Rent-A-Chick Program

After months of creating the rent-a-chick program the big day was finally here! Couldn't belive how much fun Chris and I had creating the Rent-A-Chick Program for our farm - and the satisfaction of finally seeing the idea come to fruition. We even got to collaborate and write our first kids book together (illustrated by dumpling, written-in-rhyme by me :)
We had quickly sold out of all 11 spots availble and Chris delivered our how-to-book to families about 2 weeks before the big arrival day. This worked out great since it gave everyone time to read up on how to take care of the chickies during the countdown. We found out that most kids already had their chicks named and everyone had read up on how to take care of their peeps - right down to how to care for a pasty-bottom!
All supplies were lined up so everyone got their 2-week ration of shavings, chick crumbles, feeders and watering jars as well as thermometer for the play pen. Spent a few late nights putting the final touches on the kits to make sure it would be a turn-key operation during the chaos of pickup day. Finally the big day was upon us and we got the call from the post-office that the chicks had been shipped from the hatchery and we had a peeping box ready for pickup!

Box of sleeping chicks - just delivered from the hatchery. Chris picked them up early that morning and settled them into their chick habitat before the families arrived. They got to take the first sips of water and stretch their little legs and wings from the overnight delivery box. Sooooo adorable! The soft fluff of day-old chicks is the best! We called everyone to let them know "The delivery room" would be opening up right after we got home from work that day so kids could come to pick up their bundles of joy -

The buzz of the big day was here and filled with the pitter patter of little feet around the farm. It was priceless to watch all the expressions and reaction to the chicks. Some kids were happy to just watch them running around and alittle reluctant to pick them up. Others were tickled-pink to hold a baby peep and couldn't be separated. I gave alittle demo of how to hold a baby chick while Chris gave a run-down of all the equipment needed for their care during the next two weeks. The the room was filled with lots of giggles! Alot of good chick moms and dads in the crowd.

Each family got to pick 3 chicks to take home. Ones thing for sure - Kids couldn't take their eyes off the little ones! We got small boxes so they could keep them safe for the drive home.

It was clear this was for kids of all ages, and I got the impression some of the parents were more excited than the kids!

All ready for the ride home!

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It has only a few days into the program and have already received feedback from alot of parents about how their little ones are so entertained - they can sit and watch the chicks for hours at a time. (and some parents confess - it hard not to stop to watch them too!)

We've gotten emails from a few teachers and other familes - wanting to get their own batch as well. Will report back with some testimonials and experiences later in the month! I am sure this will be an annual event, and hoping we can do another batch alittle later in the summmer.

What a fun way to to learn where our eggs come from. Yeah for Farms - yeah for rent-a-chick!

Spring Planting Is in Full Swing!

Picture of my Zinnia transplants grown from seed, in the greenhouse ready for the next stage - planting out! Finally it's that time. Shifting gears from starting seedlings mode - to crouching down to get the plants in the ground mode.

I forgot planting season = please pass the tylenol season.. But the pain is surpassed by the excitement of the many more varieties going in this year.

A clean slate:

I title this pic - Farmer - Self Portrait. (ha!)

We did wait a good 2 weeks after the last frost date to plant, and after a major wind storm blew by us, we finally felt safe to shift gears to installing the babies.

Special rush delivery from the mail man. You know how excited some ladies get about their shoe collection? - I have the same fetish about seeds!

Last years irrigation lines have been re-installed and Dumplin charging full speed ahead with the seeder. Boat-load of new varieties to test this season. probably alittle too many. Bachelor Buttons, tons of different type of bouquet fillers, Sunflowers galore, and of course zinnias. Mr. Kitty - Ready to get his farm on !

One of my favorite plants in the whole wide world is Buddelia aka Butterfly Bush. While they do look a little on the scrubby side when they get big, but boy are they the #1 butterfly magnet ever. Its not uncommon to see 10 different varieties of Butterflies just cover one big bush in bloom.

I've got 150 of these baby bushes to plant! The cuttings only took a month to grow fabulous root system. So impressed.

They will be the driving force behind getting more butterflies in the gardens this year and give height and spike-type flowers to our bouquets. They do have a sweet flora fragrance as well. A new Coreopsis experimenting with this season. From the "Incredible!" series. Healthy babies but Notice the lack of soil blocks :( Compared to last year. kicking myself. Cosmos - 3 varieties ready to go in the ground. I did make a terrible mistake this year. I had started out my normal soil blocking methods, but having to start 4 times as many plants this year, I quickly ran out of enough trays early on - My Bad! - I couldn't find the trays I wanted in bulk so I folded under the time crunch pressure rush of spring and decided to use the traditional plastic pots to save myself time (oh, so I thought!). Boy will I never do that again!

With the soil blocks I could hang off the back of the tractor and plop the blocks in very quickly as chris drove the tractor down each row as he would make each planting hole. With the plastic pots this time. I could NOT do that. Rows were made first, then I had to carefully remove each plant from individual cells, or plug trays - before plopping them in. All this while crouching down these never ending rows, to fill the thousands of holes. What it took to do in a few minutes last year - took daaaaays this year...And my back and hips- oy - I feel like a 95-year old lady to boot. hahaha - Lesson learned. No more shortcuts for me. Soil blocks are the bomb y'all!! Plastic pots have their place for starting cuttings or selling plants, but not for the labor intensive work of transplanting seedlings. Soo not worth it. good that I learned this now at least.

Well gardening and farming is all about this learning and sharing process - so we did alot of that at the annual Seed Swap hosted here on the farm. Here are some pictures from the great event.

Couldn't believe the enthusiasm and willingness to share everyone brought with them. Seed Swap was a total success. Had people bringing accordian files full of seeds to swap, pictures and scrap books to show off their gardens to others, and lots of seedlings, everything from heirloom purple tomatoes to - hairy balls?! lol. yes that is the name of a plant, and after a few beers, it made me laugh too. that's gardener humor for ya.

Met so many cool gardeners. Everyone had their speciality - from tomato aficionado, to collector of all varieties of butterfly host plants.

We brought the egg-mobile up to the stand to visit and the kids did get to enjoy hanging out on the farm.

I got alot of ideas if we are to host one again. One of the guests was fellow blogger Erin and her family. She is a Virginia Beach Master Gardener and has a kick butt back yard. She does a great blog about gardening, cooking, living in small spaces and to my amazement knitting and quilting too. Gotta love how she incorporates her two boys into gardening. I'm sure I will torture my children equally with blogging once that day comes! Oh yeah.

Check out her blog "Garden Now - Think Later!" (april's/easter 2011 post) and get a view of the farm from her kids prospective: http://www.gardennow-thinklater.blogspot.com/

Leaving you with the view out my back window. First day of May and the Butterfly garden is in full bloom with view of the coop. With more bugs around, its entertaining to watch the girls perfecting their stealthy bug catching antics. One of the hens will find a bug, squawk, and take off running - then all the others assume she wants to share her bounty and start chasing her around. Imagine the chickens version of duck-duck- goose.

Ah, spring time at the farm - It is a good place to be a chicken- Next week our batch of 30 chicks arrive!! Yippy!