Blog

When I head out to the barn each morning, I can’t help but take in the view from our ridgetop home. Farmington is blessed with so many trees that most of its houses are hidden under a canopy of leaves, so when I scan the valley, there is very little evidence of human “civilization.” That suits me just fine! The view is timeless, the feeling is tranquil, and I cherish the early morning solitude.
Once the weather turns cold though, there is always one sign of life that never fails to make me

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When we were kids, we were surrounded by aunts and uncles and 150 acres of pastures, old growth forest and a pond. The massive 200-year-old hemlock trees that dwelled in the forest, created a closed canopy and very little light ever reached the ground. There wasn’t much underbrush except for spring ephemerals, ferns and the occasional grape vine which somehow found its way up and through to the daylight above. The vines were as thick as a horse’s mane and if we held on

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Yes, the warm weather has been lovely, and the foliage was gorgeous - but we really need some rain! Lots and lots of gentle rain.
From the ridge we can see smoke from brushfires, some of which have been burning for days. And below the ridge, the brook which flows alongside our pasture is completely dry. We moved the sheep to a lower field which for now has a watering hole, but without rain, it’s just a matter of days before that dries up as well.
For years we’ve

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As the days become shorter, trees (like the rest of us) prepare for winter. They begin to seal off the veins that transport nutrients to and from the leaves. Like battening down the hatch on a submarine, they cut the leaves off from the rest of the tree. If they didn’t, the moisture in the leaves would freeze and leave the tree vulnerable to injury.
The leaves have pigmented enzymes which help the tree turn sunshine into sugar - a process known as photosynthesis. The green color of leaves comes

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Nothing draws people to our farmers’ market booth like a table filled with orange and yellow edible mushrooms. The brightly colored “Chicken of the Woods” fungi stops people in their tracks, and most can’t resist coming up and asking what it is. Some want to know “How do I know it’s not poisonous?” I explain that killing our customers is a very poor business model, so we only sell items we are quite sure are okay. It’s a conversation starter and even if I can’t convince them that not all

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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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