After six days of mowing, raking, baling and moving hay bales from dawn till past dusk we all looked like the walking dead moving around the farm. The gusty, shower-filled day Tuesday and non-stop pouring rain Wednesday provided a much-needed reprieve. If we weren’t so far behind on the farm work we were putting off to make hay I think we all would have happily spent the entire two days in bed. We did sneak a few naps in, and definitely some seven o’clock bedtimes, despite the eternal to-do list.
Conservation and Preservation
On Wednesday we had a group of farmers and landowners from the Dominican Republic on the farm for a tour and lunch. The group, hosted by chocolate maker Charles Kerchner, is interested in land conservation measures to protect the winter home of the migratory Bicknell’s Thrush, a bird that breeds in the Adirondack and Green Mountains during the summer months.
In addition to preserving the overlapping habitat of the bird and cacao beans, Charles trades directly with the cacao farmers for the beans that he imports to Vermont where they become some of the most incredibly flavored, hand-crafted chocolate bars that you can imagine tasting. The merging of commercially productive agriculture with ecological sensitivity was at issue, with lots of questions concerning the terms of our own conservation easement with the Eddy Foundation. Lightning and Rosa really stole the show though, everyone was interested in the working horse equipment and mostly with having their photo taken with Lightning.
Next week a continuation of Full and By first hand. We’ll be looking in on the vegetable fields during the tour next Thursday at 5pm.
In the Farm Shares
In the veggie share: Baby carrots, beets with greens, garlic scapes, strawberries, kale, chard, bunching onions, head lettuce, mesclun mix, napa cabbage, radishes, potatoes, celeriac, fresh cut herbs, wheat berries, whole wheat flour and dry beans. It was a cold spring for pea planting, everything was late and the soil still a bit cold for seeding. As a result the germination was not great and the sparse plantings are just getting ready to produce. We hope to have peas next week. Please return your strawberry containers for refills!
In the meat share: Broiler chickens, pork and beef. Fresh beef to come.
Related articles
- Full and By Farm: Monthly Farm Tours (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
- Full and By Farm: Magical Year in the Fields (So Far) (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
- Full and By Farm: Spring Greens (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
- Essex Farm: Haymaking (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
- Full and By Farm: Heat Good for Hay (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
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