Jul
2010
July 15th, 2010 at 03:18 am by Jill in Green
Today was a typical Tuesday. The Crew did about 180 chickens by 11:00, then pitched in to do odd jobs, including the building of a new outhouse. The packing crew got the orders filled and the chilled birds tucked in the cooler till tomorrow. A busy but not extraordinarily busy day.
“Good job, guys. We got a lot done today.”
“Yeah, we did. We had a good turnout, a real good turnout.” What….?
“Yep, a lot of chickens showed up.” Hmmm…..
Besides bad humor, here’s a bit of what went on today:
The Mangalitsa pigs continued to enjoy their pasture. They’ve grazed off the tops and are starting after the roots. The fellows on the left have found some good quack grass roots, the guy on the right is finishing off a lamb’s quarter plant. Looking at them reminded me of the tasty lardo I enjoyed over the weekend. Eat up, boys!
Ever wonder what 1200 chicks looked like? Well, it’s something like this. These guys are ready to head out to pasture over the next week. We’re still a few tractors short, so the chicken tractor building crew will be back in business. The white wyandotte chickens are in one of Joes’ made-to-order tractors on the front lawn. They didn’t get along 
with the Javas and Jersey Giants, so the little guys have their feed and water just outside the tractor and get to roam the whole lawn. The Javas and Giants are almost feathered in, but still look a bit crazy.
We made some exciting discoveries in the garden. The greens and radishes are ready to eat! That means I can start grazing in the garden for dinner again. We also discovered broccoli and cabbage very much ready for harvest. The beans and corn are so far behind, I forgot about the plants that made it in the ground on time. So, suddenly, we have garden fresh vegetables again. Yum!
When they got done with the chicken processing, the Crew moved on to preparing for a visit the next day from the SEEDS summer camp group from Fife Lake. More on that later…
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Comments
So Today was a friday….
What is a friday like for a nonBaker? Let’s first talk about what the life of a friday is like for a Baker, the Legends. These Kids are legends, they never complain or stop working. so friday is not much different, minus sam having a broken arm… he got off easy. I am really impressed that we had an amazing lunch, without Dorothy? the master cook? How was that possible, maybe the magicians nephew (matt slack) worked some magic. or maybe rachel and Jim stepped up to the plate and delivered. So im sure their day was normal and wonderful, which makes them even more awesome that after a whole day of fencing Joe is not even tired. He’s ready for more.
So at the end of a tough day of slicing chickens in evey way possible, the kids are ready for some well deserved swimming. so the whole fam plows into their very own “ocean” as Mark calls it. Which it is…. with a diving board and pirate ship included.
I am always impressed that in a day of gadgets and screens this family spends all day together, working hard…effortlessly. and for play they build things. weapons to be exact. Like spears and “300″
spartans swords. They also practice with them. The Roman Army would b drooling. they make their own fun. any thing different is anything less, bc what honestly beats hours of playing around with ur bros and sisters, pretending and learning everyday. Getting lost in that world until that world of fun becomes life. When work becomes play and family time is every time. I have learned a lot from this family.
So back to my friday. I am thinking weekend. but at the same time as my time begins to come to a close at Baker’s Green Acres. I think they have helped me more than I have helped them. I grew up a city kid. I went to school with farmers but I never really related with them as far as farming went, i was sorta against it, just because everyone else in McBain was consumed in it. My day started off slitting chickens throats which i never thought id b doing and it was the last thing i did in the chicken butcher shop… but today a lady decided to bring in XXL chickens. they do not fit in the killing cones so u have to find interesting ways to kill them. I won’t go into detail but my way was pry not that normal. Then i cut an gutted them. then helped bag them. I split these sorta days with days the are filled with building fences the are modeled from montana and i could pry drive a truck over and they would still stand.
Previously my Job had been to LifeGuard. I sat in a chair, and sometimes watched sometimes listened to music sometimes slept. It was really lazy, but their was no better way to make money doing nothing, while getting tan and playing frisbee. This Job is not like that. I actually like it more. Sitting in Class at NMC i never thought I’d be on a chicken farm. or any farm. I have learned that working, hard working is actually fun. And it’s not a drag to do chores, or where Jeans in the summer. or boots. which i had never done, minus jeans if it was maybe 50 degrees. I dont think i should wear work Jeans actually, Mark doesn’t he rocks the cut off kakis. thery’re the best. with army boots i might add.
So what was the best experience of my time here? well the worst definitley was last friday when my buddy david and i were again looking forward to the weekend. and another lady brought in Quail , 60 of them. which are the size of a mans fist and do not pluck well. and are annoying to do, esp with three ppl, on a friday at the end of the day. but the best had to b fencing, the first week i was there, and it poored. It rained so hard so fast that we worked in puddles. more like swamps. but it was almost so far beyond anything i had ever known as far as getting filthy dirty everyday and working in T-storms, so ridiculous and abnormal to me that i loved it. I fell in love with working on this farm.
What did it teach me? a ton. in just a month. I learned that being unconventional about life is almost better. The Baker’s do almost everything without a book to follow. they just see what works best and do that. I learned that “It’s what u learn, not what u earn.” I learned more than i earned, and i earned way more than i ever have in one month. I pretty much experienced someting new on the farm every day from learning how to sharpen a chainsaw to driving a tractor to killing chickens to gutting and learning the anatomy of a chicken from a 6 year old. I now eat everything with ketchup, because rachel does. I have deep conversations with Jim that no one else can hear. Dorothy secretly should be an actress (she looks identical to the skater girl in cheaper by the dozen, which the bakers could be by the way), I learned that keith is never ready to rock and roll but always ready to roll ‘n’ rock. Sam never quits, he’s always in a great mood…after his 5 cups of coffee. what kinda of preteen drinks that much coffee? i think keith even drinks coffee lol. Joe is business and fun. He is 13 but when i talk to him i feel like he is older than my brother, who is 17. Joe could run the farm im pretty sure. Jill and i have had great convo’s while baggin Chickens. and Mark has made one of the biggest impacts on my life out of anyone ive met. Ive never met anyone like him. He is refreshing, compared to the other local farmers. He is great. He makes working for him a blast yet productive.
I loved it. and love the Bakers. I even love the farm.
Lance Johnson
We concur with all you’ve posted Lance. Except maybe the Mark part! Ha!
Dave Hovest
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