BUGS

Okay, before moving to the country I hated bugs.  They creeped me out.  Over my years farming I have discoved how vital these small creatures are.  You cannot grow food without bugs.  You cannot have nutrient rich soil without worms, grubs and microbes, 33% of the food we eat requires a pollinator to fertilize it, a bee or other flying insect.  The foundation of our food is built on the tiny bugs that are often poisoned and irraditcated. 

At Shore farms we proudly support the bugs!  I am proud of my honey bees and we work hard to keep the colony happy and healthy.  We raise Red Wiggler worms for vermicomposting, we compost our lawn and garden scraps as well as our chicken, quail and duck bedding.  We strive to create nutrient rich soil, healthy abundant pollinators and armies of worms to foster healthy bountiful plants.  

We love our birds.   We get to enjoy the freshest eggs and the most beautiful views.  Our girls are pasture raised and get plenty of room to roam and search out yummy bugs and snacks. 

Our girls are treated well and handled daily. Like all of the animals on the farm we appreicate them and truely enjoy there company and contribution.

There is nothing better than fresh eggs.

Honey Bee

Honey bees are amazing creatures.  Our produce and fruit quaility and quantity has improved and our flowers are so much more aboundant.  We love our hives!

Cat Litter

         I Love cats.  I own cats.  I have for many decades.  Each day I clean my litterbox and remove the soiled matieral and put it into a recycled grocery bag and put it outside waiting for garbage day.  Each week I completely clean out the litterbox, wash, sanitize and refill.  I do this the day before garbage day, to make my sure my yard doesn't smell like cat litter all week long.  Each week I buy a big bag of cat litter, and bring it home to use...In and out...constantly.  My cats are picky.  They like clean boxes.  I have tried various different products that promise this amazing new thing that my cats will love.  Promises of Colognes and perfumes to smell, less dust, better clumping.  Each week, bags going in and each day bags going out.  I was watching my garbage guy lifting my heavy garbage, full of this weeks litter, basically gravel...going to the land fill again, and thought there has GOT to be a better way. 

         Now we are fortunate, we have been composting for several years now.  We compost with worms, and do hot and cold composting so deciding to find a way to compost my cat litter isn't a completely new skill, just a slightly new product that needs some considerations.  Now to be clear this is not a traditional composting.  I will NOT USE THIS ON FOOD!  I will give this space 7 years to rest after we are through before we plant anything on it meant for food production.  But until then I can add nice fill (saw dust and fertilizier) to to my land, prevent gravel from going into the landfill and help my garbage guy out.  I purchase pine pellet animal bedding.  I love this stuff.  I fill the box with the pine bedding, when the cats pee the pellets break down into sawdust.  The poop is just in the box and I pick it up with tonges and put it with the sawdust.  Each day I shift the pellets through a collendar and keep the pellets.  The sawdust and poop goes into a  barrel I work toward filling and about once a week or so I use the tractor to take it out back to compost it.   I sanitize my litter box about once a week but I get to put unused pellets back inside because every single day the box is completely emptied into a collandar.  I never start completely fresh...there is no need.  The dust is not like the dust in a gravel litter, it's just sawdust that is wet so it doesn't get airborn like gravel dust.  I feel like there is no dust that I breath in as I'm dumping the box, the floors don't get that sticky glue from water mixing with he spilled clumping litter.  There is a smell of poop, but no sharp amonia smell, it absorbs into the pellets and I don't notice it.  I clean my litterboxes daily, and I have to say I love the compostable litter, and I may find a better way one day, but this is the best I have found in my 20 years of raising cats.