It's definitely spring in southeast Michigan.  The birds are out and singing, kids are outside playing, and it's raining.  Alot.  But that's okay.  The rain does so much for our landscape.  It's a joy to see green again after the drab colors of winter.

And with spring comes chickens!

We've made progress on the brooder.  You'll remember that the brooder is used to keep the chicks warm and safe for the first two weeks of their lives.  It's an 8x8x2 pen.  The whole structure is pretty simple really.  It's 4x8 sheets of plywood separated into halves.  We put a tarp underneath just to make the clean-up of the bedding a little easier and more sanitary.  In our case, there are some raccoons that get in the barn so we've put a wire top over it...just in case.  This size brooder will fit approximately 100 meat birds for about two weeks.  After that, the birds get quite large and can jump the two foot wall.

We keep them in the barn for warmth.  You could put them outside, or in a lean-to, but remember that keeping them warm and dry is key.  You'll need heat lamps no matter where you put the brooder and under no circumstances should they get wet.  The lamps hang down close to the floor.  It has to stay about 98 degrees for the newly hatched chicks to survive.  Slowly the lights can be raised until, after a few days, they can be removed altogether.  This is preparing them, slowly, to be taken outside for pasture.  For bedding, we're using wood pellets that you would use for horse stalls.  It doesn't mold and it’s very absorbent.  We planned on using wood chips from a tree we're taking down, but it's just not happening right now.  You want to be careful not to use sawdust, or any "dusty" sort of bedding.  It gets into the respiratory system of the chicks.  Even if they live, it will not allow them to thrive.  Also, newspaper, though absorbent, it harder for the meat birds, or "broilers" because they slip on the surface potentially causing leg problems.  The wood pellets are fairly inexpensive (about $7.00 for bag), but anything you can do free is much better.  The feeder you use can be anything from a pie plate to a fancy automatic self-feeder or anything in-between.  You can get pretty creative with this one.  Think of things like lengths of gutter, wood troughs made from scraps, or old fashioned jar feeders.  The material doesn't matter, but make sure you don't lose a lot of the feed.  Also make sure the birds don't have to strain too high or too low when feeding.    For the water, we've found that aluminum waterer's, available at your local feed store or the Tractor Supply store, work best.  When in doubt, a pie plate, or similar item, will work just fine.

When you build the structure, squaring up your handiwork is not necessary.  Even a wood working novice, like myself (pictured on the left...not really doing anything), can put this structure together.  No saw for cutting the boards?  Lowes and Home Depot will typically cut them for you.  I suspect your local lumberyard would do the same.

Here is a list of materials we use for building a brooder:

• Plywood
• Drill/Screwdrivers
• Hammer
• Screws
• Chicken staples
• Chain, cable, or rope (to hang lamps)
• Heat lamps
• Tarp
• Bedding
• Feeder
• Water source
• Chicken wire (depending on your location)

The sizes and quantities you need vary based on the size of your flock.  Traditional breeds and layers often have somewhat different requirements.  Talk with people in your area or search web for more information.  I can't take credit for anything you see on this post.  I shamelessly stole ideas from others who were already making a go of it.  Why don't you do the same?

I would like to recommend that you purchase Poultry for Profits by Joel Salatin .  The book was a big help to me along with the on-line community. Even if you don't plan to raise your own, it's important to be educated.

Any questions about our own practices?  Just ask!  We'd love to hear from you.

A Handshake and a Promise

In a previous post I indicated that we had ordered the chicks and poults (baby turkeys) from the hatchery.  I like doing business with them.  I call up to place my order and talk to a real, live person.  In this country.  Only a few hours drive from my home.  And I ask questions.  And they answer because they are real, live experts on the subject of hatching.  Then they send me a bill.

I like doing business this way.  They send me an old fashioned sheet of paper.  They trust that I will send them a check.  I trust that they will have the birds ready.  There is no on-line tracking system, no exchange of Social Security numbers.  We talk, and we do business.  I have a feeling that if we were closer we'd shake hands too.  I like that.

It turns out that the old fashioned sheet of paper they sent showed that the wrong order was placed.  I was over-ordered by 5 chickens. 

Now, as a consumer, I could get angry.  I could demand better accountability from the hatchery and wonder why they don't have a better ordering system.  Why can't I log into a computer and type out my order, have it verified, and then submit?  That's the way most of us have been trained.  Demand perfection and accept no less.

Instead, I called.  I talked to a very nice lady who changed my order and sent me another old fashioned sheet of paper.  All fixed.

It's not that they don't use technology.  I know they do.  The fact that you are reading this post on-line proves that I do too.  But what I like is that we haven't lost that human contact.  That somehow, at some level, we are involved in each others lives. This is as it should be.  

I was in a discussion at my day job not too long ago.  It's a highly automated environment.  There are still some things, though, that happen off the radar of the company.  Not bad things, but simply things that were not anticipated.  Computer systems don't like things that aren't anticipated.  When asked how those things are accomplished, I said, "Through a handshake and a promise."  The group I was speaking too laughed.  "No, really..." they wanted to know, "..how do they track these things."

It seems too much for people to believe that you can shake hands on a thing and trust it will get done.  Oh sure, maybe at first there is a lack of trust.  But over time people learn about one another until there is a trust.  It still happens.  Each time you go to a farmers market and pick your produce, you are letting the farmers know you trust them.  They're not heavily regulated, not necessarily certified, and not audited.  But you trust them.  When you buy at the store (and we all do) who are you trusting?  The farmers?  The Pickers?  The inspectors?  The transportation company?  The store personnel?  There are too many unknown people in that list.  Too many people who I will never know or see.

I'd rather look a man in the face, talk to him, and decide if I like his character.  Then I'll shake  his hand.  This is business as it should be.

Will Work for Food

I think that deep within the heart of mankind is a need to work. Don't believe me? Take a boy and sit him down with a hammer, some scrap wood, and nails. Then leave. Go get some iced tea. Put your feet up. Read your favorite magazine. But whatever you do, don't take a nap. The sound of the hammering of nails will keep you up. They just can't help it. 

 

Now, don't get me wrong. Most of us have been lulled to sleep iPods and television. Our computers keep us up late as they spin tales in our head and delight our senses. But take all that away for a couple of hours and you'll find beneath all that sleepiness a mind and body that long to be at work. 

 

"Ha.." you say "Then why is it that I hate my job and long to be somewhere, anywhere, but there!" 

 

Good question, my friend, and thanks for asking.

 

I suppose we all have a variety of reasons for dreading Monday morning, but I suspect they boil down to a few commonalities. 

 

First, it's just a job. Really, many of us have a job that we have no real passion for. We work it to make the money to pay for life. That's about it. But what about those things you do have a passion for? You spend hours on those things, and though you may grow weary and frustrated, you probably don't hate it. You probably like it. Otherwise, why would you do it at all.

 

I know my logic is stunning you at this point. 

 

You may also miss community. I don't mean living "in a community". I mean living in community. We were created as beings that need other beings. We want to be in a place where we feel needed, respected, and (dare I say) loved. So many jobs, even if they are not manufacturing, have a production line mentality. The goal is to squeeze from you, the worker, as much time and energy (which equals money) as possible. But remember how it felt playing on that sports team at school? Remember the joy of going to band or play practice? Remember how you felt about your friends when you were younger? I think we're really missing that as adults. 

 

Perhaps the biggest problem of all is being repetitive....the very word causes me to roll my eyes. I don't know your exact job, but I'll bet most of you have been pigeon-holed into a role. You know that's the case when you hear yourself say things like "That's not really my area." or "You'd have to go through my boss to get that approved." Likely you do the same basic work day in and day out. Even, in some cases, the faces or places may change, but the work is pretty much the same. Haven't you ever gone out on a beautiful spring day when the sun is high and a cool breeze is blowing in your face and thought "I sure wish I was working with that landscaping crew over there?" Or maybe if you're the landscaping crew on a blistering hot day you think "It'd sure be nice to sit in front of a computer in an air conditioned officed today." I think there are hundreds of jobs that I'd love to do....for a time. But I know that I get bored doing the same thing day in and day out. I don't know that there is any easy answer for people who don't like they're job. But I'd guess that most of us, if given the opportunity, would love to work; we just want work that is satisfying. We want work that involves:  

• A combination of physical and mental labor.
• A varied work environment.
• Working in community with others (at least from time to time).
• Really believing in what we do.

Maybe it's just me.  But if I were a teenager contemplating my future, I'd want to review this list. 

So what about those people who don't want to work?  Let's make the distinction between those who can't and those who won't.  Those who won't are lazy.  It's really that simple.  They somehow anticipate that we, the taxpayer, should feed them.  If you'll allow me to paraphrase the Bible: if a man 
won't work, he shouldn't eat.  Yes, it really is that simple.
I can't sum it up any better than the wisest man to ever live.  "A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without Him, who can eat or find enjoyment?"  

And without Him, who would want to?

More Vegetables!

We have an opportunity this year to use a friends land to grow a good sized garden.  Now, we've gardened for years, or perhaps it'd be better to say my wife has gardened for years, and I had always thought of our garden as a good size.

Until my wife canned and froze produce last year.

It hit about January of this year.  The grocery bill seemed to be growing.  I asked my lovely wife about it (very gently...12 years of marriage has taught me something) and she dropped the bomb.

We had run out of the food we had produced ourselves.  We had also run out of the food we'd purchased at the farmer's markets for canning and freezing.

Suddenly that bit of soil in the backyard didn't seem so large.  Suddenly I realized how much food we consume in a given month.  Suddenly I realized that if we wanted to eat what we grow all year long, we were going to need more space.  A lot more space.

I had planned on just putting in a another raised bed in our yard, but that would dramatically reduce areas available for the kids.  So what's a displaced farming family to do then?

You wait on God.

That's when our friends offered up their garden.  They won't be able to grow this year, so they asked us if we'd tend it.  Yes!  In square footage, the plot is bigger than our house (which isn't really saying much) and perfectly situated for us.

So, both garden spots have now been cleared and some cool weather vegetables planted.  Next weekend we'll add compost.  One more step on the road to freedom from industrialization.

The Orders are In!

After getting all my records straight and doing a little planning (and re-planning), I finally submitted an order, today, to the hatchery.  We use Townline Hatchery for those who don't know.  It's a family owned poultry farm in Zeeland, MI.  They have a wide range of poultry to choose from including heritage breeds.

So why did we choose to use this hatchery?  Well, primarily because it's a Michigan based organization.  They are large so they have they have the scalability to allow us to grow as God sees fit.  They also provide jobs to people in Michigan.  Because we're not too far away, shipping costs are lower and the birds go through less trauma than they would on a longer trek.

They also do not vaccinate or medicate the birds when they hatch.  We were warned by some friends that some places spray all their chicks with salmonella to build up their immune systems.  You have to be careful, though, because YOU must wear rubber when handling them to keep from getting the salmonella yourself.  That's not us.  Leave the birds alone.  We'll trust God for the rest.

The first batch is scheduled to arrive on May 26th!  There are few things as exciting as going to pick up the chicks at the Post Office.  The birds are chirping away and they sound so happy and excited.  It's their first field trip you know.  And then when you see those little downy balls of fluff squirming and vying for the best position to get out of the box first....well, it doesn't get much better than that.

One lesson we learned last year was not counting your chickens...okay...well, you know what I mean.  You can order the chicks for whatever day you like, but that doesn't mean they'll come that specif day.  They may, or they may be delayed because of a whole host of reasons.  So flexibility is rule one when dealing with living things.

In our work-a-day world, we live according to calendars, schedules, and constant communication.  I admit that I was a little put out when the chicks didn't arrive on time last year.  I had taken the day off from my other job and it was a wasted day.  But then I began to realize that maybe I was the problem.  The hatchery had good reasons for the delay.  But more than that, did I really think that the birthing process could be completely scheduled?  After 5 kids you'd think I'd know better.  We learned, though, that much of the farming process is about waiting, watching, preparing, and then acting when it's the right time.

Hmmm....not a bad recipe for life.

MRSA

I've been reading lately about MRSA being in our food system.  Do you remember MRSA?  There was  lot of buzz about it a few years back.  Is that staph infection that they found so prevalent in hospitals.  It's a bacteria that has become resistant to anti-biotics.  It was pretty scary stuff when they were putting it on every news show from here to Texas.  It almost gave me a feeling of dread.  But, then, we stopped hearing about it and I forgot about it.

A book has been released on the subject and as the author was interviewed she indicated that MRSA has been released now into the "community" (meaning a place other than a medical facility) and our food system.  I wasn't exactly shocked that it had escaped, but as usual I marvel that the public media hasn't been reporting on it.  What was once a hot topic is now old news.  We're much better off hearing about Sandra Bullocks marriage woes or how national health care is being signed into law.  Funny...we focus on getting insurance and not on getting healthy.  But I digress.

Anyway, I did some digging to find out just how this has entered our food system.  The conclusions should have been obvious.  It's being found in livestock.  And how, you ask, were livestock exposed to this?  I'm not sure they were (my opinion).  Maybe they developed it for themselves (with a little help from humans).

What we know is that livestock, being raised on a typical factory farm, are given low doses of anti-biotics regularly.  In an environment where animals are kept standing in their own feces, fed things we'd never let our mouths touch, and living in amongst dead cage mates, it's clear to see why anti-biotics would be necessary.  How else would they survive?  And in this veritable paradise of filth, the staph would find a living situation perfectly suited to its liking.  Now, combine the anti-biotics and the staph and what do you get?  MRSA....for animals. 

Alarming as this is, I found very little evidence of MRSA in U.S. publications.  It seems that the U.S. is not tracking MRSA as part of its statistics.  However, a Dutch study from 2007 (as reported here by our government website) found that out of the 31 farms tested for MRSA, 11% of the livestock did indeed host the disease.  On our own soil, a study published in Veterinary Microbiology, also in 2007, showed a prevalence of MRSA in U.S. pig farms. 

The pro anti-biotic website, KeepAntibioticsWorking.com, indicates that what we need is stricter government oversight of farming operations to ensure they eliminate the infection.  They suggest that we should look at a separate batch of anti-biotics rated for livestock to prevent the same strains of staph from cross-contaminating humans and livestock.

But wait....

Well, I'm no scientist as Mr. Hammar, my high school science teacher, can attest to, but doesn't it seem like if we give animals a different anti-biotic that they'd simply inherit a different type of MRSA?  And if that were introduced into our food system, would we not simply create two separate things our body needs to fight against?

Is there any other way?

Why don't we demand that livestock be treated humanely and in conditions best suited for their species?  As much as possible, we need to focus on real food that is grown locally.  We should be visiting farms and farmers to see what their practices are.  Those farmers who use practices you approve of, patronize them!  Let them know you appreciate them.  One guy, after hearing my diatribe of food atrocities perpetrated on the American public said "What can I do then?"  I said simply "Hire me...or people like me.  People who want to make a difference.  People who genuinely want to raise clean and healthy livestock or produce.  Hire us and we'll get the job done."

Climbing Trees

I remember climbing trees as a boy.  We had an old apple tree at our house that was great for climbing.  Apple trees don't generally grow real tall, but they have lots of great branches and they have that "fort" feel that is so essential to being a boy.

My boys like to climb trees.  They started this several years ago.  It's funny because I don't see a lot of kids climbing trees anymore.  In fact, I don't even see them playing outside much.  A neighbor kid came over last summer.  The boys asked if he wanted to wrestle.  He said he did and he had some great wrestling video games at home.  It didn't occur to him that they meant to like actually grapple one another and wrestle.

The tree in our front yard is pretty tall.  I would guess it's over 30 feet to the top most branches. Every year they seem to climb a little higher.  I come home from work sometimes and as I'm walking to the door I hear of chorus of "Hey Dad" coming from the leaves above me.  A few days ago they announced that they had climbed so high they could see the cars on the freeway near our neighborhood. 

When I watch them go that high, it does make me nervous.  But I haven't said anything (yet).  The truth is [personal admission coming]....when I look up into the boughs of that tree and see my three oldest sons plotting their next hand hold I am filled with admiration. 

Okay, I know their MY boys, but I think I'm putting that aside.  I'm filled with admiration because what they are doing is super cool...and I don't have the guts to do it.  I wouldn't have done it when I was a kid.

I think that mostly it reminds me of what real life is.  As men, especially, we've lost the drive to do something crazy, something hard. But when we look back, I think we need to ask; did Lewis and Clark go out because their journey would be easy?  Did Washington humbly consent to lead the rag-tag army of a newly formed nation because he thought it would be fun?  Did Edison persevere in failure after experimental failure because he thought it might improve his reputation?  No, they did the crazy things.  They followed something that God put inside them that craved exploration and adventure.  I'm sure each had different reasons for what he did, and I'm sure there were times when they wondered if they were making the right choices at all.  But in the end they persevered. 

I remember these things as the boys climb the trees.  And each time I look up and see them dangling on a limb, I'm reminded that I, too, can make a choice; to push myself; to persevere even when the way is long and hard.  And in the end I can give glory to God who gives me strength.