Stories from the Farm

Spam, Sperm and feedback loops

Seth Godin, a vibrant thinker on marketing, says that if your e-newsletter would not be missed by members of your audience, then it is spam! What do you appreciate about what we share weekly with you from our farm? What would you miss if it went away? What do you want more of? As we […]

Above and Beyond

While our snowfalls haven’t been worthy of news, the farm is a winter wonderland. The deep snowpack has a lovely layer of powder on top. Persistent cold temps have made extra hay and straw bedding necessary. (Working digestive tracks are the ruminants’ internal furnaces). Who remembers the scene in the Laura Ingalls Wilder book (not […]

Hands-On Enthusiasm

It seems fitting that in this week that our farm and neighborhood received the news that Roy Butler had passed away, we were caught up in a great, hands-on, learning adventure. We hosted thought leaders and had intimate meals and conversations. We trundled off to Montpelier and Hardwick, to Royal Butcher, Mountain Deer Taxidermy and […]

Food, Farms & Community

Close your eyes and remember a matriarch or provider in your family. Can you see the proud and satiated smile of someone who has provided a feast for their loved ones? Sharing the farm has created some of that satisfaction this week as the Williams College Winter Study class piled out of the van, and […]

Learning as We Go

Happy New Year! We appreciate the rituals of reflection and goal setting that often accompany the calendar reset and resolve to keep using this weekly format of stories from the farm to keep you, our farm community, connected with this place, this wild experiment in mundane acts of growing food that is good for you […]

When Millimeters Matter

What thrilling and tough weeks! We sent an abbreviated newsletter last week as we were without power, running what we could on the barn’s generator. We figured many of you were also out of power – some for more than a week. Yikes. We were relieved to get power back in time to host the […]

Flannel Friday & Cider Monday

Over the river and through the woods… Thanksgiving feasts took many of us to loved ones and in this busy blur of modern life just having time to be together is a special treat. We loved seeing some of the season’s best go off to your feasts, especially those birds. Our Thanksgiving market was lively […]

Giving Thanks…

We love our turkeys. And this year’s group came to us amidst the weasel troubles. We bonded more than normal via extra nightly visits, timed to be there at just the right light to close them all in the horse trailer and early morning releases onto their pasture. As a result they are even more […]

Brrr! Now that is wintery!

Ok, yes, we could be considered a bit weather obsessed.  We all check the weather multiple times a day, have our various favorite info sources for different bits and are ALWAYS wishing we could just see what was coming a bit further ahead.  Alas, the life of input-junkie farmers with a diverse portfolio to coordinate […]

Ag Literacy* – One Slice of Life at a time

Around the country the education pendulum is swinging back toward our amber waves of grain. For too long learning about agriculture  was siloed, sequestered to the few students actually desiring to pursue agricultural careers. Canada and many of our states now celebrate an agricultural literacy week to encourage more dialogue. Vermont’s Agency of Agriculture, NOFA/VT […]