Monday was the highlight of the week for Hallie and Hasten as we helped my dad and brother tag and work about 80 cow/calf pairs. It was Carter and Wren’s job to restock the ear tagger as they were being used. Hallie and Hasten worked together to push the calves down the shoot to the head gate, bringing back memories of my brother and myself wrestling calves…
Read MoreAfter multiple unsuccessful attempts over the weekend to haul the remaining pigs from the woods back to the barn, on Monday we finally accomplished our task. It took three trips and a lot of walking up and down the hillside in the woods, but we got them. I doubt we could’ve without Hallie and Hasten. Our third trip was for a sole stubborn hog…
Read MoreTemperatures fell below freezing Sunday afternoon. Barely a few hours of above freezing temperatures since then. Hard to get motivated to do more than what is necessary. Keeping cows, pigs, and chickens watered has obviously been a more intentional chore than it usually is. Keeping water to the pigs in the woods proving to be the most challenging…
Read MoreA slower week. Which is fine by me. Amy’s brother brought his family up for the weekend so he could do some deer hunting. After getting Amy loaded up for the Abingdon Farmers Market Saturday morning, the rest of my Saturday was spent…
Read MoreOld man winter is knocking at the door. Though I do not welcome him in, he imposes his presence anyhow with 2-3 inches of snow covering the ground this morning. Keeping the outdoor boiler chucked full of wood to heat the house. We hauled in a load of wood…
Read MoreI filled in for Amy Saturday at the Abingdon Farmers Market. There was a line waiting when the market opened which only seemed to grow throughout the two hour span of the market. My apologies to those who patiently waited. Amy runs a tighter ship and is far more efficient at managing the market than I am. She’ll be back this Saturday. As overwhelming as the market was, I was far more overwhelmed by a sense of gratitude. Flashing back to several years ago…
Read MoreOur egg laying hens are now producing more regularly. We’ve been collecting about 3 dozen a day. Two new baby calves arrived this week. Keeping the pigs fed and content. The pigs in the woods continue to prefer foraging from mother nature’s table…
Read MoreAnother beautiful week. I filled in for Amy at the Abingdon Farmers Market on Saturday while she was away taking a much needed and much deserved girls’ weekend away with some of her friends from college. Though out of my element, I really enjoyed the market. Meeting new folks and seeing faces I hadn’t seen in a while.
Read MoreQuite possibly the most beautiful week of the year. Peak color in the mountain leaves. Crisp cool mornings warming into the 70’s throughout the day. Good living…
Read MoreMultiple mornings of scrapping ice of the windshields. I guess it’s that time of year. Cool enough to get the outdoor wood stove fired up. We’ll be burning wood for the next 6-7 months. A little cutting and hauling firewood this week but…
Read MoreNo more meat birds. We emptied out the remaining chicken shelters for harvest early in the week. It feels good to complete the season. Only one shelter with growing egg layers left in the field to be moved daily. My chicken load is now much lighter. I tell myself that I’ll now have more time to focus on other parts of the farm, but daylight hours are disappearing
Read MoreHelene was worse than we thought. Friday was a rough day. Not as rough for us as for many others. After making the rounds and nearly getting blown away Friday morning, I came back to the house content to hunker down and wait out the storm until the afternoon. My sweet wife, noticing trees falling down across the road both above and below the house, encouraged me to go out with the chainsaw...
Read MoreFirst off, thanks again for you all’s continued trust and support of our farm. Amy stays on the go all the time. She’s a full-time mom, teacher, farmer, and everything else. She made multiple meat deliveries this week in addition to the Abingdon Farmers Market every Saturday. She always comes home exhausted, but she always comes home telling me the same thing. “We have the best customers,” ...
Read MoreChickens are not the most intelligent or durable birds in the world. I suppose that’s why we don’t see chickens running loose in the wild. They wouldn’t last long. Chickens raised right are good eating, but unfortunately we’re not the only ones that have acquired an appetite for our pasture raised birds...
Read MoreWe could use some rain. The water source for our whole farm is a developed spring back in the mountain. It’s slowing down. Other springs in the area have dried up. Makes me nervous...
Read MoreLast week we emptied out the last of the meat birds from the chicken shelters. With chicks in the brooder ready to take their place in the field, we decided to leave them in the brooder a few more days in order to squeeze in a little vacation. With cows, pigs, and chickens to look after, there’s never an easy time to get away. But with...
Read MoreAmy here this week. Has this summer been a whirlwind for anyone else? I feel like time moves so quickly and I just can’t keep up. We were back to summer weather and I’m soaking up all the sunshine I can...
Read MoreIt’s cooling down especially at night. I’m sure we have plenty of hot days left, but a hint of fall is in the air. Amy and the kids delivered meat to Knoxville families on Monday and came back to the valley Tuesday morning.
We emptied out 4 more chicken shelters Tuesday evening for processing on Wednesday. Down to moving only 6 shelters through the field everyday now. Wednesday was the lightest processing crew we’ve had in a couple years, but...
Read MoreFarming keeps us busy. Taking care of the animals and the land is a never ending job. We figured out several years ago, when we began selling our meats locally, that it takes about as much time and work on the retail and distribution side of the business as it does on the actual farm work itself. I could work full time just taking care of the farm. I could also work full time on the distribution side of the farm. It’s often hard to prioritize my time and figure out...
Read MoreOur last batch of almost 1000 chicks arrived to the farm and got settled in the brooder this week. No chicken killing this week. We’ve harvested birds every week in July and most weeks in June. Instead of processing chickens, we spent that time sorting chicken inventory in the freezers. With only 3 or 4 harvest dates left
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