As I was planning this addition to our web site I discovered what Blog means which is a shortened version of web log. Makes sense anyway, this blog is going to be about living our life with our animals and other experiences on our small farm in Vermont.

We have been working this land and farm since 1979 and have tried many things here trying to make this small farm model work as a viable enterprise. No details now but I will at time to time fill you in on the successful projects as well as the ones that did not work as well.

Our grandchildren live far enough away from us so that they only get up to the farm once a year for a few day visit. The older ones are 11 (twins) and use the computer regularly, (home school kids). I am hoping that through this blog they will learn about the farm life we live and which has been such a large and important part of the life of Grandmolly and I as well as our 4 children over the years.

And I wanted to start a conversation with you, one of the many visitors we get daily to our web site and in a sense, virtual farm. Some of you buy our meat and others are interested in the Miniature cattle pages, some are farmers like us and others are city folks interested in food and sustainable farming practices. All are welcome and we (Grandmolly and I ) look forward to communicating with you all on our site.

Where to start? In the present I guess which means cold times in VT this last month. Daily thawing out the waterers for our cows, at least the energy free ones which we installed last year. Actually it’s not that hard to do, just bang the floating cover disk with the end of the hay fork to loosen it up in the morning. These units of which we have 2 are made by an Amish family and actually work quite well. One feature I like is that the sun doesn’t get at them and thus we have to do no or little cleaning out of Algae during the year, something which is a regular chore with our other waterer which has an open top with an electric heater underneath. The waterers are heavily insulated and rely on the heat from the ground and in the water to stay unfrozen, During the night the cows go in the cattle shed and do not use the waterers which allows the water to freeze around the edges of the cover.

One thing I like about farming is you never know what challenge the day or season will bring and what solutions you may have to invent to overcome the problems. They are not necessarily all much fun but they keep things interesting. For instance because of the lack of snow cover this year (I have used my plow once) some of the culverts under the driveway have frozen solid. These culverts drain some small springs down to the brook which runs through the center of the farm and they run all year. Now one of the frozen culverts water flow has over topped the banks and is building quite a glacier right where the driveway passes over the brook. This is in a spot that if you drive incorrectly over it (put on the brakes) you would slide off the edge and down a steep bank with the farm pond at the base.

Hmmm what do do. Sanding daily is too much work, sand pile is frozen solid, Grandmolly and I and most of our local friends know how to drive over the glacier so we do not slide (it’s at the bottom of a steep part of the driveway and at the end of a curve), the UPS man also is experienced enough to get over it with his truck ok but we have customers from time to time coming for meat or to look at livestock who may not be so good at this. We decided to wait and pray for a thaw and in the mean time put up a sign , something like ” glacier ahead, do not brake vehicle” Thats my first job for today.

Whew, that a lot of one finger typing. Please feel free to comment or ask questions. Feedback is what will make this blog interesting and fun.