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Millennial homesteaders pursuing a compassionate & connected life on a plant based hobby farm

Chickens

Ethical and Humane Ways to Add Chicks to Your Flock

Silkie chicks hatched by broody hens

Chicks are Coming! | April, 2017

baby chick

Welcome to the Sunshine Farm Baby Chicks | April, 2017

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Meet Jenn

Hi! I'm Jenn, I am a 25 yr. old animal-lover, gardener, with a lot of creativity and drive for adventure. I live on a plant based homestead with my husband, Chris, and we both work full-time office jobs while running the farm. I'm also a PhD student in the evening, which adds to the craziness of our life.

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Recognize this barn? I don’t! We’re about halfway done painting it... WHITE! • • And I couldn’t love it more. It’s modern & bright and it allows the beautiful scenery to shine around it. I am a neutral loving gal, bright colors are NOT my thing, except in nature. • • In a house my favorite colors are black and white, with natural wood tones, with the barn it’s the same. But step inside my garden and you will see colors galore. Pinks and reds and oranges and yellow. All of it in the garden, but as for the barn, white is perfect. 👍🏻 • • A big hug to Annette @azurefarm for the color recommendation (Sherwin Williams, Pure White). It’s the perfect white.

Tonight we ate so well. Full bellies with the most amazing flavors and textures. Gosh, fall tastes delicious. • • Roasted radishes, carrots, peppers, onions, and broccoli over rice, topped with fresh snap peas, and breaded tofu and okra with a peanut soy sauce. What gets better than that?! Chris seriously kept looking at me and saying, “this is so good.” • • When people find out we’re vegetarian, they often say to me “I could never give up meat.” I think they need to spend some more time eating meals with us. 😋 It is a walk in the park to give up animal products when you get to enjoy plant based meals daily that are packed with flavor and goodness. Delicious and healthy meals without causing any animal suffering... It is a joy to be plant based. • • The broccoli was my favorite part of the dish. We have lots more coming in the garden! What are your favorite recipes with broccoli? 🥦

Who were you 6 years ago? • • This was taken in 2013, I was 19. Right before I met the love of my life, before I ever knew I would be moving to NY, starting a farm, or even have an interest in growing food. • • At 19 I didn’t even have a glimpse of where I would be. Yet we bought our farm when I was 22, just three years later. It is crazy how much can change and how little perspective we really have in the present moment. We have absolutely no clue where life will take us. • • When this photo was taken, I was discovering what I wanted to do with my life. Debating switching majors from music to psychology, because I wanted to focus on serving people through a connection with animals. • • I have always had such a strong connection with animals, a pull towards them, and a desire to be around them. It had been healing in my own life and I wanted to find a way to provide that to others. • • At 25, I’m finding new passions and interests. I still have that love for animals, but I’m shifting towards a desire of teaching others, and myself, that we can live compassionate and connected lives through growing our own food, in the garden. • • So much transition, redirection, and change has taken place since this photo was taken. 6 years from now, I hope I continue to find myself in new ways and explore changing passions and dreams. Instead of envisioning the future, I will embrace the unknown. 💫

This is Dwight. We raised him here on our farm about 18 months ago. When he was a few months old, we found him a new home after he began fighting with our other roo, Jim (go figure they would fight with the names Dwight and Jim, any Office fans? 🙋🏼‍♀️). Once he started showing aggression, his new owner decided they would cull (kill) him if we wouldn’t take him back (no judgement towards them whatsoever). Now, he’s back here living his best life, and is peacefully living with 3 other roosters and his aggression has gone WAY down. 🐓 On social media I often see questions from people on how to deal with rooster aggression. Many common responses to this question tend to be really cruel, things like “throw them in the crock pot,” “chicken soup for dinner,” “carry them upside down by their legs,” or even “hit them with a stick”. Since when is aggression in response to aggression a good thing? Every time I see comments like this, it hurts my heart. Every animal has value, and deserves a chance to live their best life. Animals are NOT evil, they are simply acting out of instinct or learned behavior. When we seek to understand those instincts or behaviors, then we can actually address the problem. In my experience, roosters are some of the most abused and misunderstood animals. At birth, they’re often killed simply based on their gender, and it doesn’t always get better for the ones that do live. For many people, the first sign of aggression leads to a rooster being cooked for dinner. This is a problem. Roosters will often show aggression because they are trying to do their job, protect their flock, and there are many strategies you can use to address the aggression, many times people are simply unwilling to give them a chance. We have three roosters out of six with a tendency towards aggression. We have applied a number of different strategies & things are so much better! You can find a blog post & video in our bio, all about these tips and how to use them to handle aggression in roosters.

Fall on the farm. Is there anything better? We recorded a farm tour today and these two goof balls followed us around as we walked the pastures. • • Three years ago we visited this place for the first time. We had recently found out the property we were buying fell through last minute, and we were about to be without a place to live. I remember getting ready to see this place. I was so bummed out. Just minutes before I arrived, I was talking on the phone with my mom, devastated that the other place had fallen through. • • The moment we saw this farm, we both knew. No hesitancy. This was our home. • • I dreamed of moments just like this. The simple moments visiting animals, walking the pastures, foraging the trails. • • But we didn’t get to this dream without disappointment. Right before we found the Sunshine Farm, we thought the dream was out of reach, & this place couldn’t have been better for us! It’s a reminder to remain hopeful when doors seem to close that there is always goodness around the corner.

To you, it is a handful of pretty peppers and a kitchen sink, to me, it is a reminder of vision coming to life. • • Our sink was the worst part of our kitchen before we remodeled it. Old & stained, it was a constant reminder of our desire to renovate that space. So almost 2 years ago now, we did. On less than $3,000 we DIY-ed the 80s kitchen and turned it into a modern farmhouse-style space that we now love. • • These peppers, were HARD work! Peppers love heat and well-draining soil, two things we are seriously lacking on our farm. So I planted over 80 pepper plants, and even though they weren’t highly productive, we still ended up with lots of beautiful peppers to chop & freeze for winter, as well as using for salsa, veggie broth, and all kinds of yummy things. • • Do you have a vision for something in you life? I know I do! 🙋🏼‍♀️Sometimes we need to look back to have the courage and confidence to move ahead. A few peppers & a pretty kitchen sink do just that for me.

Heading home after a few sweet days in Virginia for the #homesteadersofamerica conference. • • For months I was afraid to go, fear said I wouldn’t be embraced, that we wouldn’t be enough, and that we were too different. The last few months have been life changing for me. I’ve reflected on myself in new ways and have come to a new place of self acceptance and confidence in the person God made me to be. So going into this weekend, I was excited to embrace that person. • • And what a blessing it was. To approach people I admire, respect, and have come to love, with the confidence in who I am. Life is so much better & so much fuller when we move forward in confidence, presenting our full selves to the world. Embracing our differences and letting them shine, knowing full well that we were made perfectly unique, and we were made to leave a mark on the world that no one else can. • • In embracing ourselves, how much more can we embrace others? And appreciate the beauty in others? Thank you to all the incredible people who welcomed us this past weekend, it was a joy to meet and connect with each and every one of you. Until next time. 💛

There’s something so beautiful in the simplicity of a red barn with green pastures surrounding. • • I remember the first time I saw this barn. The pictures online were pretty poor, so when we walked inside and saw the horse stalls and the loft, I was filled with so many dreams. • • These days this red barn is undergoing big changes. We put on a new roof, we added solar (that provides all of our electricity needs 🙌🏻), we added a former, centered the doorway, and now we’re getting ready to paint it... WHITE! • • Soon, we will be enjoying the beauty of a white barn. I can’t wait to see how it turns out. • • What do you think about the barn being white? Are you a forever fan of the classic red? Or do you like the modern look of black and white?

So many beautiful tomato varieties this year, but I'm not saving seeds from any of them. Wait, what?! I decided this year was not the year to save seeds. Although it would be cost effective in the short term, it would likely lead to problems in the long run, because this year was full of disease, and honestly, was a low yield for what we would expect from the crops we planted. I completely expected all of this. We jumped into no-till, permaculture methods, fully knowing we did not have the money to bring in lots of compost, and were going to experience a number of problems with crops due to heavily compacted and clay soil. So how does that affect seed saving? Well, just like you and I are full of genetics, so are seeds. And the environment where we grow our plants, disease susceptibility, pest resistance, and productivity, that all gets passed on through the genes from one generation to the next. So yes, I could very well save seeds, I could plant all of those seeds next year, BUT I will be sending myself backwards instead of forward. So my plan next year, is to continue to buy regionally adapted seeds from my favorite seed companies, like @fruition_seeds and @highmowingorganicseeds .(& I’m not sponsored, just love regional & respectable seed companies!) That way, I'm giving myself the best start when it comes to the productivity and health of my plants. As the years go on and our garden improves in terms of health, pest resistance, and abundance, I will begin saving more and more seeds, and those seeds will become more and more adapted to our unique climate and context at the Sunshine Farm. Lesson of the day, seeds are pretty darn cool, don't underestimate them!

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