The farm stand has been up and running since Mother’s Day weekend! We started with just Friday afternoons and Saturday morning. We are now open most days of the week for flowers!
Farm stand
Wrapped Bouquets
Our bouquets are a mixture of focal, spike, airy and foliage florals. We have dahlias, zinnias, sunflowers, gladiolus, sweet peas, cosmos, celosia and mints this summer season. The colours are amazing and the fragrance is delightful!
Wrapped bouquets
Honey, beeswax and lip balm
Summer Rain Farm has 3 hives this year and they are doing great. We look forward to harvesting our honey in August.
Our chicken flock
We have about 30 chickens that roam our property and enjoy all the grass, bugs and worms that they can find. We feed them omega layer ration as well as veggies and fruits from the garden as treats.
They lay one egg on average every 25 hours so we get about 2 dozen eggs a day to package and put out at the farm stand.
Summer Rain Farm stand goals for this year are to have enough items to draw a crowd to our farm. I’ve had this goal in the back of my mind since we started having bees in 2015.
We have 2 hives of bees that gather nectar from nearby wildflowers. Summer Rain Farm harvests the honey every fall making sure to leave enough for the bees to overwinter. Our honey is delicious and we put it in 1 kg and 500 ml jars.
Now I’m ready to bring something of even more value to the farm. Summer Rain Farm stand goals for this year are to grow beautiful flowers from seeds, tubers and bulbs as well as the many perennials we have already have on our property.
The flowers will benefit the pollinators as well as our customers. I’m researching all about the flowers and how to harvest, condition and wrap into lovely market bouquets.
Our flock of chickens lays delicious brown eggs and we would have dozens of eggs ready for customers each week.
Flowers will be the beauty that draws the customers to our farm stand and gives them something to enjoy on their dining table as well as having delicious eggs and honey for their meals.
We will have beautiful seasonal market bouquets wrapped in kraft paper. They will be grown on our property and hand picked by me less than 24 hours before. These flowers will be grown without the use of chemicals and conditioned for long vase life for you to enjoy once you bring them home.
Coming this year we will have a lovely farm stand at the roadside to sell our farm fresh eggs, local honey and new for us beautiful home grown flowers for market bouquets!
We fill our freezer every year with 25 roaster chickens. We order rustic rangers in early January from a hatchery for a pickup in mid-May. By then the worst of the cold weather is gone and I can be sure the brooder in the barn will be able to keep the baby chicks warm enough.
The brooder setup
We set up the brooder in one of our empty stalls but a garage or shed with electricity will work. We use 12-inch corrugated paper to make a circle of about 3 feet diameter to start. It is filled with 4 inches of shavings then topped with paper towels which is easier for the chicks to walk on and keeps them from trying to eat the shavings at first. The small size circle will keep the chicks close to the brooder lamp, food and water. It also keeps them from getting stuck in a corner.
We hang the brooder lamp from a chain in the ceiling to be about 10 inches up from the shavings. The temperature should be around 95 degrees Fahrenheit or 35 degrees celsius the first week. I recommend you use a thermometer to check it and to have it all ready to go the day before you bring your chicks home.
The chicks will huddle under the light when they are too cold and move away if it is too warm. We want them moving about comfortably from water to food and under the lamp occasionally to warm up. I also recommend you put the food and water in the night before to allow it to warm up a bit before placing the chicks inside.
Picking up the chicks
On the day we go to pick up the chicks we make sure the heat is right by laying a thermometer on the shavings a little away from the light. The chicks will come in a little perforated box. 25 little puff balls all peeping quietly. Some people order them by mail and the post office will call to have them picked up.
Placing in the brooder
When we get them home we carefully place the beak of each little chick in the water quickly so they know where the water is. We place them one by one into the brooder this way, being gentle and counting them as we go. They should all look healthy and start peeping around the brooder checking out the feed and water dishes. We try to refrain from holding them away from the heat for too long as they need that heater to regulate their body temp. The chicks are very cute at this stage.
Chicken brooder set up
Feed and Water
We use small quart/litre size water dishes and long plastic or metal feeders that all the chicks can get to at one time. Add a splash of cider vinegar to the water to help their guts begin to work. We use medicated chick starter feed for the first 4 weeks. It is best to feed enough that it is always available to them. You will be amazed at how quickly they grow.
Second week
By week 2 you will have to enlarge the area by 2 feet. I cover the area with clean paper towels morning and night. This helps keep them clean and dry and able to walk around easily. By the end of this week, you can probably remove the paper towels and let them be directly on the shavings. They now know where their feed is and won’t be tempted to eat the shavings. We also raise the lamp slightly to reduce the temperature. They won’t need it as much as they start to get their feathers coming in.
As we watch them move around the whole brooder we know they are warm enough. If they huddle peeping under the light then we know to lower it slightly. We take into account the outside temperature of the barn or shed we are using. If we suddenly get a cold snap we will need to adjust the heat lamp. The more they move around in the brooder the better it is.
Watch for pasty butt
Issues to watch for
Keep an eye on their bottoms as some can develop pasty butt. This is where the manure sticks to their feathers around their bottoms and can seal it closed which stops them from pooping. It can be caused by stress or from being chilled. If it happens we take a wet paper towel, preferably warm and hold it to their bottoms to soften and loosen the manure. We try to be very gentle and patient as the clump can be stuck on pretty good and you don’t want it to rip their skin by pulling it off. We just remoisten it until it can be gently removed then dry them well and place them back in the brooder near the lamp.
4th week and moving them
By the fourth week, they will have a lot of their feathers and lose that puff ball look. If the weather is suitably warm and sunny we can move them to their adult home. They will need more room to move about.
Inside chicken tractor
Chicken tractors
We use something called chicken tractors for our meat birds. This is a movable tent-shaped structure built to protect the chickens as they eat the grass around the property. It is covered in hardware cloth to deter predators and covered with a tarp to protect the chickens from rain and give shade. We put feed and water inside and move it 2 times a day so they have fresh grass to eat and sleep on. We use 2 tractors, each one holds 12 or 13 chickens. They are 4′ x 8′ in size. We do this for another 7 to 8 weeks.
Poultry processing
The rustic ranger chicken takes about 11 weeks to grow to about 5 to 7 pound chickens. Knowing this we pre-book a time at a poultry processing plant to take them for butchering. They are government inspected at the plant. Some people do the butchering themselves but we prefer to take them in and have them vac sealed and weighed as well as frozen to be picked up the next day.
Great use of property
By doing this we get lots of pasture-raised chicken to fill our freezers. It is a great way for us to use our property and we like the chickens to go through our orchard as it helps fertilize and remove pests. We have also run them through the pastures with the horses and it helps there too. Depending on how many you want to raise you can do this a couple of times a year starting a new batch every 2 months.
Would you want pasture-raised chickens on your property and in your freezer?
My daughter and I had boarded our two horses where we took lessons for 4 years. We learned so much about taking care of them we found we were prepared to design our barn for what our family wanted.
Barn in the distance
Planning
After going to our municipality and asking what we were allowed to build we had plans drawn up. This depended on our property size as well as where we could put it on our property. We had to have set backs and distance from our property line and neighbours’ homes. We love that it is a bit of a walk from our home especially in the fly season.
Our plans included three stalls, an area for hay and a tack area. Another item on the want list was a water line to the tack area and heat to keep that waterline from freezing.
Another item was a upper viewing area or loft for my daughter to hang out in. This really wasn’t needed and became a storage area in the end.
Construction
Inside of stall
When we were ready to build we had a concrete floor put in and rubber mats in the stalls. It was framed up and we had aluminum siding put on that matched our home. We added the stalls and accessories ourselves like insulated bucket holders and corner feeders. Of course, nameplates and halter hooks were included for convenience.
Rear of barn
We use our barn for our horses, barn cats and chicken brooder area. As you can see our farm animals seem to approve. What kind of animal shelter are you going to have?
Our property had some fencing for horses that the previous owners had put up and enclosed about 2 acres. We decided to devide this area into 2 pastures allowing us to rotate the horses as the grass grew. This was a good start. We added a third acre parcel later as well as another half acre temporary field. This is still an ongoing issue.
Types of fencing
We used wood fencing with electric rope, chest high to prevent the horses from chewing or pushing against the wood. The electric fence was solar powered.
There was also a small lot enclosed in front of the barn but it got too muddy for the horses so it became our pig pasture. Therefore adding field fencing on the inside and a line of electric rope at 6 inches up from the ground, keeping the little pigs enclosed.
pigs on pasture
Our gates are all 10 to 16 feet wide metal attached on our largest wooden posts. Therefore allowing it to support the weight.
The fencing around our chicken, turkey and geese areas are made with hardware cloth along the bottom 4 feet with overlapping 1 inch chicken wire up to 5 feet high.
Maintenance
Fencing will always be an ongoing maintenance job. Painting, replacing boards and electrical hardware as well as solar batteries. Walking your fence line on a regular basis is always a good idea, checking for any repairs that are needed.
Luckily no damage was caused by the fallen tree
We fenced our garden area therefore we were able to keep out rabbits and our dogs from trampling the beds.
Raised bed garden surrounded by fence
Why not free range?
We tried free-ranging our chickens at first but they ended up on our neighbour’s deck! Luckily our neighbours were friendly and thought it was cute. Again fencing makes for good neighbours.
All our fencing took time to go up and didn’t all go in at once. Just keep in mind where you would put your fencing as you plan out your property.
What fencing are you thinking of putting up on your country property?
When we decided to leave our suburban home we looked at real estate sites. We had 5 items to keep in mind.
Our 5 requirements for our property
To be within a half hour of the city where we worked. I would be working from home but my husband would be driving daily to his place of work. Weather would definatly be a factor as well since we live in the north and get a good amount of snow storms in the winter.
We wanted it large enough to have our 2 horses live on it. This was over 3 acres for the municipality we were looking at.
We required the property to have a home on it with potable water, working septic and hydro available. This made it a property we could live at while adding barns or renovating the home.
To be in our price range. We knew what our previous house would sell for and we approximated what amount we were willing to use for enhancements to the propery.
We required it to have some character. Not a flat piece of farmland.
Beautiful rolling pastures
Your list might be different than ours but do think about your 5 most needed items. Are you a handy person or does it need to be turn-key? Can you hire someone to do the work needed? Can you work from anywhere? Do you need it close to schools for your children? Do you need to be close to hospitals or shopping?
Can you get good internet? A big question for some rural areas.
Do you need 1, 5, 10 acres or more? This all depends on what you plan to do. Animals are considered in units per acre so consider looking into this for your municipality.
How close will the neighbours be? We have great neighbours close enough but not too close.
So you’ve found your little(or big) slice of heaven. Congratulations!
You’ve moved in and looked at all that space. What can you do with it now?
I’m going to list some ideas for you to pick and choose what interests you most. A few things should be first if your looking down the road. These are just general suggestions. I will go more in depth for each suggestion in later posts. Check in the categories for updates.
List of ideas
Orchards should be planted first as they take a little time to establish. If you want to grow fruit, I advise researching your zone and get planting.
Vineyards also need to be planted a couple years until you can harvest grapes and make wines or jellies.
Berry bushes and strawberry patches usually produce in the second year.
Gardens can start to produce right away.
Animal shelters and fencing should be thought about before bringing that first cute animal home.
Shelters can be as little as a 4′ x 6′ shed for a few chickens or ducks or as large as a full size barn for horses, cows or goats and everything between.
Goose house
Think about where the fencing will go. Fencing makes good neighbours as well.
Take a real look at your property and see what is already there. Is there a shed that would work, or fencing already installed? Can it work for what you want?
Is there a water source close enough to use for plants or animals or will you have to truck buckets around?
Pastures
Is the land flat, sloping, rocky or forested? All these attributes have uses such as pastures, gardens or tapping for maple syrup.
I would love to know what your property will be used for.
