Last But Not Least

The last of the season. Now I suppose we can get serious about the garden! This one joined us Saturday...Clementine's the name. Nursing and looking super cute is her game.

Today we took a quick visit over to the Windsor Farmers' Market where we'll be vending again this year. CSA members can pick up their share at the market. This is one of four sites and delivery days. We will start at Windsor in June. The CSA will start after Memorial Day this year.
Check out these photos from today:

Great products, great people!
Windsor Market is Sundays from 12 to 3pm on the Green across from the library.

The Latest and the Greatest

Today we got a surprise...Amos gave birth a few days early to a baby buckling.

About two weeks ago, Hedda also gave birth to wee boy goat.

She chose 4am  unlike Amos who delivered around brunch.
Stay tuned for more kid pictures as they grow into springy little rabbits!


The gardens are coming along, for those of you wondering about your CSA. We have rhubarb and peas up. The cabbages, onions and lettuce have been transplanted out. The greenhouse is filling up with tomatos and peppers and I'm dividing herbs and flowers continually. I'm happy with the recent pace of spring...sunny but not terribly warm and cool nights above freezing. I'll get some photos linked as soon as things green up a bit more.

Farm Tee Shirt Trials

I'm trying out my logo as a silk screen. I ran a few Tees yesterday and learned quite a bit. I'm hoping to refine the design and sell/give the shirts to customers and friends who are interested. What do you think?

Dried overnight then heat set this a.m.

My able and eager assistant.



Surfing the Wave

Spring is always entertaining. It's often a series of false starts with fits of sun, raging winds and trampling rains. Those of us living in New England are pretty accustomed to these shananagans and buffer ourselves. The period of heat and sun we recently got managed to dry our our field sufficiently enough to till, can you believe it?!

Perennials like chives, rhubarb and sorrel have started there revival and my mind starts to jump ahead, planning the next tasks to undertake.

 In the passively heated greenhouse which is acting as a cold frame right now, you'll find lettuces, leeks and assorted brassicas. With a bit of luck we'll have some early substantial vegetables come May.

The chickens also enjoy the tilling. They are grateful for the return of insects to their diet. Who else is happy about the return of spring? Why our silly goats, as illustrated here with a quick frolicking roll...

It's time to register for our CSA!

Our farm share runs from late May through the end of October with a bonus pack at Thanksgiving.

Some of the vegetables our farm share will include:
Salad Greens
Beets & Turnips
Carrots & Parsnips
Broccoli & Cabbage
Tomatoes & Peppers
Cukes & Zukes
Tomatillos
Beans: green, shell and dry
Potatoes
Berries
Kale
Onions & Garlic
Summer & Winter Squash
Herbs: fresh and dry
Arugula & Spinach
Leeks
Edamame

Send us an email and we'll sign you up!

Winter walk through the market garden

Sunny days are great for dreaming. The boy and I took a gander in the garden. Lots of ice, little snow cover and plenty of jig dancing. About half the garden will need tilling in the spring. The other half is set and ready to go. Seven 50 foot 30 inch rows of garlic tucked in and dreaming of spring.



Facing North, the southern side of the beds have melted out somewhat.

Facing South, the northern sides of the beds are still covered. We'll see what the weather brings next.Winter is not over yet!



This farm has gone to the goats...

We're here. The growing season is coming...along with kidding season. Details coming soon!

The Surprising Nature of Growth

There is a screech overhead, and with a quick glance up from harvesting peas I am just in time to see an adult and several fledgling hawks disappear into the cover of forest surrounding the garden. My familiarity with the general appearance of hawks allowed me to make the distinction, but I would have to converse with Chris about the detailed coloring of the birds in order to identify the species. So, intrigued at the sighting, and admittedly a bit worried about our chickens and turkeys, I make a mental note to check up later on the species, and return to the work in the garden.

With the recent heat we’ve getting, and the coming of the heart of summer, the growth of the plants has seemed exponential. Although I’m in the field every day for hours and have a mental image of how things look, I am continually surprised by the bountiful growth all around me. Some crops’ perseverance is more noticeable in vertical dimensions--in mind I’ve got tomatoes, sunflowers, corn, beans, basil, and seedlings--while others, such as squashes, strawberries, and rhubarb, give the majority of their energy to their leaves and expand horizontally. Of course, plants grow in both dimensions simultaneously, but each does so in its own proportions. In addition to healthy growth, the plants are relatively free of pests (KNOCK ON WOOD), producing well, and make a beautiful spread for us at the farmers markets.

After discussing with Chris the aforementioned hawk, and with the additional consultation of a field guide I come to an at least somewhat confident conclusion that it was a Cooper’s Hawk that screeched above me. I have always been fascinated by birds of prey because they are exceptionally adapted to their distinct abilities: with strong feet for taking off, landing, and holding prey, curved talons for catching and killing, excellent eyesight, and a sharp beak for tearing through flesh, this highly specialized anatomy relates to such a particular life mission. The heart of a bird of prey must be the color of Amaranth, the deepest of purples rich with the strongest sinew. I have not seen the Cooper’s Hawk since that first sighting, but I know she is around, looking out for her fledglings as they learn the skills of their mother. In their mixed habitat of farmland and forest, the presence of humans and our livestock is taken in stride by the undiscerning nature of these animals using their abilities to survive, while we do the same.

The goats, the chickens, the turkeys, they have a home here because we are caring for them in the best way we know how, but we must remember that if predator or pest compromises our animals and plants it is acceptable, because we can never eliminate a threat entirely. We must learn to live with these threats and to minimize their impact; if we can do this, and I believe we have been, they are diminished from threats to annoyances, which are easier to deal with. Hey California Potato Beetle! Don’t get comfortable.

- Matt

First Impressions

Greetings! My name is Matt Didisheim and I am the apprentice at Side Track Farm in Hartland, Vermont. This will be my first entry, and as such I will focus on first impressions. I believe strongly in the significance of first impressions because they are instinctual observations that stem from our raw imagination and immediate existence, giving the observer primary source material that provides a starting point from which to expand upon retrospectively. Every day I tell myself that I’ve come here to learn, as a reminder and a re-dedication of purpose, and although it’s a voice in my head that comes as a relative whisper to the clamorous life lived on a farm, I hear it more as an echo that reverberates and never quite disappears. I am glad that voice is there, because it is the reason why I came here, and the reason why I remain. At the onset of my fourth week on the farm, as the daily tasks have grown familiar and my proficiency improved, I am able to take a breath and describe some of the thoughts I’ve been having about life on the farm.

As I crouch between rows of crops ecstatic that I am plucking away the weeds, or sit beside an impatient goat who wishes my milking efficiency would improve already, or reach my hand beneath an indignant hen in hopes of finding an egg, I am struck by the variety of attitudes to be found here among the flora and fauna. The goats are placid, most of the time, and after they have had their allotment of grain and their fill of grass they do not complain much. They can be found laying on the grass in the heat, the kids nestled up against one another, or roaming their pens in search of a snack, a sparring partner (for the fun of it), or an udder to suckle. The kids are growing up, becoming faster and abler, and the adults seem to show a rarefied contentment at the way things are going. The chickens waddle around in silly maneuvers, bobbing their heads and shaking their bodies, with the simple desires of scrounging food and laying eggs on their minds. Nearby, the young turkeys negotiate social cues and get to know each other, looking out from their covered pen at the chickens with jealousy at their freedom to wander, and the two species at times stare at each other as if resistant to the other’s existence. The crops survived a period of intense heat and are now happily soaked in what seems to be a very appropriate amount of moisture. Newly planted beans are shooting up, cabbages are forming promisingly, tomato stalks are reaching higher and higher, and squash leaves are multiplying. Amidst all this growth and change in its many forms, I am left astounded at the resiliency of life here, and as I go about my daily tasks I cannot help but gather from the flourishing life around me the willpower and motivation to strengthen my own existence.

The Latest and Last



Andy's baby buck born Friday 20

  Last two births gave us boys. We will raise them up together and use one or both for breeding. Andy's kid has genetics from outside our animals so we are anxious to use him to get some separation within the herd.



Butch, son of Amos, born Friday 13


Soon we will have pics of piles of baby goats. They will be together until the bucklings are about two months old. Then we will separate them out to prevent unwanted accidental pregnancies. Believe it or not the fellas are able and certainly willing at that age. The boys also start to become more rough and dominant. If we were to castrate in order to keep a wether, this would be the latest we would want to do that. The young females would surely suffer from a premature pregnancy at that age.

Butch trying to greet his new cousin and companion.

 I managed to miss every birth this year arriving on the scene within the hour of the events. Regardless I am relieved that kidding season is over. We had no major complications and all the animals seem healthy and robust.

Total of 4 kids from three births. Two females, two male. Pretty ideal numbers.

Everything's a-poppin' and a-hoppin'!



The early daffs.




Catmint.




Chives




Rhubarb




Frog Prince.



New Kids on the Farm

Born Easter Sunday at 2 a.m. Both are female and oh so cuter by the day. Sparky is a great mom and had impressive delivery with no intervention.

 

Especially cute when yawning...

You can already tell this one is going to be a little trouble maker.

We are happy that the babes are well. We have two more does due in May so there should be some more kid pics to come.

Meanwhile in the garden things are really popping. The heat accompanying all this rain has given everything a boost. The peas have just breached the earth in the upper and lower gardens. I've got perennial herbs and walking onions that are starting to grow gang-busters. It's the time of renewal and a quickening. I'm really excited for the season.

Meet the New Logo!

It only took me ALL winter to use a part of an image I carved in 2005!

Good grief.