Full Circle Farm

1. New kittens!

2. We have recently added some small crafts to the egg supply in the roadside “tug.” We are open to reader suggestions on item types, themes, etc.

3. Various repairs and new/used tools.

More to come on all fronts.

After scoring some shelf units for cheap on Craigslist, we have rehomed some lumber and feed supplements from the toolshed to the barn and put up the shelf units in their place. More shelves are soon to go up, and things put on them, as soon as the latest cold snap passes. And as always, the cats are assisting.

ID’s of the photos in the last post, In order from left to right, top row to bottom row:

Livestock trailer, Brisket the steer, feeding pan and trough heater, chicken bus, more chicken bus, summer chicken tractor (coop on a trailer), one of our pigs, and our farm tractor.

We’ll drop more photos and farm updates real soon.

Some views of the farm from unusual angles. We will identify the subjects in a week or so. In the meantime, any guesses?

Our pigs have moved to a new pen next to the barn. They have gotten a good deal bigger on a diet of mostly spent grain from the local brew pub, along with the occasional pumpkin. They completely uprooted that grass in about a day.

We have added two new guinea hogs to the farm. Shortly after this picture was taken, they escaped the paddock, and the chase was on. But three humans outsmarted two pigs, and they are now grunting happily in the barn. Both girls, their names are Patty and Link. Any advice for us or them?

We have three new kittens hiding in the back of the barn. One is gray, one black, and one calico. Any ideas for names?

More pics soon!

Come visit our new farm stand at Full Circle Farm. The stand is open on Saturdays. Today while supplies last our delicious eggs are buy one dozen for $5 get one free.

It’s been a crazy several weeks. First, I want to give a shout out to the amazing Sara Risley of Get Lost Indiana. She came to visit the farm on Easter Sunday, got the grand tour, and watched while we tried to wrangle a bottle lamb. She was getting lost at Blackhawk Winery in Sheridan yesterday where I ran into her while picking up my spring wine club order. Make sure you check out her adventures. #GETLOSTINDIANA

On the lamb front, we were on hold at 40 lambs for a couple of weeks. We were down to our oldest ewe, our youngest ewe, and another with an interesting udder.

Then, the week before last, on a freezing night when we arrived home late from a concert, the oldest decided to give birth to triplets. The first didn’t live and I wasn’t sure about the second, but I’m happy to say that the second did survive and the remaining two are doing quite well.

A few short days later, with the temperature in the 80s and high humidity, the youngest decided to give birth. Her lambs were very dark in color and, it was so hot, they were panting shortly after birth and could hardly nurse. Since I had just let everyone out on pasture two days before, I had to take her and her lambs back to the barn for some shelter from the sun. After a week in the barn, they are both strong and healthy and yesterday began enjoying the fresh grass again with everyone else.

This week, it seems we have a little one that has come down with tetanus. It appears his lastration opened up and became infected. His legs would lock up and he was having trouble keeping himself upright. So Wednesday night, I rigged a sling in the barn to keep him upright during the day so that his digestion would continue working and I lay him in a corner at night so that he cannot roll over backward. With a treatment of liquid goldenseal root and some careful nursing, hopefully he will be back to health soon.

So, we are still on hold with one ewe but after 45 births and a couple of losses, we have 41 lambs going strong and one working to get healthy.

Finally, don’t forget our chicken and egg CSA offers below.

1. Do you use a lot of chicken and have some freezer space? We will raise your chickens, as few as 10 and as many as 50. You pay us to raise them and deliver them to the butcher. You pay the butcher to have them dressed out as you like. The chickens will be heritage breeds, raised on grass in moveable pens (we’ve found that is safer out here with the hawks), and supplemented with organic feed. Please send us a message for more details.

2. Don’t have much space but still use quite a bit of chicken. You may select the large CSA option. That consists of two whole chickens and two dozen eggs. $40 weekly.

3. Just need a little bit. Select one whole chicken and one dozen eggs for $18 weekly.

Just message or e-mail us for more information.

As always, we also sell our eggs and grass-fed meats at the farm.

Full Circle Farm. Working with Nature.

Our first lamb watch was a great success. We had several visitors, three lambs born that afternoon, and even some escaped sheep to wrangle. As of this writing, we are now up to 20 lambs with 12 mothers yet to give birth. Come visit us Easter Sunday beginning at 1:00. I wonder how many lambs we’ll have then.

We’re always re-inventing ourselves, trying to determine what we do best. After six years on the farm and beginning our 7^th season, I’m sure we’ve got it down this time.

So, we will not be participating in farmers’ markets after April. We appreciate the relationships we have built over the last couple of years and hope to continue those relationships, but we have decided that our time is better spent on the farm at this time.

What do we do well? Sheep it seems. Why else would we have so many lambs?! Depending on how things work out, we’ll see what lamb options we may have for you later in the season.

The other thing we seem to do well are chickens. We will be offering several chicken and egg options (or is that egg and chicken options?).

1. Do you use a lot of chicken and have some freezer space? We will raise your chickens, as few as 10 and as many as 50. You pay us to raise them and deliver them to the butcher. You pay the butcher to have them dressed out as you like. The chickens will be heritage breeds, raised on grass in moveable pens (we’ve found that is safer out here with the hawks), and supplemented with organic feed. Please send us a message for more details.

2. Don’t have much space but still use quite a bit of chicken. You may select the large CSA option. That consists of two whole chickens and two dozen eggs. $40 weekly.

3. Just need a little bit. Select one whole chicken and one dozen eggs for $18 weekly.

Just message or e-mail us for more information.

As always, we also sell our eggs and grass-fed meats at the farm.

Full Circle Farm. Working with Nature.