Table of Contents
Personal Growth and Challenges in 2021
2021 started on track for my expectations. However, by March my mind had lost focus and motivation to write, by July my ability to garden, preserve and function waned, to say the least.
March and April revealed a dear family member was going to be in battle for their life fighting cancer. As I type these works, the battle continues. The end of June a series of events involving the health and lives of other family members unfolded. From a life-threatening bullet wound to an unrelated death, hospital stays and a tough decision for my aging horse, my energy levels and attention shifted to the people in my life who needed my assistance. The homestead took a back seat, gardens were let go, little food preservation happened. The bare minimum kept the homestead going.
September though the end of 2021 felt as if I was picking up the pieces and putting order back in place. My word for 2022 was going to be structure because I see a great need for structural improvements both physical and in my daily routines. As the last 2 weeks unfolded the word persistence continued to show up. So, while I will be addressing structure in 2022 as mentioned above, my word for the year is persistence.
In a worldly sense the past year might appear as a waste. In a personal and spiritual sense, I grew. My trust in the Lord to provide, my belief and trust in His sovereignty, my faith to follow His direction and belief, He alone is a light unto my path. Growing relationships with those I encountered in the last year have eternal benefits.
In the midst of my struggle, there were additions to the farm and I will mention them below as look back at 2021 on CG Heartbeats Farm.
Horses
In July on a warm sunny morning, I found my 26-year-old mare Rosie down and unable to rise, even when I tried to assist her. Her physical condition had been gradually declining. If I am honest it started around 4 years ago. I knew it was time. My heart ached deeply and I continue to miss her. I felt like a part of my dream was buried with her. However, my love of horses has not disappeared. I continue to have goals and dreams around the majestic equine. Looking back at last year however, I did not do much beyond the daily care and maintenance of looking after my horses. At the close of 2021, 4 horses now reside here at CG Heartbeats Farm, Bo, Drifter, Cider, and Dusty.
Trees
I am super excited to share I was able to plant 16 trees nearer the house in the last quarter of 2021. Two of the seedlings were volunteer starts from the current Crabapple tree. I planted 12 additional flowering trees from the Arbor Day Foundation. The varieties included, Crape myrtle, White Dogwood, Sargent (White) Crabapple, Redbud and Washington Hawthorns. It will be a few years until they are flowering, but I can see it in my mind and I am excited every time I think about it.
After Christmas, I discovered Dwarf Alberta Spruce on sale (75% off) at our local Lowes. We were still experiencing mild weather. I purchased 2 and planted the next day. Now CG Heartbeats Farm has evergreens on the homestead. My heart smiles every time I see snow on the pines, even if they are small trees for now.
Great Pyrenees
Aneta continues to thrive here, barking often during the night and alerting us to any unusual activity. She managed to escape her area a few times. She was always here to great me in the morning. You might remember how she took off in the fall of 2021. She spent much of the year confined. The process has helped her to understand where her home base is.
She continues to be kind with the cats and kittens. I am certain she likes the goats as she spends time with them. I am still working with her to not chase. She doesn’t hurt any of the animals. But her chasing has to stop. I take the blame for not correcting her the first time and subsequent times when she was a young puppy.
I can hardly believe she is almost 2. Her presence on the homestead, bring joy and protection for the livestock.
Nigerian Dwarf Goats, A New Addition in 2021
In the spring, I picked up 2 Nigerian Dwarf doelings with the intention of sending them on to my sister later in the year. Honey and Oakley, as I called them, did indeed travel about 1000 miles to reside with my sister and her family.
Those 2 adorable kids were just a start. Over the course of 2021, I added 3 bucks and 5 doe kids. Officially, CG Heartbeats Farm now raises registered Nigerian Dwarf goats. Dixie, Bonney, and Ariel are bred to freshen in April and May.
I am looking forward to drinking milk produced here on the homestead, making butter and who knows what else. Kidding season (or foaling season or hatching baby chicks) brings me joy. The delight I feel at the appearance of new born babies over rides the exhaustion brought on by late night checks and sleepless nights.
If you would like to learn more about each of the Nigerian Dwarf goats, click here.
Chicken Updates for 2021
2021 produced new ideas and plans for the heritage chicken breeds raised here on CG Heartbeats Farm. check out the paragraphs below to learn a few of the details.
Swedish Flower Hens in 2021
I enjoyed hatching various Swedish Flower Hen chicks in 2021. Toward the end of the year I scaled back my numbers. I still have a majority of the same pens. There is a new strategy for my pens. I will add new pullets from a pen back into the pen the came from instead of starting new pens. the Hens in those pens are aging and instead of starting new pens I will be replacing them over the next year or two. A different rooster will be added in time.
A reminder for those unfamiliar with breeding chickens, crossing a hen back on its sire is an acceptable breeding practice in chickens.
Lemon Cuckoo Niederrheiner
Lemon Cuckoo Niederrheiner first arrived at CG Heartbeats Farm in 2016. This breed has proved the greatest challenge of all. Truly they deserve their own blog post to share all the details of my journey with them.
For the time being here is a brief update for 2021. The last remaining hen from my original chicks was killed by a possum attack. I have a rooster remaining I hatched from the pair this year. I also lost both Cisco and Clinch. Last spring I purchased “Lemon Cuckoo Niederrheiner” chicks from a hatchery. I fully realize the odds of getting quality was slim, but I decided to try them. To say I am disappointed is an understatement.
Only one of the chicks looks like it should in color, and size. It is a rooster. The pullets have started to lay. While the eggs are beautiful, they do not represent what true LCN look like.
For the next few weeks 2 of the yellowest crossbred pullets are with my LCN rooster, along with 2 or 3 of the best of the pullets from the hatchery. I intend to hatch some of their eggs and see what I get. I am all about using what I have. My preference is to purchase a line of LCN descended directly from German imports. Until I can locate some and purchase them, I will continue to work with what I have.
Crossbred Project in 2021
This group too deserve their own post. If you are new here or not familiar with them, they started out with a black based mille fleur Swedish Flower Hen rooster crossed on Lemon Cuckoo Niederrheiner hens. I did this to ‘test’ the hens with a rooster I knew was fertile. I crossed the offspring back on a LCN rooster. In the next 2 generations I continued crossing with other crossbreds.
My crossbred project continues to impress me. I will be working with them to enhance uniformity in color. I need a name for the breed beside Crossbred project. Want to help me? Leave a comment below or shoot me an email at cgheartbeatsfarm@gmail.com
Silver Gray Dorking
While I did loose a few of the older birds this past year, I raised a few also. I desire to incubate as many eggs as possible and when the weather permits, I will have Silver Gray Dorking hatching eggs for sale. I intend to sell chicks also.
Fruits
Black Raspberries, Concord grapes and apples were the 3 fruits produced and eaten here at CG Heartbeats Farm. I preserved a few of the black raspberries by freezing them. Many were eaten fresh. Same with the apples, I enjoyed eating fresh apples while they lasted. I have not learned how to care for apples with out using chemicals. Thus I only ate them fresh around the spots that even the nice ones displayed. I had wanted to make applesauce, but I did not make it a priority.
Concord Grapes
Delicious memories of savoring the flavor as I ate Concord grapes from the vine produced here creates excitement for the coming work I will do to prepare for 2022 harvest. The grape project has been a 3- or 4-year process and cost me nothing but the waiting and hard work.
My heart swelled with happiness chewing the concord grapes as an occasional snack. The vines are young and I expect they will produce more this year. I thought I had an adequate trellis for the vines. Turned out they needed more height.
I am always learning.
Gardens and Food Preservation in 2021
Garlic
Garlic harvest showed me new aspects of the plant I had not encounter previously. Unfortunately, much of the crop was harvested late. Here are a few of the highlights:
- The way the different garlic varieties continued to develop seed heads
- Varying hardiness of the stalk between varieties
- How the same variety grew better or worse depending on which garden plot it was in
Additional garden Ground
The chickens continue their work prepping garden ground. The amount of space I have to garden grew again this year. Check out Chickens on the Homestead to read how the chickens contribute beyond meat and egg laying.
Another important part of gardening here on CG Heartbeats Farm continues to be saving seeds for future use. The intentional act of setting aside the needed produce to collect seeds from what I raised this year continued in the fall. In saving the seeds, I feel not all was wasted.
New Varieties
In 2021 I planted zucchini, sweet corn, 2 new flowers varieties, onions from seed and Amish Paste tomatoes. The rest of what I planted was repeat from years past. As I mentioned above, my gardens suffered neglect this past year.
Farmers Markets
I attended a few markets, but I could not on a consistent basis due my time and energy being pulled in other directions.
Website
Writing too took a back seat in 2021. The times I sat down to put words into sentences, I struggled to organize my thoughts. Few times after mid-February, I had time to catch my breath. The act of writing flowed temporarily. As I look back at 2021, and I have been putting this together for the last week, I find I have joy in writing again.
My view of what the future holds goes no farther than the next step or two. Thank you to all who have stayed for my journey and visited the website when I was unable to write as often as I believed I should.
