Blog

Most skills in livestock farming are simply not transferable. What works with chickens won’t work with sheep and what works with pigs is likely a poor idea to try on the grandchildren.
For instance, we discovered years ago, that the best way to get a 500-pound sow out of a busy intersection (alive) is for one person to put an empty garbage can over her head, while the second person uses the tail to steer her as she backs her way across 4 lanes of traffic, trying in vain to extricate herself

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We have 200 knitters coming to our event this weekend, which has far exceeded our expectations! We modestly set out to break last year’s record of 47 knitters and to hold onto our undisputed world title of “The Most People Knitting in The Company of Sheep.” Morehouse Farm in the Catskills is holding a similar event in October with the express purpose of taking away our title. Ha! Good luck with that!
There is something very endearing about creating a tongue in cheek competition between rival

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Four years ago, we planted 100 hazelnut trees and this week we found our very first nut. Oh, Happy Day! The shrublike trees make up the backbone of a hedge we’ve been cultivating along our property line. A densely packed row of conifers will provide us with a year-round visual barrier (and Christmas trees), alongside which we planted the two rows of hazelnuts interspersed with ground hugging comfrey and herbs for teas. “Deer be willing”, we will soon be able to harvest nuts for our own use,

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When my mom was growing up on Mountain Spring, it was a small dirt road named Cedar Street. At that time, there were only five families living on the road. She knew everyone that lived there, and nothing much ever changed. Over the years, younger generations built on their family’s land, but nobody “new” moved in.

When I was growing up on the road, there were a whole lot more families, and a lot more houses but you still knew everyone. If someone moved out, it was news, a

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Whenever one of our pigs touches the electric fence, and lets out an impressive heart rendering squeal, Anne and I, in perfect unison, loudly proclaim “fence works!” Our friends look at us in horror, and I guess it probably does seem a bit callous, but anyone who has spent an afternoon trying to retrieve a wayward pig understands our enthusiasm. A little zap on the nose seems like a very small price to pay, to remind the little wanderers which side of the fence is theirs.

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I was thinking, that if I was ever told I only had one hour to live, but I could spend it doing anything I wanted, I'd choose stacking 300 bales of hay in our hay loft, on a 97 degree day – because that hour would last an eternity.
Normally we wait until the weather turns cooler to get the hay in, but we were worried that the price is going to skyrocket again this year, so we went ahead and ordered it. It was delivered, of course, on what turned out to be one of the hottest days of the year.

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We've been busy harvesting, bundling and drying herbs for our tea making endeavors. Technically though, since none of the ingredients are from an actual “tea” plant, what we make are “tisanes,” not teas. We've spent the last few years tweaking our custom blends, test driving them, and tweaking some more. I think this may be the year we send them out into the world to see how they are received, and ultimately, offer them for sale. Stay tuned!
Our oyster mushroom logs have been fruiting

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Oh me of little faith! We picked up our “Connecticut Blankets” on Sunday, the ones that I thought would never get woven. It took 18 months for something that usually only takes 6 – but like everything else, if you just add a year for COVID, then it's all pretty much on schedule.
We ear tagged all the new lambs this week. I don't like doing it, but the lambs don't seem to mind. The tag gets punched through their ear not unlike humans getting an ear pierced. It's a federal law that all sheep in

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I still haven't figured out what defines intelligence, but I hear it all the time - pigs are smart, sheep are stupid. Maybe, but what about humans? What use is our superior intelligence when you consider how pathetic we are at birth. Lambs can stand within a few minutes of being born, within 15 minutes they can keep up with their flock - and they know enough to stay close.

Human toddlers, on the other hand, do such self-destructive things that it's kind of hard to see how our

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With farm stands hitting their summer stride, we have once again started picking up left over vegetables. Items too old, or blemished, to sell, and that would otherwise get thrown out, are put to good use by our animals. It's not a money saving venture as it takes a fair amount of time and energy to go pick up a truck load, but it reduces local food waste (approximately 9 tons a year!) and I have to believe it's better for the animals to be eating a nutrient dense and varied diet.
During the

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