The first batch of chickens went out to pasture yesterday. We started with a small group. Greta, our livestock guardian dog, lived with the cattle all winter, so we wanted to give her a gradual reintroduction back to pastured poultry duty. She did just fine with them. I think she was quite happy to be done […]
Pasture Season Begins, 2021 Read More »
I posted on the farm Instagram account a picture of the Honey Locust trees Zia and I have been planting in the pastures. Someone sent in a comment asking if the trees were for shade, and I thought, “Hey, this would be a great topic for this week’s post.” I’ll get to that question by
Multidimensional Farming Read More »
Things are humming at WDF. This week instead of a topical post I thought I’d just show you what we’ve been up to. We’re looking forward to a future when we can open up the farm to tours again to show you this first hand, but in the meantime I’ll try to keep it as
A Look Around the Farm Read More »
The first chicks of the season hatched this week. They wriggled free of their egg shells on Monday morning. We picked them up a few hours later and brought them back to the farm the same day. From now until Thanksgiving it is bird season at Wrong Direction Farm. The chicks are kept in close
We’re rolling out new boxes for our home delivery orders of grass fed and pasture raised meat. I realize the idea of custom-printed boxes is nothing revolutionary, but it sure feels like a big accomplishment for us. Here’s a look at the new boxes. If you place an order starting this weekend, you’ll have one
New Delivery Boxes Read More »
This is the time of year to bring out E.E. Cumming’s perfectly turned phrases “mud-luscious” and “puddle-wonderful”. This is mud season on the farm, and we are in the splash zone. Everything and everyone is spattered with mud. Receding snow is opening up patches of brown grass. Within a day of exposure the vegetation begins greening
Mud Season Arrives Read More »
Before we even started farming we knew following organic principles would be foundational to our farm. But somehow we never got around to filling out the paperwork and getting the inspections to certify the farm officially. It always seemed like it was not quite the highest priority; it was something to put off until next
Getting the farm Certified Organic Read More »
I love and hate shipping containers as farm infrastructure. We have four shipping containers and five tractor trailer boxes serving in some capacity on the farm. They provide modular, low-entry cost flexibility our farm has found essential. I don’t think we could have afforded to build out our farm’s business selling pasture raised chicken and
Containerized Farm Read More »
When people visit the farm I’ll frequently get a surprised comment, “Wow, that’s a lot of chickens!” And for the average person’s experience, I suppose a group of five hundred chickens is a lot, so I understand. But to my eye, this is just a small group of chickens. A conventional United States chicken farm
How Big is a Small Farm? Read More »
The last few weeks have been running on the colder side. Every morning and afternoon either Rachel or I chop the ice from the water trough that is fed by underground pipeline from the pond. For all our effort, most of our cattle never use the water trough whenever there is soft snow on the
Keeping the Cattle Hydrated Read More »
