I stepped up my game in the garden and pushed the limits of my budget for food forest trees, shrubs, and plants. My supply of seeds was eaten by rodents, so I needed to replenish (my own fault), and fortunately I got my seeds and plants ordered in the nick of time before things got too difficult.
One day after my seed order was filled, the company I ordered from was slammed with orders and was asking people to be patient while they tried to keep their employees safe during operations. Another company I had an order with, stopped taking orders just days after I got my order in, so they could catch up. I watched anxiously while their stock dwindled hoping my order would be filled (they’ve got the best yellow crookneck seeds). And the nursery I ordered trees and bushes from were unable to fill all of my order.
Everyone was scrambling and I felt lucky to have ridden the crest of the wave. I’ve got all my seeds, and have been planting for two months. In fact, we started eating from the garden just a couple of days ago.
But it’s Spring and my laying flock has really stepped up production. I’m getting between 2 and 3 dozen eggs per day. That’s a bit of a challenge because I only have one egg customer. Meanwhile, I’ve set up an outdoor, self service egg selling station so people can help themselves and leave their money in a coffee can bank. But no takers. Even with eggs so hard to find, people walk past my sign and look and then keep walking.
Fortunately for me I was able to get eggs to several family members who were missing them at the supermarket. I unloaded 33 dozen - two weeks worth of eggs. It’s a relief that they won’t be going to waste. And the thing I’m finding out is that people are no longer taking things like eggs for granted anymore.
I remember a friend of mine saying that people wanted to trade eggs for massage. As a licensed massage therapist and energy worker, she was talking about how eggs weren’t valuable enough to trade for massage, and I realized how things have changed so much in our world. There was a time when the local midwife or herbalist or healer/doctor would take payment in food. Food was prized and valued, because people had common knowledge about what went into the growing of food, the raising of food, the time it took and the labor involved. Now people buy cheap food at a corporate supermarket and they are so far removed from that process that they have no real appreciation for real food. They have no experience with what it really takes to produce food.
Anyway, my flock’s eggs were truly appreciated when they made the rounds among my family members. My mom told me she felt rich! And talked about all the things she would do with eggs. Just last week she was hoarding the few eggs she had left, trying to make them last.
Another thing the layers are producing right now are chicks. I’ve had four hens go broody this Spring. I’m glad they are going in a cycle and not all at once. It started with one, then a week later, another one, then a week after her, another one, and so on. I have one mama with her chicks in the yard, and another one in her house hatching out chicks these last few days, and another one due to start hatching out in less than a week. I’m running out of places to put everyone. Tomorrow I will be building another brooder and putting up fencing for this next batch due. It’s tonnes of work and while not all at once, it’s coming pretty steadily in waves.
Meanwhile I’ve been raising meat birds too. So I was able to get my family set up with birds in their freezers for the next few weeks. Meanwhile the next batch of chicks arrived by mail last week. They will grow up and feed my family just when they’re needed. It’s intense though. The harvesting must be done daily within a two to three week period when they are at a certain age and weight. Since it’s just me, I’ve about reached the limit of what I can provide. I’ve committed to providing birds for four families, which includes us. But it is worth it to me. I’m driven to do this. It’s the most impactful way I can connect with my family during this time of quarantine. It makes me feel less isolated, to make sure that as long as I am producing good quality food, I can share it with them.
It’s a bit like a family cooperative. In that they pay for the grain “their birds” eat and for the cost of each chick, and I take care of the birds, raise them, harvest them, and process them.
As for my immediate family right here, I dream of producing the majority of our food on this land. And this time of quarantine is really putting that dream to the test. I’m finding it difficult to get certain processed things, like flour and baking soda. It makes me want to be more creative about how I make bread. Without flour, I have to find new ways to make bread from materials that I can grow on my place. Like grinding corn to make tortillas, or using potatoes, or legumes, or starchy vegetables to create a kind of bread. Maybe not a sandwich loaf, maybe not traditional pasta, maybe not wheat cakes, but something bread like that comes from my garden.
So living in this way, fills up a lot of each day. And meanwhile, I’m still binding books by hand for our family owned business, Pegana Press.
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