Nick & Lamb

Nick, my nephew, visits the farm this week. Our surprise addition to the farm is named Birch. He was born last week to one of our yearlings who apparently got together with the ram. He is a handsome spotted lamb, who as a single, gets lots of mother's milk. He has plumped up considerably in the last week.

Gardens at HOWL

Our gardens at HOWL - A Vermont Women's Land Trust, pictured below about 2 weeks ago, are in full swing. I have canned 8 pints of green beans. Numerous meals have been accompanied by this wonderful legume, which is so rich in vitamin C, iron, potassium & fiber. The piggies have had their fair share as well.



Summer squashes abound and a few tomatoes are finally ripening. Swiss chard, beets, turnips and of course lots and lots of basil. About 10 servings of pesto are now in the freeze. Soon the tomatillos will be turned into salsa verde and more pesto will be made. Potatoes survived an early tussle with the Colorado potato beetle. With some vigilant hand picking of those pesky larva, I managed to eliminate them. The early blight and I are having a time of it...so far I am winning. I heard the late blight was here in Vermont, but I am hopeful that I won't get it.

The piggies have been given the remains of the spinach, arugula and broccoli, and I chop up the really large zucchinis for a nice side dish at dinner time.

Wiggers move to new paddock!

There is nothing more entertaining to see than a piggy on pasture. They run, they play. When we move them to a new pasture, they explore the boundaries of the paddock, immediately rooting around for the new, tasty tidbits. They'll leave your wild berries alone, but all else is fair game.

This is one of the Tamworth pigs coming through the thickest part of the new paddock.

Clearing the pastures

Slowly clearing and improving pasture is a lot of work. With our new mower, we can mow down all the weeds that the sheep don't eat...but only after we cut out all the saplings. Look at this pile!! Icelandic sheep eat most all weeds...even some that are toxic! Icelandic sheep are perfect for Vermont climates and conditions and are really helping to bring these fields back.