Hillview Family Farm

Saturday morning story from Hillview Family Farm. I had surgery the last week of January and was not able to continue my chicken care for a few weeks ( no lifting, squatting, bending,etc). My husband and son have been taking great care of our chickens! 2 of our Silkies went broody while I was resting and recovering. We have no idea when they started. I was able to crouch down yesterday and see them in their floor nesting box. I have no actual count of how many eggs the 2 girls are sitting on or when exactly we may have baby Silkies hatch! The eggs in front of of them are warm so I think they must be rotating them in and out as they have room!

Dellwood Farms chicken wings for Super Bowl tonight! They are fantastic and so meaty. Made them with a little garlic seasoning and Kinder’s Hickory Brown Sugar BBQ sauce.Delicious.

We are trying something new to us this year! Wintersowing to get a head start on the garden.

Thank you Dellwood Farms https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091805883756&mibextid=2JQ9oc for the fantastic sausage! Dinner was delicious tonight with Dellwood Farms sausage gravy and butter dip biscuits.

Dellwood Farms Lifelong residents of Berea, KY who want to share our love of farming, gardening and Appalachia!

We are just starting to grow some fodder for supplemental feeding of the flock.

How to Grow Fodder for Chickens and Rabbits Raising small animals on your homestead can be quite demanding. Not only does it take a toll on your wallet to provide them with proper food, but you also worry about their health. Growing fodder is an excellent way to save money on feed costs and provide your animals with…

We started getting a blue egg this week from one of the americaunas. They were Mother’s Day Tractor Supply chicks. Thank you Princess Laya or Twilight Sparkle for your contribution!

We put some more finishing touches on the coop this past weekend.Take a look at the pictures ! We are pretty proud of what we have built.

Added a shelter to the chicken run today.

Today was our first day collecting more than 1 dozen eggs in a day. We have collected 13 eggs from 16 laying hens today. Love that we have one that lays olive eggs unexpectedly .

Got the sign up on the coop today. Thanks Mom Lee!

The Hen Den is complete and we got our first girls this past week

1/3 of the current flock here, 4 different breeds of the 7 that we have. Meet Flash, Miles, Henrietta, Peanut Butter and Laya.

The Hen Den is now complete and home to our fist dozen girls!

Day one with 6 new girls and we have 4 eggs (so far). I think they like their new home!

We are 11 weeks from first frost according to the almanac. Maybe we can try a fall garden.

How To Plan Out Your Fall Garden • The Prairie Homestead Learn how to plan out your fall garden. Planning a fall garden is a great way to work towards self-sufficiency and is very enjoyable and easy.

The coop got started today! Putting many of these repurposed materials to good use.

Tomorrow is the big day! 2 new members of the family are coming to the farm! Lots of prep to get fencing and the “Ruff House” built for them.

We took a family trip today to pick out a livestock guard dog puppy. The danger of falling in love with 2 and your big softie of a husband who says one may be lonely on the farm. And now we are the proud owners of 2 Great Pyrenees puppies to take care of our chickens. We will pick them up in 2 weeks.

Today was a great workday for Jeff, Jesse, Rachel and I as we helped Fuzzy Angels Farm in Cecilia KY. harvest their Meishan Pigs. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meishan_pig Ron and Marlene were great hosts (and teachers) and we got to meet a few other like minded people, intent on becoming more self sufficient.

It is a new year and time for a new update from the farm. We had a couple new farm kittens adopt us. With some freezing weather coming in before Christmas we decided to invest in some outdoor cat houses (although they are just as happy in the bed on the table). The covered screened deck gives Oreo ( the orange ringtail) and Luna (the tiny muted calico) a place to hangout with our older farm cat Cruella. Hope they grow into good hunters keeping the moles at bay. We got 5 new trees in the ground before the freeze hit hard, 3 peach and 2 pears. The cover crop in our small raised beds survived the freeze and the soil should be restored in the spring. We have started to accumulate salvage materials for the chicken coop we plan to build. We are hoping to raise both meat chickens and laying hens for eggs. Excited to see this dream of ours coming together step by step.

Saturday scribbles from the farm. .
What brought you joy this week?
At the farm we had a new kitty adopt us, the grands named him Oreo Crookshanks! He loves to follow the littles around and has made friends with the dogs and our other cat. We had potatoes start to grow and we got some rain this week. Beautiful sunrise and fall leaves bring us joy on the farm! Cover crops and garlic are still growing strong.

Let’s add a little light on the subject!

Saturday scribbles from Hillview Family Farm.
Have you ever heard about Espalier? We are starting a couple apple varieties today, excited to see them grow. Keep an eye on the album for more pictures.

Espalier - Wikipedia Espalier (/ɪˈspælɪər/ or /ɪˈspæli.eɪ/) is the horticultural and ancient agricultural practice of controlling woody plant growth for the production of fruit, by pruning and tying branches to a frame. Plants are frequently shaped in formal patterns, flat against a structure such as a wall, fe...