Nutrient cycling
Fertilizer spreaders …
as well as pest and weed control. Our chickens and rabbits are on the job! As the spring rains mix with sun, and the soils slowly warm up, we have been starting seedlings in the nursery and readying our garden plots for early season planting. This year we have enlisted the help of our rabbits…
Read MoreHigh and dry
With all the rain these days, we have been grateful for our sturdy barn. We’re giving our pastures a break during these heavy, wet rains. We’ve generally used our high tunnels for livestock during the winter. This year we had late squash and tomatoes still growing as the rains descended on us, and decided to…
Read MoreSweet!
As we move into fall our vegetables are putting everything they’ve got into making sure they can produce good seed to keep their DNA viable. The result? Extra sweetness and lots of volume. A case in point would be this Swiss chard we sold at the Wednesday Night Street Market last week. Or the Daikon…
Read MoreDon’t count your chickens
Do you remember the beautiful chicks that we incubated in April? Well, now they have become the young hens and roosters you see below. They are growing well, and enjoying a safe and happy, though perhaps boring, life in the barn. The hens will begin laying eggs in a couple more months. Unfortunately, that isn’t…
Read MoreHelpers
I’ll bet you wish you had helpers like these to mow your yard and improve your grasses! With the mix of sunshine and rain that we have been enjoying this month, the grasses in our pastures are shoulder high. We are grateful when we can count on our animals to eat it down. Here at…
Read MoreHog heaven
We have been letting our animals out to graze this week as the Earth warms and the rains slow. When the soil gets a chance to dry a bit it lowers the risk of compaction to the soil or damage to the grasses. We are as eager as the hogs and cattle. It brings such…
Read MoreA farmer’s bread and butter
Or, In PRAISE of Poop. Call me crazy, but in my second half century of life I find I need to transform the way I look at a lot of things. A good case in point would be waste. One of Jim’s favorite things to do on a farm tour is to grab up a…
Read MoreWorking toward next year’s harvest
‘Tis the season for the shortening of days as the nights grow cold with frost and freezes. Did you see the “cold moon” rise on Tuesday? Beautiful. When it’s not raining we continue to tackle the weeds, and rake up the maple leaves or lay straw to mulch the garden. Our hens are a great…
Read MorePork choice and choice pork
Pastured, regeneratively raised Tamworth hogs. These pigs are grazers first, rooters after. When we send them out to graze for an hour or so, they get right after the grasses and clover. Then, when it’s time these “Pastored” Tamworth hogs return to their winter pen in the hoop house.
Read MorePutting up hay for winter
Adolphsen’s Farm had some good hay and straw bales available this summer. Combine that with Jim getting the conveyor belt working in the barn, and we were able to put away an ample supply for winter — a chore that required plenty of teamwork.
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