First Time in Vendor Heaven

Tuggle Farms did our first tour as a vendor yesterday during the Garden Club's Historic Garden Tours. Another first, we brought on our first employee. We set up in the Spencer Penn Kitchen and Bob sold jams and jellies while Thad kept the pots boiling and fresh product coming. Thanks to Thad's skill as a cook, Bob was able to answer questions about canning and home preserving while the process never slowed down. We provided free samples of jams, jellies, preserves and salsa. Carrie Denny, the kitchen manager, provided homemade yeast rolls which enhanced the Tuggle Farms goods. How could someone not buy a jar after tasting jelly on a hot buttered yeast roll? All in all, a lot of hard work was involved, but the joy of providing local foods products, loving prepared was plenty of reward. Pictures will follow soon!

Tuggle Farms Catering

We catered our first event last Saturday for a local Health and Wellness Coalition. In celebration of the work they do, Tuggle Farms Catering supplied healthy menu items including Quinoa in the Chicken Casserole and baked 'fried' apple pies. Many thanks to the folks at Spencer-Penn Centre and especially to Carrie Denny for providing such a wonderful venue for a planning retreat.

Chicken News

The two hens that I got last Friday have been producing about an egg a day each.  I'm up to 7 eggs. More than an omelette. Thursday morning will be the grand opening of the first Tuggle Farms' egg.  Time will tell how it will be prepared. It will surely involve Tuggle Farms Salsa on the side.

Big news. Six more hens have joined the ranks. Thanks to Gregory Poultry Farm near Stuart. Three Barred Rock hens, two Silver Laced Wyandottes and one Black Austrolorp have joined the two New Hampshire Reds and the very proud cock bird of undetermined parentage.

The rooster was happy but not so much the hens. The darker red hen, which I think is a New Hampshire Red, just to the left of the pole in the photo, immediately set the new ones in their places by trying to pluck out their neck feathers. She calmed down a bit after fifteen minutes or so.  The new ones would run behind the rooster when she came after them.

I've saved room for two more. I'm looking for two Buff Orpingtons to fill out the harem. So far chickens are fun. But profitable? I figure after about 30 dozen eggs, I'll break even.

Woo Hoo!! An Egg!

Can't believe it. When I went out this morning I only saw one hen. Oh no! But then I noticed the rooster was in one of the nesting boxes. Bless his heart. Trying to lay me an egg. And in another box was the other hen.

The rooster squeezed his big self out of the box and strutted around a bit. The other hen didn't want to get up. But she did and started putting up a big ruckus. Stood at the nesting box opening and fussed big time; Then she came on out. Low and behold there was this beautiful egg. Juevos numero uno! I truly believe she was so irritated at me she popped an egg out. Oh well. I think it's a good omen. Not quite an omelette, but a start.

Bringing home the chickens.

This fellow was quite the handful. Thanks goes to Matthew at Dancing Creek Farms for catching the protesting bird and loading him for me. Once inside the Jeep he quieted down. Everybody loves a Jeep.

Once inside his new home, his first action was to check out the window. Don't think he had ever heard of glass. It must have looked like a way out to him.

The hens are a different story.  She didn't seem to mind me lifting her out of the cage.

After about five minutes, they started exploring and scratching. When I checked on them 2 hours later, they seemed right at home. The chickens have arrived!!

Getting ready for the Chickens

I've been reclaiming Dad's old chicken house. It's really a roofed area attached to the barn; half dirt floor and half concrete and walls on 3 sides. There are 6 nesting boxes and places to roost. It had been given over to storage. I moved that stuff during the past winter. The only thing left is fencing in an area in the field outside of the chicken house so they can ramble and not be subject to wandering canines. Today I did the finishing touches: cleaning and sweeping. I removed the old straw from the nesting boxes and put in new. In two of the boxes I discovered gnawed bones of some 4 legged creatures.  I asked Dad if he raised carnivorous chickens. He claimed it had to be a possum or some other interloper.

The chickens are on the way. Thanks to Dancing Creek Farm for providing a couple of hens and a lovely rooster.  They'll be here Friday. Next Tuesday I'm visiting Gregory Farms near Stuart and going hen shopping.  By the end of next week I'm hoping for a Tuggle Farms' omelette.

Happenings

Lots going on. The peach tree blooms are starting to open. One plum tree is in full bloom. Grapes are pruned. The ground is about dry enough to plow. Locust posts to finish the chicken yard have been located; just need to harvest them. Found a replacement pump for the sprayer so I can finish with the dormant oil spray.  Just got to go pick it up.

There are chickens in the near future. I keep just missing opportunities. But since the lot is not quite finished that might be a good thing. I'm expecting chickens to appear by the end of next week. Not sure where they're coming from but they're coming.

I met with a group at Spencer Penn Center working with bringing local food to the forefront in the area. They've already done a lot of work studying demographics and such. I think that there will start to be some tangible results soon.

I'll end this post by saying that the first Tuggle Farms Catering job has been scheduled.  Whoo Hoo!!