Browse by Tag: farmwork

Thank You R.A.T.S.

“R.A.T.S. is in!! Let’s roll.” Laura finished reading the email from her phone at farmer lunch. It’s opening line “The human and canine members of R.A.T.S. hereby accept your wonderful invitation to visit Vermont” along with the subsequent promise to bring “dogs, our patented rat smoker, and a truck load of enthusiasm” had prompted gut-felt […]

Bubblicious

Nope, not the gum.  But our hoophouses are once again quite bubblicious, meaning that enough snow, ice and grapple have been freed from the outer plastic to allow the air to flow once again between the 2 layers of plastic and create a protective bubble of air that helps snow slide and not build up. […]

Coming Together

As if operating on an off-kilt calendar there they came… over the river and through the woods! Cousin Kelsey reached out and next thing you knew more relatives from near and far wanted to gather and there we were twelve members of our extended family grateful for each other and our meal. It is a […]

Learning Curve

On Monday afternoon as I finished an easy move of our small gaggle of new pullets, I was struck by how much they had learned in the 10 days they had been on the farm.  It may seem strange to talk about chickens learning, after all many consider them not the brightest bulbs in the […]

Getting Turkeys to Boston…or not

Abundant harvests of this warm early fall are bringing glorious orange, reds, yellows and greens to the farmstand, foreshadowing Vermont’s famous foliage! Remembering that vibrancy and intensity of color, like taste, are indicators of nutrient density, we are thrilled not only to offer these delicacies to our community but also to have such spectacular indicators […]

Coyotes, Cancellations, Culvert + Compressor = the Terrible Cs!

Listen to the spectacularly haunting chorus for yourself! I sat straight up in bed, alerted Laura (who has “activator” on her top 5 list of strengths). She and Uno were out the door in seconds. Validating our sense that the coyote were VERY close, the calls ended abruptly with the lights switching on and click […]

Appreciating Neighbors

Neighbor and community are two words which show up frequently in our weekly farm blog. When it comes to community supported agriculture it isn’t all about a “CSA” or “farm share”.  And as we go back through the week-by-week accounts the community support from our neighbors is a consistent weave — the threads varied and […]

Ode to January

Oh, January how I love thee.  A brand new year and the demands of the growing season seem so far away!  So many possibilities for house projects, cooking experiments, rest, relaxation..oh and of course that backlog of important personal, administrative, and planning projects that have been pushed aside for more urgent demands.  Oh, how I […]

Canning in Bulk!

Really that should be harvesting, canning, dehydrating and freezing in bulk!  August and September are busy months.  Not only are we still tending all the livestock and crops in the field, but harvesting them in earnest and then turning some portion of that into delightful options for the colder months ahead.  Some days veggies will […]

Now That is a Village!

The Floating Bridge opening and celebration was amazing!       As we arrived in Hippo Park, Sandy Schmitt, VTrans Bridge engineer and Brookfield resident was scooting around with a wheel barrow tidying up final bits, green volunteer shirted folks and balloon arches were visible and the air was full of excitement and a good dose […]