Any small farmer or food enthusiast could tell you that a food revolution is happening, but until a few days ago, its force was still an undertow–you could feel it but it seemed invisible compared to the world of conventional agriculture. The waters are quickly changing, however, and with the force of Oprah now behind […]
Stories from the Farm
Doodle’s Piglets
December 29, 2009 – 5:56 pm
Yes, it may seem as if we are only pig farmers if you read this blog lately. We promise to share other farm stories, but it is true that with 3 sows farrowing in November and December, the pigs are quite prominent. Santa came early and Doodle delivered her piglets on Monday, Dec 21st, right […]
Winter has Arrived!
December 17, 2009 – 8:01 am
It was slow in coming (lucky for us ‘just in time’ farmers), but winter has arrived in full force. In the span of 10 days we will have 10 inches of snow, wind, sleet and sub-zero temperatures. When it first arrived 10 days ago, we weren’t really ready, but now Winter can come. All of […]
Piglet Update
December 9, 2009 – 8:17 pm
We have 11 happy piglets from 2 litters (Fife Nov 9 & Madison Nov 22). Most notable characteristics — their rapid growth and fast speed. They all are getting to be quite substantial. No more worries about them being too cold as they are growing well, have moved into the hoop house, and now sleep […]
Giving Thanks
November 26, 2009 – 7:48 pm
We try to hold gratitude as part of our daily life, but certainly holidays in general and especially Thanksgiving, remind us to take a step back and consider how fortunate we are. This Thanksgiving, we find ourselves thankful for many new things in addition to good health, lovely friends and supportive family. We get to […]
Here’s to Risks
November 20, 2009 – 10:22 pm
This evening Laura and I had a somber and somewhat soggy toast with dinner. “Here’s to Risks”. We were honoring little Risk-the-Runt who didn’t beat the 50/50 odds the books gave him. We were also celebrating risk-taking. Not the kind of risk that invites danger. We don’t think we caused the little guy acute suffering […]
Thanks to the Turkeys
November 18, 2009 – 10:53 pm
People warned us that turkeys are mean and unpleasant, but ours have been a joy. In fact, they are some of the lowest maintenance animals on our farm. They do love to eat, but mostly they wait patiently for their turn, though they do mob you for food some days. And they didn’t even complain […]
Risk, the Runt
November 15, 2009 – 9:28 pm
Risk seemed like an appropriate name for our littlest, runty piglet as we took him away from his six rambunctious siblings and Fife this morning. Risk is 1/3 the size of the others, if that, and now that Fife’s other 6 piglets are scampering about, wrestling and chewing on each other, the runt was getting […]
Fife and Her Piglets Bring Joy
November 14, 2009 – 1:03 pm
It is amazing how quickly the piglets grow. Don’t get me wrong, they are still very small, but it is amazing that in less than 5 days we can really see a difference. They seem less fragile now, which lets us farmers sleep a little easier on a 20 degree night and they are very […]
Mis en Place*
November 10, 2009 – 11:16 pm
Fife, just 24 hours into motherhood, grunted to urge back the wandering piglet. Simultaneously she used her snout to toss some straw into the corner of her farrowing hut, where the pile of straw combined with heat lamps keep the squiggly bunch of eight piglets warm. We farmers worry if it is warm enough but […]