Meet the Kids...

We've been on "goat watch" for the last few weeks, as two of the does at our Waterloo location were pregnant.  We spent entire weekends and much of our spare time on weekdays waiting for the girls to give birth, and they finally did just the other day (within days of eachother, too).  We've now got three kids:  Two males and one female.

End of Fall Update

With it being just hours away from the official start of winter, we don't want to let the seasons change without providing a recap of all we've been able to accomplish this fall.

If you've been following us on Twitter or Facebook, you know we built ourselves an outdoor kitchen last summer (primarily to beat the heat while still being able to cook amazing meals).  In the early part of fall we were blessed with an upgrade to our kitchen:  a six-burner, two-oven Wolf range with a flat top.  It's been in use virtually every day since we got it, and it's so enjoyable to cook on.

In animal news:  We obtained more squab to replace the ones killed by the raccoon last summer, and they seem to be doing well – pairing off and making nests.  We've also begun raising quail again, and nearly two dozen quail chicks hatched just a few days ago.  We also hatched a handful of ducklings, and welcomed two litters of rabbits to the homestead.

We managed to get our garlic and spinach in the ground before the cold temperatures set in, and we'll let them grow throughout the upcoming winter and spring before they'll be ready to harvest next year.

Now that the days are short and the nights long, we keep warm by staying indoors – flipping through books and seed catalogs, carefully planning what we're going to do next year.  We've got plenty of exciting things in development, that's for sure, and we can't wait to share them with you in the upcoming months.

Chicken Spotlight: Naked Neck

The recent recall of salmonella-tainted eggs has highlighted once again the problems with industrial animal production: Inhumane treatment + unclean facilities + questionable practices = diminished food security. So we figured now's a good time to fill you in on our latest venture: raising naked neck chickens.

Naked necks, also called "turkens," can be found in pockets across the globe. Rather than a breed, the "naked neck" is a gene wherein the chickens lack feathers on their neck and have significantly reduced feathers over the remainder of their body.

And what are feathers made of? Mainly protein. Because naked necks have fewer feathers, their diet doesn't require as much protein as other chicken breeds - instead, naked necks convert excess protein into eggs and meat more efficiently than other breeds!

Keep in mind that today the main breed being supplied is the cornish cross. Regardless of whether you're buying conventional or even "free range," chances are you're purchasing a cornish cross chicken. The problem with this breed is that its specifically bred for industrial production. Cornish crosses build muscle mass at such a fast pace that they cannot move more than a few feet without getting tired (hardly "free range"), and they reach market weight in a monstrous 49 days.

However our naked necks are quite the opposite. While naked necks are efficient in protein conversion, they happen to be a comparatively slow grower - reaching market weight in 10-12 weeks. But the meat it does grow is darker, richer, the skin more delicate, and the fat more yellow in color than conventional chickens. It's one of several, lesser-used chicken breeds that supply richer meat, yellower skin, and more flavorsome fat than typical breeds, and it happens to pair well with our climate and growing conditions.

We hope to have a modest flock by the beginning of October and will be sure to keep you posted on our progress.

We Had a Baby!

...a duck baby, that is. Say hello to the first duckling to be successfully hatched by YellowTree Farm!

Thanksgivings

For the second year in a row, the folks at Slow Food St. Louis have been generous enough to award us with grant funding. Last year we used the proceeds to help cover the costs of soil amendments, heirloom seeds, and poultry. This year, we're very excited to use the grant money to help support our newest endeavor: raising squab! We sourced three Texan Pioneer breeding pairs and brought them to live at the homestead last week. They're beautiful, sustainable birds and we're very pleased to be adding them to our farm.

Success!

Though our past attempts (here and here) didn't work out so well, our third attempt at hatching eggs has worked out great! Justin created a different DIY egg incubator, this time by using the top freezer portion of an old refrigerator. We ordered a half dozen blue Orpington hatching eggs, and we're lucky enough to have 4 little chicks hatch and survive. With such a successful hatch, we're hopeful that this means we won't have to rely on unethical, cruel, and abusive chick hatcheries anymore - and that instead, we can continue to keep hatching our own!

Summer update

The end of July was a busy time for us. Most notably, we no longer have goats - for several reasons. But we do, however, have about 45 pounds of goat meat in the freezer. We also participated in a couple benefits for Slow Food St. Louis: Earlier in July at a special dinner held at The Crossing where some of our produce was featured on the menu, and also at Slow Food's annual Art of Food benefit toward the end of the month where we donated a basket of produce and a tour of the homestead to a lucky bidder.

Sadly, we lost about 15 of our chickens last week - some we've had for over a year and had grown very attached to, and others that would have just begun to start laying eggs any day. A raccoon had eaten a hole through the wood of our chicken coop, and we awoke one morning to find the hens dead. We are thankful that 5 survived, and we're contemplating what to do about acquiring more birds for our flock.

These days there's always work to do: Various plants are done growing and we're taking them out of the ground, and it's also the time of year when we need to get our fall crop ready to be planted. The popcorn in the front yard has recently come down, and we've been enjoying the delicious sweet corn from our side yard. Our fall corn crop is about 2 inches tall so far, the cucuzza squash is starting to get huge, and we're picking peppers as fast as we can. Gleaning has also become a favorite activity of ours, as we scour St. Louis for unclaimed plums, apples, and pears. In addition to all this, we're expecting the two new litters of bunnies to be born this week.

The animals...

Our goats, Gumby and Gidget, have really come out of their shells lately. We watch them play fight and nuzzle with each other, and get into mischief around the chicken coop. Our neighbors think they're a hoot, too.

The baby rabbits are getting bigger each day. Since we have such an abundance of salad greens, mustard, kale, chard, and cabbage, we try to supplement their feed with a feast of these fresh leaves every day.

Homestead news: Goats

The goats are getting settled in. They're fun to have around and they're certainly more quiet than most of the dogs in the neighborhood!

Got Milk?

We are so excited to announce that we have two Nigerian Dwarf goats reserved from Deborah at: www.nigeriandwarfdairygoats.com - a young doe (pictured) and a small whether to keep her company.

Here are some facts about Nigerian Dwarf goats, and goat milk:

• The goat was the first animal to be domesticated, besides the dog.
• Nigerian Dwarfs are small, and typically aren't taller than 21 inches high.
  
• They're very popular as pets, in part because Nigerian Dwarfs are gentle, easily trainable goats and they do especially well around children.
  
• They require little space and are inexpensive to keep.
  
• More of the world's people consume goat milk than cow milk.
• The breed gives a lot of milk for their size, averaging 2.5 pounds per day.
• Their milk has very high butterfat and protein content. The higher protein means we get more cheese from the milk.
• It also has a much lower bacterial count than cow milk. So you don't have to pasteurize goat milk.

We will be very eager to see how much of our dairy needs can be met by having our own backyard pet goat.

Animal news: Chicks

We took a trip out to Fulton, Missouri over the weekend and picked up some chicks from a local hatchery. We got a few araucanas, some silver laced wyandottes, and a handful of bantam seabrights. They should start laying eggs around the end of July.

Incubator update

Well, our first attempt at incubating eggs didn't work out so well. Much to our disappointment, none of our cinnamon queen eggs hatched.

We're trying again, though, with a couple dozen quail eggs. We've managed to keep the temperature more stable than last time, and hopefully we'll have better results. These little eggs should start hatching around February 25th.

FDA approves use of ‘pharm’ animals

In a measure that spells out trouble for all animals, the Food and Drug Administration approved last Friday the first ever drug made from genetically engineered animals – in this case, a blood thinner derived from goat milk.

According to reports, the drug is produced by first injecting human DNA into goat embryos. These embryos then get implanted into the wombs of surrogate mommy goats. Not long later, baby goats are born that themselves go on to produce milk with special blood-thinning qualities.

This leads us to speculate that not only will domestic animals continue to be housed under horrific conditions for the purposes of meat production, cosmetic testing, or scientific research – but now, the FDA will allow pharmaceutical companies the right to run their very own CAFOs.

Animal news: Rabbits

Meet the newest additions to our homestead!


We picked up a trio of breeding rabbits today - two sisters (below) and an unrelated buck (the silver guy up above). They're about 10 weeks old and should be ready to start breeding in the Spring. We're still thinking up some suitable names... any suggestions?