Graduation Day

Saturday I spent the afternoon with my grandma Karin Urquhart at the annual MALT Directors BBQ. I so look forward to this day every year because it is a special day for us to spend time together and share our passion for agriculture. My grandma was on the MALT board for many years and helped  preserve agricultural land from being lost to development. There is something so inspiring about being surrounded by people who recognize, support, and appreciate agriculture and its importance to this area. And it's all kinds of people! If you are a person who works as or for a rancher/farmer,  an artisan of local products, a preserver of our lands, a passionate local food lover, or an educator of Ag, that goes for self educating too, you are a supporter. It's a very eclectic group and how I adore it so, the diversity is motivating.
After arriving home I promptly changed from BBQ attire into work clothes for what we call around here 'graduation day.' This is the time where our pullets who are just about to come into laying are moved from coops near the facility barns out to the field to join the laying hens. Then the 2 month old pullets are weaned from our brooding coop and moved to the pullet coop where they can enjoy the luxury of being indoors or outdoors as they please. Our 2 week old chicks are moved from the enclosed brooder to the open brooding coop where they learn to drink from our nipple fed water system and can safely be left over night in a larger area for them to scratch and play.
You will see in the attached photos we have added Guinea Hens to our flock. Guinea Hens bond with chickens the way a Livestock Guardian Dog does becoming protective of the flock. They are very noisy and alarm the chickens when there is a predator nearby (more so than a rooster). A great bonus is that they look up to the sky for flying predators. We have some very well fed Hawks that have a hankering for chicken and so far the Guineas have proven themselves with our pullets (mmmm a hawks favorite).. They are more intelligent  than chickens, are quicker, and can fly with a lot more success than a chicken. They look like a prehistoric creature with their nearly naked leathery heads. The Guinea Hens will live in the coop with the chickens and forage on pasture just as the hens do. These guys will hopefully buy us some time before we add a Livestock Gaurdian Dog to our zoo.

 ~ Annika M

Holding a Guinea Hen (probably my last opportunity before they go onto pasture)

Guinea Hen close up, this girls only a few months old.

Loaded up and ready to head out to pasture!

Although there's no green grass there's still plenty of bugs...

....And lots of fresh air and blue skies.

The other side of trespassing

I am writing about this because I thought this was ample opportunity to share my experience on something that seems so small from the other side.
I had just turned out the drive on my way to the dentist for my routine cleaning when I spotted a woman in a Prius who had slid between our pasture gate and began opening it from the inside. I looked down at the clock and of course I had only enough time to drive straight to the dentist in order to make it to my appointment on time. I pulled over, turned off my car, and walked toward her. She was still fiddling with the gate, briefly looked at me and continued with what she was doing. My first thought was, she doesn't look like PG&E, she isn't our inspector as we know them by face, and she is not unloading cattle in those clothes (it also could have been the parasol in her hands that tipped me off). My heart sinks. Great. Another trespasser. I don't like confronting them just as much as they don't like to be confronted. It's uncomfortable to catch someone red handed who is violating your privacy. I yelled out to her and asked if she knew our family. She looked at me confused and said, 'where?' And she went back to opening the gate.
I responded in shock, 'this is private property, you can't. You can't drive your car in this field. Can you please leave.'
She kept her head down and then struggled to close  it. After a long awkward silence of watching her try to figure out how to then shut the gate, my blood was boiling. I figured for the future of everyone's safety I should explain to her our side of this concerning matter. It is after all a part of my responsibility as being a farmer to help educate others about our industry.
As the farmer/rancher it's not that we are being selfish in trying to keep this beautiful countryside gem to ourselves. Believe me, if everyone could see the things we call normal in this house, our world would be a more peaceful and a more respectfully understood place. It would be a dream to open our doors with welcome arms but we never know what someone may act upon. Not everyone does what we do because it's...not for the faint of heart. It's real, serious, un-sugarcoated, at the mercy of mother nature, life.
      *Fun fact-farming and ranching falls into the top ten of the most dangerous jobs in the US.*
Now our cows look peaceful, happy, and friendly, and sometimes I even find myself day dreaming about what it would be like to just lay with them in the field and de-stress to the sounds of them munching away at their cud. POP! What a romanticized version. Unless you too are a female cow.
Usually where there is a cow, there is a bull. Especially when you see animals that are grazing on remote pastures. It's because those girls are either Dry (the 60 day period a cow gets to vacation before she freshens/gives birth) or they are pregnant heifers (a cow that has not ever freshened but is pregnant and working her way to the milk barn soon). We run a bull with these girls in case they have an aborted pregnancy (miscarriage in human terms). He steps in with all his glory and rebreeds her at her next heat. Letting us the farmers sleep better at night knowing that our girls are being looked after.
Bulls are huge, testosterone filled, bossy, rude, and unpredictable creatures. Our bulls have been known to run after people on a 4 wheeler, run at our poor PG&E crew member who luckily had their passenger window open, and just in the nick of time flew into his truck while the bull ran into the bumper head first. That same bull also felt in necessary to show us who was boss as we were driving our small ranch truck away from the herd and out of nowhere he came running at us full speed and hit our tail light and bumper. I  have experienced this. I will NEVER approach that bull on foot or in vehicle.
The field that she is trying to enter is the home to this very bull. I did not share that with her because I didn't want to scare her away but rather share her away.
I continued to explain that another aspect of trespassing is that gates do not get closed properly. Cows are smart, they will lick and nudge that chain to open that gate so they can graze on untouched grass. We are located on a rural road so people tend to drive fast. It's our loss and liability if the gate is open and the girls run out onto the road where a speedy driver hits the girl. Heart breaking.All just because someone took it upon themselves to enter our property for a photo opportunity. It just doesn't seem worth it.

Dear Trespasser,
I hope that I was able to share with you the other side of trespassing. I hope that I was able to gently explain and help you understand the dangers that accompany doing what you clearly knew you shouldn't have judging by blush of guilt on your cheeks. It's not for my sake, it truly is for yours and our animals safety.

I asked her if she was familiar with the area and she said she was. So I proceeded to remind her of the park that is just down the road from us. It is equally as beautiful and definitely more welcoming to people.
I walked away thinking, 'Thank goodness Travis wasn't the one who found her. This would not have been such a pleasant experience for her.'

....and I made it to the dentist a few minutes late. I swear I can't make it anywhere on time anymore.

~ Annika U

Calves, Chicks, and Piglets

   I have a couple hours to set aside for writing as Travis is catching up on his sleep from milking last night and all our animals are settled...for now. The farm has been expanding rapidly. We have babies coming out of our ears! Our cows and heifers are calving full fledged. It has become a part of our daily routine to assist with calvings. I have been changing my mucus and manure soaked clothes upwards of 3 times a day (our washing machine is showing us its true worth). Our sow has popped and given us 5 very healthy piglets. We have taken in 2 chick deliveries over the course of the last two weeks. You could say Moreda Family Farms is firing on all cylinders.

    In 2014 we postponed artificially inseminating our cows to change timing so that we would be calving heavily in the spring time when the weather is a little less dreary and daylight hours are longer. It is safe to say that not even the weather man can predict the weather these days. We had banked on rain coming in early winter which we would dodge with this calving schedule and spring would be 'normal.' BUT this year is dry yet again and it is looking like spring will be bringing us majority of our water. March is going to be our busiest month bring us 1/5 of our herd into calving. Usually for a cow her birthing can go unassisted unless that calf is coming out backwards (bottom end first) or upside down (throat facing the sky). A heifer is different because she is smaller, and more confused by the sensations her body is feeling very similar to a first time human mother. So often times we are helping them by applying pressure and pulling the calf out of her. Travis and/or Eddy will strategically place a chain (making sure not to harm the calf while pulling) around the ankles of the calf  and apply steady pressure while  pulling on the chain. This ensures that when the heifer pushes she makes more progress. Ultimately this helps keep both animals safer because time is a major factor in a healthy calving. My job because I have smaller hands is to help stretch the animal (but of course when necessary I will pull too, there's no excuse for escaping a job that needs to be done). With clean hands (and no rings!) I insert my hand inside of the animals working my hand around the body of the calf. With this technique you can also flip the calf around if it is coming out upside down, or you can adjust the calves body around the mothers hips. Between pulling and stretching the calf should be out with in 5-15 minutes. We never rush this process our priority is the mothers health. If in that time we make no progress we call our veterinarian. So , with that said doing all of this in the dark and rain and mud-is less than ideal!

    When Travis goes hunting every year it is my tradition to magically acquire a new farm friend. Last year I purchased a boar so that we could breed our gilt (a female pig that has not given birth) we had unofficially decided to keep as a sow (a female pig that has given birth). Our boar I have fondly named Vernon spent about 2 weeks in the pen next to the Gilt (Petunia) so that they could get to know each other through sniffing, snorting, scratching. When I thought Petunia was in heat we put them together and for the next 3 months 3 weeks and couple days they stayed together. Petunia's tummy grew and so did her lethargy. She went through a phase of not eating and suffering from heart burn-we gave her some relief with human antacids. And then one day she stood up and was standing all day (very unlike her) and the next day she was insistently scratching at ALL of the surrounding dirt around her hut. I through a flake of oat hay for bedding with her mouth she dragged it into her nest. She picked up every loose bit of hay and added it to her nest. I knew that she would be farrowing within 24 hours. 

    The following morning we received a phone call from the post office that our chicks had arrived so I quickly checked for piglets-nope! And we drove to town to get our chicks, pick up some feed, and an additional heat lamp (we can never have enough of them in the winter). When in the middle of our errands we got a phone call from home saying we had 2 piglets on the ground. We rushed through the errands and raced home. She had 7 that morning 5 born living. She got up rolled in the mud and drank some water. We figured she was done, all things that we have read and experienced taught us that the piglets would all come with in 20 minutes of each other. But she laid back down and looked like she was still pushing. Sometimes animals will push after the baby has come out to remove the afterbirth, The next morning we found that we were wrong. There were 3 dead piglets in her nest. We were really disappointed but with every new experience we learn. Thankfully all 5 piglets are healthy and suckling and Petunia is an excellent, alert, and mild tempered mother. We are looking forward to the next litter!

    That's all the time I have for now. Happy National Pig Day!

              ~ Annika U

Thankful for YOU!

Whoa! Well I said that I would try write the blog once a week. I sat down to the computer a few times to write but unfortunately my computer is in my office and my office harbors post-its full of notes of things that need to be done by today. Finally I have completed enough projects to feel good about sitting down here to write.
I know Thanksgiving has come and gone but everyday I find myself saying thanks. When I walk out toward our chicken coop that's nestled in the valley of our rolling hills, where the lagoon accumulates water and the landscape is alive, I am overwhelmed with gratitude. Thank you for my health that allows me to carry on this physically and mentally demanding lifestyle. Thank you to whoever or whatever it is that has allows me to follow my dreams. As a little girl when I was asked what I wanted to be when I grew up I replied-A Farmer! After years of keeping that a secret (because what child's dream career is to be a farmer?) I now share the story proudly. My parents laugh to themselves. All those years spent building rabbit hutches, show and tell days loading the bunnies up and dropping them off to my classes, and giving gifts of animals at Christmas has paid off. Thank you Mom and Dad for letting my younger self be surrounded by animals.
I am thankful that we can provide our animals with quality living conditions that aid in their comfort, health, and happiness. Happy animals make for very happy ranchers and farmers.
Travis and I both are especially thankful to all of you. The 'Farm to Table' movement that promotes knowing where your food is coming from and buying local is giving us the support that we have desperately needed. It is a struggle to make money in small farming. [I use the word small subjectively, dairies with 3000 cattle are still family owned and can be small in their operation in comparison]  The products that we small farmers produce are unparalleled to those sold at large grocery stores. But unfortunately as consumers we have been groomed to look at price and ease as opposed to quality. Back in the mid 1940's frozen food technology started to pave the way for ready made meals. The turkey dinner that was complete for you to eat with in 25 minutes forever changed the way Americans viewed food at home. Though it didn't happen over night decades later this concept has evolved and led us to a disconnect between the consumer and farmer.
 Milk comes from the store where it sits on shelves in plastic 1 gallon containers. 1 gallon goes out, another is set in its place...
Meanwhile back at the farm, someone is preparing the barn for milking, cleaning the milk tank and setting grain up for the cows. That person is walking or riding the motorcycle out to the field to guide the girls into the milk parlor. They fill the cows bunkers with hay so as soon as they head out of the milk barn they are greeted with breakfast or dinner. After a milking shift that lasts 5 hours that person heads home and will be back in 6 hours to do it all over again. This happens 7 days a week 365 days a year.
As consumers who's careers are in small farming we do our best to support local agriculture and local businesses. We are lucky enough that most of our grocery shopping is done in our backyard. Our meat comes from the animals we have raised or that Travis hunted for during the season. If we don't have it we source it from a neighbor such as our lamb which came from down the street. Milk is enjoyed fresh from the cow. Our vegetable garden is bountiful but when in need we buy vegetables and fruit locally grown. This gives us no choice but to eat seasonally and creatively. We understand that it is not realistic for us to believe that everyone eat like we do. But it is realistic to hope that you help support small farmers when you can and always remember that without farming there is no food. It can only bring good things to bring awareness to a fresher more sustainable product for the consumers as well as the farmers who put there heart and souls to sharing it with you.
Thank you for joining this movement as you are a part of it in simply reading this entry.

Being stalked by cows means serious business while carrying grain

A full bed of end of season veggies 

Happy Boar and Sow

Organized the veggies for the pigs thankfully the dogs aren't too interested

 

Time away and Spaghetti Squash

  In agriculture (and correct me if I'm wrong) it is a challenge to find time and or make time for yourself as well as your significant other. You eat, sleep and share all life's moments with your business partner, you are either outside already or on call 24/7, and our worlds revolve around our animals well being. Believe it our not you forget to make time. We become so focused on our animals and operation that it is difficult to remove ourselves from this lifestyle. I can speak for myself that when I plan a vacation I become very anxious at the thought of being away for more than a day. 3 days is usually our max get away time. And usually that's 2 nights and 2 days but 3 days because we actually left the night before and skidded into location before midnight. After 3 1/2 years of dairying I took a 10 day vacation and I think I was more excited to get home than I was to actually go on the vacation. I know that I must be weird but I am truly happy at home. Everything I need, want, and love is at home.
  This week after working the morning milking shift Travis and I went on a date. Now this is actually one of my favorite kind of dates because I LOVE breakfast. Bacon. Coffee. Pastries. Oh my. But also, the timing is great. We know how milking went, that the calves are healthy, and all the animals are where they should be. The day is still ahead of us and we are motivated. We got that whole sleep thing out of the way for the day so we can now just enjoy each others company.  Some of our best ideas have come about during our breakfast dates.
  When we finished breakfast we decided to drop in and visit the creamery.  We were not at all prepared for the amount of information and the thorough tour we were about to receive. Larry gave us a tour of the entire facility start to finish. We were given all details of how they receive the milk how they store it. We followed the milk lines through out the entire place to where the milk is made into cheese, ice cream, yogurt, butter and even powdered milk. Travis and I learned that the creamery is one of very few facilities that make powdered milk in Northern California.
  On another note, Fall is in full swing and we believe that winter will be here sooner this year. Our fruit trees filled us in on the little secret after apples that are usually ripe at the beginning of November were ready to eat at the end of September. Hopefully early winter means more rain because our water supply as well as our grass could use it. I pulled all of our automatic drip lines out of our garden at the first rain. I decided it was the most sustainable thing to do and all my veggies were coming to a close anyway. So I thought, until out of nowhere my cucumbers, spaghetti squash and zucchini began to put on new growth and set new fruits. WHOA! We are very appreciative of this but now I think we have about 50 spaghetti squash. Spaghetti squash after you pick it and cure it for cold storage only lasts a month and if you get lucky maybe two. I needed a different recipe other than the go to spaghetti style or butter and brown sugar recipe. 
  My dad was over for dinner about a month ago and he is not a huge fan of this fall vegetable so I disguised it in this rich recipe. I cooked it al dente. He loved  it! It is my new family night dinner dish and I think I have him sad that he didn't plant any in his garden this year. Although, that's ok because magically every time I leave their house those squash multiply on their counter :)

  

Spaghetti Squash Au Gratin

1 halved and cleaned spaghetti squash cut length wise
1/2 Cup of sour cream (I like Wallaby Greek style because very creamy and thick)
2 Cups of grated Cheddar cheese (Petaluma Creamery's cheddar melts very well)
1 Cup of pulsed/grated Peccarino Romano or a local aged Sheeps milk cheese like Barinaga Ranch Basseri
1 Large Shallot
1 Tsp salt
1/2 Tsp Black Pepper

Set your oven to 400'
Generously salt and lightly pepper both halves of your cleaned squash. Evenly smother both halves with your sour cream each side getting 1/4 cup. Slice your shallot thinly and sprinkle slices over both halves, make sure you get the sloping insides of the squash. Sprinkle Cheddar cheese generously over both halves, all over, even the top edges. Sprinkle even amounts of the Peccarino or other sheeps milk cheese of your choice over both sides. Pop in a glass or stainless steel 9x13 if the squash doesn't fit use a cookie sheet with a lip. Slide gently onto the middle shelf of oven. Let cook for 45 minutes. Timing may vary with squash size to check if squash is cooked poke with fork and if the fork slides easily through flesh toward the hard skin it's ready!

Farms First Entry

   Good Morning, Farms first entry. A blog is something I (Annika) have been wanting to do. After successfully keeping a Facebook Fan Page it has given me encouragement to finally start our blog. I can balance a blog as well as the bookkeeping, organic farm tending, organic gardening, marketing, delivering, house keeping, cooking, and family and friends time...Story of my career thus far: I take on everything.
      Travis and I started the dairy just the two of us and one milking cow. I look back and am very thankful for starting with just one. Although the time between 1 and 35 came within a couple of months it gave us time to work out the kinks and get a grip on what we had decided was a fantastic idea-owning a dairy business! We have had those mind numbing days of no sleep where all wrong things that could have possibly happened, happened. On the other side we know when fall has begun before the calendar does, we never run out of fresh meat, and although cows don't know weekends or holidays we spend them together.
  One afternoon after 4 months of milking straight, every 12 hours each shift lasting minimum 5 hours, and in between fixing our old broken equipment Travis melted. He came into the house before milking and announced in front of me, his mother and sister that he could no longer milk cows. It just wasn't for him. It's too hard. He fell face first into bed and slept for 16 hours. The three witnesses of the utterly shocking statement put on our work clothes and ran to the milk barn. You can't just decide not to milk a cow. They will bellow all day and night with discomfort. As women we empathized. Shelina, Travis' eldest sister milked the cows while Debbie his mother and I fed them their hay, pushed them into their correct pastures, and fed the calves their milk. We completed the milking with ease. Sure, we were concerned for Travis and the outcome of tomorrow but we laughed and giggled as we worked. Thank goodness for family. Travis woke up the following morning and went straight into milking. As a 5th generation Dairymen you can't avoid animal husbandry, milk science, the incessant number crunching (how much feed? how much milk? how much money?) is in your blood. That was the very last time his heart was on the fence about dairying.
  3 Years later we are milking about 145 cows and have almost 90 heifers/heifer-calves that will be cows walking through the milk barn in the blink of an eye. We have 140 pastured chickens, 10 pastured laying ducks, 2 over grown Gilts, a Boar, 2 young Gilts, a Mini Pig named Hedwig, 3 watch/cattle dogs, and a countless number of cats. We have also been lucky enough to take on 2 full time employees. It's not just Travis and I anymore. Our business is diversifying. We began selling our organic pasture raised eggs to two local restaurants/bakeries, we are raising pigs and selling them for meat. We just bought and mated our first boar with our over grown gilt a week ago. We will have our first litter of piglets at the end of February beginning March (stay tuned). Our dairy is shipping milk to Petaluma Creamery which is just 4 short miles down the road from us. Our goals are being met and  then reset, higher.
  You get to be a part of our very real journey. We love to share our lifestyle and shed light onto a younger generation trying to make it in small organic ranching and farming.

Annika holding our first shipment of 100, day old chicks

Our attention loving cow 5125

Travis holding Hedwig