"The Most Nutritious Meat Known to Man"

Photo Courtesy of Brent Moore

Let's talk about rabbits. Not bugs bunny. Not those furry pets that people say are adorable but don't ever really do much (I apologize to any pet bunny enthusiasts, but cats beat bunnies for me, and dogs beat them both in my heart). I want to talk about farm rabbits that are bred and raised for meat.

I do think that there is a big distinction to be made between meat rabbits and pet rabbits. Although meat rabbit breeds can be used for pets, when raising them for meat, they become another farm animal, and they produce something that is, apparently, worthwhile.

I say apparently because I have only ever had rabbit twice, and since it was in a stew both times, the taste was covered by many other flavors (especially salt the first time, as I misread the recipe and used a tablespoon of it instead of a teaspoon. Wow, was that gross). Common opinion says that it is comparable, though not identical, to chicken. Like chicken, it is a white meat. What makes it special are the numerous
health benefits that go with it.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, after extensive testing, has stated that "Domestic rabbit meat is the most nutritious meat known to man."

Rabbit meat is one of the leanest meats known to man. It has less fat than beef, pork, turkey and chicken. It has almost no cholesterol and lower sodium than other meats, so it is often advised for people with heart problems or people who are watching their weight. Most of its protein is easily digestible, making it extremely useful for those trying to build muscle and recommended for those who struggle to digest most meats. On top of all that, it has less calories than other meats and higher amounts of calcium and phosphorus.

For those of us raising rabbits, there are other benefits. It converts feed to meat at a higher ratio than any other farm animal, taking one sixth of the amount of feed that a cow does to make the same amount of meat. Also, it's meat to bone ratio is higher than other farm animals, even chicken! Finally, they reproduce like rabbits (because they are rabbits), making it fairly easy to have a steady supply of them, and they don't take up much space.

This winter, we are going to be building cages for them, and come spring, we will be in the rabbit business. We are leaning towards getting New Zealand rabbits, which are one of the top meat breeds. This is one of the things that we are doing that we are just as excited to eat as we are to provide for other people.

Turkey Time

Somehow, Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and so what better time to talk about the turkey enterprise.

Admittedly, this is one of the enterprises that we often forget when we make lists or attempt to answer the question of what we will be doing on the farm, but turkeys have been on our radar for months. We figured that we have a lot of experience raising chickens and at least some of that knowledge should translate to the larger poultry, and it would be appealing to people to get to pick out their own turkey, know what its environment is like, and pick it up freshly butchered (We are allowed to butcher and sell up to 1000 poultry- turkeys count as 4 poultry though- each year without government regulation) a few days before Thanksgiving.

Photo courtesy of Don DeBold

While we definitely weren't closed to any ideas in the early planning stages, we were skeptical about turkeys. You see, we didn't know of any farms that sold them, except for a couple in books that we read that were not even in our region of the country, and we would have to contend with the supermarket, where frozen butterball turkeys sell for about a dollar a pound.

Once you do the math, it is a bit frightening to consider how big businesses charge that low. We figure that we could raise a turkey for roughly $20-$25 dollars, but that is without anything going wrong or any birds dying, so a more accurate estimate would be about $30. Now, we don't want to charge the snot out of people for anything, but we also want a fair price for our labor. Selling the birds for $30 to roughly break even didn't sound worth it to us.

Then, as we were going through farms and websites and getting prices for products, we realized that a lot of them sold turkeys, and we were looking at farms in our region. It turns out the going cost for a local farm raised turkey was in between $3-$5/pound! An organically raised turkey goes for $6-$7/pound! At roughly 15 to 20 pounds per bird, that price would put us in the profit zone. But would people pay that for their Thanksgiving feast? Almost every farm that sells turkeys (and I visited a lot of websites and have talked to several vendors at farmer's markets) sells out over a month before the holiday. So... we are on board to try it and see how it goes, as with most of the enterprises we are preparing for on the farm.

Photo courtesy of Tim Sackton

The first Thanksgiving we are ready to sell turkeys for will probably be two years from now. We are ambitious when it comes to trying a lot of different things, but we recognize that we can't start everything this upcoming year. However, we will aim to prepare a place for them this upcoming year and be all set to try the turkey business in 2016.

This is another project that I am pumped about. I hear that turkeys, especially as poults (baby turkeys), are harder to care for then chicks, but I believe that we are up for the challenge, and in two years, my Thanksgiving turkey could be a bird that I have brought up myself, watched it grow, butchered it a few days before the big day (if you eat them a day or two after the butchering, apparently they are a bit tough), and, at least to me, will taste like victory.

Hog Wild!

Right next to the goats, on the paper with all of our goals on it, on our map of the future farm, and in our hearts (ok, maybe not in our hearts) are pigs! While the idea of raising them seems appealing (at least to me), the idea of freshly smoked bacon makes me go hog wild. I will have to curb my enthusiasm a little bit though, since we aren't planning on starting them until the spring of 2016, but I have a feeling that that will be here before I know it, especially considering how many other enterprises and projects are already demanding our attention.

In the meantime, we hope to prepare a home for them next summer. This will involve some type of lean to and fence. Then we will buy a few piglets and be on our way come the following spring. Shortly afterwords, I hope to construct a small building to be used as an old-fashioned smokehouse. Unfortunately, such a smokehouse does not come remotely close to meeting government standards, so the old-fashioned smoked hams and bacon will be just for us and some family.

As with everything we are planning on doing, we intend to start out small and slow with a potential for growth if we like it and if there seems to be a market for it. The first year we will buy a few piglets and raise them, likely keeping one for ourselves and selling the others as freezer pigs. When I say freezer pigs, I mean that a person would buy the "live" animal, so then, since it belongs to them, there does not have to be as much government inspection on it. We would take it to the butcher, and they could pick it up from him.

Breaking even on this venture, or even making a small profit, will depend a lot on how we go about feeding the pigs, and, of course, our ability to sell them. The easiest and most expensive option for feed is to buy pig feed as needed. Finding a place to buy it in bulk would make it a little cheaper, and supplementing it with other foods makes it even cheaper than that. Other foods could include just allowing them to forage if we give them enough space to do so, but it could also include basically any expired food (such as milk, bread products, eggs, or yogurt) and any extra fruits and vegetables from the garden (one guy told me about all the pumpkins they got for them after halloween). Though it is illegal to give pigs for sale table scraps (to avoid giving human diseases to pigs and then back to humans when dinner time comes), it is perfectly acceptable to go to a supermarket and ask for their expired products.

If we want to continue and expand the pig project, we may well decide to keep a sow or two and try birthing our own piglets. This would add a bit more work, but it would also make us more self-sufficient, give us a cheaper source of piglets, and add to the old-time farm feel that we are shooting for. We may continue to add more sows to the business if we desire to expand this enterprise, however, we are many years removed and much experience away from even considering keeping a boar.

Pigs get big... fast. It takes them about 6 months to go from a cute little piglet only weighing a few pounds to a 230 pound behemoth that needs to be butchered before it keeps growing (I remember reading an article about a wild hog at 850 lbs, and thinking then that boar hunting in the middle ages was no joke). While those who have gone before us tell me that pig raising is not very hard, it will certainly be an adventure where we learn a lot of new things.

The Hust Roosters

It has occurred to me that I have been describing some of the things we plan to try in the future, but I have not really hit upon who we are. Most everyone that has read this blog knows one of the founders of the Hust Roost, and most know a couple of the founders, but not that many people know all six of us. How rude of me not to introduce everyone!

As mentioned just a second ago, there are six of us (three couples): Joe and Cathy Hust, Casey and Rachel Hust, and Tom and Hannah Taft. Here is a glimpse into who each of us are and our roles within the farm:

Cathy Hust (Ladies first): The wife of Joe, she currently works at a lab in Sayre, PA where she tests many things, including water and soil. You can see how her job has already aided the farm. Besides being the one who tests the soil, she also provides much of the punch needed to work and maintain the garden, and as we develop the Hust Roost, baked goods, canned vegetables, and jams will be another area of her expertise. Right now she is dabbling in the kitchen, trying a little bit of this and a little of that. Rachel and I currently have a container of her apple butter and pickles in our fridge, along with homemade vanilla in our cupboard.

Cathy on left. Joe on right.

Joe Hust: The husband of Cathy, he currently works at IBM. This June, after 30 years there, he scaled back to part-time so that he could put more work into starting up the farm. He is the biggest schemer of us all, constantly coming up with new ideas and plans. He has had his hands full this summer expanding the chicken coop, expanding the garden, installing the new wood furnace, purchasing the land next to ours, and generally maintaining the homestead before the reinforcements (the rest of us) come down in the spring. He, along with Tom and Casey, plan on doing the manual labor of the farm.

Rachel Hust: The (lovely) wife of Casey, she is currently in her senior year at Roberts Wesleyan College up in Rochester. She is studying Biology and communication, as well as running on the cross country/track team (she is really fast!). She is very excited to move down after graduation to start life on the farm, and she has also been dabbling in the kitchen. Over the last couple of months, we have had several types of breads, a couple different types of jam, muffins, homemade donuts, and homemade bagels. On the farm, she is going to be the one in charge of the flower and herb gardens, she will be co-heading up the bakery side of things with Cathy, she will be making crafts, she will be milking goats, and she will be helping me keep the blog going. She is applying to Binghamton for grad school, and depending on what package they offer her, she hopes to either attend school there for Biology or get a part-time job in a lab or a doctor's office.

Rachel on right. Casey on left.

Casey Hust (that's me!): The husband of Rachel, he is currently about to start up a new job as an assistant maintenance man at an apartment complex in Rochester (Thursday is my last day with Friendly's, and Friday is my last day with Ace Hardware). He graduated from Roberts, where he met his (lovely) wife, in 2013. He has been researching the various aspects of the farm and blogging (very intermittently), as well as going down on some weekends to help Joe (Dad/Pops) with his (massive) list of projects. He and Rachel plan on moving down once she graduates, at which point he will join his father in the manual labor department as he looks for a part-time job to supplement the farm.

Hannah Taft: The wife of Tom, she is currently finishing her senior year at Roberts Wesleyan College. She ran (she used up her eligibility) on the same team as Rachel for three years(she is also really fast!), she is studying to be a nurse, and her and Tom are excited to be moving down to the Hust Roost once she graduates. They are very excited to fix up the yellow house next to Grandpa's, which they are purchasing from Joe. Once down in the Binghamton area, she plans on pursuing a career in nursing while helping out on the farm.

Hannah on left. Tom on right.

Tom Taft: The husband of Hannah, he is currently working at a daycare in Rochester. Though last on this list, he is certainly not last in our hearts, as he has been a great friend to me since first grade and for all intents and purposes is a brother to me and a son to Dad and Cathy. He also graduated from Roberts in 2013. He has been making weekend trips down to help Joe on projects as well as begin to prepare the yellow house for him and Hannah to move into. Come next spring, he will be joining Pops and I as the manual labor of the farm as he substitute teaches (his degree was in education).

Perhaps we are motley, but none of us would ever deny how God has brought us all together as we start the Hust Roost. A big part of the reason I love our developing farm so much is because I love each and every member of it. Undoubtedly, we will have our friction since we will be interacting so much, but these are good people to have friction with. They all desire to put God first, and they all look forward to some good honest work.

We're Not Kidding Around: We're Getting Goats

If you were to poll the six members of the Hust Roost on what enterprise we are looking forward to the most, I feel pretty confident that you would find a clear winner: goats. It took us a while to consider goats, and a goat farm a couple miles down the road that went out of business at least turned me off to the idea of it. Obviously, we have since warmed up to them.

This picture of a very happy Rachel was
taken at Dave George's house.

When researching and discussing what things we wanted to do on our farm, it became clear that we had room for and wanted to try at least one type of milking animal. Our choices came down to having a family cow, a couple goats, or some sheep (we never really looked into yaks). As we try to be a practical bunch, we studied up on all of them in an attempt to discover which creature would fit our farm the best and would reap the most rewards for the least risk.

The pros for goats began to pile up. They would provide good-tasting milk at a rate that was easily what we would need (a cow would produce way more than we would need!). Health-wise, the Journal of American Medicine says, "Goat milk is the most complete known food."
It is much easier to digest than cow milk and has more nutrients.  Their milk is also ideal for making cheese, soap, and lotion because of its high butterfat content and binding ability. They are great for clearing brush (and the good Lord knows we have some of that to do). They are hardy and relatively inexpensive (especially compared to a cow). They have strong personalities, the kids are a hoot, and it is easy to see them becoming a draw for the farm.

One negative of having goats would be that they will need an excellent fence. A common saying is that "if you take a bucket of water, throw it on your fence, and some of it gets through, so will your goat." But after some consideration, we have decided that we are willing to invest in a very solid fence. We also decided to stay away from electric fencing. Although cheaper and more mobile, we want to make our farm as human kid friendly as possible. In our minds, this means leaning up against the fence to check the goats out and reaching through it to pet the curious creatures. We also think that it will look a lot better and fits our farm scheme of being a welcoming place better than electric fencing.

The other big negative of having goats, or any milking creature, is that we will have to milk them every day. We have decided that we are willing to put that work in and that it will be offset by a few things. 1) There are six of us. That means I don't have to milk every day. 2) We are only going to have a couple goats. That means milking really won't take that long (a good goat milker can do an average goat in 2 minutes). 3) We will have as much milk as we can drink. And 4) Rachel wants to do all the milking because she is already in love with them (No, we don't have them yet. Yes, I still expect that I will be doing my share of milking).

The shirt that Tom and Hannah got Dad (Joe),
who is very excited for the goats.

Our plan is to get a couple goats (heavily leaning towards nubians, as they are good for both milking and meat) this upcoming spring. We have an area that will suffice for them in the summer, and preparing winter housing for them throughout the summer will be on the ultra-urgent list. Depending on how old they are when we buy them, they may not be ready to kid and milk for a while, and it may be a while before we taste any of them. We intend to start out small, only producing what we can eat ourselves as we test the market for selling goat meat— over 60% of the red meat consumed in the world is goat, and apparently there is quite the market for it). It is legal to sell raw milk and cheese at the farm, but there are many stipulations, and we will have to look further into it to see if it is worth following such stipulations. In the meantime, we plan on keeping the milk for personal use (and letting some family and friends try it!), making cheese for personal use, making soap (which we will sell), and recycling old milk to the other animals on the farm (it is a great source of protein).

At the very least, goats will be an adventure, and we are looking forward to giving them a try.

Plotting Out Our Orchard

For me, the past two weeks has been spent putting several hours into researching fruit trees. I felt like a student again, as I constantly had a textbook (Holistic Orchard, by Michael Phillips) and a notebook, furiously scribbling down notes on anything that seemed like it might be important.

We, too, are reaching for fruit glory.

This was brought on by the expansion of the Hust Roost and the new access to the plot where we decided to begin our little orchard. When we go down to Glen Aubrey this weekend, we will stake out the exact locations of the future trees, take soil samples for Cathy to test (it is notably convenient that my step-mother works at a lab), and potentially order the trees for the spring.

To begin with, we are looking to plant sixteen trees next spring. Five will be apples, four peaches, three cherries, two pears, and two apricots. They will be twenty feet apart from each other, and we will have designated areas for future expansion should we so desire. In the meantime, we will make the soil as ideal as possible before Spring based on the test results. This will likely involve putting lime down to alter the ph levels of the soil, the calcium levels of the soil, and the magnesium level of the soil, composting manure to be prepared to use near the trees, and putting wood chips around where the trees will be to build up the good fungi in their future root zones.

Tom and I have spent the last couple of days reading through more types of apples, peaches, pears, cherries, and apricots than I ever knew existed, trying to find the perfect fruits for us. Obviously, we put a high value on flavor. However, we also had to give strong consideration to what cold hardiness zones the fruit could thrive in, what the fruit's history in our region has been, how susceptible it is to common diseases for our area, when it ripens (we preferred to have the fruit mature at different times so that we could harvest apples for two months instead of two weeks), what was necessary for the best pollination, and what size tree is best for us.  May I just say that my brain is in a bit of fruit shock right now.

Yes, this venture is going to be juicy.

Besides making my head spin, all of this research has gotten me really excited. We knew we wanted to have an orchard, but now I can picture it when I close my eyes (in fact, when I close my eyes, all I can see is fruit right now). We visited an orchard just yesterday, asked some questions, and bought some fruit. Now, as I look at that fruit in our fruit bowl, I can almost taste the fruit of the Loom (I have decided to call our little orchard, the Loom).

The next couple of days will be spent researching what nurseries we want to buy our trees from before we make our fateful purchase. According to everything I have read, it will be three or four years before our trees are bearing fruit, but our orchard journey has begun, and we are prepared to work hard so that we can one day enjoy the fruit of our labor.

Getting the Most Out of the Garden

One of the main enterprises of the Hust Roost will be fresh produce. Grandpa has been gardening in the backyard since the early 1960's, and my father and I have both been picking and eating fresh veggies since we could walk. So, while we know how to successfully manage a vegetable garden, we are now faced with growing enough produce to eat and sell. Here are a few strategies for accomplishing just that:

   1) Expansion

the South garden before expansion

the South garden after expansion

Between Grandpa's garden, which Dad and Cathy have been taking over as Grandpa has downsized each year, and Dad's garden, we already had over 2,000 square feet of space. That usually amounted to as much as Dad and Cathy could eat and give away to close relatives and friends. This summer, we have
tilled up about 2,000 more square feet. We have quite the impressive rocks from all of the stones we have picked out of the freshly tilled land.

the North garden after expansion

the North garden before expansion

2) Composting
In order to build up this new soil, we are developing a system for all of our manure and compost. Right now, that is mostly chicken manure, but our future plans will include using rabbit, goat, and pig manure, not to mention that we intend to do vermicomposting. Vermicomposting is basically using a little worm farm to quickly turn manure and compost into an optimal soil.

3) The Use of Beds

Casey next to some of the beds

This summer, in the North Garden (that is what we call my Dad's garden. Grandpa's is South), we have experimented with the use of beds. The idea is that you have specific areas in your garden for planting that you never have to step in and compress the soil. It is very good for the organisms that help vegetables grow. Next Spring, we will make more beds for the rest of the garden space and put mulch down for the paths in between the beds. It is very useful for organization and weeding, and it is very healthy for the plants. We do intend to have a few sections of garden without beds for potatoes, as they are easier to hill that way, and we also plan on growing a patch of pumpkins and squash out back where they can spread and not get in the way of everything else.

4) Extending the Growing Season

a "hoop house" before adding the plastic sheet

It is our hope to build a greenhouse in the next couple of years, but in the meantime, we have already built one hoophouse (basically a mini greenhouse that sits right over a bed) and will build more for the spring. This allows us to plant earlier and keep growing later. We also intend to set up an indoor growing space to begin growing plants (such as tomatoes and brocolli) from seed in the late winter and early spring.





5) Companion Planting and Crop Rotation
We have also been studying (and will continue to research) companion planting and crop rotation. There are many vegetables that you can plant practically right on top of each other, and instead of hampering one another, they actually benefit each other. For example, the Indian method of planting corn, squash, and beans together draws nitrogen into the soil for the corn, allows the beans to grow up the corn, and the squash shades out any potential weeds. With companion planting, we can get more out of each bed and have fewer weeds to pull! As for crop rotation, we can maximize the proper nutrients for each type of vegetable by planting it a year after a crop that leaves a lot of a nutrient that is critical for that specific vegetable. There are whole books written on the best rotation for an average vegetable garden!

6) Cover Crops
Finally, we intend to plant cover crops in the winter to provide a safe haven for the healthy organisms in the soil throughout the cold of winter as well as draw nutrients into the soil. In the summer, a few beds will lie farrow to build up the nutrients as well. However, these cover crops are not useless. They provide feed for livestock, and they can produce multiple cuttings.

Gardening is one aspect that we already know quite a bit about, but the more we research, the more new things we learn. We are excited to try new things to enhance our garden as we produce fresh vegetables, and we are looking forward to continually learning more as we go. There is nothing quite like getting your hands dirty.

The Bee Adventure

Rachel holding up one of the hive's frames. The yellow part is the wax
foundation that the bees will build their comb off of.

If you had asked me anytime in my life before the last couple months if I could see myself as a beekeeper, the answer would have been "no." However, life has a funny way of taking you on unexpected journeys, and here we are preparing to start up a couple of hives next spring for the Hust Roost.

In our planning for the Hust Roost, we had kicked around the idea of beekeeping and everyone thought it was a good idea (Dad said he hated bees and didn't want to have to do any of the work, but he thought it was a great idea). I asked a professor from college that Rachel and I both had if we could meet with him to talk about bees. He dabbles in some hobby farming, and he was happy to meet with us, show us his bees, and talk about beekeeping.

Drone Casey on the beekeeping throne reading Storey's Guide 
to Keeping Honey Bees.

We left the professor's house feeling that beekeeping was a lot easier and more fun than we had previously thought. For example, honey bees are actually quite docile. They usually only sting when they feel threatened, which is

Queen Rachel on the throne reading Storey's Guide to Keeping
Honey Bees.

why you can see pictures of beekeepers covered with their bees. Ever since that meeting, we have been checking Craigslist for good deals on beekeeping equipment. Soon enough we found ourselves at a sheep farm in Canandaigua talking to a man that had kept bees for over fifty years.

We learned a lot from that beekeeper, and he ended up selling us two hives at a very good price. We still are in need of some equipment before we start next spring, but our first purchase for our beekeeping enterprise has made the upcoming endeavor more real to us. This is one of the aspects of the Hust Roost that I knew the least about, and while I still know very little and plan on blundering through the first few years (that is how I learn!), I have learned enough to be genuinely excited about this topic.

So, once we move down to the Hust Roost next spring, we (Tom and Rachel have joined me in running this aspect of the business) will be getting bees (either by catching swarms or buying them—maybe both, depending on what our research tells us and our ability to discover swarms). We plan on getting stung a few times and always having a beekeeping first aid kit handy (just as a precaution), but we also plan on learning a lot about nature, enjoying the honey of our labor, and watching our fruits and vegetables thrive in the presence of our bees.

Casey admiring the new excluder, a piece designed to get all of the bees out of the honey box before
we go in to harvest the honey. It works by letting the bees out of the box but not back into it.

Dabbling

I think sometimes this blog can get a little confusing. We've had people ask us if we'd up-and-moved to Glen Aubrey! No, no, no. We're still here… in Rochester, if you're still confused. We'll be here for just about another year, an estimate of 42 and a half weeks (Casey loves his countdowns!). We have been down in Glen Aubrey to help with the "farm" on 4 occasions this summer, with one more coming up (look for a "Summer Summary" blog post in a couple of weeks!:)

One other thing before I jump into the fun stuff. There is one thing that makes me feel uncomfortable about blogging, and that is when we come off sounding like experts, or that we're sure of our plans. Of course we feel like we are being led to start the Hust Roost, and we feel that we should shoot for our dreams and work hard, but we know that if God is not FOR it, it won't amount to anything. It's easy to get confident because we have a great idea in our heads, but in reality it could be a lot harder than we picture. But... whether the idea thrives or fails (and I'm sure there will be some of both!) we hope to glorify God through it all.

Anyways… time for some dabbling! Back at the "ranch" (our little apartment) we've been using our spare time this summer to learn and try whatever we can.

Baking
Occasionally I bake a loaf or two of bread, hoping that I'll eventually figure out the strategies and ingredients that work best for me (aka the easiest). I found a great book the other week that goes through the basics of WHY you use different strategies, basically the science behind the "art." When I finish skimming the book I'll try baking a loaf and see if my learning has improved my baking… I'm going for less dense and more fluffy! Pies, bagels and doughnuts are also on the list for this summer, just to experiment and see what we enjoy baking, potentially for the future store!

Gardening
Another thing we've been dabbling in since May has been our own garden! Of course for Casey this is old news, but I've never had a vegetable garden. Some things I've learned have been:
1. Gardening takes patience. It seems to take forever and ever for things to start growing…

it took a month to get this far

At least until it gets really warm….

you could practically see the pole-beans growing a foot a day!

Do you see that big basil plant on the step? I finally caved and bought one from Wegmans since our other basil plants are still only 3 inches tall :( See them in the background? Patience is a great virtue (and I could use more of it) but I learned that we should definitely start some seeds indoors!
2. Rain is a wonderful thing which I will never complain about! That way we don't have to water the garden. :)
3. Good fertilizer is key for speed of growth… but you don't have to waste money on store-bought chemicals! Crushed egg shells add calcium that peppers and tomatoes need, green compost and manure adds nitrogen, etc...
3. Veggies right out of the garden really do taste better than the store! Fresh peas, zucchini, asparagus, radishes… all taste good enough to eat raw with no veggie dip!

Casey enjoying one of his favorites, a ruby radish!
Behind him you can see the broccoli.

In our little garden we grew a row each of: arugula, leaf lettuce, onions, beets, radishes, broccoli, hot pepper, green bean, and peas. We also have 4 tomato plants, a zucchini plant, an acorn squash plant and some herbs… oh, and one lone carrot (that was me who planted the row of carrots, and I messed up!!)

So far we've harvested arugula, lettuce, radishes, onions, peppers, and peas!

a beautiful arugula salad

We were very blessed that our landlord allowed us to have this opportunity!!!






Jamming
We recently discovered the JACKPOT for blackberries! Our apartment is across the street from a field and a cemetery. All around the borders there are the hugest blackberry bushes! We've been out picking every other day since we discovered them, and each time we seem to get about THIS many:

probably about 2 quarts here

We couldn't possibly eat them all so Casey suggested jam (or at least we did not want to test that possibility)! Now I wasn't so sure about jam because I thought you needed a bunch of equipment, but Casey assured me it was easy. We found that we could just sterilize the jars in the toaster oven set at 300 degrees. Also, Casey found online that I should cover the berries in sugar and let them sit for a while. Sounded good to me!

After a few hours sitting with sugar

Later when researching I found out there is a reason you do this! The high concentration of sugar draws the juice out of the berries (osmotic pressure) and also pulls the pectin out with it. Now pectin is something that is absolutely necessary for jamming..  it's the substance that causes the berry mush to gel up when you heat it. Most people buy pectin at the store but it's a natural component of all fruit in the cell walls (some fruits have more than others though). I wanted to try it without store-bought pectin.
I was surprised that I had all the rest of the ingredients… lemon juice and sugar! Lemon juice is necessary to draw more pectin out of the fruit. The sugar (besides being for flavor) is to preserve the jam. No bacteria can grow when there's a high concentration of sugar! You can also add whatever flavors you want. I did a batch (with Claire) where we added clove…  it smelled like Christmas! I did another batch where I added red wine and clove. And then the final batch… I added cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and ginger! All have been sampled and approved, even given away. :) Here are the instructions I followed if you are interested: http://highheelgourmet.com/2013/07/04/basic-jam-for-beginners/

Here are some of the results:

a decent mess

We actually made 2 and a half more jars!

A nice mess and LOTS of blackberry jam… :)

Hatching our Chicken Schemes

A strong argument could be made that chickens were our gateway hobby into the farming frame of mind. Sure, we always had a garden, but perhaps because we always had one, it was normal. Getting chickens, for us, was not normal. My older brother, Tyler, talked my Dad into letting him get them around five years ago. We learned as we went. I remember hastily constructing a coop with Tyler and Josh Thorpe because the chicks were getting too big for Grandpa's garage, and Grandpa was about to lay an egg himself.

We quickly discovered two things. Chickens were pretty easy to raise, and they were fun. Once Tyler and I both moved out, we were slightly surprised that my Dad kept buying more chickens to renew the flock each year. Each time we came home he would tell us all about some crazy thing one of the birds did or show us how a certain one would roost on his arm and eat out of his hand. As the idea for the Hust Roost formed, there was never any doubt that chickens, both for meat and eggs, would be one of our major enterprises.

This Spring, we bought thirty more chicks to add to the fifteen layers we already have, and Rachel brought down a slightly deformed chicken she hatched in her Cell Biology class (we call him Gimpy, or "the Gimp"). Half we bought as hens, and the other half was straight run, meaning it wasn't determined if they were hens or roosters. We ended up with around twenty-five hens, and come this fall, we should be getting over two dozen eggs a day!

We are planning on keeping three roosters this year so that next year we can hatch our own eggs (the rest of the roosters will join us for a barbecue in a couple weeks). From those hatchlings, we can keep some for laying eggs, sell others as chicks, and keep some to sell as meat or eat them ourselves a couple months down the road. We also plan on buying some meat chickens in the spring— the ones we have now, rhode island reds, are a hybrid bird (for meat and egg-laying), but are best known for their egg-laying abilities.

We have already expanded the chicken coop and run, but it is about to get bigger. We currently have two coops, the main one that I built with Tyler for the older birds, and a smaller one with the younger birds in it. This weekend, we plan on cleaning out the barn and expanding the smaller coop for the younger birds, who are getting a bit cramped. Long term, we plan to have a few different coops (for layers, roosters, chicks, and whatever else we would need them for) that are easily accessible and viewable for anybody who visits the Hust Roost.

Our Ultimate Goal

As work and planning continue to go into making the Hust Roost a functioning farm, all of us involved have felt the need to identify the ultimate goal of our venture. While we very much enjoy what we are doing thus far and planning on doing in the future, we know that if we did not keep our main goals in focus, we would be in danger of never achieving them.

After a few lengthy discussions, we boiled the ultimate goal of the Hust Roost down to the simple act of devoting ourselves to the Lord. It is our desire to give our plans to the Lord and see where He takes us. While it is difficult to hand over the reins to God, we believe that this is the best thing that we can possibly do, not only for the formation of our farm, but also for the formation of our souls.

We believe that God is calling us to lead humble, honest lives where we strive to be a blessing to all of those around us. With God's hands directing our imperfect efforts, we hope and pray that the Hust Roost will be a community business that is more interested in helping and encouraging others, building relationships, and being an example of Jesus' love than making a buck.

Don't get me wrong, we would love for the Hust Roost to eventually be a profitable enterprise that we can make a living off of. Once we move down, we are planning on working part-time to make ends meet as long as necessary (which will be made easier by the growing self-sufficiency of the farm). Life has so many more aspects to it than money, and it is one of our goals not to prioritize money above other, more important things.

My father has always told me that there are three important aspects to a job. 1) Do you make enough money? 2) Do you feel like you are making a difference in the world? 3) Do you enjoy it? We view the Hust Roost as a place where we can make a big difference in our community and enjoy doing it with people that we love. We figure that if we can do something that we love, make a difference, have a great environment to raise a family, and make enough money to get by, our lives will be well-lived. We are not just looking for a job that we can love, we are looking for a lifestyle that will please our Heavenly Father.

May Days

The last couple of weekends in May have broken some new ground for the Hust Roost!

Here you can see Tom and Casey literally breaking some ground. Whew, they spent their whole Sunday afternoon on that section!! The goal was to expand the garden on both sides, nearly doubling the amount of growing space! (If anyone is wondering, this is in Casey's Dad's yard in Glen Aubrey, NY).

Casey and Gramps stirring up rocks

After the unwanted grass was ripped out (and used to fill the old fire pit), we had lots of rock-picking to do. The garden is right next to a creek bed, so the soil is filled with rocks... Including some big enough to be our grave stones! (Sorryyy, no pictures). Once you remove all those, though, the soil is great. 

This picture shows the new organization for the expanded garden. Each bed is about 10 x 4 feet and can hold two or three rows of veggies. Each bed will get a number so we can record what crops went where each year, and then rotate them! Also, my favorite part, the beds make it so we can easily walk through to weed, pick and plant. Not to mention... each beds is designed to fit under a "hoop house."

 (What's that? See below!)

These pictures show the assembly of a "hoop house." They are made from PVC-pipes bent over a wooden frame, with a clear plastic sheet stapled over top. These are basically mini greenhouses used to extend growing seasons, making it so we can start growing earlier in the spring and stop growing later in the fall.
More veggies!!!

<---All done!!! Well, besides the plastic sheet.
And besides the rest of them we want to make...
I think now that Casey and his Dad know what they're doing, the rest will go faster. :)

Mulching the blueberries with chicken manure- they love it!

The new batch of Rhode Island Red chicks was moved from the garage to the barn. Some of these will grow up to join the other laying hens, but the roosters, well... they'll join us for the chicken barbecue in July!

The hens enjoying their new outdoor pens, courtesy of Tom and Casey.

I caught Gramps planting some broccoli as he watched all the excitement next-door. He grows his sprouts on the windowsill, then transplants them into his fancy raised-bucket-garden. Apparently he's the broccoli expert! I am sure learning a lot from the Husts.


~Rachel

Pulverizing Peanuts!!!

 Look at those deliciously pulverized peanuts!!! If that description sounds violent, it's because it was. Have you ever learned about the ancient wine-making process, where people stomped on grapes all day  till the roads looked like rivers of blood? Well… this process is entirely different… but those peanuts still went through a lot.

First, they were ripped out of the comfort of their little pods.

Then, their bare backs were roasted at 350 degrees for 3-5 minutes before being poured into… the blender. (Dun dun dunnn). Our sources told us that a food processor works best, but that a blender could work, too. Good thing my Grammy gave us this power horse! It got a little hot, but after a couple minutes the peanuts were powder… But not peanut butter.. Apparently, a little oil will help get the creaming started, so we added a couple teaspoons of canola. That did the trick! Soon, we added the other ingredients- 1-1/2 teaspoons of molasses and 1 teaspoon of salt.

And got this! It's strangely lighter in color than normal peanut butter, which makes me wonder what exactly they do to it! (Don't worry, we will still buy it from the store too- the price isn't much different from the normal kind at all. BUT it is probably 5x cheaper than the "natural" variety, and tastes so much more like peanut than sugar and other flavors. :)

 After tasting his raspberry jam and peanut butter sandwich, Casey (I quote) 

"was scared at how good it was."

That was interesting… and easy!

Today's project took only a few minutes of prep and a couple hours of waiting, and produced this vat of white, yummy goodness! It's yogurt :)

Again, Casey looked up all the details (this is what happens when I'm doing homework all the time and he's bored!)

Here's how we did it:
-Heated milk (about a quart) in a saucepan till it reached 185 degrees F.
-Meanwhile, let a half cup of yogurt sit outside the fridge to get warm.
-As soon as the milk hit 185, we removed it from the stove to cool to 110 degrees.
-As soon as the milk hit 110, we mixed in the yogurt (as well as a little vanilla pudding mix- extra for flavor, and for sugar for those bacteria to eat!)
-Then we poured the concoction in this jar, screwed the lid on tight, and put the whole jar in a crockpot set to the Warm setting.
-Then we filled the rest of the crockpot with warm water to create a warm, cozy bath for the yogurt.
-We checked the crockpot water intermittently (which for Casey meant every 10 minutes!) to make sure it was staying 110-120 degrees.
-At 5 hours, we took it out, and it was thick, curdle-y Yogurt!!

To get rid of the curdles we mixed it up well, then let it sit in the fridge to thicken.

Later when we tried it, it was a little watery (this is why people add dry milk powder to it!), so we poured it through a cheesecloth, aka T-shirt. ;)

We mixed some strawberry jam/sauce into it for extra flavor and it was delicious!

I liked the consistency and flavor better than store-bought, but that could just be me. It was milder tasting (less tangy) than the store-bought, but if we let it incubate longer, it would probably have been tangier. We will definitely be experimenting with this (Casey says another batch is due this week!) since it's so easy, and also cheap… and let's be honest, we're a little obsessed with frugality. ;)

First Syrup of the Season (and of our lives, ever!)

I was told by a friend that spring seems to come more quickly when you have maple syrup to boil down! Whether that's true or not, I don't know, but it sure adds festivity to the coming of spring (which is already a wonderful thing)!

We got some spiles (the metal spouts you plug into trees) for Christmas this year, and then Casey researched the ins and outs of the process, as he is so good at doing. I swear he does more research and reading now than when he was in school! ;)

Anyways, here is the first boil-down session, which we did right in our kitchen. This was about 3 gallons of sap (that was all we got from the two trees through most of March- it was a cold winter!)

Here you see Casey's idea to prepare pancakes ahead for the morning. :)

And this here was our final product. You can see by the reference point of the apple that we only got about half a pint from the 3 gallons! But most of the pay-off was the fun and experience for the future.

And it is pretty exciting to put your own syrup on pancakes. It tastes like the real thing- and it is!

P.S. the first batch of syrup ended up being too thick, and crystallized into sugar, which was just as delicious. The second time around we made 3x as much, and it was just right.