We are o-fish-ally a fish farm

A Catfish farm to be precise.   Our Pond Management Consultant had told us once we should try raising catfish in some of the side ponds, they are the perfect size for such an operation.  So just before Thanksgiving we drove to the hatchery and picked up about 550+ baby catfish, well junior catfish.  They are all around 6 inches long and look like real catfish, complete with whiskers.  There was also about 3 albino catfish thrown in.  Freebies.  I guess albino catfish are undesirable because those that hunt catfish find them easy to hunt.  But since the hatchery was going to just toss them away we said we would take them.  At least give them a chance at living, at least until we eat them.


So, how does one transport so many fish? Box them up and toss them into the back of the farm vehicle, for us that would be a Scion xB.

The fish are actually in large plastic bags, which in turn are placed into a box, one bag per box.  This is more to keep them stable, wouldn't want the bags of fish to roll around while we drive.


Once back home on the farm the bags are placed into the pond to allow them to acclimate, just like one does with a home aquarium.

After a short period of time we cut them loose.

You can see one of the albino fish in this bag:

So how does one farm fish?  Well we can just leave them alone for a couple of years and then fish them out.  Or we can feed them which will cause them to grow faster and fatter, and then we can fish them out.  We will probably feed them. We will also place breeding containers in the pond for them so they can mix it up a bit and make kittens.   The breeding containers consist of 5 gallon plastic containers (like you get at Home Depot) submerged into bottom such that there is a 5 inch opening for the fish.

We have other catfish already in the pond, but not the same variety.  The new ones are Channel Catfish.  Here is one of the old ones, from the lake area.

A new edition to the farm!

Today the farm got it's first piece of new equipment, a brand new tractor.  Well, as good as brand new. It's a 2009 that the factory bought back when a dealership went out of business, only has a couple of hours on it.  Close enough to new considering our other tractor is a 1957 with who knows how many hours. The most amazing thing about the tractor is it actually starts when you turn the key.  No need to pull out jumper cables and a can of ether    I think the first job for the new tractor will be bush hogging some of the areas that have become overgrown.  The old tractor had too much horsepower for the bush hog and the pines grow fast around here.  I actually made the mistake of suggesting we sell the old tractor to help offset some of the cost of the new.  After all, the old tractor is supposedly rare, might get some $$ for it.  I was quickly put in my place.   A farm does not sell it's first tractor.  Apparently it's in the handbook. 

Someone is watching

We noticed a large flock of crows watching us pick berries a couple of weeks ago.  In order to save the berries from the impending attack a fake owl was purchased and placed in the middle of the field.  It scared the crows away, but we started to notice a lot of bushes with broken branches and no obvious signs of deer or other animal in there, nor were any of the berries on the broken bushes eaten. A mystery.  Until today.  The husband visited the field this morning and found a hawk tangled in one of the bushes.  Now hawks don't really care much for blueberries, but they care even less for Owls, fake or real.  The feathery fella, in attempt to scare off the fake Owl, was smashing into the bushes.  Mr  Owl is now located in the backseat of the truck.  Maybe he can hang out in the backyard and keep the geese from eating the new grass we just planted.

It started with an idea

Actually, it started with trying to find a home we could afford in an area that was safe to live.  All we could find was a scruffy piece of land, about 23 acres, that was undesirable to builders due to a variety of reasons. 

And so began our adventure.

The plan, build a home and then clear 5 acres that we could use to grow something.  After consulting with the State Ag guy (not official title) and doing some soil tests, the decision was to grow blueberries. 

First task, clearing an area big enough to build a home.  A husband, a wife, and a couple of chainsaws.   It's not that we were filled with that pioneer spirit of old, wanting to tame the land with our bare hands.  No, it was more of a budgetary decision, as are most of the decisions that rule our life.

We had managed to finish the house, clear the land, and even ordered 500 blueberry plants, when disaster struck, or so we thought.  We were told we had to relocate, far far away, or risk unemployment.  At this point in time the two was now three, so we followed the path that put food on the table and diapers on the the little one.  

So we sold our newly finished home, with it's freshly cleared pastures, and moved with the company that paid our wage.  Once again we found ourselves trying to find a house we could afford, in an area that was safe to live...but now it also had to be acceptable to our recently purchased 500 blueberry plants....yes,  we brought the blueberry plants with us.  Actually, the supplier held them for us until we got settled in the new location.

We found a new place, 70 acres with a small lake and a set of ponds stocked with fish!  The land needed some clearing (been there before).  There was a small 1950s vintage ranch that had seen better days, so we would need to build a house (done that before).  There was also a tiny lake side cottage and a couple of broken down single wide trailers.  Overall the place had more potential for farming than the last place.  And did I mention the lake? Small, more of a pond really, but all ours, and as the sun rose or set over it it would fill with magnificent colors. The area was really quite pretty if you looked past the mess the previous owners left behind.  

So, we moved into the small ranch, got rid of the trailers, stored most of our "stuff" in the cottage and started back on our path towards creating a home for us and the blueberry bushes.  The trauma of having to move from our other home melted away like the snow we left behind.

This was almost 8 years ago.

The second house has been built, took us about 6 years, but budget kept dictating we do the work ourselves (darn that pesky budget!).  Our 450-500 blueberry plants were planted a few years ago and have finally begun to produce the little blue berries that they are known for.  We lost a few, some due to the drought a couple years back, some to an infestation of moles (who were after the infestation of grubs), some just because. Since we came from a northern climate the berry plants were of a northern variety, so we expected some casualties. 

Since we have more land at this place we have expanded our little farm with vegetables, grapes, and some fruit trees.   The goal is to be somewhat diverse, yet manageable by just us.  We are also toying with adding catfish to the list.  A couple of the smaller ponds are perfectly situated for catfish farming.  We hear prawns do well in our area, but from what I have read they require a lot of work to harvest and can be a bit tough on the existing residents of the pond, pretty much turning the ponds into prawn pools.  That wouldn't be fair to the fish.  Of course, I could be wrong on that, but catfish exist in the ponds already and the ponds can handle quite a few more without disrupting things.

Anyway, as we move forward we will be evolving the farm into other areas and I will write about our success and failures on this little blog.  I expect quite a few failures, that's how we learn.