Ramona

Ramona hails from the Charlie Carrier farm in Williamstown, VT She is part Ayshire and part Jersey. Her grandmother is named Red. Charlie isn't into raising half breeds, so I took this little bugger home in the trunk of Corrolla, and plopped her down on a fresh bed of hay. Fed her a bottle of milk, and put her to bed. She will raise up to be a fine family cow for some one who wants to hand milk, or do a little raw milk. For now, it is just a good feeling to divert a small critter from the production line of  dairy to the artisian line of small farm land stewards, and crafted care. It is very interesting the difference between going to work milking cows for a pay check, and coming home to cows that don't make much money at all, but give us a sense of life and purpose on the planet. A truth, that our food we eat is crafted by our own hands, and the footprint of the food is only 50 yds from the house. That the soil, air and water are positively impacted by the bites we take in our mouth. No pay check, or gross profit analysis can take truth from the physical evidence of your place on earth.

Warning Shots

Its the time of year that mother nature fires warning shots across the bow of your tranquil farm skiff. She tests you for battle with winter. Usually during the first warning shot we run around frustrated and kicking ourselves for not having certain projects done, and cursing when something freezes, doesn't work, or that you ate sh#t while walking to your car. You curse when your feet are cold, and your boots are wet, or that your clothing is sub par, or your barn is not ready for your animals. Mother nature has a tendency to back off after the first warning shot. Which leaves us hustling around in better weather trying to get things in order. Buy boots, stack hay, insulate milk house, cut and stack wood, buy extra wood, get new socks, switch fencing, and re locate chickens and the bull calves. By the second warning shot, you feel a bit better, and by the third it could be winter.
Snap shots run though my head of horrific winters, and not so bad winters, some that were memorable, and some that sucked. As I use my mental farm check list of lessons learned to access our preparedness for the coming winter, I come up with a favorable two thumbs up. The wood is in the shed, the barn is stuffed with hay, functional boots on our feet, a freezer full of beef, a basement with barrels of kraut and kim chi, and an easy way to feed and keep our animals clean. However, on the list of lessons learned is this one: you are never totally ready, and it may suck like it or not. There is no getting around that one, except with a resignation letter to the small farm gods, an "I quit" to the current bosses, and a plane ticket with no return to a far away country near the equator.

Autumn Equinox

The Equinox is a the astrological event when we experience the same amount of daylight as nightfall. The pagans celebrated it as a time of balance. Equally as important as the two other astrological events; summer solstice and winter solstice. The summer being the peak amount of daylight experience, and the winter being the deprivation of daylight experience.  As humans we revel in the celebration of highs and lows, and overlook the mundane experience of balance. Balance sits as an ideal embrace by fringe spiritual pedagogues, and the new age aimless. Balance and harmony get used as buzz words that seem nice like flowers in the spring, but rarely do we take seed, and develop some sort of consumable, sustainable, nurturing food from a garden of existence.

Ironically during the Autumn we in the North East, experience a visual display by the deciduous forest unparallelled by any arbor event on the planet. The colors of the leaves changing have been described as natures orgasm prior to falling into a deep sleep through the winter night. We experience a peak of color during an astrological time of balance. On the farm we search for comfort in the fact that the barn is full of hay, and the woodshed ends up pack full of fire wood. A promise that this winter during the snow and cold we won't have to venture far to feel warm, feed ourselves and our animals. A feat each farmer strives for every year.

Open Farm Day at Symphony Farm

In July we had a house/farmwarming gathering.  Thank you to all who made the day special...and a huge thanks to farm photographer, Kat!

Baby Stewie

w

The Labyrinth Garden

The farmers

Johnny & Glenn

Levirgne & Shirley in action!!

Kat and Nimi

Bitsy & Nimi

Bits, Nimi, Kat

Sully love the camera

Ellia, Mathilda, Hanna, Eric, Malia & Zane

Eric, Kat, Jonathan, Leelee and Sully

Ma' boys

Mike and Ella

Kitchen craziness with Meg and Hanna.  Note the farm warming signature drink in the blender - watermelon mojitos!!

My newest favorite summer brew.  Beet beer.  Does it get any better?

Sweden and Holland represent!

Summer

It is summer. The part of the year we all wait for and find that it goes too quickly. The snows of last winter disappear with our own version of seasonal amnesia. The garden has grown into its teenage phase. Large, lanky, a little uncoordinated, but filled with energy. A critical time for us to parent the garden, or to let it go out on its own and accept it "as is".

The cows have calved, and we are milking in a new barn.(Post move) We enjoy our hot water with a groovy on demand hot water heater, and a milk house that has a view of the farm.

Scything has come into our lives as a remedy to lack of pasture, and apprehensive land owners who have a bad taste in their mouths left from irresponsible grazers. We apply the scythe voiding our lives from fossil fuel in the summer months. We apply the scythe to build trust with our neighboring land owners in hope that we can show them that grazing can be done in a neat, clean, and enhancing way. The photo below is a hand rolled bale stuffed into the newly transformed "farm car" we call the 'Rolla.

Breads rising

We are part of the Barre City Farmers market again this year.  Despite the damn near 9 hours it takes to prep the greens and veggies, bake the breads and pretzels, make the pesto...we truly enjoy connecting with our community and feel proud of the Symphony Farm spread.  It's summer -- time of abundance and plenty of vodka tonics (with extra lime, of course).  Cheers!

Drying Off and Moving up the road

Dearest all milk customers, friends, family, and supporters,

Little red house and garage

Meg and I are drying the cows off on the 1st of April. This is one of those things we have to do. The cows need a chance to recharge, rest up, and work a bit less. Hmmm sounds like the farmers need this shot of R&R as well! They mend their udders, put on some body fat, and grow a calf in their uterus. The sixty to sixty days off helps ensure a healthy delivery of the calf, and a healthy lactation for the next year. So there you have it!

view of the white mountains

post and beam

Also we are moving. These rumors have been flying. They are true. We did not have this planned at all, but it is just the cards we have been dealt and so we are rolling with it. We have a bunch of work to do, but believe this move is leading us in a positive direction. We look forward to a better barn, cheeper rent, a three year lease deal, and an easier house to heat. Other positives are the amazing views of the white mountains, and a pond to take a dip in. Our new landlord has also built a sauna just out the back of the house, and is excited about developing a grazing landscape.

The Barn

Sauna

We will notify all when we are going to have our grand re-opeing/open house. We think this will be some time in early July. Until then we can only take it one day at a time and do the work we have to do.  So the parting quote is one Meg and I hope to live by. "First do the work that is necessary, then do what is possible, and before you know it you have achieve the impossible."

Old Friends are Like Onions

Old friends are like onions. Many of us have cut open onions and marveled at the layers. The thin skin. Its not really possible to have thick skin with old friends, that is something we try to pretend to have with the people we recently meet.  Sometimes a green shoot is forming in the middle starting to re grow, or keep growing. 
Old friends are like the land stewards who grow onions. Old friends know that an onion starts as a tiny seed, and shoots up green. They understand "you" as a being, that started growing and adding layers to yourself. They understand having the green parts of  your life clipped off, and used periodically through out your growing season as sustenance.
The best part of old friends is that they are able to see all the layers that have grown on the outside, but they know what the core of "you" looks like. Old friend speak to the part of you that is beyond all the layers. They know that skin is really thin.
Onions add flavor to everything. They are spicy and tangy in salad. When the winter is over and the first salads come out of the garden,  onions are chopped up raw, often resulting in tears. The onion salad refreshes weariness, opens your eyes, invigorates, and charges the spirit. Like running into old friends on the street or in your home town.
Onions make the base for slow cooked stew. Slow cooking takes time, drawing the subtle juices out of the meat, and veggies. The flavor is one that whole is greater than the sum of its parts, like sound harmonics of different frequencies vibrating, to give us sweet music and symphony. The carrots, potatoes, and onions each play their part to perfection with old friend onion holding down the root note.
Onions speak for them selves. And the words we use for old friends fall short because we cant really explain them. They speak for themselves.

Winter State of the Farm Address

"The summer is worth every bad day in the winter." We quote ourselves all the time this time of year. We remind ourselves what is coming. After the new year I end up certain that the afternoons are lighter. I try to enjoy our extra two minutes of daylight and convince myself its actually more than two extra minuets of our beloved sun.

 We have too many animals. That is becoming painfully evident. We are wrestling ourselves into different situations to deal with this. Some situations are more expensive than others, and some more humane that others. On the bad days I want to call up the live stock dealers and put all excess animals on the way to the auction. On the good days I think about allotting certain cows a probation period and making gourmet food out of other aging cows.  This wrestling leaves us indecisive. At some point action just needs to me taken. No pun intended; "pull the trigger."

The chickens are sure that it is summer year round in the hoop house. It kind of is. We turn the lights on in the coop early, and leave them on until our bed time in the evening. Much like the photo periods of June and July. They are laying eggs for us! On Christmas Eve, when my loving partner Meg headed south to Braintree for the night, I decided that drinking a few Jameson's for the afternoon was a good idea. Given that the day was sunny, I was buzzed up.....I used the hoop house as a seasonal extension and do some mid winter clothing optional sunbathing. MERRY CHRISTMAS HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The winter wardrobe requirements is the driving force behind the clothing optional dress code that is adopted in the summer. For five months getting ready to do just the chores involves a regiment that is like putting on a suit of armor. 1.) wake up: be sure to put socks on your feet to guard against the freezing floor, which will crucify your feet. 2.) Dawn layer number one: long underwear, fluff your leg hair that may be matted from the entire day in long underwear the day prior. It will start to hurt if you opt not to fluff  3.) If you are having coffee before chores a bathrobe is a good idea. Often time I choose my primary layer for coffee. Long jonhs and a full length cotton shirt are common. On the best day the Under Armor has had the horrific smell of arm pit and cow barn/chicken poo smell washed from it, and it is dry and able to be worn for at least three days straight before it is eliminated from the options due to smell factors.  And then time to get serious. 4.) The Secondary Main Layer. Choose wisely. Wool is good, fleece is another option, quilted flannel shirt? All of these options require fore thought into the ultimate shell layer.  If you are shooting for bib overalls, the hoodie is yet another option that comes into play, or you could go wool. It all depends on the day. If it is a hayday, wool bites because the hay chaff sticks to wool and then gets tracked back into the house. However, if it is freezing and you are opting for the full insulated coveralls as the ultimate outer shell, long johns and wool is a brilliant option because the hay slides off of the canvas outer layer.

5.) After the shell layer and the main layer; boots. Leather or rubber? Did you dry the boots last night? Are your sock damp? Rubber is usually the common choice. Hopefully you have dried them out the night before, because if you didn't,  a wrestling match to get them on your feet is on for round one.  Be sure to tuck your  pant cuffs into the boots, otherwise they will end up coated in manure. Pull those boot laces tight because hay chaff will get in your boots, and it will pour out onto the floor.

6.) You're not done yet; Hat. Wool or fleece? Depends on the hay situation. And how cold it actually is. Hay seems to be the constant variable that leads you to manipulate your wardrobe. The deal with hats is that when your head sweats from working, wool will get itchy. Adding hay to the equation is the double deadly threat. Fleece hats and hay are not bad, but you never can avoid hay sticking to your hat. It's like vel-kro.<(not in the spell check dictionary)
7.) Gloves: there are three options depending on the day. The synthetic ski type gloves. They work good for the super cold days, and if there are no dry gloves available they are the choicest. Usually Meg lays claim to the ski gloves. That leaves the fleece gloves as next option. Long as its not windy they are OK. If they are wet and you didn't dry them, you can dry them out on the kerosene heater in the milk house. If the wind blows, they do nothing for you. The last option is the former ever so stylish, ever so thin,  knit purple ladies glove. They are not warm, the wind goes right through them - However, they offer the best fine motor skill mobility without taking a glove off. They can be essential if you are doing carpentry, mechanical work, or some other project that demands fine motor capacity.

After five months, 150 days, three hundred sock changes, 600 changes of coveralls, 300 wet gloves, 600 oz. of hay chaff spilling on the floor; Is it any wonder when spring comes, and the temperature rises above 60 degrees, putting on a pair of garden clogs, a cowboy hat and your birthday suit is an act of freedom from winter clothing bondage?

The Work Party

Between running around New England attending weddings, working full time, and the seasonal work piling up, Meg and I found ourselves trying to keep our heads above the workload water level. The tried and true Symphony cure for drowning in your own work load is to throw a work party. Sometimes the internet works like a wand from Harry Potter, a few post here and there and the event is launched. Thanks Facebook, thanks Email.
Mother nature graced us with sun and good friends showing up around noon. We learned that: Kids are good at harvesting. No carrot or daikon went un-dug. Dogs love you up even while you work. Beer makes work easier. Burgers taste good after hauling compost, tiling up weeds, and mulching walkways.
All said and done: Put up eighty pounds of purple-nurpple kim chi( purple cabbage, carrots, daikons, red onions), turned over 400 feet of garden space, hauled a 1/2 ton of compost, failed at fixing a shovel, pulled all hoses, laughed, 20 people came together and connected over the spirit of stewardship.
The taste of community savored sweetly as the sun went down. It was just a bit too cold to flop over in a hammock and let out a breath of accomplishment, but sun pouring on a couch worked as a solid substitute. The day is a thumbnail sketch of how food, farming and families will be. It stands one of our favorite sayings upright: "Farming; its not poverty, its a party"

We have put away enough gratitude for the winter, and hope to provide the taste of some of it this winter to all that showed up and helped. We are counting down the weeks to the winter solstice, and dreaming to the sweet smells of fermenting kim chi of next years growing season.

Having Family at the Farm

Uncle Joe and Aunt Rosemary visited for the night. How wonderful to have them embrace the farm with open arms. Dinner plans were quickly abandoned for bliss on the front porch. Sun. Music. Drink. And thawed burger. To top things off, our friend Glen stopped by for some drinks and food. Bed time called and the Red Sox game escorted us to bed.  Joe and Rosemary awoke and came to milking. The appreciation of horses carried over enough to enjoy the cows. They were treated to a feeding fest on a new salt block.

Sunday wouldn't be complete with out going out to breakfast. Dixie's II in Chelsea kicked their cooking up a notch. Our sleep bank is all filled up and ready for the week. Thanks Joe and Rosemary.

Calves of 2010

Captain Sigg and Maggie enthralled by something...probably food!

I know this post is long overdue...but let me tell you, it has been quite a busy summer!  The birth of 5 new calves was pretty much the easiest part, and took little to no work from us.  As Jonathan says, "prenatal care is the most important thing we can do, as the mama usually takes care of the rest herself."

The Barre Farmers market has been wonderful to be part of on Wednesdays, and has certainly solidified my love for baking breads, pickling, and processing pestos.  The two of us have really done a 180* in terms of schedules.  Here I am doing morning chores, after Jonathan finishes milking, puttering around finding this and that to keep me occupied while he heads off to Barre City School to teach kiddos how to garden, harvest and cook up some sweet meals.  It's these slow mornings, where a third cup of coffee is a must, some yoga outside on the porch is an option and eating breakfast doesn't really have to happen until 11, that I will miss dearly once "back to school" graces us.

Camille

Here are some photos of our newest additions to the family.  We have successfully halter-trained Captain Sigg and are in the process of working with Greta.  Our most recent calf, Camille is enjoying a few weeks with mama Cafe in the pasture.  

L-->R Maggie, Camille, Gretta, Captain Sigg

The Admiral and Camille

A bull calf with a lot of love to give!

Thank You Note

Dear All who made it out to our farm for the opening,
24 hrs has elapsed since you guys left. Leaving us in a vacuum. Such an energy build up, and all of your presence was cherished for the time that it was here.
The open invitation stands. Its all of your energy and presence we really would like to purchase from you, and sell you our labor, love and nutrition to keep you as part of our community. Our farm store is open to you and all your needs. If there is something from the farm you wish to have please request it.
The hammocks are here for anyone who needs one. A chicken show happens daily, and the cows keep the routine, even in your absence.
Some of these photos savor the taste of the day we had. Its like a good after taste, and a full belly. Pacha Junta is what is said in Quetchua, the feeling of being full and satisfied.
Thank you.

Meg and Jonathan

GRAND OPENING this Saturday!!

I'm not sure if Jonathan has already posted our Grand Opening here...but it doesn't hurt to send out a reminder.  Here are the details:

Where: Symphony Farm 1157 Woodchuck Hollow Rd. Washington, Vermont
When: Saturday, July 17th starting at noon til 12 until milking time on July 18th (plenty of space to camp --so bring your tents)
Festivities: Farm touring, raw milk drinking(and other beverages of your choice), potlucking, local burger grilling, hula hooping, bonfiring, fire spinning, guitar, mandolin and other forms of picking and music playing...and of course relaxing!
What to bring: A lawn chair, a dish to share, beverages, music making materials and jars if you'd like to take home some milk!

Hope to see you all there.

Give a call if you have any questions or are in need of directions -- 883-2269

Thought I'd end this post with some shots I took on Sunday...my nudist gardener, our newest additions to the farm family...Henrietta and her crew, our blissed out porch, garden treasur and our beautiful new bird houses (thanks Joanne!)

Be well and we hope to see you Saturday.