ReMARKable Farms: 2022 In Review...Looking back and looking forward...

Looking back...

I usually don't do a "year in review" but it just seemed like the thing to do this year. Many years I usually post about the Christmas gifts that I made but I just did not have time for making Christmas gifts this past year...too busy with other projects (see below)! We finally got Mark's egg business to full capacity! It only took 3 years! This review is going to be mostly about Mark's egg business but I do want to mention that Joshua also had a big year and I will put some of his accomplishments at the end.

Side note: Someone in the community contacted me this past week and wanted to meet and talk about self employment opportunities for people with disabilities. They have a daughter with developmental delays and learned of Mark's business at the Farmer's Market last summer. What a blessing! Wouldn't it be great if more people with disabilities are working in the community!

In late 2021, Mark got 75 Novagen chicks...the new coop was "mostly" finished so these girls went into the new coop in January! The coop is actually 2 coops that are joined by a storage area in the middle. These young girls went into the east coop...

Here is a pic of the run area that is on the east side of the east coop...

We got a portable grain bin to buy bulk feed in January and then in September, we were invited to get grain from a local feed mill! This will really help to keep the cost of feed manageable!

In the spring, the older chickens that were in the barn were moved into the west side of the new chicken coop...

There is a run on each side of the coop and then moveable paddocks that come off the run. Here is a pic of Mark standing in front of one of the white fenced paddocks. The paddocks are where the girls have access to good, green grass!

Here is another pic of the chickens in the paddock!

The older chickens were getting "old"...so we decided to try a new breed of chicken to replace some of the older ladies. This breed is called ColorPack and they lay blue and green eggs!

We also decided to go a different direction with the future duck production. We got a pair of Welsh Harlequin ducks from a local farmer...white duck is the duck/female and the colorful guy is the drake...I call him Moby Duck...

We realized that one duck was probably not going to be enough so we ordered 5 Welsh Harlequin ducklings. One didn't make it but the other 4 grew up and are in with the flock now. They are REALLY beautiful ducks!

Back to the older chickens...we held a class on the farm to teach 5 other individuals how to process chickens and we processed them as stew hens. We are grateful for their egg laying these past 3 years...

Did a fun experiment with letting the girls make a jack-o-lantern this fall... the east coop REALLY loved the pumpkin! I was able to pull the pumpkin out of the paddock and grab this pic...I put it back into the paddock and when I came back in a couple hours, the entire pumpkin was gone and only the stump was left! It took the west coop DAYS to work on their pumpkin and I eventually threw it into the east coop...

Our oldest dog, Benjamin, had to be put down due to his age so we got a new dog. His name is Allen and he just turned one year old in October so we hope to have him around for a while...

With 2 coops full of chickens now (FINALLY), Mark is getting LOTS of eggs this winter and we have plenty of eggs for all the delivery customers for the first time!

Just another side note to say that Denise started growing some ever lasting flowers this year to sell at the Farmers Market...

Denise also added some flavored apple cider vinegar to her offerings...here we have some rose petal, chive and lemon vinegars brewing...

Joshua had a big year...first he was confirmed into the Catholic church...

Shortly after that he turned 18 years old in May...

Then, he graduated from Paradise Creek Regional High School...

...and started a job in the deli at WinCo!

Looking forward...

2022 was SO busy that we are hoping to just have a nice, quiet 2023! A couple of projects for 2023 include breeding the Welsh Harlequin ducks and harvesting some drakes which we have never done. There is also some work that needs to be done on the coops...believe it or not...the contractor did not actually finish the job (shocking, I know)...I want to put some rocks around the perimeter of the run to keep the girls from digging their way out. Also, at some point, probably not this year, we want to put up some type of structure over the runs to allow for shade in the summer and to keep some of the snow off that area in the winter.

One last piece of equipment we need is an egg washer...these are crazy expensive (several thousand dollars!) but it will allow Mark to wash the eggs and be more involved in the business (currently, I wash all the eggs). Hopefully, we will be purchasing this equipment in fall 2023...oh yeah...and Denise got 3 geese! We are looking forward to some goose eggs this spring! .