We have 37 different fields; many of which are perennially pasture. Ten are used as hay fields until June (weather permitting the haying to be done) and they are pastures thereafter. One to four additional fields also might be baled into hay based on the volume of grass available early in the spring. The balance of our hay fields, 17 parcels, are all rented land from three neighbors in the towns of Jackson and Greenwich.
Notes about Fencing
We've always tried to fence our own fields along the early 19Th century paths of stone walls with gates at the original gateway openings. We maintain miles of modified high tensile fencing powered by 2 100 mile electric fence chargers. One is plugged in at the Lewis farm barn and one is at the Waite's farm barn.
This April we've been pounding into the ground old and new black locust fence posts (black locust is the best for resisting rotting), installing new fiberglass mid span posts, and restringing the wires. We've been repairing gate wires, straightening gate posts leaning in all directions, adding missing gate handles. We are removing errant stones from fields and repositioning them on back on the stone walls. We cut any dead or fallen trees and branches laying across the wires and either save firewood or leave the wood to rot and add to the soil fertility. The HARDEST AND WORST JOB OF ALL IS CUTTING THE MULTI-FLORA ROSES FROM OUR FENCING (the big ones are about 9 feet in diameter!) / A PARTIALLY BLOODY MESS AND AN UNENDING YEARLY TASK (of course it is way better to get them while the are small but some areas are pretty tough to monitor constantly and they grow like weeds!).
WE DO ALL THIS BECAUSE WE STRONGLY BELIEVE the following:
We want to maintain our heritage fields and their boundaries.
We have no interest in using chemicals to eliminate that which we cannot tolerate.
We will try harder to spend more time to cut out our problems prior to them growing to larger proportions.
We will continue to experiment with our animals learning to eat unconventional nutritional plants that are generally unwanted plants (called weeds!).
Thank you for all your support, Alan & Nancy
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Friday, April 2, 2010
it's April and Blooming!
What a day today! After days of gray gloom and chilly winds we have bright blue sky, greening grass, warmth and sunshine!!! Yeah!
We have been cleaning up the gardens in spite of the chilly weather and cold soil and this weekend we hope to begin planting seeds of spinach, arugula, beets, lettuce, and carrots under some row cover right out in the garden. My greenhouse seedlings are sprouting; although many of the new sprouts were hiding in our compost (which we never turn over often enough to kill the weed seed). With this warm weather the soil should warm up a bit and maybe allow some plantings directly in the garden. The garlic is up about 2 inches and looking happy and the spring onions are close to ready to start eating!
Alan, Colin and Dylan have been busy getting the fences and pastures ready for spring. Jack the horse and Pedro the donkey are already grazing the short green grass growing beside the stream in their pasture. Horses eat grass with their teeth, cutting off the grass very short when it is so nice and tender like the new April grass. The cows must wait a bit for the grass to grow longer as they grab the grass with their tongue and then use their teeth to chop off the blades. When the grass starts growing and the sun and the warmth begins to really be felt, all the animals start roaming around to find forage. With all the windy storms this winter, many limbs and trees had fallen across the fences and each pasture must be checked to make sure the fence is up. The old farm pickup truck is loaded with the fence electricity tester, chainsaws, extra chains, sharpeners, gas, oil, branch loppers, wire, wire cutters, extra fence posts, and extra wire holders for the posts. You drive slowly along the edge of each pasture watching the wire to be sure it is still up, intact and not touching anything but the plastic wire holders so that there will be no short circuiting of the electricity. At each repair spot, you jump out and fix what is needed; move the branch, cut the tree and repair the wire, install a new post to lift the wire off the ground where the deer have jumped through and knocked the fence down. Once all set again, continue driving through the next of the 40 or so hayfields, pastures and paddocks until all is well. We have miles of fences and the other important point is that the electricity has to have a path throughout the network of wire so the circuit is wholesome.
Today we plan to fence a new area for the pigs to explore. That is really fun to watch. Sometimes, if you are allowing them into a new area where the fence has stopped them before, they are smart enough to know they do not want to cross the line and they need to be lured across to the new site. Once the first brave pig ventures to explore, the others follow; some with enthusiasm and some more slowly. They will have a great time digging up this new area that we’d like loosened up. There will be mounds in some areas and craters in others. There is not much grass to eat yet so the majority of their searching for nutrients is under the surface! Some farmers actually use the pigs to till new fields and gardens.
The other big project we have been working on these days is a new backhoe. We do not have much equipment except for all nine of Alan’s 1950’s John Deere tractors. For haying we have a mower, a tedder, a rake, a baler. We have a manure spreader which we use for compost since the cows spread their own manure (thank goodness!). We have discs we use for preparing seeding areas or mowing sapling areas where the little trees have gotten ahead of the cows eating them. But a backhoe would help us in areas of fixing culver crossings under the farm roads, fixing water swales that have filled with runoff over the years, grading our road to the north barn where we pack your orders, and all kinds or projects for improvement of the terrain. Alan has run an ad in the local swap paper for about 3 years looking for one and finally he has negotiated a deal for one. He is so excited. We think that Salem Farm supply is delivering it today after checking it all out and changing all the fluids for us. We know what Alan will be doing this weekend – maybe digging and filling practice holes! Not everyone’s idea of great fun!
Happy Easter and hope you enjoyed Passover and your Seder.
We are welcoming the wonderful weather and have begun, a little while after you folks, to wear short sleeves and no jackets! We hope no one was too fooled yesterday. We hope you are all happy and hopeful for the future.
Take care, Nancy and Alan
We have been cleaning up the gardens in spite of the chilly weather and cold soil and this weekend we hope to begin planting seeds of spinach, arugula, beets, lettuce, and carrots under some row cover right out in the garden. My greenhouse seedlings are sprouting; although many of the new sprouts were hiding in our compost (which we never turn over often enough to kill the weed seed). With this warm weather the soil should warm up a bit and maybe allow some plantings directly in the garden. The garlic is up about 2 inches and looking happy and the spring onions are close to ready to start eating!
Alan, Colin and Dylan have been busy getting the fences and pastures ready for spring. Jack the horse and Pedro the donkey are already grazing the short green grass growing beside the stream in their pasture. Horses eat grass with their teeth, cutting off the grass very short when it is so nice and tender like the new April grass. The cows must wait a bit for the grass to grow longer as they grab the grass with their tongue and then use their teeth to chop off the blades. When the grass starts growing and the sun and the warmth begins to really be felt, all the animals start roaming around to find forage. With all the windy storms this winter, many limbs and trees had fallen across the fences and each pasture must be checked to make sure the fence is up. The old farm pickup truck is loaded with the fence electricity tester, chainsaws, extra chains, sharpeners, gas, oil, branch loppers, wire, wire cutters, extra fence posts, and extra wire holders for the posts. You drive slowly along the edge of each pasture watching the wire to be sure it is still up, intact and not touching anything but the plastic wire holders so that there will be no short circuiting of the electricity. At each repair spot, you jump out and fix what is needed; move the branch, cut the tree and repair the wire, install a new post to lift the wire off the ground where the deer have jumped through and knocked the fence down. Once all set again, continue driving through the next of the 40 or so hayfields, pastures and paddocks until all is well. We have miles of fences and the other important point is that the electricity has to have a path throughout the network of wire so the circuit is wholesome.
Today we plan to fence a new area for the pigs to explore. That is really fun to watch. Sometimes, if you are allowing them into a new area where the fence has stopped them before, they are smart enough to know they do not want to cross the line and they need to be lured across to the new site. Once the first brave pig ventures to explore, the others follow; some with enthusiasm and some more slowly. They will have a great time digging up this new area that we’d like loosened up. There will be mounds in some areas and craters in others. There is not much grass to eat yet so the majority of their searching for nutrients is under the surface! Some farmers actually use the pigs to till new fields and gardens.
The other big project we have been working on these days is a new backhoe. We do not have much equipment except for all nine of Alan’s 1950’s John Deere tractors. For haying we have a mower, a tedder, a rake, a baler. We have a manure spreader which we use for compost since the cows spread their own manure (thank goodness!). We have discs we use for preparing seeding areas or mowing sapling areas where the little trees have gotten ahead of the cows eating them. But a backhoe would help us in areas of fixing culver crossings under the farm roads, fixing water swales that have filled with runoff over the years, grading our road to the north barn where we pack your orders, and all kinds or projects for improvement of the terrain. Alan has run an ad in the local swap paper for about 3 years looking for one and finally he has negotiated a deal for one. He is so excited. We think that Salem Farm supply is delivering it today after checking it all out and changing all the fluids for us. We know what Alan will be doing this weekend – maybe digging and filling practice holes! Not everyone’s idea of great fun!
Happy Easter and hope you enjoyed Passover and your Seder.
We are welcoming the wonderful weather and have begun, a little while after you folks, to wear short sleeves and no jackets! We hope no one was too fooled yesterday. We hope you are all happy and hopeful for the future.
Take care, Nancy and Alan
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