Check out this week’s Essex Farm news directly from Kristin Kimball‘s blog:
“This is a fat time of the year. The hens, in a new pasture today, are hunting through tall and fragrant clover for the crickets and grasshoppers that pop up in a cloud whenever you take a step these days. The hens are uncharacteristically still, half buried in grass, until they dart their beaks forward and spear a fat insect. Then they do it all over again. In their focused contentment they remind me of fishermen in an absurdly well-stocked pond.
And that grass! Graziers talk about the summer slump – the lean time in July or August when the early season grasses are gone, but the fall grasses have not yet kicked in. The slump was not too severe this year, thanks to the well-timed rains, but what slump there was is certainly over now. All the animals are on beautiful grass and clover, and eating with dedicated purpose, because they can feel the winter coming too.
We are making more second cut hay this week. Fifty large round bales came in yesterday, and another fifty should come in today. We are lucky to get it. Mark took Jane camping for three days during this window of good weather, and as usual, the farm knew he was gone, and turned on us.
The baler broke while all the hay was down, and Corey, who is so good in the shop, was called away from the farm unexpectedly. Scott and I spent a tense day moving from plan A to plan B to plan C, and still didn’t get the hay made until Mark was back and the farm was satisfied that we’d suffered enough…” Continue reading this Essex Farm Note.
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