A Farmers Education
All of us are always learning. It's a part of life. But on occasion we are given an opportunity to truly educate ourselves. In the past two months I was given four unique opportunities from customers and visitors. to learn something new, and expand my knowledge on topics I new a little about already. My first customer had questions about soy and corn as feed for our livestock. Specifically our chickens that are raised for eggs and our broilers. I had heard about alternative feeds but never looked into it solely because of the price. However, when a customer asks, [...]
Berry Happy Kids
Since Nick and I bought our house back in 2019 we have been so busy haying, fencing, and all around farming somethings have gotten pushed to the back burner. One of those is keeping up with our lawn. Once the grass gets about 6 inches, so maybe once a month, the weed whacker and lawnmower get used. But from the lack of mowing we have an incredibly diverse ecosystem. An ecosystem that is more entertaining and educational then any grass lawn. Our children are learning how to forage. Every season there is a new crop to reap that we didn't [...]
Shearing
On the farm there are many different occasions to look forward to. Some come around more frequently than others, but shearing day is only once a year on our farm. This past year we had our shearer, Gwen, come on March 7th. She comes in the morning with her Icelandic sheep dog and her special clippers to shear our sheep. As an experienced shearer it takes her less than 10 minutes to shear one of our ewes. The morning before shearing the sheep all get locked in the barn for three main reasons: 1) We don't want the sheep to [...]
The Dog
Every farm has a dog. I can't think of a single farm, big or little, that doesn't have a dog. Farms and dogs just go together like bees and honey. If you come up our driveway there is a very good chance that you'll be greeted by a black and white rocket running straight for your vehicle tail raised and wagging while barking the entire time to let us humans know someone is here! JD will be circling your vehicle as you slowly creep up the driveway and will very impatiently wait for you to park so he can get [...]
T’is the Season for Frozen Buckets
T'is the Season for... water through heaters? Yup, the water buckets are staying frozen through out the day so its time to bring out the water heaters. The horses appreciate theirs, and to most peoples surprise Priscilla doesn't play with hers or bother it at all. However, those Sheep, my fickle flock, they don't seem to care for it at all. As soon as the snow falls they are more than happy to "graze snow" then drink from a clean trough with tepid water. I've tried various water heaters and checked to make sure they weren't getting zapped by a [...]
October Mud
October has been a wet month for us. If it wasn't for the vibrant colors of the leaves I would say it feels more like April with the amount of rain we've been getting. As much as the soil is craving the moisture it has caused quite a mess in the dooryard where the animal congregate. Although it is thick and gooey, the horses and sheep don't seem to mind too much. They're content to schlep through the muck to the round bale, and back into the barn to nap, or go up the hill to the woods where its [...]