Abundance

Last night the 48 chicks in our incubator started hatching. By morning we had about 30, and by early afternoon 40 had hatched! I am very pleased. As you can see, the diversity of chicks from our hens is strong, and they are very healthy and content.

While I was tending the chicks this morning, Jim drove with our stock trailer to Agnew to pick up ten steers from Jerry Schmitt. Jerry raises beef cattle on the beautiful land in front of the Agnew store. Grazing and silage cutting help Jerry produce high quality hay. During these wet months of spring, he has been feeding them grass silage harvested last spring from his pastures. With an abundance of cattle in spring, he grazes the early growth of pasture grasses to maintain the plants in a highly nutritious and palatable stage of growth that can be captured in the quality of the hay. Now, as he moves toward the summer hay season, we purchase some of his yearling steers to finish off on our pastures, freeing up his fields for hay making.

Jim noted that the cattle have been handled closely by Jerry, making them easy to move in a stress free way. They immediately came over and started nosing the hay we put out, and should be easy to rotate through our pastures. They have a little to get used to on our farm, especially being around pigs, as we intend to multi-species graze.

Toward dusk as we admired the cattle and then checked in on the chicks, we remembered that today is the eve of our 6th anniversary on the farm. It also coincides with the yearly cultural festival of the community in Cochabamba, Bolivia where we lived before moving here. This festival, called La Fiesta de la Santa Vera Cruz Tatala, celebrates the fecundity and abundance of the agricultural season. We give thanks, at this time of festivity, for the new life on our farm.

Therefore, it was very meaningful on this eve of the Tatala to welcome to the farm today 10 new head of cattle and 40 newly hatched chicks incubated for the first time from eggs of our own hens. It is also the eve of our family’s move to the farm in 2015.