For those who have been asking for eggs, we don’t have eggs, but we did get about 70 egg laying chicks this week. We should have eggs this fall. Hallie still has her few layers in the backyard. We purchase eggs from her for our own consumption. She’d been subcontracting out some of her chicken chores…

Monday morning I took 8 cows and 4 hogs to the processor which meant getting a group of almost 60 cows in the pens Sunday afternoon to sort and turn back out. Then sort out the biggest few hogs out of about 25 to load on the trailer. Monday evening the farm animal harvest continued, catching over 500 chickens…

I knew it was about time for more feed, but I miscalculated how far our remaining feed would last. With 18 tons of non-gmo feed scheduled for delivery on Tuesday, I ran out of chicken feed Saturday morning…

Happy 4th! Thankful for independence. And those who paid the price for freedom. I pray we don’t take it for granted. Or let it slip away. Another busy week on the farm. Monday was a lot of cattle sorting and hauling…

Mother Nature certainly flipped the switch from spring to summer on us. Freezer work filling orders actually felt refreshing. After getting a batch of almost 700 chicks settled in the brooder last Friday, we spent a few hours filling coolers and orders for Saturday’s herd share deliveries…

“When I rise up 
let me rise up joyful 
like a bird.
When I fall 
let me fall without regret 
like a leaf.” - Wendell Berry

Long days. It feels good to go to bed tired. Though I’m about at my limit, I feel like that’s probably where I should be. I’m thankful. Thankful for every bale that kicked out without a breakdown. Thankful for friends and family who continue to come help out on processing day. Thankful for my pretty wife raking hay, cutting up chickens, filling orders, making broth, cooking us dinner, and smiling as she goes…

It’s starting to feel like summer. It’s Amy here this morning. This week has been full of chicken shuffling. On Monday, a farmer friend from a few hours away came at 8:45 PM (after some truck troubles) to load up 600 chickens to take to their processor. The kids were out there with headlamps helping catch chickens…

It’s been a cool rainy week, another inch and a half of rain, but we were blessed with a perfect day for the cookout on Saturday. What a day. I’m just grateful to be a part of this extended community. It was truly a communal effort. If I start naming names, I’ll leave someone out, but there was a long list of folks who spent hours…

Two more inches of rain this week. A brief hail storm passed through Friday afternoon while we were filling coolers at the barn. It was deafening. Not all weekends are as busy as last weekend, but there’s often more to do on the weekends that throughout the week. Amy tries to leave for the Abingdon Farmers Market around 6:00 on Saturday mornings. I start loading her coolers…

A rainy week. Just over 2.5 inches. As I’ve said, I’d rather it be too wet than too dry. We filled beef and pork shares while it rained on Monday.  Another group of baby chicks in the brooder and another group of big chicks to the field. Now 20 shelters filled with chickens to move to fresh grass daily. My body is finally getting back in the rhythm of pulling shelters and carrying buckets…

Early in the week we moved about 1000 chicks from the brooder out to the shelters. All four kids helped Amy catch and crate the chicks while I loaded the filled crates onto the trailer for the short haul to the field. Before doing so, we spent a half a day setting up the waterers, feeders, shelter lids, hoses, chains, hooks, and buckets. 16 shelters to move daily…

After church on Sunday we hiked up to the top of Walker Mountain behind our house. The final stretch was more of a climb than a hike. Not sure how Carter and Wren would fare, they maintained good attitudes and made it all the way. Hallie, of course, wins the award for having the best attitude. Hasten wins the award for most falls. It was a beautiful day to be in the mountains…

After church on Easter Sunday, we ate lunch with my parents and family before heading back home to an afternoon of farm work. A last minute airbnb booking sent Amy cleaning the cabin while I made the rounds and did chores. With a trip to the processor early the next morning, we moved a group of cows across the road and into the barn and sorted out the biggest 10 to be ready to load early Monday. We weren’t originally planning on taking any hogs this trip, but being out of mild sausage…

Amy here this morning. We had a full house last weekend. Three of my college girlfriends and their families come to the valley each spring for a “friends weekend”. We always have the very best time. With 8 adults and 14 kids under one roof you can imagine there was never a dull moment. Lots of running, singing, playing, eating…

No easing into chicken season this year. Amy picked up over 1000 baby chicks from the post office this morning. We just finished getting them settled into the brooder where it’s warm and dry with plenty of feed and water. The chicks will stay there for the next couple weeks until they’re big enough to move out to the shelters in the field…

It’s hard to believe March has come and gone. Thankful for Monday’s rain. I haven’t been tracking rainfall, but it doesn’t feel like we’ve gotten as much rain compared to most March months in the past. Just a few rolls of hay were fed to the cows this week as the grass greens and grows…

Not too much out of the ordinary to update on this week. With many tasks calling for attention at once, it’s an ongoing struggle to prioritize which direction to go. Sorting meat in the freezers is never at the top of my wanna do list, but with a load of ORVF beef and pork arriving Wednesday…

Typical March weather, almost 80 on one day, a dusting of snow on another. Rain, then winds, then sunshine. A little bit greener each day. The grass isn’t growing fast enough to stop feeding the cows all together, but thankfully I’m not needing to feed nearly as much. Lots of firewood cutting and fence fixing…

A beautiful week. I’m never “caught up on my work,” but it feels good to at least put a dent in it. I’m always grateful for the seasonal changes that farm work entails, but I especially love working this time of year…