SPRING!!!

Spring has finally come. Welcome Bo(Duke), the first calf of the season. Krys found this little guy Saturday morning on his way down to the barn. It is always a joy when you find a calf by it's mother's side and know it is healthy.

Monday when I returned from work, Lady had a new calf by her side. Lilly is her name and she is full of spunk. Her mother would not let me anywhere near little calf. Protective does not even describe it.

So two calves down, Ten to go. I will keep you all up to date.

Lambs are due in May.

Happy Holidays

Winter is here. It always takes a little bit of -10 to remind you that winter is a hard time of the year. Frozen pipes, frozen water buckets, and of course frozen us.

The sheep don't seem to mind and the cows are content, the chickens though are awaiting spring.

Although it is cold and chores seem to take longer, winter is full of recreational opportunities. Make sure you get out there and enjoy the snow.

Have a safe and joyful Holiday season!

Farm Help Housing

He may be small, but his labor is free.

This is Owen, an up and coming farmhand at Twiss Hill. This summer Owen helped collect eggs(only cracked a couple), and rode with Krys on the tractor during haying. We are always happy to have kids on the farm and if they are old enough to walk we can usually find a job for them.

Winter has come once again, we woke up to a complete snow cover. The animals are all close to the barns for winter and eating the we made this summer. 9 cows are bred, with 2 more as a maybe. Bull has done his job and we will be keeping him for at least one more season. As far as the sheep go, I guess we will see in the spring. Cowboy(our Ram)is very interested in the ladies, but we are not sure if they are taking to him. Time will tell.

It's deer hunting season in Vermont and Krys has told me he will be filling our freezer with venison. I hope he does, but so far all we have seen are does.

Not much more to report, it's winter and sleeping and eating is about it for the animals until spring.

October 29th

SNOW!!! Just a little reminder from winter that it is coming and we need to be ready. Not sure all of the chickens were as excited as this one.

Greener Pastures

Green Pastures in October? Each fall we let the cows into the meadow behind the barn. We have taken two cuts of hay off of it and we let the girls get the third. To get the most out of the grass, every other day Krys moves the fence forward 20 feet or so. This is called strip grazing. The cows do a great job and we save fuel and feed by letting them do the mowing. In the future we hope do do more strip grazing in our pastures, but it takes a lot of time and careful planning of water tubs and fencing.

End of the Season

What a summer! Our busiest season is over. This year we raised 300 meat birds and 10 pigs for our customers. We will winter 18 Black Angus and 6 Icelandic Sheep, as well as our small flock of Laying hens. I put up over 50 jars of pickles(dilly beans/cukes), and 15 jars of green beans. Our freezers are filled with organic chicken, which we will sell through the winter and spring. We are proud to announce that our Chickens are being served at Stella Notte on Rte 108 across from Smuggler's Notch Resort. If all goes well this will open us up to more local restaurants.

The Vet was at the farm this week to Bred check the Angus. Good news 9 out of 12 are bred, this will make for some full pastures next summer and a busy spring. We also hope to have our 4 Icelandic Ewes bred this fall, if all goes well we will have 4-8 lambs in the spring. Hope our neighbors don't mind the sound of weaning.

Krys and I finally have a little bit of time for some fun. The picture above is at the Shelburne Museum in the beach house. We went last Sunday with our friends Sean, Erin and Owen(future farmhand). It was nice to get away for the day and do something totally not farm related.

I will try to update this blog more frequently this fall and winter, also I will once more attempt to get our website up and running.

If you want some chickens for you freezer, give us a call (802) 644-8341.

More Sheep

Welcome Eve, Flash and Teddy!

We bought these three Icelandics from Maple View Farm in Westfield, VT. Eve and Flash are Ewes and will be a part of our foundation Girls with our other two Ewes, Rikki and Vona. Teddy is a wether, a fixed male and will be a great friend to Cowboy our Ram. If all goes well we will have between 4 to 8 plus lambs in the spring. We plan on having them all sheared by October and them having the wool made into yarn. Looks like I might have to start knitting.

Other news on the Farm:
We have chickens for sale!!! All Organic and pasture raised, ready for your freezer. They weigh 3.5 to 5 lbs and are $4.00 per pound. The pigs are almost done for the season with a September 20th slaughter date. We still have a 1/2 of pig available.
Call us if you are interested (802) 644-8341.

Fall is coming and it is time to fill the woodshed and the freezer.