Spring has Sprung!

Some photos of Spring!

Annual sheep shearing with Sally's sheepdog keeping the crew in check!







Asa enjoying some Sugar on Snow (with a pickle) at a sugarhouse in Huntington, Vermont.








Seeded Transplants are up in the greenhouse and ready for the field hoophouse.

How to get a "G" home

Picked up an Allis Chalmers "G" cultivating tractor today in Brookfield, Vermont.  I bought it in the fall from an old dairy farmer who runs a sizeable dairy operation (look at his JD corn harvester).  He saw it on a trip in the southern states and had to have it.  That was about 4 years ago and he found that he doesn't use it much anymore.

So after dropping off 15 lambs this morning for slaughter, I headed with the livestock trailer to pick up the "G".  I was taking a chance on whether it would fit in the livestock trailer, but I remember it having the wheels on the narrowest setting.  It was a squeeze, but it fit in just fine and was easier to fasten down than on a flat bed trailer.

This "G" might be going to a vegetable farmer in Burlington who has been on the lookout for one.  Its gone already!

Early Spring!

We have had some beautiful weather this last week...40s, 50s and 60s for the weekend.  Lots going on around the farm.  The laying hens are roaming on the vegetable fields adjacent to the hoophouse, they are going crazy for the worms and greens.  Lots of planting going on in the hoophouses, put in some early potatoes today.  Spinach is taking off in the hoophouses, as is the fall garlic planting.  Many seeds being planted in the greenhouse for future transplants.  

The pigs are enjoying the sunshine lolling around their round bales of hay and digging deep for worms.  Mostly they just sleep in the warm sunshine.

Don't know how long this will last....but its nice while its here!

Beer or Eggs

When I gave a workshop at the Vermont NOFA Winter Conference on our winter production of eggs and mentioned what we sell a dozen eggs for, quite a few folks gasped at the price ($5.00 a doz at the Farmers Markets). They said they could never sell eggs from their farms for that price. I suggested they ask their customers what they pay for a 6 or 12 pack of beer (it will likely be more than a dozen local eggs). Then point out to the customer all of the things they can use those eggs for: baking, scramble, sunnyside up, poached, hard boil, egg salad sandwich, pound cake, omelet, pancakes, waffles, deviled eggs....

Those local eggs are better for you than beer, and you don't need to show ID to purchase them!

For more egg related info from our farm, check out a recent Burlington Free Press article about our winter egg production.

Cheers!