[Ag-eq] Down on the Farm

Tue Feb 21 18:10:12 UTC 2012

Hi Nella,

Right now the only thing we "sell" is eggs.  I have about 27 hens and 2 
roosters made up of 3 different breeds.  I am looking into Red Star hens for 
my new flock this spring.  All of my hens are brown egg layers because that 
is all my husband and customers want.  When I had 50 hens the most they laid 
in one day was 3 dozens.  They are just creeping out of their winter molt 
where I was lucky if they laid 1 every 3 days.  Right now, they are laying 
about 4 each day.

I don't know about the food handlers license, but I know you need a 
certified kitchen.  That is why I don't "sell" Matt's bread at this time. 
Raw honey won't be a problem and we will have the same provisions like you 
with the goat's milk, not fit for human consumption.  I don't expect the 
goat products to be something we're going to sell to the general public in 
the near future.  Even micro dairies are a bit pricy for us at the moment. 
Matt is so keyed in with the thought of handling the goats, I'm sure it 
might be a while before he will be willing to share his dairy products.  LOL

We will be splitting bee hives in April and setting things up for our first 
large honey extraction.

I also want to get Matt to rearrange our composting set up and keep adding 
to and shifting contents to utilize their bennifits better.  We have a few 
people that take the contents of our chicken coops when we strip them down, 
but I think it would be better if we composted it for a while before using.

Susan
dogwoodfarm at verizon.net
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <nfoster at extremezone.com>
To: "Agricultural and Equestrean Division List" <ag-eq at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, February 13, 2012 10:44 PM
Subject: Re: [Ag-eq] Worms and other things

> Susan:
>
> It sounds as if worms would be a great addition to your farm.  It's 
> amazing how
> they can break so many things down and benefit the soil.
>
> How many chickens do you have now and what is the average amount of eggs 
> that
> you get?
>
> I have 6 hens and average 4 eggs a day.  Sometimes I get as many as 3 
> dozen in a
> week.  One of my neighbors buys eggs or trades for them.
>
> Do you have to have a special permit to sell home made bread?
>
> In Arizona you must have a food handler card and all food must be prepared 
> in a
> commercial kitchen.  I was interested in selling bread and other baked 
> goods
> until I realized all the laws!
>
> I started baking home made pet treats, which is much easier.  A local tack 
> store
> is selling them for me and I take them to horse and dog related events. 
> People
> seem very happy with them and I'm getting more and more requests.
>
> Arizona is also very strict about the sale of any dairy products.  I have 
> sold
> some goat milk, but I have to stress to the buyer that is not for human
> consumption.  What they do with it afterwards is up to them.  Getting a 
> dairy
> certified is difficult and it just wouldn't be worth it for my little herd 
> of
> 4!
>
> I would love to hear more about your farm and what all you are selling.
>
> Nella
>
>
>
> Quoting Susan Roe <dogwoodfarm at verizon.net>:
>
>> Hi Kendra,
>>
>> This information helps a lot.  I found a set up through my Almish catalog
>> and I may try that one first and see how it goes.  The worm wigwam sounds
>> very interesting and I just might have to investigate that a bit further. 
>> I
>> am a firm believer of starting small and then expanding.  I started with
>> only 5 hens and 1 rooster in 2004 and now I have three flocks and will 
>> start
>> a fourth one in April and have a pretty good egg customer base.  I have 
>> even
>> started some bardering for our eggs and homemade bread.
>>
>> Our next start small and then expand project will be the dairy goats and 
>> our
>> bee hives.
>>
>> Susan
>> dogwoodfarm at verizon.net
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Kendra Schaber" <Baltimore777 at comcast.net>
>> To: <ag-eq at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Monday, February 13, 2012 12:17 PM
>> Subject: [Ag-eq] Worms
>>
>>
>> > Hi Susan, since you only want to do a small non-commercial worm farm, 
>> > then
>> > a small back yard worm bin, a single worm wigwam or even a single
>> > endistrial sized worm wigwam will most likely be the best one for you. 
>> > It
>> > depends on how big your garden that you want to enhance with the worm 
>> > tea
>> > and worm castings is. There are a number of places that sells both worm
>> > wigwams and back yard worm bins on the internet. You can also build one
>> > for yourself. I didn't build the one that I am currently working with. 
>> > I
>> > got it out of a mear whim from my counselor from the Oregon Commission 
>> > for
>> > the Blind. It is a bit fancy but it works great! A worm wigwam is 
>> > bigger
>> > than a back yard worm bin but it will work for someone who has more 
>> > land
>> > that they want to enhance with their worm castings. If you don't want 
>> > to
>> > be that fancy, you can just build one to the size that you want it. 
>> > There
>> > are many different ways to build worm bins. You can look up the 
>> > different
>> > ways to build them on google so that you can pick
>> > out the right one for you. You can also figure out how many worms that 
>> > you
>> > want to start out with once you have picked out the size of worm bin 
>> > that
>> > will work for you. The bigger the bin, the more worms that you can 
>> > start
>> > out with. If you choose to have just a small back yard worm bin that is
>> > only a square foot for example, then you will only need to buy a pound 
>> > of
>> > worms. If you want to have something bigger than that, then you will 
>> > need
>> > more worms. A good rule of thumb is two pounds for every square foot or
>> > fifteen pounds for a worm wigwam since they are built differently than
>> > your avrige worm bin. Worm wigwams are great for people who has farms 
>> > and
>> > large gardens that they want to enhance organically. Worm castings and
>> > worm tea will help your plants grow better than most chemical 
>> > fertelizers.
>> > I hope that this was helpful! If you have more questions, please feel 
>> > free
>> > to ask them. Thank you!
>> > Kendra Schaber
>> > _______________________________________________
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>>
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>
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