Recap: A Year in Review

If a blog were an account of the true happenings of farm, it would rival the Oxford English Dictionary in its expansiveness.  Of course, the more we are doing on the farm, the less we have the time and energy to blog about it. Seeing that the blog hasn't been updated since April 2015, this is a good sign for the farm, though a poor sign for any faithful readers we might have. That's where I'm jumping in. Farmgirl here, writing an update on behalf of the chief farmers of this operation, because they are up to their elbows in all things kidding season at the moment.  I'm snuggled into my warm house watching the snow.  This seems like an arrangement I can live with.

The last post was exactly one year ago.  Babies arrived, the pastures grew, the farm got busy, and the blog got dusty. Here's an exceedingly abbreviated version of the 2015-2016 season for your viewing pleasure.

We were all enamored with the experiment of growing tef last summer- it grew like wild fire and kept everything else out of the field.  Plus, it is soft and really fun to run through, especially if you are a member of the 12 and under set.

Perhaps the most important work of farming is ensuring a future for the farm.  This not only means paying attention to feeding the land (more on that in future posts), but feeding the love of farming in the next generation.  For the youngest farmer, that usually means just letting him tag along and shadow his PopPop. As they get older, it means patience while they practice their skills and, perhaps, get a bit distracted in the process (like pulling the rope that connects our hose to the very top of the barn, before realizing the pulley is now stuck, for example).  

No picture of learning to be patient with the young learner in the rope situation. 

The rope was retrieved, 

the hose reattached, and we were all grateful for ladders. But enjoy another glimpse of the distractedly happy apprentices: 

Summer gave way to a glorious autumn- 

-And the goats kept marching to pasture.  The kids grew (both the 4-legged and bipedal variety), and 

autumn lasted a record length of time:  from September through April. 

Winter started on April 3, 2016. 

... Just in time for kidding season 2016. 

So, Earth has found its way around the sun for another complete revolution, and the seasons have spun along with it.  We hope with the new writing arrangement to update you on happenings here more often than the Earth can make it around the sun.  Stay tuned (and hopeful!) with us. Thank you!

Future topics: 

• kidding updates
• Chicken scratch, or why we've moved to a no-soy, non-GMO feed
• feeding a farm:  how to nourish the soil for long-term gains