Today was a typical Tuesday.  The Crew did about 180 chickens by 11:00, then pitched in to do odd jobs, including the building of a new outhouse.  The packing crew got the orders filled and the chilled birds tucked in the cooler till tomorrow.  A busy but not extraordinarily busy day.

“Good job, guys.  We got a lot done today.” 

“Yeah, we did.  We had a good turnout, a real good turnout.”   What….?

“Yep, a lot of chickens showed up.”   Hmmm…..

Besides bad humor, here’s a bit of what went on today:

The Mangalitsa pigs continued to enjoy their pasture.  They’ve grazed off the tops and are starting after the roots.  The fellows on the left have found some good quack grass roots, the guy on the right is finishing off a lamb’s quarter plant.  Looking at them reminded me of the tasty lardo I enjoyed over the weekend.  Eat up, boys!

Ever wonder what 1200 chicks looked like?  Well, it’s something like this.  These guys are ready to head out to pasture over the next week.  We’re still a few tractors short, so the chicken tractor building crew will be back in business.  The white wyandotte chickens are in one of Joes’ made-to-order tractors on the front lawn.  They didn’t get along with the Javas and Jersey Giants, so the little guys have their feed and water just outside the tractor and get to roam the whole lawn.  The Javas and Giants are almost feathered in, but still look a bit crazy.

We made some exciting discoveries in the garden.  The greens and radishes are ready to eat!  That means I can start grazing in the garden for dinner again.  We also discovered broccoli and cabbage very much ready for harvest.  The beans and corn are so far behind, I forgot about the plants that made it in the ground on time.  So, suddenly, we have garden fresh vegetables again.  Yum!

When they got done with the chicken processing, the Crew moved on to preparing for a visit the next day from the SEEDS summer camp group from Fife Lake.  More on that later…