Back when I was picking puffball mushrooms I found a long, vivid green swath of grass about two feet wide. I didn’t think much of it, but a few weeks later when I returned to that field I realized that the green grass formed a long arc about fifty feet in diameter. It puzzled me for …
Whenever I drive into the sows’ pasture to drop off a bale of hay, they come barrelling out of all corners of the field, ears flopping, doing the bucking-horse run I never grow tired of watching. Do they care about the hay? Are they happy to see me? No and no. They are only excited because …
Our bales of bedding straw came from a weedy field that wasn’t combined, so there are plenty of oats still attached to the stems. This straw would be disastrous if used for garden mulch, but it excels as livestock bedding. It fulfills two Maslovian first tier requirements in one package (food and shelter), almost as good …
Last winter I pondered whether it would be feasible to add laying hens to our operation. We gave it a try, and we lost money spectacularly. Rate of lay rarely exceeded 60% and most of the summer it hovered just under 50%. This might be due to any number of things. Maybe our Red Sex Link …
CSAs deliveries are wrapping up for the season. This is our second year working with the Montclair CSA. For anyone living in Essex County, NJ, we have high praise for them. We feel fortunate to work with folks who are so supportive. It is no shocking revelation to observe that our culture seems to push us …
If you dig one ditch you better dig two cause the trap you set just may be for you. Mahalia Jackson (I found this quote a while back and liked it, but I didn’t anticipate having a use for it. It is attributed to Mahalia Jackson here, although I haven’t been able to trace it down …
With apologies to both Trent Reznor and Johnny Cash. (The Nine Inch Nails song was a big deal when I was in high school, but I like Johnny’s Hurt better. I have a soft spot for just about anything by Johnny Cash, no matter how mawkish. I’m not sure why, but I’ll enjoy something sung by him when …
You work twice as hard to be a farmer as to be his hog. Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes I think “twice as hard” simultaneously underestimates the farmer’s workload and overestimates the contribution of the pigs, but the general idea is right. Not that the pigs don’t do any work. They have been working all …
