible hours type job, but the first week is training that isn't flexible, so I won't be able to make the market then either. I am hoping to feel enough better by tonight that I can put out my garage sale signs. I haven't put stuff away yet from a couple of weeks ago so that shouldn't be to much work.

Here's my apple trees. Aren't they pretty?

My bees would love them, but they didn't make it through the winter. That's OK. I wasn't crazy about them anyway. Anyone want to buy some hives? We have 4 for sale.

At least the chickens are happy! Hope you can see this micro length video! It's proof that roosters don't crow only at dawn.

God Bless You All! ~Grama Sue

Farmer's Markets Starting Soon!

We are gearing up! The Hamilton Farmer's Market sign is up. I'm going to try to get there this week. Will have spinach, fresh chives, lemon balm, noodles, eggs and muffins at least. Might get Mom to bake a pie or two and some cookies, who knows! The Burlington Market starts May 4th so we will be sure to be there!

We have most of the raised bed gardens planted. We built two more this spring. Grampa planted onions, kohlrabi, spinach, swiss chard, beets, peas, cucumbers, turnips, kale, lettuce, zucchini and probably a few things I'm forgetting about.

We were surprised with spinach in one of the raised beds when the snow melted. We planted it late last summer hoping for a fall crop, but it didn't do anything. When we took the plastic off, it was ready and raring to go! Our strawberries are looking pretty good too. No blooms yet, but the apple trees are covered with flowers.

I've been thinking I ought to try to take a picture and post at least one sentence 3 or 4 times a week. Maybe I'll take a picture of the apple trees later this week.

We have all kinds of new baby chicks! There's 200 in this building that are about 3 weeks old.

Our new farm hand's job is to love on them! This is my granddaughter. She is coming over a couple of times a week while her folks work. Her mom and I are starting to homeschool her. I've missed having kids around!

The hens are having lots of fun with all this green grass! Their yolks are getting darker again too.

Last weekend I had a garage sale. I put out my egg yolk demonstration and added one of my white eggs to the display. Both days I cracked one of our white eggs, one of our brown eggs and of course a typical store bought egg. Both days the darkest yolk was from a white egg! Pretty cool to see. I'm going to continue to do that at the farmer's markets this summer. Come by and see!

These are some of our Cornish Cross chickens out sunbathing. They don't have a lot of feathers and they seem to be somewhat sun burnt, but it doesn't seem to bother them.

Our dogs have been working hard all night every night chasing off coyotes. They laze around all day.

If'n ya got a hankering for fresh spinach, herbs or noodles, come to the Hamilton city park Wednesday afternoon or just give me a call and swing by my place! 309-221-0785

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

Deals!

Wow! What a week!

We bought all these 3 week old chicks for 2/3 of the price we would have spent on day old chicks.

Then Grampa bought a hog for $100. We butchered it and ended up with 125 pounds of meat and a fantastic feast for the dogs and the chickens!

...Then, Grampa took some lambs to market yesterday. They wound up weighing a lot more than what he thought they would so he came home with a check that was about 50% more than he expected.

We went out for supper last night!

Now, if only we could get the garden planted. We are excited about the spinach that made it through the winter. At least we'll have something green to sell at the markets.

I also think I may have found a USDA plant that processes chickens this weekend. That means we'll be able to sell fryers and broilers at farmers markets and stores soon! We've had so many people request them, but we've been restricted to selling them from the farm only.

Oh, oh, oh! We are also buying 4 more adult geese from a neighbor.

I'm so excited! The last couple of years have been pretty rough, but slowly things have opened up for us and the prospects for this year look really good!

God Bless You All!

Spring!

This winter we have had the longest continuous freeze I can remember for quite a while! About a week ago our garden was covered with several inches of snow. It's quite a change, but some things are coming to life! Spring has sprung!

Late last fall, we planted some spinach. It didn't do much last fall, but it looks good now!

I peaked into the garden we kept under plastic last winter.

Swiss chard under plastic:

My garlic is starting to come up:

I checked out the bees. One of the two hives made it through the winter, but it seems pretty weak. I'll feed it and see if I can nurse it back. The other hive had a little honey left. I brought the frames in and have been working on draining them. It looks like I'll get about a quart. I don't have an extractor, but I cut the combs open and am draining them into a bucket.

After they drip for awhile, I separate the honey from the wax by straining through a colander.

I think I'm going to get about a quart from these 2 frames. It is taking quite a while. Hope the ants don't wake up and invade my house before I'm done!

We were blessed with 50 more adult hens! Farmer's markets are coming up. We were having problems keeping up with the demand at the stores so they are greatly needed.

The assessing is already done for the year. That's like a miracle! I have a little time, so, I am working on budgets and financing while waiting for things to dry up. Thank You LORD for computers! Grampa Tom hates them, but they make life so much easier. I've been able to learn so much, shop for supplies and do my own book work for the most part. Not only that, but I get to communicate with all of you! What a blessing!

God Bless You All! ~Grama Sue

Blessed Woman

Back in action! I've been lazing around doing boring stuff like assessing for the last couple of months ... no markets, but last weekend I had the opportunity to set up at the WIU Farm Expo! I had such a great time! Got to meet with so many great people. Many were excited to discover that free range eggs were available at Hy-Vee. Occasionally someone would recognize our egg carton. It is so satisfying to have someone be excited to meet the real "Grama Sue"! Makes me feel like a celebrity! Thank you!

We got our taxes done. When we started this, we did not expect to show a profit for at least 3-5 years. After all our deductions and everything, we wound up with a loss of only$55! Last year it was -$8,000 some. We will need to do some more investing this year in buildings, land and equipment, but it won't be long till we have to pay some taxes on the business. I'm looking forward to it :) It's not like we haven't paid any taxes. We did pay taxes on our off farm part-time jobs. And ... when you figure deductions we were able to take that we would have had to pay tax on if we had not been self-employed, we are doing OK!

Last year, eggs, baked goods and produce were our big income makers. We plan to continue to expand in these areas. I am working to develop a craft market and Grampa would like to create a pastured poultry meat market and start milking miniature cattle. We need more ground and a processing plant. We exploring ways to do this.

Last month, we talked with a small business advisor. Dan Voorhis gave us lots of good info. I would recommend this type of service to anyone in business. The WIU site is: http://www.wiusbdc.org/ It is a service of our local state university. If you aren't from around here, there's probably a similar program near you.

As I was headed for Macomb on Friday, I was marveling at how awesome my life is! Between assessing and the spring and fall work Grampa gets, we have enough to pay our basic expenses and whatever we make on the farm can be plowed right back into it. It is very rare that I have to get up to an alarm clock and for the most part, I love what I am doing! Not many people are able to live the way I do. I do not have a six figure income or a big bank account, but I am a blessed woman! Many people who have these things don't live as richly as I do!

God Bless You All! ~Grama Sue

Top 10 Reasons to Attend the Macomb Farm Show Even If You Are Not a Farmer

2010 WIU Farm Expo - Feb. 27 9-5 and Feb 28 10-4

http://www.wiufarmexpo.com/

#10 Great big equipment! Look at, ,marvel at, and climb up into huge combines, tractors and other big machines. Totally worth it if you have kids or are a big kid!

#9 Door Prizes! Sign up for sign up for gift certificates, savings bonds, Grama Sue’s Noodles, water and air filters and more!

#8 Big craft show upstairs on the North Concourse (Grama Sue will be there!)

#7 Huge toy show! Close to every farm toy ever produced! South Concourse.

#6 Garden deals! Tools, ponds, landscaping, fertilizers and more.

#5 Kids tractor pull – several times a day! Bring your camera!

#4 Free pens, pencils, magnets and free samples!

#3 Lots of free education! Many exhibits aimed at children and families.

#2 Big variety of home improvement deals. Builders, windows, filters and more!

#1 Come see Grama Sue! You know you’ve been missing her! Get some noodles, pies, cookies, glory hoops, finger jingles or decorated light bulbs and see her egg demonstration! She’ll be upstairs in the North Concourse about in the middle on the south side. See you there!

Birth of a Lamb