Stories from the Farm

Harvest Supper with Singer-Songwriter Melissa Crabtree, Saturday Oct 20th

  Singer-songwriter, Melissa Crabtree plays her combination of Folk,Americana, and Country laced with themes of nature with special guest Jane Karras 7pm Saturday, October 20, 2012 in the barn at the Farm. Mari and Melissa trained and ski raced together in their early days.  We are thrilled to welcome her back to Vermont as our guest and look […]

Predators Strike!

We struggle to keep our animals comfortable and thriving. They grow well. It is humane and just. But every once in a while our systems and efforts fail and the safety of our livestock is breached, to serve the comfort and thriving populations of wild animals who neighbor and share the farm. Sunday chores for […]

Beets, Bucks & Buses

It seems that this week the farm was sponsored by the letter B.   Root vegetable harvesting has been notable and a very large Beet harvest was a part of that.Chioggia Beets (yes the stripey ones) and Dark Red Beets and lots of them.  The team washed, sorted, dried and bagged them all for your […]

Fall brings…

Fall and the flu arrived on the farm this week.  Fortunately not all the  farmers were impacted and the animals and plants are still thriving And the sick ones got some enforced rest.  Meanwhile some reinforcements kept the canning, weeding, harvest and fencebuilding going.  The 2nd phase of last summer’s fencing project is just about […]

Kickstarting Compost

At the end of a long day of processing chickens the farm team split in two directions. Inside the walk-in fridge long rubber gloves eased plump Freedom Rangers and schmaltzy stewing hens from the ice water chill to be dried off and bagged. These chickens were beautiful on pasture. And they are about to be […]

Farming that is good for All of us

Nicholas Kristof focused his Sunday New York Times column on our food choices this week, Where Cows are Happy and Food is Healthy.  He does an excellent job of depicting the options we all have.  His example is an organic cow dairy in Oregon, but the values hold true on our farm too.  Kristof ends his piece noting, […]

Appreciating Carrie

  Carrie arrives quietly on Thursdays, checks in at the chore board and begins chipping away ensuring all have fresh water and good eats.  This can mean moving fence for fresh pasture and browse as well as lugging grain bags, hay and water.  Next, typically, is milking the does, replete with all the intimacy appertaining […]

Food as Medicine

Between mega batches of salsa and pickles and large harvests Lauren and Mari slipped away for a wonderfully geeky workshop. Jack and Anne Lazor have been operating Butterworks Farm, a dairy farm in the Northeast Kingdom since 1979, and proudly opened their farm for roughly 250 farmers seeking to learn more about forage crops, nutrient-dense […]

We Eat Local because We Can!

As steam rises from the canning pots a satisfying assemblage of jars fills the counter. Like other endurance sports, canning is a bit addictive. And in late August the canning pots, like farmers, get little rest. Batches are getting bigger and we are getting faster. A few days into canning season we’ve already preserved 20 […]

The Farm in Numbers

It is August, which means it is a busy time on the farm. Just this week, the 5 farmers (and a few helpers): Harvested over 659 lbs of Green Beans, Broccoli, Tomatoes, Peppers, Onions, Cucumbers, Cabbage, Carrots, Beets and ……many other bits! Blanched, Packaged & Froze 79 lbs of Green Beans and Broccoli Canned 39 […]