News from the Farm
December 30, 2011
So more and more news because so much has happened since July. We had a great fall and, despite Irene flooding all around the barn, no animals were hurt ( I slept in the hay loft that first night). Our hay fields may never be the same, but the sugar bush did a lot better than I was anticipating.
The interns put up a bunch of food- we have all kinds of canned food, frozen bits of summer and a ton of potatoes and onions in our root cellar. We are still processing milk, but shortly we will be in our dry season and the cows will get a rest before they calve again. Hibiscus is due to birth first, which will hopefully give me time to get her ready for camp.
Three of the past interns have moved on to different things and I wish them the best of luck and am grateful for all of their help and friendship!
Winter has finally settled in and the snow and ice have started to come. The winter's late start meant greens for longer than usual, which no one was sad about. The garden is put to bed and the greenhouse looks empty awaiting the new gardener to come and liven it up with seeds and soil and lots of new energy.
In other news, our breeding season is coming to an end and I think it will prove successful. The ram, Beans, will be with us for awhile; the buck, Merle, will come back after he has helped out some lonely girls in the Northeast Kingdom; and the boar, Boris, is looking for a new home.
Rocy (the angora rabbit) gave birth to Knitty and Knotty and they are now weaned. I think we will try that one more time except this time breed her to Hector (P. Valenti star of stage and screen) and try for full-blooded angoras this time.
Our fiber program went so well this year I thought we would make a new addition - but little did I know it would be quite as extensive as it has turned out to be. We have the sheep, whose fiber is amazing. We just got the carded fleece back from Vermont Fiber Factory and it is beautiful (this is the dark fleece from last year).
Michael (the new winter intern), Ashlyn and I will be working on spinning some into yarn to sell because we've sold out!! We will have all of this year's yarn to use this summer as well --- for felting or spinning or knitting or whatever else comes up!
So,the other thing(s) that we now have for our Fiber Arts program are the "Aliens," by which I mean our new Alpacas. They just arrived on Monday. We have five - one is very old, two are somewhat aged, one is average aged and one is just a baby. Just wait until you see them- they are the strangest things and are quite sweet. My knowledge of camelids is minimal but luckily they are ruminants of which my knowledge is extensive.
On top of that, F&W now has Grady (he's actually mine) and he will live here because he is a Cashmere goat and I thought that he would be a great addition to the fiber program. He is small and may never get too big. He was a triplet that never grew so in the ended was not used for breeding.
He will be company for Sally when Ebony has passed on. So, things here are still busy and quite beautiful these days. I hope you are all enjoying your winter!!
July 27, 2011
Well, clearly this has been on the "to do" list for quite some time. So many things have changed since the end of January!!! The farm is thriving in the warm weather- clearly our spring was super busy. We have added an intern, Ashlyn, to our farm team. She is based at Tamarck Farm this year. Our spring was full of maple trees, and babies of all shapes and sizes. Sprouts and seedlings and soil and mud all were huge this spring and now all the babies are growing well.
Our cows have all calved. Strawberry had a bull calf, which we sold to Tim Courser (our sheep shearer), and Rachel had a heifer that we are currently thinking we are going to keep. Henna had twins- a bull and a heifer- which means that the heifer will be sterile (known as free martin). Unfortunatly, the night after Henna gave birth to those beautiful calves, she had a heart attack and passed away. She has been sorely missed in our milking herd. We will raise her calves for beef. They are doing great and get lots of love from the Indian Brook campers and staff. On a much happier note Hibiscus, Henna's daughter from last year, was just bred and we are awaiting a preg check for sure results. So far, everything looks promising.
Melba thankfully gave birth to a beautiful and spunky heifer that we named Moon- and Melba has moved to my house to live with Opal and Josie for the time being.
The goats that gave birth (Gloria and Ebony did not) have been being milking successfully. Our other tradegy is that we lost Dotty. She was caught in the flexi-net and, in her struggle to get out, she broke her back. She had beautiful babies this year and they were both sold. We've only kept Fern's baby, who farm crew named Flea, this year. Nellie had twin boys that were sold and Rosie had one boy and one girl (Shecky and Sally). Sally is at Indian Brook for the summer, but will come home with me at the end. She had a rough start at life and my family adopted her. Shecky lives in Shrewsbury now -and seems to live like a prince!
The sheep had an abundance of lambs for us to sell and we are keeping two replacements this year. They are keeping up on lawn mowing in good fashion. We are using their fleece this year in some pretty amazing projects, including lots of knitting and felting. The campers have been using the flowers that Kristen planted to dye some of the wool and some of the results have been nothing short of stunning.
The gardens are producing an amazing abundance of delicious vegetables and the most amazing color palate that the eyes have had the pleasure of seeing. Kristen and the interns have done a fatastic job of planting, transplanting, weeding, seeding and harvesting. The gardens look amazing, not only the vegetable gardens, but the flower gardens as well. The campers are helping by keeping the weeds at bay, harvesting, and enjoying the food in their kitchens.
January 24, 2011
When I left my house this morning for chores it was -17'F. Cold. Things are going well on the farm, despite the layers of snow and ice. We have gotten the animals bred back so there will be plenty of babies in the later spring months. Unfortunately, Sapphire won't be joining the herd. She could not get pregnant due to some ovary issues, so she will be shipped in March. Everyone else seems to be doing great. Strawberry is dry and building up some colostrum for her calf and Henna and Rachel are down to once-a-day hand milking until about mid-February. Then they, too, will be dry to get ready for the birth of their calves. Melba, Solstice's daughter, is due in July with a calf and I am hoping that it is a heifer.
We have 10 ewes to lamb and 6 goats to give birth in late March/early April. The barn is going to be busting with babies. Halifax is snuggling with Sparky, and they are expecting in April as well!
The sugar lines have been upgraded and worked on and are in great shape for the first tap to go in on the first weekend in March- I just have to figure out how many bottles to order and get them here.
Kristen has been ordering seeds and checking them in on a regular basis as well as honing her spinning skills to teach our camp staff. She has been harvesting greens through out December. Last week, when we dug carrots for the board meeting, it was like digging for gold -- only tastier! She has ordered bees for next year, but we are both hopeful that one of our hives will make it through this winter. I find it really hard not to open the hive and check on them- it is sort of against my nature. We have been working on fine tuning some resources that we hope will be useful to the staff this year and we can't wait to show off the new set up.
Adam, Ben, and Beth have been working on repairing tools, making chicken coops, shoveling snow, building worm boxes and rabbit hutches and making cheese. We are starting to work on making soap with our milk, too. This Thursday, a woman is coming to help us untangle what we can of our weaving supplies and get that in order. Denise is coming to teach us about dying woool!
All in all, I think the winter has been very full and very successful!
July 28 2010
Clearly it is summer time, as I haven't been at my computer much! Things are moving along well, and for the first time in a few years, all the first cut hay is in well before August. The weather has been cooperative enough that it looks like in a couple more weeks we can start 2nd cut. This all means that we can purchase about 1/2 again the amout of hay we had to buy from off site last year.
The gardens are producing some wonderful foods for our kitchens, and everyone seems to be enjoying the fresh produce. I have had some great leftovers from the TF walkin (I don't make it to many meals). It is great to watch the campers, barns and gardens staff, and Kristen and farm crew coming from the different camps with their harvests and watch as it all gets divided up appropriately under Kristen's watchful eye. I don't have the total poundage yet, but look for that in the next update. The berry crop was pretty good this year. The Timberlake raspberries were out of control, although it seems like the birds may have enjoyed most of our blueberries...
The animals have been doing really well. The cows are producing about 90 gallons of milk for the camps, and it is gone as fast as I can make it; so far it is getting rave reviews. We did have the opportunity to let campers watch as Henna and Strawberry were treated by a vet with acupuncture for mastitis (udder infection) - and it worked, which was really great! The calves are all doing well and the campers love them. We have started breeding back cows for next year.
The sheep are clearing the fields for us and lambs are growing well. The goats are keeping the brush at bay. They are finally looking like big goats now, and it will be fun to have baby kids next year.
Halifax proved to be a super mom and has earned the "Pig of the Year" award in proper behavior, followed by her daughter Charlotte, and two sons, Russell and Mr. Rupert: they are very affectionate and love the belly scratches they have been getting from "their people."
The campers have all been making great things with farm products: cheese, ice cream, yogurt, jams, and pickles to name a few. Indian Brook has made some really fun felted things as well, and I have seen lots of knitting, too. The BDC campers have been making weekly appearances at Tamarack Farm and have been doing a lot of things with Kristen in the garden. I have given them a few tours of the dairy plant and introduced them to the animals here, as well. ( I even got to explain cows in heat to one group of 5-year-olds, which translated in their minds into that particular cow having a baby the next day!) And I believe everyone has enjoyed some time in the dairy barn hay loft - TL even had an overnight here! All in all, things are holding together pretty well around here.
May 6 2010-
Ok, well, spring arrived, then went away, then came back, and so it goes here in Vermont! We are expecting snow again on Mother's Day.
Things are moving quite rapidly these days. Lots of new things have happened on the farm.
First, Kristen MacDonald has started as the gardener. She comes to us from the Farm Institute in Martha's Vineyard and brings a ton of both garden and education experience. She came with her dog, Gracie, and lives on site. We have been working on getting her up to speed, and she seems to be enjoying herself so far! F&W's a big change in growing season and scale for her, but she seems to be adjusting to it all very well.
Our greenhouse is FULL of things, from ready to eat down to new little seedlings. We have been harvesting greens for at least a month now. Some leeks survived the winter, and the asparagus and rhubarb are up and ready for munching. The interns, Beth, Ben and Adam have been super busy as well, learning about birthing, pasture rotation, hand milking, bucket milking, bee hive building, and many other things. The gardens are getting turned, planted, and weeded. Carrots, peas, and spinach are in at all gardens and will be ready for the first round when campers arrive - and some will even be ready for staff during Skills Week.
Henna and Rachel have both calved. They are doing great. They both had heifer calves (girls), named Hibiscus and Rhubarb, so they are keepers! (Our dairy herd's growing by leaps and bounds!) They are thriving, and Indi Bjornsson is coming after school to start walking them so they can be as good on a halter as Strawberry's last year's calf, Sapphire. Strawberry is due again next week. Solstice, our nearly 20-year-old "grandma," is doing well and loves the new calves.
Halifax and the sheep have all given birth, and everyone is doing great. We ended up with 9 lambs and 5 piglets.
Hay fields are growing, and I am hoping that the weather cooperates enough to get most of first cut done before camp starts.
I pasteurized our first milk batch of the new season, and all went pretty well. The markets have been calling, asking when it will be available, so it will be nice to have it for them - and we should have plenty for camp, too, so bring your favorite ice cream recipe when you come!
Almost Spring...
Ok, so the spinach has sprouted and now has true leaves on it. Hurray! We can save some of our delicious farmhouse cheddar to eat with it. Amy and I were both surprised that it looked and tasted like cheese. We made everyone try some, and they all liked it, too. That means we can make chedder for Food Days at camp if we start it early enough. Very cool!
The greenhouse is all warm and toasty now, holding onto our precious little seedlings. We have started some onions and peppers, herbs and lettuces. You can tell which ones Cora and Mackenzie planted; they are in big clumps (but still growing well). My friends, Suzie and Maeve, came down to help plant the onions, and baby Maeve had her first encounter with animals. (Look for pictures in the Photo Gallery.) Mike helped Amy plant some of the other seeds. The greenhouse biotherm works well, thanks to Kyle. It is a pretty sight in there. I must admit, though, that I am not patient enough to be in there all the time; plant seedlings take forever to come up, and who knows what happens once you plant them? Magic, I swear!
Sugaring season has kept me fully occupied as well. Lots of beautiful syrup. It seems to be warming a bit quickly, so I hope the trees don't bud quite yet and ruin my good run. I haven't reached my gallon goal yet.
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 members 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 cheddar - 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.