I did something this summer that I've never been able to do on our farm before. I wore my boots completely into the ground. I wore this pair until multiple holes in both heels finally connected and my feet were barely encapsulated in the rubber residue that were formerly functional footwear. Why was this summer … Continue reading Knockin’ Boots
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May is an extraordinarily busy month on the farm. It's the month where grass starts to green up, and when the ground is fully-thawed and ready for us to start moving animals around. Nearly every day over the past few weeks has been spent moving animals or otherwise situating them on pasture to enjoy the … Continue reading 12 days of Chicken
At 12:01am on Friday, March 5, our little gravel road went into restricted travel season. Road restrictions, however inconvenient, are absolutely necessary. Every spring our gravel road quickly begins to resemble horrifically melted Hershey bars, out of a dystopian game of Candyland. The gravel turns to mud, deep ruts appear, and drivers have to be … Continue reading The High Road to the Hen House
Although I was born in Wisconsin, I spent my formative years growing up in Northfield, a town about 30 miles south of the cities that boasts of "Cows, Colleges and Contentment". And sure enough, lived just down the street from Carleton College, on the appropriately named College Street. Northfield is similar to many beautiful Minnesota … Continue reading Bones from the sky?
Today (Feb. 2, 2021) marks the 25th anniversary of the coldest day in Minnesota recorded history Looking ahead to this coming weekend, and next week, it looks like we're in for a good old-fashioned cold snap. And speaking frankly, I guess we were due for one. From my perspective, we've gotten off easy so far … Continue reading The day Punxsutawney Phil froze
Farming is a lifestyle as much as it is an occupation. Our house is twenty feet from where we park the tractor, a hundred feet from winter chicken coop, and close enough to where we overwinter pigs that we can see their ears sticking up from the straw from our living room window. "Chores" are … Continue reading Chicken matrimony
It was because the local news stations had called last week's snowstorm a blizzard that my fingers found their way to Google. In the search field I punched in "Minnesota Blizzards," and soon I was on the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources website reading a chronological account of all of the major winter storms that … Continue reading Blizzards of yore
Yet again, while away from the farm, I got another phone call. I was in the middle of my Twin Cities delivery route, in the uptown area, when Morgan called and told me there was a newborn calf in the pasture.While we don't calve this time of year (we time our calves to arrive in … Continue reading A pleasant phone call
Every time I'm gone from the farm, my blood pressure spikes if my phone rings and the caller ID says its one of the neighboring farms. My worry of course is that they are calling me to tell me I have animals loose, and from time to time this is true. Last February (pre-pandemic) we … Continue reading The dreaded phone call
Today was a day that revolved around chickens. The sun rose to chickens and the sun set to chickens. And in between? You guessed it: Chickens. Similar to a rare eclipse, the three main events in the life of a pasture-raised meat chicken all occured today, even though we typically try to avoid such a … Continue reading Playing chicken