Week Five:

Wesley the bull

Photo Credit: John Chester

This is Wesley the bull. A Highland Cattle weighing about 1,600 lbs, he is enormous, but can easily get spooked. When Wesley first arrived at the farm one of the farmers thought it would be nice if Wesley was used to interact with people, so everyday he went into Wesley's pasture to feed him an apple and Wesley was delighted. One day, the farmer went in to give Wesley an apple and Wesley decided he wanted the farmer out of his pasture! He pinned the farmer to the ground with his horns, scaring the farmer half to death. He didn't hurt anyone, but the farmer got the message and retreated from the bull's pasture. No more apples for Wesley.

Flavio tending the Cows

Photo Credit: John Chester

So how does the bull get moved? He can't stay in the same pasture for the rest of his life. Flavio, one of the livestock managers, has worked on a farm since he was a boy and acts like the "animal whisperer". When its time for Wesley to be moved he puts a bull ring through his nose and guides him to his next pasture. Flavio says its something he may never be comfortable with, but he gets the job done. 

Wesley has spent most of his time at the farm alone. This is for the safety of the farmers and the other animals. To my surprise, one day he got company.

George and his ladies

Photo Credit: John Chester

George and six ewes (female sheep) entered the pasture cautiously. When Wesley saw them he immediately made it known that he was king of the pasture. He chased the sheep from corner to corner of the rectangular shaped pasture. Wesley with his size and strength shakes the ground when he runs and is able to out run the sheep. At one point trapping one of the sheep in the corner. The sheep panicked and ran back to the herd. Wesley chased them around the pasture for a half hour, until finally he stopped and allowed them to graze. The purpose of having the sheep in with Wesley was to force them to graze the way they would if they were in nature with predators, eating one area then moving to another. When sheep are in a pasture alone, without predators, they spread out and eat where ever they want in no particular order. This wears down the pasture faster than if they were in a natural state.

Wesley's ladies, Firefly (left) and Gethin (right).

Photo Credit: John Chester

Wesley will soon have more company. When its time Firefly and Gethin will share a pasture with Wesley to mate. When Firefly arrived at the farm she was pregnant with a baby girl named Flora. Today, Flora is still only a few months old and still drinks her mother's milk, but when Flora no longer needs her mother then it will be time for Wesley to mate with Firefly and Gethin. 

 Flora

Photo Credit: John Chester

Puppies with Basil

Photo Credit: John Chester

The day before I was heading home two new puppies arrived at the farm. Ones a girl, Ginger and the other is a boy, Pops ( short for poppy seed). They seem to be getting along well with Sage and Basil (the older dogs).

Week Four:

This week was probably the best week so far. I continued working with Carly and we took care of the ducks and chickens in the morning and evening. In the middle of the day the two of us worked in the garden. What made this week great was being able to spend time with the WWOOFers and the garden manager Maria!

Devil Rooster.

When Carly and I feed and water the chickens we try not to be confrontational with the rooster, but that's not always possible...There are three sets of chickens at the farm. We call them: adult, teenage, and garden chickens. The adult and garden chickens have MEAN roosters! Luckily I have only been attacked once while I wasn't looking.  To avoid this, when I see that the rooster or roosters are teaming up to stake out an attack I start swinging my foot or just start walking toward them until they run away. Unfortunately, Carly has not been as lucky... she has been attacked on numerous occasions.

Usually, there is only one rooster per group of hens, but sometimes there are two. In this case, they live in harmony,  the two roosters decide which one of them is going to be the more dominate. They determine this by fighting. Unfortunately for us, the two roosters we have living together also like to team up and attack us at the same time, its so frustrating...it makes me want to eat them for breakfast!

                                                                   Chamomile tea
                                              Photo credit: http://tinyurl.com/bvherqg


In the garden, the Garden Manager/ Biochemists, Maria taught me about some of the herbs she uses and their medicinal properties.

Chamomile- Can be made into a tea and is great for hair and skin. Chamomile tea is a great alternative to using lemons to make highlights in blonde hair, lemons are extremely acidic and tend to dry your hair out. It gives you the same highlights that lemon juice would without the harmful effects. After showering I would pour a cup of chamomile tea on my head and let it soak into my hair and skin.
 There are multiple medicinal properties of chamomile, it is anti-inflamitory. It can be used for intestinal problems, helps to relieve menstrual cramps, and can help with hair growth. In addition, chamomile tea can be good for other plants too. Here, it was sprayed on garlic plants to prevent a fungus from taking over.

Stinging Nettle- I found out what this plant was while weeding... if stinging nettle comes into contact with your skin it will immediately form a rash and a deep burning sensation to that area. This will last for about 20 mins.
This reaction creates blood circulation and is therefore great for people that have bad circulation and people suffering from hair-loss. When it is drunk in a tea it is a great blood builder because its rich in iron.  In addition, it is an excellent herb for anemia, fatigue, digestion problems, and can cleans the body of metabolic waste (http://goo.gl/udBOc).

Sage- Is an herb we would cook with, mostly in soups but some other dishes. It is used to help prevent the loss of mental function that comes with age. "It has been found to increase oxygen to the brain cortex and helps improve concentration"(http://goo.gl/Vs3iT).

Maria

Photo Credit: John Chester

Maria explained to me that when she was growing up in Hungary her family took care of animals and when they needed to eat meat her family ate their animals. When they needed vegetables they picked veggies from their garden. Because she was the oldest of two and her mother had passed away she took on most of the responsibility for the animals and plants. One of the plants she used to harvest was dandelion. Dandelion is usually known as the common weed, but when sold in stores it can be expensive. She explained to me how to harvest dandelion and some of the medicinal qualities it has such as, helping with digestion and cleansing your liver and gallbladder.

Harvested Dandelion Roots

photo credit: http://goo.gl/VPD7n

In addition, it can also be used for breast problems ( inflammation or not producing milk), fevers, boils, eye problems, and diarrhea ( goo.gl/pzAAl). She warned me that when drinking dandelion tea make sure you're near a bathroom because it helps rid your body of extra fluids and any solids that are in your system.

How to harvest Dandelion:
(Maria suggests picking them on a full moon because the nutrients of the plant moves to the root and the root is the part we want to make the tea with.)
1. Gather dandelion roots and leaves. Clean in warm water.
2. Separate the root from the leaves. Then lay out to dry for a day.
3. When dry, chop the root into small pieces and cut the leaves into small slices using scissors. Leave     the roots and leaves out to dry for another day.
4. Steep the roots and leaves in hot water for 15 minutes and then strain the dandelion particles out of the tea.

Week Three:

Everyday for the past two weeks I have been taking care of the sheep, but this week I was able to spend time with Carly in the lemon orchards taking care of the ducks. When I first heard that the ducks lived in the lemon orchard I was thinking, why? Why aren't they living in the pond? And ducks usually need water to mate, so how were they reproducing? But my questions were soon answered.

The primary crops Apricot Lane Farm produces are avocados and lemons. Both crops require some maintenance including: weeding, watering, trimming, and picking the fruit. Neither of the two trees uses pesticides or any weed control chemicals, so when snails began eating the lemons on the lemon trees the farm took a biodynamic approach to this problem. 

Ducks were the solution to the problem because of their appetite for snails! The duck's coop was moved to the orchard and the animals were fenced off to a certain section. The fence is electric this keeps the ducks in, predators out, and the people on their toes when they get shocked. The electricity is generated by a solar panel, which absorbs the suns energy and stores the energy in a car battery. The stored energy is then used to electrify the fence during the night when sunlight isn't present. 

Picture of me getting zapped by the fence.

The duck fence is moved to a different section of the orchard when the snail supply is running low. The duck care taker usually counts the number of snail in a 4 ft. by 4 ft. section. About 100 snails are counted in the section on the first day, about 40 snails are left on the second day, and the duck's fence is moved to a new section on the third day.

Picture of Carly herding the ducks into a new section of lemon orchard.

Unfortunately for the ducks, the coyotes dug under the fence and killed 52 out of the 60 ducks. Currently there are 2 injured and the 6 in good health, but all 8 are male meaning no more eggs will be produced. Luckily we have about 15 duck eggs incubating, so if the farm decides to continue using ducks there will be some little ducklings in the future. 

Also, the answer to my last question about ducks needing water to mate isn't true. Ducks prefer water to reproduce in, but are capable of reproducing on land.

On a happier note, we have a new WWOOFer at Apricot Lane Farms, Joshua D. Nelson! He has joined the WWOOFer cult...just kidding we aren't really a cult. I spent some time teaching Josh how to care for the sheep, but he came to the farm an experienced duck master. Since he has been here he has also unintentionally checked the electric fences voltage strength after he increased the voltage in a last attempt to keep the coyotes out. Josh is keeping the last 8 ducks alive by catching the ducks at night and locking them in the coop and putting the voltage up high.

Week Two:

The pond infront of our house. It will soon be dug out and filled with fresh water.  It will  be made deep enough to swim in.

Photo credit: Lydia Hick

Week two was fantastic! I was finally into a good pattern and Tuesday was Maria's birthday. Maria the Garden Manager and awesome person, so Molly and John (farm managers) decided to have a cookout/ birthday party for her. Molly, who is a talented chef, made a special dessert for the occasion, smores, with organic graham crackers.

http://deliciouslyorganic.net/grain-free-graham-crackers-marshmallows-without-corn-syrup-recipe/

The smores crackers taste much better than store bought graham cracker and they don't crumbling in your hands.

On Wednesday the sheep were moved. The sheep generally move pastures every three or four days depending on the amount of damage they have done on the pasture. The farm is trying to prevent over grazing because this leads to dusty soil, erosion, and sometimes mud slides. To avoid this, a pasture that has just been grazed on is put to rest, this is a regrowth period.

It usually takes two people to move the sheep. One person in the front with a handful of sweet-feed leading and the other in the back pushing the sheep along. This is a predator pray technique that most farms use. The sheep are used to being moved, I move them everyday out of and then back into the barn at night.

It can be tricky at times, the sheep get aggressive and most recently a 200 lb pregnant sheep keeps jumping on me to reach the food in my hand...ouch! Also, George the ram at the farm can be temperamental and decide to take your knees out, so I can never turn your back on him.

Rotating the sheep from pasture to pasture also cuts down on parasites. If the sheep are getting a lot of parasites from the grass in one pasture then they can become sick, so rotating grazing areas cuts down the risk of the sheep getting sick.

I have been using a microscope to examine some of the parasites the sheep carry. First, a sample of poo is located and the number of the sheep, consistency of the sample, and date is recorded. Second, the sample is prepared and a slide is made. Then, using the microscope the parasites are located, a picture is taken, and the image is sent to the vet. The vet then tells us how we should adjust the sheep's diet to avoid any serious illnesses caused by these many different types of parasites. The image above is of a parasite I found on a piece of green grass particle. The parasite is the black circles on the grass particle.

One of the sheep had twins about two months ago and is still breast feeding even though they are nearly the size of her. This is causing her to become thin and weak. To make sure she is at a healthy weight I have been making a concoction of apple cider vinegar malasis mix (in my left hand) and a spoon full of hemocel (in the bin in my right hand). The apple cider vinegar acts as food that is directly absorbed by the sheep, making it easy to gain weight. The malasis makes the vinegar go down a little easier. And the hemocel is a vitamin that provides digestive factors and blood builders.

This is Basil and me. She and her sister, Sage help me take care of the sheep and I help take care of them. I make sure they are eating (they don't have much of an appetite), have food and water, and every Sunday I clean their ears because they often get ear infections.

Week one of WWOOFing

Everyday is a beautiful day at Apricot Lane Farms.
Photo by: Lydia Hick

Week one, I learned a little bit about what it's like to be an Organic Farmer. I now know how to treat animal wounds and  feed the animals organically. Each animal is completely different from one another, from personality to dietary needs. One of the most important tools the farm uses to keep their animals, cows, bulls, sheep, goats, and dogs healthy is Apple Cider Vinegar. This is used to maintain a balanced stomach PH and also gives the animals an immune boost, but not all of our farm house friends like the taste. To overcome this obstacle, John Chester, the livestock manager adds molasses to the Apple Cider Vinegar and it becomes much tastier.

Weeding in the garden to make room for raspberry bushes.
Photo by: John Chester

No pesticides are used to control weeds , so weeding becomes a big part of Organic farming. But nothing goes to waste! The weeds are pulled and then put into the compost. The compost is then maintained by rotating, watering, and keeping it at a healthy temperature (below 150 degrees Fahrenheit) until it can reenter the soil.

Peeling carrots.
Photo Credit: Molly Chester

On Friday, Molly Chester, Farm Project Manager/ Chef was updating her Organic Spark Blog and used me as her hand model for her recipe for dill carrots. See the link to learn more...

http://www.organicspark.com/portfolio/dilly-carrots/

Lamb number 9 was born.

Photo credit: John Chester

Finally, Saturday the day the WWOOFers get to sleep in...nope! A lamb is born at 7am. She's healthy and so mom. Mom and baby stay separated from the herd for a week. This allows the lamb to become steady on her feet before she gets pushed, head butted, and trampled by the herd. More babies are expected to come soon. Six or seven more sheep are pregnant.