We just celebrated 6 months here at our farm in Henrietta. We bought the farm in the dead of winter, never having seen the land in the growing season, and it has been such fun to see the fields and the forests evolve through the spring and summer, as we learn how best to integrate our animals and crops into the ecosystem. We’ve accomplished so much in these past few months and want to share a few recent milestones.
When we moved to the farm in January, we got right into action. We brought our first batch of piglets to the farm by late-January and flocks of of chickens and ducks by early March. We were enthusiastic and confident about our first season on the farm after raising our animals so successfully out in Victor, NY the year prior. To put it mildly, we had a major fox problem this past spring. A hungry family of 6 foxes that live across the street started feasting on our animals night after night. After losing too many chickens and and entire batch of ducks in just a few days back in May, it became abundantly clear to us that the systems that we had used successfully in the past were not going to work anymore. We considered fox traps out of desperation, but ended up adopting better and stronger fencing (w/ higher electrical current) and built some more creative animal housing to deter the foxes. We are happy to report that over these past two months, we’ve had zero loss from predation! We still see the foxes on occasion but it looks like they have returned to their usual hunting practices and are much more interested in bunnies and squirrels than our farm animals. As you can imagine, this couldn’t make these two young farmers any happier.
Every few weeks, we welcome a new batch of baby chicks and/or ducks on the farm which is always fun. This month in addition to the usual chicks, we received our flock of 150 turkeys! They are just 3 weeks old now and are still living in the brooder but they are super cute, curious, and active! Turkey orders are coming in early this year, so please be sure to place your order online as soon as possible. Fresh turkey pick up will take place the weekend before Thanksgiving. The exact time for pickup is TDB but we are hoping to finalize these plans soon.
Our 16 pigs on the farm are doing great! We just brought them into fresh pasture this week and they are already getting busy rooting up plants. Please see below for more details on ordering half/whole pigs this fall. We only have 5 pigs still available for half/whole orders, so if you’re interested or have questions, please be sure to get into contact with us soon.
As always, we are forever grateful for our loyal customers at Brighton Farmers Market and Mud Creek Farm! We love connecting with you every week and hearing about how you’re enjoying our meat and egss. Thank you for your support and confidence in us! We love producing healthy, organic and tasty food for you and yours!
All the best,
Greg & Jenney