Blog

As autumn approaches, our chickens start slowing down for the winter. The pineal gland behind their eyes registers the change in daylight length, and they lay fewer and fewer eggs as their circadian rhythm attempts to prevent them from raising baby chicks in the winter. By March, when the hens’ glands register that there is once again enough daylight, they begin to lay again. Putting a light on in their coop which mimics 14-16 hours of daylight, helps fool their natural rhythm and encourages th

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For Connecticut hay farmers, there are usually two cuttings each summer. The “first cutting” takes place at the beginning of June, after the orchard grass forms seed heads - but before the heads begin to open. During that so called “boot stage,” the grass is at its peak nutritional value, and once the seeds begin to disperse, the palatability of the hay begins to drop. The problem with such a narrow window is, like everything else in farming, the weather. You need at least 3 days of dry weather

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This time of year, we catch the sunrise while doing morning chores and the sunset during afternoon chores. It’s a bit like having a pair of bucolic bookends at either end of our day.
The adage “red sky at night sailor’s delight, red sky in the morning sailors take warning,” often comes to mind. The original version of that saying refers to shepherds not sailors. “Red sky at night shepherd’s delight, red sky in the morning shepherds take warning”
During the day, the sun’s rays, which include al

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When Planet Earth was young, it was hit by something (something big!) which knocked it off its polar axis. Because of that collision, and the ensuing tilt, we have seasons - and it’s also widely believed that the debris from that collision eventually became our beloved moon.
The earth spins on its axis, one revolution every 24 hours, and that gives us night and day. But at the same time, Earth is also orbiting the sun. That off kilter rotation, which takes 365.24 days to complete, changes the a

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I think if I were a pig, this just might be my favorite month of the year. My biggest worry, come September, is the tough decision of where best to take an afternoon nap.
Would it be better to lay beneath the oak tree and wait for the sound of an acorn hitting the ground? Acorns are so delish! Or maybe, I’d be better off by the shagbark hickory on the other side of the pasture. No, the hickory tree doesn’t offer as much shade as the oak, and the nut is much harder to crack. I’d stick with the

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A couple years ago, we bought hay from a farmer whose family has been farming the same land for a hundred and fifty years or so. He said jokingly “I have come to the realization that I’m not a farmer anymore, technically, I’m now a pet food manufacturer. You are the only one buying my hay for livestock - everyone else is either feeding pet goats or rescue ponies.” I knew he was making light of it, and I laughed, but even so it tapped into a sadness that just won’t quit. I can’t quite shake the

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A few months ago, I was heading out to the barn to collect eggs with my 5-year-old grandson and the pigs were actively engaged in “the process of conceiving piglets”. (Like seriously, they were very active and very engaged.) My grandson asked me what they were doing, and without hesitation I said, “they’re making piglets”.
“Really?” he asked, thinking I might be kidding.
“Yes, that’s how they do it.”
He watched for a couple minutes, asked his dad a couple questions - then we collected eggs and

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Most livestock farmers I know see things differently than me, and when it comes to politics, we’d probably never agree, but I feel completely at home with their hard-working pragmatism, and an affinity with their nature-based authenticity. I’ve also never known a group so quick to come to someone’s aid.
The first time I had a ewe with a prolapsed uterus, I had no idea what was going on other than there were organs outside her body that I knew should not have been hanging there. I called a woman

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When I was in my twenties a scuba diving accident landed me in the hospital for ten days. I was living in California, and though I didn’t have any family nearby I had a lot of friends. They all rallied around and visited me often and while most of them made a concerted effort to cheer me up, what I remember best was my friend Jules. She was taking an art class at a local community college and would stop by in between work and school. I’d wake up and see her sitting in the chair sketching. I’d

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Silvopasture is the deliberate combination of trees, pasture, and grazing animals. In our pastures we strive to have an abundance of trees to provide plenty of shade for our animals but enough sunshine to have grass under every tree. The USDA now recognizes the value of silvopasture in large part because its carbon sequestering abilities are greater than the sum of its parts. A pasture with trees can sequester more carbon than either the same pasture without trees or the same trees without a

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