FARM TOUR: AUGUST EDITION.

Wendell in August.

Trying to take an honest and simple farm tour video every couple months so you can see how the farm is progressing (or sometimes regressing). Watch it HERE. Anyhow, hope you enjoy! Like Wendell..

-Farmer Jesse     

LONG OVERDUE UPDATE.

It has been quite a spring, and this poor space has been so neglected. We apologize for that! We are making it a priority to start finding the time to post here – social media makes it easy to fire off quick photos and captions, but we miss our little blog community!So, here is a very brief update of our past month or so, to catch you up:We put up two high tunnels, thanks to an NRCS grant and the fine folks at Grow Appalachia. The tunnels were immediately filled with plants overflowing from our tiny greenhouse: cherry tomatoes, sweet peppers, basil, cucumbers, and squash. We also installed drip tape irrigation in the tunnels – a VERY new experience for us as we have never really used any type of irrigation before, other than praying for rain! We are still getting the hang of it, but everything in the tunnels looks great!We now have SHEEP! We took a trip back down to Bugtussle to visit with our old neighbors, and while we were there we picked up seven Katahdin sheep. Their main job is to help us control the 6+ acres of pasture that we are definitely not going to mow. We have loved having them around and also loved that they are already trained to a rotational grazing system and an electric fence!The CSA started and the season has been going great so far. We are enjoying getting to know the new members and, although we miss the social aspect of the farmers market, we spend so much less time doing the deliveries and one of us is able to stay at the farm while the other does the drop-offs.We also have DUCKS! This is a very recent addition and also a long story, in need of its own post, but they are a fun new chore to add to the list and our counters are already overflowing with delicious eggs.Well! That is what we have been up to! We miss you, blog friends, and hope to be more regularly visiting this space! Happy summer!– Hannah.

SHEEP SHEARING.

On Thursday, we helped Cher shear her Shetlands (tongue twister!) Jesse and I still have a dream of our own wool sheep, so it was fun to get some experience. The kids gathered around while they took breaks from hunting for fiddlehead ferns and morels. It was a long day filled with sore backs, but a day spent with the Bugtussle family is a day well spent.- Hannah.

ANIMALS LATELY.

We have been visiting lots of farming friends lately, and these kind of visits always leave us inspired, challenged, and most of all - lusting after all the amazing animals. Jesse and I have tried hard to be patient - we really have. All last year we avoided Craigslist as much as possible, trying to resist all the "free to a good home" donkeys and goats. We almost broke down many times for random creatures for sale - but we were strong! In the fall, when we found ourselves financially able to purchase the little farm animals we were dreaming of, we bought a solar charger and fencing instead! So now, with the infrastructure, and because of the patience, we are starting to actually feel ready.We are still in the lovely winter stages of planning - drawing up diagrams for the garden, ordering seeds, carving out a vision for the year - but all these recent trips have really got us itching for our own little barnyard critters. Here are some of what we're longing for this year (from our visits to River Cottage Farm and Hill and Hollow). Like I said - WE ARE STILL PLANNING - but those littlest of piggies might be coming home with us sometime soon.- Hannah.