Discovering Life and Loss

Where do I begin? So much has happened over the past several months. I feel like we're going a thousand different directions. Sometimes you have to take a step back and realize that you can only do so much. You must prioritize and go from there. Another "live and learn" moment.

So where are we? Neck deep in pastured chicken and pork. THAT is for sure. The community has welcomed us with open arms as a local provider and meat is flying out of here faster than we can process it. We may have found our "nitch" in the world. We are so blessed that the reception has been good and we are working hard to continue improving on what we've built so far.

Dottie

Our two goat mamas gave us gorgeous babies. Cocoa, the pro, gave us a set of twin does, which we have named Dottie and Gidget. They are now 4 weeks old and doing very well.

Gidget

 Tillie, surprised us for sure on her first pregnancy. She gave us a gorgeous set of triplets, a doe and two bucklings. Our daughter named the little doe Chloe. We named the boys Oreo and Domino.

Domino and Chloe came into this world struggling from the get go. They ingested some of mom's birthing fluids and were treated for pneumonia and wore "sock sweaters" for over a week and slept under a heat lamp so that we could keep their temperatures up. They both seemed to be doing much better and then it appeared that Chloe wasn't getting as much to eat as her brothers. We began bottle feeding her but she never came out of it.

Chloe passed away this past Saturday. She was 3 weeks old. It is our first loss since we began raising Nigerian Dwarfs three years ago. My heart just broke and I felt like such a failure that I couldn't make her better. But I'm a realist. I know it comes with the territory when you decide to raise farm animals. Domino and Oreo continue to thrive and already have new homes waiting for them where they'll go in another 4 weeks. They are beautiful boys and will make wonderful herd sires.

Domino

Oreo

 We just brought 7 new piglets to the farm to add to our pastured pork program and we have 70 new Freedom Ranger chicks that were moved to the mobile chicken tractor in the field for the meat bird production.

Farmer's Market season has begun and we are busy every Saturday morning. I look forward to market every week and enjoy meeting new people and telling them about what we're doing at Ellis Farms. Things are going well and we continue to be blessed by our customers in our farming adventures. As always, thank you for supporting us. We couldn't do it without you.










Until next time,
Audra AKA Head Farm Mama at Ellis Farms.

Now On To 2015!

I haven't posted a blog in over 3 months but that should give you some indication of just how busy things have been for us. We moved into a solid fall/winter farming season with winter greens and other goodies for market. We made over 100 gallons of molasses and those have been selling like hotcakes!

We processed our first set of pasture raised chickens and the response has been wonderful from our buyers. We participated in our very first Cat Square Christmas Parade and had an absolute blast!

 

In November, we transported the goat girlies, Cocoa and Tillie, to FLG Farms in Taylorsville where they stayed with their boyfriend for two weeks. We are crossing our fingers for Spring babies. Over the holidays, we discovered a wonderful use for Christmas trees after folks were finished with them....goats LOVE them! It's a wonderful and nutritious treat. What a great way to recycle and give it back to nature.

Right now, things on the farm are moving pretty slow. It gives us time to rest and recoup. But we are gearing up for the next growing season. Rick has been working to ready the greenhouse for planting spring seeds. A wood stove has been installed to keep it nice and toasty to help them grow on these cold winter days. Our pigs are ready to be processed. Our butcher appointment is set for mid-February so we are excited to be able to add pasture raised pork for our customers.

We continue to be blessed beyond measure at the support that we have received from the community as we have pushed our family farm to the next level. It's not all been perfect. There have been successes and failures, highs and lows. We continue to learn new things on a daily basis. All in all, 2014 was good to us. Looking forward to 2015!

Til next time,
Audra
Head Chicken Mama at Ellis Farms

Business Is Booming!

This post may be short and sweet but that's the nature of the game when you're running a farm and still working a full time job and a part time job at the same time. People say to me all the time, "I don't know how you do it." Truthfully, I don't either but it just gets done and that's the main thing. We have been super busy which means we are super blessed. Harvest Moon Grille is now open in our home town with well known Chef Cassie Parsons at the helm. Her menu features complete farm to table awesomeness and it has brought something completely new and fresh to the area. Reviews have been great and this means greatness for us because we've been supplying produce to the restaurant on a weekly basis. Cassie and her staff have been awesome to work with. We couldn't be happier. You can check our their website and menu HERE.

Our Farmer's Market sales have really done well. We were very nervous about stepping in to that unknown territory and the other vendors have been extremely welcoming. We are in the midst of transitioning from Spring crops to Fall so we have lots of things in various stages of growth. We are getting ready to butcher the pigs and we have added Freedom Ranger meat chickens to the menu. We hope to be licensed to be able to sell pasture raised chicken, with no hormones and no antibiotics, as well as pasture raised pork to the public. We are extremely excited about this addition to what we can offer to the community.

And, of course, September at Ellis Farms means it's molasses season, so cooking begins this weekend. We have enough planted to probably be cooking for the next 4 or 5 weekends. We will be selling quarts and pints. We will have enough to sell from the farm, at the market, and also to the restaurant who has been using our molasses in some of their menu items.

The other exciting thing happening this month is that we were invited to be a part of this year's Charlotte Area Farm Tour. It takes place the weekend of the 27th and 28th and includes 15 farms. From 12pm until 6pm each day, folks can visit as many of the participating farms as they can fit in. Each farm offers different activities and things to learn, as well as items to purchase directly from the farmer. We are extremely excited to be a part of the tour this year. We'll be doing a hay ride tour of the farm, a molasses making demonstration, and meeting all of our animals. We will also have a produce stand set up with molasses and other goodies for sale. If you'd like to learn more or to purchase a ticket, click HERE.

Last but not least, we have a new family member. We traveled to Trade, Tennessee a brought home a new puppy. The kids have decided to name him Cotton. He is a Great Pyrenees and is a livestock guardian dog and will live with the chickens and goats as their protector. We are busy getting him adjusted to his new home and learning the "rules" regarding the animals that he's to take care of. The kids absolutely love him and his fluffy soft white fur. He is going to be a big boy and we are happy to have him.

Til next time,
Audra