Regenerative agriculture
An evening stroll
Yesterday Jacob and I were quite surprised as we arrived back home at twilight. Right in the driveway near the house was one of our sows busily grazing the edges of the driveway with a little mob of piglets all around her. She had busted through her pen in the hoophouse and made her way…
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 MoreAbundance
Last night the 48 chicks in our incubator started hatching. By morning we had about 30, and by early afternoon 40 had hatched! I am very pleased. As you can see, the diversity of chicks from our hens is strong, and they are very healthy and content. While I was tending the chicks this morning,…
Read MoreNeighbors inspiring neighbors – Rosalie Kaune
We hope with this recognition to mark the anniversary of each month of the pandemic by highlighting a member of our local farm community whose sense of community and agri-culture and sustainability can point the way for all of us and reawaken our own commitments. We want to keep fresh the experiences of the early pandemic reality,…
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 MoreMuch is incubating these days
This has been a busy time of incubation at Wild Edge Farm. In addition to the 48 chicks we are hatching in our incubator, the fertile soil in the market garden has been building tilth and microbes all winter, and is now ready to generate a season worth of healthy plants. With many winter hours…
Read MoreNeighbors inspiring neighbors – Taz Love
We hope with this recognition to keep fresh the experiences of the past twelve months of pandemic reality, and the fragility that we feel when food security, health and safety are of real concern. We want to hold onto the resilience and connectedness and community that were created through these experiences, and the bonds that…
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 MoreRebecca Jeans Morel
Rebecca comes from a litter of 14 piglets. Unfortunately, the first 10 of Rebecca’s siblings were stillborn because of a uterine torsion prior to birthing. Consequently, the sow’s milk production, which had been readying itself for a large litter, virtually shut down, and the mother pig forgot that she had piglets to care for. Within…
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…
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