Blog

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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When it is so hot and so muggy that even the thought of thinking causes beads of perspiration to form and drip down your thoroughly disgusted brow – you know it’s the perfect time to go foraging for chanterelles!
Deep in the forest where the blazing sun can’t reach – and where it still smells like damp leaves and moss, emerges one of nature’s finest culinary gifts. Chanterelles thrive in this weather - weather that is so hot and humid that it makes the rest of us wilt.

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Merriam Webster dictionary defines a weed as “a plant that is not valued where it is growing.” Our sheep, pigs, and chickens would all unanimously agree that Bitter Dock is a weed that does not belong in their pasture. To them the only metric with which to measure something’s value is if that something is “edible” or “not edible.” To them if it’s not edible, it’s just taking up space. I understand their perspective – but personally, I don’t mind having Dock around. It thrives in soil that othe

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