Windmill Farms–It’s Not Just a Farmer’s Market

Windmill Farms isn’t your ordinary farmer’s market. For one thing it is available every day, rain or shine. The old fashioned barn and windmill grace the side of the road just off the 101 freeway on Thompson Road in Arroyo Grande. As cars whiz by on the freeway they might miss this special place, but if they slow down and make a stop, they will surely enjoy the adventure of a visit to Windmill Farms.

Approaching the Farm you will see old fashioned western wagons and a quaint trolley car. Nearby is a field with sunflowers and corn growing high. As you walk through a vine covered archway you might feel like you are entering into a magical world especially when you glimpse your first view of the garden. Brilliant blue pottery is surrounded by potted roses of white, red and yellow. Brightly colored ceramic flowers and little toadstools accent the green foliage of the plants. Here too are fountains and statuary. Benches situated on the gravel pathways offer a place to rest and enjoy the peaceful scene. Mounted on the front of the building is artwork featuring whimsical cows and chickens.

The garden at Windmill Farms specializes in a variety of roses and succulents. “We decided on these two types of plants because of the hardness of our water here,” commented Lorna Kirk, owner of the Farm. Lorna and her husband bought the property in 2000 when there was only the front small barn building on the site. They have since built onto that structure, greatly enlarging the capacity of what the barn can offer. Inside you will find a myriad of items from the pesticide-free fruits and vegetables that they grow on their adjacent farmland and on a farm in the Central Valley to an eclectic and colorful assortment of gift and culinary items. You will see beautiful gift items, crockery, natural lotions, soaps, fragrances, and oils, cards, tableware, decorative art, collectibles and more. Specially made up gift baskets are also available.

In the main part of the room are shelves stocked full of a wide variety of gourmet foods, sauces, jams, preserves, breads and mixes. “Most of the gourmet foods are from California suppliers and local sources,” Kirk said, “we like to support our local farmers. You can sample anything you might be interested in before buying,” she said, “this way you won’t be disappointed."

 

Outside in the Critter Corral visitors can walk through and pet or feed the animals. There are goats, sheep, donkeys, pigs, turkeys, and Guinea fowl. The goats in particular strike interesting poses as they reach over the fences to beg for your attention. Throughout the year the Kirks host school groups to come and see the animals and take part in a little of farm life. Kirk mentioned that they do breed the goats and will sell kids.

Special events take place at the farm. In the fall a large supply of pumpkins are put outside and people and kids come from far and wide to make their special pumpkin selections. “We are also excited to be starting to host the Central Coast Garden Club here,” Kirk said. The Club will meet there on the 4^th Sunday of the month at 2 P.M.

If you are looking for something special for that person who has everything, this is a good place to come to find something unique whether it be gift items, gourmet food, coffee, and tea, or lovely roses and garden art. Or perhaps you might just like to sit in the garden with a cup of gourmet coffee and a delicious raspberry scone! Windmill Farms is open from 10 A.M. to 6 P.M. in summer and until 5 P.M. in winter. Do stop by, you won’t be disappointed.

(This article was published in the Winter 2012 issue of the Access San Luis Obispo County Visitor’s Guide – www.slovisitorsguide.com)

A Cluck By Any Other Name

One of my duties for the Morro Bay Winter Bird Festival is to go along on field trips to photograph birdwatchers and the birds they are watching. A couple of the outings went to working vineyards where we sipped wine and kept our eyes searching for birds.

Up at Halter Ranch in Adelaida we got to bird the area near the old Mac Gillivray Victorian house and the winery tasting room. We had our binoculars handy to catch sight of acorn woodpeckers in the oaks, goldfinches and juncos flitting around, and white-breasted nuthatches strolling upside down on a tree limb. So it was a great spot for me to get lots of photos that really fit for my bird festival portfolio.

On our walk up through the area where the grape vines grow, we encountered a species relative to our wild friends. I noticed them first at the side of the dirt road near one of the winery sheds. They stood there trying to decide, should they cross the road or not? It's a big decision for a bird that has existed for decades with the unanswered question, why does the chicken cross the road? I can tell you. To get to the vineyard of course!

After hesitating a few minutes they made the dash right in front of me, scattering pell-mell into the grassy lanes between the vines, pecking away as they went. I raised my camera and began shooting. Why not? They are birds, after all, and this was a bird festival.

Raising chickens is fun, relatively easy, and gives you the dividend of fresh eggs. Not all communities allow livestock raising, but in many of our county areas, keeping a small flock of chickens is okay.

So how do you start? You can begin with day old chicks and have the hens ready in 22 weeks to begin laying. This method requires an outlay for feed with no substantial return until you start getting eggs. Another method is to purchase ready-to-lay pullets or get mature hens that are already laying.

You'll have to build a chicken coop for their protection at night and in bad weather. The coop will contain the nests in which the hens will lay and most coops also have feeding stations in them. Many people are reverting to free-range birds combined with supplemental feeding. But chickens will still need a place of refuge even if they are allowed to roam your property.

A chicken's bones, like all birds, are hollow and they are connected to the respiratory system. Chickens cannot sweat and have to control their body temperatures in other ways. Evaporation of water from the respiratory tract is one way they do this and a lot of heat loss occurs from the head.

A chicken's skin is fairly thin and can vary in color depending on their diet. Feathers, of course, keep the birds warm and are essential for flight. They molt and renew their feathers yearly.

It's the digestive system that is interesting and it starts with the beak and the mouth where food then passes to the esophagus and into the crop. The crop acts as a temporary storage department. Food then moves along to the stomach and meets up with the gizzard, an organ that is capable of grinding and crushing food. The gizzard is assisted in this job with gravel and grit that the chickens eat while foraging. It's the gizzard that enables the chicken to adequately digest whole grains.

Chickens are pretty well known for being somewhat dim witted and this is due to the fact that they have a rather small cerebral cortex, the part of the brain that signifies intelligence. Hens may not be too smart but they do have a special social structure called the pecking order. In this system the top bird can peck any other bird, but lower birds can only peck birds that are below them. The poor lowest bird can be pecked by everyone and cannot peck back! Somehow this system keeps order in the chicken coop.

As a hen matures, so does her reproductive system. Hormones stimulate the development of the ovary (only one, by the way) and it matures to produce everything needed for that all too important element, the egg. Yolks are produced first followed by albumen (egg white) that is deposited around the yolk. An outer and inner membrane forms and eventually the process is completed by the formation of the shell. The whole process takes about 27 hours.

Some chickens lay white eggs; some chickens lay brown eggs. In South America the Araucana chicken lays blue eggs. No matter the color, egg laying activity will take place without the aid or presence of a rooster. Roosters are actually a deterrent to good egg production as their presence encourages the hens to get broody.

So what makes a hen get busy laying if it's not the rooster? The answer is light. When pullets reach sexual maturity the increasing length of day releases the factors that initiate egg laying. In some commercial hen houses, the lights are turned on all the time to keep production going.

Small farms and hobby farmers are returning to raising many historic breeds that have all but disappeared from commercial production. Javas, Delawares, Buckeyes, Hollands, Chanticlers, are just some of these breeds now being raised and shown at county fairs across the country. Some of these breeds are dual purpose birds supplying both eggs and meat.

There is a lot more to know about raising chickens and information is available from your county extension office and the American Poultry Association, www.amerpoultryassn.com; My Pet Chicken Guide to Chicken Care, www.mypetchicken.com, or from books such as Raising Your Own Livestock by Claudia