Chores. As a kid, daily chores meant making my bed, emptying the dishwasher and feeding the dog. They were mindless tasks that I came to realize, needed to get done to keep my mother sane (have I told you I’m one of 6 children?) and keep our household functioning.
Chores on the farm feel so dramatically different than those of my childhood days. Yes, we still do the regular tasks of feeding, watering and bedding our animals. And yes, these chores become far more mind-numbing and, can we say, aggravating when the water lines freeze and every inch of fence line is covered in snow. But the real experience of chores on our farm is the twice daily ritual of observing and interacting with our animals and our land.
We know that our sow, Big Red, likes to come up the hill to the fence line to meet us first thing in the morning, unlike her roommate, StarDust, who will wait patiently down at the feeder. We know that our Boar will come barreling out of his house the moment he hears us turn on the waterline and make some loud grunting sounds to try to convince us that he’s boss. We notice and observe these behaviors because it’s fun, but also that when an animal gets sick, like our Boar did this summer, we can catch the subtle signs early and get them the help they need.
We take note of the condition of our trees, marking those that will need to be cut down and freeing others from those insidious grape vines. We identify plants and learn which are being grazed and which are being rooted up so that we know what to plant in our pastures for next year. We watch the animals interact with each other so that we continue to find ways to improve our systems and our animals’ lives so that the meat on your plate is of the highest quality.
At the end of a long week, we can’t help but feel the gratitude in our hearts for the opportunity to do our farm chores. We get to experience our land, our animals and our farm interact together to nourish our family and our community, and that’s just… cool!
We have lots of exciting things in store for 2018. We will release all the details for our summer CSA shares next week (follow us on Instagram and on Facebook for all the fresh updates) and are chomping at the bit to reveal some new product offerings we’ve been perfecting with our butcher….think new sausage flavors, sliced deli ham, and Canadian bacon to name a few.
We’ve got another round of fresh pork this Sunday at the Brighton Farmers Market so please be sure to stop by and pick up some fresh (never frozen) pork this weekend. We will have shoulder roasts, steaks, chops, ribs and tenderloins galore so come early before the Superbowl to get some goodness.
We still have a couple of half pigs available for March, orders are due by Feb 28th. Back by popular demand, we will also be offering both fresh and smoked hams for Easter. Deposits for spring hams and half pigs can be made online here.
All the best,
Your farmers
Greg & Jenney