Our Cows, Our Sheep, Our Trees

Tree Hay

Early this year, in January, I think, we had two big willow trees on the farm cut down from some 30-40 feet tall to about 6 feet tall. There were several reasons for this. Both were in inconvenient locations. One was shading the garden and slowing the soil warming in the spring. The other was… Continue reading Tree Hay

Our Cows, Our Pasture, Our Sheep

Opening up the lane… by closing it off!

Well, it's not pretty, but it will do. Two 8-foot gates closing a 16 foot gap at the end of the laneway. They are only fastened by two relatively light chains with extremely light clips, but there is a pile of rocks (yes, I know, but I was in a hurry) behind the middle section… Continue reading Opening up the lane… by closing it off!

Our Cows, Our Orchard

More Orchard Planting

Saturday we spent most of the afternoon racing to get the rest of our orchard order into the ground. Bare-root trees have a limited time before their roots dry out and they die. We picked up the order on Thursday, and it was well packed in wet mulch and newspapers, but we didn't want to… Continue reading More Orchard Planting

Our Cows, Our Pasture

Bulls on Pasture

The ultimate goal of having cows is for them to eat our grass and turn it into meat and milk. Accordingly, we want to get our bulls out on pasture as quickly as possible to take advantage of the Spring flush. (I say "bulls" and not "steers" because, despite the fact that they have been… Continue reading Bulls on Pasture