Farm Geeks

Sheeps & Peeps6 Comments

Farm Geeks? 
You know that person
:: who stops to wonder at the display of ring pin fasteners everytime they go to the farmstore
:: thinks that zip ties, bungee cords and rachet tie downs were just about the best things ever invented
:: whose Boggs barn boots are among their most prized posessions
:: has at least one Joel Salatin book on their night stand
:: slows down to a crawl when they pass a field containing a baby farm animal

Then, of course, there is their unadulterated admiration of hay!  Is there anything quite as pretty as that interior layer of hay where the bale naturally falls open after the baler twine is cut?  To delight in the charm of the tidy rows of timothy and alfalfa… but oh, to behold the beauty of the perfectly preserved red clover on a cold winter morning… it can take your breath away. 

The expectant ewes share that appreciation of a good bale of hay.  They come running, stealing mouthfuls on the way to the feeder.  They are not very patient or polite this time of year –  pushing, shoving their way in, trying to make sure they get their fair share of the goodness – very much the pregnant ladies at the salad bar.  Samson stands guard, ready to re-establish order should things get too rowdy.

Beautiful… life-sustaining…and we haven’t even mentioned the weight-lifting program they provide… maybe this post should be re-titled “Ode to the Square Bale”
Many thanks to Verde Farm for hosting the blog party – Farm Friend Friday #5 – you can visit them here.

Old March

Sheeps & Peeps2 Comments

March

Of all the months of all the year old March has them all beat.
First we suffer from the cold, then we suffer from the heat.
The wind it huffs and puffs around.  The rain falls all day,
But then at night it snows and snows and never stops to play.

Next morning out pops the sun and melts the snow, and then
The children all come running out ready for play again.

The east wind takes a look and thinks, “Now I’ll have some fun.”
He picks up the boys hats and says, “Now watch them run.”
He tosses all the kites around away off through the sky.
And then he laughs, how he can make the little girls to cry.

Oh yes! Old March is full of fun, he keeps us on the go.
First we are wading through the mud, then plowing through the snow.
So of all the months of all the year, we like old March the best.
He keeps us guessing all the time and never lets us rest.

— by Lena Gertrude Dixon Wiles, our Grandmother

Just Another February Storm

Sheeps & Peeps4 Comments

Yesterday began with rain and temperatures in the 50’s but the mid-morning cold front brought gusting winds, sleet and hail.  By late afternoon the wind was gusting, the snow was blowing horizontally and wind chills had dropped to the single digits.  Samson’s buckets and dog house made an unplanned trip over the hill, many of the ewes headed into the barn and Betty Lou and Beef hunkered down in the ram pasture shelter.

The rams didn’t seem to be too concerned about much of anything and were perfectly content to hang out in the pasture despite everything that Mother Nature threw at them.

WV Small Farm Conference, Day 3

Sheeps & PeepsLeave a comment

It’s difficult to believe, but we passed up Tom’s Top Ten Tax Tips (sorry, Tom) and began day three with Farm Woodlot Management.  Two very interesting presentations – Dave McGill from WVU Extension on woodland management and the WV Woodland Stewards then Guergen Wildman from the WV Division of Forestry provided information about Forest Stewardship. Both gentlemen talked quite a bit about invasive plants endangering West Virginia forests; more information about that can be found here. 

Well, you know, we had to give our peeps equal time, so our next session began with Managing the Small Scale Layer Flock presented by Jerry Ours, WVDA.  Jerry advised the class how to make an operation more efficient and a layer flock more profitable. It was educational, but now I have to say that the next speaker was definitely the rock star of the conference.  Wes Davis, FFA member and entrepreneur,  gave his presentation – My Own Laying Flock, sharing his experiences producing eggs.  Young Wes runs a thriving free-range egg business called Turkey Hill Farm in Mason County.   He was a delightful speaker, and everyone was talking about him after class and throughout the rest of the day.  He is an aggressive marketer, and even carries a cooler to school to deliver eggs to his teachers.  Hats off to this young man.  As the ladies waiting in line at the restroom were saying, “That young Wes is going places!”
While one of the Shepherdess/s next attended Nutrient Enhanced Eggs & Affordable Broiler Production from the Backyard Flock, the other went to 50 Best Agritourism Ideas.  Both classes were great, but the Shepherdess that went to the agritourism class got to churn butter, make a chia pet out of a sock and play a pumpkinized version of cornhole.  Lots of wonderful information from both classes, but I think maybe someone got the short end of the stick there.
Don Kretschmann of Kretschmann Farms spoke at lunch about establishing his organic farm over 30 years ago and becoming one of the first to offer a CSA program.  Don, also, is a thoughtful and  inspirational speaker.  Honestly, we can’t say enough about the first-rate job that the staff at the Small Farm Center does in putting together a top-notch group of speakers and a wide variety of classes. It’s hard to believe but while we were attending the classes mentioned here there, were five other classes that could have been chosen – six classes running simultaneously- all day long . Many thanks to Tom and his staff for such an educational and memorable conference.
(And thanks to all of you for your patience in our conference ramblings.  Many times we also use this blog as a personal reference tool.  So thank you for bearing with us, we will be back to more pictures in the morning.)

WV Small Farm Conference, Day 2

Sheeps & Peeps1 Comment
Courtesy of G & N Ramp Farm

We started day two of the conference with Forest Non-Timber; it began with a West Virginia legend, Glen Facemire,   He and his wife, Noreen, run G & N Ramp Farm in Richwood, home of the Feast of the Ransom.  Industrial/residential development and over-harvesting are putting our beloved ramp in some danger, so here is some of Glenn’s advice:
— better to harvest and plant than let the ramps go to seed; they have a better chance of survival
— they like to be planted near rocks
— dig the big clumps and leave the twos, threes and singles
Glen is a great speaker and very informative.  We could probably do an entire post on just his class, but instead we will direct you to his book ‘Having Your Ramps and Eating Them Too’.  If you can’t dig your own, or buy roadside ramps, you can buy them from Glen.
Paul Goland of Hardscrabble Enterprises was next up in the Forest Non-Timber class and gave a very educational talk and demonstration on Shitake Mushrooms.  Paul is in his 80’s and is a master at what he does.  Just two of his many pieces of advice – shade and temperature change are essential, and if you are having slug problems sprinkle some agricultural salt around the base of your logs. Paul does not have a web-site so if you would like contact information just let us know.
Next up, Beekeeping with Paul Poling, West Virginia’s State Apiary Specialist, presenting all the steps necessary to get started.  It was very informative, as we took well over a dozen small pages of notes.

Liberty Hill Farm’s RoBeth Holstein Herd courtesy of their website

 

The lunch time speaker was Beth Kennett from Libert Hill Farm in Vermont.  Beth is an energetic and dynamic speaker, and shared her family’s inspirational story of running a Dairy Farm with a Bed and Breakfast.  She ended her talk with a story about a young mother, her son and farmer super heroes.  Suffice it to say that the Shepherdess/s and most of the room had tears in their eyes by the time she was done. 
It is difficult to believe, but the class following lunch featured another great speaker, Mimi Hernandez.  Mimi is the Outreach Coordinator for the Appalachian Center for Ethnobotanical Studies, and presented Medicinal Plants from the Farm and Forest Floor.  She covered everything from making Chickweed Pesto to preparing a spit poultice from Plantain, the herbal bandaid.  Mimi is traveling the state presenting her Mountain Roots workshops.  It would be well worth the effort to hear her speak.
We rounded out the day with Brad Smith’s Small Ruminant Management.  He spoke about efficient and sustainable sheep and goat production.  We take every opportunity we can to attend anything about small ruminants, and always walk away with new insight, some tidbit of information or that feeling of why didn’t we think of that before.  And… well,…you know…we just love to talk about sheep.
I almost ended without mentioning The Great West Virginia Pop-Off! and the Local Food Celebration & Banquet.  We will save that for another day, another post devoted just to the food because that was the theme of the conference – “It’s all about the food!”

WV Small Farm Conference, Day 1

Sheeps & PeepsLeave a comment

Gosh, where do we begin… We had a great time at the WV Small Farms Conference!  Day 1 was spent in a Cheesemaking seminar.  In the morning there was a presentation by Brian Stone from Northboro, MA.  Brian has traveled the world helping farmers make better cheese.  He reviewed all the dos and don’ts, the rules and regulations.  We learned, for example – Raw Milk cheese has to be aged 60 days or longer according to FDA rules;  there is a PMO – Pasteurized Milk Ordinance (who knew); and to sell cheese from your own milk, you must become a certified Grade A Dairy.
After a wonderful lunch, we had a brief visit with Beth Kennett from Liberty Hill Farm in Vermont.  This would be the first of three times that we heard Beth speak.  She is a remarkable lady, but more about her in a later post.  This is after all.. all about the cheese. 

Spring Gap Mountain Creamery Tomme Cheese (their photo)

The afternoon session began with a panel discussion with Brian; the WVDA; the Health Dept; Callie and Ben, start-up cheesemakers; Vince, maker of Mozzarella, from Hancock County; and Penny and Jurgen from Spring Gap Mountain Creamery, in Paw Paw.  This was really interesting as they talked about their operations, mistakes they have made and the challenges of being Artisan Cheesemakers.
We were a little disappointed that the seminar was not more hands-on, but we signed up for a follow-up seminar that is to include the actual making of cheese.  We ended the session with, of course, a cheese tasting!  Talk turned to wine and cheese, but Brian informed us that real cheese tastings are accompanied by beer.  We shared some of Vince’s Mozzarella balls, several cheeses from Trickling Springs Creamery and a couple from Spring Gap Mountain Creamery.  They were all delicious, but the favorite of both Shepherdess/s was the Tomme Cheese from Spring Gap Mountain Creamery named Shenandoah Sunrise.
We spent the evening at the Winter Blues Farmers Market – good music, lots of local food – pretty much the perfect ending to a pretty much perfect day.