The other morning, when I went to open up the chicken coop and do the food and water, I couldn’t find Ruby. Ron had put up the chickens the night before, and he doesn’t count the chickens like I do. I was in a panic until I realized I could hear Ruby. But, as I looked around, I still couldn’t find her. It literally sounded like she was coming from inside the coop walls. I didn’t know what to think.
And then I looked down. Outside, there is a ramp with slats leading to the big front door of the coop, Ruby was stuck under the ramp! I have no idea how she got there. It is solid on the sides. In fact, as I write this, I am a little freaked out by how she got there. But that’s where she was. Just complaining so loudly, probably extra because I was stepping down on the ramp and probably squishing her a little.
I raised up the ramp, and Ruby ran out. She didn’t even seem grumpy to me, as she usually is. She just seemed so relieved. That little girl!
We all took guesses as to what happened to her. Mostly, we just made up wild stories. I suggested the rats grabbed her and took her under the coop, but she escaped–sort of. My teen son said the rats got her and were storing her under the ramp for later, like in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. If you have read that book, I am sorry for that imagery. If you have not read that book, right now is definitely not a good time to read that book. Just don’t do it.
My real guess is that Ruby was out late roosting somewhere, got scared by something, managed to squeeze under the coop for safety but then was drawn to the light under the ramp in the morning. That’s truly just a guess though because there are holes in that theory as well because there is no easy path from the under the coop to under the ramp. I guess I will never know, but words cannot express how badly I wish Ruby could talk to me.
One thing I know for sure is that Ruby has a wild heart and is determined to make life an adventure for herself.
I have been thinking about this a lot lately. I have been reflecting on my life and my constant push and pull between wanting adventure in my life but then wanting safety and security at the same time. I feel I am a mess. Maybe a little too much like Ruby in some ways because Ruby.
I was thinking about this more when I pruned the pear trees the other day. I love those pear trees so much, but I love them for what they give me, of course. I hate how I have to tame them to not get too tall and how I have to trim branches to ensure the best fruit in the fall. The chopping feels so harsh to me. You know those trees want to be wild. They try every year.
But their fruit is tied to my security. Every year, I get to can pears, make pear crisp, and the like because I tame those trees.
This morning, when I opened the coop door, Kate, Juliet, and Ruby were out and about right away. When I came back later after caring for the ducks and doing their water, Ruby and Juliet were at the door wanting back into the coop. After the rest of the flock clears out, they like to go back into coop to eat. I couldn’t find Kate at all though.
I looked around and found her walking way down the driveway. She is so adventurous. Kate-Kate has a wild heart that will never be tamed.
I wish I had something profound and inspiring to write today for Earth Day. I can only emphasize that our planet is magnificent to me. It’s such a gift. I can only say that it makes no sense to me that powerful men destroy this planet and then look for a home on another.
But I have spent so many years of my life anguishing over human behavior and carelessness with our planet. I will be honest. I feel a little more disillusioned than I would like siting here writing about it tonight.
I still have hope though. I have hope that, when things get really bad, humans will say, “enough is enough, let’s work together and figure this out.” I have hope that, even if we don’t, the Earth will heal from our damage and go on to support life that may be so different from our own but that will be so beautiful. Though, really, humans are beautiful, are we not? Flaws are beautiful. But you can be beautiful and be tragic.
I have hope that, at some point, all of the little things we do will add up, and we will replace the people at the top who seem hell bent on creating their bunkers and letting the rest burn, who seem to think that destruction is inevitable because they don’t understand how resilient life is. They have never connected with Nature, and it shows. And we will say “no more, we love our home.” And Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer will be required reading in all classrooms.
It could happen, right? Sometimes–okay maybe most of the time–with humans, we have to break things before we realize we need to fix them.
And, while I am finding hope within my disillusionment, I am going to keep trying to be better as an individual. I will keep things until they break and then fix them if I can or get them fixed if I can. I will never spray chemicals in our yard. I will plant native plants. I will be careful with my water use. I will wear the same clothes over and over, and I won’t buy fleece ever again. I will try so hard not to waste. I will try to live more simply. And, finally, this summer, I am going to put in the clothesline I meant to put in last year but never did, as I struggled with long COVID.
And I will remember how good it feels when I put my hands in the Earth, and I will remember to be thankful for her and all the life she gives us.
Happy Earth Day, friends. Sending love. Please tell me what gives you hope. I could use it.
Well, friends, I did it. I successfully hatched a batch of baby chicks, and they are now all in the brand new brood box Ron made for them. That brood box is a masterpiece, and I must write about it one day. However, for my story today, you just need to know that it has a large window in the front, so it literally looks like a giant chicken tv.
And, as such, my husband, son, and I have found ourselves watching the baby chickens on “television” several times a day. Last night, we all happened to be out there together watching through the window at how the baby chicks interacted with their world.
“It’s so interesting to think about how their whole world is in that box right now,” my teenager said. “They don’t even know to look out the window.” Oh, that kid has a beautiful mind!
We all talked about how they have everything a baby chick could need or want (besides a mama) right there in that little box–it’s warm, it’s spacious, there’s fresh food and water. And there are many friends to be had. I think I hatched 29 chicks.
“Every now and then the hand of ‘God’ reaches in and adds fresh food and water, and then they are go on their little ways” my son said.
And this led us to a discussion of humans.
We talked about how much there is that humans can’t see or understand, which relates to how we define “God,” though my son pointed out that there are plenty of scientists who have been trying to “look out the window” and see what all is out there. Still, most of us probably don’t even have time to stop and look up at the stars.
I just spent the last four months working non-stop to try to save money and pay off debt before things get really tough economically. Thankfully, we did not have much debt. We are lucky. But we do not own our property outright, so that’s a worry. So, pretty much, for the last several months, if my eyes were open, I was working. I was exhausted mentally and physically and could not move my right arm very well from the repetitive motions. I noticed I was getting more and more grumpy, and I don’t like myself that way.
And then, last week, my jobs were cut back, as I knew they eventually would be. I didn’t “lose” the jobs, but there is just less work–fewer students in college means fewer classes. So, last week, for first time in a long time, I felt like I could breathe a little. As scary as it all is, I was just so thankful to not have to work so much.
The other night, when I went outside to put the ducks to bed, instead of rushing them into the duck house, so I could get back to work, I just stood outside and looked up at the stars. When I did, I realized I had not looked up at the stars in months. What a tragedy that is, right? The stars make me think of our Great Pyrenees Gus, who loved to sit outside and just look up at the stars at night, or the clouds during the day, or a cool bird on the fence. But, right before he died, we sat out under the stars for a long time and just took them in together.
The stars are lovely and remind me of how small I am and how small my problems are and how small even the cruel people in charge really are. They don’t know they’re small–well, maybe on some level they do and it scares them and that’s why they behave as they do. But I guess that’s a whole other issue. Still, doesn’t the vastness of the galaxy just give you some perspective?
Looking up at the stars made me think about how I am just a blink of an eye in the grand scheme of things. I am a human animal, a mother doing my best to protect my children, keep them safe, ensure the survival of my species because that’s what I am programmed to do, I suppose–and, because I seem to have been born with an urge, make some human art along the way.
But I also have to remember there are so many things I don’t quite understand, how it all fits together, why things fall apart, why cruelty seems to be such a part of it all, but maybe, if I take time to look out the window, I will find some answers. Of course, the older I get, the more I realize that the answer might be that there are no answers.
In the meantime, I am watching the baby chicks. It’s been a few days, and they haven’t looked out the window yet, but give them time, they will soon. And, then, their curious minds will want to know what is outside of that brood box, and the day their feathers come in and they no longer need heat and they get go outside to touch the earth and eat bugs and play in the grass will be the best day.
I have so many stories to tell because my baby chicks hatched today, but Thursdays are heavy work days, which means I have to wait until tomorrow. I just had to show you these beautiful eggs. It’s egg season right now, and my 6’4″ teen son is in heaven. This is what he ate for breakfast…plus coffee and a bowl of yogurt and blueberries.
Then he ate two more eggs for a snack.
Hopefully, that’s all for today. The girls are laying very well though, so we have plenty. I love this time of year. I feel so rich. I even saw Betty Jr., who is 7 years old, laying an egg today. How is that possible?
Oh yeah, Rooster is her father. He has really good genes.
We are in the transition period around here. I have many stories to tell but am only just now feeling well enough to write very much. I think I mentioned the week before last that my son was really sick. Of course, I caught it, and it was a rough one. I don’t think I have been this sick since COVID. But I am so happy to report that I am doing better, and today, for the first time, I was able to do some real work around the homestead.
I did a deep clean on the duck house, even the windows, which I am sure will be completely dirty again when I let them out in the morning, but I tried. I also worked on raking up the straw from around their house and around their food–and at the little warm spot under the dryer vent at the back of the house where the ducks like to hang out every winter. It was so snowy this winter that we put down a lot of straw for the ducks, and now, we have layers of straw to gather and compost. I didn’t get it all finished, but I made good progress. Next weekend I will try to finish that task.
I always wished for a barn for those ducks in the winter, but I don’t think we are ever getting a barn for them. The ducks will be seven years old this year, and I can see that we probably don’t have too many more years with them. In fact, the other night, when I went to give the ducks their peas, I couldn’t find Anna Maria. I was so worried because we have had the owls hanging out again. Hopefully, they are getting the rats, but I worried they maybe got Anna Maria. I found her though, and I knew there was trouble because she let me pick her up.
I brought her into the house to study her and couldn’t find anything wrong until I got to her vent. She had a soft-shelled egg stuck, only it wasn’t that soft. That poor baby! I held her, and Ron very gently got it out. She’s doing fine now, but this is not a good sign. The ducks are laying more soft-shelled eggs than proper eggs right now, so I had to research.
And it’s not easy to research this because it is rare to find anyone who has had Indian Runner ducks this long. In all of the forums I have ever been in, it’s rare anyone has a duck more than three years. Usually, the ducks are killed by predators, but Boudica and I work together to keep those ducks as safe as possible.
Anyway, all I could find was one Reddit thread where a woman asked about ducks in old age laying soft eggs. Only two people responded. One person said, to keep the ducks alive, they would need birth control, that laying eggs as their bodies are failing will kill them. This is devastating to me, but I looked up the birth control, and it’s about $300 per duck. That’s not possible, so I am going to hope and pray they just stop trying to lay. However, I did read that one thing you can do is supplement their diet with Vitamin D. I always thought soft-shelled eggs came from lack of calcium, which made no sense to me because they have a high calcium food. Interestingly, according to what I read, as the ducks age, their bodies stop processing Vitamin D very well, so they need extra. I hope that’s true because I started adding a vitamin mix to their water that has a lot of Vitamin D.
Please cross your fingers for little Anna Maria and Luna and Anna Sophie, our cello-loving duck.
Ron has been busy all week building a brood box for the turkeys. Turkeys! That’s right, I have an incubator full of chicken eggs, and now I have an incubator full of turkey eggs. I’m terrified I am going to mess this up, as I have never hatched turkeys, but I’ll write more about that later.
Mainly, I have to tell you about the brood box. Ron is a person who, if he is going to do something, it is going to be magnificent. You should see the grape arbor he built last year. A tornado could come through here, and that thing will stand. It’s also beautiful because he also has to make things beautiful. It’s the poet in him, I think. The brood box is a masterpiece, and it’s giant. I think, if I can get the eggs to hatch, the babies will do well there.
Ron has also planted some seeds, so it’s all upon us. It’s the transition time, and there is so much to do. It’s a bad time to get sick for sure, but I am thankful to be getting better.
I also have one more little side note that I thought would surely make you smile.
I wrote before about how I try to bring different treats every night for dinner to our rescued deer mouse, Jeremiah, and his friend and roommate, Cynthia. Well, lately, Jeremiah doesn’t want anything different. He only wants pecans. I know he’s stashing them though, so last night, I told him there would be no pecans. I made homemade popcorn because it’s Cynthia’s favorite. Jeremiah likes it too, but he was sad because there were no pecans. I started with the popcorn, and he took it at first but then dropped it. He looked back at me. I had some fresh blueberries, so I gave him a blueberry next. It’s from the grocery store, so he only eats those when there’s nothing better, I guess, so he wouldn’t even take that.
“That’s all there is tonight,” I told him. He looked around at my hands, and I went on about my business of trying to pet Cynthia. Jeremiah gets the “zoomies” at night, so there’s no catching him to pet him.
Anyway, I talked to Cynthia a bit and then looked over to see that Jeremiah had a pecan in his mouth. I knew he had a stash! I guess he was saving them in case I failed to show up with them at some point. He is well prepared I guess.
I hope we are all as good at preparing as Jeremiah. It seems like an important skill to have right now.
Last week, for the first time in five years, I cleaned up the nice incubator and prepared it for hatching eggs. Last fall, the meat chickens we ordered came with some kind of respiratory illness. I do knot know if they had it from the hatchery or picked up something along the way, but some very sick chickens arrived last fall. We lost 11 of 26, and I think the only reason the rest survived was because of my experience with respiratory illnesses in chickens and Ron’s ability to remove and cull quickly. It was a nightmare for sure.
And, to add to the stress of all of it, we had to worry about our main flock getting the sickness. We had to wash constantly and never let anything that touched the sick chickens touch anything that would go to our main flock. And keeping Ruby away from the baby chicks was an extra challenge because you know how she is.
Thankfully, we succeeded in keeping our flock from getting sick, but the whole experience led to some deep thinking about ordering chicks from the hatchery moving forward. I am sure getting sick chicks in the mail is overall quite rare, but with the state of things and our deep connection to our flock, we decided to not risk ordering live chicks this year and just order hatching eggs.
This means my incubator skills from years ago will come in quite handy–only I’m nervous I don’t have the skills I used to. Still, I am going into this experience with a lot of wisdom learned from my broody hen mamas, so I wanted to share instructions for hatching chicks from hatching eggs with notes from my observations of what a broody hen does to ensure a successful hatch. After all, Mother Nature knows best, so if I can copy her, I surely will.
And I have to add that, so far, so good because I candled the eggs on Saturday, and out of 36 hatching eggs, we had just one that wasn’t developing. It’s early, but I am hopeful for good numbers.
Instructions for Hatching Chicken Eggs (with broody hen notes)
Choose a Good Incubator
The first step is to choose a good incubator. You want to choose an incubator that measure temperature and humidity, and I highly recommend one with an automatic turner. Good visibility and easy cleaning are perks, and one thing I learned from experience is that, if you live in a colder climate and want to start incubating in the spring when it might still be chilly outside, a styrofoam incubator holds the temperature better. I haven’t researched incubators in a long time, but read for real reviews and consider your price range. We have a Hova Bator, and I have had good success with it. I had a plastic shell incubator first, and it did pretty well as well; however, I had to add heat on the outside to help ensure the temperature stayed proper on the inside.
Choose a Good Space
I learned from my broody hens that a good space can make a big difference in success rates for hatching. You want to choose a space for your incubator that is out of the way and dark. I cleaned out a closet for ours because I want to make sure the eggs stay in the dark. After all, under a broody hen, it’s warm and dark.
Prepare Your Incubator
Even if your incubator is new, you will want to clean it. It’s best to not use harsh chemicals because fragile little babies are going to be born in that incubator. I use vinegar and water to wipe down any parts I cannot submerge in water, and I then I submerge and scrub any parts that can be submerged, like the flooring. Again, no harsh chemicals, just some vinegar and water.
After you have your incubator cleaned and dried, it’s time to set it up and test it out for a day or so to make sure it can maintain the temperature and humidity you want. You will add water to the water reservoirs, turn on the incubator, and then start monitoring things. You want to ensure consistent temperature and see how much water you need to add to ensure consistent humidity. You also want to make sure the turner works.
A broody hen is magically consistent. She sits for 21 days, only leaving for some periodic bathroom breaks. I keep food and water near our broody hens, so she can have easy access to nourishment. And I always hear the turning of eggs at night. I am sure she probably turns eggs during the day too, but in the quiet of night, it’s so cool to hear a broody hen in there turning her eggs with such care. You definitely want to make sure your incubator is consistent like a broody hen.
Temperature and Humidity Level
Temperature: 99.5 degrees if your incubator has an air circulator, 101-102 degrees if your incubator has still air
Humidity: 45-55% until lockdown on Day 18 (I have seen varying thoughts on humidity, but this is a good range for our incubator that circulates the air.)
Humidity: 60-70% for lockdown from Day 18 to Day 21 (You have to work pretty hard in the last few days to keep that humidity up, but it’s important to prevent the membrane from sticking to the chick during hatching.)
Schedule
When your incubator is ready, and your temperature and humidity are at proper levels, it’s time to start. You should not wash the fertilized eggs, but you can dust off any messy bits. I tend to avoid really dirty eggs just because. The whole journey will take a total of 21 days, but I have had eggs hatch as late as day 24. I also had a broody hen who ended up with a very cold egg in the middle of a process stay on that egg and hatch that baby at day 29! We still have that baby chick. She’s all grown up and will be four years old this summer.
After Day 7, you can candle the eggs. If the chick is developing, you will see blood vessels or a dark spot forming in the egg. To candle the egg, simply hold up a flashlight to the egg. If the egg has a dark shell, you will have to get into a really dark room and hold the flashlight up to the egg and then study hard. If you see just a clear egg and a yolk that just moves around freely, you know that one isn’t going to develop and should be removed to prevent it from rotting and exploding. If you are unsure and think you might see some development, leave the egg in the incubator for now and candle again after waiting several more days.
I used to stress out about candling and try to hurry so fast, worried that somehow being out of the incubator a few minutes would be harmful. I even accidentally broke an egg in my rush before. After seeing that a broody mama can leave her eggs for up to an hour and everything will be just fine, I no longer rush. Take your time and be careful with the eggs when you candle.
On Day 18, it’s time for lockdown. First, you will remove the eggs from the incubator and candle them again. Be careful that you have a good, safe places for holding and candling the eggs. Of course, remove any eggs that stopped developing. At this point, the egg should be full. You can sometimes see little feathers, which is just so cool.
While the eggs are out of the incubator, remove the turner. The eggs will stay still for the last three days. When a broody hen gets to Day 18, she stops leaving the nest. She will not even eat or drink, so I take them water. They won’t eat much though because they know they can’t leave. For the last days, the heat and humidity needs to be steady.
After you remove the turner, you may want to put down some shelf paper to help the chicks have traction when they hatch. I have not done this before, but I read about it and plan to do it this time. I read it can help prevent splay leg.
Be sure to keep the humidity up during lockdown! This is so important!
At this time, you should also get your brooder ready for the babies with food, water, and a heat source. (That will be a different post.)
By Day 20, you will likely start to see some pips in the eggs, but don’t panic if you do not. If all is well, most the eggs will hatch on Day 21, but you should definitely give them a few extra days. Hopefully, you will have a successful hatch.
After the Hatch
First of all, just like a mama hen, you are going to be so excited when those babies start hatching. When they first hatch, they look rough. They are wet and tired from all of that work unzipping an egg. They are also really wobbly. But the wobbly won’t last long. Soon, they will fluff out and get their legs under them.
Once they are completely fluffed, you can move them to the brooder. Definitely let them get good and fluffy before you remove them, and wait until you have at least two or three ready before they go to the brooder. If you put one in the brooder alone, that baby will cry itself to death. That may be an exaggeration, but I can see the possibility. Chickens are social right from the get go.
I have to admit that, after seeing the way a mama hen and a baby chick look at each other, I always feel sorry for the chicks that I hatch. I am a terrible mama replacement. Just terrible. But I do my best, and the chicks have each other, which helps. Plus, when you are the mama hen, you definitely get to know the chicks better.
If you are thinking about trying incubating eggs for the first time and have questions, please do not hesitate to leave a question. I hope these notes helpful, and I hope you get to see this very soon!
I am working on a longer post because I am incubating eggs and want to write about that, but I have not had much time to write this week. I have a sick kiddo, and I have been busy organizing canning jars, seeing what I have and what I need. I think, maybe, after six years of having to buy canning jars a little more at a time every year, I have all the jars I need this year! It’s a good feeling to be well prepared for the coming garden season and to not have to spend any more money.
But I had to give a quick Kate update. This is a picture to I took of her yesterday. This was the second time she had decided to back into the coop that day, but you can see it in her face, right? You can see that she wasn’t going to stay there.
She has taken to flying over to where the ducks are, just like Poe used to do. She wants to go see what the ducks are doing I suppose. Our ducks are old and grumpy, but I don’t think they will hurt her. I also think Kate is too agile to get caught by the ducks.
I am taking a break from work to tell this story about Kate, affectionately known as Kate-Kate. Kate is our little Easter Egger mix, part Schubert and part Rooster, and full of personality. She is the one, when she was little, who kept going over to the other mama hen’s crate, which stressed her mama out and stressed me out. Even after I put up a barrier, that sassy little girl would take her tiny little chicken nugget self all the way around the barrier. She was like four days old doing this! I had never and have never since seen anything like it.
Kate is so curious and very independent. .
I was worried about her a bit this winter. It was a long winter with a lot of snow. She was in the coop for weeks and weeks, and I could tell it didn’t sit well with her. She had a look in her eyes that really worried me, but thankfully, despite second winter rearing its head this week, it’s spring. Kate is out of the coop and running around, even though I am trying to get her to stop. I have thought about clipping her wings to keep her out of the driveway and in the chicken area, but since we have had not a single report of bird flu in our area yet and Kate is really good at dodging the mail trucks, I’m just letting her run around the driveway for now.
But she’s difficult because she’s Kate.
So this is what happens: I won’t let her out of the front door of the coop in the morning when I am doing food and water, so she goes around the coop to the side gate and flies over herself. But then, for whatever reason, maybe she has to lay an egg or may she just changed her mind, she stands at the front door of the coop wanting to be let back in. I do not know why she doesn’t just fly back over, but she doesn’t. So, all day long, I am taking breaks from my work and looking out the window to see what Kate is up to. Most of the time, she’s there wanting back in the coop. I ask her why she can’t make up her mind, but my sense from her is that this is exactly what her mind wants.
This process has happened five times of this just today. In fact, I had to go let her in the coop in the middle of writing this post. She walks in without even a “thank you,” just like, “of course you’re going to wait on me.”
On time today, Faure took the opportunity to sneak out when I had the door open for Kate. She was so sassy out there. She meandered over to where the other chickens could see her, and she scratched in the grass like she was so special. The other hens watched in envy. Dvorak watched with worry. He hates when his girls are on the other side of the fence and can’t be protected, and Faure is definitely his girl. They were raised together and are very close.
The cutest thing happened later though. I looked out the window to see Faure freaking out and pacing at the coop door. She is a big girl and cannot fly, so her only chance to get back in the coop is if I let her in. I ran out there because she absolutely looked like she was about to lay an egg. It’s like a pacing when you really have to go the bathroom.
She ran in that coop and went straight for a nest box! It was all fantastic!
It made me think about how much I love getting to spend my days back and forth with these amazing animals. I have been looking for jobs recently, and I realized today that, for some of the jobs, I wouldn’t be able to work from home. I would miss all this. I would miss Kate and Faure and Ruby and all of her antics. It made me decide I had better keep looking for online work. I mean, I’ll do what I have to do, but I sure would like to keep watching my chickens. I am spoiled, I know, but who else is going to tell these chicken stories?
With that in mind, if you are a long-time reader and would consider supporting this blog and the journal on Patreon, I would be grateful. I am planning to hold events for members, so I hope you will consider it if you can. If you have supported in the past but took a break, I hope you will check out the Patreon page again because we now have a $3 a month membership. If you cannot afford it right now, that’s totally understandable. Just leaving a comment of support is really good too.
A photo of the mill from my visit to The Lost Kitchen last December
“If you don’t have good ingredients, you can’t make good food.” ~Erin French
Erin French has inspired me so much as a home cook. I have always subscribed to the philosophy that, if you have really good ingredients, you need to let them speak for themselves when you cook. Erin French takes this to a whole other level, to an art form, and her work has inspired many meals and treats on our little homestead in Maine.
And, because I feel it’s so important right now to support our Maine farmers, I spent a few weeks over the winter watching every episode of The Lost Kitchen in order to have a list of the farms Erin uses to create her amazing dishes. Then, I realized I should share this list with readers.
If you are in Maine or visiting Maine, please check out this list. I have included links to every farm and shop mentioned in her episodes. In some cases, farms did not have a website but did have a social media page, so I have linked to that instead. I did my very best to make this list comprehensive.
If you are not in Maine or visiting Maine, I encourage you to find farms in your state and support them as much as you can. Buying direct from farmers at their stands, at farmer’s markets, or from their online stores makes a huge difference to farmers.
Strawberries *No location given, but Erin picks fresh strawberries. U-pick is a summer tradition in Maine. Check out Real Maine for a list of U-Pick locations for strawberries.
Season 2, Episode 3
Raspberries Pottery Farm, Thordike, Maine *Also focuses on wood-fired pottery
*For more information on where to pick fresh raspberries throughout Maine, see this list from pickyourown.org.
Organic Beef (grass-fed and finished on apples) Apple Bottom Beef, Jackson, Maine
Blueberries Erin picks blueberries on a small farm. Picking blueberries is a big Maine tradition. You can find a farm with high bush blueberries at Real Maine.
I have been buried for weeks in the work of this, and I am so proud. In between the chickens and the children and the cooking and the working, I managed to get this latest issue of the journal completed. It is the most beautiful issue I have ever created, and I hope you love it. Please check it out. I believe it will be good for the soul!
