Now that all of the goat kids have gone to their new herds, the chickens are in our freezer, and the turkeys are getting fat…. we are feeling like empty nesters!

Woohoo! Farm planning for the fall! Now is the time that we begin to clean up after our busy season and plan for winter. That means find ovens for our delicious heritage turkeys, stock up on hay, and map out our fall breeding plans. Not to mention, figure out and plant the fall garden and the whole remote school thing for the kids! Ugh.

This was our first year raising turkeys and I would have to say that they will be returning to our farm next year. I would equate their personality to that of a duck. They make wonderful trilling noises and will follow you around, especially if you are carrying a bucket of food or anything shiny. The only thing I would have to say about these beautiful and delicious birds is that they are agile and adamant flyers. We had to clip their wings every 4 weeks to keep them safe and grounded in their pasture. I will keep you posted on how to cook a heritage breed Turkey in a November post, so stay tuned.

Next on our to do list: map out the breeding plans for this fall. I get SO excited for farm babies! During cold winter days, it’s sometimes the thing that keeps me going. Due to our current winter setup, we will kid and lamb in late March into April. This means that in late October, the ewe lambs and doelings that we retained will be sorted off into their own pen. The adult ewes and Don Diego (our handsome fullblood ram) will get their own pen and pasture, and the adult does and Outlander (our fullblood buck) will be their own area. They will stay in these groups for 6 to eight weeks, then the males can go back to bachelor life. This will also be our first year using a breeding harness on the boys, so it should be a colorful fall indeed!

We will keep you updated on other fun farm fall happenings (whew that was a mouth full!) and I hope to see some of you during this upcoming season!

Heather P.