Hey Farm Family! I know…..I know. It’s been like forever since we last chatted, but LIFE has been crazy in general! There is so much to update you guys on so let’s get started.

I went to visit my sister in Nevada a few months ago and it was 113 degrees in the shade! That sounds crazy I know, but it’s dry heat so it was actually nice believe it or not.

I have to share some photos with you guys of the beautiful mountains. I guess that means we’re starting with FAMILY NEWS.

Both Nevada and Utah (I was there too) have the most gorgeous scenery. Imagine going to the grocery store….just driving along in your car and when you make a right turn there in the distance are these glistening mountains. They are literally everywhere and I laughed when someone asked me what do we have here in our state. Can you guess my answer? I said we have grass, cows, oh and trees. Her response was that she just couldn’t imagine not seeing any mountains. We should all be so fortunate to see a postcard created by God each day. It’s truly captivating!

In other FAMILY NEWS we’ve been keeping a secret. Just over 3 months ago, our daughter and their family welcomed their second child into the world! His name is Ezra. He was born at just 36 weeks with immature lungs and as a result Ezra didn’t come home until his 8th day. This little boy is fighter just like his parents who were committed to being in the NICU with him as much as possible. I’m happy to report that as of today he is one happy chunky little baby boy! He has some definite issues from being a preemie, but the plan is to love him through each and every one.

What makes Ezra so special is not just that we have another Grandchild, but also that our daughter incorporated her brothers name into his. Our son was Jonathan Scott and Ezra is Ezra Nathaniel Scott. The Scott part is a true family name as it comes from my Dad and you all know how I feel about him. My heart is SO full that they wanted to keep Jonathan’s memory alive and pass on his name while still allowing Ezra to have his own identity! I’m crying while typing this, but they are a mixture of happy and sad tears.

Of course we can’t forget about our Hazel Rae! She is officially two and amazingly brilliant. If you follow our social pages you know how much she loves to farm right along with us.

Another OH EM GEE moment for us is that we finally harvested our Meatbirds. You know how you taste something that you haven’t had in a long time and then it hits you how good it is? That’s this chicken for us. With the move and everything that happened after it, we had long run out of our own birds. So now, every time we cook one I am super excited to eat it and I am kicking myself thinking, Rachel you can’t eat them all.

We have had them fried, baked, and grilled so far. I am planning to put one in the Instant Pot so I can make shredded chicken. Of course this is my biased opinion, but this chicken is just so fresh, clean, and delicious. Even Joshua was complaining about the store bought chicken we had in the freezer after eating ours. So needless to say, we are going to try our hardest not to be out of HHF raised chicken in our freezer.

I know eating clean and organic is not for everyone, but it is for us and to literally grow and raise our own meats is very rewarding. You’ve heard or read me say this before, but it’s not something I’d ever thought I would do. As a meat eater though, I would rather shop with us than anywhere else. The next batch has already been listed so you can shop with us too. So that’s part of CHICKEN NEWS.

The other part is eggs. August was the month that we’d been waiting on for our layers that hatched in February to begin laying. I’m happy to say that they’ve begun laying, but since we’re now in Fall and Winter season, the laying is slow. We’ve been directing those of you looking for eggs to our friends at Bain Home Gardens, but our understanding is that their chickens are slowing down as well. As we go into low light, the girls can’t lay as much, but come Spring there will be plenty of eggs for everyone! The picture below is a flashback.

In other chicken news, we’ve learned that we have 3 additional roosters in this group so they will be going to freezer camp soon. At one time we had 7 or 8 roosters and the competition crowing was outrageous! When one began to crow, they all kept it going. Just imagine 8 roosters crowing over and over again. No thank you!

Although the chicken tractor is farther from the house, between the crowing and the fighting over the hens we’ve decided to keep it to a maximum of 1-2 roosters. That way we will have two flocks going and as they age, we plan to hatch more to keep the rotation going. If you ever purchase “Stewing Hens” or “Young Roosters” from us they need to be cooked low and slow. This tenderizes the meat.

In PIG NEWS we added one more piglet to the group over the Summer. His name was Kevin (as in Kevin Bacon), but Brandon re-named him Fatback. We’re keeping him separate and watching him to see if he could be our boar for breeding. This breeding part is all new to us so we have a lot to learn, but we love to do research and we are both great at asking questions. So we know that through prayer and working with those prayers, we will figure it out. The picture below was taken a few weeks ago. Fatback loves watermelon!

It’s not too late to reserve a half or whole hog for your family. See here for all the details.

In GARDEN NEWS I posted some videos in our story a while back of the exact hot mess that we were dealing with. Excessive heat and rain grew excessive weeds and that’s literally what we had on the farm. We had to go in with the push mower, the machete, and the weed whacker to get it all cleared! This was no labor of love….it was a battle and one that we are happy to say that we won.

At our other property we always had natural walkways and wanted to do that as well here. Sadly, we’ve learned that, that is not going to happen. Out here, weed barrier is critical and even then, the grass and weeds try to grow through it. Our plan going forward is to weed barrier the entire gardens. This won’t completely eliminate the weeds, but it will give us a good fighting chance to stop them.

In addition to the weeds the heat bred stink bugs and other garden pests like crazy. I came back from my trip to find that both our Summer and Winter squash had been nearly wiped. It was more than a little discouraging, but such is farm life at times.

Of course, we try not to farm much at all in the Summer months, but some things are just necessary. It’s crazy to think that the temps were in the high 90’s when we began seeding for Fall, but thankfully, the weather broke. It made me think that I really need to get a move on the she shed that needs power ran to it like forever ago. Brandon hates when we have to set up our temporary nursery in the house, but the weather is beyond our control, so we do what we must in order to grow this food we all have come to love and depend on.

Speaking of growing food, GROWING NOW on the farm are all things Fall with a little Summer in between. Think eggplants, different varieties of tomatoes, and sweet potatoes, just to name a few. There are no real pictures to show because everything is growing so slowly with the weather changes. So we’re in transition, but give us a little while and things will be bright and beautiful once again. For now enjoy this little shot of what fullshare members of Kith & Kin received in Fall Week 1.

Thanks for hanging out with us for this end of Summer update. We know it’s Fall, but you are all now officially caught up.

The best way to support our farm is to make a purchase, but when we’re in off season or if you’re not near us, there is a donation link on our home page. You know the one with the big rooster?!?

Chat with you soon. Until then…..