All posts tagged: coturnix quail

Talking Chicken At The Gravenstein Apple Fair

Talking chicken at the Gravenstein Apple Fair!

We are committed to educating folks on humane ways of raising chickens and were thrilled to be invited to speak at this years Gravenstein Apple Fair. The head chicken wrangler gave a 45 minute presentation on chicken raising basics with Patricia the partridge silkie happily tucked under her arm. Topics covered ranged from how to predator proof your coop to which breeds are best for your family.

If you have a local group who would like to learn about chicken wrangling don’t hesitate to reach out – we love chatting chicken with people!

alchemist_farmTalking Chicken At The Gravenstein Apple Fair
read more

Seeding Fresh Pasture

Seeding fresh pasture

seeding-our-pastures-before-the-rains-alchemist-farms-sebastopol-ca

What do you do when your father comes to visit? Why put him to work assembling your seed spreader! With big rain in the report for Northern California we created our own seed mix of general pasture, rye grass and clovers to cast over our acreage. We are extremely water conscious here on the farm and do not irrigate our fields during the summer, big rains means an explosion of color on the landscape again.

alchemist_farmSeeding Fresh Pasture
read more

Blue Ribbons For Our Birds From The National Heirloom Expo

Blue Ribbons All Around From The National Heirloom Expo in Santa Rosa!

silkie-blue-ribbon-winner-national-heirloom-expo-alchemist-farms-ca

We keep a closed flock here on the farm which means that we do not bring any new birds onto the premises. We do this to protect the health of our breeding stock from various diseases other flocks can carry. We are proud to be part of the National Poultry Improvement Plan, every bird on our property has been tested clean of diseases.

Keeping a closed flock means that we cannot open the farm to visitors or take our birds to shows unless the birds are sold at the shows. This year we decided to participate in the National Heirloom Expo put on by Baker Creek Seeds because we are aligned with their mission of preserving heritage breeds of livestock and seeds. We entered a small sampling of our breeds into the judging and were pleased to have each one of our birds win a blue ribbon!

alchemist-farms-serama-blue-ribbon-winners-national-heirloom-expo-alchemist-farms

alchemist-farms-double-silver-laced-barenvelders-at-the-national-heirloom-expo

We held a silent auction for a breeding quality pair of Svart Hona and at the end of the fair it was none other than the founder of Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company who won them. It was bittersweet seeing Darth and Duchess off to their new home but we know they are now in excellent hands!

alchemist-farms-svart-hona-national-heirloom-expo

alchemis-farms-svart-honas-with-the-baker-creek-boys-at-national-heirloom-expo

alchemist_farmBlue Ribbons For Our Birds From The National Heirloom Expo
read more

Little Hands At Work

Many hands make less work!

Here our littlest farm hand is working the Philips head screw driver to install new batteries in our auto coop doors for the season. She is very proud of being tall enough to help with the every day tinkering tasks farm life demands 🙂little-farm-hands-helping-around-the-farm

alchemist_farmLittle Hands At Work
read more

Medicine Making

Homesteading!medicine-making-with-elderberries-alchemsit-farm-sebastopol-california

We took a break from chick wrangling today to make elderberry syrup in preparation for the coming winter.
The task of separating the berries from the stem is perfect for little hands and also serves as an invitation for little minds to learn about medicine making!

alchemist_farmMedicine Making
read more