Crating Chickens, Chasing Piglets, Complete Armor
Lots of chicken work this week. A couple weeks ago our crew processed chickens at a pace that I didn’t think we could top. Low and behold, this week they went even faster, putting chickens on ice at a pace of over 150 birds/hour. Thankful for our faithful crew and proud of the 8-10 school age kids that continually keep improving in their work. July is a busy chicken killing month for us as we’re trying to put as many chickens in the freezer before much of our help goes back to school in the fall. Usually I do all of the killing, but this week Bella Jane did most of the killing. She might me trying to put me out of a job. I might be looking for work at the eviscerating table next week.
Processing days are big days for us. Lots of cleaning and setting up before hand and lots of cleaning up and organizing inventory afterwards. Plus the regular chores and other farm work that needs tending to. To add to our busy day, another batch of about 300 chicks arrived on processing day. This is the last batch of chicks we’ll be getting for a while. Later in August we’ll receive one more batch to harvest later in the fall.
In addition to the chickens we harvested, we raised a group of about 600 chickens for another farm up the road in Virginia. After emptying out about 15 chicken shelters this week, we filled them all back up with 2-3 week old chicks from the brooder. Almost 900 chickens were caught and crated to harvest this week. My body is sore from carrying crates filled with chickens. Almost 1000 chicks were moved to the field to fill the empty shelters. The kids aren’t as fast at catching and crating chicks as Amy, but they’re getting faster. Amy catches 10 at a time while Hallie and Hasten each get 5 at a time. By the time I carry a crate to the trailer, they have another one ready and waiting for me.
We welcomed 6 new weaned piglets to the farm. Three of them were boar piglets needing to be castrated. Thinking I could do it real quick by myself, I put them all in a smaller pen to make it easier to catch them. My pen wasn’t as secure as I thought it was. All 6 got out. I’m glad no one was there to see me running around chasing those piglets, trying to get them back in. I’m sure God got a kick out of it. No doubt he was amused. It would’ve been prime footage for “America’s Funniest Home Videos” for sure. I don’t know what was harder on me: carrying countless crates of chickens and chicks, or chasing around those six piglets. I finally got them back in and managed to take care of the boar piglets.
More on chickens, Hallie is now down to one egg layer. Over the past several nights I’ve shot two possums and a raccoon in our backyard going after them. Even after that, another raccoon managed to open the door to the coop and get in with the chickens. Hallie says she’s going to use her chicken processing earnings to continue to pay off the $200 she still owes and buy more egg layer chicks to replace them.
On top of that, Hallie helped me keep the cows moving to fresh grass. Amy made an 8 hour roundtrip to Farmville to deliver meat to families out in that direction. She also made multiple batches of chicken and beef bone broth.
We always have ORVF meat for dinner and usually some local produce from the Abingdon Farmers Market to go with it. This week our meal time veggies were even more locally sourced. Hallie was proud to announce that our dinnertime kale and zucchini were from our own backyard garden. A garden is a miraculous thing, requiring much work and faith before any promise of a harvest. The kids were excited to see and eat the fruits of their labor (although Amy did most of the real work). Thankful for a couple much needed rain showers this week. Praying for more.
We celebrated July 4th watching fireworks in Tannersville. Forever grateful for freedom and the sacrifices made to pay for it.
I didn’t do a lot of book listening while farming this week, but I did listen to more of “The Christian in Complete Armor” by William Gurnall. Here’s a few more quotes:
“Of all fools, the conceited fool is the worst. Pride makes a man incapable of receiving counsel.”
“If we mean not to be burnt, let us not walk upon the coals of temptation.”
“‘Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.’ [Proverbs 27:6] God’s wounds cure. Sin’s kisses kill. Never think to find honey in the pot when God writes ‘poison’ on the cover.”
“Pride loves to climb up, not as Zacchaeus to see Christ, but to be seen himself.”
“This believing on Christ implies trusting recumbency on Christ. It is not the sight of a man’s arm stretched out to a man in the water that will save him from drowning, but the taking hold of it.”
Have a good week.
Will