Hosting a Pastured Poultry Workshop

Christa and I hosted a pasture walk workshop on our pastured poultry operation. We also walked around and showed folks, the pasture-raised pigs, lamb, laying hens, and vegetable operation. We had over 40 folks show up from all over the state.

Jenn Colby of the University of Vermont Center for Sustainable Agriculture, did all the hard work of putting anouncements and flyers together, and providing some great snacks on a hot and humid evening. The center and the Womens Agriculture Network hosted this pasture walk.

Those assembled got to see our outdoor setup and chick barns for raising birds on pasture for the first 2 weeks, then our day range system of letting the birds roam free instead of keeping them in pasture pens. At 8 and 9 weeks we process the birds. Our pasture-raised chickens come packaged with great flavor!

We had been to many of these great pasture walks in the past and came away with a lot of new ideas. It was great to be able to return the favor to the Vermont farming community. I hope they learned something useful.

Vermont Heating Fuel

Asa sits on a 2 cord pile of green firewood delivered by Clifford Lumber in Hinesburg, Vermont. This pile will be stacked to air dry, then unstacked during the winter and put into the woodstove to keep us warm. We go through 3 to 4 cords of wood during the winter. We also have backup heat from an oil furnace that also heats water, but the woodstove is the primary heater of the house.

Nothing like homegrown fuel to keep you warm on those cold winter chore days!