January Thaw!

Let me tell you about the wind! It howls around these parts when the weather warms up. We had our "January Thaw" and 3 ft of snow disappeared in a few days. Of course the warm southerly winds made a mess of things to.

When I drove up to our leased farm to feed the cattle, I noticed something didn't look quite right down the pasture road. So I drove down aways and there was our egg mobile turned upside down! Luckily the laying hens are on the home farm in the hoophouse for the winter.

I get to add another item to the list of things to do on the farm this spring!

Winter feeding of our beef herd

Winter feeding
Originally uploaded by Jericho Settlers Farm

Guess what our cattle eat in the winter time?

Hay, minerals and water.

Here is a photo of some of the calves from this summer bellying up to the bale. This was during early January with nearly 3 feet of snow on the ground!

Hoophouses in Winter

Hoophouses in Winter
Originally uploaded by Jericho Settlers Farm

We received around 2 1/2 feet of snow in early January, on top of another earlier foot of snow. As you can see the two field hoophouses are fairly well covered. We shovel snow from the sides and knock off snow from the roof so we can get some light for the greens growing inside. Our Winter CSA members got some great sweet spinach in the mid January Share!

New Hoophouse

We finally finished putting up a large 30ft wide by 140ft long hoophouse for the winter laying flock of 800 layers. They have been out on pasture until now. The will spend the winter roaming around in the hoophouse adding fertility for next springs vegetable crops.

Thanks to Charlie, Matt and Steve for putting in the groundposts.

Thanks to Adam and Matt our trusty farm hands for building the house and for braving the winds while putting the plastic on!

Thanks to Ed Persons of Ledgewood Farm for making incredible hoophouse frames and providing excellent service!

Happy Birthday Hazel & Christa

How Vermont Farmers prepare for having a baby:

1: Wash carrots for CSA, 12 hours before birth.

















2: Make Poppy Streudel 10 hours before birth.

















3: Have a healthy baby girl at 4am on your Birthday!
















Happy Birthday Hazel and Christa!!

Everyone is healthy and happy. Come by and see the new addition to the farm at the December Winter CSA pickup.

Shearing Sheep

A few weeks ago, Jim and Liz came by to shear our small flock of Montadale Sheep. As luck would have it, it was cold and spitting snow. We moved the operation into the tent were the gilts had farrowed their piglets. The piglets have been weaned and you can see them in the background checking out the operation.

Liz and Jim put on leather soled slippers and work on a piece of plywood, that allows them to keep their footing as the move the sheep around to shear and hoof trim. They worked fast and efficiently.

They look a bit scrawny after getting sheared. Jim says they look great for grassfed ewes getting ready to lamb by mid May!

Check out the video at the bottom!

Vermont Raw Milk

Our friend Adam runs Essex Creamery in Essex, Vermont. He lives on an apple orchard, bakes incredible bread that he sells at the Farmers Markets, and milks 4 Jerseys for Raw Milk that he sells from the farm. He feeds them high quality hay in the winter and pastures them during the summer.

This is the milk I remember growing up on. I milked (by hand) a Guernsey-Jersey cross that we called "Cookie". The milk was rich, golden, creamy and sweet! Exactly what Adam's cows produce.

If you have not tried raw milk you owe it to yourself. It is unbelievable and unadulterated! You can skim the cream off to make butter or yogurt, or you can just drink it right off the top like I do. I always fight for first pour at our house!

If you are in the Burlington, VT area give Adam a call (802) 922-2808, and see if he has any milk left to sell! For more information on raw milk go here.

Winter Farmers Market

Christa helping a customer at the Williston Farmers Market yesterday. We had plenty of potatoes (Green Mountain, Keuka Gold, German Butterball) and crisp, juicy carrots.

Our Pasture Raised Pork and 100% Grassfed Beef sold well as did our eggs from Free Range Hens.

We even managed to sign up a few families to our Summer CSA!

Its always good to see folks come out and support local farmers and crafters. We will be back for the last winter market in Williston on April 11th. The next Burlington Winter Farmers Market is March 21 at the Memorial Auditorium. If you have not made it - go it is a great event!

Soap Making

Our good friends Mari and Laura came over and helped us make some soap!

We have a lot of pork and beef fat in our freezers and thought we might have a go of turning fat into soap!

If the soap comes out well we may even sell some in the future.

Thanks Mari and Laura for teaching and guiding us in the fine art of soap making! Visit the BLOG about their beautiful Vermont farm.

Meals from the Farm

Here is a local meal that is cheaper than going out to a restuarant!

100% grassfed lamb chops
roasted fingerling potatoes
winter carrots
goat cheese from a neighboring farm
glass of raw milk

All raised on our farm, except the dairy products which are from neighboring farms.

What a delicious, nutritious, local meal. Folks you can eat like this every day year round, cheaper than you can shop at the store or go out to restuarants!

Find your local farmers and support them - they are growing great food for you and your family!

Columbia River Sturgeon

Here is a video of a Columbia River Sturgeon (White Sturgeon) at the Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River of Oregon/Washington.

This species of sturgeon can reach up to 12 ft and weight 1000+ pounds!

A week away

We got off the farm for a week to visit friends and family in Washington State. Here are some photos to prove we actually were not on the farm!

Asa's Tractor Build

Asa is making some pretty cool things with his LEGO parts. He made this the other day - a nice 2WD tractor!

Farm videos on YouTube

We have some videos up on our YouTube channel for those folks that can't make it out to the farm, but are curious about how we farm.

Our YouTube channel is http://youtube.com/user/jerichovtfarmer

Summer-Fall Photos 2008

Another Busy Summer and Fall with no time to post to the farm blog. So here is an update in photos of what we have been doing!