Fall Harvest, 2025
Warning: this post includes information about raising and processing (ie, butchering) chickens. There are no graphic details, but it does recognize that meat comes from animals which are living up until harvest day.
We are finishing the growing season right now. Last weekend, we had out annual chicken harvest and this week, we've spent a good portion of our time outside, cleaning up the flower garden.
The arrival of October marks the start of the end. The bees are busy drawing down, reducing their numbers, and preparing for the cold winter months. This year, we harvested nearly 400 pounds of honey that went for sale through our farm and some partnering farms locally. All of the hives have received their final mite treatment of the season and will only have a couple more weeks before I put on the insulating covers to get through the winter.
This year has been strange. Normally, our chicken harvest is at the start of October so we can take advantage of cooler weather. This year, our harvest day was a balmy 83 degrees Fahrenheit, which made things a little more sticky than normal. Thankfully, the yellowjackets didn't bother us too much. We worked for two days and got 192 chickens in freezers for four families. Chicken, for as annoying as they are to care for during the hottest part of the summer, are consistently our least expensive protein.
This year, the kids were more into it than ever before. The oldest girls worked hard for several hours. The adults all agreed that we felt the most comfortable we've been. It only took us seven years and seven harvests to get to the point where anyone could jump in anywhere to get things done.
After processing, we use the parts to do a mega batch of stock. This boils for a full 24 hours in the big stock pan on the fireplace. We are able to put nearly every part of the animal into use somewhere. We came home with about 5 gallons of stock. It sounds like a lot, but it will not last us the year. We'll end up making more out of the whole birds we cook during the winter months to keep our supply up for soups.
Our flower garden is also drawing down. We sold far more than we anticipated, which was encouraging. We learned a lot about how to manage a production flower farm and we're planning on expanding next year. The goal is to double the output and share some product with a neighboring farm who wants to offer flowers but cannot spare the growing space.
Finishing fall chores takes a lot of work because we're deep into the school year and tired from the summer months. The days are getting shorter (and cooler, thankfully), so our rest time is coming. We're already looking ahead to a good season next year, but we'll take the time off gladly.
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