About Our Blog

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Our blog is to inform and entertain you as we pursue our goal of starting a farm. Here we plan on recording thoughts, projects, farm additions and other note-worthy happenings. You may even see us on a magazine or two. If you would like to comment on our blog or just say "Hi" feel free to do so on our CBOX to the left.  Just enter your name and a message, then click the 'GO' button.  If you want to comment on a blog, please do so.  Just 'click' on the "Leave a comment" below each blog entry. Yahoo users: feel free to contact us...our profile is mn_nice_couple.  Just because we don't appear online, doesn't mean we're not.  When you send us an IM, please identify yourselves... and let us know why you're contacting us. Put yourself on the map! CLICK HERE to show us where you are in the world.

Hosting a family get-together Coyote Ridge Farms

The Blog   

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Some days I blog w/o checking for errors - you'll know it when you read it

Aug 28, 2009 
- MN State Fair

It's 5:45 AM and we're headed to the Minnesota State Fair!!!

 

Aug 27, 2009 
- new arrivals

We brought some new chickens to the farm this evening.  Our neighbors realized that White Leghorns are not the chicken for them.  It seems this type of bird doesn't do well in an over crowded situation.  The neighbors started with 75 chickens in a small coop and all they had left was the 12 they gave us.  The chickens pecked/attacked each other until there was only a handful left.  We won't have the same problem as we let our chickens free-range.  We've said it before... I'll say it again.  We have happy chickens.

 

Aug 26, 2009 
- that took awhile

Around 10:00AM, Carol, Madison and I took-off for the St Cloud area.  We was going to Mill's Fleet Farm.  I told Andy, the guy I use for my contractor pricing, I'd be in after 11 AM.  While I was being helped in the fencing department, Carol and Madison we scoping out other parts of the store.  Carol purchased a meat grinder/sausage stuffer attachment for her Kitchen Aid mixer.  For some time, Carol has talked about making and seasoning homemade sausage... now she can.  I on the other hand, had my cart full with a couple of tons worth of goodies waiting for me in the yard.  At the check-out, I discovered how much this fencing project was costing me.  We walked out of Mill's with over $3400 less than we walked in with.  Sheesh!  That's a lot of $$$ spent on fencing... and I don't think we're done yet.  All said and done, we have spent nearly $4500, so far.

Once home, I headed down to the creek to work on the fencing.  I was out for about 3½ hrs, before the mosquitoes got too bad.  I got done what I set out to do... I'll do more tomorrow.

 

Aug 25, 2009 
- fencing... again

Today was spent fencing.  Earlier, I helped one of the neighbors with morning milking.  5:30 AM comes pretty early.

After breakfast, I headed to the pasture area to drive more posts.  The wire I have strung between the posts is my straight-line.  I hope all the posts look straight.  Speaking of fencing, my contact  at Mill's Fleet Farm gave me a call.  He said that all of the items I ordered were now in... ready to be picked-up.  So, tomorrow I'll be getting some much needed fencing supplies (4" posts, strainers, tension springs and a crap-load of 6' T-posts).  I'll probably get a few odds-n-ends, but I'd say I'll drop a couple thousand bucks... easy.  The sooner I get the project completed, the sooner I get it inspected and reimbursed for it.

Oh yeah!  I nearly forgot... while I was fencing, I could see Madison with what looked like a goat.  They were out in one of the new, future pastures.  I thought she was just playing with some of the new babies we had some time ago.  It turned out that Madison had stumbled upon a 1st time mama, shortly after she gave birth.  Here's a couple of photos of the new baby, after Madison brought them back to the barn.

here's madison with our new buckling nutmeg

Nutmeg and mama Ginger

 

Aug 24, 2009 
- the fields are clearing

The last couple of days have been pretty much carbon copies of each other for me... it's all about fencing.  I have started our fencing project that is associated with the government contract we qualified for.  In the past, I have done temporary fencing with a couple strands of hot-wire, but most of the farm's fencing needs have been met with an old fashioned cattle fence, consisting of 5 strands of barbed-wire and some hot-wire.  This round of fencing is going to be high tensile.  For the goats, we are constructing a 6 strand fence and next year we will build a 4 or 5 strand fencing for the cattle.  My first stop was our local farm store to pick-up a few things... $540+ worth.  And I didn't get much for the $$$.

On the way home, I stopped into the neighbor's place to tell them that I had finished baling straw and that whenever they had to time to do so, they were free to bring the bales to their farm.  Shortly after I got home, they arrived... and the bales started to disappear.  While they were collecting bales, I did more work on the pasture fences, by running some wire to the posts I drove onto the ground.  From the creek, where I was working, I could see the other neighbors baling-up some my wheat straw.  They wanted a few small square bales as well as the round bales.  It was nice to be able to get most of the straw sold so quickly.

 

Aug 22, 2009 
- is it the tough economy or is it something else

Even the smokers are going DIY.  Some say it's economics, but it could be part of something bigger.  Most of you who read my blog and/or similar blogs, do so to learn about doing [more] things for yourself and to learn from other's successes and their mistakes.  Although I do not endorse smoking, especially around children or non-smokers, I do believe smokers have the right to smoke.  According to an online article on MSNBC, entitled Fed up by expense, smokers grow own tobacco smokers are taking matters into their own hands and growing their own.  It's legal, way cheaper and some claim it's safer than buying from the big tobacco companies.  If you are at all interested in learning more about growing tobacco, check out HowToGrowTobacco.com.

On the farm front:  I finished the baling of the oat straw.  As the dew was leaving the field, I set out with the Farmall H, with rake in tow.  The hail we had the other night pretty much pushed the straw to the ground.  I wanted to turn over the windrow, lift it up off the ground and also "fluff-up" the straw so the air could get to all of it and dry it out.  By the time I finished raking, the newly turned straw was ready for round-baling.  It baled nicely and I had no problems what-so-ever (if you don't count the sun-burn).  The raking and baling process took a good 5 hours, but it was an enjoyable 5 hrs, just the same.  It's nice to have this task completed.  I only have a few windrows of wheat to bale and I'll be [completely] done with the small grain harvest... all but the selling of the straw, but I believe most of that is spoken for.  Small grains seem to have been a good start for this beginning farmer... the seed is fairly cheap and once in the ground, there is little to do until harvest... unless you worry about what can go wrong... lol.

While I was baling, Carol made another attempt at goat cheese.  The Chèvre she was going to make, made it to the pigs... in other words, it didn't turn out.  She then tried a recipe for mozzarella - deferent than before.  It looked like motz cheese, smelled like motz cheese and most importantly, it tasted like motz cheese.  I think with a little tweaking, she'll have a 1st-rate cheese.  She's worried about being able to reproduce the results.  If she can, we'll have a very good home-made pizza cheese.

 

Aug 21, 2009 
- pounding posts

Hey... at least it ain't raining.  It wasn't the nicest of days though - cool and gloomy would be a good way to describe the weather.  The rain from the last 2 days has the windrowed oat & wheat straw plenty moist... too moist to think about baling.  Maybe tomorrow.

The 2nd item on this year's priority list of "farm must do's" was to work on the new fencing.  If it doesn't get completed before year's end, I could possibly lose our newly acquired farm grant.  After some creative loader work, I was able to secure the borrowed Shaver post-driver to the IH 560 tractor.  I soon started the re-familiarization with the driver (Farmer Mike and I used it last year), in no time I was pounding my non-treated, organic-friendly, 6" white cedar, wood posts into the ground.  Before supper, The post driving went fairly smoothly... but after the meal, I ran into problems... not with the posts and not with the driver or the tractor... but with rocks.  2 of the 3 posts I tried to install, hit rocks.  One of the rocks must have been just a bit bigger than the post, but still poundable.  The last post hit a rock 3' down.  I thought I would be able to keep driving the post, much like the last.  That didn't work... the rock must have been a biggy.  I picked a spot a few feet to the west and the post went into the ground with ease.

Back on the place, Carol brought daughter Madison school shopping.  It seems the school year is approaching, as it does every year at this time of the year.  After they returned from town, Carol readied some raw goat milk for cheese making.  She's going to try her hand at some homemade Chèvre (shev).  I think Chèvre is a soft, spreadable cheese, but don't quote me.  It's an excellent substitute for cream cheese or ricotta.  Many folks like adding herbs and spices to it when using it as a spread on crackers, bagels, etc...

 

Aug 20, 2009 
- rain, rain, go away!!!

Yepper... it's still raining here.  We got 3 inches yesterday and another inch today.  The good news is that the insurance agent called.  He said I had hail coverage on the corn (up to $200/acre) and that an adjustor would be coming out to look at the damage sometime during the next week or so.  Whew!

 

Aug 19, 2009 
- what the hail!!!

Holy Macanah!  That's what my grandpa might have said if he were still alive.  Late last night took us for quite a ride.  First we had rain... lots of it.  Then the pounding of the hail, at approx. 1:00AM.  It sounded like the hail was golf ball sized, when it slammed into the roof.  I thought, for sure, we'd have some broken windows.  If I had to guess, I'd have to say it hailed for a good 5-10 minutes.  When I turned the outside light on, I could see a carpet of ice.  White with small spots of ground, showing through.

We were lucky to have the oats & wheat harvested, because by the looks of the corn, the small grains would have been pounded into the ground.  The farm's corn field looks as though somebody walked through it with a shredder.  All of the leaves were in strips and some of the ears were beaten up so bad that they were pointing to the ground, when normally they should be pointing upwards.  When I stopped at the neighbors, they showed me what looked like a small snow drift, by their front door.  They mentioned that even 5 hrs after the storm, dime-sized pieces of hail could still be found on the ground.

I called my crop insurance guy, hoping I had hail insurance on the corn... I'm still waiting for a call-back.

Towards evening, Carol and I took-off to Hancock, MN to look at a house that was advertised in the paper for $6k.  It said it was a double-wide... to be moved.  When we arrived, it was clear that it was no trailer house - it was a modular the size of a short double-wide.  With the moving costs, we figured the house would cost approx. $11,000.  Now we need to figure out if that house is worth $11k more than what we are living in now.  Although the interior has a layout of a regular house, it still sorta looks like a trailer house inside.  It has a low, panel-like ceiling... yuck!  The plus-side of the house is that we could make it into a 4-bedroom, w/o too much problem, the kitchen is a wee-bit bigger and it does have a dining area.  I'm just not sure if it has enough value to justify it's purchase... especially with the farm's budget being so tight.

 

Aug 18, 2009 
- is fall here already... brrrr?

This morning, I got up early to help the neighbors with the milking.  I took Carol's car.  That's when I noticed the outside temp. sensor.  It told me what I already knew... that is was chilly out... 48ºF.  When I got home after chores, Carol had the furnace running.  Madison was wrapped tightly in her quilt (still in bed) and Chastiti' was shivering.  In no time, the house was warmer.

Since it rained yesterday, I figured there was no-way I could get any baling done, so I ripped into the IH 560 tractor.  I found a 3-point hitch on one of the tractors in the grove, so I wanted to replace the fast-hitch that is presently on the tractor with the newly discovered 3-point.  Last year, Farmer Mike welded up some adapters to make the fast-hitch into a 3-point.  Even though the adapters helped us get done what we needed to get done, I still find it quite limited on what I can affix to the rear of tractor.  It's time for something a little more versatile.

By mid-afternoon, Mike gave me a call, asking if I needed help baling the straw or if I was doing OK alone.  I stated my position and why I wasn't baling right now.  He said he'd be over in an hr or so to help.  By the time he arrived, I had most of the 3-point hitch secured to the tractor... almost ready for the field.  Mike helped me finish my tractor project before we both headed to the field.  Mike has a cab on his tractor and brought Madison with him for her first baling experience.  She rode with him for the entire evening.  In a couple short hours, we had about 50 bales baled, with another 50 or so to go.  Hopefully, it won't rain tomorrow.

Mike helping us bale with his Ford tractor and Gehl round baler

Once back at the place, we discussed tomorrow's weather forecast.  I hadn't heard if we were suppose to get rain or not, but Mike thought he heard rain was in the forecast.  He said he didn't think we'd getting anything tonight, since there was dew on the grass already.  He also stated that if the dew is gone by morning, we were likely to get rain early in the day.  Hmmm... I had never heard this mumbo-jumbo voodoo type of weather forecasting before... I'll have to remember these tid-bits of info.  Maybe I should wait to see what tomorrow will bring.

 

Aug 17, 2009 
- go to the fair.

If you are in the mood to take-in a County Fair in Minnesota ... or maybe explore the happenings of a local fair for the very 1st time, please check-out this page http://www.mfcf.com/members.htm.  It lists many counties and the dates in which they are active.  Find the one(s) in you area and see what they have to offer.

- assembly sheets.

Just got back from the local farmer's elevator.  After a person has brought in their loads of grain and it has been tested for amount of protein and such, the elevator gives you what is called an assembly sheet.  The assembly sheet has the necessary info needed to evaluate ones crop.  It's your record of bushels, moisture, test weight, dockage and so-on.  I did some quick math and it seems we did pretty good job at growing wheat too.  The 20 acres produced some 1,268 bushels, which equals  63.4195 bu/acre... not bad from what I hear.  It was a good year to plant oats & wheat.  We have had a very dry year, here in Minnesota and these small grains grow quite well in arid conditions.

 

Aug 16, 2009 
- off farm work.

Not much happening on the farm, due to my part-time, off-farm vocation (Midwest Cleaning Systems).  My buddy, Jonny Who, and I scheduled a few hood-cleaning jobs for today.  We started the morning in Raymond, MN at Heida's Cafe.  When we looked at the hood, we noticed our old hood sticker with the 'last cleaned' date of July 2000.  Oh my gosh, it had been 9 yrs since it was cleaned... not that it was Heida's fault - they are new owners.  It would be the owners previous.  Instead of a 3 hour hood cleaning job it took 4.  Then off to Benson, MN... after that we traveled to Morris.  It was a fun day as [most] always, with Jon.

Also, I wanted to mentioned Carol finalized the Fall Price Sheet of the farm's Direct-To-Customer products.  Please check it out: www.CoyoteRidgeFarms.com/pricelist.pdf.  As you can see, the file is a .pdf format, so you will need Adobe Reader installed on your puter to read and or print it.  If you have any questions or special requests, please call Carol at 320.220.3235.  Oh yeah... she's been trying several recipes of goat cheese(s).  If you're in our neck of the woods, stop in and ask to try some.  Some of it's really good, some is just interesting.

 

Aug 15, 2009 
- a rain day.

The farmer's elevator was open today from 9am-noon.  The first load of oats, I got in shortly after 9:15 and the truck load from last night, I was able to get to the elevator at 10am.  I was on the scales for only a few minutes before it started to rain... and rain... and rain.  WOW!  That was close!  If I had been a ½ hr later, my oats would have been wet in the truck. 

With all of my load tickets in hand, I was able to see how the farm's oats preformed.  Steve at the elevator said I had the heaviest oats he had ever seen in 20-some years.  The test weight of the heaviest oats was 39lbs/bu, as you can see (below), and it is at 10.5% moisture.  One gets docked if the moisture is greater than 13%, so I was better than good.

After I got the load slip, I called my seed supplier, Falk Seeds, to tell them how happy I was with the seed they sold me.  The gal I spoke with said Jim was getting some 100 bushels/acre, which lead me to wonder what I would get.  Well, after I added all the load slips, I discovered that we averaged 98.9865 bushels of oats per acre.  I think that's pretty good if I can nearly match that of the seed grower.

here is the scan of the load ticket of the heaviest oats the elevator has ever seen.

 

Aug 14, 2009 
- all done for 2009.

When we should have been starting the day with more combining, Farmer Mike and I went looking at another used combine.  The first neighbor's place, who we knew had a used unit for sale, had the same make and model that Mike was used to - a John Deere 6600.  In a nutshell, the owner of the "new" combine told Mike to work the combine, then get back to him with an offer.  Long-story-short... we hit the oat's field running... made a few adjustments and didn't stop until the oats was done.  We knew rain was in the forecast for tomorrow, so we skipped lunch to see that we got done in time.  Two of the loads were brought over to Mikes farm where we could store them under-roof, just incase we got rain.

a view of Mike's new combine harvesting oats

here we are dumping one of the last hopper loads of oats into Mike's old farm truck

FYI:  If you are curious about how much it costs to have another farmer combine oats & wheat, I think Mike told me that $12/acre is a fair price.  I'm not sure how he and I will settle up on the harvesting he did for us, but shares (or a percentage of the crop is not an uncommon method of payment).

Carol drove through the town of Raymond today... she was going to her mom's house.  That's when she saw it... the house we were going to move onto the farm, sitting on blocks with a new foundation built under it.  We were wondering why the house movers never got back to us.  I had called them in the past, but never received a call-back.  So... that part of the day sucked!!!

 

Aug 13, 2009 
- small grain harvest.

Today was the last day for me to work on Farmer Mike's upstairs' bathroom.  I was given a deadline to finish the taping and mudding.  I love doing stuff like this, but I also like finishing stuff like this.  I hope I did as good of job as Mike and his family were expecting.

Because of the weather, oats harvest got off to a slow start.  It was muggy and over-cast for much of the day.  It wasn't until late afternoon when Farmer Mike thought it was OK to give the harvest a try.  Although there were some to spots that were tough going, Mike made good progress combining the small grain while I baled more of the wheat straw from the field Mike's son combined the day before.

Prior to us being in the fields, I was able to finish "mudding" the upstairs' bathroom at Mike's house.  For the last couple of weeks, I have been working on it, on a part-time basis.  I think the project took longer than Mike's wife would have liked, but I'm a procrastinator as well as a slight perfectionist.  If I would have another month to work on the bathroom, it still would not be good enough. So wife Carol told Mike's wife Karen to give me a deadline.  The deadline thing worked great... I even had a day to spare.

We had another set of twins born on the farm.  The farm's largest milking doe (Annie) gave birth to two little bucklings.

Annie is licking the newest of the bucklings clean.

 

Aug 12, 2009 
- Jake combined so I started baling straw.

Jake (Farmer Mike's son) did some of the combining today, as Mike had some baling to do on a neighboring farm.  Things started out well enough and in no time, we had one wagon full of wheat, ready to go to town.  I jumped into the crappy old farm pick-up and trotted of to the local farmer's elevator.  When I returned, I found Jake and the combine just sitting on the hill.  I guess the tranny went out on the combine... or locked-up solid.  We knew it was going out.  Yesterday, the combine had 2 speeds - 1st & 3rd.  I guess right now, we'd be happy with just first.  The good news was that Mike called a mobile repair guy to come out and take a look at it.  Jake and I went in for lunch and figured the repair dude would be rolling in about the time we were done eating.  And he did.

Alex, the repair guy messed around a little, then took the combine for a spin.  At least he had ir moving.  When he left, he mentioned that at the very least, the transmission work would cost about $1500... maybe more.  With the machine moving, Jake got back on track combining, so I started baling straw.  For those who don't know, when you plant small grains, you really have 2 crops - grain and straw.  The straw makes up for the lower price and/or production of the small grains.  One gets a good price for the wheat, but production is low... and with oats, production is higher than wheat, but the price is much lower.  So it's a trade-off.  By the end of the evening, Jake had finished combining the wheat field.  Tomorrow, Farmer Mike will start combining the oats, as Jake is off to a church retreat in or near the Metro.

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HOLIDAY TURKEYS FOR SALE -  Only $3/lb ** We are now selling  processed chicken by the pound. ** (as outlined by the Dairy and Food Inspection Division of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture & MN Statute 31.56) We sell all holiday turkeys either fresh or frozen.  Do we eat what we raise?  You betcha!  We will be raising approx. 70 chickens, 25 turkeys and 20-30 ducks.  Why so many?  Simple... we like knowing we are eating a healthy meal, raised with care in healthy conditions and we love the way they taste.  Please contact us if you are interested in chicken, duck or turkey in 2009  CALL CAROL TODAY:  320-220-3235

 

Weather

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