Wondering what the news is around Essex Farm? Hear the update from Kristin Kimball below:
“Mark and I just got back from a bike tour around what we jokingly call The Empire. We saw all the animals and most of the plants, and it took almost a whole morning. Here’s the report.
The garlic came in yesterday and is hanging in elegant strings from the rafters of the covered barnyard. The dairy cattle are spending their days in there this week. There’s something olfactorily confusing but not entirely displeasing about the smell of cows mingled with the smell of all that garlic. We estimate somewhere between 15- and 20,000 heads, a little on the small side, half of which will go back into the ground as seed garlic. Once it is dry, members, we’ll have it in the share.
The beef herd is full of four-legged dirigibles, the cows all heavily pregnant and ready to calve starting on the first of August. They are bred to an Angus bull this year, so we’re eager to see how these babies turn out. Gwen has culled heavily for temperament the last two seasons, cutting out all the ambitious types who like to push or jump the fence. The result is a herd of cattle with Quaalude-like mellowness. It’s very peaceful out there. I wish the pastures looked better for them. The grasses in the less-than-perfect places are still suffering the effects of the Great Flooding.
Next stop was the herd of pigs on Blockhouse Road, the ones born in early spring. There are forty of them there, ranging in weight from an estimated 210 pounds to about half that size…” [Continue reading this Essex Farm Note.]
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