It took four years to recognize the best place to expand our cattle-handling facility was on the driveway leading to it. Most driveways handle vehicles not livestock, but why couldn't ours? After prolonged deliberation, it became clear our driveway was meant for greater purpose than just vehicles.
Note lambs in the picture below. They are being born daily, and we probably have 80 on the ground so far. One ewe is raising quadruplets!
Farmer's Market. In doing so, we met many great people, made new friends, and began developing a cadre of loyal customers, all of which was most rewarding.
And delivered over Easter weekend to his abode in Manhattan, has led me to ponder the meaning of a table. What happens around and upon a table?
These daffodils reside around the foundation of an abandoned homestead on our farm, and were probably planted 70 or 80 years ago. They just emerged this week. One can't help noticing the density, complexity, and beauty of the flower, compared to the sanitized and simplified version of today's cousin.
April is a traditional time for celebrating life by enjoying a leg of lamb. We have cooked ours numerous ways and find it best cooked relatively quickly. Slow-cooking a grassfed leg dries it out, so we prefer aiming for a "pink" degree of doneness. Many recipes offer how to cook a pink leg of lamb, but we have found successful the approach of cooking at high heat initially, followed by moderate heat, while turning the leg periodically, for one and a half to two hours, depending on weight. Check our website for the recipe we have found successful. We hope we can entice you to enjoy this beautiful cut of meat - it is so sweet and tender.
These noble beasts spent last night with us, and most of them ended up on our lawn this morning, in mischief and leaving calling cards, before going to work. They belong to neighbor, Ernest Martin, who is partnering with Landis Weaver to grow 15 acres of organic corn on our farm for Landis' dairy.
The intention was to leave our house in Batavia this morning to drop meat off at Helene's and visit my father, but my cellphone apprised that one of our cows was "down" at the farm. An hour later I found Red Devon W92 on her side in labored breathing. Cole and Whitney were on the morning shift, and had done their best to right her, but she resisted. I then struggled for three more hours with tractor, ropes, and bales of straw to bring her to an upright position, so she could breath, which met with mixed success. The vet showed up in the fourth hour, and together we righted her another time. He applied an IV of magnesium & calcium, but did not leave feeling optimistic. By the time his taillights disappeared, she had gone prone again. Into the fifth hour of hugging, pushing, and pulling, with her manure and saliva all over my front, I tried again to bring her upright and buttress her with large round bales on each side. But other cows were crowding around, pushing the bales askew, and licking the cow... Something was clearly just not right.
