News from the Farm
Still Winter...
2/9/10 Well the spinach didn't work; it is frozen in the soil! (It still freezes in the greenhouse at night. )
Everyone in the barn is doing well. Our male companions are separated from their girls and are not so excited about that. All staff memebers are getting ready for ice cutting this week and I am excited to see how Strawberry does with her first "event hand milking. Mackenzie and Cora have been doing a great job prepping her for the noise and different milking styles...
Amy and I have been starting our "goat project," which is training our goats to pull carts. The hope is to use them to deliver produce and milk to the camps this summer and for trash/recycling runs. So far we have harnessed up Ebony and Bruce. Ideally, we would have started the training process when they were weaned from their moms - but, this being a brand new project, we'll go with what we've got. They seem to do best with Amy in the lead and me at the reins. It works well, as we'll need two people anyway - one to stand with the goats and cart (just in case they decide to get mischevious and start acting up) and one to load/unload the cart. It has been pretty hysterical so far- lots of headthrowing and sneezing - but generally successful.
Amy and I have also been working on our cheesemaking skills. I made a delicious (and easy) Marscapone, and Amy just finished waxing our first attempt at a farmhouse chedder - check back in a month to see how it turned out...
Our seed order is starting to come in. John is planning some new and fun surprises in the garden this year. Silos and I are working on sugar lines, so that must mean that spring is getting close, and I am hopeful to have a decent sugaring season...
Winter in the Barn
1/12/10: The animals have settled in quite well. The winter is a slower time on the farm, but we have been very busy milking and making sure we have made the appropriate matches to produce some new livestock. The cows had a bit of a time establishing who was in charge but have gotten it squared away-for the moment anyway. Henna, Strawberry and Rachel are showing their pregnancies now and Sapphire continues to grow well. Caleb the ram is doing his job with the older ewes, and the lambs are learning to be less skittish in a separate pen. Halifax is enjoying the warmth that Jack has brought in with his massive body; it looks like we should be expecting piglets in the spring. Sampson the billy goat was here for 3 days and Ebony was not so pleased to be in his company, so we may not have any kids this year, but next year we should have plenty. We are working on some other ideas for the goats...Stay tuned...Flounder the barn cat has returned to the barn (after having disappeared after the fire) only to find Burton there reigning over the barn. They seem to reside on opposite sides of the hay loft. The chickens and ducks are in full production mode and filling staff and market orders each week. The new livestock barn has proven to be a well designed, well lit, and user friendly structure for the animals as well as their farmers.
We planted spinach in the greenhouse this week just as an experiment. The cravings for greens in this white oasis are sometimes overwhelming. I have had a bit of time to read some good books-one I bought in the spring and read the other week is The Compassionate Carnivore by Catherine Friend. If you get a chance, pick up a copy at your local library and give it a try!
Animals Move in to New Barn
10/23/09: The animals moved in to their quarters in the new livestock barn today. The barn has been under construction since spring, designed by NBF Architects, built by Naylor and Breen Construction as well as Tamarack Farmers and Fall Resource Crew. On the 23rd, the Resource Crew coiled all the extension cords, packed away their tools and ran a magnet over the floor to catch any errant nails. Then they joined Farm Crew in herding Halifax the pig in to her luxurious private quarters. All the animals came easily to the new barn, including the cows, who nosed in and out from their back pasture. The barn was dedicated over the weekend during the Board of Trustees meeting, and all the animals are now nestled in, getting used to their winter quarters. See photos in the Photo Gallery New Livestock Barn folder.
Fall on the Farm
9/11/09: We had a great summer, with productive animals and gardens and wonderful campers. We'll give an overview of how the summer went in the upcoming Fall Interim. Now fall crew and the farm staff are continuing to harvest and get ready for winter. Carpentry crew is working on the new animal barn, which is almost completed. The hay is up, and we ourselves grew about half the hay we'll need for the winter. The garden is providing a fall CSA to the year round staff. We've harvested chickens, pigs and lambs. Four cows are bred and we are waiting for their pregnancies to be confirmed. The spring chicks are finally mature and laying eggs, the ducks are feathered out and happily roaming around.The goats are growing, and all the animals are still out on pasture around the camps. Sapphire the calf is still being walked on halter every day by Indy Bjornsen. We are selling our milk at the Woodstock Farmer's Market and eggs at the Upper Valley Food Coop. Our meat, yarn, eggs, and milk are available for sale to the public, and we will soon have more information about that here in the farms section.
Spring on the Farm
4/20/09: So much has been happening in the past few months, we are behind on farm news. After the low barn burned down (late February) we focused getting the animals adjusted to their new housing in the various other barns.
The ewes have been living in the top of the chicken cathedral, and they all have given birth to healthy lambs. Almost all the lambs are rams, and almost all are black. We have one grey one and one white one. You can see some photos of them in the photo gallery.
Lambing was happening at the same time as maple sugaring. Sugaring went well, and you can see those photos up on the photo gallery as well.
Now we are watching the seedlings grow in the greenhouse and hoophouse, getting ready to till the soil in the gardens for the first time of the season, and waiting for our pig, Harriet, to give birth.
Morning Solstice Update
1/21/09: We almost counted our heifers before they calved. Morning Solstice's fall pregnancy did not succeed, and so in the late winter we will be troubleshooting any health issues that may have blocked her pregnancy.
We currently have a visiting boar, Smudge, who is keeping our sow Harriet company. They are having a great time snorting and bounding around in the snow.
Photos of Henna and Strawberry
11/26/08:Strawberry and Henna, two of our new cows, are in the background of the photo. Strawberry (1.5 yrs old) has the strawberry-colored spots and is part Jersey, part Ayrshir. Henna (6 yrs old) is a Jersey cross whose black patches have red highlights. Our third cow, now named Beatrice (5 yrs old), was lying down during the photo session, but she is a large lady, a Dutch Belted or 'Lakenvelder.'
The three new cows were purchased from a Certified Organic Vermont farm, and Farmer Chantal says she liked their looks. Looks aren't everything, though, so Chantal also reviewed various laboratory tests for any sign of disease, read their calving and milking histories, and checked them for any physical problems such as weak hooves.
New Cows join the Herd and Ruby Retires
11/18/08: Three new cows have joined our herd. Strawberry, Henna, and... one who still awaits her name but has already become the boss of all the other cows. We'll have pictures soon. All three are pregnant and due to have calves this winter. So, with luck, four calves will greet the spring at F&W.
Ruby, our faithful milking cow for so many years, has moved on to other green pastures. She is almost 19 years old, and was starting to have health problems. The busy life of milking cow was no longer for her. Farmer Chantal found a loving home nearby where Ruby will have other elderly cows for company. We will miss her.