Hey, you sure have purty eyes. How'd you get here huh?

Toads are of essential service, especially in a garden, to eat up cabbage worms, caterpillars, etc.
-  Farmer's Almanac

After a pretty comfortable June, the heat (& humidity) ratcheted up a notch or two and we are in the "dog days" of summer.

Lookie what we spotted in the garden.   Never, in our 25 years, seen the likes of a frog, er toad, here before.  It’s certainly a long way from the stream in the Arroyo Seco.  Wonder how it hitched a ride?   Seems the garden's become part of a Beatrice Potter novel – we had our rabbits,  have our ducks and now a toad!

Reminds me of when I was a kid growing up on 10 acres. I loved catching frogs. We had the green ones and BIG ones.   I'd keep them as pets and then let them go after a few days.  This is the first frog EVER to visit our farm here in the city. Still quite curious how it got here amidst the concrete jungle? Sure hope it stays and helps with our bug problems.

What new critters have you spotted in your garden?

:: Resources ::

Attracting Toads to Your Garden

Toads in the Garden

Create a Haven for Toads

(Left) Whopper egg (Right) Regular duck egg

Someone laid a whopper – yowza!   Ended up being a double yolker too.  Made great (fluffy!) pancakes.

Learn more about using duck eggs & raising city chickens and ducks

- William Wordsworth rewritten for our times

In winter, when surplus greens are scarce, we supplement our backyard poultry's diet with wheatgrass. Justin sows a few dozen trays and each morning the feather menagerie get a flat of "grass" to nibble on.  Boy, do they go to town on the grass flat!

Not only does their health benefit when the chickens/ducks has the opportunity to graze on “grass” but the people's health also benefits from eating their eggs with increased egg nutrition  (high in Omega 3-s and vitamin D)

The old saying "You are what you eat"  comes to mind,  but also what your critters eat too.

Our new batch of ducks have taken to finding their way on top of the goat house and hanging with goatsies.

I think that's rather "odd" behavior since ducks aren't the "roosting" type. During the day our chickens like to perch, hang on a couple old picnic chairs we've placed throughout the animal compound and our older ducks like to nestle UNDER the chairs.

But these new batch of girls they like doing things THEIR way. Now ALL the ducks are too hanging on top of the goat house!

After a bit of a ruckus start introducing them to the older ducks, they are all getting along nicely. In fact, these batch of gals are the friendlies and most gentle ducks we've ever raised!   Instead of scattering when I walk into the compound to feed them, they all come to me, chattering - all excited to see "mummy."  We have a bit of a causal conversation, darned if I know what we are talking about but we do and they seem pleased.

Thank you for coming up and making our first (of hopefully many) "Homestand’s" a positive and successful event (estimated nearly 200 dropped in throughout the day).    Also a big thank you to those who came bearing homemade gifts and complimentary comments.   We appreciate your support!

Like to acknowledge all those who came as far as Redlands, Temecula, Palos Verdes and other surrounding cities!

Justin demos on how to make soil blocks

We know at times it got pretty hectic and swamped to where we couldn’t personally attend to everyone and your lists of questions.  We were so busy, we even didn’t around to doing some of the demo’s/skill share we had planned (canning, chickens, etc)!  Thank you for your understanding & patience as we know many of you wanted to hang around for longer.

Unfortunately, we were so busy (& frazzled at times, running to and fro) we didn't get a chance to snap photos of the even nor did we get around to bringing out the rose petal lemonade - ack!   Jordanne's Chocolate Cake made with ducks eggs sold by the slice was a big hit!   So was the bread, salad and preserves.

Should we do it again NEXT month?  What can we do better?   In fact, we are already working on a list of improvements!  I for one would like to see more foods - perhaps next time we could put a couple tables out with chair?   Ideas, ideas, ideas.

Remember our "Front Porch Farm Stand" is open daily Sun-Fri (10 am - 6 pm) so you can pick up that salad or bread you didn’t get a chance to buy at the stand yesterday.

Thank you for supporting local foods and farms.

:: Resources ::

Soil Block Maker

Ducky's foot's got a bump

In ducky news, all the new ladies are laying!    And, boy, are their eggs good!  The shells are hard.  So hard in fact that you have to whack them a couple times just to crack 'em.  And the yolk and whites are so thick it requires a hefty couple of whisks!  Not like those thin and watery eggs you get from the store.  Speaking of eggs, I'll talk about the incredible backyard fresh eggs in a later post.

Going to put a plug in about Jordanne's Natural Poultry Supplement.  These girls were raised on it and I can most definitely tell the difference in their eggs.   I know, it may sound like a biased testimonial but it's true!  Like that saying goes "you are what you eat" and so it goes with what we feed our barnyard animals.  Actually, one lady, whose 5 year old chickens weren't doing so well, called Jordanne for help.  Jordanne recommended a few things and the lady purchased a bag of the supplement. She stopped by yesterday and happily told us that her girls have rebounded and are thriving!

One of our new ducks, Beulah, has a little bump on her foot.    See, she likes to stand on top of the goat house and then launch herself, flying  to the ground – wheeeeee, so fun!  But the other day, we saw that she was limping a bit and so we checked the bottom of her feet and found a tiny bump.  Figured that on one of her kamikaze landings, a bit of straw nicked or poked the bottom of her web feet.   Such abscesses or 'bumble foot' is common when a bird's feet get scuffed or cut.

Bumblefoot/Foot Abscesses - Duck and goose bumblefoot is different than bumblefoot in chickens. Ducks and geese suffer from abscesses on the footpads that resemble corns. The infection typically follows an injury to the foot pad and there usually is no pus present.

Bumblefoot is easier to cure the earlier you spot it, so it is a good idea to  check all their feetsies every now and again.  One thing we've learned and that we continuing to stress to folks who want to start keeping animals, is to be diligent in your observation of your animals.  There's quite a difference between "havers" and "keepers."   Being aware of the slightest change in their behavior can do a world of good for both the animal and human care taker.

We are treating Beulah by soaking her foot in warm water and applying grape seed extract, which is a natural anti-bacterial, anti inflammatory.    After two soaks, the foot is less swollen, and she's walking normally and the abscess is concentrating into a smaller lump.   Now that it's concentrated, we are going to pack her foot with clay to draw about the rest of the inflammation.

I could write more but Jordanne shared her expertise about treating bumble feet here & here

:: Resources ::

Like to pick up some grape seed extract or clay to add to your human or animal medicine cabinet?

iHerb - type in the coupon referral code "JUL 275" and get $5.00 off your order

or our affiliate Mountain Rose Herbs

Don't forget, if you are a city or small stock holder, check out our free social community Barnyards & Backyards

We are eggstastic (sorry, just had to put that pun in!) that our chooks and ducks are back in the egg business (sorry no extras).  For some reason, this winter (could be because of old age or extreme weather conditions) we weren’t getting any eggs - nadda, zippo, zilch!   Jordanne had to curtail her baking (no chocolate brownies - sniff) and just to have “spare” eggs on hand we picked up a dozen from the South Pasadena farmers market.   Sorta felt weird buying eggs, but at least they were from a local source.

The older (four plus year old) ducks & chickens are passed their prime laying years and the new batch of ducks should be laying  -- any day now, ladies!  We’ll be bringing in a new batch of chicks come Spring so that we can maintain a decent egg production flow here on the urban homestead.

Jordanne’s collected a few local folks who’d like to get in our chick order.    Boy, I can still recall the time (a few years back) that sis and I raised over 150 baby chicks.  Whew, that was some operation!   Backyard chickens were hot, and folks were clamoring on the backyard chicken bandwagon and wanted a local source of naturally raised pullets.   Going to keep things much simpler and smaller this time around – for our sanity!

We still meet people who have said that Jordanne's chickens were the healthiest (and friendliest) they've ever had.  And now that she's put together her super amazing Natural Poultry Formula - you can get your Spring chicks off to a healthy start.

Received a positive phone testimony yesterday. Lady said that Jordanne's selected poultry supplements drastically improved her two sick chickens!!!

Check out Urban Homestead Supply Store for Jordanne's Animal Care Products

Can’t leave the critter compound without snapping a least a few dozen photos of their sometimes crazy antics.

Noon is nap time

zzzzzzz

Crazy Sairey Gamp

Chickens settle down for a nap too

Looking for bugs

Checking out the helicopter that buzzed over the homestead

Sure doesn't look like any bird we know of

Quiet when together but...

the young ones want the older ones to party!

You talking about me?

Back in the summer, the peaceful animal kingdom was broken by some unusual quacking. The new batch of ducks (now over four months), especially AnnaLee, would let off a "persistent" quack.

That was unusual, so we went down the list. Danger? No. Hungry? No. Water – check. So what the heck is the problem? It's such a time as this, I wish animals could speak English!

Having raised two batches of Khaki Campbell ducks over the last eight years, we knew that this heritage line is a quiet breed. Ducks, of course, will pleasantly chatter. Amy, for instance, would let off an occasional quack that sounded much like a “vaudeville laugh track" which was pretty cute.

After determining that the ducks were in want of nothing, Jordanne & I concluded three things that could be setting off the younger duck:

1) dynamics of three separate flocks

2) hormones of maturing ducks

3) "big sister, little sister" syndrome

It was observation time! So we watched and watched.

After an hour or so of watching the younger and older ducks interact, it was quite obvious that the newer, younger ducks had lots of energy. For instance, while the younger ducks are frolicking in the water, the older ducks were relaxing/snoozing. That's when AnnaLee would go off quacking. Seemed as if the younger duckies wanted the old duckies to join in on the fun!

Jordanne gathered that if we took the new ducks out one at a time, it would show them that they don’t have to see or be with the older ones all the time. You know how little sisters want to tag along with the older sis. Figured we help give the younger duckies the confidence that they don’t need older sister ducks around to have fun.

Happy to say our observation and our little experiment paid off. For over a month now, the younger ducks now know they don't need older ducks to have fun and all is well with "ducky-dom."

With the front porch farm stand’s customers numbers growing on a daily basis, one thing I’ve learned that there’s still much to be done in educating the public about seasonal produce and eggs. Our modern, convenient eating habits are no longer defined by season and place.    Food routes and patterns are forgotten, thanks to the advent of supermarkets.

Local eggs are in such high demand these days thanks to the recent salmonella scare but raising such a small flock here in the city one, unfortunately,  can’t supply the demand.    And it’s dealing with the demand that really tests your commitment to stewardship and sustainability.    It's so easy to slip into "if only we had more land/acreage - more animals."   True, that would help the situation to have a bigger farm; however,  "how big" is too big is the question - one that leads to very lively (sometimes heated) discussions around the dinner table.

Egg production slows down in fall-winter due to molting and less day light hours.   We believe in the humane raising of animals.  Therefore, to supply the demand, would we install "lights" in the coop to "force" our girls to lay in winter?   Or just, like sis (head writer over at Barnyards and Backyards ) says, "Let nature be."  With our 24-7 food culture, there’s a point when some things just aren’t available and it's pointless to "force" even if the method is "harmless."   Our chickens and ducks are happy and our customers should appreciate that fact.

This month I’ve had to tell customers, "Sorry, no eggs, the chickens are moulting."    With a quizzical look they ask, "Moulting?"  "Yeah, that’s right" I answer back ""They are shedding their feathers which stresses them out and so no eggs."    I try to make them feel better and say that we are desperate for fresh eggs too!  The other day Jordanne wanted to bake something only to go to the poultry house and come back with one egg when she needed three.  So guess what?  She had to find another dessert recipe.

Food sustainability is, by far, a great and complicated balancing act and sometimes you just have to let our modern concept of food go.  By raising and growing your own food, you connect with season and place.   Nature is the best teacher, and you learn that you can’t have all food all the time.

:: Resources ::

During autumn, many household poultry keepers, particularly people keeping poultry for the first time, are puzzled because egg production markedly declines or ceases despite their laying birds appearing healthy. This seasonal decline in egg production occurs when birds go into a condition known as the 'moult'.

Moulting is the process of shedding and renewing feathers. During the moult, the reproductive physiology of the bird has a complete rest from laying and the bird builds up its body reserves of nutrients.

The provision of new feathers or a coat (a feature inherent in most animals) is a natural process, designed by nature to maintain a bird's ability to escape enemies by flight and better protect against cold winter conditions.  -- Moulting - how, when and why chickens moult

Scrambled Eggs: Report Spotlights “Systemic” Abuses in Organic Egg Production

Who Owns Organic

Free Range Fiasco

Barnyards and Backyards

For the past 3 days, there's been wet stuff falling from the sky! Yep, 'tis raining!  Quite a dramatic change in that it's 40 degrees COOLER than it was just last week!

Today the rain's coming down nice n'heavy at times.   The rain gauge reads at a little more than 3/4" of an inch.  What a blessing the rain is for the garden and the salad greens.  I'm hoping the harlequin bugs drown in the deluge.

After months without any rain, the cats have already gone stir crazy and giving us humans that  "make it stop so we can go outside" look.  The goats and chickens who hate rain are hiding out; the ducks, on the other hand, are lovin' the wet stuff.

Yeah rain!

Definitely more ideal weather for canning!  Still putting up some amazing homegrown goodies.  Made a bunch of pumpkin butter from our gorgeous heirloom pumpkins.   I kinda hated to cut the beauties up but it was time to put 'em up.  And, then, just when I thought I had the canning under control, Farmer Sergio brought us a truck full of pears and some tomatoes!

With those juicy tomatoes and this lovely basil (below) that's growing in our garden, I am  going to be putting up some more tomato sauce for those long winter months.

Fall crop of basil

Mashing pumpkins

Pears!

Can-a-thon

Is the rain over yet?

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