Regenerative agriculture
Babes in Winter
Our barn is full of babies, from the 5 new litters of piglets, to the 38 chicks that hatched in our incubator, to the 3 litters of bunnies born unanticipated in the rabbit hutch. They all grow so fast! We were happy to share the baby love with several families with young children who were…
Read MoreHeritage resilience
You’ve gotta love our heritage Tamworth pigs! We have been creating new spaces this year in the barn for winter housing of our livestock. You may have seen our previous post “High and Dry,” where we moved the Tamworths up the hill in time for December’s heavy rain and snow. They are a fit and…
Read MoreWorkin’ in a Winter Wonderland
With most of our animals living comfortably in the barn these past weeks, we are enjoying a lighter work load. The garden, too, is at rest. We planted the last of the garlic just before Christmas, then covered those beds plus the remaining winter carrot beds and the fava beans with a thick blanket of…
Read MoreHigh and dry
With all the rain these days, we have been grateful for our sturdy barn. We’re giving our pastures a break during these heavy, wet rains. We’ve generally used our high tunnels for livestock during the winter. This year we had late squash and tomatoes still growing as the rains descended on us, and decided to…
Read MoreSweet!
As we move into fall our vegetables are putting everything they’ve got into making sure they can produce good seed to keep their DNA viable. The result? Extra sweetness and lots of volume. A case in point would be this Swiss chard we sold at the Wednesday Night Street Market last week. Or the Daikon…
Read MoreDon’t count your chickens
Do you remember the beautiful chicks that we incubated in April? Well, now they have become the young hens and roosters you see below. They are growing well, and enjoying a safe and happy, though perhaps boring, life in the barn. The hens will begin laying eggs in a couple more months. Unfortunately, that isn’t…
Read MoreRain and radiance
What a beautiful rain we enjoyed Friday night and Saturday! After 67 straight days of dry and sun (or something like that), it was a very welcome surprise to receive so much moisture. I hadn’t believed the weather reports about any significant rainfall, so it was especially delightful to hear the steady pattering of raindrops…
Read MoreIt’s piglet time!
Morning sunshine makes for tender moments. And many piglets make for playful activity! One more mama to go! How many babies to you think this sow is carrying?
Read MoreMulching for moisture
We are counting on straw this year as the answer to maintaining moisture and suppressing weeds. This morning I hopped out of bed at 4:30, highly motivated to cover our newly seeded beet, carrot, Hakurei turnip, pea, and arugula garden beds with a thick layer of straw. It was such a beautiful morning! Cool and…
Read MoreAn evening stroll
Yesterday Jacob and I were quite surprised as we arrived back home at twilight. Right in the driveway near the house was one of our sows busily grazing the edges of the driveway with a little mob of piglets all around her. She had busted through her pen in the hoophouse and made her way…
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