The Burkinshaw family's sustainable, multigenerational farm in Black River, Prince Edward County, ON
Our “barn,” a large hoop house erected late this Fall (see Old Fashioned Barn Raising) is proving to be great winter accommodation for the goats and chickens. The last three of our pigs lived in it for a short while but … Continued
Our apologies for the long gap between posts. There are a lot of things happening here but we feel that we have been literally run off of our feet with livestock, fences, fires, landscaping and etc. By 9 pm each evening, when … Continued
“How are the chickens doing with the goats around?” people have asked us. “Do they mind sharing their space with the goats?” Perhaps the best way to answer is by the numbers: 10/10; 7/7. In other words, our 10 girls laid … Continued
Our goats eat well. They have grass, bushes, trees and hay available to them all day long. In addition, at around 5 pm each day, we feed them some prepared goat food made largely from grain. They love it! They … Continued
The girls must have heard about the last post (see 9 out of 10) and decided to do something about it. By 9 a.m. today they had already produced 9 eggs, which now seems to have become a standard number … Continued
10 little red hens; 9 little brown eggs in one day. 9 out of 10; or 90%. That’s a pretty good number! Someday we might hit 10 out of 10, or 100% of the hens laying but we’re pretty happy … Continued
It is interesting how excited we have been about our first farm produce. (But it should be noted that we have harvested some Christmas trees and wild mushrooms from the land – see A surprise bonus). Yes, our girls have started laying eggs! Small … Continued
Our 10 laying hens have two jobs to do for us: 1. Lay farm fresh, nutritious tasty eggs. That hasn’t started yet but should soon. Let’s go girls! 2. Work as composting assistants. Their duty is to help speed up the composting … Continued
The electric fence was installed, the coop renovated and all that was missing were the girls, the 19 week old, almost ready to lay, pullets. We had put in an order for 10 of them and late last week they arrived; … Continued
