Chicken Thistle Farm Coopcast

I this episode we talk about where we have been the last 2 weeks and why we haven't coopcasted.  We share the story of the chickens arriving early this year and their bad attitudes.  We talk about the moved pig, planting the vegetable garden and what's going on in the greenhouse (like fresh strawberries).

After getting our new beehive we have checked in on their progress and the hive is growing quickly.  We update everyone on the status and happening in the hive.  We then talk about the trees we have been planting as well as the early spring gardening efforts.  The potatoes are in, the peas and asparagus is up and the greenhouse is full.  Tune in to hear all the latest updates!

This is the first low qulaity audo episode we have produced as we were driving in the truck to pickup our beehive and still wanted to produce an episode.  So we talk a little about bees, the seedlings for the vegetable garden and the animals. It's 15 minutes of free content recorded ina truck - it's gotta be great!

This weeks episode tells the story of the Great Hedgerow Fire of 2015...  but it wasn't that great.   We then just field a bunch of listener questions from a Periscope session! Questions range from pig updates to tractors to beekeeping... Ohh - and you can leave us a voicemail now too for the podcast! :)

We start by setting the record straight after last weeks April Fools episode.  After we clean up the misinformation we move on to talking about seed starting, soil blocks, plans for the vegetable garden and greenhouse and seeding the pasture behind the chickens.  We also talk a bit about a chronic infection that may be plaguing our swine herd. Then we move to the Front Porch to discuss the "real" farm meeting for 2015 and what changes and plans we have in store for the farm.  This leads into a discussion about the work / life balance that is a real challenge when working a full time job and trying to run a full time farm.

Recorded on April 1st 2015 - this episod of the CHicken Thistle Farm Coopcast focuses on some lofty farm plans for 2015 that have all come together today.  Check out the episode all the way to the end to get all the details about the vegetable CSA and pig operations (and so much more) @ Chicken Thistle Farm.

Back from vacation in Florida, Farmer And puts his pants back on and sits down to talk with Farmer Kelli about the long list of springtime tasks ahead.  We refer to our community and how great almost all our listeners are...  and how cool it is to watch them smack down the weeds that crop up! Still waiting for the snow to melt we talk a little about beekeeping and a local supplier we came up with for our frames, gear and starter hive (Nuc). In the Community we share our thoughts on a small farm in NY that has been in the news for some not so positive reasons.  We also talk about how changing the food system is achievable when you vote with your wallet.

This week spring appears to have made an appearance and the snows are slowly receeding!  Still things are slow on the farm and in the vegetable gardens so we talk a little about the tough decisions of a small business when it comes to firing a customer.  We also celebrated the fact that our AI was successful and our gilt is with pigs! Then in the community we talk about the farms newset adventure - raising bees.  Beekeeping was somethign we had thought about but the kind gift from a listener of ours has started us down the path to our first hive (and likely trip to the ER).  So we talk a little about the process we are taking to start up bees on the farm.  We are also excited about the impact on the vegetable gardens the added polenators should have! Finally in the community we talk about a great question a listener posted on our Facebook page about treated seeds and what that means and what our thoughts and practices are on using treated seeds in our vegetable gardens.

In this episode we discuss the crazy weather around the world and give our hopefull update on the AI situation with our gilt. In the Coopcast Community we discuss a new tractor and what implemnts we reccomend for that tractor.  Frontend loader, tiller and rotarty mower come to the top of the list...  but that's not it. In the Veggie Patch we circle back around to the Rowboat of Goodness from our listeners and list off some of the explicit varites we have selected.

This weeks episode shares our issues with a trio of cottontail rabbits that have been terrorizing our landscape and what we did to solve the issue.  We also complain about the snow and the cold on the farm.... because...  it feels good to complain.  We quickly throw in a mention of wood shavings and the chicken coop as well. Then in the Veggie Patch we talk about some of the notable varieties of seeds that we purchased this year and where we got them from. Finally in a the prototype hunting / fishing / land management / rural  lifestyle segment...  Farmer Andy talks a bit about a new part discovery that lets you move a scope and rings between different rifles a lot easier!

The updates this week are short as the cold weather has mostly kept the farming inside.  It's also hard to do much with over 3 feet (that's a meter for our international listeners) of snow on the ground.  We do take some time ot tell the story of Farmer Andy and his boxed wine tho! In this episodes Farm U we talk about the hard and factual science behind vaccines and the debate about vaccination.  We look at the mechanisms of the immune system and the research behind the methodology.  Farmer Andy and Dr. Kelli have a round table discussion clarifying the real science of vaccines. Finally we wind up on the front porch to share some of our closing opinions about the vaccine "debate" that's out there from our perspective.

This weeks updates include our struggles with a new gilt and artificial insemination this winter.  We also talk about the other challenges of the deep snow and our chickens. We then look forward to warmer days in the Veggie Patch segment where we talk about the process we go through ordering seeds for the vegetable garden.  Who we have ordered seeds from before and what we look for in a seed company.

** There's one bad word - so for the kids ears this is marked "EXPLICIT" ** This weeks episode was a tough one as we talked about the loss of one of our first pigs ever - our favorite sow Hermione.  We talk about the stuff that led up to her passing and then how we managed things after she was gone.  That includes how our one lone pig Snow White is doing this winter. Then we have some Ruminations about the farms online that don't share the lows of farming and only seem to like to share the positives.  We talk a bit about the following article - 

In this episode we review the happenings on the farm (and gardens) over the last few weeks. We talk about the chickens finally starting to lay eggs again (and the impact of extending their days with lights). We talk about some of the food we ate and made of the holidays and we discuss the missed opportunity with artificial insemination and our pigs.  Andy complains about the cold weather and then warms up while telling a hunting store from last deer season.

Our final episode of 2014 is dedicated to our listeners and fans around the globe this holiday season.  It's our huge thank you for making us the #1 farming podcast on the planet! We talk about emails, tweets, Face book comments and posts as well as personal interactions and phone calls we haven't gotten to but have most deffinately read!  Thanks to everyone in the community for listening and be a part of the CoopCast in 2014. For those of you who know how to use search engines we do talk about moving electic netting and moving pasture pens. :) Merry Christmas from Chicken Thistle Farm!

This episode brings us back from a few weeks off and updates about the events we had around here on the farm that kept us from coopcasting last week. We talk a little bit about farming and health care in proximity to the farm (given the recent events).  We also discuss our sick pig and the course of treatment we underwent to get her back to being a healthy girl again! In the Farmers Choice segment we share a few simple gift ideas for the holidays that might make your shopping easier!

We are calling this the "We eat good episode" since we are talking about simple, fast and delicious farm recipes including: Pressure cooker chicken Frozen veggies in chili Pre-made frozen cookie rounds Easy ways to help you can / freeze more food. In the Veggie Patch we climb on board the Rowboat of Goodness and discuss a few winter squash varieties and some of our favorite non-lettuce greens in the garden.

This weeks updates are around the pick up of the smoked pork (and we have customers coming as we are recording).  Farmer Andy shares a bit of a bow season update and we talk a little about the status of the hoop house. We close with a review of the local fruit CSA we were enrolled in and all the goodness and a little of the stuff they could have improved.

This weeks updates include a hunting season short session.  We talk about bo season so far and the only arrow this season to miss its mark thus far.  We also talk about the pork that's back from the butcher and the impact of the seasonal reduction in eggs. In Farmer Kelli's Choice, we take a trip down memory lane.  Visit our Facebookpage (login not needed) and scroll back through the pictures to our first post in 2010...  we walk through 2010 and 2011 remembering several of the highlights in photos!

This week's update is really an episode discussion around the end of the pork season for us - the moving of the pigs to the USDA processor.  We talk through what we did to get the pigs comfortable wit hthe trailer, how we use sorting borads to move the pigs on pasture into the trailer, our holding pen strategy, fencing and dropoff. It's really a retelling of the stories and some of hte skills we used to get this little piggie to market!