Nitty Gritty on Beggs n Achin

The Nitty Gritty about Beggs n Achin'

Why do we do what we do? We're crazy...

No, really, me, the wife of the operation, I've been doing crazy ideas I found on the internet and in books for years. Way back when my daughter was little (she's 22 now), I began foraging, gardening a little with a community outreach program, and looking up medicinal and food plants, because I decided, after being broke forever and unable to get medical without getting the electricity shut off, that being self sufficient was the way to go. Then I met my wonderful, very patient... husband. He hates farming (so he SAYS - he bought a cow and a pig this year).

I'm working on a book about our first years. The first 8 years of our marriage and how my hubby loves so me much that he let me get goats, chickens, put mud on the walls of our mobile home, and all sorts of other crazy stuff. One of my friends dubbed our place "Patti's Funny Farm" and the name stuck. I had gardens, I had little breed pigs, goats, chickens... the works. Even alpacas, sheep, and rabbits. On one acre. I think our neighbors we happy when we left. Actually, I'm pretty sure they were.

Then we had the opportunity to own a 100 year old farmhouse on 13 acres here in Chehalis, WA. It's beautiful out here. Pumped up on Joel Salatin and Polyface Farms, Justin Rhodes, and several other online heroes of mine, with the Farmer's Almanac stuffed in my back pocket, trompin' around in my ever present barn boots... we began our crazy adventures anew.

So why do we do it? I don't wanna have to get a real job.

No, really, hubby works, and he commutes, and that's fine. He likes his job. But I'm not a people person. I like animals better. And I like wearing comfortable clothes. I'm not always socially acceptable. It's the one thing I keep going back to. Animals are therapy. And the more I read, and the more recalls on foods, medicines and the like... I just wanna know what's in my food. That's it.

And now that we are in a bigger place, I have plans to make this... my job. At least on a smaller scale. There are laws prohibiting me from selling things like raw milk, or eggs off-farm, or meat processed here. But we have an egg cart in the driveway when the hens aren't bein' freeloading slackers. We often have baby goats, because my goat milk doesn't happen without babies. I do make judicious use of the freezer and save it up, so as not to continually breed my ladies.

And I want to know that my food was treated well before it died. Let's face it, things have to DIE for me to eat. For you to eat. I will never be vegetarian. If you want to, great. Just make sure you are considerate and polite in your vegetarianism and I will be considerate and polite in my meat eater-ism. lol Can't we all just... get along? lol

No, seriously. Not everything put out there by PETA and the like is true. Some of it is lies. Some of it is not. And in the words of Joel Salatin... if we can't even treat these basic of creatures well that are our food... what does that say about our society and how we treat our elderly... our disabled... our disadvantaged...?

So my critters, I eat some of them, and some of them I don't. I can't eat goats, for instance. And I ain't gonna lie, the calves growing out for meat... Jersey Boy is a super snuggly one and I am tryin hard to find a way to justify training him as a super small, bony draft animal so I don't have to send him to the butcher. The last thing that goes through their mind is "Oh look. Grain." Then they go to wherever they go. We work hard to make it quick and painless as possible. As opposed to being shipped to a slaughter house, terrified, or stuck in a feedlot that last months of their lives, these guys get to be whatever comes natural to them. And they get lots of loves and pets, too.

Currently, they get fed a minimal ration of Excel BarnYard, a layer ration for the chickens and oyster shell, a mineral, and forage or hay from across the road. We tried organic feed and not only was it cost prohibitive, but the animals seemed to lose condition on it as well. Why reinvent the wheel? Also, most of the consumers don't seem to like paying "organic" prices. They are ridiculously high, and competing against places like Walmart and Safeway. Who can compete with that? Not me. I'm just a little guy. Preaching higher prices for local business only gets so far when somebody has a carload of kids and an itty bitty paycheck. Been there, done that. We do the best we can, all of us.

So that's it. My goal is to sell off extra that my family doesn't eat to pay the feed bill and make the farm not cost me. hubby's whole paycheck, hopefully. We are only one year into it, so fencing is still being built, and watering infrasctructure. A tractor is on my wish list, as are ram pumps and plumbing pipes. So hopefully, this gives you an idea of why we do what we do and don't just go buy it at the "supermarket, where no animals were harmed". Oh, and didja know brown cows give chocolate milk? Laugh. It's funny. Life is too short to be so doggone serious.

Regards,

P. Colvin, Beggs n Achin

Can't resist petting the little chickies, although the mommas weren't too happy about it!

The goats are clearing a patch of land for me in electronet.

One of our flowering cherry tree blooms out beautiful like this every Spring.

This basket was made by my grandmother, and my father used it as a little boy to go out to their chicken coop and collect eggs. It means so much to me to hold something touched by two generations in my family, doing the same things.