Fall's Bounty

As the nights grow longer and the weather turns colder, there's still work to do on the homestead. This is how our kitchen cabinets look these days. We've been canning a lot: turning crabapples into mustards, making jams and butters, and finding various ways to preserve our green tomatoes.

We're still waiting on our fall crops of broccoli, beets, and kohlrabi to grow bigger. Meanwhile, our daikon radishes have gotten huge! It's surprising to look around the garden and discover what's still growing: leeks, onions, peas, beans, and chard. Some vegetables seem to thrive better in cold weather, like our lettuces which are finally coming in, and it's interesting to note the differences in taste through the various seasons.

All the unseasonably pleasant weather lately has been a blessing for our chickens. After the raccoon attack last summer, the egg supply in our fridge looked dismal. However, now our younger hens have matured before the cold weather sets in, and we're collecting more eggs daily!

Join us at the Urban Country Fair

With this year's Farm Aid concert taking place here in St. Louis, YellowTree Farm is pleased to announce that we've been invited to participate in the Urban Country Fair - an event taking place at Tower Grove Park the day before the big concert. There will be live music, food, demonstrations, and games. We'll be there to provide information about urban homesteading. If you want to learn more about raising backyard poultry, intensive gardening, or eating locally - look for us on Saturday, October 3rd! Learn more about the Urban Country Fair by clicking here. Danielle will also be volunteering at the Farm Aid concert, so keep an eye out for her if you plan on going.

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!

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.

Oh, we're so trendy...

NPR's All Things Considered ran a little piece this evening about the growing popularity of people raising backyard chickens in urban settings. We can only hope that the movement will gain even more momentum in the near future, causing municipalities nationwide to loosen up on their livestock regulations. You can listen to NPR's story by clicking here.