Agriculture

Yes, the age-old question about which came first springs to mind this time of the year as the stores start to stock the shelves with chicken raising paraphernalia. We have a total of 130 chicks in brooders in the basement and garage. There are two sets including 3-week-old Brown Leghorns and Araucanas intended to join our laying hens once they have fully feathered and another set of 100 Freedom Rangers intended for the pasture of the nut grove where they will range and grow to broiler weight for a May 7 appointment at the processors.

In a fit of gratitude, I made a list of the things I loved about my life the other day. I managed eight solid things, none were frivolous; and one prompted the whole exercise: I love warm February days. This beautiful February day set into motion a very productive weekend. It felt so good to get some good old-fashioned garden clean up done with my husband by my side and the sheep grazing freely about. It makes you feel optimistic about the rest of your life.

USDA Farm Service Agency reserves funds each year to make loans to socially disadvantaged applicants to buy and operate family-size farms. A socially disadvantaged farmer is one of a group whose members have been subjected to racial, ethnic, or gender prejudice because of their identity as members of the group without regard to their individual qualities. For the purposes of this program, socially disadvantaged groups have been defined as women, Blacks or African Americans, American Indians or Alaskan Natives, Hispanics, Asians, and Native Hawaiians or other Pacific Islanders.