December, 2016 - Furry Feathers Farm

This is the first post in a series that will deal with the possible plans for the year of 2017.

I always seem to fight a problem of being too ambitious with my plans. There is a saying the best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the next best time is today. It turns out that the best time to plant an orchard, plant a garden, build a chicken coop, put up a fence, build a rabbit hutch and mow the lawn isn’t always today. There is always that pull to move things forward and start new things. Yet is needs to be balanced with giving the right amount of attention to existing things.

I am trying to keep that in mind as I make my plans 2017. I am going to write a series of post that will lay out a few options I have thought of for this year. I can then take those items and narrow them down to the few I will do. I am going to divide this items into a couple lists. The first will be a list of the things I all but have to do. The second list will be things that I would like to do.

Must Do:

Might Do:

Plant more trees
Add different livestock
Add more rabbits
Build bigger greenhouse
Sell wood working projects
Aquaponics
Grey water system
Meat Chickens

So off the next few weeks I hope to touch on most of the items in that list and come up with a solid plan what will be taking place on the farm for the next 12 months. I hope that if anyone has any feedback on the posts they will leave comments.

The year 2016 flew past and is quickly coming to an end. Over the course of the year the farm has seen a few changes and additions. I am going to take a moment to look back on that year that was.

The spring started with our first attempts in adding animals to the farm from animals already on the farm. We took advantage of our chickens going broody. They were able to rear three broods of ducklings. The flock was up to 15 ducks strong at its peak. Due to losses, mostly from an undetermined predator, we are ending the year with 10 ducks.

We lost two chickens during the year one during the hottest and one during the coldest days. We have 6 chickens all will be 2 years old this spring. We will need to keep a close eye on production and make plans for adding some young blood to the hen house.

Kennedy received 2 mini rex rabbits for her birthday. Unfortunately we lost one. We have one friendly black rabbit. He is a big hit with the cousins when they come to visit.

The garden was almost a complete lost this last summer. We started with a very wet spring that was followed by an very dry and hot summer. I would love to blame the failure of the garden on the weather, but I can’t. I have been pretty ambitious with the size and scope of the garden. I will probably need to scale back to put more focus on establishing it.

This fall we added a new human to the farm. We welcomed McKinley Joy to the world on Nov. 22nd. She is doing great and already growing like a weed. She spends most days eating and sleeping, while be doted on by her two proud big sisters.

We hope you are all enjoying the holiday season as the year winds down. We are looking forward to what 2017 has in hold.

Month: December 2016

Planning 2017: Introduction

2016: A Year in Review