Making Maple Syrup & Other Small Signs of Spring

 

We’re boiling again here at the Farm. It has been an odd season so far, starting late and slow to get going. Ideally the trees are looking for cold nights and warm days to really get the sap flowing, but instead it has just been pretty cold. We even tapped in early this year thanks to the availability of our high schoolers during February break (which was frigid and often snowing, but they went out anyway!)- we were hoping to get the first run of really light amber syrup, but it didn’t come for us. It may have been running in December just like last year so we’ve only gotten Medium and Dark Amber.

We’ve had lots of group tours coming to learn about sugaring in the last month. It has been really fun teaching folks (kids, mostly) about how we make maple syrup, taking them on a hayride where they get to help empty sap buckets (provided they aren’t frozen) and then introducing them to the animals. The kids really love the critters, especially those young ones that have never seen a real pig before, let alone scritch one behind the ears or touch the sleek feathers of a hen and hold a warm egg (a green one!). There is something very special about how they really light up when they are almost nose to snout with 450lbs of Pinky who is almost always ready to leave her warm nest to visit with the kids- though sometimes she needed a little snack to entice her the first couple times. It really is great. If you would like to arrange for a group Maple Sugaring Experience, check out the Education Program page for details!

Despite the fact that it is snowing we have seen other signs of spring here at the farm. Dave’s daffodils and other bulbs planted around the farm started poking up through the frosty earth even before all the snow was gone. A few tree species have started the first signs of budding and a pair of jeweled wood ducks has been gracing our section of Waconah Brook. They have been frequenting the area right around the bridge- and try as I might to snap a picture they are very shy. No signs of Mergansers as of yet, but the Canadian geese and robins have returned, much to the delight of Pippin who finds the robins particularly exciting to chase.  

Farm news: We are still looking for a full-time intern/apprentice. If you are interested or know of someone who might be- check out the Job Opportunities Page for more information or give us a call/email us at the farm.  

Animal news: The young pigs are all growing well, but they are definitely getting bored with being in the barn. The plan is to get them out onto pasture as soon as the snow is gone from the field they are due to renovate. Porter, the big boar, is still here for a little while longer, mostly until we’re sure his job is done and then he will go home (or possibly visit some other sows that we know). We hope to have a new batch of piglets arriving sometime in June/July.The chickens are also getting bored with their winter accommodations and more of them have taken to escaping for part of the day to hunt for bugs. They will soon be moving out to pasture as well- and in their new house that Jesse built for them last fall. Our baby chicks arrived on March 3^rd. We decided on White Wyandottes, Blue Andalusians, Barred Rocks, Dark Cornish and, of course, more Araucanas this time around. We also got some adorable Blue Cochins for a friend and fell in love with them so we might have to put them on the list for the next batch we order. Our egg production is ramping up- we are getting more than 4 dozen per day now and hope to get to 6 dozen as the days get even longer. We have started putting eggs for sale back in the fridge down at the office- we’re holding out that they will no longer freeze. There is also still pork available in the office freezer, but we are quickly running out, but we still have ham & bacon and a few others. Chops are sold out!  More pork will be coming at the end of June or so. 

Veggie times: We have started growing in the greenhouse! Onions, leeks and shallots are thriving and this past weekend we did our first seeding of broccoli, scallions & lettuce. Flowers, herbs, peppers & tomatoes, cabbage are quick to follow as the season starts to really get going. All those little green shoots poking up out of their dark soil blocks are pure joy to watch.  The Garden CSA is just about sold out. We still have a few more shares left, so get us your sign-up forms if you want to pick up a weekly share of our vegetable harvest. Tuesday pick-ups are SOLD OUT, but we still have Thursday and Saturday available. We will also be opening the farmstand in late May with vegetable, herb & flower transplants with fresh harvested veggies following soon after.

If you get a chance, check out a new delivery service for our area- Berkshire Organics- they are going to provide baskets of organic produce and fruit year round- working with as many local, organic farmers during the growing season and a distributor for the rest of the year. Multiple baskets to choose from- including a fruit only basket!

We’re Tapping In!

Sorry again for no real Bull for February- but we have been trying to get so much planning work done for this coming growing season and since there was not a whole lot going on outside in January we decided to forgo it for the shortest month. Still February has been productive- we have been having meetings with our technical assistance crew, provided by the Farm Viability Program, and they have been incredibly helpful. These individuals are or were farmers, farm-stand operators, and professional marketers and they have been able to guide us in making some important decisions about the upcoming year and what we should be doing with our grant money.

We met with Carolyn & John Wheeler of Wheel-view Farm in Shelburne, MA to talk about grass-fed beef, and we went to visit their beautiful farm and met their gorgeous herd of heritage breed Belted Galloway, White Galloway, Scottish Highland and Murray Gray cattle. I forgot my camera or I would have taken a million pictures of those deep brown, long-lashed eyes. I fell in love with the gentle Galloways immediately. Not too big, sweet natured and no horns. Perfect. We brought some of their beef home- delicious!

Ed Maltby came to talk to us about sheep and suggested that we look into a heritage breed called Clun Forest that lambs well outside and grows quickly on grass. A little research has revealed a beautiful animal that is predominantly white-wooled, with dark face, ears and legs. This is a dual purpose breed, good meat and good hand-spinning wool. It might take us a bit to track this breed down, but we’re hoping that we can find some to bring to the farm in 2008. He also advised us on fencing and animal housing and we’ve decided to put in a solid perimeter fence near the livestock barn to make it safer for our sheep to lamb outside in April.

Craig Richov talked with us about our farm-stand and gave us some good suggestions on how to improve the site for parking, beautification and ideas for future growth.

Dave Tepfer of Simple Gifts Farm in Amherst came to teach us more about whole farm planning using guidelines from a decision maiking process we’ve been interested in called holistic resource management. While hard to explain in brief, this is basically a way to constantly remind ourselves that everything we do is a part of a whole farm system and that the farm is a part of our community and that it all needs to fit together in a manner that is beneficial and sustainable. Sounds complicated and it is, until you just become used to making decisions in that manner. But since it is very much a part of our mission to be an asset in our community and be an example of good land stewardship and conservation- well, it makes sense that we make decisions by taking those larger ideals into account. You can’t write a mission statement like that and then forget about it. Dave also advised us on mulit-species grazing and housing and he has knowledge about the pig operation and how we can improve its efficiency and the bottom line.

Melissa Adams is our point person and has been helping to organize the technical assistance and financials we need as well as helping with writing the actual plan. It is wonderful- she has been really supportive and we couldn’t have done this without her.

CSA & Rare Earth: Almost all the seeds have been ordered and are filling up the office. We don’t actually get going on starting them for another couple weeks or so, but soon we will be spending all day up to our elbows in potting soil and trying not to breathe too hard when starting those really tiny flower seeds. One wrong sigh and poof! they’re gone. We’re working on building a special insulated germination box so that we can get one more week before turning on the propane- our biggest expense besides labor in the vegetable operation. We are excited by the prospect of getting growing! The Garden CSA is rapidly filling so if you want to get a vegetable share and haven’t yet, now is the time.

Animal News: The pigs are growing and growing well, but they are starting to get a little bored with winter. They are chomping in anticipation of spring as much as we are. Pinky & Lucy have their boyfriend, Porter, in with them (we’re looking for piglets in June) so at least they have something to talk about. Most of their days right now are spent snuggled up in warm, deep piles of sweet hay. The three Gloucestershire Old Spots have settled in nicely and the little boar (still nameless!) is turning out to be as sweet as his dam & sire. Be sure and give him lots of treats and scritches when you visit him- we want him to be as biddable and gentle as a lamb even when he has four inch long tusks and weighs 400lbs.

With the coldest part of the winter over and our thoughts turning to spring despite the thick covering of snow on the ground, well we have visions of CHICKS! We’re getting a little ahead of Easter here, but our first new batch of chicks will be showing up on March 3^rd- give or take a day. There will be 80 or so of the cuties, so come by and check them out. I will put some pictures up, but it isn’t the same as holding one of those little softies in your hand. They will be all heritage breeds and crazy colors again this year- I’ve got Barred Rocks, Blue Adalusians, Auracanas, Dark Cornish and White Wyandottes coming for the farm, along with some more Buff Rock boys (for culinary enjoyment) & Blue Cochins for a friend.

Maple syrup: We’ve been tapping in for the past two weeks. We took advantage of school break to bring back some of our great teenage workers to really get a good jump on the sugarbush and it really paid off. Some of them have even continued to work after school. I only regret that I haven’t had a chance to get out there myself—Jesse took Morgan & Pippin out with him last weekend, but since Elspeth doesn’t want to ride in the backpack anymore (she’s all about walkin’!) and is still too small for snowshoes, I doubt that I will get a chance this season. In any case, even though it looks like we’re early for tapping in, it is nice to not be scrambling to get it done and to take a goodly amount of time to get the line repairs done, the RO (Reverse Osmosis) shed and the sugar house in good working order before the sap really starts running. We want to catch all the early run we can this year so that we have enough light amber syrup to get us through the year. We didn’t get any last maple season since it ran really early, in December, and almost no one caught it in MA (global warming anyone?). As soon as we get sap- be on the look-out for steam boiling out of the sugar-house cupola and stop on by, we’re happy to give you a tour or let you participate in the process. The steam is fairly obvious- we had someone stop by last season thinking that the barn must be on fire since the steam had drifted down thick over Rte. 9. We also arrange group tours (for a small donation per person) which are more of a production- including a tractor driven hayride to collect sap from our old-fashioned buckets hanging around the field edges close to the farm. Everything is weather dependent so make sure you dress warmly when you come! Call us at 413-684-0444 to arrange for a group, for more info or if you want to know if we are boiling yet.

Pippin is our newest addition to the farm family- she is still a bit shy and is still figuring out her job(s) and us so don’t be surprised if she gets it wrong. She is a young 18 mth old border collie/blue heeler mix. She has already proven her worth in herding pigs (well, she keeps the little ones off the gate so that we can open up their pen without them getting out and wrecking havoc in the barn). She still has a long way to go in her training though because she came with some bad habits (and little basic training- we’re still house-breaking!) but we have hopes for her training into a multi-species herding dog. We are planning on using a professional trainer to help get us started since using a dog is new to us, but it really is the only way we can think of to get the numbers of sheep, cattle and pigs moved around the farm during the grass season.

Name That Boar

We’ve got a new addition to our Barnyard- we decided to adopt a Gloucestershire Old Spot piglet from Manda Farm in Plainfield, MA to be our new herd sire. He’s been here for a couple of weeks and he still needs a name so we’d like your suggestions. He came with his two brothers, they will keep him company while he grows up, so in the pics he’s the one with one black ear. Gloucestershire Old Spots are a Heritage Breed, are known to be gentle and sweet-natured, good mothers and grow well on pasture and forage. Both of his parents were simply gorgeous and very gentle when we met them. Help us choose a name for him- nothing too vicious, he will, after all, eventually sport tusks and weigh upwards of 400+ lbs.

Sorry for the short February post- we are busy trying to get all the planning for the coming season done before sugaring gears up. This includes full business plans (with budgets) for the Farm expansion and the Education Program, field plans, seed orders, greenhouse seeding plans, and so much more. We’ll get a proper newsletter out for March.

The biggest thing to note is that if you come by the Farm for pork, syrup or eggs- you should come up to the house because we moved the office there for the winter. It was just too cold and too small to get anything done down there. And the eggs were freezing in the little fridge. Someone is usually around but you can always give a call to make sure. Call the regular farm number, 413-684-0444 which we have been forwarding.

Cheers!

Welcome New Year

Happy New Year to Everyone! The farm has been very quiet around here for the last month. We had a few folks out to pick up a ‘Charlie Brown’ Christmas tree, but, especially with all the snow and holidays, we haven’t had as many visitors as usual. We’ve been hibernating a little as well, taking in the lovely soft whiteness of the snow, sledding, skiing and snowshoeing with the kids and trying to motivate ourselves to plan for the coming sugaring season which is all too quickly followed by the start of the growing season. Currently, the desk is piled with seed catalogs in preparation for sifting and sorting through for the best varieties of vegetables, flowers & herbs. You probably don’t realize that there are about fifteen choices for plain old zucchini, and that is just for the straight, green kind, that doesn’t include the yellow, the round, the striped, etc. And then there are the tomatoes and the flowers and so many other things. It is worth the time, and it is one of the truly fun parts of the growing process- this is the dreaming phase- when you can picture the gorgeous, perfect, weed-free rows of pest and disease-free plants complete with perfectly timed rainfalls (not too much, not too little). While the fantasy is lovely to picture, in truth, I would probably find it dull since it is the work that we put in that makes the result so much more satisfying. And that is all the more from a little complication. 
Animal news: The piglets have moved out. They were starting to put too much strain on poor Pinky and she was still losing weight, so we set up another pen for them. They got to stay with their mother far longer than piglets ordinarily do. The standard is for weaning at six weeks of age and these guys are now almost three months old and they are big! Pinky was a little depressed for the first two days after we did so, but she seems to be perking up. She can still see and hear them, so they converse through the fences. We’ve also opened up the fence between her and Lucy, trying again to make them friends now that Lucy is much bigger and Pinky is a little lonely. It has been successful for the most part, we hear or see evidence of bickering once in a while, but we also find them curled up together. We are hoping to bring in a boar in the next month so that we have a chance of having both sows farrowing on pasture in late April or early May. The chickens have started to pick up with their laying and there are usually eggs for sale in the fridge at the barn office. If you are lucky you might even get a green one or two in your dozen. They seem to be faring well in their winter quarters- I’m often surprised that even on the coldest days, their space is relatively warm without being stifling. However, with it being so incredibly bitter the last few days, don’t be surprised if you find an egg in your dozen that is a little cloudy- the egg is totally fine to eat, the cloudiness just means that they got a little too cold. We also just placed our chick order for this year. March 3^rd will bring us 80 more baby chicks of all colors. Farm happenings: The maple season is fast approaching and we are gearing up for it. Sometimes it even starts as early as the middle of next month depending on the season. Keep us in mind as February nears its end, the sugar house is open anytime you see steam pouring out of the cupola and we welcome visitors. You can participate in the sugaring process or just have a simple tour. We also schedule more extensive group tours, please contact us at the farm (or stop by) and we will get you a detailed brochure.

I’d also like to remind everyone that snowmobiles and ATVs are not allowed on farm property at any time. This is for the protection of our boarders, their horses, our livestock (who tend to panic at the sight of loud, fast moving machines) and the numerous public who frequent the farm for quiet recreation (often with their dogs). We appreciate everyone’s cooperation and respect in this request. That said, the farm is a great place to come for cross-country skiing, sledding & snow-shoeing and it is absolutely beautiful. If you would like more information, or a trail map, give us a call and we’ll get one out to you.

Garden CSA and Rare Earth update: The CSA brochures have gone out to last years members and the CSA is growing, so if you are interested, we will happily mail you a brochure. You can also check out the CSA page on the blog and cut & paste the Sign-up form into a Word document, fill it out and mail it to us. The planning is well under way- we’ve got lots of seeds to order, field layouts to plan, seedlings to start, a greenhouse to finish and so much more, but we’re excited about this endeavor.  

Christmas~Solstice Trees for Sale

We will have trees for sale on the weekends up until Christmas Eve (needless to say, we will also be open the Monday before Christmas Eve as well. Look for our sign out next to the road. It is a bit of a walk to the trees, but it is a beautiful one. Now, this isn’t your standard Christmas tree operation with all these tidy trees in neat little rows. Our trees are the remains of an old planting. They have been maintained as bird and wildlife habitat so you will find that they havn’t been well-mowed or thinned. This also means that our trees are tall and some are filled with pine cones or birds nests. Given that, when considering trees to bring home, you’ll need to look to the tops and decide how big you want your tree to be.  You will have to cut down the entire tree but you can utilize the extra greens for wreaths and swaths, or leave them to continue being great habitat for the animals that live there. Trees are marked with colored tapes to indicate prices. Prices for Cut-Your-Own are $10, 15 & 20. We will also have pre-cut trees from another planting in one of the horse paddocks and those will be $15, 20 &25. 

For this Holiday season, remember your local farmers when purchasing gifts for friends and relatives. Our maple syrup makes a splendid and delicious present and we will happily ship it for you. Your local farmers are a great source of unique and carefully crafted gifts- look for amazing cheeses, soaps, jams, jellies, candies, yarn, wool & wool-crafted products, and so much more. Berkshire Grown’s website is a great resource for finding farms or shops that sell locally produced products. Some farms also offer gift certificates for their products. Don’t be afraid to call and ask them. 

Down on the farm in the last month we’ve had our first real snow, the wind is blowing strong and cold out of the Northwest (and will probably continue to do so until spring), the pond was frozen hard and clear on Thanksgiving Day, and we’ve sold out of seasoned firewood for the season. We also awoke on Monday morning to find a whole flock of seagulls wandering around in Holiday Field with the Canadian geese that don’t feel inclined to migrate just yet. Maybe they will all shove off together.

The horses are all blanketed (those that will wear them at any rate) most of the time these days, unless it is really nice and all are coming inside at night. They all look shaggy and warm- I often think they must love this time of year- even though there isn’t a lot of fresh grass out there- it is cold and dry and no bugs. The horse girls (Kendall, Marissa) are out riding the trails whenever they get the chance, even when it is on the dark end of twilight. We see them heading out and in with head-lamps on (mostly so that other people/cars/hunters will be able to see them coming rather than a need for light) in all types of weather. Seems like freezing rain/sleet is about all that keeps them from their daily ride.

Animal news: Piglets are growing fast and will soon be moving away from their mother and into a pen of their own. Piglets usually only stay with their mother for the first six weeks before weaning, but we’ve let them stay with her a little longer. But it is taking more of a toll on Pinky than we would have thought- she has gotten pretty skinny in the last couple of weeks. We’ve just about tripled her feed at this point, but she is still not maintaining a good weight. So we are working on the new pen for the little ones. The new pen will be on the west end of the barn, and, as usual, it is taking longer than we hoped to get it built. There was a lot of cleanup that needed to happen both inside and out before we could get it started. The west end of the pig barn was where we were storing metal salvage and larger dump items and the Port-o-let (which has to be moved inside)and all that needed to be cleared up before we can cut through the gable wall. The clean-up is most of the way there and Jesse is working on the new pen as I write this.

We’ve combined the two flocks of chickens and everything is going well. We also added four newbies from someone’s home flock to the mix- a Light Brahma rooster and three hens. They have acclimated well to their new home. That brings our rooster total up to four, which is perfect for our current flock size. After some initial tussling, they’ve figured out the pecking order and have settled down with very limited violence. Two of them got a little scratched up, but that was it. The other roosters include a Buff Rock, a Speckled Sussex and Crock-pot (who we believe is a Red sex-link- the boys are always whitish). Our young hens have begun, tentatively, to lay—Jesse found the first mini-egg on Tuesday, November 27. 

We are expanding the CSA for next year! Starting in 2008, The Garden at Holiday Farm will include up to 60 members and Desirée & Jesse will be working with growers, John Bye and Peg Cowen, to help meet the expanded labor needs of the Garden. (Together with Rare Earth Market’s needs, we will be close to tripling the amount of vegetables growing at the farm!) Check out the Garden Page to learn more about Community Supported Agriculture, the benefits of direct customer-to-farmer sales, and membership. The new Sign-up form is now on-line, you can click on the link in the right-hand column and either print the page or ‘copy & paste’ it into word document and send it to us with your payment or deposit. We anticipate selling out fairly quickly, so don’t put off signing up.  We are also looking to hire an intern for the 2008 growing season, so if you know anyone who might be interested, tell them to give us a call or check out the Job Opportunities link to the right. We are looking for folks who have some experience working outdoors in the summertime, at the very least, and if they know somewhat about vegetables or animals, that is a plus. 

Happiness and Blessings to all for the Holidays. Be well and make merry.  

Frost on the Pumpkins

 

Well folks, here it is November and there has been more than just a little frost on the pumpkins- in fact, they’ve been frozen a few times, which turned most of them into mush just before Halloween. We pulled those that were still mostly solid and brought them up to feed to Pinky, Lucy & the piglets. They don’t care whether or not they would have made perfect Jack-O-Lanterns, they just think pumpkins are tasty. Things are really slowing down here outside on the farm, but that just means that we start planning for next year. We’ve already started having planning meetings for how things are going to go for next season- one big thing is that we got accepted into the Massachusetts Farm Viability Program, which could help us with funding some bigger projects such as improving vegetable storage and distribution, building new animal housing, and fixing the miles of fencing we have here on the farm, among other things.  

Rare Earth: Closed for the Season, Open again for Christmas trees.Well, if you are driving past the garden at Rare Earth, you’ll see that there isn’t a whole lot left in it- most of it got tilled in this month and seeded to a winter rye cover crop (that’s all that green grass-like stuff coming up in the field). The ‘killing’ frost that we got at the end of October pretty much did in everything but the kale. It was hard enough to even damage the broccoli- which is sad since there were some gorgeous heads coming on in there. So we’ve closed the farmstand for the season- we’ll still have winter squash, eggs & pork available in the farm office, along with maple syrup & what is left of the honey.  

Animal News: The piglets are growing fast, they are chunky and playful and getting into all sorts of trouble. They have learned that half-sister Lucy is a big pushover and will gladly open the gate just wide enough to sun her nose which is also just big enough to let the piglets out to play. So far they haven’t managed to get too far and will run and squeal their way back to Lucy if we find them out, but at some point they will figure out where the food is and then we’ll all be in big trouble. We’re doing our best to keep them safe, we’re just hoping they soon grow too big to get out through Lucy’s sunning spot.

Laying hens are 22 weeks (laying age) old next week, so we are getting the laying boxes inside the barn ready for new eggs. We’re cleaning them out and putting in new shavings and hoping that they will use them rather than find annoying holes to put them in instead. (some of the older hens have developed the bad habit of laying under their house). The new hens are big and beautiful- having reached full maturity their feathers are luxurious, full, and glossy. They will never be so pretty again- once hens start laying, they put more energy into their egg production than they do into their lovely feathers. 

 Farm news: Other than the exciting Farm Viability Grant, we’re still busy at work making compost and firewood. We’ve had some major issues with our firewood processor breaking down and needing some heavy duty repairs, but hopefully we will soon get caught up on everyone’s orders. Dicken is getting out in the woods more- doing some forest management and cutting plans for the upcoming logging season. At some point in the next couple of months we will get some good photos of what his forest management looks like in the woods- from start to finish. If you get a chance to hike through the Deer Hill State Reservation in West Cummington, that gorgeous South-facing slope covered in maple trees is a perfect example of what Dicken means when he talks about forest ‘management’.  

Compost is getting turned and screened for next spring’s run of orders. We have to do this now since we can’t really do it in the early months when we have rain and mud, making the compost site a quagmire and wet compost is impossible to screen effectively. So we are also going to cover one long windrow of finished compost so that it is easier to get it screened and ready to go first thing in the spring. This is also the time of year when we get the most material for new piles- lots of horse manure comes in all year, but this is when everyone brings us their leaves- one of our biggest ingredients.  

In this month, when we dedicate a day to being thankful, we would like to send a thank you out to all our hard workers and volunteers from this past season! You made it a great one- so thanks to John Lord, Denise Haywood, Stephanie Bean, Nick Dargie, Marissa & Kendall, MariAnne, Seth Tebo, Jonathan Sawtelle, Rick Solis, Stephen Parkington, Christine LaCasse, Mike Dewket!

Harvest Time

October is upon us in all of its harvest splendour. In the last month we’ve harvested all the winter squash from Rare Earth’s garden- almost 1600 pounds! The haying is almost done. These days it takes a long time for the hay to dry, but that third cut is so worth it that we have to try. Firewood deliveries are coming along despite the late start this year due to various equipment problems- we’ve put a hold on new orders for a bit, but we should be up to speed by the end of the month. This time of year has also seen a resurgence in compost orders- now is a great time to work compost into those gardens while putting them to bed before the ground freezes- it will give you a jump on the spring and make for gorgeous spring tulips as well.We’ve started putting some fields to bed for the winter by discing and planting cover crops such as oats and winter rye. These ‘green manures’ hold the soil in place during the winter months and either die off by the end of winter, leaving behind a lovely mulch that needs just a little raking to plant directly into, or we will let grow into straw that we will then mow off before turning under the stubble which adds more lovely organic matter to our soils.

Rare Earth Market is going strong! The sunflowers have gone by and all we are left with to remind us of their beauty are tall stalks and heads heavy with seeds. The birds, squirrels and mice are getting fat out there on all that food. I love walking down the field to the flurry of goldfinches and sparrows that wing out from their dinners. Despite the lack of gorgeous sunny splendour, there are still lots of delicious vegetables coming from the field. Salad mix and mustard greens (not bitter at all, fall is the best time to eat these!) such as arugula, mizuna & red giant, sweet sweet orange carrots, Swiss Chard in all colors, tender Red Russian Kale, sweet red peppers, broccoli (any day!), and of course, tomatoes until we have a killing frost and the basils to go with it. The old orchard was fair to bursting with incredible organic apples this season and we’ve been picking- we have no idea what kinds they are, but they are delicious. We have apples for cider, apples for pie, for applesauce or apple-butter and just plain old great fresh eating apples.We’ve also got Golden and Idaho Russet potatoes and Winter Squash….do we have winter squash. We planted a number of different kinds, some of which are familiar and others which will seem quite strange, beautiful, and delicious! Come and check out all of our offerings! We also have a whole field of gorgeous pumpkins of all sizes for you to Pick-Your-Own! We’re open earlier on the weekends from now until the end of the month…..get those Jack-O-Lanterns now (don’t carve until the night before Halloween!) To complete your harvest decorations we’re also offering bunches of cornstalks and broomcorn (seedheads on the top make for a lovely and more colorful display), all sorts of crazy gourds, specialty pumpkins, and gorgeous deep red and multi-colored Indian corn.We are now offering our own pasture-raised Pork- chops, sausage, roasts and ribs will all be available in the first week of October from the freezer up at the farmstead office (we still don’t have electric down at the stand). If you are looking for hams or bacon- we had them shipped off to Connecticut for a real wood smoking and we’ll let you know when it gets here. Sorry folks, we still haven’t worked out the logistics of sending frozen meat through the mail. 

The Education Program had its first workshop in a while, we gave a hands-on seed saving demo to the Dalton Girl Scouts and they followed that up with a hayride up to the top of Cooper Meadow where they had a picnic snack. The girls had a great time opening up the seed pods of calendula, zinnia, batchelor buttons, torch (ouch!) and dry beans. They also tried some fresh sunflower seeds and and took home a bunch of seeds to start in the spring. Desirée is continuing to schedule group workshops and hayrides for the fall foliage season.  

Animal news:   Pinky was due (according to the 3 month, 3 week, 3 day rule of gestation) on Oct. 6- but the new piggies came one day early!! She even had them while we were around so we got to witness the birth of eight healthy piglets- 3 girls and 5 boys. There was one little tiny ‘runt’, but she was vigorous and healthy. However we were a little worried that she wouldn’t be able to keep warm or fight her way to enough food, so we found a lovely new home for her with our friends in Plainfield who have milk goats (the perfect piglet food if they can’t stay with Mama). Thank you to the Abend family for being willing to care for a newborn piglet! According to the most recent reports she is doing well, has doubled her size, drinking her milk from a dish, and potty training to a litter box.
We moved Lucy into the pig barn though we have them separate since we didn’t know how either Pinky or Lucy would react once the piglets were born. They will still be able to commune through the fence, so neither will be lonely. We are looking into finding a young heritage breed boyfriend for Lucy- the heritage breeds usually grow better on pastured systems with less outside grain needed, so we’ve got our ears out for a lovely Tamworth (the red ones!) or another long, lean breed.

 

 

The hens will soon have a new home. Jesse is hard at work, among all the other things he’s trying to do, building the new deluxe mobile chicken house. We should be transferring them to their new home by the middle of this month. We’ve got the young pullets grazing on as much pasture as we can reach from the barn and they are loving it. They started growing really rapidly once they had access to lots of sunshine, grass and bugs and have filled out beautifully. We are looking at fresh eggs from them starting next month.

Sorry that things are getting out a little later than usual this month, we’re pretty busy around here- we’ll keep you updated on all the things that are going on!

The Color of Summer

While August on the farm is usually pretty grueling with days that are long, hot, and humid; this year we seemed to have been blessed with only a minimal few days where it was muggy enough to make everything stick to you. Which when you’re throwing hay bales or cutting summer squash- it makes every little scratch just sting. The August heat is also usually a blessing in disguise because it makes the hay dry faster and brings on those sweet, sweet melons, corn and tomatoes. Since we didn’t really have too many humid days, we’re a little behind on the sweet corn, but the tomatoes and melons (along with everything else) are flowing off the vine and into our new farmstand on Rt. 9. August is also the akin to Wednesdays for farmer-folk in terms of the growing season- we’ve worked really hard for months now, only to realize that we still have three months to go before things start to slow down at all. So we get a little cranky here in August, only to have it disappear come September first. Now we 

know the days will be getting steadily cooler, we might get some much needed rain and the bulk of the crops will be coming in. This is when the farmstand looks gorgeous and full of plenty. By the end of the month we’ll be bringing in the winter squashes and opening up the fields for Pick-Your-Own pumpkins. Cornstalks and broomcorn will be bundled and sold for fall display, we’ll harvest sunflower heads, Indian corn, dry beans and gourds for centerpieces.

Sorry we didn’t get to the newsletter last month….July flew by and then, so did August. In fact, here it is already three days into September and I’ve almost missed my deadline. Also I want to throw out a big THANK YOU and acknowledgement to Ben Garver, the photographer of the marvelous moose in our headliner at the top of the page….he’s a great photographer and I’m sure you’ve seen other photos of his in the Berkshire Eagle, you can also check out his photographs at Flickr.com.

Last month’s farm happenings:

So far this summer we have made over 7000 bales of hay. And we’re still going! We’re well into our second cutting of most fields (though we waited a little for some of the first cut- on purpose in a couple of fields to give the birds a chance to finish raising their chicks.

Animal news

The chicks are babies no longer- at almost 12 weeks old, they are thriving and too big for their brooder box. They are filling out from their ugly adolescent stage and are starting to look like little hens. So we’ve moved them temporarily to the old chicken coop in the barn (usually reserved for winter quarters) until we get a chance between hay making and farmstand construction to build the new 120 chicken condo wagon. Jesse is hard a work making that happen- we’ll have pictures when he’s all finished. Oh, and I think we’ve figured out what our surprise ‘rare breed chick’ (free when we purchased the others) is, it must be the Buff Rock rooster that has appeared in amongst all the others. We also added another rooster to the older hens- he was a rescue who was found wandering around Plainfield Pond. Claire DiLeo, who was worried that he would end up in the road, rescued him and we found a home for him here. He seems to be nice enough, only ruffling up his feathers and pecking at anyone who he feels might be threatening his ladies. We pick him up and cuddle him once in a while just so he doesn’t get any ideas about getting too cranky.

Two of the little (!) pigs went off to the slaughterhouse in July- making it much easier to feed the remaining five (they had been starting to fight at feeding time). They are getting big and the four boys will probably be going off in the very near future. Lucy, the gilt, will be staying here and joining her mother Pinky, for some more pasture time, working up another field until it gets too chilly at night for them to be outside and then they will move into separate quarters in the barn. They will be able to chat over the fence, but by then Pinky will be due to have her second litter (sometime in October).

We’ve had a lot of new arrivals to the boarding stables- two that had arrived from an auction in much need of TLC are filling out nicely and responding well to fresh air, pasture and lots of sunshine. All the horses appear to be sleek, shiny and happy out there in the pastures.

The Children’s Garden is looking a little wild these days, the tunnel garden has grown well- we need to get out the pruners to keep the cherry tomatoes in check. And the sunflower house needs weeding, but it looks beautiful in there. The hedge of cosmos and sunflowers are blooming and so are many of the other plants- we had a little problem with Japanese beetles trying to eat everything in sight so we did our best with handpicking to keep them under control, but they still did a lot of damage to the blueberries and the hollyhocks. We should be doing some harvesting in the Three Sisters Section by the end of September- that part of the garden looks incredible, wild and overgrown, but that is part of the fun. Everything in there grew so well!

Rare Earth & what’s in the garden

The farmstand has been up and running for a month and is going great! Word is spreading quickly through our neighbors (even without signage!) and we’ve already amassed some regulars. The garden is churning out gorgeous organic vegetables, flowers and fruits and we’ve added some locally produced honey from a neighbor up the hill in Windsor. Currently it is filtered (but not pasteurized, so still good for allergies) and he’s promised to get us some pure, raw, unfiltered honey for those of you who like it as close to straight from the hive as you can get it but without the wax. If you want it with the wax- we’ve got comb honey. You can also purchase our own maple syrup.

Current offerings at the Market:

Salad mix, summer squash, zucchini, heirloom tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, beefsteak tomatoes, sweet corn, string beans, fingerling potatoes, new potatoes, red peppers, paprika chili peppers, pimento peppers, cucumbers- lemon (a great snack!), pickling and slicers, eggplant, flower bouquets, sunflowers, muskmelons (cantelopes).

Coming soon (in the next month):

Russet potatoes, carrots, broccoli, Indian corn, broomcorn, pumpkins, gourds and winter squashes, cornstalks. All natural, pasture-raised pork will also be available (this is a little bit dependent upon whether the electric gets hooked up in the next month, but even if not at the Market, it will be available from the farm).

 

We’ve also hosted a couple of great annual events here at Holiday Farm in the last month. Brianna’s Fun Fair attracted lots of happy children and families out to the farm for a fun-filled day of games and adventures. The Fair brought in somewhere around $2500. for Children’s Cancer Research.

The Mountain Bike Team held their annual six hour race with a total of almost sixty riders. It wasn’t as big as the June affair, but it seemed much more grueling. It was also one of the rare (this year anyway) hot and muggy days. We’re still finding water bottles along the trails and on the edges of the fields. I know the organizers were good about keeping the bikers hydrated and fueled with M&M’s, fig newtons and so forth. The spectators enjoyed a more filling meal of hamburgers, hot dogs and brownies from the Girl Scouts. The race ended in a tie.

In Memoriam:  Basho- farm dog extraordinaire- November 2000- August 2007

Sadly, our dog was hit and killed by a truck on Rt.9 this past month. He did not suffer and for that we are thankful. As Desirée’s nearly constant companion for the last six and a half years, he is a dear friend that is and will be sorely missed.
 Thank you to all those who have stopped with a kind word, condolences, flowers and cards, it means so much to us to know that there are so many others who were touched by his open and happy personality. For those who did not get a chance to meet him, he could always make you laugh and would always chase the stick for whoever threw it, you automatically knew he was safe to be with. May his lovely spirit find joy in the Grace.

Holiday Farm is Growing

July brings with it the start of the summer’s hot & humid days, thunderstorms and long, lazy days by the lake. At least, for everyone except us farmers. We’re busy trying to get the hay into the barn between thunderstorms, weeding the vegetables before the weeds take over, and making sure all the animals have adequate shade & water to ‘weather’ the heat. July through September marks the busiest time of year for us as we struggle to maintain a balance between everything that needs to get done and hoping that the weather cooperates and even then, a piece of needed equipment goes down unexpectedly or an animal escapes and there goes your schedule for the day!

Speaking of escapes, we’ve had two interesting ones in the last month. The first was when Porter, the 450 lb boar boyfriend of our gorgeous sow, Pinky, walked out of his enclosure and straight to the Cottage. Someone had forgotten to turn the fence back on and he just decided that the grass was a little greener on the other side. We were pretty lucky though- first of all, he’ll do just about anything for grain, and second, he’s pretty mild mannered, despite his three inch tusks. After a little roundabout, he followed Desiree right back to his enclosure- nose in the grain scoop.

Our second escape was aided and abetted by someone who thought that the little pigs shouldn’t be fenced in. Thank goodness, neither they or anyone else was hurt- these guys are in movable fencing along a major highway- and even though we call them the ‘little’ pigs, they are still weighing in at about 160 lbs each and if they were to end up in the road, well, it could cause more than a little accident, a potentially fatal one, especially to the pigs. In any case, another kind passerby noticed the problem and came to tell us- and we were able to walk them back into their enclosure before they had strayed too far, with the aid of the almighty grain bucket, of course. The fence was also undamaged, thank goodness for small favors.

In other animal news, the baby chicks are doing well and starting to grow their adult feathers. They always look a little scruffy during this adolescent stage, but soon become sleek and lovely. Until then we still have to keep a heat lamp on them. They still have many weeks until they start laying eggs though, we won’t see that happen until the fall. We do have some eggs available now in the office fridge as our new hens are laying well. However, there are only 25 of them and so we’re still pretty limited- we’re only getting about a dozen and a half per day and they go quickly! The yolks have darkened up to a nice orange-yellow and the whites really stand up in the pan, nice and firm- it is hard to separate the yolks from the whites!

The Children’s Garden is really starting to take off. Everything that is in is growing well and the demonstration plots are gorgeous! The Berkshire Homeschooling Network came by last month and worked really hard helping to weed and work up the section for the Edible Tunnel Garden. Then the kids got together and planted the cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and Jack-in-the-Beanstalk pole beans that will eventually grow over the tunnel and provide snacks to anyone venturing through. They also weeded in the sunflower house, planted more sunflowers in the empty bed along the horse paddock, and put in flower seedlings in the front bed behind the daylilies. The 3 sisters section looks incredible, with the beans and squash really taking off, our only worry now is keeping them from drowning out their other sister, the corn.

The wood is sawn and the construction of the Rare Earth Market farmstand is finally under way. A little past our initial opening date, but better late than never. We will soon be able to offer fresh, organically grown vegetables, eggs, pasture-raised pork (fall), maple syrup and hopefully, lots of other local products such as cheeses, ice cream, milk and breads as well. We’re pretty excited by this upcoming project- First on the vegetable harvest list is many varieties of new potatoes, peas (sugar, snow & shelling), and lettuce mix with summer squash & zucchine, green & yellow beans, cherry tomatoes and lots more to soon follow. We’re growing 25 + varieties of tomatoes alone, from everyone’s favorite red beefsteak slicers to crazy colored, but delicious heirlooms. Look for our signs on Rt 9 in Dalton, we’re going to be right next to Whiting Gas (if you drive past the farm regularly, you’ll often see me, with little Elspeth on my back weeding, hoeing and planting in the market garden next to the road). So stop in and check out what we have to offer throughout the growing season.

The Holiday Farm Mountain Bike Series which currently hosts a weekly Wednesday night race, had their first big race of the summer this past month and it appears to have been a big success. People from all over came to the farm, set up tents and raced through the woods (really fast!) on their bikes. We’re always excited to see all of these folks coming to the farm and enjoying this unique and beautiful place. 

June Is Time for Planting & Haying

We have been very busy here at Holiday Farm during the last month- everyone wanted to get their gardens in at the same time due to all the warm, sunny weather which meant that most of the crew were out driving trucks full of our ‘black gold’ compost to needy gardeners up and down Berkshire County and into the Hilltowns of the Pioneer Valley. All that compost makes for a lot of happy plants being put into the ground this  growing season.

Between all the deliveries, we still managed to get a lot of other things accomplished. The biggest is that the seven (no longer small) piglets are finally out of the barn and onto lush delicious pasture. And they are loving it! Jesse built them a beautiful new house on skids so that it can be pulled with the tractor from one section of field to another. Their fencing is also mobile, being an electrified netting that can be taken down and put back up again in a new spot with relative ease. The plan is the move them through sections of field/pasture that are thick with weeds or grass species we don’t like, fortunately, they love them and will ‘root’ down into the soil to get at the entire tasty plant. It took them a bit to get used to the idea of their new house moving along the driveway, but they soon figured it out and walked along quite happily, only balking a little at crossing the bridge and again when first encountering lush grass for the first time ever. We trained them earlier this month to respect fencing, so they are giving the electric net a wide berth. They also have plenty of space to run around and lots of fresh food to eat so they shouldn’t even be tempted by what’s on the other side of their fence, and even if, they will get moved over as soon as what they have looks a little low. As you can see from the pictures, they are certainly happy pigs!

Earlier the toads made their way to the pond to mate and lay their eggs, fortunately we were able to get some good pictures of how they lay their eggs in long lines before they hatched into a bazillion tiny tadpoles. During the next month they should be growing legs and lungs and escaping the pond to head for the fields and forests as toadlets. Conveniently the Education Program is having two workshops in June about toads- one on June 16th and the other on June 30th. They will be exploring the world of toads and making toad ‘abodes’ for the Toad Garden and others for bringing home in the hopes that toads will decide to move in!

Our Chickens finally arrived! (Not the chicks- they are due to arrive via mail the week of June 11th- and there will be 75 of the little fuzzies, so come and check them out while they are still cute and small!) The new chickens are 25 lovely young laying hens, all the embodiment of the little Red Hen. They did, as suspected, come to us ‘de-beaked’, but they are having no trouble adapting to their new home. They were also a little wary at first of the outside world, having never really seen it, and were scared to come out of their house when we first opened it, but after a half hour or so, one of them was brave enough to venture out and the others soon followed. They have been installed in new electric net fencing and a mobile laying house and will be moving around the farm- a safer version of ‘free-range’ that allows them access to fresh pasture, lots of sky and bugs while keeping the predators at bay. The three remaining chickens from the old flock (two black hens and the Barred Rock rooster)have been added to their family and all are getting along just fine. To our surprise, some of the hens have already started laying and we will soon be offering ‘tasty’ eggs (a true farm fresh egg with a dark, almost orange yolk and a firm white that stands up in the pan) for sale here at the farm.

On May 19th 60 or so Boy Scouts from all over Western Massachusetts and the Berkshires braved the pouring rain and unseasonably cool weather to pitch their tents in the Pond Field below Cooper Barn for the weekend. They worked all Saturday morning cleaning up hiking and biking trails all over the farm, clearing brush piles and other various farm tasks that we needed lots of hands to help with. The afternoon found them on various Mt bike rides, learning about basic bike maintenance and participating in other ‘badge’ activities. The Mountain Bike Weekly Race organizers were on hand to guide the trail maintenance crews- a boon to them, since their Wednesday race series started just a short week and half later on the the 30th!

While we are not 100% sure of the details, you can find information on the Mt Bike Races by scrolling down the right hand of the screen and clicking on the Mt Bike link.

At Rare Earth planting is well underway- the potatoes, peas and carrots are up and prospering. Tomatoes, eggplant & peppers,(thankfully started by our friends over at Crabapple Farm in Chesterfield) are in and growing quickly. Green beans (four varieties), Edamame, salad mix, cucumbers, summer squash and melons all had to wait for warm soil and no frost but have all been seeded and are just poking their heads up out of the earth. There is still a lot to do and plant- more tomatoes, and second seedings of almost all the veggies. But now our biggest project is just trying to stay ahead of the weeds! And the pests (both mammal and insect!) Staying ahead of the weeds just got a little easier with the arrival of Daisy, a 1945 International Cub Cultivating Tractor that belongs to Desiree- but she can only do so much, for real clean fields, we will still be reliant on hoes and hands. Insect-wise, we have a little respite for a bit since bugs tend to like it hot, but Des has found some three line potato beetles investigating the spuds. These little pests are not quite as devastating as the Colorado potato beetles, but they can still do some damage. Squishing commenced immediately.

Our only major problem has been the mammals, so far, especially in the Indian corn since it appears to be particularly tasty to groundhogs- they managed to eat a full half of the crop and it may be a little too late for us to plant again. We will try it, but it may not be ready before frost. The groundhogs have hopefully been discouraged from venturing onto plowed ground again since the first of the sweet corn varieties went into the ground on Saturday, with the rest to be planted tomorrow along with the pumpkins and winter squash for the fall. (Our giant pumpkins went in with the Indian Corn and are thriving- apparently squash plants aren’t tasty to groundhogs.)

The building of the farmstand is in the works with the initial clean up of the site already underway. The plan is to get the lumber sawn up for constructing the Market next week and it looks like we will be building the stand this month and opening on schedule for July 1st. The sunflowers probably won’t be blooming, but they will still be a presence along the road, you will also see the gorgeous, variegated Japonica cornstalks (as long as the groundhogs don’t find them first).

The Children’s Demonstration Garden is starting to take shape. If you come by, remember that it is a ‘Work In Progress’ and that just a short time ago it was still a hayfield. The grass is growing in the pathways and we’ve started having to mow, but there is still lots of sod to be weeded out of the Garden sections, so certain areas still look kind of like Chia pets. Ward’s Nursery in Great Barrington donated some high bush blueberries, and we got lots of seeds from Seeds of Change (thanks Gaby!). The Sunflower House has been planted and Morgan has been working on his vegetable plot. We were given a lot of daylilies, raspberries and perennial flowers from friends and neighbors and they have all been planted!

The 3 Sisters Section got planted with Hidatsa heirloom beans, Rainbow Inca Corn and Boston Marrow Squashes. We also put in some heirloom potato varieties along the edges since potatoes are a staple of many Native peoples in both North and South America. The seeds were planted using traditional Hidatsa techniques based on gleanings from an account by Buffalo Bird Woman who was born in 1839. The beans will grow up the corn and provide a little extra nitrogen for the corn’s roots, while the corn provides support for the beans. The squash will ramble amongst the corn and shade the roots. We will hopefully be able to save some seed from all three heirloom vegetable crops to be able to share with our community.

Next on the installation list is the Tunnel Garden, the framework for which was put up last weekend and is just awaiting helping hands (hopefully to be provided by the Berkshire Homeschooling Network) to plant cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and green pole beans. Also we will be putting up tee-pee supports for melons, nasturiums and maybe some more beans. We have lots of vining things to choose from.

Upcoming for June- as you drive by the Farm there will be lots of fields getting mown and bales, both square and round being made. We make a lot of hay here during the summer and we have already started. The Garden (John & Peg’s CSA) started distribution on Tuesday, June 5th. Horses are out on pasture for the summer.